Free Republic

?Tax the rich, Feed the poor, ‘Til there are no Rich no more." - "I'd Love to Change the World" Ten Years After (1971) Over the Columbus Day weekend, my wife and I traveled to Brooklyn, N.Y. to visit our daughter and her boyfriend. I was strictly admonished by my wife not to talk politics during the visit, since my daughter's boyfriend is a radical leftist. He, being a well-educated social science buff, and I, being who I am (a well-educated "right-wing nut job"), we had created many spectacular fireworks during past political debate sessions.

One day , the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip , the father asked his son , "How was the trip?" "It was great , Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked. "Oh yeah , " said the son. "So , tell me , what did you learn from...

In trying to pay for the Democrats’ grandiose health-care plan, President Obama has endorsed the concept of a “millionaires’ surtax.” Leave aside for a moment the consideration that not even this would raise the revenues necessary to pay for the Democrats’ designs; they will be forced to increase taxes on those earning considerably less than $1 million a year. Still, it’s clear why they’ve focused on milking millionaires as the way to fund their plans. Millionaires are seen as the symbols of excess — far removed from the “middle class” to which all politicians pay obeisance. Surely they can afford...

Heeding objections, Democrats modify plan to tax wealthyBy David M. Herszenhorn and Robert Pear New York Times News Updated: 07/20/2009 10:17:03 PM CDT WASHINGTON — As President Barack Obama on Monday began a new push to overhaul the health system, Democratic congressional leaders, bowing to unease among lawmakers and governors in their own party, suggested scaling back a plan to tax top earners to pay for the legislation and signaled a retreat from their ambitious timetable. House and Senate leaders had been pressing for floor votes in each chamber before lawmakers depart for the August summer recess. But congressional aides...

WASHINGTON – A plan to raise taxes on the wealthy is emerging as the leading option among House Democrats looking to finance health care legislation that President Barack Obama wants. Numerous officials say that under the proposal, an income tax surcharge would be imposed on individuals earning more than $200,000, with a higher threshold for couples. The same officials say earlier options under consideration have been abandoned. Among them was a proposal to raise the payroll tax that finances Medicare. The officials spoke anonymously to discuss private discussions.

A common liberal argument aimed at America's free market economy and reinforced in President Obama's budget proposal A New Era of Responsibility is that, over the last 25 years, the rich have gotten richer while the poor have gotten poorer. While this assertion should be of concern to anyone interested in domestic and economic policy, a critical examination of the data reveals the claim to be almost certainly spurious and uncovers an even more interesting question -- what is the motivation for the current administration to propagate such a claim? The following chart, produced by Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez,...

A year ago, Maryland created a higher tax bracket for millionaires intended to help balance the state's finances and make the tax code more progressive. How is it working for them? In the last year the number of Marylanders with more than $1 million in taxable income who filed by the end of April has fallen by 1/3 to about 2,000. Taxes collected from those returns as of last month have declined by roughly $100 million. Increasing taxes on the rich has failed because the rich are mobile and can choose where they live. I am sure the states with...

We hear it over and over from the President and from the Democratic party, the well off do not pay their fair share of taxes and during the eight years of the Bush administration, their burden was eased even further. Like most things coming out of the Obama White House that claim is bogus. The Non-Partisan Congressional Budget office issued a report that showed that the top 20% of income earners pay over 86% of all taxes, which is 6% more than what they paid at the beginning of the Bush administration. At the same time much of the bottom...

Unless your name is Bond, Obama or you are member of the mafia, you definitely don’t need bulletproof clothing. The gag aside, bulletproof vests are a thing of the past and the bulletproof clothing has become a style. Enter the Anxo’s new collection of armor proof clothing for both men and women, which replaces the vest with a bulletproof blouse or hipster leather coat. Tested against ballistic threats of ll and llA (equivalent to a .9MM or .357 Magnum), the clothing line makes sure you survive the shot. High-end materials have been used in the making and the complete armor...

