Posted Mon, Oct 24, 4:24 p.m.

This headline is bogus. It is a misstep on the part of Crosscut. The article does not say that Obama will win, just that he is using FDR's tactics.

Posted Tue, Jul 26, 8:16 p.m.

What ever happened to just using good judgment? What every happened to freedom? Must the government dictate everything we do? More legislation around hiring practices simply makes hiring more expensive. When hiring is more expensive, employers do less of it. Go start your own business. Then let's see what your ...

Posted Mon, Jun 27, 8:38 p.m.

And one more thing, we do not need any more short term fixes, we need long-term solutions in America. Cut out the crap. No temporary payroll tax tricks. This does not help long-term employment. And it promotes gaming the system and jumping though hoops to get the credit for employees ...

Posted Mon, Jun 27, 8:33 p.m.

Why not raise the taxes on the 50% of Americans who pay no income taxes rather than raising the taxes on the 10% top earners who pay 70% of the tax? Taxes have consequences. Our tax rates are plenty high enough right now. Cut spending. I said, CUT SPENDING. Ted's ...

Posted Mon, Mar 7, 12:50 p.m.

Sarah90, I don't understand your point. Yes, African Americans have made very good progress over the last 50 years too. Look at our president. Am I missing something?

Posted Wed, Mar 2, 4:21 p.m.

Gees, what is it with you people! The capitalist system is not perfect. However, it is the best system we have come up with yet for increasing the standard of living for all people, including the poor people. My statement is simply that IN GENERAL salaries and wages are based ...

Posted Wed, Mar 2, 10:41 a.m.

To argus: You pose a number of examples. Several are not on point, but I will comment anyway. Remember that this discussion is about the variation of salaries in the workplace. I do not know if W worked hard at Yale. Neither do you. Bush came from a wealthy family. ...

Posted Tue, Mar 1, 11:46 a.m.

Fairer?? I take issue with your comment. What could be FAIRER than people getting paid what they are worth? And the market determines what people are worth. The market, by the way, is all of us. You said" "I’d suggest that this produces a fairer, more equitable workplace with a ...

Posted Fri, Feb 25, 11:47 a.m.

Good article, Ted. I liked your comment about how unions must align with the public will. And you did a nice job describing the virtuous circle in which the unions fund the politicians who negotiate pay with the unions. Here is an idea: Let's simply have a referendum to let ...

Posted Sat, Feb 5, 10:56 a.m.

Sarah90. No, you are wrong about that. Discretionary income among the middle class in America is DOUBLE that of Sweden. This after considering that everything is paid for, such as medical, education, etc. Sweden has one of the world’s highest top income tax rates (57 percent) and the value added ...

Posted Wed, Feb 2, 8:24 p.m.

GaryP, Are people in capitalist countries greedier than people in socialist countries? My thought is that people are the same the world over. Human nature is human nature. Capitalism pulled 500 million Chinese people out of poverty in the last few years. After several millennia of socialism. That ain't so ...

Posted Thu, Dec 16, 11:17 a.m.

Andy, I just saw your second post. You say "most of the very wealthy do not pay much income tax. Most of their wealth is in real estate, stocks, or stock options, etc. There are many loopholes for them to avoid taxes altogether." How could that possibly be true if ...

Posted Thu, Dec 16, 11:04 a.m.

Andy, good charts. I like them. My point was more about absolute than relative. I was not commenting on income growth or one year compared to another year. My point is that the top 1% earn 23% of the income and pay 40% of the taxes. Everyone is bitching about ...

Posted Wed, Dec 15, 5:47 p.m.

To R on Beacon Hill. You are wrong about this. Most businesses in America are small businesses. And almost all small businesses are taxed at the individual level. The business does not pay taxes because it is either an S Corp or an LLC. So, the individual tax rates are ...

Posted Wed, Dec 15, 4:35 p.m.

Dear lorenbliss, Could you please sum up your views in just one short paragraph? (If you used to be a journalist, you must have been paid by the word.) Capitalism has pulled more people out of poverty than any other system devised by mankind. It is not always fair and ...

Posted Tue, Dec 14, 3:50 p.m.

Good points dbreneman and PJS. How much should the rich pay in taxes? I mean, obviously, much more. But how much?? The top 1% of earners pay 40% of all income taxes right now. (I know, what a ripoff!) Is this fair? (They earn 23% of the income) They are ...

