Community Chat

[Noel7]

---

@Irshgrl31201 wrote:

---

@Noel7 wrote:

The bottom line is that every decent economist will tell us all that, in America, the middle class is disappearing.  Most of them becoming the new "working poor,"

At the same time, the very rich are getting richer.

The same economists tell us America cannot stand without the middle class. 

Something is very wrong, and we cannot sit by and let it happen.

---

I don't disagree with you that the middle class disappearing is not good. There are many reasons for that and the biggest one is globalization.  Free trade is good for this country, but not it's workers especially blue collar workers. In the 90s with the North American Free Trade Agreement originally the BLS projected 2.8 million new jobs between 1998-2008 and we actually lost between 68k-100k. I think there are also huge corporations that are awful employers and care little about anything but the bottom line. That is why I make it my job to make sure I am not only not that type of employer but that I also don't spend one red cent with corporations who have no ethics. We can expect to see more of that with the TPP.

*****************************

@Irshgrl31201

I agree.  Falling wages have been a big issue.  Many new college grads are shocked at the wages they are being offered.

They can forget living in San Francisco and the Bay Area.  The prices here are outrageous.  As a small example, in SF we pay a dollar a gallon more for gasoline than anywhere else in CA. 

And as for buying a home, forget it unless you are able to pay a couple of million for a small home in a middle class residential area.  I think rent for a small apt starts around $3000 a month now.

---

[truffle]

I have read that right before the new administration takes over, there will be another economic crisis....home values will be decimated again and corporations will be looking for more bailouts.  

[Irshgrl31201]

---

@Noel7 wrote:

---

@Irshgrl31201 wrote:

---

@Noel7 wrote:

The bottom line is that every decent economist will tell us all that, in America, the middle class is disappearing.  Most of them becoming the new "working poor,"

At the same time, the very rich are getting richer.

The same economists tell us America cannot stand without the middle class. 

Something is very wrong, and we cannot sit by and let it happen.

---

I don't disagree with you that the middle class disappearing is not good. There are many reasons for that and the biggest one is globalization.  Free trade is good for this country, but not it's workers especially blue collar workers. In the 90s with the North American Free Trade Agreement originally the BLS projected 2.8 million new jobs between 1998-2008 and we actually lost between 68k-100k. I think there are also huge corporations that are awful employers and care little about anything but the bottom line. That is why I make it my job to make sure I am not only not that type of employer but that I also don't spend one red cent with corporations who have no ethics. We can expect to see more of that with the TPP.

*****************************

@Irshgrl31201

I agree.  Falling wages have been a big issue.  Many new college grads are shocked at the wages they are being offered.

They can forget living in San Francisco and the Bay Area.  The prices here are outrageous.  As a small example, in SF we pay a dollar a gallon more for gasoline than anywhere else in CA. 

And as for buying a home, forget it unless you are able to pay a couple of million for a small home in a middle class residential area.  I think rent for a small apt starts around $3000 a month now.

---

---

Oh, I completely agree with you. Something radical needs to be done and it won't be. I read everyday about the craziness of your city and rents. Outrageous. NYC is losing businesses that have been there for decades because rents are so high and these businesses can't sustain. Unfortunately I feel most Americans are more concerned with American Idol and know more about that than they do their own govt and how it functions. I feel the only thing that will save us now it a complete upheaval and every American marching on Washington demanding these changes. It is a sad situation. It honestly overwhelms me most days if I really start to think about it. I just try to do the best I can with my little corner and hope there are enough people who feel the same and keep plugging away. 

[italia8140]

---

@AngusandBuddhasMom wrote:

Let me put it in simpler terms. I hope that someone gets in to office that will stick it to the wealthy because at the end of the day. No matter how much you think you  are paying you are not paying as much as a poor person. I know I don't. I have money after taxes and I never said I have a problem paying other taxes and health insurance.

Nice try-fail.

---

---

I AGREE.

