Before either house approved the legislation, history was made on Friday, December 10, 2010, when Senator Bernie Sanders, independent from Vermont, made the longest speech on the Senate floor in 27 years. The so-called filibuster was an eye-opener for many people who were unaware of the severity of the divide between rich and poor in America that grew during the previous administration.
When I posted excerpts of the Bernie Speech on Facebook this week, a bit discussion came up.
Facebook is a transient medium, not a place for the historical, so I'm preserving our discussion in a more permanent and searchable place, this blog.
Thanks to all who commented and to all who simply listened in. I think the discussion was democracy in action!
During the past week I posted some of the Senators remarks on Facebook, and the discussion is quite interesting.
If you aren't familiar with Facebook, be advised that the older posts are at the bottom, so you may want to start there and read up. We got through two of the seven pages of Bernie. Links to the full speech are sprinkled through this post, and can be found on my post of December 13, 2010, entitled: Read and Watch Bernie Sanders Filibuster.
William A. Ricks "During the 8 years of President Bush, the wealthiest 400 Americans--that is not a lot of people, 400 families--saw their income more than double while their income tax rates dropped almost in half. So you have 400 families--all of whom are already multi-multimillionaires--where during the 8 years of President Bush their income more than doubled while their income tax rates dropped almost in half....
- "The top 400 wealthiest people in this country earn $345 million a year, and they pay an effective tax rate of 16.6 percent... this effective tax rate of 16.6 percent, on average, is the lowest tax rate for the very rich in America that there has ever been." - Sen. Bernie Sanders's speech
William A. Ricks "So what we end up doing, which seems to be not terribly bright, is spending perhaps $50,000 a year keeping people in jail because they dropped out of school. They never found a job. They got hooked on drugs or whatever. We pay to put them in jail rather than investing in childcare, in education, in sustaining their families. - Bernie Sanders speech
Tammy Drawdy likes this.
June Harrell Amen.....There is something wrong with our Sec. of State!!!!
Tammy Drawdy having been in early childhood education for many years ... and so has terry ... I will "strongly" agree with you!!! I have said all along [and I know I'll catch h#ll for this] we care more about our sports teams than we do our children. And it sickens me. I cringe every time I hear someone say ... "if only I didn't have to pay for childcare!"
David Ely It's all about the money$$$$$$$$
Tammy Drawdy You said a mouthful, David!! How are you???
David Ely Tammy I'm doing good. Hope you are also!
William A. Ricks "This is the other half of the equation. What do my colleagues think happens when we have millions of kids living in poverty? What do my colleagues think happens when we have kids who are dropping out of school when they are 13 or 14?
- "I talked to a fellow in Vermont who runs one of our jails. He said about half the kids who drop out of school end up in the penal system. That is what happens. The result is, the highest rate of childhood poverty in the industrialized world, and then what we end up with is more people behind bars than any other country on Earth." - Bernie Sanders speech
Randell Meeks This is not a problem that the government can solve. It is a family problem. I worked 3 years in DJJ (juvenile justice) and 6 in Treutlen Boot Camp/ PDC. Most young males had the same problem. It was a incomplete family at home. The family dynamic in the last 50 years has broken down tremendously. The nuclear family use to be a mom and dad and kids and in many cases mom was a stay at home mom. Now it is just mom and she works or it is grandma raising the kids.
Randell Meeks Not only that, but parents now rely on the school system to teach their kids everything. Parents that do not follow up with the school and make sure homework is complete are setting their kids up for failure.
Randell Meeks Many of the kids that I dealt with could only read on a 3rd grade level. It was sad to see a 18 year old kid who could not read or write, but I have seen many in my nine years in the correctional system. I encourage the ones with better education to take advantage of programs to get them training for good paying jobs, instead they focused on the first party once free and how to beat the man.
William A. Ricks I spent some time at the CCA facility in Alamo when I was doing the Eagle. They do a good job of training and one thing they stress is for the graduates to not go back to the old neighborhood. Going back to family is bad in some cases.
William A. Ricks "Maybe we should appreciate the fact that about 25 percent of our children are dependent on food stamps. We should understand that in the industrialized world, the United States, as this chart shows, has the highest rate of childhood poverty. Is this America? Is this America? The United States today has over 20 percent of its kids living in poverty....
William A. Ricks So we are sitting here talking about an agreement which says: Let's give huge tax breaks to billionaires. And here is the reality. We have a rate of childhood poverty far surpassing any other country on Earth. - Bernie Sanders speech
Debbie Calhoun Ware Sad, isn't it! Plus Childhood Cancer gets 3% from the American Cancer Society for their share! SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!
Charles Edward Chuck Hutcheson Ironic how we live in a society that has such "poverty", but our children have the highest obesity rates in the world.
Randell Meeks Not only that, but most poverty level people still have cell phones and big screen tv's. That maybe a broad statement, but I have seen too many around here that are living on food stamps and other hand outs and they nearly all have Dish network and cellphones.
William A. Ricks My Daddy used to be annoyed when he passed an unclean house and unclean yard with a TV antenna. It always a house with white people living in it. Blacks were in deep poverty back in the 50s and couldn't afford a TV. Now, with rent to own, the poor have toys, too.
Randell Meeks Oh do not misunderstand, I was talking about whites also. There is no certain race when it comes to playing the system to get extra money from the govt.
William A. Ricks That wasn't aimed at you, Randell, but b&w is an issue for some.
Togie Brantley Bryson Randall, it is not just one cell phone, but every member of the family MUST have one!!!!!!! I am with you on this. Look at the grocery store when they check out with their food stamps and count the cases of drinks, cookies etc. You know all those necessities!!!!!!!!!
William A. Ricks " In fact, in America, it is pretty clear in the economy who is winning and losing. The vast majority of people, working people, middle-class people, low-income people are losing. That is who is losing. It is clear who is winning. The wealthiest people are doing phenomenally well. They are winning the economic struggle." - Bernie Sanders speech
"I am an independent progressive. I can tell my colleagues in the last 3 days my office has received probably close to 3,000 phone calls, 98 percent of them against this agreement, probably higher than 98 percent, and a huge number of e-mails also overwhelmingly against this agreement." - Bernie Sanders speech
William A. Ricks "I know the Chair has heard wealthy people such as Warren Buffett make the point over and over again that what he really pays in taxes, his effective tax rate, is lower than his secretary's....
- "All over this country we have examples where very rich people are able to stash money in the Cayman Islands, take advantage of all types of loopholes, and are paying rather low effective tax rates, in many cases lower than police officers or firemen or teachers or nurses." - Bernie Sanders speech2 hours ago · Like
Jack E Josey Jr FLAT TAX for everyone with no deductions, credits, allowances, or loopholes.about an
- William A. Ricks "I would hope that people throughout this country, from Vermont and Colorado, and many of our conservative States, would come forward and say: Wait a second. I do not want to see my kids and grandchildren pay more in taxes because we have borrowed money from China to increase the national debt in order to give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires..." - Bernie Sanders speech
Timothy Alan Currie, Renee Talley and David Ely like this.
William A. Ricks Quotable Quote from Bernie's speech: "Frankly, it is not a conservative approach to substantially increase the national debt by giving tax breaks to billionaires."
David Ely Bill so you can get a second opinion on news go to News Max.com. LOL
- Debbie Calhoun Ware likes this.
