for those people who love to hate on the wealthy...

[Alceste]

You're very correct here. I've been told I need to do it. As someone who is still new to earning too much money for my own good I need to protect it better for the sake of a small fee.

You'll be amazed what they can do for you. If they didn't save you more than you had to pay, and by a fair margin, they would not be in business.

 

[Alceste]

True. I'm fortunate to not have to use my own car for work.

I have to drive 20 minutes each way in my own car for 2-3 hours of work most days. 40 minutes each way other days. And when I have gigs, that sometimes shoots up to an hour or two each way. I have no benefits, no paid vacations, no annual bonuses, etc.

Gas eats up about 20% of my total income. Insurance, repairs and licensing are extra.

 

[darkendless]

I have to drive 20 minutes each way in my own car for 2-3 hours of work most days. 40 minutes each way other days. And when I have gigs, that sometimes shoots up to an hour or two each way. I have no benefits, no paid vacations, no annual bonuses, etc.

Gas eats up about 20% of my total income.

Are you self employed?

 

[Alceste]

Are you self employed?

Yep. Musician / music teacher.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Your money is no good in Kentucky. :sorry1:

Oh I get it. Lap dances are forms of currency, then?

I would love to have dinner with you some day. :yes:

Then I shall make sure it happens!

 

[Octavia156]

Headline : "Thelematic Teachers of Science proved unreliable as information sources ! ". :slap:

Actually it's a mistake anyone could make. Even professors of economics fail to foresee impending market crashes after all.

your site says even though he didn't write it - gave it to his students to think about

give a **** about the source... the analogy still works.

 

[Octavia156]

You could also claim that the only reason why the rich dude had to pay for it all was because through various legal means, he has stolen everyone else's money.

How ON EARTH do you figure that?
How has any rich person stolen money from the poor.... if anything its the other way around.... who do you think actually fund the welfare system - RICH PEOPLE!

The Poor take from the rich - not the other way around......

 

[Octavia156]

I feel like a lot of this nonsense comes from right wing spam emails. It's obviously copied but there's no attribution, and they always make very vague claims about the source. "An economy professor". Mmm-hmmm. No name? No institution?

I think the Koch brothers themselves might be furiously typing these things out and sending them to everyone who has ever signed up to access information on a US libertarian website.

do you ever read posts to the end? - there is a name of a professor, someone later in the thread even did a background check on him to discover he wasn't the original author, but he gave to one of his students (who I assume probably put it online) as a thought experiment exercise

 

[Octavia156]

Do people really think that being poor is rewarding in any way, even with all the benefits one might be able to apply for, or even con from the government?

a man is rich when he is satisfied with what he has - hebrew proverb

 

[Octavia156]

I've yet to hear from anybody anywhere in a high tax bracket who would be willing to take a pay cut to get into the lower tax brackets they're always complaining about. That alone should tell you everything you need to know on the subject.

This is totally meaningless.
Everyone pays the lower tax brackets up to a point. If a person doesn't think its worth working for 35c on the $1 they just won't. and less jobs will be created.

 

[Alceste]

This is totally meaningless.
Everyone pays the lower tax brackets up to a point. If a person doesn't think its worth working for 35c on the $1 they just won't. and less jobs will be created.

Factually incorrect on so many levels it's hardly worth discussing.

 

[Alceste]

do you ever read posts to the end? - there is a name of a professor, someone later in the thread even did a background check on him to discover he wasn't the original author, but he gave to one of his students (who I assume probably put it online) as a thought experiment exercise

So, we're back to "no attribution". Hearing it from a guy who heard it from a guy who heard it from some other guy is not attribution, even if you think you know one of the guy's names.

A quick google search reveals that it is spamming the world right now. Where did you get it from?

 

[dust1n]

Ok lets just take your simplest argument: Someone who is single and makes less than 15,000 dollars a year can not have a rewarding life in america?

I didn't say poor people can't have meaningful lives. Are we done with the strawmen yet?

 

[dust1n]

a man is rich when he is satisfied with what he has - hebrew proverb

Your answer to my question

Do people really think that being poor is rewarding in any way, even with all the benefits one might be able to apply for, or even con from the government?

was a passage to a Bible...? And one that gets no where close to addressing my question.

You're a teacher of science?

A person is rich when his income/net worth reaches a certain level compared to where they live.

 

[Revoltingest]

This is totally meaningless.
Everyone pays the lower tax brackets up to a point. If a person doesn't think its worth working for 35c on the $1 they just won't. and less jobs will be created.

This is something which won't register to most people. Consider the tax situation of the sole proprietor business man (ie, Schedule C income)...
...I pay the fed income tax, self-employment tax, state income tax, fed intangibles tax. And the money left over generates sales tax or buyer's
fees (at auctions). This puts my marginal tax rate at well over 50%. Add on to this IRS complexities such as requiring depreciation of some
ordinary expenses, & the rate can become the 65% you cite. (At times my rates have been even higher.) Why work hard? I don't anymore.
A consequence of this is the thriving underground economy. I see many people bartering & dealing only in "off the books" cash. This is why
I favor a revenue-neutral plan to get rid of personal tax deductions & lowering the tax rates to the point where tax evasion is far less appealing.

 

[McBell]

This is totally meaningless.
Everyone pays the lower tax brackets up to a point. If a person doesn't think its worth working for 35c on the $1 they just won't. and less jobs will be created.

Are you honestly that out of touch with reality?
Or perhaps you are commenting on a tax system which you know nothing about?

 

[Sunstone]

How ON EARTH do you figure that?
How has any rich person stolen money from the poor.... if anything its the other way around.... who do you think actually fund the welfare system - RICH PEOPLE!

The Poor take from the rich - not the other way around......

Surely you've led a sheltered life of ignorance if you've never heard of corporate welfare.

 

[Iti oj]

it really seems this thread is lacking in any compressive discussion or debate and is nothing more then a ******* contest I have not learned a damn thing nor have i had anything that was thought provoking that left me with something to consider.

 

[Secret Chief]

The financial crisis was caused by the rich. The situation has to be resolved by the poor.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the poor must have sticks, or they will be lazy, whilst the rich must have carrots or they will flee.

 

[freethinker44]

This is something which won't register to most people. Consider the tax situation of the sole proprietor business man (ie, Schedule C income)...
...I pay the fed income tax, self-employment tax, state income tax, fed intangibles tax. And the money left over generates sales tax or buyer's
fees (at auctions). This puts my marginal tax rate at well over 50%. Add on to this IRS complexities such as requiring depreciation of some
ordinary expenses, & the rate can become the 65% you cite. (At times my rates have been even higher.) Why work hard? I don't anymore.
A consequence of this is the thriving underground economy. I see many people bartering & dealing only in "off the books" cash. This is why
I favor a revenue-neutral plan to get rid of personal tax deductions & lowering the tax rates to the point where tax evasion is far less appealing.

You should go corporate. Then the government will pay taxes to you.