Do you think that it's people who make less than $100,000 who make up most of the memberships in private clubs?
In Australia and the UK, yes. In the US, no.
It's not untypical for annual costs for "Small Group" plans to run $ 6,000 to $ 8,000 to $ 10,000 and higher for Single coverage and $ 15,000 to $ 20,000 to $ 30,000 and higher for Family coverage.
Not long ago, I saw a mediocre plan where the Single rate was $ 26,000 and the Family rate $ 50,000.
The problem is US health care costs in general, not Obamacare. Why did it cost my parents $600 in 1971 to have my broken arm set?
In short, the hard working Middle Class is getting gashed.
The hard working middle class has been getting gashed for the last 30 years. Their jobs have disappeared overseas.
All of a sudden, hard working people whose compensation is salary or salary and bonus, EARNED INCOME, subject to about a 65 % tax rate in NJ are now miraculously earning money solely through Capital gains. This is typical reasoning from people ignorant of the facts.
Can you please tell me which part of the following paragraph is incorrect then Patrick?
"While the top marginal tax rate on ordinary income is 39.6 percent, average rates that a household in the upper income bracket pays are less. Much of the earnings of those in the top income bracket come from capital gains, interest and dividends, which are taxed at a maximum of 20 percent. Also, only income up to $106,800 is subject to payroll taxes of 15.3%, which are paid by the employer and employee, which further reduces the effective rate."
Something else you should know.
When people invest their money, the put it at RISK, and, in order to be subject to Capital Gains rates, they have to hold that investment, they can't churn it at will.
Can you please tell me how much of his own money Henry Paulsen risked when he sold his Goldman stock in 2006?
Your understanding that Fortune 500 companies are the sum total of commerce in the U.S. is beyond moronic.
What about every local company that doesn't have any mulitinational income?
I never said Fortune 500 companies are the sum total of commerce in the US. You, for some strange reason, undoubtedly believe I implied it.
And every local company that doesn't have multinational income pays more because those that do escape paying.
What you haven't learned is that when the Government gets more money, they spend more money, they incur more debt, they don't pay the debt down.
I agree. The US governments have been quite good at spending all of that (borrowed) money on needless wars, instead of affordable health care, affordable education and other quality public services. That's why the USA is a moribund, and, in reality, third world nation. If it wasn't for the Chinese willing to lend you the money you need to function, you would have been declared bankrupt before the turn of the previous century and learning Mandarin.
Try having a wife and three kids and then tell me how well your family is doing on your $ 20,000 a year income.
Why are people earning only $20,000 a year having three kids?
Why are there people in the USA only earning $20,000?
You're studying ?
Evidently, you missed the class on common sense.
I have been studying Musculoskeletal Therapy - common sense doesn't come into it.
Listen you moron.
I don't need some wet behind the ears student to tell me how to live my life or earn a living.
I've done quite well without your inexperienced, naive, misguided advice.
So have many other sociopaths that have made it in business.
Spoken like a true moron.
Industry has been destroyed by the likes of you, who demonized hard work and success.
By those who burdened business with onerous legislation and taxes, who forced businesses to move or perish.
Yes, there's nothing like the burden of worker's compensation insurance, workplace health and safety legislation and environmental regulations to send a company scurrying to China so they can dump all of those carcinogenic chemicals in the local wetlands and rivers without being called to account.
How old are you and what experience do you have in the work force in the U.S and U.K?
I'm 48. I worked for a few months in the UK in 1987, six months in Canada in 1987, and I had a lemonade stand in Santa Maria California in 1972. Unfortunately it went bust when I tried to expand into Twinkies and didn't read the market correctly.
What moronic professor told you that?
No one. It's a well documented fact. Wages, in real terms, for the vast majority of workers in the USA, have declined since Reagan was elected.
So China and the developing world have nothing to do with the cost of raw materials like coal and oil.
Given the cost of petrol in the UK and Australia is largely made up of tax, then no. The cost of utilities in those countries has skyrocketed because private enterprise has taken over monopolistic public services and doesn't have to compete.
I thought you were a student, earning $20,000 a year.
How old were you 20 years ago?
28.
Which Mall, there are only a few of them.
I have no idea. I wasn't expecting to wander much around Bangor, given it's a somewhat rough place, or at least it was in 1992.
Doesn't the consumer benefit from competition in the Market Place?
No. Because there is no competition. That's a myth peddled by Free Market advocates like yourself.
For better or worse, the world has moved away from "Mom & Pop" stores, just curious as to how you classify the introduction of a Mall, with hundreds of vendors, "unadulterated capitalism"?
Because the malls are full of chain stores run by conglomerates who only give back to the community when there is a PR benefit to doing so - kind of like the Hells Angels. Because they sell things people want, not need. Because there is no choice. Because they push out small suppliers in favour of cheap and nasty products imported from third world countries.
In case you haven't noticed, the U.S. has been trending in that direction for decades, ever since industry and manufacturing were driven to foreign shores by excessive regulation and taxes.
Industry and manufacturing have been driven away because it is cheaper to pay Chinese peasants $5 a week for a 15 hour day. No other reason. Aside from companies like GM, Ford and Chrysler, whose declining position is due to the ego and incompetence of its managers.
So, these courses are boring ?
Which ones are long ?
Which ones have you played ?
And, from what tees did you play.
I haven't played any TPC courses. Given what I see on TV, I have no desire too. I have played the others. They are all long. And boring. And unimaginative. I played from the middle tees on some holes, the back tees on some holes and the forward tees when it didn't look like I could make a forced 250 yard carry over impenetrable bracken.
How many times have you played Sandy Hills, and do you think the world needs more courses like it?
Last I looked, Trump's courses were doing fairly well, membership wise.
Which of his courses have you played ?
I haven't played any Trump courses. I may play Trump Scotland next time I am there. Do you think Trump's courses and members are going to help foster and develop the game?
You IMPLIED it, please reread your typed words.
I haven't implied anything Patrick. You have read into it what you want to suit your own arguments.