William A. Ricks "Also in this agreement is the earned-income tax credit for working Americans, a very important provision, and the child and college tax credits are also in this agreement. These proposals will keep millions of Americans from slipping out of the middle class and into poverty, and they will allow millions of Americans to send their kids to college....
David Ely likes this
- William A. Ricks "I am not here to say to the President or the Vice President that there are not any good proposals and parts of this agreement. There are. But we can do much better." - Bernie Sanders speech
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- William A. Ricks "This proposal, in addition to extending unemployment benefits for 13 months, extends the middle-class tax cuts... The reality is that the middle class is collapsing. During the Bush years we saw a $2,200 decline per year in median family income. Working families are hurting. There is no question. To not extend that tax cut for 98 percent of America would be a travesty." - Bernie Sanders speech
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William A. Ricks "I know some people think their whole view of the world is to give tax cuts to the richest people of the world and it will all trickle down and we will all do better, it will lift all boats. That is a pretty good economic theory you might have learned at Harvard or ... But it does not work. It is a nice theory, but it does not work to lift all boats." - Bernie Sanders speech
Doris Johnson and David Ely like this.
Doris Johnson and David Ely like this.
William A. Ricks "We saw middle-class wages--not only no job increase during those 8 (Bush) years, except for the people at the very top, we saw actual wage stagnation or worse. Most Americans did not get a raise during the 8 Bush years. Most Americans simply saw their wages flat or in many cases decline. The superwealthy saw a big increase in their incomes and in their net assets." - Bernie Sanders speech
William A. Ricks "In the 8 years--and this is not partisan, this is not opinion, this is fact--from January 1, 2001, to January 1, 2009, President Bush's 8 years, we actually had private sector job loss in this country. Contrast that with a different economic policy--January 1, 1993, to January 1, 2001, the Clinton 8 years.....
William A. Ricks "Again, this isn't partisan, this isn't opinion, this is fact. During the Clinton 8 years, we had 21 million private sector jobs created--21 million private sector jobs created--and literally zero private sector jobs in the Bush 8 years of trickle-down economics." - Bernie Sanders speech18 hours ago · Like
Charles Edward Chuck Hutcheson I don't get it. From 2004-early 2009, our company grew exponentially. This past year & a half has been the worst for us in a loooong time. At one time we had 75 on payroll, and last week we had 18. We are construction related, of course. I often wonder about these numbers and how they are interpreted. Talk is cheap, and facts can be manipulated.18 hours ago · Like
David Ely @ Bill do you remember what all happened during Bush's 2 terms. How about 911 and Katrina? Once again I will be partisan. A republican President has to take care of national security after 2 failed democrats on national security namely Jim...See More
18 hours ago · Like · 2 people
Charles Edward Chuck Hutcheson It's not just 'consumer confidence'. Banks aren't lending - all across the board. Private construction is slow. Home building is slow. The market is just slow, and although it is partially because of consumer confidence (or lack thereo...See More
16 hours ago · Like
Timothy Alan Currie Gosh, I have to agree with David...often the playing field is not level from administration to administration...take the partisan out of it...as a pragmatist and working stiff I know that we must run the country by the same principles we run our lives...we must stop spending money we do not have....we cannot raise the poor by dragging the working man down. Our leaders, individually and collectively, should be held to the same standards by which we must operate.14 hours ago · Like
William A. Ricks Chuck, evidently, your specialty, your company must have been different from the average for all jobs.- David, do you question the accuracy of Sanders's statement?
- Consumer confidence is based on whether they have a job and paycheck to continu...See More
14 hours ago · Like
William A. Ricks Chuck, David, Timothy: the Bernie Sanders speech is about the top 2% in wealth. We're not talk about Gillises, Petersons, and the like, we're talking about real money. I doubt seriously that any family living within 50 miles of our hometown...See More
14 hours ago · Like
David Ely No Bill I don't question the accuracy of Bernies statements. Why doesn't he point out the circumstances or sequence of events that had such a major negative impact on our economy!14 hours ago · Like
William A. Ricks David, I don't know all the circumstances, but I do know that the recession started under Bush's watch, and that he was in charge the full 8 years. Previous to that: ?????14 hours ago · Like
David Ely Bill I agree with you on the filthy rich. They should pay tax and the inheritance tax sux also. This is why we need a fair consumption tax that treats everybody equal.11 hours ago · Like · 1 person
William A. Ricks David, I've always believed in the work ethic. Hard work and perseverance should always lead to the top, but that's not true in every case. I believe that people should enjoy their work, too, or, if not, find something that's more enjoyable...See More
11 hours ago · Like · 1 person
William A. Ricks "Sam Walton's family, the heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune, are worth an estimated $86.8 billion. The Walton family would receive an estimated $32.7 billion tax break if the estate tax was completely repealed. - Bernie Sanders speech
Jack E Josey Jr Bill, in this case, I don't mind the Walton family getting such a break. This "empire" has created millions of jobs and paid billions in tax revenues across the land. Yes, they have also hastened the shuttered doors of many a small busine...See More
Yesterday at 6:51am · Like
William A. Ricks I haven't been in a WalMart a dozen times in three years. Experience has taught me to not buy anything mechanical from them. They drive down wholesale price so that manufacturers have to cut corners or bypass inspections. If the same thing is true in foods they sell, yuck. A lot of those laid off textile employees ended up working at WalMarts. Prices are better now at Dollar General and Family Dollar. Sam Walton is an American hero. His children are accidents of birth. lol
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William A. Ricks "Furthermore--and this is a point that has to be made over and over--this agreement between the President and the Republicans lowers the estate tax rate to 35 percent. Under this agreement, the estate tax will decline to 35 percent. Under President Clinton, when the economy was much stronger, the estate tax was 55 percent....
William A. Ricks The estate tax is paid only by the top three-tenths of 1 percent of families in America. If you are in the middle class, even if you are modestly wealthy, even if you are wealthy, or if you are poor, if you are lower middle class, you don't pay a nickel in estate tax if somebody in your family were to die and leave you wealth--not a nickel. This applies not just to the rich but to the very, very rich." - Bernie Sanders speechTuesday at 11:21pm · Like
Franklin Quinn Mullis Mr Bill, what do you consider wealthy? Is that 100K, 500K, or 1 million. Talking with Cindy moments ago, we discussed what would happen if the wealthy (multi millionaires) were to simply put there money in a trust fund and forego taxes by p...See More
23 hours ago · Like
23 hours ago · Like
William A. Ricks Quinn, the Bernie Sanders speech is about the top 2% in wealth. We're not talk about Gillises, Petersons, and the like, we're talking about real money. I doubt seriously that any family living within 50 miles of our hometown fits in that top 2%. We're not talking millions, but billions, lots of billions. Some of the millionaires could be categorized as working rich. The top 2% is simply a welfare class of non-working people and protected by corporate structures. Why do people complain about an unproductive food stamp recipient, but view companies like Blackwater and Haliburton as some kind of heroes - they suck more out of the tax payer than all the "undeserving" welfare recipients.
Franklin Quinn Mullis I actually agree with you. No argument here.
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"Thank you." on Patrick Shane Peterson's status.
William A. Ricks "It means those people who make their living off of their investments--if you invest, if you earn dividends--will continue to pay a substantially lower tax rate than the average American person in the working class, middle class--our firemen, our teachers, our nurses. Those people are not going to pay 15 percent. They pay a higher rate than folks who have capital gains and dividends. I think that is wrong. - Bernie
William A. Ricks "It is Robin Hood in reverse. We are taking from the middle class and working families and we are giving it to the wealthiest people in this country. I believe the agreement struck between the President and the Republican leadership is a bad deal." - Bernie Sanders speech Doris Johnson likes this.
