They have as much money as the bottom half of all those in the world.

Whats wrong with with this picture?

Whats wrong with our our tax structure?

Categories Education Reform

122 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

GregB says:

January 16, 2017 at 3:04 pm

One name missing: Vladimir Putin. And his investment strategy just paid off big time.

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Gordon Wilder says:

January 16, 2017 at 3:15 pm

Sounds like the “good” old USA. Money supplants people in importance. With ALL that is going on maybe soon there will be a pile of money in one place and people disappearing. Sounds ludicrous but with climate change in the offing or a very possible Trump bungling us into a nuclear war it is not only possible but highly likely in my view.The Fundamentalist “Christians” who are waiting for the “savior” who will carry them to heaven may be right. We may ALL be carried to wherever, heaven or perhaps the nether regions. I can think of at least one person who it would seem should go to the latter or at least many would curse him there.

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- Harlan Underhill says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 4:46 pm
  
  No, Gordon. Individuals are restored to importance over the know-all socialist tyrannical government.
  
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  - GregB says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 5:21 pm
    
    Writing as a committed Social Democrat, not sure what you mean by “socialist tyrannical.”
    
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  - LeftCoastTeacher says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 7:12 pm
    
    I wouldn’t go too far praising free market capitalism and disparaging socially responsible democracy, Harlan. The polar opposite of communism is fascism, and American democracy lies somewhere in the middle between the two. Our government is only tyrannical (socialist tyrannical? Is that a thing?) when providing corporate welfare in the form of bailouts. And last time I checked, fellow individualist, corporations were not individuals. In this world, in this century, human individuals can eat cake.
    
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  - Ellen Lubic says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 8:15 pm
    
    Great comment Leftie. Agree with all of the above. Harlan lives in a singular universe.
    
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  - LeftCoastTeacher says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 9:28 pm
    
    Hearing from Ellen always makes my day.
    
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  - Joel Herman (@jwherman11) says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 9:53 pm
    
    Did I ever say this before(YES) there are no free markets never have been never will be. The concept is a figment of the delusional imagination. As long as there is a governing body no matter how small , someone is deciding how goods and services are distributed. The markets will be inherently “Rigged” . The only question is who does the Rigging and for whom.
    
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  - Joel Herman (@jwherman11) says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 10:58 pm
    
    Lets talk about free markets . Three on the list Gates, Zuckerberg and Ellison would be extremely poor in a free market. In a free market their contributions and we can debate how significant they were , would not have been protected by patents. Preventing others not only from legally distributing there software without paying rents.But in many cases patents have prevented others from improving on those ideas. In some cases patents are purchased to prevent competition. In the case of life saving drugs they could deliver the equivalent of hundreds or a thousand times the cost of generics .
    
    Bezos libertarian that he is has benefited from tax law that had given him an advantage over Brick and Mortar stores equivalent to all the profits that Amazon has made to this dated. He paid no sales tax for years and still collects from sellers on Amazon that don’t . “Rigged ” Dean Baker (nobody thinks I am an economist.)
    
    If the Derivatives markets were left to unwind themselves in a free market fall. It is hard to see how Carlos and Warren would not be much poorer than they are today. None on the list have a Trillion no less 17 trillion that was created by the Federal reserve to bail them out. It is easy to be a free marketeer when the fix is in .
    
    Is it conceivable that we could have saved the working class instead of the banking class. Saved homeowners instead of bankers. The banks could have been Nationalized.
    No Harlan that is not socialism. . That is what we do with companies in our supposed free market when they go bankrupt . A Federal judge takes the assets and decides how to distribute them to best serve the creditors, Nationalizes them. (Stieglitz). But who is he to interfere in the free market . Somebody is again deciding how things are redistributed.
    
    WW2 is how we got out of the last depression so we know how to do it . No we don’t have to sacrifice 40 million to.save capitalism . But WW2 was the biggest Keynesian stimulus the world has ever seen.
    
    So Harlan thank God for Socialism and I haven’t read the rest of this post yet . But did anybody mention this yet on this very appropriate day.
    
    “We all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor.” MLK.
    
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 11:05 pm
    
    So many references to dr King today. One thing seems to have gotten lost.
    In everything i have read about him, he never spoke disrespectful about those who disagreed with him. His non-violence approach was a part of all that he was.
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 11:57 pm
    
    Dr. King would not have been defending billionaires and others who get rich from the sweat of working people.
    
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 12:16 am
    
    Not the point, was it? But I figured this would be your reaction.
    
    How many people have you given a job? Can you say like Gates, Buffett, bezos etc that because of your idea hundreds of thousands of people have jobs?
    Can you point out the number of people who became millionaires because they stuck with you, from the very beginning?
    Until you have done that, you may want to stop painting all rich people as evil incarnate.
    Gates supports something you disagree with. Buffett supports things I disagree with.
    Does not make either of them bad people.
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 10:12 am
    
    Rudy,
    
    I don’t paint all rich people as evil. I was married to a rich man, and he is an idealistic FDRLiberal. Some of my best friends are rich, but none is a billionaire. I think the tax code should not permit people to be billionaires. I believe in higher progressive income taxes and also a wealth tax.
    
