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MagiK, only recently have I really started to see the problem in stimulating the economy. Look, in plain and simple terms that I've taken a lot more space to detail before, I'll postulate a few things:
1. I agree that the poor usually take more from the system than they put in. If assistance programs do not convince you of this, also factor in the wages and jobs to run programs like AFDC, food stamps, and (especially) deportation, child support, and other free legal service systems.
2. It is plain that the tax code is well-used by most persons of means to avoid losing much at all of their income. Even in the highest (about 50%, 40% federal, 10% state) tax bracketts in the nation, anyone making $150K+ per year can easily keep enough money invested and moving to avoid the vast majority of their tax burden.
3. However, it's the $25K - $100K families that end up absorbing the burden. Just rich enough to be in the 40% bracket (32% fed, 8% state), just poor enough to not have extra funds to keep their money tied up (i.e. not taxed). Too poor to start a business and free themselves, or looking at just scaping by and playing a tough odds game if they do bet the "family farm" and start their own business. Poor enough that insurance really hurts, but too rich to access health care programs for the poor.
It's this group, the burden-bearing group that I'd like to see better themselves. But how? The group is quite diverse - and in fact the majority in the country. Some are budding professionals, and fall on the democrat side. SOme are pulled toward the common-sense notions and "family values" diatribe that republicans have claimed as their own in recent years. How do you fix the problems for these folks.
The folks who get an SBA Loan on a hope and a prayer that they won't make a mistake and go broke. Not the Whitewater-scamming conclaves of wealthy who misuse SBA by obtaining dozens of "small business" loans and then running real estate schemes. The folks who cough up an unjust $300 a month to keep their family under a shitty HMO plan, yet still have a $500 deductible when someone gets sick. The ones who buy car insurance at high premiums because they just can't afford the risk.
It is the group no one targets in these discussions, and being in the "middle" is very much where I'm seeking to explore ideas.
Okay, [img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img] off.
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