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Guest Post: Outlaw Josey Wales - Part Four

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Submitted by Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform

Outlaw Josey Wales - Part Four

win. That’s just the way it is.” –
Josey Wales – Outlaw Josey Wales 


To hell with them fellas. Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms. – Josey Wales – Outlaw Josey Wales 

There is a war underway in this country. The working middle class
that built this country from the ground up are being systematically
eliminated by a small cabal of super rich powerful elite. The middle
class was much like Josey Wales, a peaceful Missouri farmer just working
his land trying to make an honest living. Then a band of lawless thugs
come along and kill his wife and son and burn down his farmhouse. A man
can only take so much before he gets mean and vengeful. The rich and
powerful, the corrupt Wall Street bankers, the banker controlled Federal
Reserve and the bought off politicians in Washington D.C. have been
pillaging the middle class for decades.

They’ve killed the middle class and in 2008 they essentially burned
down the worldwide financial system. Somehow, they convinced the
American public the war was over. A small band of super wealthy
individuals on the boulevard of greed, Wall Street, and in the putrid
swamp of Washington D.C. blackmailed the American middle class taxpayers
by threatening to bring down the financial system unless they were
handed $700 billion, saved from bankruptcy by the Federal Reserve buying
$1.2 trillion of toxic mortgage debt, and provided free money by their
sugar daddy at the Federal Reserve. The politicians then absconded with
another $800 billion of taxpayer funds and handed it out to their
corporate political cronies in the name of shovel ready projects and
adding 3 million new jobs.

At the end of the Civil War, the Confederate guerrillas that Josey
Wales had joined agree to lay down their arms with a promise of freedom.
Instead the Union thugs began to mow them down with a Gatling gun. This
is perfect symbolism for what the ruling elite have perpetrated in the
last three years. Within months of nearly destroying the worldwide
financial system, the Wall Street desperados were paying themselves
hundreds of billions in bonuses for a job well done plundering and
sacking the American middle class taxpayer. They certainly earned the
bonuses, considering they could borrow from the Fed at 0% and earn 2.5%
on Treasuries or pile into stocks and commodities, knowing Uncle Ben
would guarantee profits with QE2.

Jim Grant, in early 2009, described the excessive response by those in power to a crisis caused by them:

“To try to exorcise the Great Depression, President Herbert
Hoover deployed fiscal and monetary stimulus equivalent to 8.3% of gross
domestic product. To banish the demons of 2008-9, successive
administrations have spent, or encouraged to printed, the equivalent to
28.9% of GDP. A macroeconomist from Mars, judging by these data alone,
would never guess how much more severe was that depression than this
recession. The decline in real GDP from August 1929 to March 1933
amounted to 27%; that from December 2007 to date, just 1.8%… so for a
slump 1/15 as severe as the Depression, our 21st-century economy doctors
administered a course of treatment more than three times as costly.”

Ultimately, GDP fell 3.1% between the 3rd quarter of 2008 and the 3rd
quarter of 2009. The government response has amounted to throwing $7
trillion ($4.2 trillion increase in national debt, $700 billion of TARP
bailouts, $200 billion of losses taken by Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac,
$100 billion of losses taken by the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve
increasing their balance sheet by $1.8 trillion) of your tax dollars at
the problem. As a side benefit, they have thrown senior citizens under
the bus by paying them 0% on their savings, not providing a cost of
living increase to their social security for two years, and hitting them
over the head with 10% levels of inflation on food and energy.

At this point it looks bad for the working middle class and it looks
like they aren’t going to make it through the next banker made financial
crisis. The middle class just wants the chance for a new beginning.
They want jobs. They know the country has been hijacked by the banking
corporatocracy, supported by the corrupt political class in D.C. It is
time for the middle class to channel their inner Josey Wales and get
plumb mad-dog mean. It is not time to lose your head and give up. The
middle class are being pursued by Wall Street bounty hunters and
government crooks trying to finish them off. It is time to make a stand
and fight. It is essential that we know our enemies and how they
achieved their power. It all began in 1913 with the creation of the
Federal Reserve and the implementation of the personal income tax. I’ve
previously detailed how the baby boom generation contributed to our
fiscal plight in Part One – For a Few Dollars More,
how the actions of the Federal Reserve’s over the last few decades have
impoverished the middle class and placed the country at the brink of
collapse in Part Two – Fistful of Dollars and addressed the nefarious creation of a central bank in Part Three – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

How to Buy a Tax Break

“There’s another old saying, Senator: Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining.” – Fletcher – Outlaw Josey Wales

When the Federal government spends more each year than it
print money, or borrow money. While these actions may benefit
politicians, all three options are bad for average Americans. –
Ron Paul

The Senator pissing down the backs of Americans while telling us it
was raining was named Nelson Aldrich, from Rhode Island. He was a
Republican lackey of J.P. Morgan who was the driving force behind the
creation of the Federal Reserve and the passage of the Sixteenth
Amendment, creating the personal income tax. His daughter married John
D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his son became the Chairman of Chase National
Bank. I wonder how beholden he was to the banker class. A decade before
1913 Aldrich had declared an income tax as communistic. He was right.
 Karl Marx published his Communist Manifesto in 1848. It included ten
planks. Two of the ten planks were as follows:

  • A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

The United States had tinkered with an income tax during the Civil
War and the 1890’s, but the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.
Until 1913, the Federal government was restrained from overspending
because it was completely reliant on tariffs and duties to generate
revenue. Without the ability to print money and tax its citizens,
politicians could not roll out new programs and fight foreign wars of
choice.The Sixteenth Amendment changed the game forever.

“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes
on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among

Politicians pulled the old bait and switch on the American people.
The initial tax rates of 1% to 7% were low. That did not last long. By
1918, the top marginal rate was 77%, as Woodrow Wilson needed to fund
his war of choice. The top tax rate reached 92% during the Eisenhower
Administration and today rates are still 500% to 1,000% higher than they
were in 1913. The government is addicted to tax revenue. In 2009, they
absconded with $1.2 trillion in taxes from American individuals. Does
anyone think the bloated government bureaucracy spends these funds more
efficiently or for a more beneficial purpose than its citizens could
have? The income tax distorts financial planning and business
investment, and it encourages tax avoidance and evasion.

Partial History of
U.S. Federal Income Tax Rates
Since 1913
1913-1915 - 1% 7% IRS
2003-2009 6 brackets 10% 35% Tax Foundation

Source: Wikipedia

The average American thinks income taxes are essential because
politicians tell them so. The only discussion is about what the rates
should be. But, the country grew tremendously between 1789 and 1913
without a personal income tax. Income taxes do not benefit the average
American, they drain wealth from the citizens and hand it to politicians
who then use them to bribe constituents for votes with handouts and
fund foreign wars of choice. The IRS tax code has progressively been
utilized by the rich and influential class to skew it in favor of those
with the most lobbyists. Politicians get elected by promising benefits
to the masses while being funded by rich people and big corporations. A
tax code of 60,000 pages, with over 600 IRS tax forms, and filled with
tax breaks for influential constituents (farmers, oil companies,
homeowners, foreign corporations, etc.) is not designed to benefit the
average American. The tax code is used to pay off those who “contribute”
to the politicians that control the tax code.     

Congress frequently holds hearings on tax simplification so members
can denounce the tax code’s complexity. Congressional experts and
impartial think tanks provide useful simplification ideas. When the TV
cameras are turned off, Congress swiftly ignores them and votes for more
special interest breaks for their biggest contributors. The storyline
that is pounded into the minds of all Americans is that 50% of the
population pays no taxes and the rich pay an inordinate amount of taxes.
The Republicans and Democrats fight a battle of false talking points to
confuse and obscure the truth.

The Republican mantra since the Reagan era has been to cut taxes and
allow the “free market” to work its magic. They have succeeded in
convincing a vast swath of Americans that lowering the highest tax rates
have benefitted the masses. This is completely untrue. An unfunded tax
cut today is just a tax increase on future generations. Democrats went
along with tax cuts as long as the Republicans went along with spending
increases. The Democrats hit the jackpot, with a supposedly fiscal
conservative president signing a Medicare D bill that added trillions of
unfunded liabilities to our national balance sheet. The Republicans are
on cloud 9, as a supposedly liberal anti-war president has increased
war spending to $1 trillion per year while ramping up our foreign wars
of choice. Everyone gets what they want in Washington D.C. This is
called bi-partisanship.

The Big Lie

As the chart above shows, at least before Reagan the top marginal
rates were kept high to pay for the social programs instituted by
Congress and the wars of choice fought by our Presidents. After 1980, in
some sort of warped Twilight Zone episode, politicians across the land
convinced themselves and the masses they could have lower taxes, more
entitlement goodies, never ending war, and an unlimited heaping of
material goods, with no adverse consequences. Well, it was a lie.