    Most of the jobs created by Gates are in China. He uses his wealth to harm public schools and teachers. He should stick to eradicating disease.
    
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 10:53 am
    
    Microsoft employs 118,000 people, and only 4500 in China.
    “I think the tax code should not permit people to be billionaires. I believe in higher progressive income taxes and also a wealth tax…”
    
    Who are you to deny people to make as much money as they can? With all due respect, you married a rich man, so from the sounds of it, you did not have a million dollar idea put all your energy, time and resources into it and reap the benefits.
    (I know, in the era in which you got married, the million dollar idea WAS to marry rich).
    
    Sticking to Microsoft. Because of Gates, about 10% of his workers became millionaires. As a company, Microsoft hit the BILLION dollar mark in charitable giving.That is ONE BILLION that never would have existed without Gates.
    
    Is the man a saint? No idea. According yo you, he must be a criminal (behind great fortune is a crime, remember?). Than, according to your philosophy, Soros is a criminal. Buffett is a criminal. Bezos. Bloomberg… name the rest of the list
    
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 10:22 pm
    
    Today’s New York Times, by Jonathan alter.
    
    Interesting and very good advice!!!
    
    Biden wasn’t shocked that Hillary Clinton lost. He had noticed before the election that Trump was connecting with the people he grew up with in Pennsylvania. This shaped his thoughts on how Democrats should respond. When the subject of Trump came up aboard Air Force Two, Biden referred to a well-worn story about how, as a freshman senator, he saw Jesse Helms, the archconservative North Carolina Republican, ripping into a piece of disabilities legislation. Biden was furious about it and began attacking Helms to Mike Mansfield, the Democratic Senate majority leader. Puffing on his pipe, Mansfield asked Biden if he knew that Helms and his wife had adopted a disabled 9-year-old boy no one else would take. “Question a man’s judgment, not his motives,” Mansfield instructed.
    Biden, who was invited by Helms decades later to give his eulogy, is convinced that absorbing Mansfield’s advice is what allowed him to work with Senate Republicans during the Obama years, to negotiate the approval of the New Start nuclear-arms-reduction treaty, the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the expansion of the earned-income tax credit, among other accomplishments. His approach to Trump, he said, wouldn’t be fundamentally different. “It falls in that category,” Biden told me. “It’s one thing to say: ‘I think the proposal on the following is a serious mistake. I think it’s gonna do the following damage.’ It’s another thing to say, ‘The guy’s a fucking idiot, and he is an egomaniac who’s a whatever.’ ”
    Biden suggested he might lobby former Republican colleagues when “circumstances generate blowback among mainstream Republicans.” He remains in the shrinking camp that believes Trump may yet step up, at least a bit, to the demands of high office. His hope is that Trump’s “sense of grandeur is so immense that he’d rather succeed than unleash these forces.” Given how many Trump voters would lose their insurance under full repeal of the Affordable Care Act, he may well back off of repealing it, Biden said. As for the rest of his own administration’s legacy, he said, “I’m not prepared to bet my granddaughter’s college tuition, but it’s less likely to be undone than frayed on the edges
    
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  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 11:17 pm
    
    And, lest we forget, if we heard this before or for the first time, how much in state and federal grants and/or tax breaks (corporate welfare) did Littlefingers Donald Trump get as a handout to help build his real estate empire.
    
    Almost $1 billion.
    
    And his ventures still went bankrupt four or five times in addition to another 150 bankruptcy cases he was involved in.
    
    Donald Trump’s Many Business Failures, Explained
    
    http://www.newsweek.com/2016/08/12/donald-trumps-business-failures-election-2016-486091.html
    
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  - Joel Herman (@jwherman11) says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 11:02 pm
    
    edit their
    
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  - Joel Herman (@jwherman11) says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 11:39 pm
    
    Lloyd Lofthouse
    
    Thanks he wasn’t on the list, but probably could never be as he may owes Russian oligarchs more than his assets. If he is insulted by that remark he could sue me but he would have to release his tax returns to prove I libeled him .
    
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  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 1:26 pm
    
    The only way Littlefingers Donald Trump will discover what we, who can’t stand and/or detest him, are saying about him, is if he creates a new government agency, similar to what the Chinese Communist Party has in China, to monitor what every citizen says about him and then Littlefingers would have to have an army to punish us for exercising our 1st Amendment rights. As it is, he can barely keep up on Twitter with all the criticism from better known public figures and world leaders.
    
    In fact, to keep the cost down, Littlefingers could offshore, or hire China to monitor all U.S. citizens and then put the CCP in charge of our punishment in the United States. Since China already has this operation in place with millions of Chinese working in that agency, it would be cheaper just to pay China to do the fact gathering and punish U.S. citizens for him.
    
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  - LeftCoastTeacher says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 1:16 am
    
    Joel, that free market comment was amazing. It was spot on with end punctuation. The market is not free and it’s not fair. Monopolies get handouts and everyone else goes directly to Jail without passing Go, without collecting $200. You know the board game Monopoly. It’s lots of fun. But if you play it long enough, the game ends.
    
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Polly says:

January 16, 2017 at 3:21 pm

The history of the world does tend to repeat itself. How would a tax structure revision change that? Would it need to be a Global tax?
What do your fellow bloggers suggest?