- William A. Ricks "We can negotiate a better deal. The reason we are trying to delay passage of this agreement ... is we want the American people to stand and say: Wait a second, it makes no sense to us to be giving huge tax breaks to the richest people in this country--literally millionaires and billionaires--and driving up the national debt so our kids can pay more in taxes in order to pay off that debt." - Bernie Sanders speech
David Ely It's obvious Bernie is against the tax breaks for the wealthy. I don't know why he doesn't explain that 700,000 independent businesses in America are built and owned by wealthy and moderately wealthy people provide tax paying jobs and is the driving force behind our economic recovery. Take away the tax breaks and stop the growth. Reinvestment, risk,uncertainties, are just part of the picture. These are not 40 hour people working for someone else. In most cases they lay it on the line everyday and are tireless in their efforts to succeed. Success breeds Success.Tuesday at 8:03pm · Like
William A. Ricks David, just as there are working poor in our country, there also are working rich, but not the top 2%. They are another welfare class, receiving more government benefits than any person living in poverty. I think that most of us want everybody to work for a living, but that's not the way it is. A person is being inconsistent in believing that a poor non-worker is somehow lower than a rich non-worker. There are illegals in both ends of the spectrum, bell curve or whatever. Probably fewer illegals in that top 2% because they have the political power to make everything they want legal.
- William A. Ricks "So when we take a comprehensive look at what is going on in this country, why we have a $13.7 trillion national debt, it is terribly important to understand that while the middle class pays its share of taxes, there are many large corporations that not only are paying nothing in taxes, they are getting rebates from the Federal Government." - Bernie Sanders speech
- Tuesday at 6:51am · Like · Comment
Doris Johnson likes this.
Jason H. Cox Remember the bottom 47% of the population not only do not pay taxes, but get rebates from the govt. Each year.- The astronomical national debt is not a result of corps. Not paying taxes,it's the result of two failed stimulus bills and entitlement programs.Tuesday at 7:24am via Facebook Mobile · Like
Charles Edward Chuck Hutcheson It's just waste and poor management all across the board. It would be foolish for us to demonize just the "super rich", when our elected leaders are throwing money around like there is no tomorrow and making policies that are just simply ludicrous. If the "super rich" are buying off politicians, then what does that say about politicians? The politicians are the ones who should be getting blamed!!!Tuesday at 8:50am · Like
Debbie Calhoun Ware Jason, I pray that you never loose your health or your job! I agree that there are some people that get entitlements that they may not deserve. There are also many out there that need help and can't get it. Just sayin~You never know what will happen.Tuesday at 9:41am · Like
Jason H. Cox That's the problem Mrs.Debbie. The hundreds upon hundreds of thousands which receive "help" unwarranted. They vote for a living. My job takes me through all parts of many,many cities and it us sickening sometimes at the number if people who do not work simply because they know there elected leaders will keep the money coming as long as they keep the votes coming. Have 8 children and not get married...no problem. We'll pay extra for each child and in April let you claim each of them,your niece ,and your,"estranged" husband as dependents. That gives them $15k to$22k a year and a "return of around $9k.- "You,"being a general term not actually you,Debbie. Tuesday at 12:18pm via Facebook Mobile · Like · 1 person
Togie Brantley Bryson Jason, you are so right!!!! Few people actually acknowledge the REAL problem. BUT YOU HAVE.Tuesday at 12:48pm · Like
Togie Brantley Bryson There are some walking around with masters degrees living off the gov., free health services, etc. Someone has to pay for that.Tuesday at 12:51pm · Like
William A. Ricks Thanks, Jason. Your comment reminds me of the widow's mite in the Bible. She didn't give much, but she gave all she had.- It's good for all to contribute, as people do in church, but not necessarily equal in money value. I often quote the Robin Hood principal: He robbed the rich because you don't get much money by robbing the poor. It's no surprise that a large number of people on the lower end are not taxed and do receive help from the government. They are living in poverty. Many of them have children to feed and clothe. We could help that problem by simply raising the minimum wage to a livable level.Tuesday at 2:21pm · Like
William A. Ricks Thank you, Chuck. Government demands bureaucracy, and bureaucracy is always wasteful and inefficient. Blame the politicians? That would be like blaming the overseer when the plantation owner is at fault.Tuesday at 2:24pm · Like
William A. Ricks Thanks, Debbie. Nobody wants welfare fraud, but we must not deprive the benefits for those who are sick, poor, or unemployed. I wish everybody, including myself, could spend time in a welfare office or congressman's office and learn just how hard it is to get government benefits.- Jason, I challenge you to find the statistics to prove that welfare fraud is a large problem. Hard facts, not anecdotes.Tuesday at 2:35pm · Like
William A. Ricks Thank you, Togie. Tell us more details of the person with the masters degree. Is that person doing something illegal?Tuesday at 2:38pm · Like
Togie Brantley Bryson I'm sure there are plenty like that...just satisfied to live meagerly...nothing illegal about it, just doesn't mind taking handouts.Tuesday at 3:45pm · Like
Togie Brantley Bryson Bill, I always considered your family well off compared to a lot of us. I don't mean to be personable, but where did you work? I assume you are retired. Just curious why you don't seem to like rich people. If they don't pay taxes they must make a lot of contributions to organizations that benefit others in order to have enough write offs to not pay taxes. Am I wrong?Tuesday at 3:51pm · Like
William A. Ricks Togie, every family is different. Most of my life I worked in Soperton. I am tired and retired; retired and retarded. Like is a Facebook term. I would like a perfect world where everybody loves everybody. Have you ever watched hog judging? I've seen a few, and the hog was never judged on personality. If I had asked the judge if he liked or disliked a hog, he would have looked at me like I was crazy. The subject has nothing to do with liking a group of people. Are you assuming that contributions are the only deductions that the ultra rich use?Tuesday at 4:08pm · Like
Togie Brantley Bryson No Bill, I am not quite that dumb. I know there are many deductions anyone can take other than contributions...the point was that these organizations are helping a lot of people, rather than giving the money to the gov. so they can pay for such needed things i.e a 100,000 dollars to stock Nancy's jet with booze for her trips.Tuesday at 5:00pm · Like
William A. Ricks Which organizations? Which ultra rich person? Help me here. Name a few of each. Remember, we're talking about the top two percent, not the normally rich people.
William A. Ricks Bernie Sanders, always independent, has been serving in the U S Senate since 1992.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovmeRwBLT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovmeRwBLT
Profile on Bernie Sanders in his first year in Congress. He has since become a Senator for Vermont. Report by Sam Green for WCAX-TV Channel 3 Vermont.
