A robust definition of the American upper class, basically, the non-working rich: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_upper_class. The top 1% have 10-15% of the income. Both the uber-rich and the poor pay less than their share. The rest of us, you and me especially, get screwed. To your point, the tax break was dropped for everyone by about 2 points, but because of capital gains, the very rich saw capital gains dropped 20%, from 10 to 8%.
Also, I’ve given a lot of thought to your point about universal health care. I agree that Medicaid may be a better way of handling the goal than universal health care. We should leave people free to choose NOT to buy health care or AT LEAST not to be forced through taxation to buy government health care. There is one exception though.
My remaining concern is access to affordable health care for people who are not in poverty. The cut off for Medicaid is around $15k/year. This means a lot of good people making around $30k will be able to barely afford health care. A good example would be my high school friend whose parents owned a Chinese food restaurant. Health care was expensive for them so, when the restaurant was troubled, they stopped paying for it. Someone tried to rob them and shot him in the jaw. The cost of the health care bankrupted the family and forced his brother to drop out of Michigan State.
Comments