Where on the political spectrum do you lie? (Mods: Please don't move!)

[reaganyouth84]

he said a mcdonalds employye paid 50%,and an average worker pays till april

I know how that guy must feel. I was working in this really terrible factory not too long ago before I decided to go back to school. Making $7.50 an hour, working 16 hour days, 7 days a week. Let me tell you, I grew up REAL fast. The factory and the equipment would've made OSHA vomit The worst thing was, the more I worked, it seemed like the less I made. That's one of the places I first learned about taxes, big government, and what not. Let me tell you, people can talk and argue this point till they are blue in the face, but until you've worked your hands to the bone for 16 hours in 125 degree heat , you can't say a whole lot.
-Mike

[David G. Hall]

Mandy, what is your major?

[cigarsarge]

Mandy, what is your major?

Liberal Arts

[reaganyouth84]

Liberal Arts

Very Liberal Arts and making our brains go numb.
-Mike

[Iced T]

Really, not to say she's wrong though...

[cigarsarge]

I find Amanda's posts interesting...far out...but interesting.

[reaganyouth84]

I find Amanda's posts interesting...far out...but interesting.

Are you saying they are drug induced? hahaha. I think the private message you sent me the other day cigarsarge sums it up.
-Mike

[ggiese]

WOW!!! I'm truly impressed with what I'm reading on CigarSmokers in this thread.

Sorry for the interruption - Carry on....

[Kenyth]

I'm not saying taxes should be reduced. I'm saying tax law should be simplified. I'm also saying that I don't think certain parties WANT tax law to be simplified. Even if it saves money in the end. With complex methods of taxing on multiple levels, the screwed party doesn't even see if or how they're being screwed. Straight shoting tax law would leave the exact figures bared to all. When is the last time creative accounting wanted the figures laid bare?

Amanda is right about one thing. The tax burden at the upper levels is decreasing slowly. The fact that we have a tiered income tax and even so, only a small difference in total tax burden between the upper and middle classes shows that something is wrong.

[Amanda]

My major is education. I'll be teaching social studies, but hopefully end up at a school with political science courses since that's obviously my passion. Considering all the tiny rural schools in Iowa, however, I could easily end up at a school without political science in the courseload.

And to quell all the private message gossip bantered about by you ladies I have never used a drug in my life...not so much as a toke of weed. I even restrict myself to one alcoholic beverage per night out, never once having been drunk in my 21 years. So if you're looking for the source of my "weird posts," it must be the cigars clouding up my brain.

Kenyth, taxes are going down more than a little for upper-income Americans. Since 2001, the top tax rate has fallen from 39.5% to 33%, the tax rate on stock dividends (which are largely held by those in the top income quintile) has fallen by half, and the "Paris Hilton" tax on inheritances is in the process of being wiped out entirely, and 98% of the people affected by that tax are in the top 0.2% of income earners. Considering the inflation of salaries for this income group over the same period, I'd say their doing pretty darn good for themselves in a time of war and perennial 12-figure deficits....and at a time where working-class Americans are undergoing what can only be described as financial genocide.