- William A. Ricks "Furthermore, according to a report from Citizens For Tax Justice, 82 Fortune 500 companies in America--I guess that is 82 out of 500--paid zero or less in Federal income taxes in at least 1 year from 2001 to 2003. That is a report from Citizens For Tax Justice. And the Citizens For Tax Justice report goes on to say:
- "In the years they paid no income tax, these companies earned $102 billion in U.S. profits. But instead of paying $35.6 billion in income taxes, as the statutory 35 percent corporate tax rate seems to require, these companies generated so many excess tax breaks that they received outright tax rebate checks from the U.S. Treasury totaling $12.6 billion." - Bernie Sanders speech
Charles Edward Chuck Hutcheson Don't get mad at the rich, just get mad at the politicians who are allowing all these tax breaks. It's the politicians who are the problem for being "sold out".- Togie Brantley Bryson Did all of the pres.' appointees ever pay up? They didn't worry about tax breaks. Just simply "don't pay".Tuesday at 10:19am · Like
William A. Ricks I don't remember how the various cases turned out, or whether or the number of appointees were unusual. I know that any person who earns or profits in large amounts should have taxes done by a CPA or firm of CPAs. The idea is to pay all the taxes that you owe, but not a dime more than you owe. When it gets into complications, it's not clear what is permissible. Kind of like assessing property - does the porch have a screen or a window, or a double-pane window, etc.?- Togie, the question I have for you: Do you apply the same standards on judging the Obama administration as you did the Bush administration?
William A. Ricks "In August 2008, the General Accountability Office issued a report. According to this report, two out of every three corporations in the United States paid no Federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005... Amazingly, these corporations had a combined $2.5 trillion in sales but paid no income taxes to the IRS." - Bernie Sanders speech
William A. Ricks "Last year, ExxonMobil had, for them, a very bad year. They only made $19 billion in profit. Based on $19 billion, you might be surprised to know ExxonMobil not only paid nothing in taxes, they got a $156 million return from the IRS." - Bernie Sanders speech
William A. Ricks "There are estimates that just in the Southwest of this country, on Federal land, we can provide 30 percent of the electricity American homes need, if we move toward solar thermal. We need to invest in our transmission lines." - Bernie Sanders speech
William A. Ricks "Unfortunately, in this bill, this tax agreement between the President and the Republican leadership, there are many billions of dollars going into tax breaks for corporations. But there is not a whole lot of money--in fact, zero dollars--going into rebuilding our infrastructure." - Bernie Sanders speech
- William A. Ricks "Here we are, the United States of America, which for so many years led the world in so many ways, and now you are seeing a newly developing country such as China with high-speed rail all over their country, making them more productive and efficient, and in our cities, our subways are breaking down. Amtrak is going 50, 60 miles an hour, and the Chinese and Europeans have trains going hundreds of miles an hour.
William A. Ricks "This is the United States of America. Maybe I am old-fashioned. I think we can do it too. I think we can rebuild our rail system, make our country more efficient and create jobs." - Bernie Sanders speech
David Ely But they don't have Obama Care! LOL
David Ely Maybe Bernie needs to run for President! LOL By the way Bill, I wonder how many Teamsters Unions they have in China to slow their productivity?
William A. Ricks Probably their health care is more socialistic than Obama Care. In China, the people are the union.
Randell Meeks Since 2000, China has lost at least a thousand coal miners every year. In between 2002 and 2004, the number of deaths per year climbed above 6000, 200 times the number in the US for the same time period. In 2009, China lost 2630 coal miners, 77 times more than the US. From http://chinageeks.org/2010/08/coal-mining-accidents-corruption-and-complacency/- I doubt the people are much of a union compared to the military's guns.
William A. Ricks China is so huge, it's a wonder how it holds together.
- William A. Ricks "Unfortunately, in the agreement struck between the President and the Republican leadership, to the best of my knowledge, not one nickel is going into investing in our infrastructure....
William A. Ricks On CNBC they're talking about building infrastructure - high speed rail, roads and bridges, and private profit for public good.
Pat Peterson bill , for awhile ride by those infrastructure jobs and count the americans , then count the others , see who is doing those jobs .
William A. Ricks Pat, I watched the hispanic workers who did the rebar on the new bridge on GA 46. They were skillful and quick, and had good teamwork. I can understand why they were hired. Never knew whether or not they were illegal. The majority of the other workers were white and apparently native born.
Pat Peterson most companies take advantage of illegal workers and work them at a lesser rate than their counterparts as a crane operator i saw a change in the workforce that normal people dont see. and many hispanics taken advantage of and forced to work harder and for less money than the people from america that they replaced. i dont like that at all.
William A. Ricks I don't like it either, Pat. I agree that many companies are taking advantage. I don't blame a poor Mexican trying to get a better life for himself and his family, as that's what our ancestors did. I doubt that many of our ancestors ever had to take or pass a citizenship test, and the one being used today is very hard, and I doubt that you or I would pass it on the first try. You maybe, but not me. The illegal worker problem is another example of corporate greed.
William A. Ricks "We are working on legislation that would say to these private banks not to charge any more money for the credit they provide than do the credit unions. It is going to be a tough fight Wall Street spends huge amounts of money in campaign contributions, and it is going to be tough. But I think we need to pass that. I think the Fed needs to be much more active, in terms of what kinds of interest rates credit card companies should be paying." - Bernie Sanders speech
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William A. Ricks "I don't have to tell anybody in this country that we have seen millions of folks lose their homes through foreclosure, and once again we see that the four largest banks in this country--Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup--issue half of all mortgages .......
How many more Americans could have remained in their homes if the Fed had required those bailed-out banks to reduce mortgage payments as a condition of receiving these secret loans?"- Bernie Sanders speechMonday at 4:58pm · Like
Danny Dukes Had they done so, they would have required that much more capital to be bailed out. It's like someone digging on one side of the hole while you are filling up the other side.
David Ely Why should we bail out or force banks to reduce loan payments to people who bought houses they could not afford to begin with? When does personal responsibility come into play. I know a man that makes less than 75,000 that bought a 600,000 home. Guess what happened.
William A. Ricks Danny, you're assuming an increased bailout. Let the financial corporations who made the loans take a loss on their bet.- David, where do you find personal responsibility - in a financial corporation? Hah!
David Ely Bill I'm talking about the banks and the borrowers. I am talking about loans that were risky to start with. Loans that were interest only waiting to resell before final financing. At one time a percentage of income was used to determine the ability of the borrower to pay back. This was tossed aside by Acorn during the Clinton administration. I'm talking about irresponsible borrowing and lending.
William A. Ricks Nobody forced the banks to make the loans. They did it with the profit motive. These were not the high-interest, fly-by-night loan companies; these were the country's best banking companies, and they should be ashamed of themselves for taking advantage of a lucrative situation. It reminds me too much of the loans to farmers in the early 70s. They loaned money to hardworking, but uneducated, people who failed in farming and couldn't pay back the loan.
Randell Meeks Actually they were forced to make a certain amount of loans to people who would not otherwise qualify. Just Google is and you will find many links like the following: http://www.lewrockwell.com
/dilorenzo/dilorenzo125.ht
ml . I also know that corporate greed played a part as well, but we need to look at the situation and realize that many parties were involved. Not just greedy capitalist.
David Ely Thanks Randell you are right. ACORN was involved. I don't remember the name of the law or act that was signed by Bill Clinton December 1999.
William A. Ricks Kind of like the Reconstruction Era, Randell: "Congress passed the Act in 1977 to reduce discriminatory credit practices against low-income neighborhoods, a practice known as redlining."- The term "redlining" was coined in the late 1960s by John McKnight, a Northwestern University sociologist and community activist. It describes the practice of marking a red line on a map to delineate the area where banks would not invest; later the term was applied to discrimination against a particular group of people (usually by race or sex) no matter the geography."
- Gets back to the old arguments Integration/Segregation. Compensation for past conditions. Or what is "equal" when one runner in the race starts late.
