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Buffett Goes To Britain: Clegg Calls For 'One-Off' Tax On Super Rich
We have long talked of the last/next desperate acts of a government in demise as being total repression and confiscation of assets - an ugly endgame indeed - and so today, as The Independent reports, UK's Nick Clegg is proposing a 'Super-Rich' one-off tax. In a very Buffeett-esque speech, Clegg admonished that "people of very considerable personal wealth have got to make a bit of an extra contribution" as the UK remains mired in a "longer economic war rather than a short economic battle." Interesting Churchillian word-choice. The action is designed to ensure that very high asset-wealth is reflected in the tax-system in a way it is not right now and as one would expect he is not making much progress with his more conservative coalition partners, though ever optimistic he adds he is trying to forget the past and aim for the 'sunny uplands' - which we assume will be lit brightly with the excess blubber of fat-cats if he gets his way.
Via The Independent:
A radical one-off tax on the fortunes of the rich has been proposed by the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in a move set to anger Tory backbenchers before the new political season has even begun.
Warning that the UK had become mired in "a longer economic war rather than a short economic battle", the Liberal Democrat leader said in an interview that "people of very considerable personal wealth have got to make a bit of an extra contribution".
"In addition to our standing policy on things like the mansion tax, is there a time-limited contribution you can ask in some way or another from people of considerable wealth so they feel they are making a contribution to the national effort?" he asked rhetorically. "The action is making sure that very high-asset wealth is reflected in the tax system in the way that it isn't now."
The idea is likely to raise the hackles of his Coalition partners, especially as it has been floated at the end of a summer which has seen the greatest friction yet between the two parties in power.
...
"Frankly, there are a group of people who don't like any government in power and are always going to shout betrayal. We have lost them and they are not going to come back by 2015. Our job is not to look mournfully in the rear-view mirror and hope that somehow we will claw them back. Some of them basically seem to regard Liberal Democrats in coalition as a mortal sin."
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Don't worry. We little people are next on the hit list.
We're rich compared to those hard working people who make iPhones for us.
But what about the poor job creators????!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!! Tax the rich 90%!!! Get the 1%!!!!
Fat-cat blubber is better for making soap than for lighting; the smoke is too oily.
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This is a WAR between the common people and the rich. We cannot affect our circumstances by altering our actions. We have ZERO control over our circumstances. The ONLY was to get stuff that we want is to TAKE IT!! This is the progressive revolution ... you're either with us, or you're with the 1%.
Your trolling seems to be dropping in quality...
Clegg talkin' jive, aint gonna happen
One-off tax? Why don't you just use a gun?
But the 1% pay me... and put me in the top 10%
"But the 1% pay me... and put me in the top 10%"
Exactly and Indeed!!! The other 90% can get off their ass and get creative, productive, innovative, work hard and make me some more coin! What the hell's wrong with them, wallowing in their own cry baby heads.....whaling their whining, wimpish cries of I can't....I can't.....I can't....consumed with sloth and envy and the manufactured idea that their the victim.
I can only thank my lucky stars that Zerohedger's aren't of the slothful enviable kind! Thank you, thank you, thank you....:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28BAZ_EFSt8
The really rich play in a different game. The gov't pretends 2 tax them & they pretend 2 pay them.
This is the progressive revolution ... you're either with us, or you're with the 1%.
Said the guy who calls himself "MillionDollarBonus".
LOL +1
I work for the government in regulating and taxing small businesses. The ladies often see this as romantic work - and it's true, I do see myself as a modern day Robin Hood, taking back from the greedy rich and giving the poor what's rightfully theirs. but truth be known, its hard work. So many of these business owners move money to overseas accounts, tax havens, hold it in gold etc...
What we need is greater regulation of these escapes. Preferably, we need to change the way we view both money and property. How can it be that some claims to "own" an ounce of gold say? Yes they might have bought it with their wages, but the gold belongs to mother earth - and the best way to fairly distribute mother earths resources is through government. Money needs to be easier for people like me to track - we have all the technology in place for digital money - why aren't we using it? People will also get that feel good factor when using their cool smartphones to pay for things...
