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Democrats may stop Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy from expiring

Tax cuts for the rich is a lie of the left. The dems are doing this for the election otherwise they would make them permanent.

The Tax Tsunami On The Horizon - IBD - Investors.com

But as of midnight Dec. 31, the death tax returns — at a rate of 55% on estates of $1 million or more. The effect this will have on hospital life-support systems is already a matter of conjecture.

Resurrection of the death tax, however, isn't the only tax problem that will be ushered in Jan. 1. Many other cuts from the Bush administration are set to disappear and a new set of taxes will materialize. And it's not just the rich who will pay.

The lowest bracket for the personal income tax, for instance, moves up 50% — to 15% from 10%. The next lowest bracket — 25% — will rise to 28%, and the old 28% bracket will be 31%. At the higher end, the 33% bracket is pushed to 36% and the 35% bracket becomes 39.6%.
 
IMO, a more effective means for leveling the taxation across the income "classes", would be to take away exemptions, rather than raising taxes on the income shown.
exemptions have been the "back door" means for many to avoid paying their share.

taxes should be applied to gross income, prior to any exemptions.
 
IMO, a more effective means for leveling the taxation across the income "classes", would be to take away exemptions, rather than raising taxes on the income shown.
exemptions have been the "back door" means for many to avoid paying their share.

taxes should be applied to gross income, prior to any exemptions.
Without exemptions, nobody can afford to pay taxes. Besides, politicians won't willingly do away with exemptions - it's a great way for them to exercise control through manipulation. Control is power, power is money... yadda yadda.
 
:lol: True enough.




Lets be nice, there are liberals who understand the consequences of such actions.

I dont know about 'liberals', but at least a hand full of rich white men (democrats!!!) in congress that do.
 
Looks like a move to keep Dems in office. Yes, let's delay the tax hikes till AFTER the election.
 
That is a separate issue, not the same as keep tax rates the same.
Raising taxes has a more significant effect on the market than extending unemployment benefits.

Raising taxes or cutting unemployment benefits would actually do the same thing. Reduce disposable income. The only difference is who it affects, and how much those respective people will save or spend.
 
IMO, a more effective means for leveling the taxation across the income "classes", would be to take away exemptions, rather than raising taxes on the income shown.
exemptions have been the "back door" means for many to avoid paying their share.

taxes should be applied to gross income, prior to any exemptions.

Some of those exemptions are important to businesses. It gives them the extra edge they need, or it helps them hire that extra person. Tax exemptions for favorable things will tend to promote those favorable behaviors such as starting your own business, or investing, or buying green energy, etc. One downside is it makes the tax code more complicated, and causes people to invest more money in tax avoidance, which is not very efficient.
 
Personal income may be shrinking to a minor degree but uncounted benefits have been increasing.
SCHIP, tax breaks, etc.

I don't buy it.

Here's a clue to everyone, do the things that rich people do.
Invest in stocks that pay dividends, so you can join the "elite."

Savy wallstreet predator loaners conned average Americans into thinking they could afford a loan for a house which they could not. When the banks adjusted their rates (something they didn't tell the homeowners about) Americans were forced to default on their loans, crashing the banks and causing the recession. If you don't know these facts then you don't understand the recession.
 
Savy wallstreet predator loaners conned average Americans into thinking they could afford a loan for a house which they could not. When the banks adjusted their rates (something they didn't tell the homeowners about) Americans were forced to default on their loans, crashing the banks and causing the recession. If you don't know these facts then you don't understand the recession.

That's bs, it was known to the loan shopper that the rates were adjustable.
That's why they are called adjustable rate mortgages.

They weren't forced by anyone but themselves.
Irrational exuberance and their personal excessive spending caused their purchase to go into default.
 
That's bs, it was known to the loan shopper that the rates were adjustable.
That's why they are called adjustable rate mortgages. They weren't forced by anyone but themselves.
Irrational exuberance and their personal excessive spending caused their purchase to go into default.

I will say that lack of regulation on loan officers themselves caused a great deal of this mess. I'm a Realtor. Loan Officers make a larger commission on their loans than a Realtor makes selling a house. And the consumer has no idea. And their commission, unlike a Realtor's, is invisible.

Loan Officers gain the trust of their clients. It's the only way they'll get the loan. They had thousands of incentives to talk their clients into ARM's....so they can go back to them in three years and get another re-finance out of them for more thousands. The lenders themselves disincentived 30-year-fixed loans, many of them by penalizing their loan officers $$ for selling them. What kind of sense does that make?

Here we are with the lowest mortgage rate in YEARS AND YEARS and loan officers stilldon't want to sell 30-year-fixed mortgages. They don't make any money on them.

Oh!! And how did the loan officers talk a client who already had a mortgage into refinancing so the LO can make another $5K? They say, "Hey, you can save a little on your monthly payment. Oh, and by the way, do you want any cash out?" The magic words that led the housing market to debacle.

The industry was corrupt. It's less corrupt now.
 
Savy wallstreet predator loaners conned average Americans into thinking they could afford a loan for a house which they could not. When the banks adjusted their rates (something they didn't tell the homeowners about) Americans were forced to default on their loans, crashing the banks and causing the recession. If you don't know these facts then you don't understand the recession.

And it was Fannie and Freddie who led the way, neither of which has been bothered in all this because of their deep-rooted Democrat affiliations.

Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Al Sharpton, etc, screamed loudly that banks were racist in their loan practices; hence, the POLITICALLY CORRECT practice of giving loans to people who couldn't repay them because they were minorities. With the Democrats having stripped away the previous criteria for getting mortgages, the whole system ran amuck.

If you don't know these facts, then you don't understand the recession.
 
Loan Officers gain the trust of their clients. It's the only way they'll get the loan. They had thousands of incentives to talk their clients into ARM's....so they can go back to them in three years and get another re-finance out of them for more thousands. The lenders themselves disincentived 30-year-fixed loans, many of them by penalizing their loan officers $$ for selling them. What kind of sense does that make?
Best to treat them like used car salesmen. I've known a lot of the people you're describing. I'm sure some of them were as savvy as you make them out to be, but most i've known were as clueless as those they sold the loan to - high school educated and heard about the job from a friend of a friend.

In our little area, these people were easily pulling six figures on commission - one girl I knew was making about 400k. Many bought fancy houses on stated loans that - like the jobs that made it possible - are long gone. I know only one person still in the business. Others are scraping by on 40k salaries hoping for the next big thing to come along.
 
Best to treat them like used car salesmen. I've known a lot of the people you're describing. I'm sure some of them were as savvy as you make them out to be, but most i've known were as clueless as those they sold the loan to - high school educated and heard about the job from a friend of a friend.

In our little area, these people were easily pulling six figures on commission - one girl I knew was making about 400k. Many bought fancy houses on stated loans that - like the jobs that made it possible - are long gone. I know only one person still in the business. Others are scraping by on 40k salaries hoping for the next big thing to come along.

One is wise to do that, Taylor!
 
I will say that lack of regulation on loan officers themselves caused a great deal of this mess. I'm a Realtor. Loan Officers make a larger commission on their loans than a Realtor makes selling a house. And the consumer has no idea. And their commission, unlike a Realtor's, is invisible.

Loan Officers gain the trust of their clients. It's the only way they'll get the loan. They had thousands of incentives to talk their clients into ARM's....so they can go back to them in three years and get another re-finance out of them for more thousands. The lenders themselves disincentived 30-year-fixed loans, many of them by penalizing their loan officers $$ for selling them. What kind of sense does that make?

Here we are with the lowest mortgage rate in YEARS AND YEARS and loan officers stilldon't want to sell 30-year-fixed mortgages. They don't make any money on them.

Oh!! And how did the loan officers talk a client who already had a mortgage into refinancing so the LO can make another $5K? They say, "Hey, you can save a little on your monthly payment. Oh, and by the way, do you want any cash out?" The magic words that led the housing market to debacle.

The industry was corrupt. It's less corrupt now.

Honestly I think it's a narrative of why we don't need a "ownership society."

If people can't bother to research the subject before spending thousands of dollars for a home, they shouldn't own one.
 
Honestly I think it's a narrative of why we don't need a "ownership society." If people can't bother to research the subject before spending thousands of dollars for a home, they shouldn't own one.

I think you're absolutely 100% right!! Even when I tried to educate my clients and stop them from taking these onerous loans, the glitter was just too bright.

Homeownership is not for everyone. And it certainly isn't a right.
 
Honestly I think it's a narrative of why we don't need a "ownership society."

If people can't bother to research the subject before spending thousands of dollars for a home, they shouldn't own one.
If a stupid lender wants to lend a stupid person a stupid amount of money, I'm all for it - just don't force me to pay for their stupidity.
 
I think you're absolutely 100% right!! Even when I tried to educate my clients and stop them from taking these onerous loans, the glitter was just too bright.

Homeownership is not for everyone. And it certainly isn't a right.

I got interested in purchasing a home about 5 years ago.
Been researching it heavily, off and on since then.

Probably going to wait a year or more, not sure I want to own yet.
 
If a stupid lender wants to lend a stupid person a stupid amount of money, I'm all for it - just don't force me to pay for their stupidity.

That's just plain stupid.
 
Your post seemed to have gotten cut off. I fixed it for you.

Except don't let a little thing like actual facts get in your way, Taylor. The middle class is shrinking and it isn't because they are becoming richer. Care to try again?
 
Taylor said:
If a stupid lender wants to lend a stupid person a stupid amount of money, I'm all for it - just don't force me to pay for their stupidity.

A wonderful idea, one that could be enforced if we hadn't become an entitlement society. It took over 50 years to undo most of the damage FDR did to us with the New Deal. Now after decades of cramming the genie back into the bottle, we let him back out.

Let's face it - people want all of the freedom to act stupid, but none of the culpability. Having your cake and eating it too. No wonder we're an obese nation.
 
Let's face it - people want all of the freedom to act stupid, but none of the culpability. Having your cake and eating it too. No wonder we're an obese nation.

Personally, I think most people are risk averse.
 
Canceling unemployment extensions in a recession is stupid. Especially on the horizon of a double dip.

What's stupid is people needing more then two years to get a job.
 
What's stupid is people needing more then two years to get a job.

What you are failing to take into account is the total destruction that GWB did to our economy....rebuilding it in a year is not that simple.
 
@ DisneyDude -- Christ. Are we never going to stop blaming Bush? You don't have a grasp on reality.
 
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