A common idea among the less educated people who call themselves “conservative” seems to be that they should oppose tax cuts for themselves and support tax cuts for the rich because they might become rich and they want to prepare for that possibility.
The US census data [1] shows that less than 1% of males aged 15+ earn $250K. For females it’s less than 0.2%.
On the Wikipedia page about homosexuality [2] it is claimed that 2%-7% of the population are gay (and 12% of Norwegians have at least tried it out). Apparently homosexuality can strike suddenly, you never know when a right-wing politician or preacher will suddenly and unexpectedly be compelled to hire gay whores (as Ted Haggard [3] did) or come out of the closet (as Jim Kolbe [4] did).
So it seems that based on percentages you are more likely to become gay than to become rich. So it would be prudent to prepare for that possibility and lobby for gay marriage in case your sexual preference ever changes.
But on a serious note, of the people who earn $250K or more (an income level that has been suggested for higher tax rates) there will be a great correlation between the amount of education and the early start to a career. Go to a good university and earn more than the median income in your first job, and you will be well on track to earning $250K. A common misconception is that someone who has not had a great education can still be successful by starting their own company. While there are a few people who have done that, the vast majority of small companies fail in the first few years. Working hard doesn’t guarantee success, for a company to succeed you need to have the right product at the right time – this often depends on factors that you can’t predict (such as the general state of the economy and any new products released by larger companies).
‘A common idea among the less educated people who call themselves “conservative†seems to be that they should oppose tax cuts for themselves and support tax cuts for the rich because they might become rich and they want to prepare for that possibility.’
That seems pretty obviously stupid, but you seem to exclude the case of supporting tax cuts both for themselves *and* for the rich.
[…] This is brilliant: A common idea among the less educated people who call themselves “conservative†seems to be that they should oppose tax cuts for themselves and support tax cuts for the rich because they might become rich and they want to prepare for that possibility. […]
“A common idea among the less educated people who call themselves “conservative†seems to be that they should oppose tax cuts for themselves and support tax cuts for the rich because they might become rich and they want to prepare for that possibility.”
Seriously… wanna back that up?
I must be too unedumacated to find a source for the basis of your argument. Nice try.
I cannot believe anyone would write such drivel and put their name at the top of it. Completely ignoring your “Support Gay Marriage in case You Become Gay” manifesto, which I mostly find offensive and the remainder simply ignorant, the broken logic you must have applied to achieve the gem “[there is a] correlation between the amount of education and the early start to a career [so therefore] go to a good university and earn more than the median income in your first job, and you will be well on track to earning $250K” makes my brain physically ache.
Anonymous#1: In the case of the US (where most of the advocates for tax-dodging rich people reside), cutting taxes for everyone is obviously incompatible with expensive things such as running two wars at the same time (and starting a third if McCain wins). Also when in a financial hole (as the US is) cutting taxes is not going to work.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/obama-and-mccain-tax-calculators/
Joshua: See the comments on the above URL. I think that your problem is that you don’t look around and see what’s happening in the world. Go talk to people about politics and learn about the current issues. Now please go and find some references for your case.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-why-is-labour-selling-its-soul-to-rightwing-myths-394561.html
The above article describes some recent developments in terms of inheritance tax in the UK which has a related issue of people voting for tax changes which will not benefit themselves (due to most people not having any significant assets when they die).
Anonymous#2: Get a sense of humor.
If you think that attending a good university does not increase the chances of earning $250K or more then please provide references to support that claim. Such a counter-intuitive claim requires some serious substantiation at the best of times, and when writing anonymously is not the best of times.
http://etbe.coker.com.au/2008/09/13/not-all-opinions-are-equal/
Both anonymous commentators, please read the above URL.
Anonymous#2: I only just recognised the irony of the fact that you failed to put your name to your comment. Not that I blame you.
Erm, what about providing some kind of substance to your claim as to the correlation, rather than demanding evidence for anyone questioning it?
Russell, for $DEITY’s sake, do some decent reading on gender, sex and the such. Pretty please.
ROFL! Hilarious post Russell!
I thought I’d better represent the people who have a sense of humour.
Jon: Just talk to some employers and ask them whether a degree from a university with a good reputation would make them more likely to hire someone – or likely to hire them for a position with more responsibility, better pay, and better potential for career growth.
Claiming that a better education provides better career opportunities is really stating the obvious.
http://etbe.coker.com.au/2007/10/04/ideas-for-a-home-university/
Not that it is (or should be) required for everyone. At the above URL I have described some ideas for how to gain some of the benefits of a university degree (which notably doesn’t include the benefit of impressing hiring managers) without attending university. As you’ll see from the comments even among blog readers the idea didn’t get much traction.
It is often said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. It seems to me that a claim that there is no correlation between university education and career success is the extraordinary one and therefore the one requiring evidence.
Please note that there are two easy ways to earn more than $250K. One is to get a job in a big corporation and move up the ranks (I know isn’t not easy or quick to become such a senior manager – but it’s a lot easier than owning and running a successful company). The other is to have some rare skills that are in high demand, the work that I got paid ~$250K for during the dot-com boom was for companies that asked me about my degree before any other questions. I would have done reasonably well without a university degree, but I wouldn’t have got the high-paying positions I did in the dot-com boom.
Amayita: Would that be $DEITYs’ when referring to polytheistic religions?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satire
But seriously, please read the above URL.
I don’t think that people do suddenly become gay etc. But numerous people from various right-wing organisations have claimed to have suddenly and unexpectedly become gay (after journalists publish the evidence), and then in many cases become straight again (due to prayer or whatever) remarkably quickly. Ted Haggard is a good example.
I’m sad that (less) broken (than intolerance) logic can’t be apply for more tolerance. But I had a big laugth at your post. Very good.
Oh ! don’t reject stanger, your daugether/son can married with one !
Don’t blame my english, you can become french ;-)
David: I support France, just in case I ever become French!
http://www.coker.com.au/russell/travel/
But seriously, I’ve had some nice holidays in France. The above URL has some pictures I took in Marseille and Bordeaux. I should put some pictures of Paris online too.
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I’m proud to be gay!