- Rhiannon Fionn
- Trusted servants: Occupy Charlotte group photo
Is anyone surprised to learn that people trust members of the Occupy movement more than politicians? On the one hand, you’ve got folks exercising their First Amendment rights and demanding that the upper crust pay their fair share and stop manipulating the system. On the other hand, you’ve got, well, politicians — many of whom are part of said upper crust.
From The New York Times:
Almost half of the public thinks the sentiment at the root of the Occupy movement generally reflects the views of most Americans.
With nearly all Americans remaining fearful that the economy is stagnating or deteriorating further, two-thirds of the public said that wealth should be distributed more evenly in the country. Seven in 10 Americans think the policies of Congressional Republicans favor the rich. Two-thirds object to tax cuts for corporations and a similar number prefer increasing income taxes on millionaires.
…
Not only do 89 percent of Americans say they distrust government to do the right thing, but 74 percent say the country is on the wrong track and 84 percent disapprove of Congress — warnings for Democrats and Republicans alike.
Read the entire article, by Jeff Zeleny and Megan Thee-Brenan here. (Subscription may be required.)
Further reading: REPORT: Congressional Budget Office finds that the rich are richer and the poor are poorer
Another must-read that will be less likely to put you to sleep (no offense to the Congressional Budget Office) comes from Rolling Stone‘s Matt Taibbi: Occupy Wall Street’s Beef: Wall Street Isn’t Winning — It’s Cheating
This article appears in Oct 25-31, 2011.
“On the one hand, you’ve got folks exercising their First Amendment rights and demanding that the upper crust pay their fair share …”
How much, exactly, is their “fair share”? The top 5 percent of taxpayers paid more than one-half (53.8 percent) of all individual income taxes, but reported roughly one-third (30.6 percent) of income. Sounds fair, right?
Taxpayers who rank in the top 50 percent of taxpayers by income pay virtually all individual income taxes. In all years since 1990, taxpayers in this group have paid over 94 percent of all individual income taxes. In 2000, 2001, and 2002, this group paid over 96 percent of the total. That’s totally fair, right? After all, the big-income earners didn’t get that way through any effort of their own — they’re just “greedy.”
Why doesn’t the federal government just pass a law that EVERYONE with a job makes exactly $100,000 per year? From the janitor to the CEO — everyone makes the exact same thing. Then make the effective tax rate 20 percent for EVERYONE. Problem solved.