Just Fred wrote:

My observation, Common, is this:

Since money controls politics and politics controls governmental decision-making, it seems to me by shoving more and more cash to the top, I foresee a time when the people that control government really won't need to be elected to office.  This has happened again and again and again throughout the course of history to nations and civilizations who believed they were God's chosen people or thought they were were greatest nation the world has ever seen.  Now, for many of them, the sun sets on them every night.

So let's take for example Bill Gates and Warren Buffet (the two richest men in America). I am sure their government controlling, manipulative money has not done any good for the people below them ?????





 

Fred, you seem to be making the argument that, since wealthy people use money to influence the political process, that we should simply do everything in our power to eliminate wealth.......

Also, how does this pertain to the estate tax? We have an estate tax. We have wealthy people. Doesn't look like it accomplishes your mission. Abolishing the tax will have it's greatest affect on lawyers who write irrevocable trusts, and that is about it.

I support a genrous social safety net, progressive taxation, even on unearned income, educational assistance, etc.
If a few people who obey the rules  and make a fortune, let them pass it on to their kids.

If you want to help the poor and middle class, look for ways to solve this stagnation in wages. If you want "fairness" push for a tax system that treats unearned income more like earned income.

If you are concerned about a plutocracy, support candidates who want to limit the influence of money on politics.
One thing the wealthy cannot change, there are more of us than there are of them. Maybe people just don't want to soak the rich beyond their own concept of fairness.

Goose, I agree with everything you mentioned in post #13.  We need a multi-pronged appoach to prevent the creation of a plutocratic oligarchy where a democracy used to exist.  I view the elimination of the estate tax as another small step (combined with several other steps as you have mentioned) of taking taking us down that road to aristocratic rule.  From the few contributors on this topic I realize I'm in the minority here.

 

Just curious, and I don't know if there any stats to determine an answer:

The Koch Brothers, for example, are injecting 800+ million into R-Tribe campaigns.  They aren't shy about it.  I'm wondering if either Gates or Buffet are planning to do the same for progressive candidates or candidates that support the issues they feel are important.

A couple of thoughts....

There are more than a few ways to avoid the estate tax

The estate tax doesn't account for much in the way of revenues nor does it affect a whole lot of people. This whole arguments kind of falls into the "mountain out of a molehill", no?

I hope as we begin the 2016 campaign season in earnest, we focus less on the indivdual breaks and/or entitlements certain groups get (estate tax/food stamps/mortgage interest deduction) and focus more on a macro policy of wage growth, GDP growth, trade stability, and debt reduction.