- Slavery existed during the Depression - white slavery - sharecropper system. The only thing that made the white tenant farmer feel better was to believe that he was doing better than a black.
- Will the feud ever end?
Danny Dukes Randell is correct!! A crook named Franklin Raines at Fannie Mae came up with the idea that all should have home ownership. He was cooking Fannie Mae's books and violating every accounting principle in the books. Bill Clinton and many members of Congress supported this crook before the regulators woke up and saw what he was doing.
William A. Ricks Wonder who was sounding the alarm way back then. Could it be that nobody fussed because too many people were making money on it?
Danny Dukes Raines was showing ficticious profits at Fannie and all the execs were making a mint. I spent 3 years helping pick up the pieces. I saw it first hand.
William A. Ricks When it's dog eat dog, big dogs eat more.
Danny Dukes True.... so become a big dog and eat.
William A. Ricks Eat or be eaten. Very Machiavellian.
William A. Ricks "We know every major religion on Earth--Christianity, Judaism, Islam, you name it--has always felt that usury is immoral. What we mean by usury is that when someone doesn't have a lot of money and you loan them money, you don't get blood out of a stone. You can't ask for outrageously high interest rates when somebody is hurting. That is immoral." - Bernie Sanders speech
William A. Ricks As times get worse, the best parts of Bernie Sanders's speech will be quoted over and over. Thanks to a great American independent!
William A. Ricks "Fed said this bailout was necessary in order to prevent the world economy from going over a cliff. But 3 years after the start of the recession, millions of Americans remain unemployed and have lost their homes, their life savings, and their ability to send their kids to college......................
- "Meanwhile, huge banks and large corporations have returned to making incredible profits and paying their executives recordbreaking compensation packages, as if the financial crisis they started never occurred." - Bernie Sanders speech
Franklin Quinn Mullis Mr Bill are you surprised that this could go on at he Federal level? It seems to be the Gov't way. They tend to turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to the local issues or concerns. I believe that you, Bill Ricks, could be the new politician that could make the difference. Just make that move and we, the masses, will follow and support you as the chosen new wave politician.Monday at 1:33pm · Like
William A. Ricks No, Quinn, I'm not fool enough to run for office.- I had only 1 page of the speech to work with over the weekend. There are 6 more. The speech needs thorough analysis and reporting by the media. Here's a 5 minute video that gives quick highlights. Warning it's from Maddow on msnbc:
- http://sanders.senate.gov/
newsroom/media/view/index.
cfm?id=7c315320-3af6-406b-
a966-c70f316f635c
William A. Ricks "Over the past 5 years, Ken Lewis, the former CEO of Bank of America, received over $165 million in total compensation. In 2008, Bank of America received hundreds of billions in taxpayer-backed loans from the Fed and a $45 billion bailout from the Treasury Department..........
- "What will Mr. Lewis receive if the agreement negotiated between the President and the Republicans goes forth? He will get a $713,000 tax cut." - Bernie Sanders speech
- Write a comment...
William A. Ricks "Again, I have no particular knowledge, animus--I do not know if I ever met John Mack in my life. He is the CEO of Morgan Stanley. In 2006, he received a $40 million bonus, which at the time was the largest bonus ever given to a Wall Street executive.................
- "Two years after receiving this bonus, Morgan Stanley received some $2 trillion in low-interest loans and billions from the Treasury Department. Instead of losing his job, under this agreement, Mr. Mack will be receiving an estimated $926,000 tax break next year. Congratulations, Mr. Mack. You are doing fine. We could not get $250 for a disabled vet." - Senator Bernie Sanders's filibuster speech Friday
- Write a comment...
William A. Ricks "2 days ago, I brought before the Senate legislation which would provide a $250 one-time check to over 50 million seniors and disabled veterans, who for the last 2 years have not received a COLA on their Social Security. Many of those seniors and disabled vets are trying to get by on $14,000, $15,000, $18,000 a year ... ......
- "We won that vote on the floor of the Senate 53 to 45. But just because you get 53 votes in the Senate does not mean you win. Because the Republicans filibustered, I needed 60 votes. I could not get 60 votes. I could not get one Republican vote to provide a $250 check to a disabled veteran trying to get by on $15,000 or $16,000 a year." - Bernie Sanders speech
David Ely Bill I feel Military benefits and Social Security should be sacred and untouchable and the COLR should keep up with inflation rate @ the least. Republicans and Democrats are to blame for this.
William A. Ricks I disagree. For the past decade or more the Republican Party has stood for "the rich man" and corporate greed. The Democrat Party is the only viable party that is trying to protect Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid and the only one to take on the need in medical care and medical insurance - When the Republican Party had it's chance, it ignored the medical problem. My VA disability claim grew dusty during most of Bush's last term, but Obama's appointees to the VA began to turn things around on day one, and my claim is now getting the attention that it deserved years ago. Only speaking from experience.- The Obama election showed that the majority of people wanted something different. The Republican landslide this time showed that the majority of people wanted something different. The answer was not a mandate to go back to the Bush era, but the new Republican majority seems determined to go back.
David Ely I agree to an extent but the dems have always cut defense budgets and frozen pay increases for military every chance they get. Poor people don't hire people! Do away with the rich and create a demise for the economy. We have already created a society of dependent entitlement people. This is done not because someone loves us, but rather a way to stay in power. If people need you they are more likely to vote for you! No workie no eatie!!!!! We should take care of our Veterans, senior citizens and those that cannot provide for themselves, not those looking for handouts!!!
Pat Peterson hip hip hoorayyyyy go david!!!!!
David Ely Pat/Bill the wealthy always manipulate the system. Treutlen Co is a perfect example. In order to protect their CHEAP LABOR the so called elites kept industry out of Treutlen Co and look what we have now, while our neighbors in Toombs and Laurens flourish!!!!!!
William A. Ricks All bureaucracy is wasteful and too expensive, whether it be military or a welfare program. There is a bad problem with handouts, but we shouldn't dump entire programs because of mistakes. Instead we should try to eliminate the problems as much as feasible. We don't even have any statistics to tell us how many people "deserve" an entitlement or how many are getting "handouts".- The moderately rich do provide jobs, but the ultra rich are in another world. In answer to another "Bernie quote" I gave Range Fuels as an example of unwillingness of private wealth to make investment. They wait for the taxpayer to foot the bill. Very few jobs provided by Range Fuels.
David Ely True Bill. Some politicians don't want the real numbers to be transparent, instead the had rather keep people dependent to maintain their political base.
William A. Ricks I have a strong bias in favor of transparency, and even think of WikiLeaks as heroic.
David Ely LOL I would have to agree with that Bill.
- Write a comment...
William A. Ricks "But under the legislation the President negotiated with the Republicans, Mr. Dimon (CEO of JPMorgan Chase) --I use him just as one example for thousands; nothing personal to Mr. Dimon--will receive $1.1 million in tax breaks. So $1.1 million in tax breaks for a major CEO on Wall Street, who over the last 5 years received $89 million in total compensation." - Bernie Sanders speech
Marty Edge What he doesn't say is that if he had 1.1M in breaks, how much did he pay. As a working class American I can live with this, especially compared to the fact that those that don't work, get back 5, 6, and 7 grand and not only haven't paid a dime, they've lived off my back all year to start with.
William A. Ricks Did you get the part that he received $89 million? A part of the problem pointed out by Senator Sanders was about some of the people who don't work.