  • The GDP in 1981 was $3.1 trillion, today it is $14.7 trillion.
  • The National Debt in 1981 was $907 billion, today it is $14.4 trillion.
  • The amount of annual Federal income tax revenue in 1981 was $347 billion, today it is $1.1 trillion.
  • The amount of annual Federal spending in 1981 was $678 billion; today it is $3.8 trillion.
  • Total consumer debt in 1981 totaled $353 billion, today it is $2.4 trillion.
  • Total mortgage debt outstanding grew from $1.5 trillion in 1981 to $14.6 trillion by 2008.  
  • Median household income was $17,710 in 1980 and is now $49,777.

These facts reveal an empire spiraling out of control, delusional and
living on borrowed time with borrowed money. The output of the country
has grown by 474% in the last 30 years, while the National Debt has
grown by 1,588%. Those two facts alone paint a picture of eventual
collapse. The lesson of allowing politicians and bankers unfettered
access to unlimited amounts of fiat currency backed by nothing but a
hollow promise to pay is clear, in the divergence of income tax revenue
and spending. The dramatic slashing of top marginal rates from 70%,
which had been in place for a fifty year period when the U.S. economy
boomed, was supposed to invigorate the economy and unleash the free
market spirit of our entrepreneurs. A funny thing happened on the way to
prosperity for all. Federal income tax revenue has only grown by 317%
in the thirty years since the Reagan Revolution. The CPI has grown by
289% over this same time frame. Therefore, tax revenue is essentially
flat with 1980 on an inflation adjusted basis. This wouldn’t be a
problem, except that the politicians we elected ramped up spending by
560% over these same thirty years. Federal spending has grown at almost
twice the rate of income tax revenue. Bug meet windshield.  I guess this
is called supply side economics.

Politicians of both parties have promised the American public they
could have low taxes, unlimited social welfare benefits, a house that
always appreciated in price, electronic gadgets galore, and the true
American dream of getting something for nothing. And it was all made
possible by your friendly Wall Street banker and their friends at the
Federal Reserve. The data above already paints a dire picture for the
American Empire, but the next ten years will finish the job. GDP is
stagnant as Federal government spending props up the teetering edifice
of economic activity. The National Debt will reach $20 trillion by 2015
and is on course to reach at least $25 trillion by 2019. Both the
Republican and Democratic “plans” to “reduce” the deficit are a joke.
They don’t reduce anything. They add to the debt.

The citizens of this country should be outraged by such fiscal
irresponsibility, and marching on Washington D.C. with pitchforks and
torches. But, there is no outrage across the countryside. This is
because the vast majority of Americans followed the example of their
beloved government leaders and lived far beyond their means in a
delusional attempt to borrow their way to material prosperity. The
median household income has risen by 281% since 1981, less than
inflation over the same time frame. The median household is taking home
less than they did in 1981 on an inflation adjusted basis. The
McMansions, BMWs, computers, 52 inch HDTVs, and 15 other essential
electronic gadgets that represent the current American Dream were
financed. Consumer debt, used to buy (rent) luxury automobiles and
essentials like 4 TVs and 3 computers, grew by 680%, more than twice the
rate of median household income. Mortgage debt grew by an astounding
973% in the last thirty years.


The last thirty years have been a faux American Dream. The madness of
crowds has been replaced by the sober reality that the material goods
purchased with debt steadily depreciate day by day, while the debt stays
firmly in place. Who benefitted and who lost during these thirty years
of delusion? There is only one beneficiary from the issuance of
trillions in debt – Wall Street bankers. The ten biggest banks in the
country hold more than 50% of the mortgage debt and 80% of the credit
card debt in the U.S. The poor never had much, and they still don’t.
Politicians have averted riots and social unrest by pouring trillions
into welfare, social security disability, SNAP programs, earned income
credits, and hundreds of other transfer payment bribes to the poor. The
middle class has borne the brunt of the banker plundering and pillaging.

The Super Rich Storyline

There are three storylines that are pounded home repeatedly by the mainstream media and the Republican Party ideologues.

  1. More than 50% of Americans don’t pay any taxes.
  2. The top 1% pays 38% of all the Federal income taxes.
  3. Increasing the highest tax rate above 35% would destroy jobs and kill small business owners.

The misinformation spewed forth by the super rich, who control the
media, politicians, and media message, to disguise their continued
looting of the American middle class, is unrelenting. There are 117
million households in the United States with a median household income
of $48,000. Data from the Tax Foundation shows that in 2008, the average
income for the bottom half of taxpayers was $15,300. The first $9,350
couples. Politicians of both parties also provided credits for children,
earned income credits, mortgage tax deductions, property tax
deductions, and a myriad of other tax goodie payoffs for votes. When
half the households in the country make less than $48,000 per year in
income, of course they won’t be paying any Federal income taxes. There
are approximately 151 million Americans earning income. Almost 73
million, or 48%, make less than $25,000. As Wall Street enriched
billionaires are interviewed by millionaire journalists on CNBC,
scorning those who don’t pay their fair share of taxes, they outsource
the blue collar jobs of those on the lower income scale to China and
India. Without good paying jobs, the middle class uses debt to maintain
their American dream, further enriching the billionaire class in a
circle of death.


This chart reveals the true nature of who controls our country. It is
a battle between a few thousand of the richest people in America versus
the other 150 million. The facts are the middle class and poor pay a
much higher percentage of their income in taxes than the rich. The
Social Security tax cuts off at $106,800. Therefore, the median
household pays 6.2% of their income, while the rich household making $5
million per year pays .13% of their income. This applies to sales taxes,
property taxes, state taxes, local taxes and the thousand other taxes
and fees charged on utility bills, etc. William Domhoff notes that the
top 1% who make $1.3 million per year only pay 30.9% of their income in
taxes, while those making $141,000 per year pay 31.5% of their income in
taxes. I guess their tax lawyers aren’t as well paid. Even those making
$34,000 pay 27% of their income in taxes.


Source: Citizens for Tax Justice

The top 1% does pay 38% of the Federal income tax because they have a
23.5% share of the national income. The last time the top 1% reached
this level of income was in 1928, just before the Great Stock Market
Crash and the Great Depression. During the glory years of the American
Empire, between 1946 and 1971, the top 1% of households’ share of the
national income ranged between 8% and 13%. With the era of unbridled
greed and debt that began in the 1980s, the inequitable distribution of
wealth has risen to new heights. This level of pillaging by those in
control of the finance sector of the economy, supported by their
mouthpieces in Congress, and championed by their controlled media
pundits, has reached a level that will eventually lead to revolution.

The biggest lie pushed forth by the powerful super rich in this
country is related to the top marginal tax rate, which is currently 35%.
The Republican agenda includes a further cut in the top rate to 25%. It
is sold to the American public as a good thing for them. It has nothing
to do with them. The 35% rate applies to only taxable income over
$379,000. Of the 151 million Americans earning a living, this rate would
apply to about 200,000 people. The top marginal tax rates during the
glory years of the American Empire (1946 – 1971) were between 70% and
90%. These rates only applied to taxable income above $400,000, when the
average income was less than $10,000 per year. These were the best
years for the American middle class.

The IRS issues an annual report on the 400 highest income tax payers.
In 1961, there were 398 taxpayers who made $1 million or more. Today
there are over 78,000 taxpayers who make more than $1 million. The
loopholes written into the tax code over decades by lobbyists paid for
by the super rich, plus much lower tax rates on the largest sources of
income of the wealthy (capital gains taxed at 15%), explain why the
18.11% in 2008, according to the IRS, down from 26.38% when this data
were first calculated in 1992. Among the top 400, 7.5% had an average
tax rate of less than 10%, 25% paid between 10% and 15%, and 28% paid
between 15% and 20%. The average American’s share of their income going
to federal taxes increased from 13.1% in 1961 to 22.5% in 2008. William
Domhoff explains how the super rich have paid off Congress to rig the
system in their favor:

“According to another analysis by Johnston (2010a), the average
income of the top 400 tripled during the Clinton Administration and
average of $263.3 million just one year earlier. How are these huge
gains possible for the top 400? It’s due to cuts in the tax rates on
from capital gains and dividends, it’s not hard to see why tax cuts on
income sources available to only a tiny percent of Americans mattered
$372,650) supposedly pay.” –
Wealth, Income, and Power – William Domhoff

As an added bonus, hedge fund managers like John Paulson, who made $9
billion over two years, paid no income taxes on his windfall. In 2007,
to keep the tax rate on hedge fund managers at 15%, arguing that the
profits from hedge funds should be considered capital gains. Schumer,
the ultra-liberal champion of the poor, knows who butters his bread –
Wall Street. But it gets better. As long as they leave their money,
deferred. They pay taxes only when they cash out, which could be decades
from now. These upstanding citizens access their jackpot winnings by
borrowing against the carried interest, often at rates as low as 2%. I’m
sure every youngster in America dreams of becoming a hedge fund manager
so they can use system risking leverage to make bets on derivatives,
reap billions in profits, pay no taxes, and produce no value for the
country. The new American Dream.

