From The Astute Bloggers:
Of course, you can adjust these incomes by a factor of about 3.2 to get to 2008 prices. That would mean you were at the 28% bracket if you earned the equivalent of just over $60,000 and you were at 50% if you earned just over $150,000. That's "spreading the wealth" according to one way of thinking.
via THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS by directorblue on 10/25/08
Check out the tax rates when Jimmy Earl Carter served as "president" in '78.
That's right. Carter's tax rates "spread the wealth" by confiscating 70% of any earnings over $203K. Seventy percent! That motivates a lot of folks to demand cash, hide income, cheat, operate in the black-market and/or not bother to work any harder. Even if you earned only $47K, Carter wanted half. Half!.
As for the results? In 1980 Time magazine put it this way....inflation is not only a frightening economic problem but is rapidly becoming Carter's most dangerous political liability as well... In the past few weeks, however, a new side of inflationary psychology has begun to show itself among businessmen and investors: plain, old-fashioned fear. Executives talk of inflation rates going to 20% or more in the next few months, creating an environment in which reasonable planning is impossible. The jitters have unhinged the investment markets. As recently as mid-February, stocks were widely considered a hedge against inflation and thought to be grossly undervalued. The Dow Jones industrial average hit a high of 904 on Feb. 13. But since then it has tumbled 92 points, to 812; nine points of the decline came last week. The average is now lower than it was 16 years ago.Sound familiar? Maybe there's validity to the contention that the recent stock market turmoil can be termed an "Obama Panic". That is, investors anticipate a disastrous set of Carter-esque policies that send the economy into a tailspin and respond accordingly.
That's like saying there are two people; one who works and the other who doesn't. The working person works two jobs so he can give the person who doesn't work one of his paychecks. That's fair.Now, let's allow Bush's tax cuts to expire and see what happens.
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