Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Hillary has been Trumped

Mmm. The most effective tax reform that Reagan instituted was his 1986 bill which most particularly benefitted the middle classes. It closed a lot of tax shelters, raised corporation tax and CGT while moderating income tax rates for individuals and raising tax thresholds; the top rate of tax came down from 50% to 28%, and while the base rate was increased from 11% to 15%, the upper threshold for this rate was pushed up from about $5K to about $30K. It was a bill that was supported by the democrats, and benefitted most working people.

One of the keys to the success of Reagan's reform was that it was overall a neutral measure; the cuts were funded by raising rates elsewhere and closing tax shelters. However, as many of them related to property investments this is blamed for contributing to the end of the early 80s property bubble and deepening the crisis in savings and loan companies.

Trumps proposals don't bear scrutiny that well http://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/trumps-tax-cut-claims/
What's more, his cuts and much of his program appear to be unfunded, so massive extra government borrowing is on the cards.

And American companies doing the same to us here in the UK and no doubt elsewhere...

You said That is really interesting to hear your feelings on recent events, we all felt similarly shocked at the outcome of the Brexit vote and pretty silly really. Mostly because it is seen as a retrograde step reverting back to the island thinking

I did not feel shocked or silly and I don't think it is a retrograde step at all, and most people in the country felt the same as me, they voted for leaving. I wish they would get on with it.

I could not agree more. I voted for brexit and as events unfold I feel fully vindicated. I wish the remoaners would stop their tactics of delay.

+1

I think by now the whole of Europe wants the UK to "get on with it", this situation is becoming silly and "Brexit means Brexit" will possibly go down in history as the definition of the early XXIst century's British humour.

I guess the UK was as much prepared for Brexit as Trump is prepared to be president of the USA. Fascinating times for the history books, dangerous (and grim) times for the ones living them.

I must say again, lets give Trump a chance, at least for the first 100 days.

Hillary also was not the 100% guard of peace. I.e. she wanted to surround China with atomic rockets in case they were too north Korea friendly.

Bit confused by the term blue collar middle class

The middle class is white collar surely?

And the working class is blue collar!

Typically this is where the ignorance of the pink collar in media is absorbed by the masses via the internet and don't question it and then it becomes the norm.

This is an issue that I have occasionally voiced on TM.

The middle class of small to medium business owners, shop keepers, foremen, factory managers, etc has been either wiped out or impoverished to the degree that they are no longer the well off segment that was the driving force of the economy. The new middle class is the salaried executives of financial institutions, big business, multinationals, and the fat cats of the public service. These people don't actually produce anything and there in lies the problem. They reduce costs to pay their extravagant salaries by reducing staff and moving production off shore. At the same time prices are increased to pay for "marketing" and advertising and, on the government side, taxes are increased.

Doesn't seem to occur to anyone that people who are struggling to put food on the table are not going to buy manufactured goods thus causing a downward spiral in the whole economy.

This is simply the result of the '70s and '80s philosophy of "Greed is good"

At this point there are not enough desperate people to start serious unrest, but how far off is that moment?

Great summary Peter. Agree wholeheartedly. Even in Portugal, never a good exemple of an industrialized country (far from it) it is depressing to see old industrial buildings abandoned all around Lisbon. And one can't understand just "where is everybody?"