It is plain to see by anyone without an ideological agenda that a few
thousand corrupt individuals have managed to gain control of the
American economic system. The introduction of the personal income tax
and creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913 have provided the means for
the few to dominate the many. Over the last century, a rich super class
has created their wealth through issuing debt to the masses, writing the
tax code in their favor through their captive politician protectors,
using their own private bank to issue trillions in fiat currency and
create inflation, and used their control of the mass media to convince
the average American that this was beneficial. Chris Whalen in his
brilliant economic history of the United States – Inflated – How Money & Debt Built the American Dream sums up what has happened:

“Once the two functions, controlling the amount of currency in
circulation, and second the government’s fiscal operations, are housed
under the same roof, inflation and a decrease in the value of money are
the inevitable result. It is always easier to borrow than to raise
taxes. Politicians who have access to the printing press will invariably
use it.”

The small cabal of banking elite committed the crime of the century
between 2001 and 2008. They used their power over the Federal Reserve
and political class to reap hundreds of billions in ill-begotten profits
and crashed the worldwide economic system in 2008. They then held the
country hostage as they extorted trillions more in bailouts from the
taxpayers. As a reward for their chutzpah, they have paid themselves
billions in bonuses. While 44 million people try to make ends meet with
food stamps, these criminals continue to pillage the countryside
attempting to steal the remainder of middle class wealth. As the middle
class sinks further into despair, anger is building. The political class
has tried to pay off the poor with entitlement payments, but it is the
middle class that will revolt when their hope for a better life is
destroyed by the moneyed class. With debt in the system expanding at
hyper-speed, the American Empire will not decline with a whimper but
with a bang. All previous Fourth Turning’s in
U.S. history have resulted in tremendous bloodshed. The next ten years
will follow this pattern. I’ll address the coming revolution against the
criminal banking element in the last part of this five part series – Unforgiven.


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Comment viewing options

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:15 | 1329139 Josh Randall
Josh Randall's picture

The Bernank needs a Missouri Boat Ride

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:13 | 1329398 Long-John-Silver
Long-John-Silver's picture

No, he needs to be the Guest of Honor at a Guillotine Party.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:33 | 1329675 Hugh G Rection
Hugh G Rection's picture

You guys are way too humane with the execution ideas.


Rectal impalement or upside down crucifixion maybe...


What I was thinking is more along these lines 

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:57 | 1329752 Hernando
Hernando's picture

Greenspan, Paulson, Rubin, Senator Gramn of TX, Summers and Mozilo deserve a military firing squad.  An additional 200 accomplices in the MSM, NY and DC should be doing very hard time in prison for 20 plus years.

The greatest country in the history of mankind has been stabbed in the back from within.  When this was done to the Germans they responded by electing Hitler.   By 2016, things are going to be so bad that an American version of Hitler could easily take power with the full support of the majority of Americans.


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 18:32 | 1330629 mkkby
mkkby's picture

Folks, there won't be any mass organization.  Don't wait for some internet savior to come and rescue you.  Your friends and  neighbors will never understand, or be of any use even if they do.  Take care of yourself.

How?  Opt out of the consumerist sheep shearing, and save as much of your labor as you can.  Stop doing business with intra-state banksters.  Stop buying crap you don't need.  Stop believing TV commercials.  Just opt out.  You'll be preparing yourself for what's to come, and you'll be starving the beast.

If only a small percentage of us did that, they system would come crashing down.  Without a shot being fired.  Just quit playing their game.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 19:20 | 1330753 CH1
CH1's picture


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 20:27 | 1330934 YHC-FTSE
YHC-FTSE's picture


Thu, 06/02/2011 - 12:37 | 1332717 Chuck Walla
Chuck Walla's picture

If you mean a dictatorship will arise from the middle pleading for relief, I think the case can be made, at least from Soros' point of view.  I think this is a big part of the set-up

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 16:50 | 1330287 wherewasi
wherewasi's picture

Agreed... too humane indeed.


Buckwheats for everyone.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 16:58 | 1330327 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

I seen what you done.

Great movie reference there.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:39 | 1329503 brew
brew's picture

reckon so

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:58 | 1329576 Hugh G Rection
Hugh G Rection's picture



Wed, 06/01/2011 - 19:14 | 1330722 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

I live in KS, is that close enough?  I also have a boat with a hole in it.  I would prefer to use the new boat though so I can get out of the $700 a year luxury tax. disappeared.  Someone stole it.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:20 | 1329146 Jason T
Jason T's picture

my favorite line from this great movie.. "dieing ain't much of a living boy"

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:29 | 1329176 dick cheneys ghost
dick cheneys ghost's picture

you a money printer?.....mans got to make a livin.........printing aint much of a living boy.......

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:43 | 1329251 Rusty Shorts
Rusty Shorts's picture

Paint Your Printing Press Red

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:45 | 1329199 tickhound
tickhound's picture

The CPI has been adjusted to include Hard Rock Candy... "cuz it ain't fer eatin', it's just fer.. lookin' through."

"And this bottle of Zirp is $0% US. Works wonders for just about everything... How's it with stains?"

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:30 | 1329475 High Plains Drifter
High Plains Drifter's picture

I had to come back..


Yeh I know.........

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 16:02 | 1330051 trav7777
trav7777's picture

Josey Wales is one of the greatest movies of all time and a tour de force of great lines.

Wales:  "soon as I get to likin somebody, they ain't around too long,"

Wattie:  "I've noticed that soon as you get to dislikin somebody, they ain't around too long neither."

but the original article was total bullshit.  What these idiots who talk about marginal tax rates omit is that the numbers of deductions have been sliced down.  Those 90% rates weren't paid by anyone as all kinds of things were deductible from income back then.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:25 | 1329160 TruthInSunshine
TruthInSunshine's picture

This statement is 100% in earnest:

Reduce the Federal Budget by 30% across the board and the overwhelming majority, most likely as many as 85% of Americans (not including those who work directly for government or directly for companies where their job is the result of government funding), would  notice no decline in their standard of living.

Reduce state budgets by 30% across the board and the same thing as above holds true.

You could even reduced federal, state and local government budgets by 30% across the board, and limit reductions to Social Security Payments to 7% or less (by getting rid of the EPIC waste and fraud that exists in Medicare & Medicaid, not to mention DoD/Pentagon contracts).

To put the cherry on top, the country could go to a flat tax of around 12% to 17%, replacing the incredibly inefficient income tax as it now stands (with 60,000 pages of IRC bullshit), and living standards and the environment for almost all Americans and businesses would improve by a vast degree.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:28 | 1329189 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

but instead what we get is shit like this that was just passed in Florida:

Florida to require drug testing for all welfare recipients

Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) signed legislation into law on Tuesday that requires anyone applying for temporary government assistance to pay for and undergo drug screening.

Under the new law, applicants for the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program who test positive for illegal drug use won't be eligible to receive benefits for one year or until they successfully complete a drug abuse program. Those who don't test positive will be reimbursed for the cost of the test.

Around 60,000 people would be affected, according to earlier reports.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:37 | 1329216 Famous Rapper
Famous Rapper's picture

Good. Those drug addicts don't need the tax money of working people to pay for their fix. Bunch of degenerates that went from begging mom for $20 from their room in the basement, to licking Uncle Sam's shaft for their dope funds. Fuck em.

But this does present an opportunity. A bottle with a temperature strip, two hand warmers, a rubber band, and some guaranteed clean pee..$50. Stand outside the dole hub and wait for the welfare queens.


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:43 | 1329250 samsara
samsara's picture

So, did the banksters who received a $700 billion dollar welfare check from us have to have their pee tested?

Or are they free to do their lines of coke etc and drink champagne while pissing down on us?

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:11 | 1329370 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

LOL!!!! exactly!

no doubt he seems to have no trouble with the personal vices of the welfare recipients of the 12 digit variety.

how utterly telling.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 15:03 | 1329790 flattrader
flattrader's picture

The wealthy welfare queens have also "killed" more people by starvation via food commodity price manipulation than gangster street thugs...The Squid in particular.



Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:29 | 1329467 Silver Dreamer
Silver Dreamer's picture

Debt is their drug of choice.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 15:14 | 1329832 SRV - ES339
SRV - ES339's picture

you forgot coke & hookers (or maids for a bit more excitement)

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:54 | 1329281 stirners_ghost
stirners_ghost's picture

Absolutely right-- dole recipients should limit their purchases to sanctioned vices, like alcohol, gambling, porn, cigarettes.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:14 | 1329387 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

and let's not forget the drugs that help pad the bottom line of big pharma...because those are DEFINITELY NOT bad for you and most definitely NOT addictive.


