Comments I made on "The Hill," August 4th, 2018




Here are some remarks I posted on "The Hill: New Ideas to Make the Democrats the Party of the Future," by Winston Fisher and Jim Kessler  Unfortunately the Disqus link was disconnected.

"RubberBiscuit: A workable community or economy isn't based on what individuals "deserve;" it's based on what will create the most resources and distribute them the most widely and peaceably. If some "undeserving pauper or liberal" generates $1,000 a day in gross income for your business, but only earns $80.00 before taxes, you are keeping 92% of that income for yourself and impoverishing a neighbor. If you go the B-corporate route and get into profit-sharing, you are creating a more affluent consumer for your own and your fellow business-owners' products and services. Pampered rich people may not notice it, but the more widely the nation's wealth is distributed, the better the economy performs. A debt-ridden cancer patient isn't going to spend much money on a trip to the Grand Canyon, and neither will a burger-flipping single mom. And if you're a struggling inn owner nearby, you will lose out on the income these non-customers would otherwise provide.

 

"W0X0F:  Workers are already paying for their retirement -- at a much higher rate, relative to income, than some of the employers you're defending. The income cap for Social Security taxes stands at somewhere around $110,000 dollars a year in wages, but multimillionaires can still collect their benefits. A 50-cent-an-hour tax to keep elderly workers afloat will not be a tall order for either big corporations or the small businesses that will gain from Winston Fisher's other outreach and support proposals. For what it's worth, he didn't even mention unions or minimum wage floors."

Any way to improve these mini-essays?

Posted by Jennifer A. Nolan




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