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Local Unemployment Rate Back to 11%
I hope I did not come across as insensitive to the less fortunate. I know first hand what it is to be very poor and it is not the best place to be. The well off have a moral duty to assist those who are not well off. However, the less well off also have a responsibility to help themselves. I feel very sorry for the unemployed or those who are now having trouble meeting their financial obligations. Life can change in an instant, and it is usually for the worse and not the better. Being "rich" is not as important to me as not being "poor."— April 17, 2010 6:48 p.m.
Local Unemployment Rate Back to 11%
Back in November, Peggy Noonan wrote a piece called: "We're Governed by Callous Children. Americans feel increasingly disheartened, and our leaders don't even notice" It ends "They don't feel anxious, because they never had anything to be anxious about. They grew up in an America surrounded by phrases—"strongest nation in the world," "indispensable nation," "unipolar power," "highest standard of living"—and are not bright enough, or serious enough, to imagine that they can damage that, hurt it, even fatally. We are governed at all levels by America's luckiest children, sons and daughters of the abundance, and they call themselves optimists but they're not optimists—they're unimaginative. They don't have faith, they've just never been foreclosed on. They are stupid and they are callous, and they don't mind it when people become disheartened. They don't even notice." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703…— April 17, 2010 6:22 p.m.
Local Unemployment Rate Back to 11%
I think you will find the upper 1% has about 23% of the income but a much higher percent of the wealth. In any case, it's obscene. ====== Why is it obscene? If the wealth was ill-gotten, like in bootlegging during prohibition, then I completely agree with you. I also agree with you that executive pay, Wall Street, entertainers, etc. are overpaid. However, wealth accumulation can have far more to do about how one manages their money and lifestyle choices than anything else. The reason I asked what the numbers are is because they are thrown around and it is important to know exactly what they are. I do not know what they are. I heard a couple of years ago that the median net worth is about $10,000. If that is indeed accurate, than I would say that many of the bottom 50% are responsible for their lack of wealth. My parents were immigrants who did not speak English and had low-paying jobs, yet in about 15 years they managed to save about $80,000. I made more money the first day out of college than their combined income. We drive an 8-year old car and an 18-year car. Many of those who have no wealth drive newer cars and are far more spendthrift. You have the fabulously wealthy and they are in an entirely different world. However, many non-government people who retire with a net worth of $1-3 million were either small businessmen, who take many risks and create jobs, or well-paid ($80-$120,000) who lived well below their means. Creating resentment towards those who made different lifestyle choices does not help society in the long run. There are many reasons for why income has stagnated in the middle and lower end of the scale. Illegal immigration destroys the economic power of the unskilled. Globalization hurts those who have to compete on a worldwide basis. The days of low-skill, high-pay jobs will be difficult to bring back. You have to remember that we impact this when we make purchasing decisions or support regulations to improve something 0.1% but costs 50% more. How many elitists constantly deride this country and the American worker. Go to a university staff parking lot, and how many American cars do you see there?— April 17, 2010 6:12 p.m.
Local Unemployment Rate Back to 11%
Rather than focusing on the percentage reduction, a better way to look at it is whether we had economic growth and whether tax revenues increased. Reagan and the Democratic Congress cut marginal tax rates twice, the first time from ~70% to 50% and then in 1986 to 28%, with a 33% rate in a bracket above $100,000. At the same time most deductions were eliminated, including the mortgage reduction to $1 million from unlimited. All of a sudden investment decisions were based on the economic/wealth creation and not the tax shelter aspects, regardless of whether it had any economic value or not. Government revenues increased dramatically and the percentage of taxes paid by the higher income people increased. You can feel good about having high marginal rates, but if you do not collect any revenue and you have no economic growth, as is happening in California, is anyone really better off? The class envy card can be played, but be very careful about which demagogue uses to accumulate political power and you become "them." Increasing the government's power only benefits the government and those who work for it. Individual freedom and liberty become its victim. The next few years are going to be very interesting, and I do not mean it in a good way. As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for, you might get it.— April 17, 2010 5:41 p.m.