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- GregB says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 3:30 pm
  
  That’s what Thomas Piketty recommends in Capital.
  
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  - Harlan Underhill says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 4:46 pm
    
    Carbon tax.
    
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  - Polly says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 4:49 pm
    
    Lots of interesting negative comments re his take on this. Wikipedia shows many. His theory appears a bit shallow.
    
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  - GregB says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 5:49 pm
    
    Polly, suggest you read the book and avoid wikipedia for opinions. I would characterize it as economic idealism based on rigorous research. “Shallow” is an ideological agenda-based description. He recommends a global tax on wealth.
    
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  - Polly says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 6:30 pm
    
    Believe what you choose.
    
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  - GregB says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 6:57 pm
    
    Will do!
    
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Susan Lee Schwartz says:

January 16, 2017 at 3:23 pm

HERE ARE TWO ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL, UNFORGETTABLE videos that graph wealth : I have posted this before!
Wealth Inequality in America A MUST SEE

Global Wealth Inequality – What you never knew you never knew –

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Rudy Schellekens says:

January 16, 2017 at 3:23 pm

Nothing is wrong with that picture. That is the reward for hard work.
There is nothing wrong with the tax system either. And if you want to use the worn out phrase, “fair share,” please identify what exactly “fair share” is.

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 4:55 pm
  
  Fair share=the same tax rates that applied during the Eisenhower years that strengthened the middle class. Or is Eisenhower a dangerous lefty?
  
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 5:11 pm
    
    What made that “fair?”
    Obviously some people did not think that “fair” and that is why it changed.
    
    I think it is robbery. I met quite a few refugees from behind the iron curtain. When a doctor makes as much as the garbage collector, what makes that “fair?”
    
    You mentioned the wealth of the 8 being…
    
    Why not mention that the .10% of the people pay 85% of the taxes? And that a large percentage pays 0%? How is that “fair?”
    
    Why is it fair that I get charged, as a homeowner, for public education but my friend who rents a house (from a much larger income!) doesn’t get taxed to send his kids to public schools? What’s “fair” about that?
    
    “Fair” is an abused word and mostly by democrats. There is never a definition, but numbers grabbed out of thin air…
    
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  - booklady says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 1:00 am
    
    Rudy,
    The landlord renting the house to your friend would have incorporated the local school tax amount into the rental fee.
    
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- Norwegian Filmmaker says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 5:11 pm
  
  Rudy,
  
  You are a pure, unadulterated idiot.
  
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 5:19 pm
    
    Okay. Now tell me what is wrong with what I wrote. I may be an idiot, but that statement has no value. I could have told you that myself.
    Doing what my dad taught me, if something’s worth doing, do it right! So I might as well be a pure, unadulterated idiot
    
    So now argue the point, ok? We agree on my mental state.
    
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  - GregB says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 10:55 pm
    
    To my Norwegian friend: Takk og Skål! (I think that’s right.)
    
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- Akademos says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 7:05 pm
  
  I think we can reward hard work without dooming billions upon billions of people to suffer in horrendous poverty and ultimately dooming human life itself.
  
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 7:22 pm
    
    “…think we can reward hard work without dooming billions upon billions of people to suffer in horrendous poverty and ultimately dooming human life itself….”
    How does my hard work and making a billion or so “doom billions upon billions to suffer in horrendous poverty???”
    As an example, Bill gates idea and hard work brought 12,000 (twelve THOUSAND) of his co workers the status of millionair. His hard work led to the employment of 100,000 people.
    He uses his money to bring healthcare to thousands of people.
    What am I missing here?
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 8:20 pm
    
    Rudy,
    
    I suggest you read the book “The Spirit Level,” which documents how income inequality makes a society miserable, while relative income equality raises people’s spirits and gives them hope. It is a wonderful book. It might change your mind.
    
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  - Mamie Krupczak Allegretti says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 7:34 am
    
    That’s a great book, Diane!
    
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- LeftCoastTeacher says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 7:26 pm
  
  Betsy DeVos has never worked a day in her life. Neither have any of the Wells Fargo executives who took our bailout money and used it to set up fake accounts, really ever worked. The charter school exec who used taxpayers’ money to buy expensive wine and hotel suites scouting for the San Antonio Spurs: not a hardworking man, not deserving of a tax break. Bill Gates is soft. Michael Bloomberg, the Soda Nazi is delicate. I, on the other hand, am a public middle school teacher. Don’t talk to me about hard work, Schellekens. If you want to reward work, you can write me a check.
  
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 7:35 pm
    
    Did you really miss my qualifier, about having a million dollar idea, working hard with that etc?
    Or did you just skipped that because you wanted to vent about Devos?
    I have not said a word about inherited wealth.
    Of the eight wealthiest people in the world, they have all made their own wealth by hard work.
    Of the top twenty on Forbes list, the majority made their own money. And, FYI, Devos did not make that list.
    
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  - LeftCoastTeacher says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 8:50 pm
    
    Some people worship Bill Gates. They’re big fans. They think he’s good. They think he’s smart. They think they know him… His real name is William Gates III. His grandfather was a bank president. His mother was on a bank board of directors. His father was a wealthy attorney. He was born into money.
    
