Class warfare summed up in a simple joke (with an accompanying cartoon)

I think you're misinformed.

 

Well, isn't that kind of the point?

When you start out by demonizing the rich, it eventually comes down to defining who's rich. And to some, $50,000 makes you rich and all of a sudden public sector union employees are subject to the same kind of class warfare you were waging on your definition of the rich.

 

And all that means is that the truly wealthy, say the Top 2 percent, are taking advantage of idiots and laughing all the way to the bank.

I'd venture to say there aren't more than a handful of people on the board who have higher incomes than me. Living in Westchester and paying the mortgage I have and the taxes I pay and sending a couple kids to school, I have to postpone painting the house until the fall.

I'd have been on the losing side if the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy weren't extended. I supported ending those tax cuts. Idiots who'd rather take the money to pay the bills from school teachers and firemen -- how dare they have benefits when my company took mine away! -- need to be educated.

I'm not "demonizing" the rich. I'm saying the wealthy should pay an appropriate portion of what it takes to have a country that takes care of its most frail -- kids, the elderly, people with special needs, people with medical problems. Because it's the right thing to do. And I'm willing to draw the line between rich and middle class below me, even though it's laughable.

 

I don't think there are many people who wouldn't be willing to support the most frail as you describe them.

The problem lies with people who have talents and don't use them. Do they deserve support?

Oh, and my sympathies on the Westchester property taxes. I grew up in Larchmont. My parents have lived in Westchester for over 40 years but decided to send 6 kids to Catholic school. Between the taxes and the tuition, that was a big chunk of change.

 

Westchester property taxes are ridiculous. It's what drove me to CT. With same size house and property taxes are 3 times higher in Weschester. Part of problem is having a county government in addition to town and state. 3 layers of government to siphon off your money instead of 2 they have in CT.

To you point people in Westchester in nice houses have a hard time with basic upkeep because of having to pay so much tax. You are in effect buying 2 homes.

CT used to be even better deal with no income tax until Lowell Weiker spoiled the party.

 

Mostly small lots in Westchester too until you get to the northern part of the county.

 

Michael Moore:

"They're sitting on the money, they're using it for their own -- they're putting it someplace else with no interest in helping you with your life, with that money. We've allowed them to take that. That's not theirs, that's a national resource, that's ours. We all have this -- we all benefit from this or we all suffer as a result of not having it," Michael Moore told Laura Flanders of GRITtv.

"I think we need to go back to taxing these people at the proper rates. They need to -- we need to see these jobs as something we some, that we collectively own as Americans and you can't just steal our jobs and take them someplace else," Moore concluded.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/03/02/moore_on_wealthy_peoples_money_thats_not_theirs_thats_a_national_resource_its_ours.html

 

"the horror , the horror".

 

Some of the very rich, like Warren Buffett, believe he ought not to pay less taxes than his secretary, for starters.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/19483842/Warren_Buffett_Tax_the_Rich

 

If you want to tax them, I'm all on board with that.

If you want to start interfering with the way they run their business, I'd like to hear much better reasons than jealousy over how much money they make.

 

What exactly do you mean by "interfering with the way they run their business."? So if some restaurant wants to have bugs and filth in their kitchen, we shouldn't do any health inspections? If a factory wants to dump pollution into our rivers and lakes, we shouldn't prevent that because it's "interfering with the way they run their business." That is some slippery slope to start sliding down.

 

Maybe he should pay the secretary more. Selfish bastard.