So come on Obama - give us these powers. Then you'll make me feel as good as I did back on the campaign trail when you gave me that high five! Its been an inspiration for me ever since!
I agree with all of your points here Maxi. People investing via offshore corporate accounts pay no tax to their governments whatsoever. This is with the exception of the United States, where the IRS has sensibly agreed to tax all offshore profits of American citizens. A digitized global currency system where transactions are monitored by a global government will make tracking money launderers and make sure people are paying their fair share of money to the people who actually run the country. Violations of the social contract are morally despicable will not be tolerated in the 21st century.
How about a one-off cut to the annual federal budget? We'll say, hmmm, 50%.
MDB- a little better trolling, you're working hard to regain your luster
Thats a salient point. Not only have these dollar chasers chosen a career in the private sector (which is basically an open admission they wish to exploit their fellow man) they refuse to pay their fair share when guys like me come round, using every loop hole imaginable to get away without paying. I'm in there on the front line, and I'm telling you - it ain't easy. And as for morally reprehensible, I find the very idea of property morally reprehensible. As Proudhon said, "property is theft". Many people on zero hedge would do well to look at some good french philosophers for their moral guidance; rather than trying to be Michael Douglas in Wall Street.
Proudhon was correct, and his philosophy lives on in the hearts and minds of Marxists and leftist anarchists. Property rights are invalid - If you need something, you should just take it. You do not own the effects of your actions because the effects of your actions are more a consequence of mother nature than your actions themselves. You do not own the fruits of your labour, only mother nature owns these things and the state takes custody of this ownership. It is up to all of us to honour the value of fairness by voting for politicians that share our values of equal opportunity and equalization of circumstance. That's what whiny libertarians just don't get: There are no right or wrong actions. Any action in the pursuit of fairness is just and moral. Simple as that.
MDB "If you need something, you should just take it."
What's your home address bud, i'll be round in an hour as i need to top up my fridge?
Thanks
The "psycho" part in your name is so appropos.
Yeah, let's eliminate all property rights. Great idea! Then again, if the government came after you and demanded that you share the health and give up one of your kidneys for the greater good, I'm sure you'd be all for it.
As for your waxing eloquently about moral guidance, let's keep it simple. What part of
THOU SHALT NOT STEAL is so difficult to understand? Is that too morally ambiguous for your tiny intellect?
Proudhon doesn't exactly support you if include the other two conclusions of 'On Property'.
'Property is theft!' - Proudhon's argument is based on ownership preventing utility by others.
'Property is impossible!' - Proudhon's argument refers mainly to ownership of assets that have a longer existence than the owner, i.e. land exists long before and long after the 'owner', ownership is an 'agreed upon' concept (social fiction) not a solid reality.
'Property is liberty!' - Proudhon argues that without the concept of private property we are all destitute.
I read the Cambridge translation a while ago, whilst I found much of it interesting, I found it excessively verbose.
classic satire. reads like a good onion article.
"...back on the campaign trail when you gave me that high five! Its been an inspiration for me ever since!"
Now that's some funny fucking shit right there...genius!
Max the Psycho and Million Dollar Bankrupt give us a crystal clear view of how Progressives think thieving other peoples hard earned is their birth right
Max even explais how peoples property would be better taken and carved up by Jabba the Huts behind Govt desks ..it worked so well in Communist China and Russia, in socialist Greece and Spain, they just can't wait to work the magic of redistribution (theft) again
but this is the political class in a nutshell (see Cleggs statements)
Stop Paying Your Taxes : don't feed the scum
I take exception to all your downvotes. This was a good troll.
Seconded.
Irony, guys. Look it up.
Lol...yah, 5% yearly tax on all net assets, that'll fo it.
He who hides his assets best loses the least. Which is a terrible economic/personal finance model.
If you hurry, you can catch a glimpse of the last super rich heading out to Singapore. This will make virtually no difference, so the next "logical" step will be to take the middle class more... And no, spending will never be cut WILLINGLY.
If politicians are targeting the rich, the end is near.
Nah...In the UK it's a time honoured sport.