Video - Title: "XEROX Plan's to Reduce Paper Waste" - 5 minutes into 6.5 minutes for quotes about Stimulus.

They're rich enough to own "The World." Tycoons and celebrities are plunking down millions to buy their own countries and continents - part of the 300 manmade islands built in the shape of real-life locales off the sun-drenched coast of Dubai. The artificial archipelago, visible from space, was founded in 2003 by Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Nakheel, one of the world's largest developers. The $10 billion development, completed just two weeks ago, was created by dredging 320 million cubic meters of rock and sand from the bottom of the Persian Gulf and landfilling it...

People Pulling Up to Pawnshops Today Are Driving Cadillacs and BMWs Well-to-Do Turn to Last-Resort Lenders; Putting Up Diamonds, Dumpsters as Collateral By GARY FIELDS PHILADELPHIA -- At Society Hill Loan, a pawnshop in a middle-class neighborhood here, a steady rain fell outside as a fashionably dressed young man parked his Cadillac Escalade outside. Looking around warily, he came in to speak with Nat Leonard, co-owner of the store. [Nat Leonard] The visitor was a 29-year-old engineer who was laid off earlier this year from one of the local chemical companies. Since then, he's been cleaning planes at the airport...

Eco-friendly Yachts: The first production motor yacht with zero emissions will be unveiled at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show at the end of October. The ship, the Island Pilot DSe Hybrid 12m, is powered by diesel fuel, solar energy, and electric power. The vessel is 12 meters long (39.5 feet) and can cruise at 13 knots on diesel fuel and 7 knots when in zero-emissions mode. A zero-emissions level is achieved with a 6 kW solar array and a 20 kWh battery bank. The yacht is the first-ever production motor yacht with zero emissions in America, according to Reuben...

U.S. housing crisis also hitting the wealthy Sun Dec 7, 2008 11:31am EST By Nick Carey HINSDALE, Illinois (Reuters) - Less than a year ago, few people in this affluent Chicago suburb expected the subprime U.S. housing crisis would hit close to home. "We thought Hinsdale was virtually immune and we wouldn't see any foreclosures, but we have," said Dave Hanna, managing partner of Chicago-based Prudential Preferred CRE and president of the Chicago Association of Realtors. "Nowhere is immune." With a pretty red-brick downtown lined with stores, good schools and a railway line to nearby Chicago, Hinsdale has been popular...

Did Republican economic prosperity cause their electoral demise? http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=20207520&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=623508&rfi=6

For several years, I've been writing about Bushenfreude, the phenomenon of angry yuppies—who've hugely benefited from President Bush's tax cuts—funding angry, populist Democratic campaigns. I've theorized that people who work in financial services and related fields have become so outraged and alienated by the incompetence, crass social conservatism, and repeated insults to the nation's intelligence, of the Bush-era Republican Party, that they're voting with their hearts and heads instead of their wallets. Last week's election was perhaps Bushenfreude's grandest day. As the campaign entered its final weeks, Barack Obama, who pledged to unite the country, singled out one group of...

For several years, I've been writing about Bushenfreude, the phenomenon of angry yuppies—who've hugely benefited from President Bush's tax cuts—funding angry, populist Democratic campaigns. I've theorized that people who work in financial services and related fields have become so outraged and alienated by the incompetence, crass social conservatism, and repeated insults to the nation's intelligence, of the Bush-era Republican Party, that they're voting with their hearts and heads instead of their wallets. Last week's election was perhaps Bushenfreude's grandest day. As the campaign entered its final weeks, Barack Obama, who pledged to unite the country, singled out one group of...

Obama's tax plan doesn't qualify as socialism, analyst saysBy DAVID LIGHTMAN AND WILLIAM DOUGLAS McClatchy Newspapers Posted on Tue, Oct. 21, 2008 ST. CHARLES, Mo. --"Make no mistake," Republican activist John Hancock told a John McCain rally in this St. Louis suburb, "this campaign is a referendum on socialism." Republicans have been pounding that theme in recent days, even though Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama hardly fits the classic definition of a socialist. Critics point to Obama's plan to raise the top two tax rates on the wealthy as clear evidence of his socialist bent. However, Len Burman, the director...