    For example.
    
    Maybe we should give William Gates the Third more money. Maybe we should keep giving him money as he profits even while the company he built loses money with ludicrous social experiments like stacked ranking. It doesn’t really matter how much we “reward” him with all our hard work. He’s too big to fail anyway.
    
    So much for competition.
    
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  - Abigail Shure says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 10:37 pm
    
    Working may be overrated.
    
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  - Joel Herman (@jwherman11) says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 11:21 pm
    
    Ouch, but I like it
    
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  - LeftCoastTeacher says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 12:08 am
    
    Don’t tell my students.
    
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- Joel Herman (@jwherman11) says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 11:15 pm
  
  Delusional Rudy .
  
  Not for nothing Rudy how long do you think workers would be slaving away in an Amazon warehouse before the eventually scaled the walls of the Bastille and set up the Guillotine. Don’t quote me ask Jeff Bezos’s original investor. Nick Hanauer
  
  So what stops them. The power of the state. But there are other ways the state can redistribute wealth !!!!!! other than seeing that it goes to the top.
  
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  - Joel Herman (@jwherman11) says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 11:19 pm
    
    No as I said near the top of the post rents on patents made the wealth for 3 of them . That i government interference in markets . 99 years on software. Will Bezos please pay back all the sales tax he didn’t pay … ….
    
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Duane E Swacker says:

January 16, 2017 at 3:24 pm

Need more than pitchforks these days, eh, to take care of said problem.

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Chiara says:

January 16, 2017 at 3:33 pm

The wealth is one thing, but we turned our government over to them voluntarily.

No one insisted the American public turn their entire policy structure over to wealthy people. We voluntarily handed it over. Declared that they were the Best and Brightest and said “here you go- run everything”

We could take it back, too.

Bill Gates is only powerful because elected representatives “relinquished” their responsibilities to him. No one has to seize his wealth to limit his power.

We could simply stop taking orders from him and elect people who don’t worship the ground he walks on.

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Chiara says:

January 16, 2017 at 3:41 pm

I don’t know if any of you have seen Trump’s plans but it’s ALL “public/private partnerships”. There won’t be a publicly-owned or run entity as far as the eye can see when they’re finished. It’s like contractors hit the jackpot. They must be flooding into DC.

It’s funny because I think it will also destroy the private sector. They’re all going to be dependent on public funding. They don’t do anything BUT replace public sector services. They’re not creating anything new.

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- Harlan Underhill says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 4:49 pm
  
  I hope you are wrong. This is like the election of Jackson, a victory for real democracy even though it LOOKS like the victory of the Eastern Bankers.
  
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  - Threatened Out West says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 6:44 pm
    
    Jackson destroyed Native American cultures and thousands of lives (if not tens of thousands).
    
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Yvonne Siu-Runyan says:

January 16, 2017 at 3:42 pm

Scary!

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Joel Cummings says:

January 16, 2017 at 3:46 pm

And they only pay social security and Medicare on… what? $800,000 of those multi-billions? Bill Bradley and Eastern ‘liberals’ let it get rescinded by Reagan, and maybe that’s why one seldom hears it shared by the bought press?

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Mary K. Bellisario says:

January 16, 2017 at 4:26 pm

These 8 appear to represent thinkers, creators, founders. Some probably inherited some of their “start-up” funds. Nevertheless, they have contributed something and been rewarded for that. The economy rewarded them, without reference unfortunately to the poor in the world. Further, are all of them U.S. citizens? If not, our tax structure may not affect them at all — not to say our tax structure doesn’t need some revision! But let’s not ostracize those who do contribute to society, even if it is Facebook, or Amazon, or other companies. They all employ lots of people, which helps the economy in many ways.

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- Rudy Schellekens says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 4:31 pm
  
  These people hand over a lot of money to, what they consider to be, good causes. Hospitals. Musea. Area help centers. International programs.
  Painting them to be ruthless monsters is a bit too much.
  We may disagree with their choices. That’s our right.
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 4:42 pm
    
    They use their money to control the lives of other people and destroy democracy. I judge them harshly for their threat to democracy.
    You make excuses for all Republicans, no matter how malevolent
    
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 5:00 pm
    
    Source of wealth – Forbes magazine
    
    The top 20 people on The 2016 Forbes 400 have a combined net worth of $813.5 billion, one-third of the total wealth all of 400 members of the list. Thirteen of the 20 made their own fortunes, and just two are women. While nearly one-third of the overall list got poorer over the past year, the every member of the top 20 got richer over the last year.
    
    That means that abt 1/3 inherited money, the rest of them made their own
    
    Of these 20, 7 donated to only democrats, some to both parties, 1 made no donations at all, and 9 donated only to republicans.
    
    Even though Clinton kept complaining about the fact that laws governing political contributions had changed, she was for more skilled in milking the most dollars out of donors using the new rules.
    So much for consistency.
    
    So the complaint about how the rich use their money (especially considering that gates is quite a donor for democrats!) seems to be based more on jealousy than true concern.
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 9:12 pm
    
    Rudy,
    
    Aren’t the billionaires lucky to have you defending their wealth?
    You should be paid.
    