Nah...In the UK it's a time honoured sport.
exactly cue the sudden rise in campaign donations and all is forgotten
nah they are just pressuring the rich into paying more protection money - er, i mean "donations" - to their campaigns
well the going rate is £100,000 plus sitting next to the PM for dinner, i presume Deputy PM, Nick Clegg, charges a bit less
i think it's cheaper to just up sticks and leave Blighty than pay good money to these social parasites
I owned a fat cat...22 lb Maine Coon...great cat. Used to chase dogs. Ate a whole porterhouse steak left on the counter once.
I'm sorry, what are we talking about?
Cognitive Dissonance
IF THE BUSH TAX CUTS EXPIRE, HOW MUCH MORE WOULD YOU HAVE TO PAY?In the U.S. people fell for obama's buffet rule hook line and sinker fact of the matter is the buffet rule would not have affected bailed out warren one bit since he hides his money in bill gates tax exempt foundation.
Nor would it matter if they tax them way higher our debt is just out of control even the 1% doesn't have enough money to cover it.
Where the Tax Money Is Obama targets the middle class while pretending to tax only the rich.Now he's stealing suggestions from Donald Trump?
Trump suggested this EXACT SAME THING in 1999:
http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Trump-Proposes-a-Tax-for-the-Rich-One-time-levy-2896502.php
"have got to"?
Like trying to put out a wildfire by pissing on it.
Just don't piss into the wind bro.
Messy. Very messy.
i think thats actually a beeter analogy, the wind IS changing and now they will be covered in their own piss
...and never piss on a bear (natural or market for that matter)
Never piss on a fire when you're covered with oil.
its way too late the problems are way to big for these simplistic simple simon solutions
One-off. Ok.
And the drunkyard said, "just one more."
jUST LIKE THE 'TEPORARY' INCOME TAX TO FUND THE CRIMEAN WAR.
hOW IS THAT WAR GOING BY THE WAY ?
It may be drawing to a close, soon. About time...those poor soldiers must be getting exhausted!
No sense taxing the rich in any country....In India and Russia they just steal outright
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-28/poor-in-india-starve-as-politicians-steal-14-5-billion-of-food.html#disqus_thread
And then all the rich people left Britain, along with all of the regular taxes they paid, and all of their capital, leaving numerous people without jobs.
Capital goes where it is treated well. This is not rocket science.
I'm sure there'll be plenty of muzzies to take their place and pay their tax.
Hollande will be learning this lesson soon
Although I agree with the principle, I'd point out that ones and zeroes in silicon registers are NOT "capital."
As if that's going to stop the rich from leaving? They will just use their ones and zeroes to buy private planes which will be loaded down with physical items that hold value (coincidentally also purchased with ones and zeroes) and jet off to someplace that will leave them the hell alone.
I'll say it again...the solution is not to raise taxes or create new ones (even "one-offs"), the solution is to cut the fucking drunken sailor gubmint spending.
CaptainObvious: you seem to have failed to note that I agreed with tmosley.
Your little theory is cute, but that's not going to happen, either. There is nowhere "big enough" to go where monetary holdings are still respected. The rich can expect to get robbed anywhere it's worth having money. Why do you think Simon Black is always whining about how bad everyplace is?
They could always just start their own countries, though. Central Africa, South America, islands in the S. Pacific...stuff like that. Buy a big enough plot of land and hire an army to protect you and family.
Live like a hermit and eat caviar every night. Rich man, big winner!
Prince Harry would flash his wang at this one.
The bills for the Olympics must be starting to come in.
This is all you will ever need to know about the Olympícs(C)(TM)(R).
What a crap link -1
This idea has Already been rejected by Osbourne..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9505653/Emergency-tax-on-rich-c...
WHY ARE THERE NO NUMBERS?
How much is the tax to be. If you confiscate 100% of the ASSETS AND INCOME of these super rich, does it even make a dent in the government debt?
Note btw that if you confiscate 100% of the assets, that is a one year event and next year the deficit returns to what it was (or worse, given that the GDP generated by those assets shuts off).
The numbers are decisive. If this measure won't cut debt in half overnight, there is zero reason to risk the resultant exodus.
