http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/09/03/edwards.tax.returns/index.html For all the talk Kerry/Edwards are doing on how Bush has divided the country into haves and have nots, don't they realize that they are in the haves? How are these guys "representing" the have nots? I'm not saying Bush is the Moses of the middle class but in my opinion he's actually more in touch with them than either Kerry or Edwards. FYI: Of the 4 Prez/VP candidates George Bush has the lowest net worth. Not saying he's poor because I'd like to switch bank accounts with him.
Edwards story is no different than ARnold's American dream story. Don't you realize that ARnold is a Have? Yet he talks about coming from oppression and hard times to live the American dream. (Arnold also lies about seeing Soviet Tanks and being under their occupation) Edwards came from very humble beginnings, and was definitely in the have-nots. He worked his way up to the Haves. IT's the American dream. Or do you think only the GOP are allowed to live the AMerican dream and talk about it? Edwards knows what his roots are. Edwards has lived the life of those that struggle to get by. George Bush hasn't even come close.
The thing that despises me against Edwards is that his son died tragically..... so he went into politics. When he got into politics he said "don't make my son's dying an issue". I've heard that story every time he's been introduced. Edwards: Your son would be proud.
What do you know of the legal profession? Does trial lawyer always mean ambulance chaser? What about the small bit of a justice he got for the family of a young girl who was killed when a company put a knowingly defective drain system in a pool, and that family lost their daughter. Was that ambulance chasing? What about trial lawyers who fight corporations who discriminate against people, and sue the prejudiced folks that are guilty of that? Is that ambulance chasing? I'll be the first to say that there way too many frivilous law suits. That does not mean that all Trial lawyers are ambulance chasers. I hate frivilous law suits, and I don't think much of people who pursue them. On lawsuit involved the daughter of an extremely wealthy man being in a fender bender with a guy who didn't have insurance. The guy was driving an Enterprise rental car. Even though it was just a fender bender, the Rich and powerful man chose to sue Enterprise. Totally frivilous. By the way the man who chose to sue Enterprise was George W. Bush.
All PI attorneys is to broad a brush stroke. That said, half of my clients when I was at MSDW were attorneys. A lot were PI guys. They weren't bad people, but they all saw dollar signs at every tragedy. I see that as a flawed view, period. Edwards was no different. He made money off of other people's woes.
FFB - Where exactly does Edwards say he joined politics specifically because of his son? Do you not believe that your life experiences often dictate the path you choose to go in life? Should the things that happen to you have no effect at all on what you choose to do? And just because it's a factor in his decision doesn't mean he has to talk about it. If he never ever discusses it, then that's that. If you think he only brings it out when it's politically advantageous, that's a different story. Say that instead of dissing the fact that his son's death actually affected what he wanted to do with his life. halfbreed - Please do me a favor and look up the following (the answer is blatantly obvious, but this will be an interesting exercise): 1) Bush's income for the past decade 2) Cheney's income for the past decade 3) Kerry's income for the past decade 4) the average income for a US Congressperson in the past decade 5) your city mayor's income for the past decade Compare. Contrast. Odds are that if you are in politics (in these days, and it's been this way for a while), you are a have. Duh.
Stereotype, no? Okay - so if I said that all the people I've seen and heard about from MSDW are a bunch of pricks who exist simply to con old people into buying and selling so they can make their commissions, can I say the same about you? You make money by lying to people about stocks so you can make your commissions. You make money off of people's insecurities about securities.
BFD There hasn't been a working man on the national political scene since Harry Truman. Even the ex-generals and underpaid governors are taken care of by their "friends". Lawyering is about as close as any come to really earning their millions. But Fatty if you'll support us over on the demoratic side atleast we will tax'em.
Gene - the top 2% of Americans already pay over 80% of the total taxes, so I'm pretty sure they're already getting taxed. I'm not saying they can't afford it but if we're all equal shouldn't we all have an equal share in footing the bill for our country?
If the top 2% of wage earners in America can afford to foot 80% of the bill and still stay that wealthy we aren't all equal. Please don't give me the myth about how they worked hard and earned their wealth. That is true for some of them, but others like our President was a failure at every business he ever ran. He got into Yale because of connections, ran businesses because of connections, etc. A working class person would never have the opportunities he has had. Do I feel bad about him paying a large share of taxes? No. Did everyone have an equal chance to get to the same position he's in? No. Look at most of the Presidents, CEO's etc. and many of them had connections and opportunities that others didn't have. I'm not saying that many of them haven't done a good job, or that I would even change the system that allows that. But please don't talk about equality and the tax code.
Hmm on one hand , a guy pays more taxes so now he can't afford to get a new mercedes every year. On the other , a guy pays more taxes so now he can't pay his rent. That's the logic that allowed the Congress to pass the graduated income tax as the law of the land in the United States. Call it socialism if you want, but it is the logic of compassion. The truth of the matter is that most all of the people that make mega-millions a year make it because they have achieved a position where they control the system not because they work that hard, take that much risk or are even that smart. They are smart enough to let banks and investors take the risk, they are smart enough to organize people to work for them. Hell, Ken Lay was making 30 million a year and now wants to defend himself saying he didn't really know what the company was doing. Then what was he doing for the $30 million. I'm sure you don't believe Mark Cuban 'worked' for his 2 Billion. If I were the king of the US I would tax 100% of earnings over a million bucks a year allowing a $1 credit for every two dollars of charitable giving. If you can't be rich on a million bucks a year, you need to cut back your conspicous consumption.
Don't punish people for having wealthy parents. People work hard to provide for themselves and their children and their children's children, etc. Socialism is definitely not the answer. The only thing that needs to happen is the abolition of the IRS and the institution of a national sales tax on all non essential goods.
You realize that if we did this, anyone making close to $1mm would never invest or do anything that would increase their income since they would never see any benefit. As a result this would r****d growth and job creating drastically. The same thing happens when you put the higher tax rate at a ridiculous levels. Of course what is a ridiculous level is up for much debate, but clearly anything this drastic would be horrendous.
They could still make money and keep $1 for every $2 they give away. But I don't think there is any danger of anyone appointing me to the position of King anyway.
I would say Edwards is an ambulance chaser because he used junk science to convince a jury that caesarian sections cause cerebal palsy- a total lie. But the jury believed his bull**** and awarded his clients millions and made Edwards a rich man. He lined his pockets at the expense of innocents and personally contributed to the rise in health care costs that he and that liar Kerry b**** about continually! What a fricking hypocrite. And you want to elect this sonuvabitch vice president one heartbeat away from replacing John "I'm Just a Gigolo" Kerry as President? He is without honor and made his money off of lies, making him.....a professional liar. link
So Gene - if you hit the lottery what you're saying is you would approve of you only keeping 1 million of it and the government taking the rest of it away unless you donated money to charity?
I'm not punishing anyone for having wealthy parents. But I don't feel bad about taxing them either. My comment was only meant to pre-empt the myth that people who are wealthy are wealthy because they worked hard to get that way, deserve to keep all of their hard earned money. I don't mind anyone being rich. I only mean that not everyone who is rich is rich because of their 'hard earned' money.
