If You Want to Talk About Class Warfare...

August 15, 2002 1:07 PM

If You Want to Talk About Class Warfare... Molly Ivins gives it to 'em: Some days, you have to believe that right-wing ideologues have lost touch with reality completely. Their latest proposal to prevent future Enrons is - ta-da! - cut the capital gains tax. And exactly what does that do to prevent future Enrons? Nothing.
posted by Ty Webb (9 comments total)

well, ty, if the super-rich didn't have to worry about paying all those taxes they might not have to do illegal things to make more money. see?
posted by rhyax at 1:20 PM on August 15, 2002

and besides, with capital gains in the shitter, who needs the tax? [imagine, if you don't find it excessivley offensive, a smiley emoticon inserted here]
posted by quonsar at 1:26 PM on August 15, 2002

Yeah. Oh yeah. That article was beautiful. Good to see someone just call it as it is. The system(the man....dig) has done all it could to suppress any populist movement. It enables and uses the class/race model to subvert any attempt to create a viable movement for change. In all this controversy about corporate fraud, there has been very little mention of class, and how the American system of class has lead us to this point.

As a member, or at the very least, representative of the upper classes, nothing W. does can be trusted. He's ruined environmental protections, weakened the medical system AND loosened patient's right to privacy. He's preparing a war no one needs. He's hiring crony firms like haliburton to build a prison for terrorists (unlawful noncombatants/people without any rights.) Jose Padilla is a US citizen. Heard from him lately?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH = Bach in spellcheck.

I need a beer.
posted by elwoodwiles at 4:01 PM on August 15, 2002

kimwalks.org - A Welfare Reform Blog
Dayton, Ohio blogger Kim Denmark has vowed to walk around the nation seeking support for those who have fallen victim to what she calls the nation's "failed" welfare system.
posted by sheauga at 4:22 PM on August 15, 2002

So don't cut captial gains because some crooks at Enron cooked their books? Capital Gains Taxation is a bad tax anyhow.
posted by ZupanGOD at 5:39 PM on August 15, 2002

I love Molly, but she's always written off right away....how anyone could disagree with the FACTS she laid out, i don't know...
posted by amberglow at 5:44 PM on August 15, 2002

Me, I'd just like to hear how the Republicans actually claim that cutting the capital gains tax would cut corporate fraud. I took a year of microeconomics and a semester of macro, both with calculus prerequisites -- when I hear really bizarre libertarian ideas ("Expand property rights to defend the environment!") I usually think back to them to figure out the logic. I can't figure this one out, though.
posted by ramakrishna at 7:27 PM on August 15, 2002

She didnt give too many facts about the actual Capital Gains Tax. True, a cut is not going to stop another enron but it would have its benifits. The tax is unfair because it is a double tax. Money collected from the tax only makes up about 3% of total tax revenues. Tons of people in the middle class have to pay on capital gains. Cutting the tax isnt going to hurt anyone, not the middle class, the upper class nor the government. Just because most of money collected is from the wealthy doesnt justify the tax.
posted by Recockulous at 7:31 PM on August 15, 2002

On capital gains tax:

Does a working person's income get taxed? Yes.
Should a non-working person's income be taxed also? Yes.

To do differently IS socioeconomic discrimination. "All the justice you can afford." "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy"
posted by nofundy at 5:00 AM on August 16, 2002