Tornado Alley (PROG)

[sortagreen]

Inequity is still rising, so

What I hear you saying is you disapprove of capitalism.

I have a modest stock portfolio. I'm not a millionaire... yet. Maybe I won't be. I started late. I have a 2007 Camry that I paid $5000 for with 115k on the odometer. I've since put 70k on it myself, and it runs great. I also have a decent bike, a 1990 Heritage Softail with some updates, and a beater of a yard truck.

I have an acquaintance, a younger guy who works for a living, who has a $30,000 motorcycle and an $80,000 pickup truck. I can't imagine the payments. Just his taxes and insurance would probably pay for my vacations. (No word on whether he buys avocado toast and lattes, although I'm gonna go with "probably not") He could be a millionaire, in fairly short order, but he won't be. Maybe it's not what he wants, and maybe it's just not something he sees.

But let me shift gears. If you want to curb inequity, then tax policy is how you do that. We tried to raise marginal rates. We tried to close the carried interest loophole. We tried to tax capital gains like income. (the real money is often made in capital gains, and for some reason we don't tax that like we do the money you actually work for.) Don't blame us. We tried. You scoffed. Manchin and Sinema blocked us six ways from Sunday, Manchin because he's fucking wealthy, and Sinema because she was paid to... and you applauded. You know? Tell the truth, and shame the devil. I think you'd rather just whine.