tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-816559531110064247.post2762158199532757983..comments2024-03-08T01:03:44.522-08:00Comments on Humble Student of the Markets: What if the social fabric tears?Cam Hui, CFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09672203690656029787noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-816559531110064247.post-69627554034807598182009-11-21T11:27:50.528-08:002009-11-21T11:27:50.528-08:00@Roger Heath:
The top 50% of the households by in...@Roger Heath:<br /><br /><i>The top 50% of the households by income pay 97% of the federal income taxes.</i><br />Just for shits 'n' giggles, wouldn't it be useful to also know how much of the income they get, no? If they make 97% of the income then I would say this is an EXTREMELY fair situation. Moreso when you consider the overall tax burden which is NOT limited to income tax (many taxes, such as sales tax, have more impact at lower incomes [as %-of-income].<br /><br /><i>When more than 50% pay nothing, they'll vote themselves benefits</i><br /><br />So why aren't they? You say that, but it doesn't actually happen. What happens is that the richest people in the country get their way, every. single. time., regardless of which party is in power. <br /><br />Your fears and reality disagree. Cam's do not, or at least don't appear to.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16969547393355933525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-816559531110064247.post-30288970778299161262009-11-18T10:25:05.741-08:002009-11-18T10:25:05.741-08:00@ Roger Heath @ 9:55
"When more than 50% p...@ Roger Heath @ 9:55 <br /> <br />"When more than 50% pay nothing, they'll vote themselves benefits, compliments of those doing the paying." <br />One often sees this proposition cited, yet what % of this 50% who "pay nothing" (e.g., not even no SS taxes, no sales taxes?) are registered voters and of those what % actually vote?<br />As yet, I believe this is a straw man argument.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-816559531110064247.post-41288811069692071932009-11-10T11:11:28.793-08:002009-11-10T11:11:28.793-08:00I think a large portion of the American lower and ...I think a large portion of the American lower and middle class has been effectively dumbed down by the media to the point where they are not a threat and if they were the US military has a noncombative technology where a mob can be controlled without firepower.<br /><br />But your point is very well made about our markets. I can not think of any sustainable rags to riches microcap stock stories created since the 2000 bubble where I can name a handful of them in the UK and Canada. I think naked short selling has been a factor in this fact.<br /><br /> Most of the wealth created in the USA was from being on the right end a hedge fund trade.FIFOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15451122396844264938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-816559531110064247.post-32877151439774873722009-11-09T22:36:01.821-08:002009-11-09T22:36:01.821-08:00This is really interesting and I believe that we s...This is really interesting and I believe that we saw the underpinnings of this visious circle starting 20 years ago. As companies shifted well paying domestic jobs offshore, profits rose and investors made tidy returns. I saw this time and time again last year travelling through rural Illinois. One town lost MayTag, Wheaton, and Case in two years! <br /><br />Unfortunately,investment income doesn't produce the taxation revenue that payroll does. Spending on many social programs in general, and education in particular, fell at the same time as deficits rose. But due to a number of factors, not the least among them vast amounts of ridiculously easy credit, nothing outwardly changed in society for quite a while. <br /><br />I am not sure what the answers will be, but I am sure that they will need to be long term and painful.<br /><br />Thanks for all the effort that you put into "Humble Students," it exercises my brain in areas that it otherwise doesn't exercise!<br /><br />Kevin MaherKevin Maherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10288264611066518808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-816559531110064247.post-53559784616425190452009-11-09T13:02:01.650-08:002009-11-09T13:02:01.650-08:00The difference between the US in 2011 and other co...The difference between the US in 2011 and other countries such as Russia in 1998 or Argentina in 2001 is that the State in the US is so entrenched with monolithich power, technological and logistical as well as financial, that its collapse will be very cacaphonous. This may seem to have been true in Russia, but the infrastructure was too loose there. Consider surveillance, legal precedents that pave the way for martial law, and last but not least, all the spooky military stuff that DARPA has been cooking up, and you have a recipe for a decline unlike any since the fall of Rome. <br /><br />Offshore real estate might be worth recommending to clients.Patrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13614962832390315553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-816559531110064247.post-4209471996570950672009-11-09T09:55:47.440-08:002009-11-09T09:55:47.440-08:00Cam,
I wouldn't dismiss what you write as lef...Cam,<br /><br />I wouldn't dismiss what you write as leftist claptrap. However, your post, uncharacteristically, seems unfocused and less than convincing. To prove that there is inequality and a lack of economic mobility, you use anecdotal evidence (no evidence at all) and a logically invalid study about social mobility.<br /><br />While I agree with you that the American Dream is in danger, I think the likely proximate cause is rooted in the tax laws and politics. The top 50% of the households by income pay 97% of the federal income taxes. When more than 50% pay nothing, they'll vote themselves benefits, compliments of those doing the paying. This natural urge combined with the demonization of of the "rich" by politicians and media sources will do significantly more to destroy the American Dream. <br /><br />As government spending crashes towards 50% of GDP, and the current administration takes over more of the private market, the likely outcome is socialism. <br /><br />Like you, I fear that the American Dream is losing purchase. We differ on the threat. Yours seems to be either right-wing or left-wing extremism. I fear big government in cahoots with big business trying to get a place at the table.<br /><br />Keep provoking,Roger Heathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13890852568439668198noreply@blogger.com