Pat Peterson i would like to know how much tax he paid . i wish the tax rate was about 7-8 % no deductions . everybody pay the same rate no matter how much money you make is fair even to the people who wont work . what you think bill?
William A. Ricks A fair tax is one with no deductions, exemptions, exclusions regardless of name - any value added, including income, capital gain, profits, property sales, home sales, stocks & bonds, etc. I would go for a same rate in those conditions.
Pat Peterson we finally agree on something bill .!!! damn scary . id better go get myself checked out!!! hehe
William A. Ricks Please don't check out. I need your input. I thrive on feedback. We don't have to agree all the time, but it's okay when we do. We aren't all that far apart, anyhow.
William A. Ricks "We should understand this (Obama-Republican) agreement is just the beginning of an assault on legislation and programs that have benefited the American people for 70 or 80 years. Mark my words, there will be an intensive effort to privatize Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid.
Marty Edge No need to privatize, the feds have done a wonderful job with it.
William A. Ricks When you finally get Social Security and Medicare you don't won't anybody messing with it. Just a very personal viewpoint.- Write a comment...
- William A. Ricks "During the Bush years alone, some 48,000 factories shut down. We went from 19 million manufacturing jobs to 12 million manufacturing jobs. Historically, in this country, manufacturing jobs were the backbone of the working class. That is how people made it into the middle class. That is how they had decent health care benefits and pensions.
- "They want to expand--and it is not only Republicans here, some Democrats as well--our disastrous trade policies so large companies can continue their efforts to outsource American jobs to China and other low-wage countries." - Bernie Sanders
- Randell Meeks I believe that the factories closing down is a combo of several past administrations. If I am not mistaken G. Bush the elder pushed for NAFTA and Clinton signed it into law. Within just a couple of years most of the shirt and pant factories around home closed down flew south of the border.
- William A. Ricks True, NAFTA cranked up under Clinton. We could have lived with it, but the later treaty agreements sent jobs out of our hemisphere. If those jobs in Mexico and Central America had stayed there, we would have fewer Mexican immigrants.
- Bernie is right in his contention that wealthy corporations are the cause, and the representatives of both parties gee-haw with them.
- Togie Brantley Bryson Both parties are responsible for NAFTA...Really cannot blame corporations for going where they can get best labor...while unions have forced high labor in USA other countries have exploited their people including child labor...regardless of what administration is in power... those goods should not have been allowed to be shipped into the US.
Togie Brantley Bryson Enjoyed the dicussion, Bill. Seems so many people either do not know what is going on or just don't care. But whatever it is it does effect all of us.
William A. Ricks Togie, I agree that both parties are bought out. It's a shame that government is partly responsible for the growing divide between rich and poor. We need for all laws to be automatically adjusted for inflation every year. For example, if that had been initiated for minimum wage in 1970, we would have a minimum hourly wage of 10 or 11 dollars now. Same thing for Social Security, Medicare, etc.- I agree about imported foreign goods, but there'd probably be riots if WalMart was charging American prices.
- Good discussion!
William A. Ricks "The rich get richer, and they don't sit on this money. What they then do is use it to elect people who support them and to unelect people who oppose their agenda and they use their political power to get legislation passed which makes the wealthy even wealthier.
- "One of the manifestations of that is, in fact, the agreement reached between the President and the Republican leadership. The wealthy contribute huge sums of money into campaigns. The wealthy have all kinds of lobbyists around here through corporate America. What they are going to get out of this agreement are huge tax breaks that benefit themselves. That is not what we should be supporting." - From the historical filibuster speech of Bernie Sanders, Friday. He is an independent from Vermont.
- Jason H. Cox None of this money us re-invested into the company to expand and employ more Americans?
- William A. Ricks Investment from the ultra rich is pitiful. Case in point - Range Fuels. Taxpayers gave the company $75 million; then they received a USDA loan of $80 million. I don't think anybody could look at the plant and imagine it cost that much. Private investment has been much less than what the taxpayers have been expected to put in. Hasn't done much for employment.
- I think the point made in this part of the speech is that elections are being bought by contributions from the wealthy. We saw enormous expenditures for TV commericials in October, and they had strong effect.
- Write a comment...
- William A. Ricks
"What happened last year, as I think most Americans know, is the Supreme Court made a very strange decision. The Supreme Court decided that corporations are people and they have the right of free speech and the right without disclosure--all of this is through the Citizens United Supreme Court decision--to put as much money as they want into campaigns all over the country. continued... - In this last campaign, that is what we saw: Billionaires, in secret, pouring money into campaigns all over the country. Does that sound like democracy to anybody in America; that we have a handful of billionaires probably dividing up the country? I will put this amount in Virginia, California, wherever." - Bernie Sanders's speech, delivered Friday by the Vermont independent
William A. Ricks Now that's the real danger from billionaires. It will now take a few years for the issue to go through the court system. If there is a change in the Supreme Court in the meantime, we may have a restoration of constitutional government. As it is, it appears that some of the justices are bought.- Corporations are not people; they are paper entitities. People shoulder responsibilities. Corporations run from responsibility.
Jack E Josey Jr I didn't care for that, either. My Dad & I were talking about that on the phone last night.
William A. Ricks It's blatantly unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court decided it.
Jack E Josey Jr When you say "We The People", you don't think of ENRON, now do you?
Jason H. Cox The question,"Does that sound like democracy to anybody in America;" is problematic in the fact that we do not have a ,"Democracy" in The United States of America.We are citizens of a republic. In a republic,representatives are elected to convey the will of the people whom elected them. If that will Is not conveyed in a manner that suites the voters they are then in danger of being voted out.- As for billionaires....are you saying that no one should be a billionaire? How much money is too much for one person to have? As for corporations being seen as individuals, I don't agree with. If ALL court justices were elected and not appointed,there would still be a chance of having the results swayed by the amount of money injected into a campaign,but would limit the success of one person or a very small group of people having their will done by a justice(s) appointed on favor or for one position or ideology.
- Remember, Liberal hero and resident billionaire George Sorrow,has used his billions to ensure the election of as many liberal secretaries of state. If he was just looking out for his party as a whole,why focus on. S O S seats.?
Jason H. Cox *Sorros* ......irritating auto spell.
Jack E Josey Jr Sometimes, I wish we did have a non-representative democracy, where the majority rules, despite the wishes of the minority. Our representative democracy (republic) has protected everyone from welfare mothers pregnant and on crack to flag-burning, mopheaded zealots who live in some of our urban enclaves. The majority of us are Caucasian, Christian, Conservative, and middle class. A good deal of republicans & democrats have been bought for a price and do not vote from their conscious or heart. They vote based on the wishes of their largest block of supporters (special interest groups). A non-representative democracy might be a little messy, but you'd see a sea change in the direction of this country. Let the people vote annually on budget priorities - we're not as ignorant as the elitist will have you believe. Your average shade tree mechanic has more sense than most of those pinstriped crooks in Congress. America may be a great country, but we're headed in the wrong direction.
William A. Ricks Good points from both of you. I'm glad that Bernie Sanders's sayings prod good discussion. I hope that his observations will be more emphasized in the media in coming days.
- Jason H. Cox Great points, Jack, on the intelligence of, "The People." It's disheartening sometimes to have someone appointed to oversee an operation of govt. and that person have absolutely no experience or sometimes a clue of how it should work. Case in point,our present asst. general manager at Griffin. Brad Yancey had absolutely no experience in the rendering industry when he was brought in from the outside, over oodles of employees which knew it from one end to the other. These proven employees had to work under someone they were themselves training. The biggest problem I see with going to a non-represenitive,majority
rules govt. is,there are millions and millions of people who care more about who is being voted off of Dancing With the Stars or NBA scores than who is even Vice President. - We who are interested in politics are in a minority.