October 4, 2008 They’re Pinching Hundred-Dollar Bills By GERALDINE FABRIKANT The jet set, too, feels the pain. Louis L. Gonda, a regular on the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans, has put two jets on the market. Interested parties could pick up the pair for $108 million. A private businessman who has given many millions to charities, Mr. Gonda, along with his father and a partner, sold their airline leasing company to the American International Group in 1990 for stock and cash. While it is not clear how many shares of A.I.G. he held onto or whether A.I.G.’s problems...

Day of Reckoning? Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed by Bank Clerk Technician in Liechtenstein Turns Over Names of Americans With Secret Bank Accounts By BRIAN ROSS and RHONDA SCHWARTZ July 15, 2008— Hundreds of super-rich American tax cheats have, in effect, turned themselves in to the IRS after a bank computer technician in the tiny European country of Liechtenstein came forward with the names of US citizens who had set up secret accounts there, according to Washington lawyers investigating the scheme. The bank clerk, Heinrich Kieber, has been branded a thief by the government of Liechtenstein for violating the country's...

Battle for the ’Burbs How Republicans can compete for the upper middle class ROSS DOUTHAT & REIHAN SALAM It was only four years ago that conservatives — and a great many liberals — were convinced that the Democratic party was doomed to become a purely regional institution: “a national party no more,” to borrow the title of Georgia Democrat–turned–Bush supporter Zell Miller’s 2003 memoir. Pundits brandished county-by-county maps showing blue enclaves drowning in a sea of red; they talked up the growth of GOP-leaning regions and constituencies and the daunting demographic gaps (God, babies) facing the Democratic party; they murmured...

In 30 years, I have provided this hotel and our guests with over a million orders. One million, two hundred. I have seen a lot of people that I have seen on television. Some use alias names, but I can look on the sheet and know exactly who they are. It's kind of cute because they don't realize you really know who they are. You go along with it. You'd be amazed. You get the guests that really admire their pets. One wanted caviar, and she wanted my waiter to actually hand-feed it to the feline when we were upstairs....

To start, Obama frequently cites $250,000 as the line between those who would be subject to higher taxes and those who wouldn't. Indeed, under Obama's tax plan, married couples with at least $250,000 in gross income are likely to see their taxes go up if Obama is elected president. [click for brief entertaining video] But what about single filers? The line for them would likely be about $200,000, according to an Obama adviser. Those groups could end up paying anywhere from several thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars more to Uncle Sam than they do now, according to...

PARIS — Legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent, who reworked the rules of fashion by putting women into elegant pantsuits that came to define how modern women dressed, died Sunday evening, a longtime friend and associate said. He was 71. Pierre Berge said Saint Laurent died at his Paris home following a long illness. (Aids?) ... Bouts of depression marked his career. Pierre Berge, the designer's longtime business partner and former romantic partner, was quoted as saying that Saint Laurent was born with a nervous breakdown. ... When he bowed out of fashion in 2002, Saint Laurent spoke of his battles...

Don't liberals just love to holler about "tax cuts for the rich?" It doesn't matter what the facts are – people just love to hear that stuff. In a country awash with achievement envy (a/k/a "wealth envy") people just love to hear that those who have accomplished more than they are going to be hammered for daring to excel. Here's a quickie look at the figures since 1986. 1. The share of the income tax paid by the top 1 percent of income earners went from 25.8 percent to over 37 percent. 2. The percentage their total income that the...

Laugh all you want at George Lakoff’s advice for the Democrats to win by framing the debate and altering the vocabulary. Language is a key battleground in culture wars, and as soon as you step into your opponent’s frame of reference and start identifying bad weather as climate change, illiteracy as public education, and freedom as desperate need of care and supervision, you may lose not just the debate but the war, the culture, and your very way of life. A recent humorous discussion about PeopleSpeak™ at the People’s Cube prompted me to take a more serious look (to the...

