Jeff, while I don't disagree with your examples, you could have mentioned the $10B we lost to GM or the $$ that fell into the Fanny, Freddie black hole. Or the economic payoff...er...stimulus plan with shovel ready jobs.
Yes, there were many to choose from. Far too many.
"You severely damaged the economy with your shady dealings. Here's a few hundred billion dollars. Now don't do it again."
That'll teach 'em.
The problem Jeff is you have this idea because YOU can afford to pay more, everyone can. So you project your situation on everybody around you and then want to force others to pay more on account of the fact that they worked hard to make more.
Some people get paid a hell of a lot, but simply cant afford the higher taxes. Some people get paid a hell of a lot and dont want the "fruit of their labor" so to speak to be stolen from them via taxation for feel good measures.
What are they doing that they can't afford those higher taxes? If those higher taxes are really that godawful, there are lots of low-paying jobs available. They could take one of those and enjoy the lower tax brackets. But they don't. They just complain about how horrible the taxes are.
But sadly the world really is simple enough to say "get a better job". Theres a reason a person makes minimum wage. Its not because a 6 figure job hasnt landed in their lap, its because they simply arent skilled enough to warrant that level of pay. But theres no shortage of good paying jobs for those who are smart enough, hard working enough and motivated enough to get get them. To assume someone is stuck in a minimum wage job through no fault of their own is being pretty dishonest to the facts of the situation.
This also assumes a level playing field, something which is often riled against as "socialist." Good jobs often come through social connections. Who know, not what you know, or how good you are at doing a job. And you're likely to be friends with people in your own socioeconomic bubble.
And no doubt, some people are indeed in lousy jobs because they just don't give a damn. They don't want to be at work on time, they don't want to
do the job they're being paid to do. For them, that's what they get, that's all the better they want to do, so that's where they stay.
Some people are stuck in those jobs because of a bad decision or two, and now are bound by that path, unable to pull themselves out because of ongoing obligations. The path to redemption or self-improvement becomes inaccessible as a result. Shouldn't those who genuinely
want to do better, and are willing to work for it, be offered a helping hand now and then? If they can be elevated to a point where they're more valuable to society as a result, the debt automatically repays itself.
So why do we assume because someone who has managed to do well for themselves somehow owes the low wage workers something?
My assumption is that someone who can do very well for themselves owes something back to the society which facilitated their success, and which continues to permit them access to their better standard of living. Someone who owns a successful business owes that success to their customers, and certainly to their own employees as well, who help ensure that those customers keep coming back. But without the infrastructure, and the collective of everyone around them, wealthy or simply well-off people wouldn't have gotten as far as they did.
I got through college on student loans and grants. The grants were simply that: Granted money. The interest on the loans was government-paid while I was attending classes. The idea is that those things are awarded to candidates who appear promising, and will be able to repay society by doing something useful and productive in their careers. Some of that comes in the form of more tax revenue from higher earners. And some of that comes in the form of someone adding a little something of value to the country, and that can help improve the standard of living for
everyone.