Posted Tue, Dec 14, 1:48 p.m.

There SHOULD be income disparity between college educated and everyone else. How could there not be? Only if education did not matter. Apparently, education DOES matter. This is not a bad thing. I think the United States is undergoing structural economic change. Gone are the days when someone with only ...

Posted Thu, Oct 28, 10:55 a.m.

The author is totally mis-characterizing the issue. It is not about convenience. The bigger question is: What is the proper role of government? Should the state government be in the business of selling liquor? My answer is a resounding NO. This is not a proper role of government. Period. The ...

Posted Tue, Oct 26, 3:39 p.m.

Fairness? How is it fair if one person pays 5% of their income and someone who earns less than $400K (married) pays absolutely nothing! That ain't fair in my book. Once again we have the makers and the takers. Not a good way to run a country or a state.

Posted Sat, Oct 23, 7:03 p.m.

DJ, you say "Wealth has become too concentrated." Why do you say this? How do you know that wealth has become too concentrated?

Posted Sun, Oct 17, 10:45 a.m.

To Stuka, You say: “the wealthy have advantages .. that allow them to build and maintain large fortunes with relatively little effort” Are you kidding me? Oh, yeah, that’s right we can just build and maintain large fortunes with relatively little effort. Please pass the hookah to me when you ...

Posted Sun, Oct 17, 10:21 a.m.

Sarah, Twisting the English language is not a good argument. To say, " property owners who are investors don't actually pay property tax; " is total BS. If you write a check to the government, you are paying taxes. Period. If you don't write a check to the government, you ...

Posted Fri, Oct 15, 4:16 p.m.

To Stuka -- "where the wealthy are oblivious to the fact that they are sucking the mother teat dry, leaving others hungry, and the runt to die." OR, "Do high wage earners have any real comprehension how lucky they are, and how their selfishness is destructive to society?" ??? You ...

Posted Wed, Oct 13, 5:36 p.m.

I agree with your first paragraph about the legitimate role of government. I am not sure how to respond to your ideas about toll roads,since I am not knowledgeable about that. It seems to me that private toll roads would work fine because the market mechanism would operate. I think ...

Posted Wed, Oct 13, 10:16 a.m.

GaryP -- You are taking the argument to a ridiculous extreme. No one said we should do away with government. We need the government and we need regulations. We should not count on the government to create jobs however, that is our role as free individuals in America. Serialcatowner -- ...

Posted Tue, Oct 12, 8:23 p.m.

Did you ever wonder where the government got the money to create those jobs? Is that a legitimate role of government...to put in gas stations, convenience stores or a casino? No, absolutely not. People can build their own stores and casinos. I do not want my tax money going to ...

Posted Thu, Oct 7, 10:08 p.m.

I take issue with your comment:"best chance for much progress will be if the Democrats barely hang on to their majorities." If the democrats pass any bills I would argue that it is not "progress." I do not view the healthcare bill as progress, the cap and trade bill as ...

Posted Tue, Sep 28, 9:52 p.m.

Do you realize how insane it is to have an election in which one group of people (the majority) vote to raise the taxes of another group (the minority)? America was not founded on these principles and neither should Washington State.

Posted Sun, Sep 26, 10:52 a.m.

Benmc, Your points are made quite elegantly. I agree wholeheartedly.

Posted Fri, Sep 24, 5:13 p.m.

For a computer science guy, you need to improve your logic. You bring up Canada's tax rate and then go on to tell three anecdotal stories about medical care that supposedly make your point that Canada's tax rate is good. This does not follow. Canada could have the best medical ...

Posted Fri, Sep 10, 11:51 a.m.

I think that any tax should apply equally to everyone. The same percentage. The wealthy will pay more this way. But it is patently unfair to tax some citizens and not others. That is not how America works and it is a bad precedent. In addition, I am opposed to ...

Posted Thu, Aug 19, 2:25 p.m.

I agree with fgruben. Let's get a tag for "idiotic"!!

Posted Wed, Aug 18, 3:15 p.m.

No. And the reason they do not want to be C Corps, like most large companies, is that then they will be taxed twice on the earnings.

Posted Wed, Aug 18, 1:18 p.m.

