(09-20-2022 11:14 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote: (09-20-2022 10:14 AM)WalkThePlank Wrote: (09-20-2022 09:58 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote: I'm going to need you to tell me when in the last 40 years we've seen a bunch of leftist economic policy at the national level. I've seen corporate tax rates go from 48% in 1980 to 21% now (and most don't even pay close to that). The top marginal tax rate has gone from 70% to 37%. Conservative presidents and the SC have gutted regulations and destroyed most of the New Deal aside from Social Security (which they want to end badly). The awful unions that were corrupt and actually hurting employees have been mostly wiped out. My generation should be drowning in all the trickling from the top, really should be more like a waterfall than a trickle at this point.
Leftist economic policy: "Fair share" rhetoric (what does that even mean?), 30,000 pages of regulations, more entitlement spending, insane amount of debt.
Confiscating the 1%'s money through taxation won't fix the insane spending we do every year.
Yet you have it backwards. Stop focusing on income inequality as the main factor of a robust economic system.
Corporate tax rates need to be as low as possible. We need more capital in the current system vs outsourcing. I'm not arguing for tariffs or protectionism, but it's too expensive for companies to do business here. Raising the corporate rate may feel "fairer," but it won't make a dent in the deficit and it will A) Make everything even more expensive B) Make them offshore even more and thus lose decent paying jobs.
As for the top marginal rate being lowered back in the early 80s, it was a great thing for the country. Massive growth, much larger middle class, tax base grew. The New Deal is outdated and cannot last in a global market. With property tax, income tax, payroll tax, sales tax, most people give away 40% of their labor to a bloated government that continues to rack up too much spending debt. SS was always destined to go broke because of Boomer retirees and not enough workers to pay for it all. If the left wants to take more taxes to fund SS long term, we can discuss that, but there needs to also be cuts made across the entire budget (Healthcare, defense, etc). You cannot have it all.
If the rich were getting exponentially richer while the bottom were getting not as much better off but had a better quality of life now than 40 years ago that would be fine. That would be the whole "rising tides lifting all boats" nonsense I've heard my entire life. Scarcity though actually is real, and we've been transferring wealth upward for 40 years on the myth that it's going to flow back down and make things better for the middle/bottom. And we've continued to drop corporate tax rates over and over and yet they continue to outsource jobs and use profits not to invest in their businesses but to invest in shareholders with massive stock buybacks and dividend payouts.
While the housing market is debatable I would say other than that yes you have it better off today than 40 years ago....
Your spending is the real problem
40 years ago you were lucky to have 2 TVs in a house and both were most likely going on 5 years
40 years ago a family might have had 1 car under 5 years old and another 10 or more years old...if at all on that 2nd car
40 years ago if you ate out every Friday or Saturday (not both) you were living the high life
40 years ago if your kids had bikes one was most likely handed down
Today not only are people filling ROOMS with new TVs they are buying 50+ inch new TVs every other year and not only is there one in the family/livingroom each bedroom will have a TV
Today a Junker is that 3 year old car and Mom and Pop and little Johnny if he's 16 years old are driving cars. Cars that are being replaced every 4 to 6 years
Today most people are eating out 5 out of 7 days and a lot 7 days
Today kids dont worry about a bike they have a $600 to $1,000 phone or a new PC or $600 game system that keeps them in the house. Along with another $150 to $200 a month on service and games. Each of those are being replace when the "new got to have it" replacement comes out the next year.
Today's problem is a SPENDING problem along with the housing problem. But lets be completely honest and not pretend the housing market has been this way for long term....
up till this year you had rates lower than anytime in history. Until 24 months ago housing prices were kind of flat. The 3 years before that you could still get great deals along with 4% interest .
Stop spending 10s of thousands of dollars on phones, game systems, eating out and that $1,000 a month car payment and drive a beater (like 40 years ago) and you would have had no problem owning a home before the prices got ridiculous.
SPENDING PROBLEM
PRIORITY PROBLEM
GOT TO HAVE IT TODAY PROBLEM