Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Sims
Declaring something an excessive entitlement and reducing it after it was awarded and agreed upon legally and in good faith is a slippery slope. All fortunes and property of any consequence depend on the civilization and infrastructure in which we exist. The "self made man" is a myth if one is referring to anything of significance - "no man is an island." For example Pelican Parts couldn't exist without the external physical infrastructure we all paid for/subsidized. Therefore, it can be argued that anything can be renegotiated (or effectively confiscated). Nothing really belongs to anyone, if society decides otherwise. It could be decided that the true cost of Moses's medical education was only a fraction of what he paid and therefore he suddenly owes three million more dollars to pay for the full share. There are myriads of other examples from the value of military flight training when one leaves the service to the fortunes made in real estate or the financial markets. It isn't one guy all by his lonesome making the fortune. The argument of reducing retirement benefits due to other income could be extended to all income - why does anyone need more that $50K (or $100K or whatever amount) to live? Why not tax anything above that amount at confiscatory levels. Be careful what you propose for others; it could be applied to you.
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Don't give me any ideas.
Bring on the flat tax with NO exemptions, credits or deductions and I'll be satisfied pensions and all. Eliminate the IRS. The Treasury Dept sans the IRS could handle that. There would be no refunds.
I know I digress and I know that my "buddy's" pension will be an anomaly soon. When we get
entitlements plus medical to an equilibrium across the population, we will be much better off. I'm sick and tired of the spreading of the upper class and the lower class with shrinkage of the middle class. At this point, I consider the potential 200K income of my "buddy" to be upper class, although it isn't.
That's another point as well. His salary and his retirement are based on the cost of living in CA. Now he takes his money and flees to ID displacing or adding to the population off ID. He makes their cost of living higher and they have no way to achieve parity. Don't argue that fact, it's true.