Do you seriously believe he's trying to fix the economy?
Dumb fucking sheep!
I assume hey going to define super-rich as people making 133,000 pounds sterling per year to match the $200,000 in the U.S.
French flee to Montreal, British to Hong Kong, US to
Canada, part of the plan, destroy the savings, destroy the real estate, destroy the wealth.
per plan, well executed. Bull market, in black market underground economies.
And yet, strangelly, the luxury housing market in London keeps booming.
I have heard it mostly foreigners...like New York and Miami
Clegg makes Nancy Pelosi look sane.
Crypto-Clegg
"people of very considerable personal wealth have got to make a bit of an extra contribution"
oh
well then, how 'bout this fella named Rothschild? You ever hear of him? How much has he contributed? uhhh, ZERO!!
How much has he and his family STOLE through the centuries through the invisible hand of fractional reserve banking...also known as COUNTERFEITING?
What it really means is: we've imported so many third worlders who are on the dole, while at the same time dismantling the ladders of upward mobility and destroying the middle class that we have to get money from SOMEBODY. You rich people are easy targets, so get ready to dig deep! Not that it is going to make any sort of a difference in the long run.
I have no concrete opinion about the "rich," as there are many different varieties. Where I get pissed is when governments talk about taxing them more highly (than they already do), and pretend it is going to make any sort of a difference.
BTW, if you've put any gold aside prepare to see it go ballistic, instantly making you one of the "rich."
The political left and right both agree.... Warren Buckethead! Pay your taxes!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/29/warren-buffett-taxes-berkshire-hathaway_n_941099.html
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/how-much-is-buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-back-tax-bill-exactly-about-1-billion/
I got a better idea for the brits, stiff the banks, and become iceland. Easy.
The problem with that is that only Iceland could do what Iceland did. If you're going to go bankrupt, it's best to be the first one to do it.
Not if we all do it together.
"I will stop the motor of the world."
The whole socialist world (which is everyone) has failed to produce a group of men equal to our founding fathers !
They just need to get their hands on that 20-30 trilion sitting in tax havens and which probably is behind most of that debt sloshing around the world.
It won't happen. The only people getting taxed and relentlessy pursued by HMRC are the middle class sheep. Baaaaaa.
Nick Clegg, just like the leaders of the two main parties in the UK, studied in a private college. In the UK, going to a private colleage or not is one of the main indicators of where "a person belongs" in a class system which is probably the most divise and calcified in Europe (the UK has the lowest social mobility and highest inequality in Europe). The locals have an amazing nose to spot a person's "place" by their accent, clothes, manners and even phenotype.
My point is two-fold:
PS: I have nothing against wealth earned from taking risks and working for it, I do however detest wealth gotten by doing nothing, by being a parasite on the system, by deceit and by being given cushy jobs thanks to nepotism or cronyism rather than skill.
Your antipathy towards anything English is typical of the Spanish and Portuguese .... get a life ! Have you considered kidnapping the children of English tourists ?
What are you talking about? Portuguese don't hate English
I went to the War Museum in Lisbon and was pleased to see the cooperation between Portugal and England ! I live in a Spanish speaking country and have observed their pathology .... things are getting better, hopefully !
I'm not saying that Spanish don't hate english, they probably do, but the portuguese people, generally speaking, don't.
In fact we have one of the oldest alliances in the world (since 1386).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Portuguese_Alliance
As I pointed below, for me personally it's a question of deep disapointment: modern England just didn't live up to the great expectations I had of it as a Portuguese - the great nation I was taught about in school just ain't here anymore.
Me, I choose to believe that it got screwed up by an elitistic minority, the degenerated descendants of far greater ancestors, which kept their claws on power through nepotism and cronyism but do not do anything anymore to build this nation, instead living from scavenging whatever is left from the time of this country's historical greatness. In that sense, Britain is a lot like Portugal in its period of decay after the time of the Discoveries (or in fact a lot like all great empires, from Egypt to Rome, after their fall).