[Toppers]

---

@Irshgrl31201 wrote:

---

@AngusandBuddhasMom wrote:

Let me put it in simpler terms. I hope that someone gets in to office that will stick it to the wealthy because at the end of the day. No matter how much you think you  are paying you are not paying as much as a poor person. I know I don't. I have money after taxes and I never said I have a problem paying other taxes and health insurance.

Nice try-fail.

---

---

Really? I am not? I paid 42% of my income last year between federal and state taxes. That does not include capital gains taxes which I will pay another 15% on. How much would you like me to pay? 50%? 60%? While 47% of the country pays not even 1-5%??? I have no problem paying more, I think I should but I will be da%#% if I pay 42% while almost half of Americans pay not a dime and even receive earned income credit and then complain I am not paying enough. I guarantee you there is NO ONE in this country making 50-100k that is even paying within 15% of what I did last year in taxes. The effective tax rate for 50k is around 10-12%. Opinions like your really p me off because you want the rich pinched? I would love to see them raise the rate on the rich even further because they are the only ones who could afford to move and it would be comical watching that tax base leave and see what the 47% paying nothing would do. 

I am twisting no statistics. These are the IRSs statistics. You are the one who is sorely misinformed, there is absolutely no question who pays more.

---

Realistically, although you are in a higher tax bracket, I don't think that you would want to be at the other end of the bracket and be in a tax bracket where you don't pay anything, either. You would be pretty poor/poverty-stricken.

Many people have quite a misunderstanding of how the Earned Income Credit works.

I explained that over in Among Friends in the "taxes" thread, if you want to read about it.

It's just like its name implies-someone needs to have some kind of income, in order to see if they qualify for the credit. 

[Irshgrl31201]

---

@Toppers wrote:

---

@Irshgrl31201 wrote:

---

@AngusandBuddhasMom wrote:

Let me put it in simpler terms. I hope that someone gets in to office that will stick it to the wealthy because at the end of the day. No matter how much you think you  are paying you are not paying as much as a poor person. I know I don't. I have money after taxes and I never said I have a problem paying other taxes and health insurance.

Nice try-fail.

---

---

Really? I am not? I paid 42% of my income last year between federal and state taxes. That does not include capital gains taxes which I will pay another 15% on. How much would you like me to pay? 50%? 60%? While 47% of the country pays not even 1-5%??? I have no problem paying more, I think I should but I will be da%#% if I pay 42% while almost half of Americans pay not a dime and even receive earned income credit and then complain I am not paying enough. I guarantee you there is NO ONE in this country making 50-100k that is even paying within 15% of what I did last year in taxes. The effective tax rate for 50k is around 10-12%. Opinions like your really p me off because you want the rich pinched? I would love to see them raise the rate on the rich even further because they are the only ones who could afford to move and it would be comical watching that tax base leave and see what the 47% paying nothing would do. 

I am twisting no statistics. These are the IRSs statistics. You are the one who is sorely misinformed, there is absolutely no question who pays more.

---

Realistically, although you are in a higher tax bracket, I don't think that you would want to be at the other end of the bracket and be in a tax bracket where you don't pay anything, either. You would be pretty poor/poverty-stricken.

Many people have quite a misunderstanding of how the Earned Income Credit works.

I explained that over in Among Friends in the "taxes" thread, if you want to read about it.

It's just like its name implies-someone needs to have some kind of income, in order to see if they qualify for the credit. 

---

I have been homeless with a newborn baby so I know exactly what poverty stricken is. 

[Irshgrl31201]

Gotta go ladies. I still haven't eaten dinner and I have to set my alarm for 4am. Have a nice night.

[Toppers]

---

@Irshgrl31201 wrote:

---

@Toppers wrote:

---

@Irshgrl31201 wrote:

---

@AngusandBuddhasMom wrote:

Let me put it in simpler terms. I hope that someone gets in to office that will stick it to the wealthy because at the end of the day. No matter how much you think you  are paying you are not paying as much as a poor person. I know I don't. I have money after taxes and I never said I have a problem paying other taxes and health insurance.

