400 vs 150 Million

400 people have more wealth than half the population of the United States. That's 400 people with wealth equal to 150 million!

Sadly there are people who support this and say these are "good, hard working people who earned their money." Not so much.

The problem is that they are assuming, incorrectly, that these 400 are like the 150 MILLION they have the sum income of. They are not. While they might have started with hard work and innovation, the fact is that later on they used every dirty trick in the book to be sure they got more and more wealthy off the backs of the workers they employed and the people who support them.

They pay less taxes than the average taxpayer. They use lawyers and accountants, teams of them, to make sure they have off shore accounts, use tax loopholes, put money through their corporations (Google pays 3% tax, they owe the USA $4 BILLION dollars). They pay lobbyists and politicians to change the laws or make sure they are protected.

You only have to look at Bill Gates and Microsoft for a really good version of history of the rich and greedy. Microsoft and it's CEO did everything to make Microsoft as close to a monopoly as possible. They destroyed small business after small business, either by gobbling them up or by tearing them down. Their history is one of basically destroying any innovation in the market and using lobbying power to make sure it continued for years unfettered. Many, many companies are now doing this.

And when things go bad and they have a failing company or bank, they get our tax money to pay them $100M bonuses or golden parachutes. If they were like us then when you fail you get fired or your small business goes under. You wouldn't get propped up and a raise.

If you or I tried to pay the tax percentages those 400 pay, we would be arrested. Middle Class Americans can't afford lawyers and accountants to find loopholes and pay off politicians. We are forced to pay what we're told, they are not.

http://www.tax.com/taxcom/features.nsf/Articles/0DEC0EAA7E4D7A2B852576CD00714692

You want to know who they are?

http://www.forbes.com/wealth/forbes-400#p_1_s_arank_-1_

And nearly all of them have paid millions if not billions to make sure our government does things to protect their wealth and make them richer. The Koch Brothers, George Soros, both sides of the Party line.

Am I jealous? No. I'm ANGRY. I'm tired of a huge amount of my pay, which is supposed to go to the support of the government and other people (SS and Medicare) instead being used as a massive slush fund for those who need it not at all. I work hard for my money, I get what I deserve, I follow the law, I pay my FAIR SHARE and yet they make more and more and more by raising prices on the products they support or our government raises taxes because BILLIONS are not being paid in by these 400 and their corporations.

I have nothing against anyone that works hard and gets paid fairly and uses it fairly. But the majority of these people have not done that, not even close.

So please don't give me the "hard work and earned it" because it's no different than King George or Czar Nicholas saying how hard they worked running their countries while their people were collapsing under the weight of corruption and greed. Or more accurately JP Morgan who had his workers suffering in mines and factories. Or Carnegie who had his employees sick from oil and working over time. The only difference is that the people fought, through unions and other means, and made things better and had a President who managed to get things changed. These people want to take it back to that point in every way they can.

It's all about greed.

As I said you only have to study history to see what's going on. No propaganda, no left and right, facts. You can do research on the investigations into the taxes of the wealthy and corporations. You can look at the records of the politicians and who they got money from. You can follow the money.

Do they pay more taxes than Middle Class people? Well duh. 3% of $1M is going to be more than 14% of $35,000.00. But it's still not their fair share. And legitimate deductions are one thing, but I'm sure we'd all love to have attorneys and accountants to find legal loopholes to pay deductions that nobody else can, or defend the ones that are questionable, or move money to off shore accounts, or be "charitable" to write off even more.

You don't believe me? Fine. Then read what, Warren Buffet, one of those 400 wealthy, who realizes the facts and is trying to change the system, the taxes, the loopholes, etc. says. He admits everything I've said straight out and knows that the nation cannot continue this way, and this was in 2007 before the collapse:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/27/AR2007062700097.html?hpid=sec-politics

Sadly in too many arguments there is no winner. As there were those who supported the Kings, Queens, Czars, Lords and Ladies, those who saw JP Morgan, Carnegie, Rockefeller as great leaders and philanthropists while they themselves were struggling, so too are there those in this nation doing it again.

I don't think anyone will ever say that someone who has worked hard, been honest, and paid their fair share doesn't deserve it, no matter how much. But that isn't what's happening.

I'm just glad that the majority of Americans are starting to realize what's going on and how we are really in a class warfare. You only have to look at the 40 years of Middle Class wage stagnation compared to the massive increase of the few wealthy to see the truth.

Of course those supporters will say "Oh well you don't deserve someone else's money", "Oh I won't pay welfare for drug addicts", "I'm not going to pay universal healthcare for alcoholics", "People are just lazy and don't want to work and I won't pay for them."

Fox News, who says this all the time, is not for the educated.

Do you really believe that millions of hard working people aren't already doing exactly what you just said? They aren't working harder, getting the best education they can and doing what they can? Sure a lot of them don't desire, nor even want to be rich, many don't even want to advance. So are all those millions of hard working Americans "moaning and groaning" for something they don't deserve?

No. They are "moaning and groaning" because what they do deserve, their hard earned pay, their benefits, are not being used for them nor their country, but to support others who do not need that support. My Social Security payments are nothing more than a slush fund for the Fed. I likely will not see it or even less of it when I retire. That of course is if I retire thanks to the government and companies wanting people to work longer and longer. My taxes are supposed to go to the support of the national system, military and infrastructure. Not to pay out GM, Citibank, Behr Sterns and other mega corporations and banks (if I fail I get fired, if they fail they get a bonus, if my friends company fails it goes under, if GM fails it gets inflow of taxpayer funds). If Warren Buffet is paying only 16% in taxes but his secretary is paying 30%, how is that his fair share? Why should a low paid secretary pay nearly double in taxes than someone who makes BILLIONS more than her?

So explain to me how that is "honest" or their "fair share?"

Are there good wealthy Americans? Yes. Many of them give back to the people they know are working hard for them. The head of one of the largest memory chip makers, Kensington, had such a great year that he gave nearly all the profits back to his employees, across the board. Buffet himself has lobbied for changes in the tax laws, closing the loopholes, and has admitted the system is fixed for the wealthy to get more and the working people less. Too many of the top 400 we're talking about have played those games and it's factual, not just propaganda. Again, research and history.

I, and I'm sure millions of Americans, do not at all want "what we haven't earned." But what we do want is across the board fairness of what is TAKEN from what we HAVE earned. This goes for our Congress too with their life long pensions, health insurance, and everything else that is outside what Americans have to deal with.

It's called fairness. It's called ethics. It's called honesty. Things sorely missing from the top tiers of our nation.