Historic tax rates
When the Bush tax cuts expire shortly, the highest personal federal tax rate will reach 45%. In my state and many in this country the effective overall tax rate for individuals will be over 70% and in some states much higher.
There was virtually NO incentive in the current economic stimulus package for small business owners and certainly no favors done for high earning individuals.
Why exactly should people in this country continue to have the passion for excellence? Why is it we should continue to risk everything to start new companies and innovate when the message from the Federal Government is ‘go ahead and earn all you like because we’re going to keep taking.’
At a chilling crossroads
With the enormous burdens of health care and cap and trade staring at us, we’re clearly at a chilling crossroad. We all define success differently. But it’s not specifically about the wealth but about the desire for success and the reward for it that should drive us all.
That drive is going to die a certain death in our country if we don’t respect and nurture it. Right now…it’s easy to bastardize the successful because politicians are hell bent on taking as much of that success as possible.
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Consumerism, Geo-mapping columnist
Marketing columnist
Greg,
Well said and honestly this is a very scary time for those who wish to achieve anything substantial as individuals.
So sad…
Pretty soon I’ll be calling you comrade.
Stew Keene – Home Smart Realty
Scottsdale, AZ
480-220-7491
Greg, well the ones left could go on Strike like in Atlas Shrugged.
Actually with what happened in the NY23, and looking good in VA and NJ gubernatorial races, I am encouraged. We have come back from the depths of despair before. I am optimistic about the heart and soul of the American people to rise up from the ashes once again.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m really feelin’ for those poor millionaire whiz kids that needed millions of dollars to stay on at AIG and other large financial institutions after they helped toss out economy in the toilet. Oh… taxpayer millions, by the way, not their own hard work…MY hard work.
They gambled and lost. Ayn Rand would have said, “C-ya.” but, no, they’re “too big to fail” so the “successful” people needed a big, fat Government handout to stay afloat and keep you and me out of a breadline.
It took you 3 minutes to acknowledge that there are people in this world/country that may not have the ability to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps”.
Truly successful people (by that I’m meaning people with a lot of money) don’t have a problem with contributing to the society that has enabled them to be successful whether it’s through taxes or voluntary contributions to charitable organizations or putting in their time to help out.
To answer your first question, plenty of people have a “passion for excellence” that does not directly correlate to how much they are, or are not, paying in taxes, Greg.
Maybe your personal definition of “passion for excellence” is no different than your definition of “passion for personal financial gain”. Good for you.
Does your own “passion for excellence” include the production of your videos? I can’t tell.
Ken….isn’t it ironic that the current administration….the one ‘for the people’ specifically gave billions to these companies to save them which unltimately led to companies like Goldman Sachs paying millions in bonusus. Truly successful people do not mind contributing but it should be their choice…not government dictated. How much or of your and my money went to the jerkwads at GS, AIG, et all? How much went to cover the 100,000+ people who fraudulently got $8000 checks for the 1st time home buyers. My point is the more the government gets involved the more it mucks it up. Let the cheating bastards fail and leave my hard earned money alone.
Tim…in a capitalistic society we are rewarded in many ways. Having the government take from us for programs overrun by fraud and deceipt is not a reward for one’s passion for success. Perhaps I want to have success so I can buy my parents a new house. Maybe it’s because I want to give more to the hospice for the homeless in my area which I do regularly. Maybe I want to take 500,000 1 dollars bills and roll around naked in the middle of them in my front yard (kids don’t you try that at home). Whatever it is, it’s MY DAMN CHOICE…not the federal government’s. Oh…sorry….I thought this admin is one that believed in personal choice. My bad.
Well, this is bullshit. Real accomplishment types do not go to the beach because they’re not getting paid enough or because they have to pay too much in taxes or because their efforts go to help some deadbeat go on a wife-beating bender.
Half-a-century ago, our fathers/grand-fathers were willing to build businesses and lead companies for a fraction of the rewards available to us today, and at pretty similar tax rates.
How many times do you have to be reminded that the typical CEO in the ’50s was paid 30-50 times more than the average worker in his company, today the rewards are ten times that?
If this is what we’ve become – a generation that won’t excel because it doesn’t pay enough – then, we don’t deserve as much as we’ve got.
If you’re slacking, don’t blame it on the tax man.
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First off, the backdrop of your video is amazing… I’ll take two.
I guess we’re about to find out if it is what the country wants in this next election cycle- it should be telling to see some of these races 2010 and their outcome.
I’ve been down, had to take help, and refused because of the value of my one so-called asset- my car. I was turned away and told to sell it for any equity I might have. I looked at my car and said it’s a dodge dynasty, it’s worth nothing more than what it means to help me look for jobs. I realized at that moment that the government agency I was standing in was telling me that until I was at rock bottom, there would be no help to sustain me. That was the very early 90s. We have a culture of divide and conquer, class warefare, and it’s not going away, it’s how we’re controlled, it’s how they get elected- this will not change until there is a true 3rd party, and I think that party may look a lot like a tea party.
What Americans need is a choice that levels the rhetoric to reality, and in our system of government, regardless of which of the two parties you support, you essentially only have one choice in the box, both are the same.
Benn,
I agree with you on your last point– both of the dominant parties are wanting, and often seem to have been blended into one giant mess. But we have to salute them in one respect because in their own “passion for excellence” (which according to Mr. Cooper means “maximized personal financial gain”) they have learned how to game the national system of government and compete successfully against the rest of us– and are rewarded for their “excellence” by lining their pockets with dollar bills to roll around in. They are just better at competing and “excelling” than the rest of us.
Greg,
Keep up the fight, man. I support 100% your right to do that, and when you are victorious I will congratulate you. This is still America, after all– and when you win, you win. No problems. One question about the super wealthy, though: how long was it before the owners of the property in your video came out and ran you off their lawn?
Let me see if I can boil this down. First of all the video is an extreme example intended to start discussion. It is not about the super wealthy because those people rarely have a grasp of reality anyway. For those who know what I’m about, I wouldn’t live in that monstrosity behind me in the video if it were given to me. My central question and the MAIN point is…how much is too much for the government to take and when does it begin to diminish our collective desire to reach higher? There seems to be no limit to how much we’ll take from people and make no mistake, today it may be about those making in excess of $500K per year but tomorrow it will be about those making $300K…etc., etc.
Tim…while I understand your distate for my take I do appreciate the sincerity of your position. For the record my team has that property listed….it’s an atypical take back. You can see the tour on my web site at http://www.gregcooper.com. Was a strange week closing on a 150K bungalow and then going to shoot the video immediatly after I showed the estate behind me.
Before anyone freaks out about higher taxes, take a look at some of the countries that can successfully tax and spend the money properly to the benefit of the entire nation. Sweden has the best healthcare and education without question, and they also have pretty high taxes.
If you want to live in a first world nation, be prepared for taxes. If you like Ayn Rand so much, move to Somalia where they dont just like her core beliefs, they LIVE it.
-Tyler
Greg,
I did go and look at the tour…. Wow…. I could easily live in just the GARAGE of that place… wouldn’t even need the pool house…even though I think you are completely full of it, as one Realtor to another, I do sincerely wish you good luck with that one.. we have to stick together at least a little bit….