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. A jury on Monday convicted a millionaire couple of enslaving two Indonesian women they brought to their mansion to work as housekeepers. Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, and his wife, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45, were each convicted of all charges in a 12-count federal indictment that included forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude, and harboring aliens. Prosecutors said the women were subjected to repeated psychological and physical abuse and were forced to work 18 hours or more a day. The Sabhnanis, who have four children and operate a worldwide perfume business out of their Muttontown home on Long Island's...

JOHNSTON, Iowa - Democratic presidential rivals called for higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on some corporations Thursday and said any thought of balancing the federal budget would have to wait. "We're not going to be able to dig ourselves out" of Bush-era deficits in the next year or two, said Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, one of six Democratic rivals sharing a debate stage for the final time before Iowa's leadoff Jan. 3 caucuses. Asked about eliminating deficits, several of the Democrats responded by mentioning higher taxes on the wealthy and on big corporations. "I want to keep the...

Lately, Democrats have taken to showcasing the hallmark courage overflowing their party’s ranks. For instance, Senator Clinton has boldly unveiled her plan to fix the looming train wreck that is Social Security—namely, to dodge unveiling a plan to fix Social Security. Who knew? One-upping this bawdy exhibition of true grit, Senator Obama, presented his own daring strategy. His plan? “Tax the rich!” Brilliant! Of course, by “rich” he means you, through raising the payroll tax cap to get at even more of your income. How “innovative.” An added bonus: deepening the eventual crisis by reducing tax receipts, but that’s a...

The subprime mortgage crisis is spreading to a somewhat unexpected place: homes costing more than $500,000. As lending has rapidly gotten more restrictive for borrowers taking out large loans, sales of expensive homes have fallen sharply around the country during what should be one of the busiest seasons for buyers and sellers, mortgage bankers and real estate agents say. To some degree the change is due to difficulty getting financing, as borrowers are finding fewer lenders willing or able to fund "jumbo" mortgages, loans for amounts greater than $417,000. Such loans are too big to be guaranteed by government-sponsored housing...

In another apparent effort to prepare Marylanders for looming tax increases, Gov. Martin O'Malley released a recorded statement to radio stations suggesting corporations and higher-income earners will be among those asked to pay more. "When given a choice between decline and progress, the people of Maryland always choose to make progress," O'Malley (D) says in the message, which runs more than two minutes and was sent to more than 50 radio stations, an aide said. "Together we can overcome the deficit in our path, and we can get our fiscal house in order in a way that improves our state...

SHANGHAI: China has 150,000 super-rich with personal wealth of $5 million or more and their ranks are rising fast, pushing up prices for golf, yachting, villas and other luxuries, researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said yesterday."The number of wealthy individuals in China is growing very fast, based on the economic boom," Hoogewerf, who compiles an annual China "rich list", said. His China Luxury Index, which tracks 32 items including the Rolls-Royce Phantom EWB and the Louis Vuitton Speedy Bag, shows prices of luxury products in China jumped 8.7 per cent in the year to this February, compared with a 3.5pc rise in...

A mansion that once belonged to publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst was put on the market Monday for $165 million. The seller, attorney-investor Leonard M. Ross, bought the Beverly Hills property in 1976 and is seeking a "lifestyle change," said his real-estate broker, Stephen Shapiro. It is believed to be the nation's most expensive residential listing. The asking price surpassed the $155 million being sought by developers of a 10-bedroom estate in Montana's Big Sky country, and the $135 million price of an Aspen, Colo., compound owned by Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, former ambassador to the United States. Hearst...

The number of millionaires in the world increased by 8.3 percent in 2006, with about 9.5 million individuals now estimated to have more than a million dollars in financial assets, a report said Wednesday. The survey by financial services group Capgemini and US investment bank Merrill Lynch said strong global economic growth and gains on the stock market explained the expansion of the exclusive club of "High Net Worth Individuals" (HNWIs). The financial assets owned by the group totalled 37.2 trillion dollars (27.7 trillion euros), an increase of 11.4 percent from 2005, with Singapore, India, Indonesia and Russia producing the...