Nice try-fail.

---

---

Really? I am not? I paid 42% of my income last year between federal and state taxes. That does not include capital gains taxes which I will pay another 15% on. How much would you like me to pay? 50%? 60%? While 47% of the country pays not even 1-5%??? I have no problem paying more, I think I should but I will be da%#% if I pay 42% while almost half of Americans pay not a dime and even receive earned income credit and then complain I am not paying enough. I guarantee you there is NO ONE in this country making 50-100k that is even paying within 15% of what I did last year in taxes. The effective tax rate for 50k is around 10-12%. Opinions like your really p me off because you want the rich pinched? I would love to see them raise the rate on the rich even further because they are the only ones who could afford to move and it would be comical watching that tax base leave and see what the 47% paying nothing would do. 

I am twisting no statistics. These are the IRSs statistics. You are the one who is sorely misinformed, there is absolutely no question who pays more.

---

Realistically, although you are in a higher tax bracket, I don't think that you would want to be at the other end of the bracket and be in a tax bracket where you don't pay anything, either. You would be pretty poor/poverty-stricken.

Many people have quite a misunderstanding of how the Earned Income Credit works.

I explained that over in Among Friends in the "taxes" thread, if you want to read about it.

It's just like its name implies-someone needs to have some kind of income, in order to see if they qualify for the credit. 

---

I have been homeless with a newborn baby so I know exactly what poverty stricken is. 

---

I understand.

Sometimes people seem to have trouble understanding taxes, though, and how the taxes relates to others. and what they do and don't pay.

[Irshgrl31201]

---

@Toppers wrote:

---

@Irshgrl31201 wrote:

---

@Toppers wrote:

---

@Irshgrl31201 wrote:

---

@AngusandBuddhasMom wrote:

Let me put it in simpler terms. I hope that someone gets in to office that will stick it to the wealthy because at the end of the day. No matter how much you think you  are paying you are not paying as much as a poor person. I know I don't. I have money after taxes and I never said I have a problem paying other taxes and health insurance.

Nice try-fail.

---

---

Really? I am not? I paid 42% of my income last year between federal and state taxes. That does not include capital gains taxes which I will pay another 15% on. How much would you like me to pay? 50%? 60%? While 47% of the country pays not even 1-5%??? I have no problem paying more, I think I should but I will be da%#% if I pay 42% while almost half of Americans pay not a dime and even receive earned income credit and then complain I am not paying enough. I guarantee you there is NO ONE in this country making 50-100k that is even paying within 15% of what I did last year in taxes. The effective tax rate for 50k is around 10-12%. Opinions like your really p me off because you want the rich pinched? I would love to see them raise the rate on the rich even further because they are the only ones who could afford to move and it would be comical watching that tax base leave and see what the 47% paying nothing would do. 

I am twisting no statistics. These are the IRSs statistics. You are the one who is sorely misinformed, there is absolutely no question who pays more.

---

Realistically, although you are in a higher tax bracket, I don't think that you would want to be at the other end of the bracket and be in a tax bracket where you don't pay anything, either. You would be pretty poor/poverty-stricken.

Many people have quite a misunderstanding of how the Earned Income Credit works.

I explained that over in Among Friends in the "taxes" thread, if you want to read about it.

It's just like its name implies-someone needs to have some kind of income, in order to see if they qualify for the credit. 

---

I have been homeless with a newborn baby so I know exactly what poverty stricken is. 

---

I understand.

Sometimes people seem to have trouble understanding taxes, though, and how the taxes relates to others. and what they do and don't pay.

---

Thank you. I do understand what you mean. Unfortunately though I hate math and having to deal with taxes I have had to learn about them. Much more than I ever wanted to! Have a nice night!!