It is the tax rate of the upper-level taxpayers that IS the problem. They could and should be paying at a higher rate than they currently are. This is DANGEROUS because now the money to run the Federal Government must come from the US middle-class. This WEAKENS the middle class. A weak middle class is bad for ANY country. It stifles competition and decreases upward mobility. In the 1950s the US had a strong middle class (which is us, we owe our semi-luxury life here in TV Land to OUR STRONG MIDDLE CLASS AND UPWARD MOBILITY that we enjoyed back then) In the 50s the US had greater upward mobility than the UK - now it is reversed. And many people are not even aware of that fact. The US is today ONLY about 20th or 30th on world lists of qualities of social strength and welfare.
......WE enjoyed all the benefits of a strong middle class, but 20-year-olds today do NOT have that benefit. They will have a tougher life than we had. For those who wonder how and why this happened, you can just look for the changes in tax policy that NOW benefits the upper class at the EXPENSE of the middle class. The rich HAVE gotten richer from 1950 to today. There are other factors,YES!, but tax changes are a BIG factor and often overlooked.
.......There are more Elon Musk types around today than in the 1950s and also many, MANY more millionaires (even if the cost of living changes are taken into consideration). Because of this middle-class weakening, the US is more vulnerable to social disruption of various kinds from external forces like dark media and Russian trolls, internal forces like white supremacists, and wealthy individual cult-like strongmen. A strong middle class is KNOWN to be necessary for democracy to flourish!

Probably more than all of them combined...

And all of the Teslas stoped running too. 🤪🤣

The US has always had people PUSHING for "smaller federal government". They do this because they would like to pay LESS than their fair share of taxes. They are the same type of people that are always running at the mouth about "states rights". They would eliminate ALL social services if they could. They are the few, the rich, and the Fascists!

Some people do push for a smaller federal govt because the fed govt is rather inefficient and once a program start almost never comes to an end.

Guess you do not realize that many of these rich people whom you hate make investments and supply millions of jobs. To you that is a bad thing apparently better to let the govt control means of production.

Lots of people now do not pay fed income taxes but most of the middle class does and their taxes are spent very inefficiently and if you do not understand this no point discussing this further with you.

The amount is irrelevant. Percentages are what matter.

Exactly!

"Once a program starts it almost never comes to an end".......Are you talking about the OIL Companies being paid by the taxpayer to look for and drill for oil? Is that "efficient private enterprise" or is it corporate corruption ripping off the taxpayer?
.....As far as rich people go.......I like Warren Buffet, John Kerry, some Hollywood actors, directors, producers, and also Magic Johnson. Greed, corruption, and collusion often go hand in hand with wealthy people. Read the origin story of M.Zuckerding of Facebook and see a TRUE SLEAZE IN OPERATION.(or watch the movie). Recently the Disney CEO impressed me.
...........please say that you agree with my saying that a strong country needs a strong middle class. And I PROVED how the middle class is being weakened over time by changes in the tax brackets. EVERYONE agrees with me that a 20-year-old today will NOT expect future generations to be better off. Our generation was one of the last to expect future generational improvement. The US has regressed since 1950!

Define "Fair Share"...

And who are the "Fascists" who would get rid of "ALL social services"? I've never heard a single person claim to want that...

As for people "always running at the mouth"... Well... Nah, too easy...

So, the nearly 50% of people who pay ZERO % in Federal Income Tax, how much should they pay?

The oil companies are "being paid"? Please show me who's paying them and exactly how much the check is for...

You sound like the Congressional Bartender, who claimed Amazon was being given money to open a facility in her district. The deal gave some tax incentives (no actual payments), but the tax revenue from the business and the people working there would have dwarfed the tax breaks (which were NEVER int the form of payment)...

But, since she worked so hard to block the deal, her district got ZERO jobs, ZERO increase in tax revenue, NOTHING...

VA received all of the benefits, from the thousands of new jobs, the $millions in increased tax revenues and the additional businesses that will open to support the new Amazon facility...

Sucks for Harlem, great for Crystal City, VA...

I must be the odd one out!:ohdear:

Theories luckily are not facts
 

But I appreciate musk as he's the Ford of our century. He is the Einstein of our century. Just think what he could do if he had unlimited money? Wait a minute I think he's doing it.

You got to love a person that actually puts his money where his mouth is.
He is actually said that he would take the office building in San Francisco that Twitter is in that is now empty and give it all over to the homeless of San Francisco.

Most of the 1% of the 1 percenters have actually been done giving some of their money away to do good in this world. Gates and his ex-wife have given several billion and musk is doing the same but since he's much younger I think he's keeping his money now so he can do even more later. I am a big reader of science fiction and it's incredible how much has come true in the last 10 or 20 years. Musk is the person you read about and ayn Rands foundation trilogy. They get things done through their Force of nature mentality and brilliance of mind. That's also not forget that his father like many others was an immigrant to this country and I appreciate the fact that musk is giving back creating plenty of jobs and paying lots of taxes just like the folks who invented Walmart, fedex, and Amazon. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. And also remember what's good for GM is good for the country you can substitute Elon musk in the last sentence. Yes I am in love with that man for everything he's done. Tens of thousands of people have internet because of him, the government has saved billions because his rocket ships are hundreds of millions of less to launch then ULA any truly believes that his solar power companies are good for the ecology as well as his cars

Very well said and so very true