The world's richest people are facing a crisis of unprecedented proportions: a chronic shortage of butlers. English butlers are sought after for their 'calmness in the face of adversity' The demand for a new generation of Jeeves and Hudsons - from London to Dubai and, especially, from the Hamptons to Malibu - is so high that it is being counted in the tens of thousands. "If we doubled the number of butlers, they wouldn't be without work," said Charles MacPherson, vice-chairman of the International Guild of Professional Butlers. Robert Watson, managing director of the Guild of Professional English Butlers, agreed....

Berlin-Tempelhof, Hitler’s favourite airport, could yet be rescued by one of the world’s most influential Jewish philanthropists. Cosmetics billionaire, New York socialite and art collector Ronald Lauder – son of the celebrated Estée Lauder - is behind a €350m (£235m) project to turn the Third Reich architectural relic into a luxury fly-in health clinic for Europe’s super rich. Berlin's cash-strapped city fathers earlier this year finally cleared the way to develop the proposed new Berlin Brandenburg International (BBI) on the site of the present Schönefeld airport to the south east of the city, handling an annual 22 million passengers. Inner...

With Democrats in control of both Houses of Congress for the first time in twelve years, economic inequality is back on the agenda. In his response to the State of the Union address, new Virginia Senator James Webb began by contrasting how much those at the top of the average company earned with the amount earned by those at the bottom. Running for the Democratic Presidential nomination, John Edwards is returning to his 2004 theme of "two Americas." They are joined by liberal pundits such as Paul Krugman and Jonathan Chait, who between them accuse conservatives of "hatred" and of...

CBS4) MIAMI Ladies, if you’re in the mood for love, there is a sea of singles waiting for you through this new dating service. And the men featured in it might have one very enticing quality in common—they’re wealthy. Wealthymen.com is a website that boasts of men making six figure incomes and more. People running the site can verify a man’s picture, income and his profession. Roughly 170 thousand women are clamoring to meet some of the 70,000 single men available on the site. It looks like the men have the ball in their court. According to Clinton Cox, vice-president...

The real Nancy Pelosi — multi-millionaire, non-union resort, dining and winery baronessNovember 10th, 2006 Why doesn’t the LA Times or San Francisco Chronicle write about this? Where is the journalists’ oversight by mainstream media? It’s up to citizen journalistsBy Mick GregoryNancy Pelosi’s socialist political views are exactly what have kept her elected in San Francisco, along with the flow of union campaign money. The staunch “union supporter” Pelosi has even received the Cesar Chavez Award from the United Farm Workers Union. But her $25 million Napa vineyards and winery, she and her husband own is a non-union shop. The...

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (CNN) -- "War on the Middle Class" is the title of my new book and our special report on CNN. Wednesday we broadcast live from the front lines of this all-out war, and we talked to American families facing the tough issues that are all but being ignored by our elected officials in Washington. Our middle class is the largest group of people in the country, but they are also the least represented in our nation's capital. It's been a tough decade for the American middle class, which has been experiencing stagnant wages in the face of...

SEN. Hillary Clinton is barnstorming the Hamptons this weekend to fill her campaign coffers with the help of her hubby, Bill. Last night, Michael Recanati co-hosted a dinner in East Hampton with Ira Statfeld at $4,200 per head, the max under federal law. Today's brunch thrown by Lisa Perry in Sag Harbor costs $2,000. Tonight, the ex-president joins Hillary at the East Hampton home of Michele and Bill Nuti, where Jon Bon Jovi will perform. Tickets are $300, but $1,000 will get you a backstage pass.