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:07 | 1329347 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

if you think that someone that smokes pot is a drug addict, then you are simply too uptight to live.

get over yourself. why don't you put down the bible, knock back a few drinks, smoke a joint and go out and get laid. it'll do you good.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:37 | 1329224 el Gallinazo
el Gallinazo's picture

Can you apply by leaving a turd on the Welfare Dept. front step? They could screen it for drugs and filet mignon. Be sure to leave your name on it, or maybe they could check your DNA records.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:51 | 1329742 Thisson
Thisson's picture

There should be no welfare.  It's called get a job, bitches.


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:59 | 1329596 dxj
dxj's picture

In theory, the flat tax makes economic sense ... but in practicality, it's a license to steal as much as the government wants.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 15:13 | 1329819 trembo slice
trembo slice's picture

if a theory is good it does work in practice.  if it doesn't work in practice, it is a bad theory.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:23 | 1329166 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

This was a great series of articles (as usual) by Jim Quinn.

Brilliant stuff. A delicious read.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:23 | 1329168 Internet Tough Guy
Internet Tough Guy's picture

Are you gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:41 | 1329510 High Plains Drifter
High Plains Drifter's picture

don't piss down my back and tell me its raining....

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:29 | 1329175 Rodent Freikorps
Rodent Freikorps's picture

It ain't just the fed.

I'm paying high property tax to fund a community college system that grants in-state tuition to illegals, but not returning vets.

We deserve what is coming.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:39 | 1329235 Alcoholic Nativ...
Alcoholic Native American's picture

Community college is for morons.  

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:45 | 1329523 lieutenantjohnchard
lieutenantjohnchard's picture

in my youth i might have spouted off something along these lines. then i got older and began to think.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:57 | 1329751 Thisson
Thisson's picture

It's actually one of the few places to get basic education at a reasonable price.

Yes, a lot of morons go there because they can't make it into the overpriced colleges, but that's not necessarily terrible since they are spared the accompanying debt-loads.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:43 | 1329239 Ponzi Unit
Ponzi Unit's picture

Holy shit!

Which state?

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:49 | 1329266 Rodent Freikorps
Rodent Freikorps's picture

City of Austin. I'll check to see if it is statewide.

We have so many illegals, the pols are afraid of them. The Libs want to suck their dicks for the votes.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:42 | 1329513 High Plains Drifter
High Plains Drifter's picture

austin is a sanctuary city.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:48 | 1329543 Rodent Freikorps
Rodent Freikorps's picture

If you build it, they will come.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 17:01 | 1330342 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture


Just a hopeful thought... :(

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 15:32 | 1329858 Cthonic
Cthonic's picture

It's statewide.

Anyone who plans to move to Texas and thinks it is a low tax jurisdiction since it has no income tax, should note that paying 2%+ of appraised value on a residence per annum in combined city and school district ad valorem taxes is not unusual.  And if you have mineral rights and happen to live over the core Barnett Shale region, you might as well be doubly screwed if you have no active royalty or option income from it.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:36 | 1329484 Silver Dreamer
Silver Dreamer's picture

Well, they couldn't possibly allow you to actually own your property after all, and of course logic has it that you'd have no control over it or how the taxes on it are spent.  Government knows best, right?

Not all of us deserve what is coming.  There's a lot of blame to throw around, but I know a lot of folks who deserve what is coming FAR more than I.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:31 | 1329183 nah
nah's picture

the excuse that poor people dont pay taxes has always bothered me


its like they pay taxes with their ass.... seriously, TAKE away their subsidies and tax them and they will still be alive id bet


the government uses the markets against the poor... to make it easier for elitists to walk all over their self respect

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:37 | 1329492 Silver Dreamer
Silver Dreamer's picture

It bothers me too since anyone using cash is being heavily taxed right now.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:36 | 1329202 Marc45
Marc45's picture

ZH seems more negative than usual lately but what else is new :)


The Florida legislation sounds like a good idea to me.  If you're gonna party, at least do it on your own dime.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:44 | 1329244 Ponzi Unit
Ponzi Unit's picture

Was it New York that finally noticed welfarwe checks were being cashed and squandered in casinos?

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:13 | 1329639 CH1
CH1's picture

Puh-leez. They'll find a dozen ways to beat the test. If nothing else, they stay clean for a month, take the test, then party on forever.

Forget "hurting them back," just stop supporting the system. Believing it can be reformed is like believing in the Tooth Fairy.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:39 | 1329219 Ponzi Unit
Ponzi Unit's picture

Government Sachs.


Anyone conducting a true SEC-like investigation would drown in the bathtub or die from a heart attack.

War is the health of the state: Murray Rothbard

Dark future. Dystopia.


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:49 | 1329221 Mercury
Mercury's picture


  1. More than 50% of Americans don’t pay any taxes....

No, it's that ~50% of American income earners currently pay no federal income taxes which is a) correct and b) means that a majority American income earners now have little to zero economic incentive to restirct the size, scope and cost of the federal government.

Sure many if not most of that 50% are paying lots of other taxes and a few on the other end are too rich to care.  But that just puts much more of a squeeze on the middle which is where the thick, white meat of American wealth is located. It's not all about "income", it's about home equity, 401Ks and college savings.  The households with most of their net worth  tied up in these things are the ones who are getting and will get screwed the most.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:38 | 1329230 Martin Silenus
Martin Silenus's picture


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:38 | 1329231 Smokey1
Smokey1's picture

Great series. Looking forward to the finale--UNFORGIVEN.

I just hope nobody forwards that final installment to DHS.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:16 | 1329397 Jim Quinn
Jim Quinn's picture

Come back you SOB.

You're a legend and the site isn't the same without you.


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:34 | 1329476 Smokey1
Smokey1's picture

I'll return when China crashes.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:38 | 1329495 Jim Quinn
Jim Quinn's picture

I'll meet you on the 50 yard line at the Super Bowl. You'll know what to do.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:28 | 1329664 CH1
CH1's picture

Jim: I don't disagree with much of anything in the article, but IMO you should say "productive people" rather than "middle class" - a much cleaner and more accurate term.

Great series. Thanks.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 15:01 | 1329782 Thisson
Thisson's picture

Especially when that income distribution chart shows there is no middle class - there are a lot of flavors of poor and a few of rich.

Thu, 06/02/2011 - 12:19 | 1332660 Marla And Me
Marla And Me's picture

Jim, it's unbecoming of you to have a conversation with yourself.  Seriously.  This site has gained in exposure over time, but it certainly lost in equal or greater amounts of value it provided...

Thu, 06/02/2011 - 12:20 | 1332661 Marla And Me
Marla And Me's picture


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:40 | 1329506 Jim Quinn
Jim Quinn's picture

It's about time for DP to leave the barn and claim we are the same person for the 750th time.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:29 | 1329669 Smokey1
Smokey1's picture

Yes, the traitor should soon arrive.

I don't think he has ever missed an article of yours on ZH.

He's either with the sheep, or, as you so aptly put it many months ago, he may be preoccupied whacking off while watching endless video reruns of the planes hitting the towers.

Thu, 06/02/2011 - 02:05 | 1331587 cbxer55
cbxer55's picture

Yeah, where is dickhead pierre? He should have chimed in by now, with the usual claptrap bs.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:22 | 1329439 Confuchius
Confuchius's picture

Any normal folks "hoping" for change will be deservedly disappointed.

Change, as always requires work, risk and effort. All at "MAX".

How badly do you want change?

Always remember the wisdom of our great leader: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:39 | 1329236 RobotTrader
RobotTrader's picture

Right now we are pricing an owner/user commercial industrial building refinance transaction at 5.95% fixed for 5-years, which is a shocking 435 b.p. spread over the 5-year Treasury CMT....

Heh, I remember back in 2004 - 2007 we were pricing the same deals at 6.5% and were lucky to get 225 b.p. spread over the Treasuries....


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:40 | 1329242 Internet Tough Guy
Internet Tough Guy's picture

Suntrust bank down 4%. You must be puking up blood.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:24 | 1329302 tickhound
tickhound's picture

I have to do it... The avatar is a pic taken 5/25 from a downtown DC SunTrust.  "S" was missing in this sign of the times.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:03 | 1329331 lieutenantjohnchard
lieutenantjohnchard's picture

if a loan officer i know what i would do. i would bring to the loan meeting the part time contract 1099 processor the bank just hired just to keep him in the loop on business prospects for loans. but that's just me. others may do something different.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:21 | 1329436 reload
reload's picture

So Robo - why has the spead blown out so wide? is it because the security/ value of the building is more questionable than in 2007. Hs the credit worthiness of your customer simply fallen? Incidentaly if it is a re financing by what % do you think the value of the building has fallen? and please dont tell me it is an uber high tec silicon valley facility that has in fact gone up in value.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:44 | 1329243 Rusty Shorts
Rusty Shorts's picture

Are you ready for this? wait for it... "Abraham Lincoln's" full name is "Abraham Lincoln Springsteen", that's right, he was a jooooo. oh, and there's more, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Hanks are Abe's relatives!! fwiw.



Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:06 | 1329344 sabra1
sabra1's picture

you forgot Jesus Springsteen! boy! are you screwed!!!

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:48 | 1329545 Rusty Shorts
Rusty Shorts's picture

Can you say "Abraham"?

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:33 | 1329470 Bob
Bob's picture

fwiw?  really?  okay: not much.  so hard to tell as that?

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:49 | 1329539 Rusty Shorts
Rusty Shorts's picture

Go back to sleep, both of you.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:42 | 1329246 Lazane
Lazane's picture

a gooberment gots to know it's limitations, the people know there's

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:48 | 1329261 Shell Game
Shell Game's picture

The bulk of western culture fully embraced all the falseness of paper money, competing with neighbors for a designer watches and handbags, a better car and bigger house.  By willfully not understanding money we invited the devil to our table.  Reversion to the mean, bitchez..

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:45 | 1329263 I_ate_the_crow
I_ate_the_crow's picture

Bravo Mr. Quinn. 

I'm sharpening my pitchfork.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:49 | 1329265 Atch Logan
Atch Logan's picture

The middle class doesn't know diddly.  It doesn't know because no one has succinctly told it.  Even then, it wouldn't want to know because it doesn't know what to do about the situation.  In fact, there is nothing the average person, "working" and/or middle class can do about it. Even if the middle class were to suddenly wake up, there is nothing this "class" can do about things now.

We are where people in bannana republics have always been. Surviving, protecting oneself and family the best we can, and getting by.  Agoracom has a headline: THE BANKERS RULE THE WORLD. This is true, and we are stuck with it.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:50 | 1329268 jackpile
jackpile's picture

The People must shed corrupt and increasingly worthless Federal Reserve Notes, i.e., USDs, and buy as much silver and gold as possible to preserve what little net worth they have left. This will accelerate the dollar's decline, increase the value of metals and restore Power to the People. This is why the banksters have actively manipulated metals down for years (other than profiting from volatility). Gold and silver's rise is killing them. I can hear the squealing. I'm sure the elite has significant investment in metals already, but central banks are now forced to start accumulating because they see the writing on the wall. Or is it a hedge?

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:52 | 1329288 Rusty Shorts
Rusty Shorts's picture

quoted by Congressman Abernathy, Congressional Record (1957), p. 8559


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:52 | 1329289 Atch Logan
Atch Logan's picture

I own silver. Enough to take care of myself for a long time, all things being equal.

However, I am also aware that when the bankers, and thus any government, want the peoples' silver and gold, they will take it.  Make no doubt.  And, just as Rosevelt did, have no doubt this duplicitous President will gladly line his pocket with the savings you have put into your silver and gold stash. 

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:23 | 1329432 Long-John-Silver
Long-John-Silver's picture

Roosevelt only got 1% of the Gold, which was locked in Bank Safety Deposit Boxes a a few "Sheep" that turned it in. Everyone else hid it and used it in a thriving Black Market.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:43 | 1329529 Silver Dreamer
Silver Dreamer's picture

I mean no disrespect and will take what you say as the truth, but then and now are very different.  Our police state has grown in both power and size significantly.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:37 | 1329698 Lord Koos
Lord Koos's picture

They don't know who has it, and where they have it.  I don't forsee a national house-to-house search for PMs... and people would not put up with it if they tried, which they won't.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 18:13 | 1330561 mkkby
mkkby's picture

Even with all that force, how well has the war on drugs gone?  People will have what they want.  The gov can do very little about it.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:23 | 1329443 tarsubil
tarsubil's picture

How will they know if we have any? Why can't I simply say at the door, I sold it for a loss during a dip?

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:53 | 1329299 YHC-FTSE
YHC-FTSE's picture

I prefer Sergio Leone to Clint Eastwood's direction. Anyway, it's all well and good to say income tax is neither fair nor constitutional, but I know a lot of Americans who really believe that not paying your income tax should be a capital crime. This is a non-starter unfortunately, unless 1) Americans become smarter 2) The country reboots itself by revolution, retaining only the core operating system. Probability of 1) or 2) becoming reality is infinitely small, imo.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 17:17 | 1330404 Confuchius
Confuchius's picture

The "core" operating system to which you refer expired many years ago. Plan on formatting and "installing" prior to "rebooting".

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 12:54 | 1329309 TheGameIsRigged
TheGameIsRigged's picture

We seriously need a revolution to wake up the dipshits in Washington.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:36 | 1329507 AZSovreign
AZSovreign's picture

9-26-2011 ought to do it right nicely...

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 17:23 | 1330411 Confuchius
Confuchius's picture

Do not plan on "waking the dead". Plan on prospering without any of them. They are worse than useless. Swimming with cement blocks on the ankles.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 18:17 | 1330573 mkkby
mkkby's picture

+ 1.  The mind-controlled idiots can be counted on to burn their own neighborhoods if things really get bad.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:12 | 1329376 PD Quig
PD Quig's picture

Left vs. right (Dem vs. GOP) is bullshit, Jim Quinn. Your endless ranting about Republicans this and Republicans that just obscures the reality that every motherfucker in DC is picking our pockets and lying to us incessantly. The Dems are every bit as bad as the GOP in that all the programs that are breaking the country are their handiwork. They spent 80 of the last 100 years running Congress, so perhaps you can dig through your bag of bitches to find a few that suit them as well? Otherwise you're just another partisan hack with enough patience to dig up the statistics to support your version of the lies.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:19 | 1329430 JW n FL
JW n FL's picture

Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic Bill to End tax Breaks for Moving U.S. Jobs Offshore!


Republican committee voted for a 18-month delay of regulations to reduce risk in OTC Derivatives.


Republican Senate Campaign Contribution Monies from Government Military Contractors with Free Speech Argument


 Secret Hold On Whistleblower Protection Narrowed Down To Two Senators



'Austrian tax evasion whistleblower' dies in Swiss jail


No Bankers in Jail, No Tax Dodgers in Jail and Wall Street is Leveraged MORE than before! Tell the Truth? Go To Jail!

and the whistle blower protect act is on SECRET REPUBLICAN HOLD!

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:27 | 1329456 tarsubil
tarsubil's picture

Just look at the first article. That was an empty gesture to make you think it is all the Republicans' fault. If they would have had the votes to pass that bill, it would have never come up for a vote. Stop being someone's pawn and wake up.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 15:19 | 1329816 JW n FL
JW n FL's picture

50,000 jobs a month since the year 2001.. have been moved off shore and to china more specifically.. (When President Bush let China join the W.T.O.)


but you want to talk about technicalities? really? tax breaks for Corporations Moving Jobs to China to the tune of 50,000 American Jobs a Month and you seriously, really and truly want to hide behind what?


And you say I am a what? A sheep? 50,000 American Jobs per Month since 2000 have been shipped to China and the Corporations who shipped those 50,000 jobs a Month to China got a fucking Tax Break for doing so!


How about you shoot everything you have spawned and then turn the gun on yourself and do this Country a Fucking Favor! You and Your Treasonous Kind will have your day and they way the FED keeps going it will be sooner than later!





Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:38 | 1329462 I_ate_the_crow
I_ate_the_crow's picture

Seriously, get the fuck out of here with that garbage. Sorry to shatter your single-minded worldview, but Quinn was making a point about income tax and the wealthy, and the facts show that the accelerated rate of decline started in 1980 with the Reagan Administration. Face reality - both parties have a symbiotic hegelian dialogue that confuses the American people and benefits wall street and the Fed. The simple fact is that the Republican side of this dialogue is "lower taxes on the wealthy." Deal with it.

To say nothing of the fact that these statements were all in the same essay your are idiotically trying to paint as partisan:

The Republicans and Democrats fight a battle of false talking points to confuse and obscure the truth.

This level of pillaging by those in control of the finance sector of the economy, supported by their mouthpieces in Congress (read: both parties), and championed by their controlled media pundits, has reached a level that will eventually lead to revolution.

Both the Republican and Democratic “plans” to “reduce” the deficit are a joke. They don’t reduce anything. They add to the debt.

The Republican mantra since the Reagan era has been to cut taxes and allow the “free market” to work its magic. They have succeeded in convincing a vast swath of Americans that lowering the highest tax rates have benefitted the masses. This is completely untrue. An unfunded tax cut today is just a tax increase on future generations. Democrats went along with tax cuts as long as the Republicans went along with spending increases. The Democrats hit the jackpot, with a supposedly fiscal conservative president signing a Medicare D bill that added trillions of unfunded liabilities to our national balance sheet. The Republicans are on cloud 9, as a supposedly liberal anti-war president has increased war spending to $1 trillion per year while ramping up our foreign wars of choice. Everyone gets what they want in Washington D.C. This is called bi-partisanship.

