Deal reached to extend jobless benefits

Jarisbane the rich  are already taxed. I am not a rich man but look at this:

2010 federal income tax will be about 39%

In NC state income tax is 7.75%

Nancy Pelosi Health tax 5.4%

Total taxes exceed 52%

Not including SS, property, sales, gasoline, and other taxes.

The "rich" will work from January first through sometime in July just to pay taxes! The more you make the more you pay. The more you pay into the tax system the less you get back.

Older5727

You make a good point the current government set up punishes those who they to make it on their own, and rewards those that take as many handouts as possible.  Once you are in the system if becomes easier to get signed up for more.  It should be easier for those that have used less to get help when they need it.

Everyday there are more regulations on business, some are good and necessary, but many use too broad a stroke and have effects on many unintended enterprises.  There are too many rules for workers, and employers that is why so many operations move to other countries where the regulation is less.  We don't need more rules, there needs to be better ethics of people trying to do the right thing.  And we need to punish the crooks that take advantage of the system.  If there was an effective punishment system for all of the crooks and society would also punish them then we could have less rules and more of an honor system.

Because there is really no protection from all the swindlers out there we have all become less trusting and more protective.  It has, also, encouraged those that would otherwise operate in a moral and honorable way to sway and enter the gray area and then maybe turn completely to the dark side.

So if there are more rules they need to encourage correct behavior and not reward improper behavior or we will continue to get a deterioration of the moral fabric of the country.

I'm 43 years old and have also worked my entire adult life to support them and give them the things they need. After 3 years of having multiply  being out-sourced to India my savings is gone. My house is in foreclosure  and my car has been repocessed.

I have the greatest respect that you were able to endure and overcome your difficulties. I was raised in a military family, my father was 20 years in the Air Force and never accepted a handout from anyone and taught me the same.

I can't believe I have found myself in this disgusting, degrading and deplorable situation. I have written to may state representatives and was contacted back telling me I should go to the local food banks to help. I just cried, I refuse to accept that, I was not raised in this manner.

ALL I WANT IS A JOB AND REGAIN MY "PERSONAL RESPECT"

We have greatly increased productivity during the last decades, but the gains have mostly accumulated at the top layer of society. Since the rich already consume as much as they want (more or less), there is no corresponding increase in demand for that increased productive capacity.

Since we produce more with less people, there is less demand for workers. Thus higher unemployment; thus more competition for jobs; thus lower wages; thus even more wealth transferred to the rich; thus less demand; thus more layoffs; thus ...

More Supply-Side tax-cuts will just make things worse. We can balance the federal budget next year AND turn around the economy next year. It's easy: tax the rich, cut taxes for the middle class, and massive infrastructure investment.

It's real simple, double the productivity, allow the top 1% to horde all the gains, then because only half the workers are needed, there is massive unemployment. Why is this so difficult to understand?

The path forward is clear:
tax the rich,
cut taxes for the middle class,
balanced trade (lower US$),
massive infrastructure spending.

The "increased savings" is really debt-reduction by the Middle-class. The Middle-class overextended the last two decades, and must now reduce their debt. Barring inflation, Middle-class families need to reduce their debt, so the demand reduction must be replaced by investment spending. Business won't invest as long as capacity utilization remain at the current low level (70%).

The federal government must pick up the slack with massive infrastructure investments like, smart grids, energy efficiency, renewable energy, communications infrastructure, as well as traditional roads and bridges.

Spending on infrastructure is an investment that can be payed back over time. Infrastructure spending results in higher growth, thus higher revenues. The higher growth will make today's deficits look puny compared to tomorrows much higher GDP.

In addition, with the ascendancy of the developing world, and the increased global population, we need to improve our energy efficiency and come up with new products that use less materials as well as less energy. If we don't, our standard of living will be reduced.

We also need to invest heavily into education to enhance labor mobility into new technologies and techniques. Education is also an important component of Research & Development for developing new products.