Local Unemployment Rate Back to 11%
The top 1%-10% have ways to avoid paying taxes ======= Could you please define the top 0.1%, 1%, 5% and 10% both in terms of net worth and income. There is a world of difference between the top 0.1% and the top 10%, unless the person in the 10% segment is a trust funder or living entirely off investments. Households who have two very good salaries can do very little to avoid being robbed by the government, other than contributing the maximum to a 401-k or buying tax-efficient mutual funds/ETFs. Municipal bonds are also an alternative, but who trusts California munis? Very wealthy hypocrites like Warren Buffet pontificate about how taxes should be higher, yet they do everything possible to avoid paying taxes. Mr. Buffet makes sure his compensation is classified as capital gains, which is taxed at a relatively low tax rate, and can create trust funds to avoid inheritance taxes. If they think the government does such a wonderful job with the money it collects, there is nothing to keep them from voluntarily paying higher taxes or paying the death tax. The way hedge fund managers manipulate their earnings with the political class' blessing is criminal. The upper-middle class, and to a lesser extent the middle class, are the ones who are soaked by taxes. I liked the Reagan tax rates of 15% and 28% with very few (none would be better) deductions and no difference between earned income and long-term capital gains to avoid gaming the tax code.— April 17, 2010 2:39 a.m.
Judge Dumps Criminal Pension Charges
something positive happened with the pension litigation cases ====== And OJ was "not guilty" in our "legal" system. Nothing changes the fact that there is no money to pay the "legal" theft by greedy public masters.— April 8, 2010 11:37 p.m.
Qualcomm CEO: Pay Down Slightly While Profits Plunge
At least it did go down. I am sure it will only go up to where it was last year when profits rebound. I believe executive compensation at the NYT is fairly generous, particularly when you compare it to the poor financial performance and staff layoffs. Executive compensation has many different components: base salary, "long-term" compensation, "incentive" compensation, "deferred" compensation, stock options, etc. that makes it very difficult to understand and correlate with performance. It often seems like heads "I win" and tails "you lose."— April 6, 2010 11:44 p.m.
Bearded Man Denied Entry into U.S.
Mr. Victor Davis Hanson's latest column is about immigration and is applicable to this discussion. Next Battle: Immigration What we will — and will not — hear in the upcoming debate. www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson040510.html A paper written in 2006 by an advisor to Mexican presidential candidate Vicente Fox gives an insight into how the American political class views immigration. Immigration and Usurpation: Elites, Power, and the People’s Will www.cis.org/articles/2006/back706.html— April 6, 2010 10:55 p.m.
Bearded Man Denied Entry into U.S.
Trouble is, the people who RUN those countries -- say, Carlos Slim in Mexico -- are far more interested in self-aggrandizement than in improving their countries' societies. If they thought about it, it would be in their self-interest to see consumers prosper, but most cannot see that far. ====== I agree with your assessment. Mexico is run by an oligarchy and many businesses are not much more than cartels. That is part of the reason that many services and products are more expensive there than here and you see so many Baja license plates at the Costco in Chula Vista. Even by Latin American standards, Mexico has an incredible concentration of wealth. If memory serves me right, the wealthiest 100 FAMILIES in Mexico control about 50% of the wealth. I think part of the reason Mexico has been able to do this is because the US serves as an escape valve for the poor. The PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) used socialist rhetoric and blaming the US for poverty to stay in power for 70 years. The smog, traffic jams and wealth (Downtown/Polanco/Chapultepec) is what I remember from my business visits to Mexico City. I also remember the well-dressed bureaucrat who was able to skip customs at the airport. If Mexico did not share a 2,000 mile border with us and we did not have the illegal immigration problem, I would not care very much about it. Geography makes the two countries dependent on each other. Stability in Mexico is in our interest. I am very leery of class warfare and redistribution of income rhetoric. Envy is a very powerful human emotion that has been used successfully by demagogues to increase their power and government's control of society. There is a reason why avoiding envy is one of the Ten Commandments.— April 6, 2010 10:42 p.m.
Bearded Man Denied Entry into U.S.
Mexicans are quite literate... ====== Unfortunately, from a US perspective, they are not the one emigrating. On the other hand, Mexico needs them to stay for the country to prosper. A major concern with all the violence is that increasingly the middle/upper class is leaving Mexico. This is particularly true for those who live on the border, where violence has been greater and it is easier to set up a household on this side of the border--if you can afford it. The Mexican population in San Diego is much more diverse than in other parts of California. Chula Vista has always had middle-class Mexicans living there, or attending the Catholic schools. Many wealthy Mexicans live in Coronado and La Jolla. The Spanish mass at Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in La Jolla is a contrast in classes: the wealthy who live in La Jolla and the poor who serve in La Jolla. You see a fair number of Mexicans attending opera and symphony performances. Unfortunately, far too many immigrants from Mexico and Central America do not appear to value education. The drop out rates are alarming and very few graduate from college with marketable degrees. It is a vicious circle that does not help anyone except for the "discrimination" racket hustlers. Education is the best means for success in the 21st century and no government authority can confiscate it.— April 6, 2010 10:03 p.m.