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 9:47 pm
    
    BALANCE is the thought. Rich people do good things too… but you seem to blinded
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 10:05 pm
    
    Rudy,
    
    I don’t have a grudge against rich people. Did you ever hear the line, “Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.”
    
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- dianeravitch says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 4:44 pm
  
  Mary,
  
  Do you think I have the power to ostracize any of these people?
  
  I would like to see a 90% wealth tax on all assets over $1 billion. A person can live well with only $1 billion. Do you think they care what I think?
  
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  - Harlan Underhill says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 4:52 pm
    
    Hallmark of the True Socialist: theft by law.
    
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 5:03 pm
    
    But who made you the judge to make that decision? Why pick 1 billion? Why not half of that? 10%?
    Why not 10 million?
    Research shows that the “happiness level lies around 76000$”. They never asked me, but that’s the number.
    
    So why not take everything over that amount?
    
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  - Norwegian Filmmaker says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 5:14 pm
    
    Diane,
    
    I agree with your position 1000%.
    
    The others are hideously ignorant and don’t understand how they too are hurt or will be hurt or will have descendants who will be hurt by such wealth inequality.
    
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 5:35 pm
    
    “A billion won’t suffice”
    
    A billion won’t suffice
    To live a life that’s nice
    You need a hundred bill
    To live upon the hill
    
    A billion just won’t do
    You need a country too*
    A billion won’t mean squat
    If Billion’s all you got
    
    *or two
    
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- Ken Watanabe says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 8:52 pm
  
  Ah yeah, 8 people possessing the wealth entire body of employees working for them can never earn in entire life. #kissyoura$$goodbyetoAynRand
  
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SomeDAM Poet says:

January 16, 2017 at 4:55 pm

“Pale Blue Dot”

A pale blue dot
In blackest void
They want the lot
The greedy boys

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- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 5:03 pm
  
  PS if aliens ever do visit this planet, they will almost certainly think humans are 1) insane 2) stupid or 3) a combination of 1 and 2
  
  I’m pretty sure the dolphins and chimps already have that opinion of us.
  
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- John Ogozalek says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 5:03 pm
  
  Love it,poet.
  
  And, to those who think the rich deserve every penny they have, well, read history. Read what the U.S. was like in the Gilded Age of the 1890s. No thank you to the Trump Time Machine.
  
  Sad to say this is where we are at on this Martin Luther King Day…….
  
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 5:17 pm
    
    When I have a million dollar idea, sacrifice my time, every penny I can find, borrow to make it work, you bet I have earned my wealth.
    When through my million dollar idea thousands of people have a job, you bet I have earned my wealth.
    When people invest in my company and get a great return, you bet I have earned my wealth.
    When the taxes I pay on my income, my business’ income, my property pay the salaries of government employees in four levels (city, county, state and federal), you bet I have earned my wealth.
    
    This of course, from someone who did not have a million dollar idea – yet.
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 5:55 pm
    
    Rudy,
    
    I love rich people. Over $1 million a year, they should pay a marginal tax rate of 90%, like the Ike years.
    
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 6:02 pm
    
    What is FAIR about that? No one has an answer to that question. WHY is that FAIR?
    I agree with an earlier comment: this us robbery. There is nothing “fair” about it.
    
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 5:44 pm
    
    From a purely practical standpoint, the current situation is unsustainable.
    
    One has to be either dumb or insane (or both) to believe otherwise.
    
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 6:19 pm
    
    “Catch 22”
    
    When all is owned by billionaires
    Who will buy their billion wares?
    
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  - John Ogozalek says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 7:07 pm
    
    Again Rudy (and those of like mind) read history.
    
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dianeravitch says:

January 16, 2017 at 5:47 pm

Yes, George Soros uses his money to build democratic institutions, not to destroy them.

The DeVos family uses its money to get richer and more powerful.

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- Rudy Schellekens says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 6:00 pm
  
  Reply
  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 8:34 pm
    
    Rudy,
    
    I am not posting your attack on George Soros, whose sin seems to be that he supports liberal causes.
    He supports democracy and participation, which is very troubling to Republicans.
    
    Also, I try not to repost quotes from rightwing outlets.
    
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 8:50 pm
    
    You have no idea where the information came from. Apart from that, you are saying that only democrats are good and nice and kind people, who are the only ones who have the best in mind for the world.
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 9:08 pm
    
    I know where the information came from. I google.
    
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 8:50 pm
    
    Sorry. It that is NOT what I would EVER write.
    
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SomeDAM Poet says:

January 16, 2017 at 6:03 pm

“Half life”

Last year, it was sixty two
This year, it is eight
Half of all the wealth, it’s true
Isn’t that just great?

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- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 6:24 pm
  
  Owning half the wealth, it’s true
  
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  - LeftCoastTeacher says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 9:23 pm
    
    By my math, next year it will be one. And we will be his servants.
    
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- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 9:21 pm
  
  Now, that’s what I call “change you can believe in”
  
  I’m really glad someoneis benefitting from the economic “recovery”
  
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Abigail Shure says:

January 16, 2017 at 6:04 pm

The tax structure is functioning fine by rewarding those it is designed to benefit.

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 8:29 pm
  
  Abigail,
  
  Check out the tax rate when Eisenhower was president. Google it.
  