The period when a country is falling or just after having fallen from greatness is always the saddest: when society still has the moral and social decay that has caused it to fall in the first place, is loosing or has lost power and wealth, the risk-taking and courage of their ancestors has not been re-learned and yet people still believe that they and their nation is superior to others (you see a lot of this in the UK).
If they do, the hate started here... read the comments.
The title is a bit provocative, but I wouldn't give much importance to the reactions, they're natural...
One of my best friends which I've know for 15 years is English. He's the one that pointed out to me the class-system and how it works around here. Before that I was completelly unaware of that, especially since before I used to live in Holland, which one of the most equalitarian places in the world and I work in a profession (IT) were people are overwelmingly judged on skill: myself I judge people on their actions, not their breeding.
That said, my English friend was an emigrant for many years, so he has a much broader perspective than somebody that has never lived outside his or her country of birth.
I'll openly admit my anger at modern England. It is derived from painfull, painfull disapointment: when I was a teenager in Portugal (a country which back then was barelly a decade out of a Fascist dicatorship), I used to look up to England and the English, admiring them as a great country and a great people. When more than 20 years later I moved to London, after 8 years in Holland, the reality of England was a huge, painfull disapointment.
As for my opinion on modern England, I'd say they fucked-up their legacy - there are plenty of great people around, while the overall system has been taken over by a greedy, elitistic minority and is broken, with laws and the state twisted to benefit all sorts of parasites. Around here, hard working, honest and conscientious people are fucked by the system. The good things in England are those above mentioned great people and those things inherited from a past were this country was a great nation, things like its Theatre tradition or the system of trade laws, rules and institutions - which is currently being destroyed - which was inherited from the times of the Empire (one of the other great things, Britain's manufacturing and engineering prowness has already been destroyed).
For a country that use to rule the seas, had a huge empire and invented things like the radar and the jet-engine, it sure has been thoroughly fucked up. Such waste really pisses me off!
There is a thin red line between earned wealth and wealth skimmed off perverse investment schemes such as 401K and mutual funds in the US designed for the purpose of enriching Wall Street. For example, did Zuckerberg create anything or is FACEBOOK merely a vehicle that allows Wall Street to skim ~$50 billion from captive investment funds.
The same analysis applies to individuals such as Bill Gates. What's the difference between economic contribution of MICROSOFT versus the amount extracted from options, equities and shares sales.
"These people are not self-made-men, they do not own their own companies nor have they build anything from the ground up: they either inherited the wealth or they're highly paid adminstrator types managing something they do not own having gotten those positions thanks being from the right families."
They didn't build it. They didn't build anything.
"I do however detest wealth gotten by doing nothing"
You mean like these little bastards:
http://richkidsofinstagram.tumblr.com/page/2
I am just thinking out loud here, but I wonder where I should bury my gold coins? Hmmm....
I have just the place. I will send you a link with directions.
Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Neighbor
George Osborne already told both of them to fuck off - paraphrasing.
He doesn't want to scare the "weatlh creators" away, from the Realm. Obviously.
"people of very considerable personal wealth have got to make a bit of an extra contribution".
In the US, the inverse is true. At least when it comes to their extra contributions.
But no.
Karl Rove will die a rich man and we none the better for it.
I love the Romney only paid 14% in taxes commercials. He paid what was legally allowed. There was a Dem controlled government for 2 years and they never addressed it. Both parties protect the wealthy whether it is Hollywood elite or Wall Street elite.
What constitutes 'wealth'? Is it just cash? Or does it include stocks, bonds, gold, silver, houses, jewellery, expensive wines, art collections, race horses etc etc.
We'll just start with the cash since it will take time to liquidate the other asset classes.
Cash can move into stocks pretty quickly. You'll end up with a situation where none of the rich wants cash - verging on hyperinflation in other assets.
Do they tax the wealthy in UK? If they do, how do so many royals continue to pass on their wealth throughout the centuries.
Good point. It would be easy to just take the Royal Family's money and real estate.
Exemption from inheritance tax.
QED.
