Quote:
Originally Posted by mooby
You really nailed with the COL/wage/inflation relationship expanding since the 70's, salaries just haven't risen the way the price of everything else has. The idea of a blue collar worker making enough to afford to live in the area he works is unrealistic nowadays.
The issue I have with your generation is implying millennials are lazy or entitled when wages just aren't what they used to be. I am one of 26 parts countermen maintaining a fleet of 6200 vehicles, including 1800 school buses, 500-600 police and fire apparatus, around 200 solid waste trucks and everything in between. It's a skilled job that people can't just walk in off the street and learn how to do in a day. It requires constant learning as technology in vehicles also keeps evolving. But the reality is the only coworkers I have that live in Fairfax County bought houses here 30 years ago and are close to retirement. Everyone else lives 20-50 miles down 95 or 66 where the COL is cheaper. Most of us have 2nd jobs because the county doesn't pay well to get by on one salary. You'll never be able to convince me the service we provide isn't worthy of a decent salary. But the reality is when it comes to the budget, we're an afterthought. I'm not even sure citizens know our department exists.
Anyways the point I make is I blame corporations and the gov't for giving tax breaks in exchange for creating jobs, even if it means those jobs are low paying and do nothing to help low-income communities break out of poverty. I blame the wealthy for not paying their fair share of taxes, like they did in the 40+ years after WW2 where the marginal tax rate was between 70-90%. Money buys privilege and power, and the only goal of the wealthy is to keep hoarding as much as possible at our expense. Every day we see a new example of that. Today's example: Jeffrey Epstein. You can't convince me if Epstein was some poor broke fucker that manipulated people into bringing him girls to traumatize he would've gotten off with the sentence he did in '08.
Anyways I know you probably disagree with much of what I just said, but I respect your willingness to engage in discussion civilly.
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I think super rich is an issue. I define super rich as having a net worth of 100 years of "middle class" annual wage or 70k x100yrs in one year.
I believe over that rate there should be far higher tax rates. But you do have to incentivize capital markets for investment purposes so i probably could never put together a coherent tax strategy. I also don't believe anyone making under 70k should have to pay anything in taxes. I know generally they are leaning most on government, but the system should be geared to getting people on their own instead of creating dependency.
I suppose i am incoherently babbling, but i don't have a clue how to actually fix the things that are so broken in this country, and if i did no politician would listen anyways...
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