Jason H. Cox ...same point can also be said for our present system. Those same millions could care less who is representing them.
William A. Ricks I know what you're talking about. I have never seen a whole program of 'Dancing with the Stars,' just the videos on the news when Palin's daughter was on. But that seems to be a big part of life for some folks.
Jason H. Cox If I'm going to sit for an hour and watch the tube,I'm going to learn something...i.e.History Channel, Discovery Channel, Science, ect.
William A. Ricks I have to admit that I've spent the last couple of hours watching the last Indiana Jones movie, because I hadn't ever seen it.- If all people did as much study of issues as you and Joey and a couple of others, I would not worry so much about political matters, parties, etc. But the vast majority of Americans apparently prefer ignorance. It has seemed that way all of my life. No emphasis on academics, no interest in constitution or basic civics, and no desire to study candidates or issues.
William A. Ricks What happened last year, as I think most Americans know, is the Supreme Court made a very strange decision. The Supreme Court decided that corporations are people and they have the right of free speech and the right without disclosure--all of this is through the Citizens United Supreme Court decision--to put as much money as they want into campaigns all over the country.
- In this last campaign, that is what we saw: Billionaires, in secret, pouring money into campaigns all over the country. Does that sound like democracy to anybody in America; that we have a handful of billionaires probably dividing up the country? I will put this amount in Virginia, California, wherever. - Bernie Sanders's speech, delivered Friday by the Vermont independent
- William A. Ricks In 2007, ... the top 1 percent earned over 23 percent of all income; that is, more than the bottom 50 percent. One percent here; fifty percent here. But for the very wealthy, that is apparently not enough. The percentage of income going to the top 1 percent nearly tripled since the 1970s. - Bernie Sanders speech
Joe Mullis Bernie doesn't comment on the percentage of income taxes that the 1% already pays nor the large number of folks who only "get" from the Fed and don't pay any income taxes, does he? Like
William A. Ricks Joe, good to hear from you. Looking at your profile photo, I hope that's a heated pool. (lol) The ultra rich have enough accountants and lawyers to shelter just about everything, so it's amazing when you find that they owe any taxes.- When I hear moaning about debt or deficit - American or world-wide - I ask "What's the value of the planet?"
- William A. Ricks "We cannot give tax breaks to the rich when we already have the most unequal distribution of income of any major country on Earth. The top 1 percent earns 23 percent of all income in America, more than the bottom 50 percent. They don't need more tax breaks to be paid for by our kids and grandchildren." - Bernie Sanders speech
- William A. Ricks " No. 1, I believe very strongly, and I know the President does, it is absolutely imperative that we extend middle-class tax cuts for 98 percent of the American people. I do not think there has been any debate about that." - Bernie Sanders speech
- David Ely and Doris Johnson like this.
William A. Ricks "Even though Social Security contributed nothing to the current economic crisis, it has been bartered in a deal that provides deficit-busting tax cuts for the wealthy. Diverting $120 billion in Social Security contributions for a so-called ``tax holiday'' may sound like a good deal for workers now, but it's bad business for ... the future." - Bernie Sanders speech
- Write a comment...
William A. Ricks "Let us be very clear: This tax applies only--only--to the top three-tenths of 1 percent of American families; 99.7 percent of American families will not pay one nickel in an estate tax. This is not a tax on the rich, this is a tax on the very, very, very rich ... Families such as the Walton family, of Wal-Mart fame, would have received, just this one family, about a $30 billion tax break." - Bernie Sanders speech
William A. Ricks THE FILIBUSTER TEXT- http://sanders.senate.gov/
newsroom/news/?id=e35eddb4
-0d83-4c55-92c0-e448c55526
ffDecember 11 at 5:33pm · Like
William A. Ricks THE FILIBUSTER VIDEO- http://www.c-span.org/Watc
h/Media/2010/12/11/HP/R/41
812/Sen+Sanders+Holds+8+12
+hour+Tax+Cut+Filibuster.a
spxDecember 11 at 5:34pm · Like
Jason H. Cox Their money is their money and my money is my money.- ......and let us not forget, this discussion is not over tax cuts,but not raisin taxes.
William A. Ricks What's your problem with taxes, Jason. You wouldn't be enjoying your current lifestyle if it weren't for taxes and how they are used.
Jack E Josey Jr Ah hell, don't worry about anything.... Let's just kick the can down the road and let the next generation handle it. Hey...that's what we've been doing for the last 20 or 30 years. Let's see... the national debt was just under 1 trillion in 1980, around 5 trillion in 2000, and right at 14 trillion in 2010. Just harmless little numbers...right?
Jason H. Cox No problem with taxes,just tax me and you and Jack and the Walton's all the same. They're still going to pay a whole lot more than any of us.
William A. Ricks Then we're in agreement, Jason. Both of us support taxes.- The tax cut is in effect right now. In a few weeks the cut will end. Congress has power to enact a new law - you can call it an extension if it's the same law. Obama's proposal for a new law was to be like the existing law except it would apply to the lower 98% in income, and there would be no new law to cut taxes for the upper 2% in income. The Republican proposal for a new law would apply to 100% - including the 2% highest income.
- As Bernie Sanders said in his speech, "Two of the wealthiest people in the world--and these are billionaires--Bill Gates of Microsoft and Warren Buffett of Berkshire, say: It is absurd. We don't need a tax break."
Jason H. Cox Each American has the right to pay as much as they want as long as they pay the required amount. If they want to pay more, so be it. Let them. Still no reason to tax the others more just because they have more.
William A. Ricks Generally, people with lower income get it by traditional work - wages and salaries. High-income people generally do not work, and their income is derived through capital gains. Republicans in Congress are trying to lower capital gains taxes, which benefit mainly the ultra rich.- Jason, considering your past comments criticizing non-working people getting welfare, don't you see a little inconsistency in your support of non-working rich people?
Jack E Josey Jr I'm not a big fan of the progressive tax. It would be nice if we had a simple, fair, flat tax....with NO loopholes, no deductions, no credits, etc. Everyone above the poverty level must pay a 15% flat federal tax, and everyone must pay a 5% state tax, and everyone (except teachers who won't draw SSI) must pay 5% for Social Security/Medicare. Let those who are below the poverty level pay about 1/2 of these rates. I think that's what Jason was alluding to, or something similar. The rich are way too smart to pay exorbitant rates. They will just shelter their income in some legal form or fashion. That's what happened before the 80's. Tax shelters were BIG, then. About the capital gains tax...I don't like it. Folks put their money on the line, and risk losing some or all of it...they shouldn't be taxed on their regular income, then get taxed again on their investments. Now, if you want to talk about the liberal side to me, I think corporate welfare....just plain sucks. All entities should have to pay a moderate, sensible tax rate, but none of this confiscatory 46% corporate top rate that used to exist 30 or so years ago.
William A. Ricks Sanders makes other good points in his speech, that I will continue to share. In the meantime, consider reading the whole speech- http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=e35eddb4-0d83-4c55-92c0-e448c55526ff
- or go to the cspan site to watch in 3-hour increments.
