How the rich rig the system

[PETRUS]

From low capital gains taxes to stock buy-backs, here are the ways the elites ensure the markets benefit them

By Michael Lind

A growing number of Americans suspect that the American economic system is rigged in favor of the rich and merely affluent. That growing number of Americans is right.

*snip*

Note that none of these methods of rigging the market to artificially inflate incomes — TBTF, stock buy-backs that drive up stock options, the professional credentials cartel — can be blamed on capitalism or markets. There are still genuine entrepreneurs who get rich by founding companies that provide new and useful goods and services, and there are still genuine capitalists who get rich by investing in them. But getting rich the old-fashioned way by getting customers to buy what you sell is hard, compared to paying politicians to rig markets and tax policies in your favor.


http://www.salon.com/2011/11/09/how_the_rich_rig_the_system/singleton/

More at the link.

[dkf]

1. Which goes to why loopholes are the key, not the tax rates.

[PETRUS]

2. I agree.

Also, there are unfair policies that distort the playing field and favor certain industries over others that have more to do with income and wealth inequality than the tax code. (Treasury and Fed policy are big culprits, but it doesn't end there. I do also think the tax code should be more progressive, though.) But you're right, the effective tax rate on corporate profits is well below the stated tax rate, and that has everything to do with targeted tax breaks.

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. This requires more attention.