Micheal Moore in Wisconsin: "America is not broke"

[Badger]

Sure my comment was meant to be primarily smartass (who knew?), but not entirely.  If a guy can't manage his own money and is a spendthrift, just why would he knew a damn thing about macroeconomics, and just why would anyone repose any confidence in his opinions when it comes to money matters? The answer of course is that he doesn't know anything about macroeconomics, and,or its nexus with tax policy, or anything else of some complexity in this field. He doesn't have a clue. And unless he is pushing for a wealth tax (is he?), it's irrelevant - totally irrelevant - that the "Tories" of this world have millions or billions in the bank. It's just a throwaway line really. I was smartass, because what comes our of Mr. Moore's mouth isn't worth anything more than that when it comes to a response. He is, in short, a clown. JMO of course!

Now you may continue with your usual programming.

Except even the tories can't take it with them. We need to restore the estate tax to Clinton levels.

Actually the lower estate tax rate might result in more tax revenue. Why? Because with the higher tax rate, the MO was to dump all that cash into tax exempt foundations controlled by the family, and with all that foundation money came, yes you guessed it, power and prestige. And when you reach certain net worth numbers, that is what you spend your money on, unless a nutter. You can only fit some many Beamers in the garage, and there are just not enough days left in your life to consume it all. A foundation which you control is just the perfect accoutrement, and that is in fact what is done (plus you can pay yourself a salary for all your hard work managing it). And that is why the Feds didn't get that much money from the estate tax when it was at 55%.  You want more revenue? Then get rid of money going into foundations at death from being exempt from the estate tax. That will largely shut down new money going into foundations, and generate more tax revenue - a lot more tax revenue.

Thanks for bringing this issue up! I appreciate it.

Hence why raising taxes and raising revenue are not the same thing.

And yet there's quite the corolation, just as there is between cutting taxes and cutting real revenue. Until conservatives get over their repeatedly disproven (historically and mathamatically) belief that "tax cuts pay for themselves", budget problems will be the rule.

BTW: Regardless of one's opinions about Moore or his movies (I haven't seen them all, personally), he's absolutely factually correct about the rapid concentration of wealth and income among the very, very, very rich. Forget Torie-level and think the Kochs and their ilk.

[Badger]

Not as instantly appealing to the eye as a (misleading) graph, but the below articles show some fundamental flaws in Hauser's Law (or at least how its misused to support supply side policies).

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/odd-numbers/2008/05/20/lying-with-charts-wsj-edition/#

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/79495/lying-chart-the-day-classic-edition

Actually, the TNR article has a nice reality-based chart also.

@ Mint----re: your last sentence:  Word. You're right. I'll quibble about the distinction of professionals being among the relative few who've seen their income rise. You're absolutely correct there, but my point goes beyond that. When one looks at the concentration and explosion in wealth/income accumulated by those at the top in the last decade, we need to set aside any conception of "the top" here including doctors, lawyers, or other professionals that actually work for a living. Forget anything related to even Torie's income level of where upper middle class transitions into "merely rich". Forget the "top 2%/over $200k a year" bracket affected if the Bush tax cuts are repealed. We are talking about the upper few tenths of a percent who have had their post tax income multiply by staggering amounts, both percentage wise and in raw dollars. The Kochs have become the bete noir in Wisconsin, but as billionaires they are actually typical of the real winners here.