And he also calls out Schumer (D) for the lying wall street patsy that he is.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:29 | 1329666 nantucket
nantucket's picture

WTF? And things were so rosy under Carter.  Imagine a world where those policies were sustained for 30 years.  Let's go back to the real beginnings. 

States lose the right to select their Senators

Federal Income Tax

Creation of the Fed

Almost everything enacted by FDR (greatest of all, the ponzi social security program)

Courts violating constituitonal limits and usurping power from other 2 branches

Johnson's great society programs


Once the Federal governement broke out of the limited and clearly enumerated powers granetd in the Constitution, there wre no limits.  Once the Federal Govt violates the original law, what is to stop it?  What are its limits?  There are none and its power will continue to grow and ours, and the states will continue to weaken.  Until it reverses course.  Don't hold your breath.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 15:43 | 1329947 I_ate_the_crow
I_ate_the_crow's picture

I don't disagree, there is plenty of blame to go around. But that's how they sidetrack everyone - the blame game. Democrats have spent us into oblivion, Republicans have avoided tax increases; both parties funded these unresolvable ideologies with debt spending. Interest on this debt goes straight to the Federal Reserve and the 6% dividends that each shareholder of the private central bank recieves every year. The interest on our 15 trillion debt is now unpayable into the future, thus why so many now realize that the ponzi must and will collapse on itself.

And this is the true evil of the bailout programs, and the soon the come confiscation of pensions and 401K's - the money all goes to the Federal Reserve and its private member banks in the form of interest before it is ever seen by the Treasury - who then must borrow more from the Fed to keep the government functioning! It's unsustainable. The question is whether we will stop it before they pull the plug on what remaining liquidity there is and their controlled Congress passes martial law into effect.

My main point, I guess, then, is that these banking interests managed to take over the Treasury, SEC, and Congress starting in earnest during the Reagan Administration. It had nothing to do with politics per se, but rather regulatory capture. Clinton was on watch when Glass-Steagal was repealed, again its not a left or right issue, though the Republicans did control Congress. The Democrats are simply placating the people driven to serfdom by the Fed's inflationary theft and outright fraud on the taxpayers, which may or may not be worse than the Republican side of the Hegelian dialect.

I'm trying to explain this issue to as many people as possible in my daily encounters. Spread the word. In my opinion Quinn is trying to do this while also lighting a fire under people, so calling him a partisan hack because he calls out Republicans is an unnecessary distraction to the overall message: criminal terrorist banksters that need to be thrown in Gitmo.  

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 17:55 | 1330491 Confuchius
Confuchius's picture

On the way to "gitmo" there is a wonderful stretch of the Southwestern North Atlantic / Caribbean border which can easily accept an infinite number of banksters and ex politicians without complaint.

No, they won't wash ashore either.

It's obvious that the USSA and most other countries have in place a system which was designed (if that word is not too much of a stretch) for the days of the Mongol Hordes communication methods. We see no reason for the necessity of any fraud ridden money grubbing "lobbyist loving" pathetic excuses for real humans.

One may communicate around the world in a split second for free; so what actual purpose do these leeches in the world's capitals serve other than to rip you off and line their pockets each day.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 21:19 | 1331057 sgorem
sgorem's picture


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 21:16 | 1331055 sgorem
sgorem's picture

(1)excellent article(that really burns my ass off). (2) excellent reply post 'crow. 110% agree. I'm leaning towards extreme violence as a payback though.

Thu, 06/02/2011 - 11:16 | 1332345 JW n FL
JW n FL's picture

it is not extreme.. given the crime(s).. we could never, EVER! equal the scale.. for what they have taken from Families! Old Timers!! and the Children!!!


They fucking stole!!! 50,000 jobs a month from America so that the Kids can NOT! have jobs? all so they could pick up some extra money on wage savings!


the entire Country has been fucked over!


the entire Country has been fucked over!!


I can keep saying it over and fucking over!! but it will never set in for some!


How do you justify send jobs to fucking Commie China! instead of keeping them here for the kids?


there is NOTHING!! there is NO! excuse!!


so when you say extreme? Treason against the entire Country.. as well the whole Country does / did and will really suffer at the hand of these treasonous acts!!!


no matter how fucking extreme you can dream.. you will never be able to drain enough of their blood to make this shit right! ever!!


our job NOW! is to educate the Sheep! so that they can once again be "We the People" and then take the majority to Washington and have our Country returned to the "People".. the Lobby has had their day in the sun and sold off our industries and damn near our entire future!


extreme.. you and I both could never eb extreme enough to right what has been handed out to one and all of this Country!

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 19:15 | 1330733 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

Can't we just agree they all suck?  Anyone getting in power of this country with unlimited printing options is too much for human nature.  Politicians are there to fill their money bags as many times as possible before getting thrown out.  Then they send there relatives to office.  Fuck em all.  With a big rubber dick.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:11 | 1329389 oklaboy
oklaboy's picture

JIm, excellent write, and well done,

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:14 | 1329390 Sean7k
Sean7k's picture

Whether ruled by King or Queen, Emperor or Dictator, elected or non-elected, bureaucrats or revolutionaries; the people have never had power. They have never ruled themselves or had any control over how they've been ruled.

The great mass of humanity has always been used as a host for a select group of parasites. We may call them bankers, generals, priests or politicians, but they are merely sucking the life blood of production and wealth from the people and then leaving them as dry husks crushed under foot by the next generation of hosts.

This is the reality of giving up your sovereignty. Believing the promises of security, organization and freedom; you receive the slavery you so richly deserve. This is the true function of government- all governments, without exception.

History records it, you spend your life living it, you regret your children becoming a part of it and still, you defend the status quo as the only option available. You dream of "fixing" it or getting "honest" leaders, you pillory the miscreants that fail to vote "intelligently" and decry the scum sucking bankers, then walk hat in hand for another chance at credit and consumption.

None of the information presented here is new or novel. None of the solutions will be new or novel either. The only solution with a body of study to support it is anarcho-capitalism or volunteerism if the words are difficult to stomach.

You will work just as hard, you will pay many costs for your security, it is not a utopia, you will still suffer the transgressions of your fellow citizens. However, you will have a greater satisfaction, at less cost and the knowledge that those bankers will actually have to work to make a living and that is priceless. 

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 17:57 | 1330498 Confuchius
Confuchius's picture

If this is so, and it seems to be; then it is way past time to make serious changes.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:17 | 1329423 JW n FL
JW n FL's picture

The Tax Charts are BULLSHIT!!!!


why are the Tax Charts BULLSHIT! Becuase thats what they are supposed to pay! NOT! what is Paid!


for instance! General Electric $14.2 Billion in Profits, Pays $0 in U.S. Taxes


$10 billion sale of F.D.I.C.-backed debt






Technically, the tax kicks in once these replacement assets are sold, using the purchase price of the original assets as the cost basis, says Tom Ochsenschlager of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. But why sell when you can avoid the tax altogether?

"The idea is never to sell," says Robert Willens, the top tax and accounting analyst at Lehman Brothers. "If you're able to hold onto the replacement assets until your demise, you never have to pay it."


I could go on and on..

Top 10 corporations which paid no taxes

Here is Sen. Sanders’ list of the 10 worst corporate income tax avoiders:






6) Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year, received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction. (Source: the company’s 2009 annual report, pg. 112, here.)




10) Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits over the past five years, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent. (Source: The New York Times here.)




‘Dutch Sandwich’ saves Google billions in taxes Internet giant uses complex structure to keep its overseas tax rate at 2.4% and.. Microsoft’s purchase of Skype for $8.5 billion provides a perfect illustration of why adopting a true worldwide corporate income tax system is critical to our economic future.  

According to the Wall Street Journal, the cash for Microsoft’s purchase of Skype (a Luxembourg-based company) will come out of its $42 billion in liquid assets held in foreign subsidiaries.

Because it is purchasing a foreign company with its overseas assets, Microsoft can avoid paying any U.S. tax that would be due if it had repatriated foreign earnings in order to purchase a US company for the same amount. Based on the company's effective foreign income tax rate disclosed in their most recent SEC filings, a repatriation of $8.5 billion dollars would cost Microsoft somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.1 billion in U.S. tax.

As a Forbes commentator opines, the Microsoft-Skype deal demonstrates the harmful incentive created in our current system that encourages companies to invest in overseas companies rather than domestic ones. The fear is that this deal may just be “a harbinger of things to come.”

