We Need to Tax the Rich -- Here's Why

Yes, we need to tax the rich. Robert Reich spells out why and then how, too. This would be an excellent way to support and fix our infrastructure. Just look around the city, at, say, Ward Parkway, Wornall Road, 63rd Street, all across town and you can see how and where we need this. Let's do this, America.

A Challenge -- to any and every American

Quote of the day

On tonight's "Downton Abbey"

On tonight's PBS series of it's very popular "Downton Abbey", the story unfolds.

These extremely wealthy people, this extremely wealthy family, which has lived for decades in a mansion and extravagant luxury, supported by their extremely hard working, 24 hour staff, is fighting to keep said mansion and all the staff.  And all that luxury.

I can totally relate.

Link:   Downton Abbey

To the "Job Creators"

Open letter to Princess Kate

Dear Princess Kate,

Excuse me.

You're a freaking Princess of the British Royal family.

Hello?

That and you're young and beautiful and wealthy and, don't forget, have a beautiful body, let's not forget or ignore.

Do you not know that virtually ANY man wants to see your breasts, sadly, but that because you're young and beautiful and rich and yes, finally, that you're BRITISH ROYALTY, everyone wants to see you naked, if possible?

Sure, it's stupid but come on, the human being is far too puerile and there are a great deal of voyeurs out there in the world, down through history.

So if you go topless on a yacht and it's remotely close to a public space, do you not think some idiot of some kind is going to take a zoom lens and try to get a picture--or some pictures--of you? They'll try to do that, period, just for the heck of it but here's the topper--it also pays a great deal, too, to those low-class, scummy rag tabloids.

What part of any of this do you not get?

And while we're at it, please ask the rest of the Royal Family the same thing, would you, please?

Oh, and if you and the Royals want a rather "moral leg to stand on", so to speak, maybe you and the family should stop taking national, public money from the nation since you're, oh, I don't know, ONE OF THE WEALTHIEST FAMILIES ON THE PLANET? If you don't want people taking pictures of you in your private time, stop taking this public money. I know then, if you and they did, then I know I'd back your claim of a right to privacy. Until that time, however, I think the citizens of England rather own you, since they already buy and pay for you. This money could go to help the lower- and middle-classes of your country, instead.

So now the Royal family files suit against the tabloids. Wow. Apparently they have no better use of their time and money but to file suit against tabloids across Europe that are doing exactly what they've always done, as though it's a surprise somehow.

Y'all can do better than this. Go help some people instead.

Most sincerely,

Kevin Evans
Kansas City, Missouri

Links: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/09/14/royal-family-considers-legal-action-after-magazine-publishes-topless-pictures/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/15/us-britain-royals-kate-italy-idUSBRE88E0AU20120915

Advice to the less-well off, from one of the richest

Here's chutzpah for you, from the news last week. Maybe you saw it already:

World’s Richest Woman Says Poor Should Have Less Fun, Work Harder

Advice by the world’s wealthiest woman, Gina Rinehart, on how to become a millionaire has been slammed by an Australian MP, Bob Katter, who says she "left out the bit about daddy being a major cattle station owner”.

Mr Katter, an outspoken independent MP from north Queensland, joined a chorus of criticism across the country of Ms Rinehart’s claim that people jealous of the wealthy should "spend less time drinking or smoking and socialising”.
“[She] left out the bit about daddy being a major cattle station owner and the biggest mining magnate in Australia", Mr Katter said. “That "helps as well. She says here that the minimum average wage of $600 a week should be cut. This is coming from the world's richest woman.”

Mrs Rinehart, a mining heiress who capitalised on surging commodity prices and growing demand from China and India to build an iron ore empire worth an estimated £19 billion, wrote in her regular column in a resources magazine that Australia has lost its hard-working roots.

Reminds me of the old song:



Links: http://www.infowars.com/worlds-richest-woman-says-poor-should-have-less-fun-work-harder/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/9511505/Gina-Rinehart-criticised-for-jealous-poor-remarks.html

Conservative, Republican David Brooks, on Mitt Romney, in case you missed it (guest post)

Because it's just too good to miss, really, proving that even rich, conservative, white Republicans don't like this rich, white, faux-conservative Republican:

The purpose of the Republican convention is to introduce America to the real Mitt Romney. Fortunately, I have spent hours researching this subject. I can provide you with the definitive biography and a unique look into the Byronic soul of the Republican nominee:

Mitt Romney was born on March 12, 1947, in Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Virginia and several other swing states. He emerged, hair first, believing in America, and especially its national parks. He was given the name Mitt, after the Roman god of mutual funds, and launched into the world with the lofty expectation that he would someday become the Arrow shirt man.

Romney was a precocious and gifted child. He uttered his first words ("I like to fire people") at age 14 months, made his first gaffe at 15 months and purchased his first nursery school at 24 months. The school, highly leveraged, went under, but Romney made 24 million Jujubes on the deal.

