CBO reports top 40% pay 106% of US income tax

[berzerker60]

When the day comes that you can admit to yourself that these thoughts are rooted in nothing more than jealousy, you'll be that much closer to adulthood.

You tipped your hand when you said, "and that they got that money by inheritance from daddy Walton, rather than doing anything for the world besides lucking into the right womb." Don't misunderstand, because the rest of us already knew that jealousy was behind this. Look deep into your psyche and admit to yourself that you have these feelings, find a way to deal with them and set yourself free. I'm not fucking with you. You will be a far happier person when you find a way to stop coveting what other people possess.

This is such a stupid trope. I guess no one can ever criticize injustice, because it's just 'jealousy.' "When you slaves can just admit that you're just jealous of the privileges white slaveowners have, you can admit how wrong you are and be a far happier person."

 

[werepossum]

Because I am a software engineer. My work is leveraged. It is used in thousands of controllers over and over again all over the world. I get paid a mere 100k/yr while what I produce is worth millions/yr to my company and to this country. I am therefor a true patriot.

In addition I am not actively attempting to make my fortune by taking away jobs from Americans and giving them to foreigners.

$100k/year? Dude, you ARE the evil 1%!

If you wish to cleanse yourself of this evil you must give all your world wealth to Government and humbly ask that Government provide for you.

 

[BUnit1701]

This is such a stupid trope. I guess no one can ever criticize injustice, because it's just 'jealousy.' "When you slaves can just admit that you're just jealous of the privileges white slaveowners have, you can admit how wrong you are and be a far happier person."

Yes, you heard it hear first folks. Inheritance is 'unjust'.

 

[jhbball]

$100k/year? Dude, you ARE the evil 1%!

If you wish to cleanse yourself of this evil you must give all your world wealth to Government and humbly ask that Government provide for you.

GASP? A person making money, not only thinking about himself? UNPOSSIBLE.

 

[boomerang]

This is such a stupid trope. I guess no one can ever criticize injustice, because it's just 'jealousy.' "When you slaves can just admit that you're just jealous of the privileges white slaveowners have, you can admit how wrong you are and be a far happier person."

Well some people can't be helped and you apparently are one of them. But it's all good. Disparities of opinion are what made our country great. Unfortunately, the polarizations have become so vast that I sometimes fear where it might lead. Many problems of society are self-correcting. Though not always through a direct path. This will sort itself out over time through one means or another.

 

[Matt1970]

This is such a stupid trope. I guess no one can ever criticize injustice, because it's just 'jealousy.' "When you slaves can just admit that you're just jealous of the privileges white slaveowners have, you can admit how wrong you are and be a far happier person."

The problem is you view it as an injustice.

 

[Matt1970]

Why do you guys hate the middle and working classes so much? I can backup my hatred of the wealthy with documented FACTS. You guys just hate the rest of us because you are natural born haters...

Are you whipping out $100 tips every time you go to Walmart or McDonalds to help out the "oppressed" worker? You could surely afford it on your salary. Somehow I think you are just as selfish if not more than the very people you supposedly loathe and have sworn enemy.

 

[jhbball]

Are you whipping out $100 tips every time you go to Walmart or McDonalds to help out the "oppressed" worker? You could surely afford it on your salary. Somehow I think you are just as selfish if not more than the very people you supposedly loathe and have sworn enemy.

Can there not be some middle ground? Can't someone help contribute, without giving up everything they have?

 

[BUnit1701]

Can there not be some middle ground? Can't someone help contribute, without giving up everything they have?

This is a good question. Should Bill Gates and members of the Walton family be able to contribute without giving up everything they have?

 

[jhbball]

This is a good question. Should Bill Gates and members of the Walton family be able to contribute without giving up everything they have?

Seems like Bill is doing fine.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Because I am a software engineer. My work is leveraged. It is used in thousands of controllers over and over again all over the world. I get paid a mere 100k/yr while what I produce is worth millions/yr to my company and to this country. I am therefor a true patriot.

In addition I am not actively attempting to make my fortune by taking away jobs from Americans and giving them to foreigners.

I must be a super duper true blue patriot as I served in the Navy for 12 years and now make 104k/yr (23 years with company) without ever going to college. The company has made up to $800k/yr from charging clients worldwide for my technical services and I've been involved with $10 to $25 million in sales of new equipment, upgrades, and overhauls yearly.

 

[BUnit1701]

Seems like Bill is doing fine.

Not according to bshole. According to bshole, he is doing evil.

 

[boomerang]

Sure, share your story.