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:36 | 1329504 tarsubil
tarsubil's picture

So Microsoft literally has a billion dollars worth of incentive to dodge US taxes and you think you are going to create a tax structure with any Congress that is able to overcome that? You're fooling yourself, bigtime. Not one of those top ten fear tax increases. They can hire a team of lawyers and lobbyists for 500 million and still save money. The thing big corporations fear is innovation and becoming the music industry or Kodak.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:45 | 1329535 dxj
dxj's picture

The premise being that corp. tax actually applies to corps. and that the evil corps. don't pay their fair share, notwithstanding the fact that corp. taxes are incentives for malinvestment and just get passed onto the stock holder and consumer anyway.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:51 | 1329546 Silver Dreamer
Silver Dreamer's picture

Put the federal government back into the box it was meant to be kept in, and you wouldn't need either the "rich," corporations, or anyone else for that matter being taxed as they are today.  This is not about who pays what.  It is about the reasons why it has to be paid in the first place.

Thu, 06/02/2011 - 11:20 | 1332362 JW n FL
JW n FL's picture

you are a fucking Moe-Ron!


the welfare people.. did NOT! Spend $18 Fucking Trillion Dollars in 3 years!!


darky didnt do it! mexicans didnt do it! poor people didnt do it!


but it is ok that the rich fuckers ass fucked you becuase one day you might get there! LOL!!! the real american dream of republicans everywhere that has allowed our country to become this fucking shit hole!

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:27 | 1329445 CactusLand
CactusLand's picture

Excellent series, I also enjoyed the Gathering Storm and posted it on my website.  What to do with the '400'?  Do we string them up?  I think not, that would only play into their fear mongering, the answer is to disengage them. Disengage from their media, their money, their corporate world, their taxes and armies..and let them whither away. One place to start getting people to wise up is to explain to them how banks make money out of thin air.  It is certainely not the only issue, but when people realise how they hav been , to put it mildly, disinformed about how banks create money, here is a good explanation

I look forward to reading Unforgiven.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 21:25 | 1331080 sgorem
sgorem's picture

I also agree with you Cactus. The ONLY problem is finding enough sheeple that have anything to lose in the very system that supports their asses one way or another. Besides that, they're all sitting by the window, or computer, waiting for their government check or deposit to arrive. Unfortunately, 47-50% of the country is under this spell, and will NOT bite the hand that feeds them come next election. Revolution by a few good men/women is our only way out.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:25 | 1329449 tamboo
tamboo's picture

There are an untold number of Americans who are convinced that the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was never properly ratified and, as a result, the Federal income tax is unconstitutional.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:39 | 1329494 dxj
dxj's picture

The author neglects two critical points:

1) Revenues always fall short of 20% of GDP irrespective of the top marginal tax rates (Hauser's law). This strongly suggests that the apex of the Laffer curve is also 20% of GDP. All the populist B.S. about robbing the rich to solve our revenue problems is not based on reality; certainly not a love of liberty.

2) Not one mention of how inflation benefits the wealthy (who can afford inflation hedges). This is one of the major causes of the widening income gap between the rich and the poor. You won't hear this from the President, Congress or the Federal Reserve ... because they're all complicit in the monetary and fiscal policies that have caused the dollar to lose 97% of its purchasing power since 1912. If the author cared about the economy and the plight of the poor, he'd call for the end of the Fed.

"Someone is always the first to possess the new money and the first to be able to spend it. These first beneficiaries are the inflation winners—they enjoy an incalculable advantage, for they can make purchases on the market at old prices, before the new demand drives prices higher. However, those who are last in line to get the new money are the inflation losers, forced to pay much higher prices." -- Claus Vogt, The Global Debt Trap.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:56 | 1329579 I_ate_the_crow
I_ate_the_crow's picture

I completely agree with the second point, but have you read the other pieces? I think he is obviously heading toward that very argument in Unforgiven.

If people don't wake up to the fact that private central banks (and its ancient equivalents) controlling the money supply has been the root of all evil for the entire history of mankind, then there is no hope for a revolution in America. The sheep will simply go on arguing with each other over which President is at fault for the current state of affairs.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:52 | 1329551 Clowns on Acid
Clowns on Acid's picture

Good presentation but you lose the plot. Very similar to the Huffing and Puffing Post.

You pillary REPs while snoozing on the DEMs. The present DEM party is essentially a amalgamation of miscreants and malcontents. Destructive.

Your comments on the Fed are right on, but you try to paint it as REP. Very partisan and not useful, you lose credibility.

Your message , is "Stop Fed spending and get Gov't out of our lives and economy". Expound on that and let individuals vote for the DEM or REP that will best meet those objectives.  

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 21:36 | 1331110 sgorem
sgorem's picture

There is no difference in dems and reps. It's all "vertical", like a pile of stacked horse shit. the shell game continues as decades old politicos with no term limits keep filling their pockets, WITH OUR MONEY.

Thu, 06/02/2011 - 14:10 | 1333220 Shell Game
Shell Game's picture

You call?

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:50 | 1329556 dick cheneys ghost
dick cheneys ghost's picture

The Federal Reserve Cartel.........the 8 families.......a good read

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:55 | 1329565 Carl LaFong
Carl LaFong's picture

If Americans knew the law and enough were willing to fight for their rights, the gov could not get away with taxation without representation and funding for the coming nuclear fiasco would cease immediately. To wit: But WHAT is income? The Supreme Court tells us (in cases that are still good law and have never been overturned:

Eisner vs. Macomber 252 U.S. 189 pg 205 (1920) The Sixteenth Amendment must be construed in connection with the taxing clauses of the original Constitution and the effect attributed to them before the Amendment was adopted. In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust it was held that taxes upon rents and profits of real estate and upon returns from investments of personal property were in effect direct taxes upon the property from which the income aroseimposed by reason of ownership; and that Congress could not impose such taxes without apportioning them among the states according to population, as required by Art 1 Sect. 2 Cl. 3 and Sect. 9 Cl. 4 of the original Constitution.
Afterwards, and evidently in recognition of the limitations upon the taxing power of Congress thus determined, the Sixteenth Amendment was adopted: . . . As repeatedly heldthis did not extend the taxing power to new subjects, but merely removed the necessity which might otherwise exist for an apportionment among the states of taxes laid on income. . . . it becomes essential to distinguish between what is and what is not "income', as the term is there used;
After examining dictionaries in common use we find little to add to the 
succinct definition adopted in two cases arising under the Corporation (Excise) Tax Act of 1909 (Stratton's Independence v. Howbert 231 US 399, 415; Doyle v. Mitchell Bros. Co. 247 US 179, 185)
"Income may be defined as the gain derived from capital
from labor, or from both combined", provided it be understood to include profit gained through a sale or conversion of capital assets, to which it was applied in the Doyle case pp. 183, 185.
"Derived -- from -- capital"; -- "the gain -- derived -- from -- capital," etc. Here we have the essential matter: not a gain accruing
 to capital, not a growth or increment of value in the investment; but a gain, a profit, something of exchangeable value proceeding from the property, severed from the capital however invested or employed, and coming in, being "derived," that is, received or drawn by the recipient (the Taxpayer) for his separate use, benefit and disposal; -- that is income derived from property. Nothing else answers the description.
That Congress has power to tax stockholders upon their property interests in the stock of corporations is beyond question; and that such interests might be valued in view of the condition of the company, including its accumulated and undivided profits, is equally clear. But this would be taxation of property because of ownership, and hence would require apportionment under the provisions of the Constitution, is settled beyond peradventure by previous decisions of this court.

According to the SC, the definition of corporate income means a gain or profit received from an excise taxed activity. But does this same definition apply to individual income tax? To the Supreme Court again:

Merchants' Loan & Trust Co. v. Smietanka 255 U.S. 509 (1921) "It is obvious that these decisions in principle rule the case at bar if the word "income" has the same meaning in the Income Tax Act of 1913 that it had in the Corporation Excise Tax Act of 1909, and that it has the same scope of meaning was in effect decided in Southern Pacific Co. v. Lowe 247 U.S. 330, 335, where it was assumed for the purposes of decision that there was no difference in its meaning as used in the act of 1909 and in the Income Tax Act of 1913. There can be no doubt that the word must be given the same meaning and content in the Income Tax Acts of 1916 and 1917 that it had in the act of 1913. When to this we add that in Eisner v. Macomber, supra, a case arising under the same Income Tax Act of 1916 which is here involved, the definition of "income" which was applied was adopted from Strattons' Independence v. Howbert, arising under the Corporation Excise Tax Act of 1909, with the addition that it should include "profit gained through sale or conversion of capital assets," there would seem to be no room to doubt that the word must be given the same meaning in all the Income Tax Acts of Congress that was given to it in the Corporation Excise Tax Act, and that what that meaning is has now become definitely settled by decisions of this Court."

The word "income" has the same meaning in ALL the income tax acts of Congress. That meaning has been declared to be corporate profits and gains and has been definitely settled by the Supreme Court. So, did you have income that is taxable? Did you have a gain or profit from a corporate activity? Remember that the income tax is an excise tax on the doing of business in a corporate capacity. That is the ONLY way that you can receive taxable income, as legally defined by the Supreme Court.

