PeakTrader.com

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PeakTrader:

Income inequality increased under Obama, because we’re in a deep depression, where unemployment and underemployment remain high.

Also, there are up to 50 million immigrants from dirt poor countries (a small proportion of them are highly skilled and educated), which, of course, increased income inequality.

I’ve explained before, raising the minimum wage, e.g. doubling it, would raise the general price level much less than the rise in the minimum wage.

Real income for low income workers would rise more than fall for high income workers, through higher prices (and productivity would increase and other production costs would decrease).

Taxes have become more progressive under Obama. For example, according to the CBO: “Top 40% Paid 106.2% of Income Taxes; Bottom 40% Paid -9.1%, Got Average of $18,950 in ‘Transfers’”

Raising corporate taxes, or other taxes on production, may just raise prices, to offset the taxes, which would hurt low income Americans the most.

If taxes are too high, there may be undesirable effects, including more spending to avoid taxes, disincentives to work (particularly, by the higher skilled), taking less risk to expand the economy, to create output and employment, etc..

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EMichael, are you saying, for example, Tiger Woods, didn’t move to Florida, because of differences in state taxes, or sports players don’t pick teams based on state taxes?

If they do, it seems, taxes cause drastic behavior.

And, you say: “If you are going to talk about it (income inequality) honestly, you shouldn’t even mention Obama.”

Well, doesn’t Obama talk about that often, including when he had a 60 vote Senate and the House, and what are the results?

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Tiger Woods admits he left California because of high tax rates after rival Phil Mickelson apologizes for saying he may quit West Coast
January 23, 2013

“Tiger Woods said today that the reason he left California in the mid-Nineties was because the state’s taxes were too high.
The golfer spoke at a press conference on Tuesday about his decision to move to Florida in 1996.”

Speaking at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California, Woods said: ‘I moved out of here back in ’96 for that reason.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2266830/Tiger-Woods-admits-left-California-tax-rates.html

And, when you cite an article that ignores 90% of economics, you’ll get a skewed result. For example, the U.S. had much less competition, until the 1970s, because of the destruction of Europe and Japan in WWII, and the subsequent rebuilding. So, the U.S. could afford to be much less efficient. Also, there wasn’t massive immigration from poor countries, until the 1960s. Moreover, increasingly larger trade deficits, after 1980, subtract from GDP growth. If you compare U.S. living standards today (although they’ve been generally stagnant over the past few years) to the 1970s, they’re much higher (see an episode of “Kojak” and compare living, labor, and environmental standards). Of course, increased regulation in many U.S. industries have driven up prices and reduced real wages, along with slowing output and employment.

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