Monday, November 21, 2011

Money math . . .


IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER: according to Robert Lenzner at FORBES, "The Top 0.1% Of The Nation Earn Half Of All Capital Gains". YIKES! This means that it's not the top 1%, it's the top thousandth, that 1/1000 of some 330 million people are staggeringly wealthy.

The top 0.1%-- about 315,000 individuals out of 315 million-- are making about half of all capital gains on the sale of shares or property after 1 year; and these capital gains make up 60% of the income made by the Forbes 400.

It's crystal clear that the Bush tax reduction on capital gains and dividend income in 2003 was the cutting edge policy that has created the immense increase in net worth of corporate executives, Wall St. professionals and other entrepreneurs.

• • •

I commend you to the late Justice Louis Brandeis warning to the nation that "We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." We have to make up our minds to restore a higher, fairer capital gains tax to the wealthiest investor class-- or ultimately face increased social unrest.


Ouch! And the GOP wants to give these people tax cuts?                                   H/T to Nolan

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