Why I Don't Subscribe To The Wall Street Journal--And Taxes

The Wall Street Journal is, hands down, the best newspaper in the world.  My opinion, but hey...

And that is why I don't subscribe to the Wall Street Journal.  If I did I would spend half the day reading it.  But once in a while somebody leaves one in the gym so when I go work out I end up spending an hour reading the Journal. 

Interesting article on income differentials where the gap is growing between the middle class and the 'upper class.'  Seems the population is a bit upset about this and is being cited as a major reason for the Dem's win a few weeks ago.  Which means the population expects them to do something about it.  Good luck.  So what can be done to erase this gap?

Cap executive pay.  Great idea.  Been tried already and failed.  During the last spate of corporate scandals the Congress fixed them by capping the tax deduction companies can take for executive compensation at $1 million.  So companies threw stock options at executives to take care of that little problem.  Rule Number 1-the average tax lawyer is smarter and sneakier than the average congressman.

Raise taxes on the rich.  The Up Against The Wall School of Taxation.  Eliminate the 15% tax on dividends and capital gains.  Hike the marginal rates back up to 39.6%.  This one folks is not a winner and if allowed to happen will have a very negative impact on the market and the economy which means unemployment will go up which means fewer middle class jobs.  Not good.

Spend more on education.  I thought we were already doing that.  (Read an interesting fact about the recently deceased Milton Friedman.  He thought public education was a bad as it is because it is a monopoly.  Interesting idea.)

Anyway, none of those ideas for "narrowing the gap" look like real winners to me.  I'm also not convinced that the middle class is doing so poorly.  If you want to see a middle class in trouble, or non-existent, go to Latin America.

But I'm open to new ideas.  Anybody got any?

Comments

[HarmoniousJosh]

Here's a timely essay:

Mind the Gap
http://www.paulgraham.com/gap.html

To sum it up, making money is a skill and some people are really, really good at it. A gap is a sign of health.

[HarmoniousJosh]

Nothing. There's nothing inherently wrong with income gaps.

For the record, I'm poor, compared to my fellow Americans. My net worth is barely on the positive side. So I'm not some rich dude hording his assets.

Here's a question the egalitarian lefties refuse to ask (the right can bite me too, but that's another subject):

Are the players the same? Meaning, are the poor people today the same poor people from ten years ago? Or are they new poor people (immigrants, people temporarily down on their luck, people starting their own business, etc)? Are the rich people of today the same as ten years ago, or are they new, successful/lucky ones?

So I guess my "fix" for income inequality would be to tell people to mind their own business and stop concerning themselves with how much other people make.