I think that the bulk of American history, certainly the 20th century, proves your thesis wrong. The demolition of the family-clan baronies of the 19th century lead to a lot of upheaval and opportunity. The great depression allowed for a restructuring of a large part of the economy and government and the establishment of a social safety net. The next 40-50 years saw broad growth of the economy and lifted the lower classes farther out of true poverty (as seen in developing countries) than it had ever before. The expansion of the middle class was enormous. And that was all done with a very progressive tax structure with tax rates far outstripping anything even vaugely proposed by anyone today. This "punishing success" is a total fiction.
It has only been in the last 2 decades, and really only in the last decade, that the concentration of wealth amongst the very tiniest fraction of top earners has been so pronounced. The acceleration of that disparity is amazing and we have the robber barons back once again. The Gettys, Rothchilds, Morgans, Vanderbuilts...they seem to have come out ok in the end. They had the opportunity to flee to some tax haven and they faced far more aggressive tax structures than anything Barney Frank spouts in your wet dreams. But they didn't. If the banks want to flee now, fine. We'll see how we do. Maybe we'll win, maybe we won't. I don't see Goggle or Microsoft leaving for the Grand Caymans, do you? My company just had its best quarter ever, in terms of both revenue and profit. We're keeping a tight reign on costs but hiring as needed to execute on strategy and trying to grow and gain market in a tough economy. We aren't going anywhere. Goldman Sachs wants to move? Fine. Go. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. And everyone who whinges about their success being punished can just go suck on a pacifier in the corner while I continue to bust my ass and actually, you know, succeed. Judah > The top got richer, no doubt, but that has more to do with globalization and > the rise of the information society than any government policy. Anyone can > trade stocks today, but only a few people can trade stocks well enough to > make real money. Anyone can try outsourcing to India, but only a few > companies really make it work for them. > > Winners and losers will still be winners and losers, whatever the rules of > the game. Raising taxes on the rich is only going to encourage them to flee > to tax havens, which is why the Obama Admin is demanding our Carribean > neighbors change the corporate rules (remember that issue?). > > Trying to punish the winners in the name of "fairness" is only going to > encourage them to take their marbles and go play elsewhere, it is a fool's > errand. So good luck with it ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:295403 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