Mitt grew up in a modest family. His father had an auto body shop called the American Motors Corporation, and his mother owned a small piece of land, Brazil. He had several boyhood friends, many of whom owned Nascar franchises, and excelled at school, where his fourth-grade project, "Inspiring Actuaries I Have Known," was widely admired.

The Romneys had a special family tradition. The most cherished member got to spend road trips on the roof of the car. Mitt spent many happy hours up there, applying face lotion to combat windburn.

The teenage years were more turbulent. He was sent to a private school, where he was saddened to find there are people in America who summer where they winter. He developed a lifelong concern for the second homeless, and organized bake sales with proceeds going to the moderately rich.

Some people say he retreated into himself during these years. He had a pet rock, which ran away from home because it was starved of affection. He bought a mood ring, but it remained permanently transparent. His ability to turn wine into water detracted from his popularity at parties.

There was, frankly, a period of wandering. After hearing Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side," Romney decided to leave Mormonism and become Amish. He left the Amish faith because of its ban on hair product, and bounced around before settling back in college. There, he majored in music, rendering Mozart's entire oeuvre in PowerPoint.

His love affair with Ann Davies, the most impressive part of his life, restored his equilibrium. Always respectful, Mitt and Ann decided to elope with their parents. They went on a trip to Israel, where they tried and failed to introduce the concept of reticence. Romney also went on a mission to France. He spent two years knocking on doors, failing to win a single convert. This was a feat he would replicate during his 2008 presidential bid.

After his mission, he attended Harvard, studying business, law, classics and philosophy, though intellectually his first love was always tax avoidance. After Harvard, he took his jawline to Bain Consulting, a firm with very smart people with excessive personal hygiene. While at Bain, he helped rescue many outstanding companies, like Pan Am, Eastern Airlines, Atari and DeLorean.

Romney was extremely detail oriented in his business life. He once canceled a corporate retreat at which Abba had been hired to play, saying he found the band's music "too angry."

Romney is also a passionately devoted family man. After streamlining his wife's pregnancies down to six months each, Mitt helped Ann raise five perfect sons - Bip, Chip, Rip, Skip and Dip - who married identically tanned wives. Some have said that Romney's lifestyle is overly privileged, pointing to the fact that he has an elevator for his cars in the garage of his San Diego home. This is not entirely fair. Romney owns many homes without garage elevators and the cars have to take the stairs.

After a successful stint at Bain, Romney was lured away to run the Winter Olympics, the second most Caucasian institution on earth, after the G.O.P. He then decided to run for governor of Massachusetts. His campaign slogan, "Vote Romney: More Impressive Than You'll Ever Be," was not a hit, but Romney won the race anyway on an environmental platform, promising to make the state safe for steeplechase.

After his governorship, Romney suffered through a midlife crisis, during which he became a social conservative. This prepared the way for his presidential run. He barely won the 2012 Republican primaries after a grueling nine-month campaign, running unopposed. At the convention, where his Secret Service nickname is Mannequin, Romney will talk about his real-life record: successful business leader, superb family man, effective governor, devoted community leader and prudent decision-maker. If elected, he promises to bring all Americans together and make them feel inferior.

Link: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/opinion/brooks-the-real-romney.xml

Song dedication: To Mitt Romney

The headline:

Mitt Romney stayed at Bain 3 years longer than he stated

The link: http://articles.boston.com/2012-07-12/politics/32633322_1_bain-capital-mitt-romney-financial-disclosure

That said, we "won't be sorry when we let you go" as the song might otherwise suggest.

Quote of the day

“The rich man is always sold to the institution which makes him rich. Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue.”
--Henry David Thoreau, American Essayist, Poet and Philosopher, 1817-1862

Less tax breaks for "Big Oil" and about 4% higher tax rate from the wealthy--doesn't that make sense?

"Every Member of Congress is going to go on record. And if they vote to keep giving tax breaks to people like me – tax breaks our country can’t afford – then they’re going to have to explain to you where that money comes from. Either it’s going to add to our deficit, or it’s going to come out of your pocket. Seniors will have to pay more for their Medicare benefits. Students will see their interest rates go up at a time when they can’t afford it. Families who are scraping by will have to do more because the richest Americans are doing less." "That’s not right. That’s not who we are. In America, our story has never been about what we can do by ourselves – it’s about what we can do together. It’s about believing in our future and the future of this country. So tell your Members of Congress to do the right thing. Call them up, write them a letter, pay them a visit, and tell them to stop giving tax breaks to people who don’t need them and start investing in the things that will help our economy grow and put people back to work. That’s how we’ll make this country a little fairer, a little more just, and a whole lot stronger." —-President Barack Obama

Groucho Marx, on wealth

"As soon as they become rich, they become Republican." --Groucho Marx, speaking to Dick Cavett on "The Dick Cavett Show"

Kansas Governor Brownback: "Take from the poor, give to the rich"

