Half the respondents of a new poll say taxing the richest Americans by at least 50 percent is a great idea, while more than a third consider Twitter a fad that will likely fade.
Those are among the findings of a new “60 Minutes”-Vanity Fair Poll released Sunday.
Nearly half of the respondents chose Wal-Mart as the institution that best symbolizes America today, leaving in the dust runners-up Google, Microsoft, the NFL, and the banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs.
Dining out was chosen most often by respondents as a luxury they hate sacrificing in these tough economic times. And 5 percent thought the best way to fight obesity among patrons of fast-food chains is to equip each restaurant with scales for them to weigh themselves.
A politician taking bribes is considered by far the greater sin (chosen by 37 percent of the respondents) when stacked against extramarital affairs (just 2 percent).
Check out the poll itself on a variety of topics and vote.
Of course Wal-mart best symbolizes America today.
Cheap crap made in foreign countries sold by a company that couldn’t give two shits less about their people.
These days, that sounds pretty American to me.
Half the respondents of a new poll say taxing the richest Americans by at least 50 percent is a great idea
Tax me some more and watch me raise the price of your bread.
Morons.
#1, Bingo.
They didn’t include being an illegal alien, its as American as Taco Bell.
#2 Exactly. What these idiots do not get is the so called rich are the same ones who pay them, feed them, cloth them etc.
I will stop as this will go over the heads of the wing nuts. This time left wing nuts.
LIEBERTARIANS==symbolized by the maggots in the animal carcasses on the side of the road-inconsequential road kill on unregulated corporatist fraudulent transfer of wealth from the middle class to the already rich.
Who really thinks “wealth” flows from the rich? Hah, hah. Yes, they are that stupid.
Small business is the prime engine of our econonmy, and very few small business owners ae in the top 5%. That the rich are an engine of support for the economy is an inflated line of bullshit.
That’s a big 50% of polled Americans who want to eat the rich. That is huge, baby, in any country. That is a total disenfranchisement of the wealthy from the population, maybe, 15% away from the sort of total popular irrelevance they suffer in the rest of the world. They then become a commodity, tolerated for their usefulness, taxed as a preventative measure to stop them from spreading and taking over. It means the end of the American dream, wealth isn’t aspired to, but widely despised.
Well, I guess that they must be correct when they ask me “Why do I hate America?” since I won’t set foot in a Walmart.
Maybe my answer should be the truth: “I won’t shop at Walmart because I love America.”
I’ll bet a lot of that 50% will crap themselves when they find out that Obama considers them part of “the rich.”
didn’t we see this cycle before in american history back in the early part of the 20th century when the rockerfellers and the mellons and such basically used monopolies to run the country? weren’t they getting rotten vegetables and stones thrown at them because of the obscene wealth compared to the masses?
#10–Gig==define “a lot.” Then STFU anyway. You can’t tax someone barely getting by and that is most of America these days and the percentage is only growing larger due to idiots like YOU!
Stooge.
#2 LibertyLover
Is that a threat? even with a tax break you’ve raised the price of bread.
Do you remember the French revolution? watch your assets.
#8, It means the end of the American dream, wealth isn’t aspired to, but widely despised.
Agreed.
#11-bobbo-…the percentage is only growing larger due to idiots like YOU!
Since you are one of the sheeple that helped put Obama the oppressor into office it only follows that you are also among the idiots you decry.
Hypocrite till the end.
Life in America circa 1960 when the top 5% of the wealthy in America owned 50% of all assets: “There’s a rich guy, I hope to be like him.”
Life in America circa 2009 when LIEBERTARIAN idiocy has the top 1% of the wealthy in America owning 95% of all assets: “There’s a rich guy, let’s get him!”
Hogs at the trough. Good job boys.
#2 LibertyLover
“Tax me some more and watch me raise the price of your bread.”
Is this how the free market economy you speak of works? If so can’t I just go to the other bread maker that isn’t so greedy and get it for the same price. Isn’t that how the free market optimizes prices?
Or are you claiming that executive pay has a big impact on the price of your ‘bread’? Cos the opposite has been argued here and elsewhere. If thats the case – double your pay, and the price can remain the same. So any change to the price of bread can only be regarded as vindictive.
Or is your ‘bread’ business a monopoly? In that case – I gotcha, you can do whatever you want.
And purlease don’t quote some trickle down economic crap. I mean that’s just embarrassing.
People should earn roughly based on their contribution. That’s not whats happening all over the place – especially in the finance industry.
And if you have a lot you can give alot. After all it’s only society that has enabled you to have a lot in the first place.
Unless your basically greedy.
#14–Dr Doodiepants Shits Again: Tell us Dr, how has Obama oppressed anyone since taking office? Be real specific and don’t trip on the programs he inherited from BushtheRetard.
How can “I” be a hypocrit when I agree with Obama that “the rich” as defined by those earning over $250K should pay more taxes? Thats not “a lot” of people in the 50% quoted by dumbassGreg.
Explain yourself as best you can.
50% of Americans are below average intelligence. So, of course, Wal-mart perfectly symbolizes America. And, of course, those 50% want the rich to pay for everything.
If you’re a moran, you don’t have to let facts get in the way of your ideas.
Everyone on the Forbes 500 wealthiest people are billionaires. Some (like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and the Walton family) are multi-billionaires.
So let’s tax them all at 100% (we take all their money). That gives us about $750 billion. That will pay for free health-care for 1 year. Then what do we do next year? Easy: tax the health insurance companies at 100%. The problem is, the next year, we’ve run out of rich people.
#15 Bobbo
Right
# 13 LibertyLover
‘#8, It means the end of the American dream, wealth isn’t aspired to, but widely despised.