Well, I can get long winded but I will try to give the highlights.

I was born to a veteran of WWII. I have a sister who is bipolar. Both my parents are dead my mother having died in November of 2011. My Dad died a number of years earlier. It was April, but the year escapes me.

We lived a lower middle class existence when I was a child. We had one car that was used. My mother quit work when pregnant with me as was the custom. My father was a District Manager for the Detroit News. This was a title that sounded a lot better than it was. This was in the days of paperboys delivering newspapers. My father managed a territory and his employees were paperboys - children or young teenagers. He managed this territory out of a rented garage. The Detroit News paid a homeowner to use their garage for a few hours a day. His job afforded us a home and a used car along with the other necessities of life but nothing else. We didn't take vacations because there was no money to do so. We spent weekends at the beach because it was free and sledding in the winter for the same reason.

My dad had PST before they had a name for it. He was a basket case that was barely able to keep it together. He tried to commit suicide three times that I know of. I learned all of this as an adult. He did a damned good job keeping it together for his children. Eventually, when I was a young adult he could no longer work because his mind was too messed up to do so.

My mother rose to the occasion and starting selling real estate during some of the best years to do so in Michigan. She did very, very well. They finally had money to buy a nice home and make it the way they wanted it. They supported my sister from birth. She was never right. They provided her with a roof over her head in a rental property they owned and provided her with a used car. She got a whole lot from them and I got nearly nothing. But that was OK with me because as soon as I was able I had moved out on my own. I wanted to go my own way. I graduated High School and attended College for less than one year. That's a story for a different day.

I started my working life in mechanically related jobs. First for a couple of shops that fielded race cars professionally. When the recession hit in the early seventies, I landed a job working as a mechanic at a lawn mower shop. I grew tired of that and decided to try my hand in Real Estate based on the success my mother was having. I went to work at the same office as her although I knew it was a mistake as her and I were pretty much oil and water. It didn't much matter because the bottom fell out of the Real Estate market and I had to quit.

Now is when things started getting good and it was through blind luck. I owned my first home. I had purchased it while working in Real Estate. My parents loaned me $10K for the down payment. This was the only thing I ever received from them while they were alive. So, I'm out of work and the bank account is dwindling - quickly. I had an acquaintance tell me that GM was hiring for skilled trades positions. I applied and got a job. I was an apprentice Die Maker. I hired in at 25 with the goal of getting out at 55 and I did it. When I hired in, my bank account had $5 in it and I had $12 in my wallet. Two weeks would go by before I got my first paycheck. 7,328 hours of work later along with college classes just shy of an associates degree (by design, in the apprentice program) I became a journeyman Diemaker. I made some decisions along the way that I think really made a difference in how my life turned out. First off I married late in life at the age of 39. I married a woman that had two grown boys and barely a pot to piss in. Her first husband was an alcoholic who never gave her one cent in child support. We never had children of our own. The other good decision I made was to work every hour that was available to me before I got married. After marrying, I worked only 40 hours per week. But here's the best thing I ever did. I invested the maximum I could every pay period into a 401K plan. I lived below my means with a mind for the future. My co-workers had real nice homes (sometimes more than one) lots of toys, one or more ex-wives and a bunch of kids they were supporting and they were working seven days a week to keep their heads above water. I also got lucky with my 401K picks.

My wife managed a garage door company for an absentee owner. She was making the same amount in 1994 when we married as when she "retired" in 2012. Just over $13 an hour.

So, here I am retired. Bored and with a lot of time on my hands. I joined the local gym, an Anytime Fitness and I got kind of excited about the business model. I decided to open one of my own. We used some cash we had on hand and liquidated some of our retirement money (another long story) and made it happen. My wife was still working at the garage door company when we opened in November of 2011. Seven days after we opened my mother passed away. My mother died with a bank account close to a zero balance and a CC balance slightly over $14K. She did own the condo she was living in which she had purchased after moving back to Michigan as the real estate market was starting its long slide. She bought it for $220K and I was very lucky to find a buyer at $98K and I had to sell it on a Land Contract. After paying her debts and giving half to my sister I banked slightly more than $40K. I wrapped it all up earlier this year.

By July of 2012 I was starting to realize I had made a mistake in opening the gym. I had taken on not more than I could handle, but more than I wanted to handle. By September of 2012 I had hired and fired two managers that had no work ethic. I had a personal trainer that was up to the task of managing the business but she didn't want the job. She just wanted to train and none of my other trainers were up to the task. I was practically living in the place and it was just too much.

