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soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: ferfux ()
Date: September 28, 2011 01:55PM

Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee. Ryan wants the wealthy to give something back: the billions of dollars in government benefits, taxpayer subsidies and corporate welfare they receive each year and do not need. Instead of raising taxes, which would hurt growth and job creation, Ryan told me: “We want to stop subsidizing corporations. We want to stop subsidizing [wealthy] individuals. And you can get more money for savings to reduce the deficit without damaging the economy this way.”

What government spending on the wealthy would Ryan target? “Everything,” he says. He would start with entitlements. The two biggest and fastest-growing areas of federal spending are Social Security and Medicare, both of which provide the richest Americans with growing benefits. To help stabilize both programs, Ryan wants to scale back those benefits for the wealthy. On Social Security, he says, “you can get the bulk of your way to solvency without tax increases by indexing benefits so that they don’t grow as fast for wealthier people.” As for Medicare, his reform plan would provide wealthier seniors with lower subsidies, while “focusing the benefits on the people who need it and away from those who need it the least.”

Ryan is not alone in his call for means-testing entitlements. Means-testing has the strong support of House Speaker John Boehner, who earlier this year told Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson at a forum in New York, “Pete, I love you to death, but I don’t think the taxpayers ought to be paying your Medicare premium.”


http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lets-soak-the-rich-gop-style/2011/09/28/gIQAn3Jk4K_story.html?hpid=z2

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: Registered Voter ()
Date: September 28, 2011 02:03PM

And your opinion ferbrain? Oh right - you don't have one. Good thing those folks at the WAPO can write coherently so you can offer their opinions here.

If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: TheMeeper ()
Date: September 28, 2011 02:06PM

What's important is that this will help create jobs.

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: Warhawk ()
Date: September 28, 2011 02:08PM

TheMeeper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What's important is that this will help create
> jobs.


And stop the gays from getting married.

__________________________________
That's not a ladybug, that's a cannapiller.

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: ferfux ()
Date: September 28, 2011 02:10PM

I believe this to be a good idea. As it fixes the tax code and shows actual ideas and Leadership rather than Vapid Empty sloganeering like Sarah Palin and Registered Voter are guilty of.

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: ferfux ()
Date: September 28, 2011 02:11PM

Registered Voter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And your opinion ferbrain? Oh right - you don't
> have one. Good thing those folks at the WAPO can
> write coherently so you can offer their opinions
> here.


At least I dont get my opinions from outdated and Fringe sources.....from New Zealand.

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: Registered Voter ()
Date: September 28, 2011 02:19PM

ferfux Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I believe this to be a good idea. As it fixes the
> tax code and shows actual ideas and Leadership
> rather than Vapid Empty sloganeering like Sarah
> Palin and Registered Voter are guilty of.

Wow, thanks for recognizing that.

By the way - I don't get my opinions from these sources. I form my own - I use other available online resources to emphasize points I am making. At times I will post an article or posting and offer my opinion on it. Unlike you - who are just an empty void waiting to be filled with whatever the flavor of the moment is.

Really - you are an idiot. But keep on telling yourself otherwise, it is entertaining at times to watch you flail around in the dark.

If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: Gopoop ()
Date: September 28, 2011 02:55PM

The GOP is a racist, fear-mongering, good ole boy, white, uninformed, lying, cheating, hypocritical party of crap.

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: Hatemotor ()
Date: September 28, 2011 07:46PM

If Paul Ryan and Boehner actually believe this,which sounds like a good idea,,,
Put it on paper and vote on it,,,Who's gonna stop this from passing? The Democrats? Might get them some badly needed support from the middle class and small business owners,,,

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: lordfairfax ()
Date: September 28, 2011 08:48PM

Ryan's a pretty thoughtful guy who at least proposes some fairly creative solutions rather than demagogue issues to death. This is good stuff and we need more of it.

His health care proposals are the subject of the lead editorial in today's WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204831304576597001411227880.html

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: Les ()
Date: September 28, 2011 09:04PM

It's not new. The government has already changed the Medicare B premiums for the high earners. It's now on a sliding scale once you reach 85K. The premiums are about 150% more for the highest earners. They're over 300/mo. Since Medicare A covers only 80% of expenses for hospitalization, a lot of people also buy supplemental insurance. Cutting off Medicare coverage for some is also going to force them to buy private insurance which is prohibitively expensive without Medicare as the primary coverage.

The smart thing would be to eliminate the wage ceiling on Social Security taxes and apply it other compensation from employers in the form of stock options, dividends, and stock warrants. In exchange, they could reduce the top end tax rates to 25, 28, and 30 to compensate. The tax deductions would also be worth less than before.

