Re: Elections 2012:What unites us is greater than what divides us
Yeah, but that's not true of every rich guy. Why just look at how many jobs are created every year by the
$14 billion subsidy we give to a company like JP Morgan. I shudder to think where a giant like JP Morgan would be without those annual subsidies... Certainly big job creators like that can offset the damage done by Warren Buffet.
I believe JP Morgan Chase currently employs over 260,000 people and in the go-go year of 2009 paid over $27 billion in total compensation. I can't say how much lower those numbers would be if the relationship between JP and the government were different but they'd be lower.
Now, not all of those 260k people work in the US and we can't assume the definition of benefits so they aren't paying US taxes on the full $27 billion...but could we agree the employees pay 10% of that amount in federal taxes and at least 150k of them are in the US?
And could we agree that of the % that isn't paid in US taxes by US employees, some of it gets spent on goods and services in the US?
Now I know I'm getting dangerously close to the definition of "trickle down"...but I just cant bring myself to think that they keep 100% of what they don't pay in federal taxes in a coffee can in the back yard. The savings rates in this country are so high, I know I'm spitting into the wind on this one.
So, maybe some of it gets paid in local taxes? Can't really avoid those. Maybe some goes to pay for clothes, food, car repair, mortgages, plumbers, cell phones and the like? Possible?
Now, I don't want to get all crazy here, but could we assume there are sales taxes on some of those transactions and the companies receiving those payments employ people also? Really going too far to say those employees also spend some of their post-tax income or do they put it in coffee cans too?
Is it also possible that to have 150k people working in the US they need supplies, office furniture, computers, buildings, lunch, new carpeting once in a while and some companies, possibly even US companies, paying a whole different set of wages and taxes might benefit from having the 150k people working in the US instead of at China Construction Bank?
We know from looking at the rust belt or any town with a significant plant closing that everything I just described is a myth. And we further know that when 9/11 impacted travel in this country, it had no ripple effect on the economy.
So we know that a dollar held by anybody except uncle sam is a dead end for that dollar. This is made easier to understand when we call all economic impact driven by anything other than the government "trickle down" and or refer to Ronald Reagan. (extra points for using a Gipper reference)
Because, in the end, there are only two possiblities, tax people and redistribute it through the government or they keep it all in coffee cans and none of it ever sees the light of day or anybody else's wallet. simple math.