We never went in the red. The business held its own with the bank account growing and receding until January of this year when the gym suddenly took off like a rocket. I knew that the time to find a buyer was then. I found one, an owner of another Anytime Fitness and the sale was completed on June 24th of this year. I am retired again for the second and last time and the stress being gone is better than I could ever describe. It was something I should not have taken on.

So, now you know why I have time on my hands. I did it all on my own. I had some luck along the way but I would like to think that some of the decisions I made along the way factored in.

And I do realize that we are living in different times right now but you know, I got my first good paying job in a recession and I got the job that really counted in another recession. April of 1980.

You asked, I answered. I tried to keep it short - I really did.

 

[werepossum]

Can there not be some middle ground? Can't someone help contribute, without giving up everything they have?

While demanding 95% of what other people have?

Well, I can get long winded but I will try to give the highlights.

I was born to a veteran of WWII. I have a sister who is bipolar. Both my parents are dead my mother having died in November of 2011. My Dad died a number of years earlier. It was April, but the year escapes me.

SNIP

You asked, I answered. I tried to keep it short - I really did.

Excellent story of a life well lived.

To me, THIS is the American dream. Working hard and living within your means. Not becoming the next Bill Gates, but having your own business or a skilled trade, earning enough to have your own modest but comfortable house free and clear, a few carefully chosen luxuries, and not having to worry about where your next meal is coming from or what happens if life strikes. Not having it all - having enough.

If one spends one's energy obsessing over others having "too much", then one will never have enough.

 

[Matt1970]

Can there not be some middle ground? Can't someone help contribute, without giving up everything they have?

Sure. BS hole alone makes over 2x the national average and then he has his wife's salary and I would be shocked if he donates even 1% of his salary to charity. It's just a lot easier to complain than to actually open up his wallet and do something about it.

 

[BUnit1701]

Sure. BS hole alone makes over 2x the national average and then he has his wife's salary and I would be shocked if he donates even 1% of his salary to charity. It's just a lot easier to complain than to actually open up his wallet and do something about it.

Why should he have to open his wallet while these fatcat 1%ers sit on their luxury yachts lighting Cuban cigars with $100 bills? /sarc

 

[boomerang]

If one spends one's energy obsessing over others having "too much", then one will never have enough.

The exact point I've been trying to make today. (And using a lot less words than I used too!)

 

[Bowfinger]

[ ... ]
If one spends one's energy obsessing over others having "too much", then one will never have enough.

The exact point I've been trying to make today. (And using a lot less words than I used too!)

Sage advice. Keep it in mind the next time you're obsessing about how much the government "takes" instead of celebrating how much you receive. We are all amazingly wealthy compared to most of the world, yet so many still fixate on their mammoth glass being half empty.

 

[werepossum]

The exact point I've been trying to make today. (And using a lot less words than I used too!)

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish you enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Good-bye."

 

[werepossum]

Sage advice. Keep it in mind the next time you're obsessing about how much the government "takes" instead of celebrating how much you receive. We are all amazingly wealthy compared to most of the world, yet so many still fixate on their mammoth glass being half empty.

This is true. As I said, I'm fortunate in being old enough, living modestly enough, and earning enough that what Obama takes from me is what I can afford to lose. Still sucks though.

 

[OverVolt]

Yea lets redistribute the wealth I'm sure it won't all go to the distributors buddies or anything.

 

[highland145]

Well, I can get long winded but I will try to give the highlights.

I was born to a veteran of WWII. I have a sister who is bipolar. Both my parents are dead my mother having died in November of 2011. My Dad died a number of years earlier. It was April, but the year escapes me.

We lived a lower middle class existence when I was a child. We had one car that was used. My mother quit work when pregnant with me as was the custom. My father was a District Manager for the Detroit News. This was a title that sounded a lot better than it was. This was in the days of paperboys delivering newspapers. My father managed a territory and his employees were paperboys - children or young teenagers. He managed this territory out of a rented garage. The Detroit News paid a homeowner to use their garage for a few hours a day. His job afforded us a home and a used car along with the other necessities of life but nothing else. We didn't take vacations because there was no money to do so. We spent weekends at the beach because it was free and sledding in the winter for the same reason.

My dad had PST before they had a name for it. He was a basket case that was barely able to keep it together. He tried to commit suicide three times that I know of. I learned all of this as an adult. He did a damned good job keeping it together for his children. Eventually, when I was a young adult he could no longer work because his mind was too messed up to do so.