Agreed.’
You make greed sound like something to aspire to. I’m sure there’s something about greed in the bible.
Look there’s a banker whose given himself millions of dollars of tax payers money as a bonus. I aspire to be him – it’s the American dream I tell you!
#12, Is that a threat? even with a tax break you’ve raised the price of bread.
Of course. Inflation has eaten the dollar away, raising the cost of living, which means I have to pay you more. I pay you more so my overhead goes up. My overhead goes up so I either:
1) lay you off
2) give you a pay cut
3) take a pay cut myself
4) raise my rates
Which one would YOU prefer?
It’s not a threat. It’s the way it works. If you are that concerned about the price of bread, I suppose you could take a pay cut instead. That would certainly keep my overhead down.
#18–upchuck==thinks strawman arguing is effective. What a dolt. Nobody except you says/thinks/kneejerks that “all” of anybodies money should be taken ((well maybe bonus pay for companies on the government welfare roles)) and nobody thinks healthcare should be given for free.
How deep is your stupid hole?
#20 LibertyLover
So by your argument – how everything else works in your ‘company’ is based on how much money personally you take home.
So cos you’re great you should earn say 10 million a year. Oh look taxes have gone up on the rich – so lets make that 20 million. I’ll now work out everything else based off that. And I must have a monopoly – otherwise this presumably can’t work.
Sounds like that’s the opposite way to the way it should work – surely how much you take home should be based on the performance of the ‘company’.
I quote ‘company’ – as if you applied your economic skills to running said ‘company’ it would be a pretty desperate place to work.
It’s not all about you.
#19, Look there’s a banker whose given himself millions of dollars of tax payers money as a bonus. I aspire to be him – it’s the American dream I tell you!
Actually, I am against the bailouts. I’ve stated that on many, many occasions.
That is not the American Dream.
#16, “Tax me some more and watch me raise the price of your bread.”
Is this how the free market economy you speak of works? If so can’t I just go to the other bread maker that isn’t so greedy and get it for the same price. Isn’t that how the free market optimizes prices?
Absolutely. And you think the other bread maker is in business because he wants to make it for free?
Free Market also means people are free to choose who they work for. If he doesn’t raise his rates, he can’t pay his people enough. Which means they’ll come to me.
And if you have a lot you can give alot.
I do give a lot. I give 10 hours a week of my time to charities. How many do you give?
After all it’s only society that has enabled you to have a lot in the first place.
If you what you mean by “society” being customers, then yes, you are correct.
Unless your basically greedy.
And since you brought it up:
Your wife has some disease which only the $10,000 in your pocket can purchase the cure for (all other issues are out of the way). Just as you are about to take her to the hospital, 10 strangers come up and ask for that money because that same $10,000 would save their wives.
Would you give the money away and let your wife die or would tell them to take a hike?
It’s a simple question. What do you do?
#20–LIEBERTARIAN LOSER==big psychological reveal as he shows he relates to complicated tax/social/economic issues by how much he is making as if he has a god given right to keep making more all the time. What about market environment as Freddybob clued you in on? It’s a fantasy on your part that Obama’s tax the rich program is going to highly impact you. If it does==screw you. Lots of bread makers out there making less than $500K/year. You aren’t needed. “Get the rich!!”
#22–Doodiepants==how many months did you give Obama to turn around/correct BushtheRetards mess? The economy is STILL BushtheRetards mess. Afghanistan, is all Obama’s now. Iraq and Gitmos all Obama’s in a few more months. Lack of transparency, continued infringement of civil rights, becoming Obama’s very quickly.
But the “economy” is still all BushtheRetards. I think Obama should have concentrated more on Jobs rather than more pork, but he’s naive enough to try and work with repuglican scum. I expect the shit to be cleared from his eyes by the end of the healthcare bait and switch being run by repuglican scum. We all should keep our fingers crossed to that end.
#23, So by your argument – how everything else works in your ‘company’ is based on how much money personally you take home.
In a nutshell, yes. I’m not there for my health. I’m there to make money.
Sounds like that’s the opposite way to the way it should work – surely how much you take home should be based on the performance of the ‘company’.
Absolutely.
I “take home” X% of my company’s profit per year. If my taxes go up, my take home goes down. So I give myself a raise to compensate.
The rest is split between growth (new employees) and bonuses for my employees. Taxes are considered overhead. I want my employees to take home so much per year. Thus, if their tax burden is too high, I compensate.
I quote ‘company’ – as if you applied your economic skills to running said ‘company’ it would be a pretty desperate place to work.
I take care of my employees. You don’t want to work for a man who makes sure your income doesn’t get eaten up by taxes?
It’s not all about you.
You are correct. It’s about my employees, too.
#25-boobo-The economy is STILL BushtheRetards mess.
It’s all Obama’s no matter how much you try to shift the blame to Bush.
The only thing Obama concentrates on is how much face time he can accumulate on TV. It doesn’t matter what he says only that it is said on TV. It’s all lies anyway.
Obama is a media whore and more of an embarrassment than even Jimmy Carter, and that’s saying a lot.
#27–Doodiepants==how many months did you give Obama to turn around/correct BushtheRetards mess?
“And 5 percent thought the best way to fight obesity among patrons of fast-food chains is to equip each restaurant with scales for them to weigh themselves.” ???!
The way to stop obesity among patrons of fast-food chains is to make the doors 12″ wide.
#30–Dr Dodd==so you admit and display that your analytical insight is completely non-existent. I see the appeal to the baser instincts of those who refuse to think has you completely enthralled. Whats the color of the sky where you live?