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 8:34 pm
    
    90%. And since that time, it has been lowered. But you have not explained the “Fairness” in that.
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 9:09 pm
    
    Ike’s marginal tax rate for the rich was 91%. It remained at 91% for the eight years he was in office.
    
    He had more social conscience than Republicans today.
    
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Lloyd Lofthouse says:

January 16, 2017 at 6:25 pm

If Trump manages to stay in the White House as president, one of his goals, obviously, is to con his way onto that short list of the most wealthy by the time he leaves.

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- Joel Herman (@jwherman11) says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 11:45 pm
  
  Or at least get out of debt to Putin
  
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  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 1:28 pm
    
    If Littlefingers removes the U.S. as a world power and destroys the EU and NATO, Putin probably has already promised to forgive that debt.
    
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Polly says:

January 16, 2017 at 6:28 pm

Soros a good guy.. you must be kidding. Tried to bottom out the NYSE post election. Took a big bath. Billion woth a B.

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 8:22 pm
  
  George Soros is a true philanthropist. He gives money to build democracy, not to buy it or destroy it.
  
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Lloyd Lofthouse says:

January 16, 2017 at 6:38 pm

Harlan,

Do you know the difference between a pure socialist state and a country that has a social safety net for its citizens that weren’t as fortunate as the wealthiest 0.1 percent, many of whom inherited wealth, and didn’t earn it on their own?

Inheriting unearned wealth that you didn’t make on your own is the same thing as welfare; it’s money that was not earned.

If you earn that wealth from scratch on your own, fine, only pay the same tax rate the average middle class family pays, while alive, but when that person dies, the one that earned that money, 90 percent of the wealth should go to support the social safety net through a inheritance tax and/or fund the upkeep of the infrastructure of the country. The other 10 percent should go into a trust that pays the heirs of the one who earned that wealth a monthly subsidy until the money runs out.

Where would Littlefigners be today if all of his grandfathers and fathers wealth had been taxed at 90 percent when they died?

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- Abigail Shure says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 6:51 pm
  
  The solution to your proposal, Lloyd, would be to divest oneself of one’s assests prior to one’s demise.
  
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  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 7:27 pm
    
    Do you mean, donate it all to the charity and/or reputable non-profit of your choice?
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 8:37 pm
    
    Abigail,
    
    To save you time, here it is: The marginal tax rate for very wealthy people during the Eisenhower years was 91%.
    
    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/15/bernie-s/income-tax-rates-were-90-percent-under-eisenhower-/
    
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  - Abigail Shure says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 8:43 pm
    
    For example, Trump could sign everything over to his children. I have no confidence that Trump, Gates, Bloomberg, et al will fund the charities of my choosing. I happen to be fond of food banks. It bothers me that many Americans experience food insecurity. I send tiny donations to the few politicians that I consider to be on the right side of issues I hold dear. If the United States were not so aggressive militarily, our country could afford food, shelter and health care for all. Forgive me me for indulging my fantasies. MLK’s Birthday is drawing to a close and it is time to revisit reality.
    
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- Norwegian Filmmaker says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 9:36 pm
  
  Lloyd,
  
  I am compelled to ask if Harlan collects Social Security. He appears to be elderly. How ironic are his positions if this is true.
  
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  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 10:34 pm
    
    If Harlan had jobs over the decades and someone else paid him a salary or an hourly wage, the odds are that he and his employer paid into the Social Security fund through the SS tax and he already is or will be eligible.
    
    Since he hates socialist programs of any kind, he should never apply for the Social Security he paid into.
    
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  - Joel Herman (@jwherman11) says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 11:49 pm
    
    What about Universal healthcare for the elderly . MEDICARE!
    
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  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 1:35 pm
    
    Obviously Harlan would have to do without Medicare too, since it is also a social safety net program that workers and employers paid for through a specific, dedicated tax during all those years an eligible American worked.
    
    The minimum to collect is to work and pay into the system for ten years, and the average American that collects Social Security and signs up for Medicare worked for 45 years before they were old enough to qualify.
    
    I worked for 45 years from 15 to 60 but only paid into SS and Medicare for the 15 years I worked in the private sector before working 30 years as a public classroom teacher. Since I only paid into the SS/Medicare system for 15 years, my SS is about $150 a month. Most of my income comes from CALSTRS, California’s teacher retirement program. I paid into that for thirty years with 8 percent of my gross income and matching payment from the district where I taught. Actually the district paid a half percent more than what I paid.
    
    Like the U.S. Post Office (it cannot operate with funds from taxes; it must operate with revenue from postage and services just like any private sector business), Social Security cannot be supported from the General Fund. It has to operate with the funds collected through the Social Security tax. I don’t know about Medicare.
    
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Laura H. Chapman says:

January 16, 2017 at 6:52 pm

I read about this report in the WSJ this morning and checked out several websites, including comments on these. This report is timed for release at Davos.

If anyone is interested in the details, the original report is from Oxfam, and the mehodology is available here…including some caveats about gathering data about poverty. https://www.oxfamamerica.org/static/media/files/tb-economy-99-percent-methodology-160117-en.pdf

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sooxie516 says:

January 16, 2017 at 8:43 pm

I don’t know how these men can sleep at night. Sure, they have their money, but don’t they realize how many people all over the world are hurting? They must worry that that they don’t have real friends and that people just value them for their wealth. I bet they are very isolated in their kingdoms of gold.