Y'all need to understand how small business is taxed. It absolutely amazes me how very few people understand this. This is important! I also own a small business. Every S Corp or LLC (and almost every small business is one of these structures) pays no business income taxes. The earnings ...

Posted Tue, Aug 17, 10:54 a.m.

I do not think it is fair if some people must pay a tax and others do not. If enacted, it should be the same percentage applied to everyone. Half the people in America do not pay taxes now. This just does not seem right. As a small business owner ...

Posted Tue, Apr 27, 10:29 a.m.

sdstarr: No, it does not work that way. Almost every small business is either an LLC or an S-Corp, so the company itself does not pay taxes; the profits flow through to the owner and the owner must pay taxes of these profits. Cash is not "reinvested into the business". ...

Posted Mon, Apr 26, 6:37 p.m.

smacgry: You are wrong in your assessment. I have sold small businesses for more than 20 years. The really successful ones make a lot of money, some well in excess of $500,000. Just because you don't know about them does not mean they do not exist. I do know them. ...

Posted Fri, Apr 2, 4:25 p.m.

How could the federal government forcing us to purchase something possibly be constitutional? Reading these posts is interesting. People in favor of the health care bill are anti McKenna and antiRepublican. People against the bill are for the constitutional challenge. The bias is wearisome. It clouds judgement and it clouds ...

Posted Mon, Mar 15, 11:07 a.m.

Well said, dbreneman. I agree wholeheartedly. One of the big problems with the healthcare discussion is that we are poorly defining the issues. As I see it, the two problems are (1) figure out a way to help those with no insurance and those with pre-existing conditions and (2) figure ...

Posted Sun, Mar 14, 7:38 p.m.

To lorenbliss: What are you referring to exactly when you use the terms Ruling Class and aristocracy?

Posted Sat, Mar 13, 10:11 a.m.

serial_catowner: The correlation between life expectancy and healthcare quality is minimal at best. Life expectancy is impacted by genetics, geography, lifestyle, eating habits, exercise habits, etc. How can you possibly use this as a meaningful measure of health care quality? The same is true of infant mortality. And cheapest means ...

Posted Thu, Mar 11, 11:18 a.m.

A couple of questions. To lorenbliss, You make some strong statements about capitalism. Question: What system would you prefer instead of capitalism? And a question for serial_catowner: If America does not have the best health care in the world, then which country does? I think America does by quite a ...

Posted Wed, Mar 10, 10:52 a.m.

I agree with dbreneman above that Obama is totally blinded by his ideology. My prediction is that the health care bill will fail and I sincerely hope that it does. The legislation is a total hairball. The poll numbers show the American people are opposed to Obamacare by a margin ...

Posted Fri, Feb 26, 1:14 p.m.

I watched the healthcare conference for several hours yesterday. It was a political spectacle. There is no common ground here. The parties are coming from polar opposite views about health care. The Democrats want comprehensive change and the Republicans want incremental change. The Democrats want the government heavily involved and ...

Posted Fri, Feb 19, 3:15 p.m.

Any organization must live within its budget. Period. It does not matter if it is a business, a city or a charitable organization. The City Seattle must cut. Of course, everything the city spends money on helps someone. But this money comes at a cost. This is not a utopia. ...

Posted Thu, Jan 28, 3:38 p.m.

It is not the government's job to create jobs. The free market economy creates jobs. Businesses create jobs. Politicians think they have to DO something. Taxing businesses and individuals and then using that money to create jobs makes absolutely no sense. The government is not smarter than business, it cannot ...

Posted Mon, Jan 25, 4:44 p.m.

Amen to — dbreneman who said "Doesn't any politician stand for the freedom of the individual anymore?" I totally agree with that sentiment.

Posted Thu, Jan 21, 5:49 p.m.

To PlugInMonster: Owning an airplane does not make one rich. I am not rich, not even close. (Some aircraft owners are rich, of course.) I know many airplane owners and none of them are rich. Flying is simply our hobby. Why tax my hobby on not someone else's hobby? Some ...

Posted Tue, Jan 19, 12:50 p.m.

Oh, this is a great idea. A more convoluted tax systems. Do not increase the taxes on my airplane. I pay a huge amount of my income in taxes. Selective taxation is not a good plan, nor is it fair. We all need the services that our taxes support, not ...