Tax is a payment made by the equitable title holder to the legal title holder for the use of equitable title. The queen/king holds legal title to the lands of the Commonwealth and the UK, so traditionally doesn't pay 'tax'. Under NuLabour, the queen agreed to pay a nominal amount of tax, but it seems to be a propaganda exercise to keep the peons quiet rather than a serious attempt at social justice.
In the US, tax all TBTF bankers, government workers, politicians, on their income, bonuses and pensions 95% of the amount above the median household income of the people; surprising that the marxist Czars haven't already proposed this.
sarc/
It's almost as though Buffet and Gates knew that the government would seize everyone's wealth when they placed nearly all of their assets in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Their children will rule the fucking planet after nearly everyone else loses everything in the coming financial wipeout which will be followed by the government seizing the assets of everyone left standing.
Imagine the buying power of $100 billion when the global blue light special kicks in.
That tax free piggy bank will provide anything imaginable to the people, their children, left to administer the fortune.
That has been my thoughts too. What pisses me off is how people praise that crook when he calls for more taxes after he has sheltered every thing he owns.
aaahhh, but those assets will fall under the blade of the guillotine next....it's just a matter of time. there will be no safe havens.
The Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation will richly reward the committee chairmen in both houses of congress that defend the integrity and viability of their most worthy charitable foundation.
Anyone suggesting that Foundations should be raided will be branded as a misanthropic douche bag that only wants to starve African children.
Why is it that these left leaning super wealthy people are constantly telling us we should pay more in taxes when instead of voluntarily paying these huge amounts of money in as taxes for our ever benevolent and wise government to distribute to the needy, they create private foundations where they can control every aspect of their wealth's distribution? I guess nothing feels better than being generous with someone else's money.
define "Rich". does that mean salary? does that mean assets? does that mean over a 1 year period or over the longer terms?, etc. etc. etc. it's all a scam. note to politicians; drop the theatre of the absurd and just seize the money at gunpoint, you'd have more credibility that way.
Was he dictating this from his family schloss in Davos, or his Fathers Chateau in France?, Or was it from his mlillion pound house in Putney, London, or was it the one in the Lake district? Maybe it was the one in Sheffield?
I'm sure his wife, as director of a multi million pound property company and partner of U.S. law firm Dechert, where she works as the Head of the EU Trade and EU Relations at their offices in the City of London has no other properties. (But, he doesn't want anybody to know what she earns or what her offshore assets are-no sir).By the way, his Dad is a Banker. Sir Nicholas Clegg is Chairman of the United Trust Bank. The bank describes itself as one of the UK's leading suppliers of funding for property developers based in the UK.
Nick Clegg was also employed by GJW, between 1992 and 1993 which lobbied on behalf of Libya and Gadafi and he was also (and here's the most interesting bit) in charge of the EC negotiating team on Chinese and Russian accession talks to the World Trade Organisation. How many jobs ultimately do you think he's responsible for off shoring? How much damage has he done?
He's also a convicted arsonist - not really relavent as he was only sixteen at the time, but does give a flavour of the man.
But, I'm certain he's fully able to identify with issues that effect less privelaged members of the population and is not out of touch at all.
Having never experienced poverty I feel confident that when need's be, he can rustle up a perfectly accurate abstract model from which he can draw some ersatz empathy and repackage it to the masses as genuinely expressed concern.
"He's also a convicted arsonist"
Interesting insight. What do psychiatrists say about little boys burning things down?
It's only interesting if they also pissed their pants and tortured animals. Those three things together form what the headshrinkers call the "psychopathic triad". I'm going to bet that the Clegg family cat went missing many years ago, and the Clegg family servants used to wash a lot of bedsheets.
It seems many need to re-read "Atlas Shrugged" to re-learn the results of raping the rich.....on both sides of the pond.
This is not 1950s!
This is supposed to be an argument?
How about the plutocracy raping the rest? In "Revolt of the Rich", The American Conservative's Mike Lofgren talks about secession from the US by the super-rich :
"What I mean by secession is a withdrawal into enclaves, an internal immigration, whereby the rich disconnect themselves from the civic life of the nation and from any concern about its well being except as a place to extract loot."