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: lordfairfax ()
Date: September 28, 2011 09:38PM

Les Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's not new. The government has already changed
> the Medicare B premiums for the high earners.
> It's now on a sliding scale once you reach 85K.
> The premiums are about 150% more for the highest
> earners. They're over 300/mo. Since Medicare A
> covers only 80% of expenses for hospitalization, a
> lot of people also buy supplemental insurance.
> Cutting off Medicare coverage for some is also
> going to force them to buy private insurance which
> is prohibitively expensive without Medicare as the
> primary coverage.

Who said anything about "cutting off Medicare for some"? This is the type of demagoguery that the Dems used last spring with the throwing-Granny-off-the-cliff imagery. The aim is to reduce subsidies for the wealthy. I'll bet Warren Buffet, who bears the great burden of too-low taxes, could easily spring for more than 300/month for his Medicare premiums.

>
> The smart thing would be to eliminate the wage
> ceiling on Social Security taxes and apply it
> other compensation from employers in the form of
> stock options, dividends, and stock warrants. In
> exchange, they could reduce the top end tax rates
> to 25, 28, and 30 to compensate. The tax
> deductions would also be worth less than before.

Yes, IF Congress could keep their hands off the tax code. The last time real tax reform was implemented with the Reagan/Rostenkowski deal in '86, there were but two tax rates, 15% and 28%, along with very few deductions. I think that lasted for about two years before Congress got back into the game of picking winners and losers with increased deductions and it hasn't stopped since. If there is a "fair" system it's Social Security since benefits are maxed at the 106K cap. But I'd be willing to trade the SS cap for lower across-the-board rates that also affected a broader population if Congress could also keep the tax code static for some period of time.

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: Les ()
Date: September 28, 2011 10:21PM

Read the opinion piece at the top of the thread. It says in the op-ed that benefits would be phased out according to the income of the beneficiary. You have to make several hundred thousand currently to pay the top Medicare premium of around 310/mo.

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: paint it black ()
Date: September 28, 2011 11:01PM

LOL tax the rich! What a sad joke. They didnt get all that money by givng high percentages to the Hope and Change Fairy. That tax code is ten phone books thick for a reason, to create loopholes for them. Get real.

BTW you bitch about Republicans skirting the tax laws talk to huge forehead John Kerry about docking his milliion dollar yacht in RI to avoid the high taxes in Mass the state where he is a U S senator.

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: lordfairfax ()
Date: September 29, 2011 10:21AM

Les Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Read the opinion piece at the top of the thread.
> It says in the op-ed that benefits would be phased
> out according to the income of the beneficiary.
> You have to make several hundred thousand
> currently to pay the top Medicare premium of
> around 310/mo.

I did read it. Here's what it says about Ryan's plan:

"As for Medicare, his reform plan would provide wealthier seniors with lower subsidies, while “focusing the benefits on the people who need it and away from those who need it the least.” "

The op-ed does reference a Heritage Foundation plan that would eliminate SS and Med. benefits entirely for the wealthiest seniors.

Phasing out benefits according to income is, IMO, fair. It would not be fair to include assets in means testing as those who saved during their lifetimes would be punished for doing so. If your savings and investments can throw off say a million a year in income, then maybe you don't need that 2500/mo SS check. The wealthiest, the Gates, Buffets, and Kerrys could manage just fine without the benefits.

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: ferfux ()
Date: September 29, 2011 11:07AM

Registered Voter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ferfux Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I believe this to be a good idea. As it fixes
> the
> > tax code and shows actual ideas and Leadership
> > rather than Vapid Empty sloganeering like Sarah
> > Palin and Registered Voter are guilty of.
>
> Wow, thanks for recognizing that.
>
> By the way - I don't get my opinions from these
> sources. I form my own - I use other available
> online resources to emphasize points I am making.
> At times I will post an article or posting and
> offer my opinion on it. Unlike you - who are just
> an empty void waiting to be filled with whatever
> the flavor of the moment is.
>
> Really - you are an idiot. But keep on telling
> yourself otherwise, it is entertaining at times to
> watch you flail around in the dark.

no you are just a partisan hack TROLL. who gets his sources from outdated materials and types inflammatory rhetoric. You like pointing things out from the LEFT extremes but you are on the Extreme RIGHT. Or you are just a douchebag. who likes to stir things up.

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Re: soak the rich, GOP-style
Posted by: Registered Voter ()
Date: September 29, 2011 11:17AM

ferfux Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Or you are just a douchebag. who
> likes to stir things up.

You like looking in the mirror at yourself don't you?

That statement describes you to a T.

As for the rest of your tripe - and that is what it was - you have no answer so you attack me instead. Maybe if you had an opinion that wasn't written for you by the articles you read (see just about everything you post) it wouldn't be so obvious.

Get a brain, then come back and try to post something more intelligent than just what you get spoon fed to you from your mental sources.

If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University

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