Hollywood stars and business moguls alike are paying retired jurists to quietly handle their civil disputes outside the glare of public courthouses, a practice some warn is creating a secret justice system for the rich and famous. Under California law, the parties to a lawsuit can agree to hire a private judge who, unlike those paid to act as mediators or arbitrators, issue rulings that can be appealed. Such cases are still subject to the same public access requirements of trials held in court, but often many of them prove difficult to track. Proceedings are held in private offices and...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The multimillion-dollar lobbying effort to repeal the federal estate tax has been aggressively led by 18 super-wealthy families, according to a report released today by Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy at a press conference in Washington, D.C. The report details for the first time the vast money, influence and deceptive marketing techniques behind the rhetoric in the campaign to repeal the tax. It reveals how 18 families worth a total of $185.5 billion have financed and coordinated a 10-year effort to repeal the estate tax, a move that would collectively net them a windfall...

Pacific cult hails second coming of its wealthy US messiah By Nick Squires in Sydney (Filed: 17/04/2006) Followers of a South Pacific cult, who worship a mythical Second World War American serviceman they hope will one day return bearing riches, believe that their prayers have been answered. For 60 years, the bizarre John Frum movement on Tanna, in the Vanuatu archipelago, has believed that the great wealth or "cargo" that the United States military brought to their island home in wartime will one day miraculously return. They worship a messiah-like figure, John (or Jon) Frum, thought to be a combination...

Boston Legal hits a NERVE with Liberal lies. Tuesday nights episode about STICK IT, in which the Air Head assistant puts a posit note with “STICK IT” on her tax statement was full of LIBERAL RANTING. She though that she should not pay for: 1. Lies about the war, 2. Prisoner torture, 3. If the poor stop paying then the Wealthy will have to. Anyway, they have a message board, and its about 95% against the propaganda. Most people are really mad, and I think it's about time. Check it out at http://forums.go.com/abc/primetime/bostonlegal/forum?start=0&forumID=35

Revlon CEO Ron Perelman ditches wife #4, actress Ellen Barkin, to the tune of $20 million. Previous wives #1-#3 have cost Perelman a pay-out of $8 million, $80 million and $30 million, respectively. FOR Ronald O. Perelman, Forbes magazine's 34th-richest man in America, marriage would seem to be getting expensive... ...So why do the ultrarich marry, and re-marry, and re-marry? For men who have cycled through what Harriet Newman Cohen, a New York divorce lawyer, called "very high powered, high ZIP code divorces," marriage, more than dating, fills old traditions of respectability, status and comfort. It might even be love,...

Is our current system of taxation a Fair Tax on American Families? Democrats would have you believe that they want to tax the rich more and protect the Middle Class. Not True ! Democrats like the current system because their wealthy friends like the system, their wealthy Lobbyists help create the system over 40 plus years of Democratic control of the House. Democrats impune the attempts of Republicans to simplify the tax code, lower tax rates and close loopholes. Democrats scream on one hand about the wealthy but they don't pay their fair share of tax at all. Tehresa Heinz...

IRS Auditing More Corporations, Wealthy More corporations and wealthy taxpayers had their tax returns audited by IRS examiners this year, helping the agency haul in a record $47.3 billion in u! npaid taxes. The IRS audited one in 63 wealthy individuals and families, those reporting $100,000 or more in earnings. Overall, about one out of every 107 individuals and families faced an audit, which was more than last year when about one in 129 taxpayers were audited. Audits of corporations and small businesses also climbed when compared with last year. About 20 percent of all corporations were audited during the...

Unlike Prop 63, which increased taxes on the wealthy to pay for mental health or Rob “Meathead” Reiner's initiative that would increase taxes on high income earners to pay for universal preschool; this proposed initiative is labeled exactly what it is …A Wealth Tax! Read More... Craig DeLuz Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense... www.craigdeluz.com

Poor children may be bused to school in wealthy areas By Liz Lightfoot, Education Correspondent (Filed: 18/10/2005) Free bus travel for children from council estates will be announced next week as part of the Government's effort to end the middle class stranglehold on popular schools. "Choice advisers" will tell parents about schools outside their areas to which they can apply and help them through the admissions process. Groups of schools will be allowed to test children and put them into ability bands, sharing out the most and least able so that their intakes reflect the profile of the local authority...