My mother rose to the occasion and starting selling real estate during some of the best years to do so in Michigan. She did very, very well. They finally had money to buy a nice home and make it the way they wanted it. They supported my sister from birth. She was never right. They provided her with a roof over her head in a rental property they owned and provided her with a used car. She got a whole lot from them and I got nearly nothing. But that was OK with me because as soon as I was able I had moved out on my own. I wanted to go my own way. I graduated High School and attended College for less than one year. That's a story for a different day.

I started my working life in mechanically related jobs. First for a couple of shops that fielded race cars professionally. When the recession hit in the early seventies, I landed a job working as a mechanic at a lawn mower shop. I grew tired of that and decided to try my hand in Real Estate based on the success my mother was having. I went to work at the same office as her although I knew it was a mistake as her and I were pretty much oil and water. It didn't much matter because the bottom fell out of the Real Estate market and I had to quit.

Now is when things started getting good and it was through blind luck. I owned my first home. I had purchased it while working in Real Estate. My parents loaned me $10K for the down payment. This was the only thing I ever received from them while they were alive. So, I'm out of work and the bank account is dwindling - quickly. I had an acquaintance tell me that GM was hiring for skilled trades positions. I applied and got a job. I was an apprentice Die Maker. I hired in at 25 with the goal of getting out at 55 and I did it. When I hired in, my bank account had $5 in it and I had $12 in my wallet. Two weeks would go by before I got my first paycheck. 7,328 hours of work later along with college classes just shy of an associates degree (by design, in the apprentice program) I became a journeyman Diemaker. I made some decisions along the way that I think really made a difference in how my life turned out. First off I married late in life at the age of 39. I married a woman that had two grown boys and barely a pot to piss in. Her first husband was an alcoholic who never gave her one cent in child support. We never had children of our own. The other good decision I made was to work every hour that was available to me before I got married. After marrying, I worked only 40 hours per week. But here's the best thing I ever did. I invested the maximum I could every pay period into a 401K plan. I lived below my means with a mind for the future. My co-workers had real nice homes (sometimes more than one) lots of toys, one or more ex-wives and a bunch of kids they were supporting and they were working seven days a week to keep their heads above water. I also got lucky with my 401K picks.

My wife managed a garage door company for an absentee owner. She was making the same amount in 1994 when we married as when she "retired" in 2012. Just over $13 an hour.

So, here I am retired. Bored and with a lot of time on my hands. I joined the local gym, an Anytime Fitness and I got kind of excited about the business model. I decided to open one of my own. We used some cash we had on hand and liquidated some of our retirement money (another long story) and made it happen. My wife was still working at the garage door company when we opened in November of 2011. Seven days after we opened my mother passed away. My mother died with a bank account close to a zero balance and a CC balance slightly over $14K. She did own the condo she was living in which she had purchased after moving back to Michigan as the real estate market was starting its long slide. She bought it for $220K and I was very lucky to find a buyer at $98K and I had to sell it on a Land Contract. After paying her debts and giving half to my sister I banked slightly more than $40K. I wrapped it all up earlier this year.

By July of 2012 I was starting to realize I had made a mistake in opening the gym. I had taken on not more than I could handle, but more than I wanted to handle. By September of 2012 I had hired and fired two managers that had no work ethic. I had a personal trainer that was up to the task of managing the business but she didn't want the job. She just wanted to train and none of my other trainers were up to the task. I was practically living in the place and it was just too much.

We never went in the red. The business held its own with the bank account growing and receding until January of this year when the gym suddenly took off like a rocket. I knew that the time to find a buyer was then. I found one, an owner of another Anytime Fitness and the sale was completed on June 24th of this year. I am retired again for the second and last time and the stress being gone is better than I could ever describe. It was something I should not have taken on.

So, now you know why I have time on my hands. I did it all on my own. I had some luck along the way but I would like to think that some of the decisions I made along the way factored in.

And I do realize that we are living in different times right now but you know, I got my first good paying job in a recession and I got the job that really counted in another recession. April of 1980.

You asked, I answered. I tried to keep it short - I really did.

While demanding 95% of what other people have?


Excellent story of a life well lived.

To me, THIS is the American dream. Working hard and living within your means. Not becoming the next Bill Gates, but having your own business or a skilled trade, earning enough to have your own modest but comfortable house free and clear, a few carefully chosen luxuries, and not having to worry about where your next meal is coming from or what happens if life strikes. Not having it all - having enough.

If one spends one's energy obsessing over others having "too much", then one will never have enough.

Quoting so I don't lose the posts.