Wow, Joe Scar actually discussed the Piketty book today on Morning Joe.

[CTyankee]

Last edited Tue Apr 22, 2014, 11:32 AM - Edit history (1)

The 8 am re-run of it cut off the end where Joe proclaims his disgust for the unequal tax rate between the rich and everyone else. Uh-huh. Steve Rattner brought his charts which clarified the unequal spread of wealth in our country vs. the U.K. and other European countries and Sweden, then looking at inequality in China and India.

I was wondering when that show was going to discuss what everyone else has been discussing for a long time. But with Piketty's book now being a best seller at Amazon, MJ could no longer ignore the issues he raises.

Rattner pretty effectively shot down Michael Steele. Mika said practically nothing of real substance. Willy Geist was worse than useless.

Bottom line: Joe favors a "minimum tax rate on everybody" which even Steele correctly identified as a flat tax.

You gotta do better than that, Joe...

Here's the discussion http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe

[JEFF9K]

1. Sounds like Joe is 180-degrees wrong ...

... what's more Republican than THAT?

[CTyankee]

3. I don't think Joe understands economics.

He blusters around his ignorance and it shows...

[malaise]

2. Thanks - saw the first part but had to leave

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. Did I imagine Rattner telling Scar a person earning $500,000 would pay a tax rate of 50%(!)?

This was right at the end of the segment in the third hour.

[CTyankee]

7. Yes he did but there was discussion about income from investments vs.

"getting a check." There was more in the segment that broke it down a bit for viewers who may not know what the whole debate is about. Joe was trying to stir the pot with his question to Rattner but Rattner got right back on it and made some excellent points. I got the feeling that Joe was forced into this discussion by the producers because he's been essentially IGNORING the Picketty book and now he can't any more. It's too important and too well publicized for a show like Morning Joe to ignore. It makes the show look out of touch with what is going on.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

10. Right, and they settled on "getting a check," to which Rattner said that person would be paying 50%

I checked it out here: http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_brackets.htm and, at least for federal income tax, a 500K salary would put you in the 39% bracket with an effective rate closer to 31%.
Ignoring for the moment the unliklihood of someone earning 500K a year not having a good deal of adjustments, Rattner's number still seems way wrong.
Did the re-run version chop out some clarification?

[CTyankee]

11. That was not just about the federal tax rate, it was originally a person in NYC making

500K a year. I think Joe was making a point about state and city taxes in NY and NYC, the way we have state income tax AND a city tax on property here in New Haven.

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

5. willie is always less than useless

how he got that job I'll never know.

[CTyankee]

8. his father is in the business so Willy had a real leg up that most people don't have.

IOW, he was born on 3rd base and thought he'd hit a triple, as the saying goes...

[pa28]

6. Piketty's book is getting so much traction I knew they'd start going after it soon.

Since they can't attack the facts I'm guessing they'll eventually settle on attacking Picketty himself. He is FRENCH after all.

[CTyankee]

9. sucks to be them, doesn't it?

I don't think Joe understands that charts and algebra is what economists DO. Joe likes to denigrate "economists with all their charts," like the know-nothing he is. Joe assumes all of us are ignoramuses like him and he brags about sleeping through his college econ classes yet wins debates with Paul Krugman. unbelievable...

[Mz Pip]

12. The Right calls the book Marxist.

That seems to be how they are framing their criticism of the book. Which more than likely none of them have read. Well, maybe the cover page. Maybe.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

13. What book? And, who is Piketty? In the subject line but not in the body of your post. nt

[CTyankee]

14. I'm sorry...shudda been more awake when I wrote this. The book is "Capital" by

Thomas Piketty, a French economist who talks about what he calls "Patrimonial capitalism." His main point is that we are drifting right back to the Gilded Age or worse, an oligarchy where a small number of rich families control a huge portion of the wealth, to the detriment of the rest of society.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

15. Excellent, thank you. nt