Of course, taking this position will invite the gestapo into your life and your home and probably destroy your family. But, if enough Americans knew the law and got fed up enough will being ripped off, something COULD be done. Anyway, I've got to go and watch the Housewives of Beverly Hills and re-runs of this year's American Idol so I don't have any more time for this nonsense.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:01 | 1329590 SoNH80
SoNH80's picture

There was a married couple in a small town not too far from me that tried these arguments.  They both were sentenced to 40 years in prison, after a lengthy "standoff".  Ceasar wants his cut, and if you don't give it to him- BAM!

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 23:37 | 1331433 cranky-old-geezer
cranky-old-geezer's picture

When your case is decided by a jury of dumbed-down fearful sheep, you're going to lose.

It doesn't matter what statutes say, case law says, nor what the facts are.  You're going to lose.

We lost the Courts decades ago.  They sold out. No way will federal judges rule against their banker masters.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:53 | 1329573 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

Solution:  End medicare and unemployment benefits.  Only so they can use the $ for their own pet projects.  Us pesky citizens are getting in the way.  Fuck the sob's, as far as im concerned if alquida droped a bomb on dc and wallshit they'd be doing us a huge favor.  But of course that will never happen because we blew up our own buildings.  This country is fucking finished as far as im concerned.  There's just no way to improve anything when our ruling class own EVERYTHING and are sociopaths to boot.  If they can't have it there way they'll just destroy our lives.  Civil war on the way.  I'm ready.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:00 | 1329586 Clowns on Acid
Clowns on Acid's picture



Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:05 | 1329608 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

No, i've done anything but given up.  Problem is im just wondering how bad things have to get before we do something.  Will we all be living in tents and fighting with sticks and stones because our guns have been taken away??  We need to get mobilized on the net--before it's locked down also.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 23:53 | 1331455 cranky-old-geezer
cranky-old-geezer's picture

Rome didn't have civil war.  It was status quo, bread and circuses, till Rome was invaded and occupied.

I don't foresee civil war in America. We'll put up with banker piracy and plundering till we're broke and destitute.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:02 | 1329592 t0mmyBerg
t0mmyBerg's picture

Strange article, though unnerving.  It starts out trashing the income tax as a tool of repression and a communist device and then goes on to argue that the income tax is not progressive enough.  Makes mention of spending but then doesnt really direct much anger at the literal burning of money by the criminal political class in bed with crony capitalists.  As ever the cure is less government not more.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:06 | 1329610 SoNH80
SoNH80's picture

Quinn is a smart guy, but still holds some scraps of faith in the Blue Pinnies versus the Red Pinnies, probably as a defense mechanism against the despair that has hit many ZHedgers.  So, he'll say 9 cogent things, and one non-sequitur.  That's still a pretty damn good batting average, and unlike some newsletter jockeys, he can write good, understandable English.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 13:59 | 1329595 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

It will never be enough to just create a society that lives to survive.  That would be best for us, but the elite just can't have that now can they.   Unless they can't own and control everything it just won't work for them.  Oh well, another fucking disaster civilization going down in flames just like every other one has.  We have just speed things up exponentially  with the advent of digital zero's.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:11 | 1329634 TopOnePercent
TopOnePercent's picture

The average US citizen is being herded up like a bunch of cows so that a few ranch owners can live off of them.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:16 | 1329644 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

Exactly.  Problem for them is the sheep have been fleeced, nothing  but bloody scabs left.  So they pull fairy tale bullshit out of there asses like QE to just drag us along a little longer.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:26 | 1329653 gwar5
gwar5's picture

Sorry Msr Quinn, you make some good points but then veer off into and contradiction. Net-net I only give it a five out of ten because we can't dance to it.

Carter's top tax rate of 70% produced only 19% of total revenues from the top 1%.

Reagan's top tax rate of 35% produced 38% of total revenues from the top 1%.

Pretty much says it all. Hugo Chavez taxed and stole from the rich -- and the rich left Venezuela pronto. They are mobile and can move their wealth.  Just like they abandoned Jimmy Carter's America. Lee Kuan Yew, (former) president of Singapore, welcomed the rich and treated them fairly, and created an economic power house out of a tiny backwater island nation. 

"It is absurd for America to think it can rebuild it's economy with millions of fruit pickers"  --Lee Kuan Yew.

Rich people are proof there is upward mobility and opportunity in a society. They are positive role models in communities and they always collectively pay more than their fair share and are a plus for a community and a nation.

The idea that rich people are all evil is a knee-jerk marxist notion spoonfed to the masses thru the movies and media. Suddenly all the evil doers on TV and the movies are rich, white, and got their wealth by dumping toxic waste into rivers. Nonsense. 

As long as spending is going up faster than revenues, there is a huge problem. The oligarchs are happily committed to pushing us into spending ourselves into oblivion. A dark era of debt servitude will unfold if we don't stop the oligarchs from co-opting our government.

We are spending trillions for things that don't work, and we know they don't work, but we spend it anyway. IT IS A FUCKING SPENDING PROBLEM.


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 15:09 | 1329800 nantucket
nantucket's picture

spot on about the spending issue.  I have railed against that for years and almost gave up on people getting it.  We don't have a tax/revenue's a spending problem. 


Why do so many consider it greedy for me to want keep a bit more of MY money but not considered greedy when a-holes want to TAKE more of it from me?

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 15:16 | 1329839 Slim
Slim's picture

Too true, everyone focuses on the marginal tax rates over history as if people actually paid them.  Why do you think the AMT came out in the 1970s?  Because the damn tax code allowed so many loophole deductions that some of the very wealthiest families were paying essentially zero in tax - at a time when the top marginal had never been higher.  Pull a chart of tax revenues versus GDP, under all those paradigms it's been relatively consistent.


I don't take issue with the entire article but talk to some people who lived through the 1970s (or earlier) and knew anything about taxes for wealthy individuals.

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:36 | 1329683 expatincentam
expatincentam's picture

I got lost in all the rhetorical blather and analytic slight of hand in this essay.  Did he ever say what percentage of AGI was reported by the top 1%, top 5%... down to the bottom 50%.  And then apply that to the percentage of total income tax paid by each of these categories.  Thus, for example, if the top 1% of income tax filers report 20% of total AGI and they pay 40% of total income tax revenue, then who's being shafted?  BTW the relatively higher income wage earners get a negative return on there FICA/SocSec calculation vs "the poor."  But, oh my, it's all the fault of the fat cats, the banksters, the capitalist pigs,... whatever Marxian pejorative comes next!  The sky is falling!...  The sky is falling!...

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:45 | 1329711 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

The majority of humanity has lived in serfdom or slavery for millenia. It was only a freak of nature, the Black Plague of the middle ages, that made labour scarce enough to allow the serfs to bid out their labour for higher wages and to lay the foundation for a so-called middle class. 

In other words, this little experiment you are wistful for, the so-called middle class, is only a few centuries old ... a historical abberation. 

Things are merely going back to normal.

So stop your whining and get back to your plow, slave!



Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:51 | 1329743 Silver Brass Lead
Silver Brass Lead's picture

When do we get to "Hang 'em High" ????????


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:55 | 1329746 agNau
agNau's picture

No matta what political stripe, they are all the same. And all beholden to the syndicate for their political/financial fortunes. Once this system implodes and is replaced, a much more "elite" group will prevail to save us. Crisis and chaos mark turning points and opportunities for "change". That be the plan. I plan to opt out of their "plan"!

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 15:04 | 1329781 sbenard
sbenard's picture

The government response has amounted to throwing $7 trillion ($4.2 trillion increase in national debt, $700 billion of TARP bailouts, $200 billion of losses taken by Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, $100 billion of losses taken by the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve increasing their balance sheet by $1.8 trillion) of your tax dollars at the problem. As a side benefit, they have thrown senior citizens under the bus by paying them 0% on their savings, not providing a cost of living increase to their social security for two years, and hitting them over the head with 10% levels of inflation on food and energy.

That about sums it up!

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 15:27 | 1329868 nantucket
nantucket's picture

the thing that really burns me is that the cost of the govt doing almost nothing would have likely been far less.  How bad could it have gotten?  $5T of economic losses and then a properly set stage for a recovery?

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 16:28 | 1330145 Joe Sixpack
Joe Sixpack's picture

I agree.

Proclamation on the Federal Reserve System of the United States of America

March 2008


























Wed, 06/01/2011 - 16:34 | 1330201 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

Dude, you lost me at Whereas, and I am a financial analyst paid to give a rat's ass about these things.  Do you think the voting public will get that far, especially when the interbank system turns off their credit and SNAP cards?


Wed, 06/01/2011 - 16:33 | 1330205 linrom
linrom's picture

Quinn, nice analysis of marginal tax rates. But keep in mind that those tax rates are averaged on Adjusted Gross Income(AGI). In reality actual marginal tax rates are even lower because significant portion of the "wealthy" income is sheltered.