- Everybody wants a fair tax, but it would need to be free of all deductions and exclusions. Example: sales tax would apply to the sale of homes, land, and any other property that exchanges hands.
William A. Ricks Estate Tax- "Teddy Roosevelt and the people of that era thought it was wrong that a handful of people could have a huge concentration of wealth and then give that wealth, transmit that wealth to their children. He did not think that was right." - Bernie Sanders speech
- "During the Clinton era, the tax rate on the estate tax was 55 percent. What this arrangement (Obama-Republican Deal) would do is lower that tax rate to 35 percent, with an exemption on the first $5 million of an individual's estate and $10 million for couples." - Bernie Sanders speech
- Write a comment...
William A. Ricks The Obama-Republican Deal: "...also calls for a continuation of the Bush era 15-percent tax rate on capital gains and dividends, meaning that those people who make their living off their investments will continue to pay a substantially lower tax rate than firemen, teachers, nurses, carpenters, and virtually all the other working people of this country." - Bernie Sanders
http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=e3
http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=e3
sanders.senate.gov
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, let me begin by thanking my friend from Virginia for doing what is very important. I think the essence of what he is saying is that today there are millions of Federal employees, people in the Armed Forces, who are doing the very best they can. In many instances, t
William A. Ricks "I think the vast majority of the American people, whether they are progressives like myself or whether they are conservatives, perceive that concept of giving tax breaks to billionaires when we have such a high national debt makes no sense at all." - Bernie Sanders speech
William A. Ricks The media are having so much fun about the longest filibuster in 27 years, that they are ignoring what he said. Since the formal media want do the job, I'm spending Facebook space delivering a few lines. Link to full transcript:- http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/new
s/?id=e35eddb4-0d83-4c55-9
2c0-e448c55526ff
Randell Meeks I feel if the tax increases were just for paying off the debt, then I am okay with the tax increases on all with extra increase on the more successful. The ultra rich can afford to pay extra. However if it is to fund more social programs to help those who will not help themselves, then I am against taxing the successful to fund the unsuccessful.
Randell Meeks I know programs are there to help those who can not help themselves, but we have made it way to easy to abuse the system and fund those who are just too dang lazy to work. Cut out the waste and the abuse and the programs we have in place will not be near the financial drain they are today.
William A. Ricks I'm all for cutting out the waste and abuse in all programs, but that seems to be typical in bureaucracy. I'm going to add more quotes from the speech. The divide between rich and poor has been growing wider during the past decade. The ultra rich are not paying their share of taxes; capital gain taxes are reduced; workers are taxed more.
- Write a comment...
William A. Ricks "Two of the wealthiest people in the world--and these are billionaires--Bill Gates of Microsoft and Warren Buffett of Berkshire, say: It is absurd. We don't need a tax break." - Bernie Sanders speech
William A. Ricks Bernie Sanders: "When President Clinton left office, this country was running, in fact, a very significant surplus, and the projections were that we were going to continue to run a surplus."
- Jack E Josey Jr and Jean Ellington Stafford like this.
William A. Ricks Bernie Sanders: During the 8 years of President Bush's administration, for a number of reasons--the primary reasons being the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, huge tax breaks for the wealthiest people in this country, a Medicare Part D prescription drug program, the Wall Street bailout, among other things, all of which were not paid for--we saw an almost doubling of the national debt.
Caroline Tucker Sometimes I bet that the two of us are the only one with common sense it seems I AGREE WITH YOU ALL THE TIME
Caroline Tucker LAPTOP DOES NOT TYPE TO WELL OR SPELL
William A. Ricks I admire Bernie Sanders for being an Independent. To be honest, many of his views are opposed to those of the Republican Party, but he is not a Democrat either.- As voters we should be pushing to eliminate party politics and provide easier access for candidates to run as independent.
William A. Ricks Bernie Sanders - American hero! Independent from Vermont-
"How can I get by on one house? ... I need five houses, ten houses! I need three jet planes to take me all over the world! Sorry, American people. We've got the money, we've got the power, we've got the lobbyists here and on Wall Street. Tough luck. That's the world, get used to it. Rich get richer. Middle class shrinks."
"How can I get by on one house? ... I need five houses, ten houses! I need three jet planes to take me all over the world! Sorry, American people. We've got the money, we've got the power, we've got the lobbyists here and on Wall Street. Tough luck. That's the world, get used to it. Rich get richer. Middle class shrinks."
I posted the stuff below before Senator Bernie Sanders started his speech Friday, December 10, 2010. It turned out that he included in his speech a lot that's in this article. Read it, and you're likely to find it scary.
William A. Ricks Who Rules America?
Top 1% own over third of wealth. Next 19% own over half the wealth. Leaves only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% - that's us, the wage and salary workers.
Deduct home ownership, the filthy 1% own over 40 percent of America's wealth.
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
Top 1% own over third of wealth. Next 19% own over half the wealth. Leaves only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% - that's us, the wage and salary workers.
Deduct home ownership, the filthy 1% own over 40 percent of America's wealth.
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
sociology.ucsc.edu
This document presents details on the wealth and income distributions in the United States, and explains how we use these two distributions as power indicators.
William A. Ricks Republican support to maintain tax cuts for the top 2% in income prove that they are "the rich man's party". As true today as it was during the Depression. Why do we continue to send them back to Congress?
Togie Brantley Bryson We send them back because WE need them. Did you notice at the news conference today, The real pres. left early as he had to take care of his Friday night date and couldn't keep the First Lady waiting. He left Bill Clinton holding the news conference. Will the real pres. please stand up?????????
William A. Ricks We send them back because WE need them? Need them for what, Togie? Explain.
Togie Brantley Bryson If I remember correctly at the end of Carter's presidency interest rates were sky high and we were in trouble...Reagan was elected, taxes were lowered, and even my father ( staunch democrat) admitted he was better off at the end of presidency than before. Then Clinton, people in construction business were suffering by the end of his presidency, Then Bush, lowering taxes, the economy gained again. At the end of his presidency unemployment at 5.4%, now 9.8%. That explains a little.December 12 at 3:55pm · Like
William A. Ricks The high interest rates were good for the frugal people who had put money in the bank. Reagan was an excellent president and perfect for that time. The recession started over a year before the 2008 election, most economics agree. Bernie Sanders's speech brings out the thousands of manufacturing jobs lost in the Bush administration. You ought to read his speech sometime - a lot of things that your father may agree with.
Togie Brantley Bryson Frugal people are usually the people who need to borrow money. 21% or more was great for people that had money. You could get 21- 24% from Fannie mae, but what eventually happened there? I agree the recession started before the 2008 election...remember the democrats gained controll in 2006.
William A. Ricks The frugal people I've known are the people who never borrowed money. They saved money and spent only what was necessary. They did it as families and neighbors. They didn't buy a car unless they had the money to pay for it. They didn't buy a house unless they had the money to pay for it. They paid rent as cheap as possible and saved the money they earned for the day they had enough to buy. Low interest rates don't benefit the savers - the frugal.
William A. Ricks "Words of Christ": For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. (Luke 18:25)
- Doris Johnson, David Ely and Jennifer Joyner like this.
- "Words of Christ" is a daily part of the internet.
- Posted before Senator Bernie Sanders gave his speech about giving tax benefits to the ultra rich. Rather timely.
- William A. Rickshttp://billricksofsoperton.blogspot.comThanks for subscribing to 'Bill Ricks of Soperton'Once a day delivery to your email box.See middle box at bottom of the blog.
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