DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Five things we learned from Tuesday's GOP debate

**gugamotina** · 10-21-2011, 06:09 PM

I generally agree with you on many things - but this argument is kinda silly.

The man who makes $5 is "compelled" to spend the same as the $10 fellow because the kids need to be fed, clothed, housed... the car payments and mortgage still need to be paid, and of course American healthcare is still monstrously more expensive than anywhere else in the civilized world.

Now granted, the rich man will have "nicer" things than the poor man, but those basic expenses - housing, car, kids, healthcare... those expenses exist no matter what your income is.

The middle class has less to spare, has a harder time "making ends meet" than the rich. Its basic fact that a flat tax rate shifts the burden from the backs of the rich onto the backs of the middle class and poor... which is exactly what the Republicans and the corporations want.

I simply speak of living within one's means. A person has to be well below the poverty line before it comes to the point they can't afford the basic necessities of living. Any member of the middle class and much of the lower class can realistically contribute 80% of their earnings to immediate and necessary expenditures and retain 20% towards savings should they wish to do so. The problem is, many choose not to. They not only buy every new item around them but they put themselves in thousands of dollars of debt (I'm not talking about mortgages here) and pay the minimums. Choices have consequences, I think it no great disservice to require Americans to live with some of the negative consequences of their poor lifestyle choices, it's a far better alternative to enabling dependancy where they continue to languish because they automatically assume they will be taken care of, by an institution that eventually will not be able to afford it.

10-21-2011, 06:09 PM	#22
gugamotina Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 413 Senior Member	I generally agree with you on many things - but this argument is kinda silly. The man who makes $5 is "compelled" to spend the same as the $10 fellow because the kids need to be fed, clothed, housed... the car payments and mortgage still need to be paid, and of course American healthcare is still monstrously more expensive than anywhere else in the civilized world. Now granted, the rich man will have "nicer" things than the poor man, but those basic expenses - housing, car, kids, healthcare... those expenses exist no matter what your income is. The middle class has less to spare, has a harder time "making ends meet" than the rich. Its basic fact that a flat tax rate shifts the burden from the backs of the rich onto the backs of the middle class and poor... which is exactly what the Republicans and the corporations want. I simply speak of living within one's means. A person has to be well below the poverty line before it comes to the point they can't afford the basic necessities of living. Any member of the middle class and much of the lower class can realistically contribute 80% of their earnings to immediate and necessary expenditures and retain 20% towards savings should they wish to do so. The problem is, many choose not to. They not only buy every new item around them but they put themselves in thousands of dollars of debt (I'm not talking about mortgages here) and pay the minimums. Choices have consequences, I think it no great disservice to require Americans to live with some of the negative consequences of their poor lifestyle choices, it's a far better alternative to enabling dependancy where they continue to languish because they automatically assume they will be taken care of, by an institution that eventually will not be able to afford it.
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