Replies to post #459017 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[sortagreen]

'They should take less 'profit' and let people earn more....Period'

Anand Giridharadas? I read that book. Very good points.

I also answered that. Go back and read what I wrote. "Higher taxes on marginal income seems to encourage that. As the government's take rises, employers are more likely to pay more and reinvest more."

You can legislate taxes. I'm not sure how else you can legislate profits.

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That productivity gain was falsely based......It was gained by moving industry out of the US to cheaper labor markets with less worker rights and benefits, those same countries do not adhere to environmental constraints to boot, saving billions more and will cost all of us dearly....

I don't know that that's true. It may be. I'd have to see your studies that suggest it. Automation may be as big a culprit as the offshoring, but that too is without context. Bulldozers put millions out of work too, but no one suggests we should go back to using shovels. It's really immaterial to the discussion. Productivity has increased but the gains have only gone to the top. That was the point. If we'd have taxed that money we would be back to the goal of encouraging companies to pay their workers more.

There's another point to be made as well. The economy is at full employment. If we're going to make all our socks and widgets here, (or go back to digging ditches by hand) we're going to need to make more kids, or import a labor force.

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Taxing the rich is a set up for paying people to do nothing, the worst of all scenarios...

That's a leap into the absurd. In a country with $34 trillion in debt? In a country that's desperately in need of roads, bridges, ports, rail, broadband, child care, elder care and so much else, you would have to pay people to do nothing?

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People need worth, not a rich mans charity...

Are you sure you were responding to anything in my post? You're thinking of taxes only as redistribution. Taxes are also how we pay the bills and build out the country, which has largely fallen apart since Reagan decided we didn't need taxes... (or roads, bridges, ports, rail, broadband, child care, elder care or much else)

Again, you can't legislate lower profits, but you can encourage that... and you do that through tax policy.

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Also... good book. I mention it because you seem to be quoting from it. If not, grab a copy.