
Recommendations: 9
jwiest:"Yes, the pie is not finite, but as usual, you leave out a critical element. What you're missing is (using your analogy):

a) at any given time, the pie is definitely finite
b) in the past, say 50 years ago, the share of the pie at any given time slice was more evenly shared
c) this meant there was more more calories in a broader pool, giving more people access to leverage that energy and apply it in new ways."

No, at any given time, the pie is always able to grow. Duh! Even Owebama admits the economy is squeaking along at 1-2% growth per year. More pie. the stock market has been advancing year after year. THe housing prices are once again rising.

ANd, worse, you fall into the lib dem fallacy of 'if the government isn't doing it, it doesn't happen'.

Every year hundreds of thousands of new businesses start. HEck, there was no business on Ebay 10 years ago...now, you can open your Ebay store in 20 minutes and sell stuff you make yourself. NO hassles. You can start your own wood carving business, or meet a need in your community. Your pie is yours to make.


Jwiest:"We still have redistributive politics, it's just that things have been shifted so the share of the pie rests more and more with a select few. "

Hah...we got 47% paying no income taxes....and most of them living off the government .....eating taxpayer pie.

The biggest payouts are now 'entitlement programs' ...handing out government pie, and taking it mostly from 'the rich' top 10% who pay almost 90% of all income taxes.


jwiest:"This leaves less energy for others to leverage and apply it in new ways."

Ha.....it's easier today with the web to go into business. It's easier to get business contacts and sell things. It's easier to buy. You have new ways of financing things. gimme a break


jwiest:"50 years ago the top rate was > 90%. "

and what, 10 people actually exceeded the threshold and not by much? The other 10,000 making that much used tax loopholes and deductions and legal methods to chop their tax bills by 90% legally.


jwiest:"People were still wealthy and small businesses (the ones that create jobs) flourished. "

Yes, and most of them didn't make a lot of money 'on paper' and grew the business and grew it.....giving them long term capital gain when they finally sold 30 years later. In the mean time, they hardly paid any taxes. duh!

and the wealthy bought lots of muni bonds...no tax. duh! and real estate for the depreciation. Low annual income.....but lots of 'wealth' that you can never tax.


Once again, libs show 'wealth envy'....

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