General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I would be just a tad bit more understanding of Romney's wealth if, and it's a huge if... [View all]jmowreader
(50,552 posts)There are the investments that create jobs--initial public offerings of stocks, bond issues, and other such investments where the invested money flows to the company whose name is on the certificate.
And then there are the "investments" where Rich Man A buys stock from Rich Man B then sells it to Rich Man C who sells it tomorrow to Rich Man D, who got the money to buy Rich Man C's stock by selling a different stock to Rich Man A. Those investments do NOT create jobs.
The third kind is the destructive one: give money to Mitt Romney so he can buy a company, fire all its workers and offshore the manufacturing of the profit, simply because he sees a dollar on the table that isn't his.
I would be totally in favor of a 10 percent capital gains tax on the first class of investments offset by taxing the second kind at the rate for ordinary income and doubling the tax rate on the third. The problem with our current way of taxing investment income is it doesn't differentiate between an investment that helps a company grow, Scrooge McDuck and Rich Uncle Pennybags buying each others' stock holdings like little kids swap baseball cards, and an investment that helps close a company down.