Left In Lowell

You Get What You Pay For

8 Responses to “You Get What You Pay For”

1. Anonymous Says:
   June 13th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

   Great diary.

2. Josh Says:
   June 13th, 2009 at 5:42 pm

   “We have spent the last 20-30 years slashing taxes (mostly for the wealthy).”

   Honestly, what planet are you on?
   http://www.marginalrevolution.com/.a/6a00d8341c66b253ef01157062753a970b-pi

3. Lynne Says:
   June 13th, 2009 at 7:19 pm

   What planet are you on?

   http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=139

   http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CYZ/is_2_32/ai_n14919401/

   http://www.truthandpolitics.org/top-rates.php

   We reduced the tax rates on the richest drastically under Reagan, because he moronically believed the supply-siders; subsequently had to bring them up a little because his budget was a mess. They went up marginally during Bush I and Clinton again because they had to. Clinton balanced the budget.

   Then under Bush they went down again.

   Similar story with corporate and Wall St taxes.

   So you tell me, where were you all that time?

4. Mimi Says:
   June 14th, 2009 at 8:42 am

   Warren’s arguments would have more validity if he encouraged CM Lynch to continue trying to save money by doing things like hiring seasonal help to prepare the parks; or encourage the Superintendent’s office to pursue ways of privatizing the lunch program.

   Both of these actions were an attempt to cost savings measure without compromising the quality of service to the City.

   But as we all know CM Lynch got vilified by the majority of the City Council and well, we all know what happened to the Superintendent. The City Council competed to see who could say “1705” the most in one sentence.

   Bernie was trying to eliminate positions to bring greater efficiency rather than the old formula of last-in, first-out. And what did he get for that? Read today’s the Sun’s Column.

   So if Warren, Shawn and the rest of WCAP’s Saturday morning gang does not want additional taxes, they should begin the movement to call for privatization and regionalization. And they should begin it by influencing the City Councilors in Lowell and Selectman and Selectwoman in the adjoining towns.

   For the record, I am willing to pay the extra 2% and I will continue to go out to eat in Lowell, not N.H., not Dracut and not Chelmsford.

5. joe from Lowell Says:
   June 14th, 2009 at 5:37 pm

   Josh,

   Linking to a table about expenditures doesn’t address the statement “We have spent the last 20-30 years slashing taxes (mostly for the wealthy).”

   In fact, we have done both - increased expenditures while slashing taxes mostly for the wealthy.

6. lowellgal411 Says:
   June 15th, 2009 at 1:54 pm

   I agree with Josh. What planet are you living on?

   And I’m giving paragraphs a try for Ned who is concerned with how I stucture my reponses. Enjoy Ned.

   http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2008/04/the_rich_and_their_taxes.html

   The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan entity like the IRS concludes that the richest 1 percent pay an even higher real tax rate than the IRS figures—31 percent of income.

   How much more do you want them to pay? And I’m not rich. But I pay a heck of a lot in taxes. As most rich folks do. I’m squarely in the middle clas. Many low income Americans pay zero in taxes and access many more services.

   Just curious, what percentage would be enough for you? I can never understand why people feel other people’s money is their money? They worked hard for it, not anyone else. The government will just keep taking more and more. It never ends. And it doesn’t ever make it down to the people who need it most. The more money they have the larger government gets. It never means they’ll do the right thing with it.

   That’s why I’d prefer to give to charity. At least then I know its getting to the people who need it most. If government keeps taking it I won’t have any left to give to organizations that use it wisely. National government does a horrible job getting services to those that need it most. State government does a mediocre job and local government does an average job. Is that really where we want to send our money? Not me.

7. Mr. Lynne Says:
   June 15th, 2009 at 2:11 pm

   The article leaves a little to be desired:
   “Over 25 years, in fact, the percentage of the federal income tax bill paid by the wealthiest Americans has doubled, even as it has shrunk for all others.”

   Wish he would cite a source for that.

   John pointed out Josh’s original mistake in that looking at expenditures in isolation, one can’t actually conclude much about taxes.

   Your cite makes a similar problem. You can’t actually conclude much about income taxes by only looking at taxes and ignoring income.

   All of his citing of percentiles doesn’t really mean anything until you also look at the actual income distribution. That is, if the top 1% pays more than twice the proportion of income taxes now than in 1980, but they are also making 10% the relative income from 1980, then the whole premise as being ‘outrageous’ falls on it’s face. Conveniently, he doesn’t mention any income data… data that is very necessary to properly evaluate if ‘twice as much’ is too much.

   I’ll file this under worthless.

   The planet we come from is the planet where we like to analyze reality, not isolate chunks of data to make a partisan point.

8. Lynne Says:
   June 15th, 2009 at 2:14 pm

   Oh Lowellgal…sad.

   Guess you don’t like passable roads, cleared of snow in the winter, schools that are helping all of us (even the childless) by increasing our economic capacity for the future, universities that are (well, less and less these days) accessible to any student who does well enough to deserve a college education, or unemployment insurance for the time you might get laid off? Among the hundreds of other services you take part in using all the time?

   Have a nice society with that hole in the ground you stick your head in.

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