CPCFTW

Everyone is demonizing the "top 1%" for having all most of the wealth and not paying enough taxes. Everyone is concerned about the wealth disparity. Did you bother reading the thread?

I made this point on the 1st reply of this thread. What's the problem with having a society that rewards those who excel? If you are in the top 1% of generating personal wealth, then you should have a right to keep that wealth. There are laws or rules in place that govern how one can go about acquiring that wealth. I can't go around robbing banks or selling people sugar pills for a million dollars a piece and say it will cure cancer. The top 1% of Canadians did a lot more for Canada in terms of creating companies, providing services, paying taxes, etc. than the rest of Canadians. It doesn't make any sense how demonized they are.

What's your point? I already said I'm in favour of isolationism. Military for defensive purposes is an insurance policy. Just because we haven't been invaded doesn't mean we never will be. Furthermore, countries will encroach on our sovereignty without a military presence (ie. in the arctic).

One problem you're forgetting is what happens when the "brown people" come bomb us? I'm very conservative, but also patriotic, and we at least need taxation for a military to defend ourselves. I'm a big fan of military isolationism to keep costs down though.

Me too... it's just jealousy which they subconsciously mask as altruism. It's funny in a sickening kind of way.

We get it. The top 1% wealthiest people are very wealthy.. Who would have thought!?

Printing money isn't the same as issuing treasury bills. Public debt occurs from the latter.

Not really..

"Another strategy for avoiding real exchange rate appreciation is to increase saving in the economy in order to reduce large capital inflows which are able to cause an appreciation of the real exchange rate. This can be done if the country runs a budget surplus. A country can encourage individuals and firms to save more by reducing income and profit taxes. By increasing saving, a country can reduce the need for loans to finance government deficits and foreign direct investment." Thank god for TFSAa and corporate tax cuts.

Same hippies who are talking about lynching and beheading people for being successful have their panties in a bunch because I suggested Canadians would beat them down for trying to overthrow a democratically elected government? Talk about hypocrisy, is that how the word hippie was derived?

I'm under 30 years old and I hardly live in an ivory tower. In fact, I've worked more blue collar job than white collar ones, and I continue to work part-time blue collar jobs on the side of my full-time white collar job, plus continue to pursue continuing education on top of that. When that hard work pays off I don't want scrubs who think putting 37.5hrs/wk towards your career/wealth, and then going out every weekend spending $100 on drinks should have been hard enough work to live a comfortable life, and that they should have a right to my income and wealth. There's over 100 waking hours during the week... A couple years of hard work and anyone can dig themselves out of poverty. Most people in poverty think they should be able to get out working an unskilled 9-5. When you dig yourself a hole, you have to dig a lot harder to get out.

Poor guy. You might want to get some counseling then. Think of all the kumbayas and riots you'd miss out on if you shot yourself for posting a strawman argument on a message board..

How does it not apply? CEOs are routinely replaced. Just because you think you or your coworkers can do a CEO's job for 1/4 the price, doesn't mean the owners will trust you to do so. There's a lot less risk in replacing the bottom rung of the ladder... Not to mention it's a lot cheaper.

I think we'll all feel safer when the hippies stop thinking they're che guevera and that Canada needs an arab spring 6 months after a democratic election. I'm not too afraid though.. I know most Canadians would be happy to curbstomp some rioting hippies alongside the police.

Who cares what the French speaking province voted for. The rest of the country voted 50% for Harper. If Quebec wants to revolt they'll surrender faster than you can say "cheese".

I'm pretty sure the average Canadian isn't so anti-democratic that they want to overthrow a government that was just elected less than 6 months ago.

If people were making money off of it they'd find something to complain about... it's altering our wind or something. "See wind patterns are different than they were 20 million years ago... are you a wind pattern change denier?!?! What about that horrible hurricane? See mother nature is angry!!! It's time to curb our excessive wind usage before mother nature purges us all!"

Very few profited from it except for a few hedge fund managers like Paulson and Soros (and their investors) who bet on the bubble burst and resulting recession. Everyone knows what the standards were for sub-prime loans... if you had a pulse, you got a loan. Have you been living under a rock for the last 3 years? You keep going on about issues you have no clue about. Why don't you educate yourself instead of reading socialist editorials?

It's hilarious to hear people talking about a French Revolution. What planet do you people live on? We just had an election and 40% of the population elected our government. I doubt that over 40% of the country wants to revolt. You hippies are so cute.

All things that can be overcome with enough hard work. Not everyone is born with a silver spoon in their mouths. From my experience, most people who inherit wealth, end up losing it within a few generations. I think there's actually a Chinese saying to that effect. It's easier to make excuses than to actually work hard.

There's civil disobedience because of the recession (and it has been a big one), not because of income inequality.

Why do we continue to demonize the top 1%? In elementary school, high school, university, and post-grad we write standardized tests and hopefully try to make it to the top 1%. When it comes to income, attitudes change. Hate to break it to you guys, there's always going to be a top 1%. The only thing we can do is discourage people from trying to make it there by taking as much of their income as possible and redistributing to the poor. Unfortunately this has two effects: 1. People won't apply themselves as hard in an effort to get there. 2. People will try to evade paying taxes. A reasonable tax rate for all is the solution. I will never demonize people for working harder and being more successful than me. Income inequality is not a problem. It is a sign of a society that strives for excellence.

Us "retards" don't consider providing jobs as being exploitation.

It's not like I'm saying we should funnel all funds to a CEO. I just said they're people that conservatives admire, like a pro hockey player. I don't demonize wealthy CEOs anymore than I demonize Sidney Crosby. They're both doing their jobs and making millions. It's the left that has that sickening jealousy of people who are more successful than them.

Yes it's stupid to dream of being successful instead of dreaming of sucking on the government's teat for as many vacation days as possible to sip wine and eat cheese in France.