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- Rudy Schellekens says:
  
  January 16, 2017 at 8:55 pm
  
  Have you ever taking the time to see how these people use their money?
  You have Buffett and Gates working hand in hand in a number of projects.
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 9:06 pm
    
    I like Buffett. A good man. His children went to public schools in Omaha.
    
    Gates, on the other hand, would get rid of public schools and unions if he could.
    
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 9:10 pm
    
    And yet, Buffett donates over ONE BILLION dollars a year to the Gates foundation. I don’t think that’s because Gates is blackmailing him. Could it possibly because he supports the goals of the Gates foundation???
    If so, you’re in a pickle…
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 9:11 pm
    
    I think Buffett likes Gates’ plans for eradicating disease.
    
    I don’t think he is aware of his education goals.
    
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  - SomeDAM Poet says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 9:51 pm
    
    Too bad Gates has chosen to eradicate disease elsewhere but introduce and spread it (Common Core) here at home.
    
    “Gates’ Disease”
    
    The whooping cough will make you whoop
    And chicken pox will make you itch
    The cold is cured with chicken soup
    But Common core is just a bitch
    
    The charter is a parasite
    And VAM a spreading cancer
    The Gates’ Disease is like the night
    And daylight is the answer
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 10:04 pm
    
    SomeDam Poet,
    
    It is so good to have you back again! You soothe the soul with rhymes sublime.
    
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  - Joel Herman (@jwherman11) says:
    
    January 16, 2017 at 11:52 pm
    
    Rudy Schellekens
    
    Please i suspect we would have a lot more money to spend on public goods and social welfare world wide . If Warren paid a larger share of his income in taxes than his secretary .
    
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  - Rudy Schellekens says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 12:07 am
    
    You never did read the real issue with that sob story??
    The best way for Buffett to do so is to put himself on the payroll with a CEO salary rather than using capital gains as an income.
    
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  - LeftCoastTeacher says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 12:25 am
    
    And chicken pox will make you itch…
    But Common core is just a bitch
    
    You’re right, Diane. That IS soothing. And people say the truth hurts. It actually is very ameliorating. Restoring. Is there a doctor in the house? It’s SomeDAM Poet in The Living Room.
    
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retiredbutmissthekids says:

January 16, 2017 at 9:48 pm

S.D.P.–LOVE your “Catch 22.” Exactly right. I watched a very sad “20/20” last Friday–it was really nothing new–kind of a rehash of one of the lesser-known Michael Moore films, “The Big One,” where he follows & interviews people working minimum wage jobs, traveling to work for 2 hrs. each way, being mistreated by Dick Clark Enterprises (one example), etc. Same thing on “20/20”–imagine, & this is years later! At the end of some of the stories (McDonald worker; man w/family who works at Stanford U, in food service–takes 4 hrs. to get to work), there was an “update” w/”some happy news.” The man at Stanford was able to save up enough to buy a house (ok, wondering if he’s going to be able to continue to afford his mortgage), but still far away so that he has the same 4-hour commute (leaves @ 3:30 AM; hope he doesn’t get robbed, attacked, etc.). I forget all the other “happy news.” More to the story–a panel of “experts” set to the task of finding a solution (!!) to poverty. This esteemed panel included none other than thei American Enterprise Institute–guess what his brilliant solution was? (Hint: not so brilliant). However, you just have to see it for yourself–can be viewed online, I would imagine, or on OnDemand.

& my point? And this has been going on for…how long?

Bernie.Is.Right. (As in correct.)

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retiredbutmissthekids says:

January 16, 2017 at 9:54 pm

Oh, sorry–having to do w/”Catch 22″–one of the workers interviewed brought up that very important point about raising the minimum wage which would, indeed, strengthen the economy (& said all these companies were making such large profits that they could, of course, afford to pay workers more), as people would have more income to be used to buy products (“When all is owned by billionaires, who will buy their billion wares?”), & more people could be put to work buying these products–& I mean those “Made in the U.S.A.!” Indeed, Poet, indeed.

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m4potw says:

January 17, 2017 at 9:38 am

To people who support and believe in their righteousness and rightfulness:

Life is like a buffet. Whenever people with “the” righteousness in their own belief and people with “the” rightfulness in their corrupted legal system go for the buffet, there will be a CLASH.

In their own interpretation and belief, people with righteousness will abuse their power to bully others who have different cultural background. For instance, “rigid” Muslim followers FORBID pork on the menu in public menu; Jewish followers will NOT go to any public buffet with sea foods; “strict” vegetarians in all religions ONLY PREFER to go to a pure vegetarian eating places.

People, who adamantly demand to be rigid, who refuse to be adaptable, and who prefer a choice, cannot be aware of the TRUTH behind their actions, except to be told to behave by certain BINDING cultures.

However, once people have courage and intelligence to try out and to adapt logically and suitably to their own ability, capacity, and surrounding environment, then people will recognize that what will be RIGHT and JUST for themselves and for others = wisdom and experience.