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/revolt-of-the-rich/
If you are unaware that there are literally thousands of pieces of literature that are more worth reading than the psychotic drivel of Ayn Rand, you are a total moron.
Not the rich, the intellectually gifted. The ones born with the thing that the educational institutions charge a fortunes for just a chance at, yet do far more to produce only distorted networks of damaged sociopaths like Williard, instead of nurturing & cultivating the spark. The true wealth, that can't be bought - or destroyed.
They are so afraid of real genius that they screen all the children, just like Pharoah & Pilate. Real genius can see through them, anticipate them and communicate effectively.
Find the others.
Nick Clegg has no clout, his party is fucked for going in bed with the Tories and the Lib Dems will probably disintegrate come the next general election.
Don't tax the rich. Simply appoint prosecutors to investigate their means of acquiring their wealth. Quick, unsophisticated investigations usually turn up a huge assortment of crimes. Throw them in jail and confiscate the wealth. If there's no crime let them proceed unhindered by the state.
If you knew all the details of how the ultra rich got their money, you would see that almost without exception they or more likely their ancestors engaged in one crime after another.
Tell me this.
Is money made through owning a company/business that pays piss poor wages to its employees (who then have to claim tax refunds/credits, made available by taxing guys slightly better off) truly earned or skimmed off of other people's labour? Is money made through owning a multi-million pound mansion in Knightsbridge (wherever) truly earned? That in a nutshell is the falacy of capitalism.
Make the f**kers pay their due taxes, according to their ability to pay. If they 'earn' 100 times as much, their tax bill should realistically reflect it. They'd still be left with a hell of a lot of dosh.
Funky, Obviously you have never been an employer. As a small business owner and employer for 30 years, i have never prevented any employee from starting his own business. For all of those people who don't want to be self employed, who just want to get out of bed, drag themselves into work and be paid for showing up, what do you suggest they do if no greedy skimmers like myself offer up a job? Most employees don't even want to learn anythinig new and see it as an imposition, as work outside of their responsibilities. Yet they bemoan the fact that an employer, who invests his income in equipment and technology, is damaging them in some way, yet they still lay claim to any increase in productivity. We hear everyday how Americans have improved productivity. How does that happen? The only way i have seen it work is if they are forced into it through layoffs, squeezing more out of the remaining workers or through technology, and usually both at the same time. Many people will resist training for better jobs unless their employer pays for the training, and then demands more pay. I guess my point is that there are abuses on all sides and always have been. We just have to stop this class warfare that kills anything that might actually improve our circumstances. The adversarial nature of our economy is not making it stronger. I also think a slave mentality goes a long way in keeping people slaves. If you want to own the means of production, there is nothing stopping you except government, and while they make it difficult, its not impossible.
Well, of course its the small businesses like yours that should be subsidized instead of the multinationals that rule the plutocracy. What does that have to do with taxing the super-rich?
And don't you think a fair use of taxes would be to provide training for the job force? Why should young people have to become indebted before they get their first job?
I wonder if a government ever passed a law that gave it the right to steal more money from an unpopular class of people and then voluntarily rescinded it after 1 year? Somehow I doubt it.
Be more effective and generate more revenue to place an inheritance tax on estates over $5 million, say 33%, with zero loopholes. Put it in place for a max of 5 years. Then you would actually get the rich to contribute in a big way without creaming small businesses. What is 33% of Buffet's billions? And hurry up, he looks a little puny to me...
Much of the appreciated asset value of the "mega-wealthy" has never triggered a taxable event.
Nothing at all wrong with taxing the ultra wealthy this way. The ultra wealthy either stole their money outright or "made" it via a corrupt system. They should pay first. They should pay most. It is amusing to watch all the trolls and shills try and make it the default ZH position that to tax the ultra rich in this way is somehow unjust. There are lots and lots of injustices in 2012. A one off tax on the ultra rich ain't one of them. The reduction in the political power alone of the ultra rich psychopaths alone is enough of a reason to justify this tax. You are with Clegg or you are with Million Dollar Bonus.
Buffet's cozying up with Dems & taxation. Munger's cozying up with Repubs and stealing money on the other end. They & Soros are up to something.