I find it difficult to believe these people can even get in office, let alone stay there. Here's the latest "take from the poor, give to the rich" scheme and this time it's from next-door neighbor Kansas: "A bill sponsored by Kansas Republican Governor Sam Brownback would spur economic growth by cutting income taxes on residents and doing away with them entirely for most small business while reducing or eliminating a variety of tax credits. But it turns out that in the version of the bill approved by a House committee this week, half a million of the state’s poorest residents who earn less than $25,000 will wind up paying an average of $72 more per year, while the 21,000 Kansans who make over $250.000 will get an average tax cut of $1500." The thing is, too, if you read the article (it's brief), you'll find his original plan gave even MORE to the rich and took even more from those who make less. HEADSLAP. I ask you, is that not disgusting? Why do any politicians get away with this? And then, how? ANY political party should be punished--and severely--at the polls for doing things like this. It just makes it so much easier if it's a Republican, as in this case.Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/24/kansas-may-raise-taxes-on-the-poor-to-fund-cuts-for-the-rich/

Do away with the Capital Gains Tax?

I got an email note from a friend today that sums up the whole push by the GOP and Right Wing to do away with the Captial Gains tax: "I just came from the grocery store and the headline in the Wall Street Journal was that Mitt Romney's tax rate was 15% which means he is getting tens of millions of dollars a year in income and paying the 15% capital gains tax rate on it. Is it any wonder that all the tax plans the Republican candidates are proposing all say do away with the tax on capital gains. Then they and their rich friends won't pay any tax at all on their incomes. What a wonderful world. Then the 3/4 of the population who don't benefit at all from capital gains can just pick up the slack." Then he said something profane, frankly, that made clear the strength of his feelings on this issue but that I won't recopy. Links: http://media.talkingpointsmemo.com/slideshow/mitt-romney-taxes; http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/politics/facing-pointed-attacks-romney-urges-focus-on-obama.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

Quote of the day

"Money is like manure — it does no good unless you spread it around." --Anonymous (old country saying). Link: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/757519/rising_egalitarianism_is_changing_american_politics_--_for_the_better/

America loves the young, rich, brilliant and/or beautiful

Further proof today that America likes to support, help and be with the young, rich, brilliant and/or beautiful, to the exclusion of the rest: Mentally ill flood ER as states cut services (link at bottom) If you're poor, black, Hispanic, gay, homely (yes, I'm serious), a child, mentally- or physically-challenged, hungry, sick, or otherwise downtrodden or deprived in some way, America is not going to beat a path to your door. We reward success, unabashedly. Sure, there are some people and organizations that do help some downtrodden, but by and large, as a society, if you're "down" in some way, America is not for you. At least America is not really for you since the 80's. We seem to have lost our way about then. We love kowtowing to the rich and beautiful above all other, too. We know far more about Lindsay Lohan and Kim Kardashian than the hungry or sick or others in our society. I only point it out so a) we recognize it and b) we change. Here's hoping. Links: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/24/us-usa-health-psychiatric-idUSTRE7BN06820111224; http://pdf.reuters.com/pdfnews/pdfnews.asp?i=43059c3bf0e37541&u=2011_12_22_10_29_7ee9cb1cb9ef4d1bbe110e706e416290_PRIMARY.gif; http://pdf.reuters.com/pdfnews/pdfnews.asp?i=43059c3bf0e37541&u=2011_12_22_11_17_5e768f52c85343ed9bbdc4ee19921da7_PRIMARY.gif

Quote of the day

“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” -John Steinbeck

Guest Post: Warren Buffet on the selfish, greedy rich of the US

From The New York Times today: Op-Ed Contributor, Stop Coddling the Super-Rich By WARREN E. BUFFETT, Published: August 14, 2011, Omaha; OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched. While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors. Read the entire column here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html?_r=3

Truisms

Truism number 1: There is no "final frontier". Truism number 2: There is no such thing as "extra money." Truism number 3: You really can be "too thin" and you really can be "too rich." Have a great weekend, y'all.

My opinion: the Dubai Islands had mistake written all over them

I predicted--and, I have to admit--even hoped these artificial "Dubai Islands" they created over there would fail.

It's not like I wanted to wish ill on anyone, either.  It's just that it made no sense. It goes against nature and it does so on far too grand a scale.

And here it is, proof positive, it seems:

According to evidence presented to a property tribunal, the World islands off the coast of Dubai are sinking.

The "Dubai World Tribunal" was set up to hear cases arising out of the multiple problems that the outlandishly ambitious scheme has faced since it started in 2003. Evidence brought by Richard Wilmot-Smith QC, representing Penguin Marine, the company holding the rights to provide transport to and from the islands,  showed "erosion and deterioration of The World islands." So, in a nutshell, "the islands are gradually falling back into the sea."  As well as the foundational sands of the islands sinking there is also evidence that the navigational channels between the islands are silting up.

The development, consisting of 300 islands, was designed to look like the countries of the globe when seen from above (or from the top of Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building onshore in the city). The islands were intended to become luxury hotel complexes and private properties, each tailor-made to suit its owners. According to the developer, Nakheel, 70% of the islands have been sold. However, only one of the islands has completed development: 'Greenland' is owned by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Emir of Dubai, and is a showpiece for the scheme.

Remember the old saying, the old advertisement?  "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature..."  BOOM