Real world reporting, these are the income levels it takes for the tax increase to even show up.
As everyone below $400,000 got a pass, most of the increase is the end of the reduction in worker payments to Social Security.
The same people who complain about Bush spending and debt, want to keep the Bush Tax Cuts, forever. It was a reduction in response to the 2001 recession, and like Bush Bucks, was a short term boost to drive the economy over a slow spot.
A better graph would be to compare what they would be paying under Clinton Era Taxes, and what they netted and banked due to Bush.
While these examples do make more than most, the couple with four children is paying about half of what they would have under Clinton.
1%, top 3%, are picked on, but the next 50% are getting by cheap. Household income of $50,000 to $250,000 are most of the wage earners, that pay any taxes, and the bottom 47% may work, but do not reach a taxable level.
Minimum wage is $300 a week, and Social Security @ 6% is $18. Cut 2% reduced to $12, now going up $6 a week. This is not news, and for those that it is, The WSJ costs $6 a week at the news stand.
So those making over $400,000 have reached recovery, and their taxes are going back to Clinton rates, and if the untaxed middle will do something but complain, they too can reach recovery and pay more taxes.
Let us say they were spoiled by the misuse of easy credit, buying a house worth twice what their income would suggest, depending on it going up so they could take out the equity, for millionaire vacations.
In my neighborhood we have blue collar that bought a $500,000 house for nothing down, ARM, Ballons, and as the market has been trending down, 8% a year, the asset is declining at $40,000 a year, for five years.
The house is worth less, $300,000 if you could find a buyer, but they are still paying on $500,000, have lost everything they put in, plus $40,000 a year. Also the roofing business has not been good, their income declined.
Due to the Mortgage Interest Deduction, they have evaded paying income tax. The government subsidises stupidity.
The point being, consumers do not make choices that make economic sense, Bless them, we need their pointy headed lack of sense so that others can make $400,000 a year and pay taxes.
Some of my other neighbors could afford to own the block, but bought a nice house in an old and stable neighborhood, Most likely for cash, and park their excess Capital in their Car Dealership. Their lifestyle is modest, they are easy to get along with,
The old families around here bought what they could afford, paid it off, and live debt free. So do some of the new people. More than 80% are living beyond their means, on credit, paying all of their income in interest, and are underwater.
There is a Class Wall within the neighborhood, not by income, but by economic sense. Those who have it want nothing to do with those who rent the lifestyle, to try to break into the social level.
I get along with my very rich neighbors, as I garden, keep up a classic motorcycle, and return dogs and mail that goes astray. We have shared values.
I planted a flower bed between the sidewalk and street, I raised the street side with concrete blocks, raised it above the sidewalk, half eye level with passing cars. In the next year I see three more down the block, where a long flower bed is growing. In the second year three more, where driving down our street is now a drive through gardens.
I spent a few hundred real dollars to make the world a better place for all who drive down our street, People I do not know stop me in the grocery and say how much they like it. Shared values, Culture, a common view of life not shared by those who live in some Fairy Tale of changing Class by buying into a better neighborhood.
Working class with money buys social status, old money stays poor, by hiring people to work, and make them more money. Live within modest means, Thrift, a respect for those around you who deserve it, support for the community, as all support for the Arts comes from those who like them.
It is not a lack of income that keeps people poor. It is a lack of Culture, an inability to enjoy the simple things in the only life we have.
What group you share values with will define where you will go in life.
16 Jan 2013, 10:51 am
