Hacker News Reader

Comment by blackbagboys | Hacker News Reader

Why do we - ordinary workers and students - have to drink the “spinach juice”? Why not the people who have amassed utterly unprecedented amounts of wealth and power?

View on HN

Because there is so much more money in the “ordinary workers and students” subset of society than there is in the top 0.x%.

Not on an individual basis.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic.

FWIW, in 2011 the top 0.01% earned 5% of national income, the top 0.1% earned 10%, and the top 1% earned 20%. Source: http://ritholtz.com/2011/10/forget-the-top-1-look-at-the-top...

In 2016 the top 25% earned 51% of national income. Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/203247/shares-of-househo...

All those filthy rich grad students pulling in $20-35k/yr!

You can eliminate all tax deductions, tax the wealthy, and cut middle class taxes at the same time. All of that requires that everyone in society drink some "spinach juice" though. Of course doing those three things are politically impossible in the current environment, but that's a different problem.

Because, despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, raising other peoples' taxes isn't going to be enough. We're going to have to raise yours, too.

Ordinary workers aren't the main beneficiaries of retirement savings plans. It's the people that can afford $20K/yr to save that benefit.

Taxes are that fantastic thing that does good to everyone, specially when other people pay it.

Because ordinary workers and students don't or aren't able to effectively exercise political power, ceding the polity to those who do so.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com