Wealth Distribution in the USA

Does the walmart CEO work that much harder than the Costco one?Walmart - imho - is much more onerous in their pay scale, as people being subsidized by foodstamps are being subsidized out of taxes, so taxpayers are in effect paying part of walmart salaries to workers, while the CEO echelon sucks money into their greedy pockets.The minimum wage should be a living wage, period.I do not buy a thing from walmart. I do shop at Costco.Enjoy.

Look at it this way: Some people invest money in a company. They are little different than a loan from a bank. They don't create any product nor do they create any revenue for the company. Many companies operate without shareholders -- they are not necessary for a company to operate.Some people invest time and energy -- sweat equity -- in a company. The ones investing the time and energy are the ones responsible for making the company profitable. They are the ones that create the product/s and the revenue for the company. Without them there would be no company.Enjoy.

A big question for me is how do you most effectively help small businesses? Big businesses do not need help (or they would not be in business).When small businesses become successful and expand they create jobs. Job growth numbers show small businesses create more jobs overall than big businesses.Small businesses are local so money spent there stays local, boosting the local economy.Small businesses employ local people, so local unemployment decreases as they grow.Thus my 50-50-50 plan:

• the first $50,000 annual income (including dividends and any other sources of money) is tax free,
• after subtracting $50,000 annual income from total income (from all sources) the rest is taxed at 50%,
• everybody that files a tax return gets a $50.00 per day economy dividend -- your return on investing in the economy.

This amounts to base income of $18250.00(365x50) per year, and replaces social security, unemployment and welfare, etc. Everybody gets this, and they can select on their tax return whether they want it weekly, monthly or annually (taken off next years taxes). The whole program is run by IRS, so the other programs can be shut down and the people can engage in productive jobs or retire.People at the bottom of the economic spectrum will be spending 100% of their income, so it returns to the economy virtually instantly, thus boosting the economy.Small businesses now do not need to provide a living wage, they can provide extra pocket money.People can afford to not work at shit jobs to live, so businesses that have unattractive work will need to pay to attract workers. They will need to respect workers rather than treat them like slaves.Money would trickle up to lenders, banks, etc. thus benefiting them.Simple. Effective. Responsible.Feed the bottom and the whole pyramid grows.EnjoyEdited by RAZD, : .

That's what Henry Ford believed, and that's what made Detroit the car central for the USA.The major problem today is wage inequality, and the tax structure should discourage this.Perhaps corporate tax rates should by (1-[lowest hrly wage/highest hrly wage]) ... pay everyone the same and you pay no taxes ...

I saw that and also that they had a proposal (don't know if it is voted on yet) to guarantee minimum living wage to every citizen.Both are good ideas, but the second is more likely, imho, to pass.This is why I advocate the 50-50-50 plan. Tax returns would be simple one page documents anyone could fill out.Enjoy.

Relying on unions will not get any universal relief, and all non-union people will vote against it. There needs to be regulation across the board that applies to everyone. Rebuild the economy from the bottom and let it trickle up.Enjoy

Don't remember who said this: So true.Enjoy

Agreed. There is some difficulty with c.o.l. being different in different parts of the country (cost of housing in particular) so it may need to be locally adjusted as well as inflation adjusted. Cost of Living CalculatorWhat we should really want is living wage (that's what all the latest protests at fast food franchises are about): Living Wage DefinitionsMIT Living Wage CalculatorLiving Wage Calculation for Austin city, Travis County, Texas = $9.43 for a single person, $19.56 for an adult with one child.Living Wage Calculation for Topeka town, LaGrange County, Indiana = $8.65 for a single person, $16.99 for an adult with one child.$9.00/hr x 8hr/day = $72/day = $18,720 for 52 five day work weeks per year, so this is close to the $50/day every day = $18,250.00 (this would compare to $8.77/hr for 54 five day weeks per year) so this is in the right ball-park and still leaves some room for 'incentivising' people to work to realize better living conditions.Poverty wages for the same areas are all the same: $5.21 for a single person, $7.00 for adult with one childIt seems rather onerous to me for someone earning below the living wage to be paying taxes, but they get dinged several thousand dollars annually.This would also need to include universal health care for everyone ... if you have a $50.00 annual copay each for Dr visits, annual medications, etc, then you pay cost for anything below that or $50.00.Enjoy.