I am not ashamed to admit that I have gone through all stages from being savage to being civilized = very aggressive and selfish into very modest and selfless. = from being like Rudy Schellekens’ mindset to being like Dr. Ravitch’s mindset.

In short, it takes time to go through all hardships and being survival with the help of kindness from seen (strangers) and unseen Angels, so that people will ultimately believe in compassion and will be voluntarily PUBLIC SPIRITED.

People will need to go through all BAD CURSES (= sickness and failures) without any shortcut in order to self-convince that blind, deaf, mute CANNOT understand and enjoy the wonderful sight, sound and speech = SELFISH people cannot understand and enjoy the wonderful harmony in the mutual-respect, mutual-appreciation, and mutual-contentment among people within a community, a nation and a world. Back2basic

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  January 17, 2017 at 10:16 am
  
  May,
  
  Jews do not avoid seafood. Religious Jews don’t eat shellfish or pork.
  
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  - m4potw says:
    
    January 17, 2017 at 11:59 am
    
    Dear Dr. Ravitch:
    
    I sincerely appreciate your correction on my assumption. I misunderstood my female friend who only eats chicken and beef with a reason of being Jewish. I never ask her the difference between seafood and shellfish. I learn this from you. Love. May.
    
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- Rudy Schellekens says:
  
  January 17, 2017 at 11:13 am
  
  Wondered where you were going with the buffet – was getting hungry. And there it is:
  
  “I am not ashamed to admit that I have gone through all stages from being savage to being civilized = very aggressive and selfish into very modest and selfless. = from being like Rudy Schellekens’ mindset to being like Dr. Ravitch’s mindset.”
  
  You don’t have a clue about my personal life, what I am involved in etc. And yet – you proclaim me to be selfish.
  
  “In short, it takes time to go through all hardships and being survival with the help of kindness from seen (strangers) and unseen Angels, so that people will ultimately believe in compassion and will be voluntarily PUBLIC SPIRITED…”
  
  Being public spirited… You really did not follow all of this, or you would have noticed the times I mentioned philanthropic work done by the rich such as Gates, Bezos, etc. I may not agree with Buffett’s support of abortion causes, but he IS giving a lot of money to that cause.
  
  Hospitals, musea, you name it, would not be able to provide what they do if it wasn’t for people who are rich – be it millions or billions.
  
  Local university hospital has received boatloads of money from local wealth. Sure, there are buildings now with their name on it – but YOU did not give the money to enable a new children’s hospital to be built.
  
  My youngest granddaughter spend almost 10 weeks in Comers Childrens’ Hospital.
  “Comer’s love for the city of Chicago has always remained a driving force in the family philanthropy. His support enabled the opening of the Gary Comer Youth Center that houses Gary Comer College Prep, a charter school on the South Side of Chicago. He also contributed more than $84 million to establish and expand the Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago as well. After driving through the old South Side neighborhood that he grew up in 1999, Comer wrote over $86 million in checks to revitalize the impoverished, gang-run area he used to call home.”
  
  He too, was a “self-made” man. I am extremely thankful for people like him, who take their responsibilities serious. Without people like him, My granddaughter would not be alive today.
  
  Try this one:
  
  https://www.looktothestars.org/charity/st-jude-childrens-research-hospital
  
  ALL of them rich people, some of them very, very rich – and without their support, there would not be any hope for kids with cancer diagnoses.
  
  Shriner’s hospital – same thing. because of donations from rich people, kids have hope, and parents don’t have to worry about bills.
  
  So the next time you want to spout off about wealth, you may want to take a look around your neighborhood, and ask yourself who supports the hospitals, libraries, schools, people…
  
  You mentioned “unseen angels,” a biblical reference. Allow me to do the same. “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share..”
  
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m4potw says:

January 17, 2017 at 12:45 pm

To Rudy Schellekens:

Yes, I have read your blog in this website.

However, you did not seem to understand the string attachment and conditions which corporate imposes on INNOCENT people and GOP. Please refer to Gates and his Common Cores; Devos and her donation to Republican Party. These two examples are shown that Gates and Betty Devos admit their selfish GOALS behind their deeds = making more PROFIT in billions + gaining more control over AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONS by destroying Union and Public Education.

The buffet that I use to imply that savage people eat and waste food even they are overfull because they think they pay and have the right to do so, whereas civilized people eat and finish whatever to be in their taste and within their fullness.

In the same vein, corporate abuses their corrupted power and wealth to drive worker into MODERN SLAVERY = no “Liberal Arts” education, but religious under UN-certified and NO-background verification teaching staff = “hidden” criminal and pervert !

They are very rich, but they still do not want to pay DECENT wages, medicare, and pension to their workers. Yes, they keep squeezing and controlling workers’ lives because they think they have the right from CORRUPTED power and wealth.

IMHO, life is like a buffet. People can be killed because they poison their body from being greedy and overeating, whereas civilized people, who are sharing, exchanging and caring of knowledge about buffet, will bring happiness and harmony to all participants.

Please be open minded and accept life as it is. It is ONLY FAIR whenever people truly and deeply understand or empathize/ admire without jealousy others’ abilities and limitations.

Thank you Rudy for giving me a chance to explain my opinion. I hope that you can see through corporate’s intention with their donation. May

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