Wealthy failing to pay their share
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How do you retain respect for ‘superiors’ during this recession? Some of them will almost certainly have been better at whatever job you do than you. Many of them won’t however. They are primarily responsible – at least more responsible than you – for the recession which is gripping us. So, how do you feel about work now?
It’s difficult, isn’t it? Certainly, there is a societal responsibility for what’s befallen us: most people – American and Irish – got wealthier since the early 1990s. Some people though found their greed gene ballooning hugely. They lost the run of themselves and now everybody else is supposed to stump up and bail them out. Meanwhile, many of the greedy hang on to the loot. I don’t believe it will work; expect some civil disobedience.
I heard a conversation on Ireland’s RTE radio between Pat Kenny, Tom Parlon and others. It was thoroughly insane. They were discussing tomorrow’s Budget and wondering what might be in it. For a start, Pat Kenny makes about €800,000 a year (I honestly don’t see how anyone can ‘earn’ that) and really should have said so at the outset of the programme.
€800,000 a year is perhaps not huge by American standards. The Gorilla of Greed, Dick Fuld, made $480,000,000 out of Lehman Brothers. Bill Gates became the wealthiest person in the world. He was worth about $54,000,000,000. He had more money coming in than he could possibly spend in a lifetime, so he decided to give much of it away.
Why was there not a cap on the amount these people could make? After all, the 25 richest people in the world owned more than 20 or 30 countries. There was not a cap because it wouldn’t be unregulated capitalism. Even if the profit motive was propelling people along towards ever-greater riches – and there is an argument for this – why not tax them at 95 or 97 per cent once they have passed an agreed threshold.
Anyway, Pat Kenny wondered about taking loans out for prospective students. Remember this guy makes €800,000 a year. Tom Parlon is a former Progessive Democrats TD, who has landed a job with the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), and he was all for students taking out loans. A student representative suggested that loans was double taxation because many graduates end up on highest rate of income tax.
