Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Thom Hartmann: Two Paths: Bust Unions or Raise Taxes on the Wealthy?

While austerity measures are sweeping the nation - and Republican governors like Scott Walker in Wisconsin are going after middle class workers to balance state budgets - Minnesota's Democratic Governor has a different idea. Instead of balancing budgets on the backs of working families - Governor Mark Dayton is proposing a 5% tax increase on the wealthiest people in Minnesota - or the top 5% of income earners in the state. What Governor Daytona sees is the same thing that most progressives see - the easiest solution to both state and federal budget deficits - raising taxes on the rich.

America collects fewer taxes by proportion than most of the industrialized world - and taxes are lower right now than at any other point in the last 50 years in this nation. It's not a coincidence that this drop off in taxes corresponds with massive levels of debt. It's simple - banksters got us into this mess because they had too much money in their pockets thanks to the Reagan and Bush tax cuts - and used the cash to speculate on Wall Street - which led to our economy crashing.

So the banksters - and not working families - should now have to make some sacrifices to get us out of the mess.

-Thom

(Which path do you think will be taken? Tell us here.)

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