Middle-class income rose above $61,000 for the first time last year, U.S. Census Bureau says

[kalluck]

How much should someone get paid to wash my car or stock cereal in aisle 7? Most people with appropriate jobs have livable wages.

That is the thing though, people used to earn enough to get buy doing that kind of stuff. Janitors could feed a small family. A man working at a department store could provide for a family.

Now the internet has removed department stores, and local new sources, and many other industries. Improved transport has reduced our need to produce locally so jobs are shipped worldwide and everyone in a small town drives an hour to get their groceries.

Along the way they pass thousands of well paying jobs that once existed. Many of the jobs are gone forever but the people still exist. Now I would talk about how we still have to look out for these people but I know that doesn't mean anything to many Americans because there has been so much, everyone who makes less than me is a scumbag brainwashing. Like your post exemplifies.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

You dont need to tighten your spending if you increase taxes.

Our government is profligate. Not only do we pay for more government than we need, but we don't get a good value for the money we spend through government. Cutting taxes was the right thing to do. The economy has responded nicely.

 

[Jack V Savage]

Our government is profligate.

By what standard? We spend far less than the average developed nation.

Not only do we pay for more government than we need, but we don't get a good value for the money we spend through government. Cutting taxes was the right thing to do. The economy has responded nicely.

The economy turned around when we temporarily increased spending in 2009. It's been on a steady upward trajectory since. We get extremely good value for the money we spend through gov't. Cutting taxes had the intention and impact of redistributing income to the highest earners and to large asset holders and away from the middle class.

 

[ScottE]

Our government is profligate. Not only do we pay for more government than we need, but we don't get a good value for the money we spend through government. Cutting taxes was the right thing to do. The economy has responded nicely.

You mean by growing at rates already achievable without the tax cuts? You seem concerned about the effectiveness of tax dollars but don't see to care about the effectiveness of the tax cuts.

And even operating on the idea that taxes needed to be cut the distribution of those cuts is neither economically sound or societally beneficial. Why do the cuts related to individuals expire while the cuts to the corporate rates don't?

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

You mean by growing at rates already achievable without the tax cuts? You seem concerned about the effectiveness of tax dollars but don't see to care about the effectiveness of the tax cuts.

And even operating on the idea that taxes needed to be cut the distribution of those cuts is neither economically sound or societally beneficial. Why do the cuts related to individuals expire while the cuts to the corporate rates don't?

Tax cuts let me keep more of my money. Government spending is sometimes spending my money wisely, but often wastefully. Easy to see why I view one with a more jaundiced eye than the other.

Over the last ten years we've spent something like 12 trillion dollars we don't have, and that is unrelated to the recent tax cuts. The complaints of people who thought it was just fine to spend that kind of money on anything other than letting me keep more of my paycheck don't weigh heavily with me.

 

[ScottE]

Tax cuts let me keep more of my money. Government spending is sometimes spending my money wisely, but often wastefully. Easy to see why I view one with a more jaundiced eye than the other.

Over the last ten years we've spent something like 12 trillion dollars we don't have, and that is unrelated to the recent tax cuts. The complaints of people who thought it was just fine to spend that kind of money on anything other than letting me keep more of my paycheck don't weigh heavily with me.

That's because you take a very narrow and shortsighted approach to the subject.

I don't know how but you seem to forget that the economy has been on an upward trajectory for the better part of a decade prior to the most recent rounds of tax cuts. You attribute economic recovery that had already occured to tax cuts that had yet to be passed, yet alone fully implemented, let alone fully realized. We've seen normal growth so far from the tax cuts, growth far under the "projections" they used to sell the tax cuts. We're just running unneeded deficit spending to funnel money to predominantly the already wealthiest group of people in the world. I guess the GOP needed another excuse to go after SS and Medicare.

The impact further down the ladder is so far minimal and going to be fleeting. Most individuals will see there taxes go up once the individual provisions sunset and that's not even speaking to debt related measure taken that will disproportionately impact most individual tax payers. And then there are the possibly cut services, that will then disproportionately effect those same people.

So you'll take $100 more a week and cheer despite that in 10 years you'll have paid that back and more. But you can't remember 10 years back so I guess you can't be expected to look 10 years forward either.

 

[Jack V Savage]

That's because you take a very narrow and shortsighted approach to the subject.

I don't know how but you seem to forget that the economy has been on an upward trajectory for the better part of a decade prior to the most recent rounds of tax cuts. You attribute economic recovery that had already occured to tax cuts that had yet to be passed, yet alone fully implemented, let alone fully realized. We've seen normal growth so far from the tax cuts, growth far under the "projections" they used to sell the tax cuts. We're just running unneeded deficit spending to funnel money to predominantly the already wealthiest group of people in the world. I guess the GOP needed another excuse to go after SS and Medicare.

The impact further down the ladder is so far minimal and going to be fleeting. Most individuals will see there taxes go up once the individual provisions sunset and that's not even speaking to debt related measure taken that will disproportionately impact most individual tax payers. And then there are the possibly cut services, that will then disproportionately effect those same people.

So you'll take $100 more a week and cheer despite that in 10 years you'll have paid that back and more. But you can't remember 10 years back so I guess you can't be expected to look 10 years forward either.

This is a good response, but the thing is, Inga is not making a good faith effort to understand the economy and getting it wrong. She's substituting brain-deadening slogans and tribalist cheerleading for thought.