I'm gonna try and keep this one short.
A good friend of mine, who's opinion I respect quite a bit, Suggested that we live in a Capitalist Country, and the one single flat tax would be more fair to everyone. I'm gonna cheat here and just copy and paste. I know, I'm being lazy. please don't judge me.
Capitalism benefits only the wealthy. It doesn't help out you or I. In essence it "Capitalizes" off of others misfortunes.
And a flat tax certainly is not equal. It, again, benefits the rich, and hurts people like you and me. 15% when you make $20 Million leaves you with $17 Million. If you make $20K that leaves you with $17K. But the prices you buy goods at are exactly the same. So a rich guy buying groceries, or paying for gas in his car pays the same price as the guy who makes less. But it eats away at the guy who makes less' overall percentage of wealth. Sorry. I say the rich guy could pay more, and us working class and poor people deserve a break. A higher tax on people making over a million and a half a year, still leaves them rich. And allows for tax cuts to people making less than that.
And a flat tax certainly is not equal. It, again, benefits the rich, and hurts people like you and me. 15% when you make $20 Million leaves you with $17 Million. If you make $20K that leaves you with $17K. But the prices you buy goods at are exactly the same. So a rich guy buying groceries, or paying for gas in his car pays the same price as the guy who makes less. But it eats away at the guy who makes less' overall percentage of wealth. Sorry. I say the rich guy could pay more, and us working class and poor people deserve a break. A higher tax on people making over a million and a half a year, still leaves them rich. And allows for tax cuts to people making less than that.
Ok, Now I'm back to writing.
To be honest, the ideology of capitalism isn't necessarily the evil it might seem to be. The basics of it really are that if you work hard, invest in yourself and your work, and are fiscally responsible. Then you should succeed, and reap the rewards of the hard work you've sown. I don't really have a problem with that. In fact, if that's where it ended, fine. But it doesn't end there.
You see, like any ideology, it is subject to influence. This is pretty much true of any ideology. You name it, it's influenced by other factors. Capitalism has allowed a belief that profit and wealth are the most desirable things one can obtain. And it also does not factor in poverty. And these things just can not be ignored.
The question always remains. How much is enough? A capitalist will tell you there is no such thing as enough. But a drive to a never ending goal, allows for society to overlook the things it did to get there. People talk about "Climbing the ladder" but never look at what that ladder is made of. it's made of the hard work of everyone else but the person climbing it. The climber didn't build the ladder, But only wants to be the first person to the top. Which they readily admit there is no top to it.
You see, working class people built that ladder. Everyday workers. Whether they are minimum wage workers, or 100,000 strong union. It's there backs that things were built off of. And when the money rolls in the capitalist fight and horde it all. They dole out the tiniest of scraps. In fact, they only give back tiny little bits. The wealthiest 1% (roughly 3 Million people) control over 66% of the wealth. Leaving the remaining 99% of us (about 297 million of us) left to fight and struggle and survive for that last 33%. It wasn't always this way. In fact, just Thirty years ago, before Ronald Reagan took office, the 1%ers only had 50% of the wealth.
Now how is that Equal? How is that Liberty? How is that Freedom?
CEO's used to make about 5 to 10 times what their average worker made. They now make 344 times what their average worker makes. The good news (I guess) is that that figure is down from 2000, when they made 525 times what their workers made.
Where is the equality there?
Was it fair and equal when Ken Lay stole from Enron and ruined all of his employees pensions, bankrupting all those people? Or was it fair of his wife to get on TV afterwards and cry that they were so poor now,
They only had $11 Million in the bank. I say fuck them, and when he dropped dead, there was
some sort of divine justice.
Anyway.
You can trust in capitalism if you so choose. I'll take my chances with Government. It's most
certainly a mess (and then some), but at least I have a say in who goes to represent me there.
Unlike Capitalism.
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