What is class warfare?

[twa]

But you said raising taxes on the wealthy for scholarships for the poor was class warfare?

Doesn't the nation benefit by having people at the lower end be able to afford college?

Linkage matters....it should be taxation,not redistribution of wealth.

[PeterMP]

Linkage matters....it should be taxation,not redistribution of wealth.

Is increasing income inequality bad for the nation?

[Jumbo]

To me, "class warfare" suggests dressing nicely and speaking politely and correctly when dropping napalm. Or, like the style of manner and dress in which many British officers often warred back in the 18th century.

[panel]

I would say class warfare is setting up rules or laws that are designed to target a class of people. A progressive tax scale could be considered class warfare, because it is targeting the higher income earners, and it was designed specifically to make them pay for the fact that they earn more. It does go both ways though, This disproportionate punishment for users of Crack Cocaine VS powder cocaine would an example that I would consider class warfare as well. The punishments aren't different because one is worse than the other, but because the types of users are perceived as being different types of people. A similar case could be made for the criminalization of Marijuana, but the legalization of Alcohol. A more resent example could be the fact that Four Loco has been made illegal, but Irish Coffees have not.

A rich person spending money, and buying things up is not an example of class warfare, even if it means that there are less items available for poor people to buy because a rich person bought it first. Also, just because your rich doesn't mean that you have political connections. I think they should be viewed as two separate items (having political influence, and having financial resources). A police officer, professor, or Military officer could all have political connections and not be rich, and if they had a son that was in a similar "Vietnam" scenario, and were able to use their connections to get them out of it, that wouldn't be "class warfare", maybe corruption, maybe inequity, maybe human nature.. but not class warfare. In a case where you are trying to avoid sending your kid to war, who should you be more mad at, the person that is actively using their connections to get an advantage, or the person that is in the position of power that allows an advantage to be gained? I would tend to think that it would be the person that was in a position of power that ignored their responsibilities.

[twa]

Is increasing income inequality bad for the nation?

will simply taxing the 1% more correct it?

why not simply add a % to the general tax rate?

[PeterMP]

will simply taxing the 1% more correct it?

why not simply add a % to the general tax rate?

The CBO seems to believe that is part of what caused the problem (see the other thread directly related to the 1%).

Because it doesn't make much sense to take money from somebody and then give it back to them in some other form. It is every ineffecient.

[greenspandan]

"class warfare" is euphemistically referring to the rich as "job creators", and arguing that the reason the middle class is struggling is that the rich simply aren't rich enough.

[mcsluggo]

thank you Peter... I am enjoying this thread

[Mad Mike]

Telling the poorest people in the country that they must sacrifice medicare and social security to lower the deficit so that the richest people in the country can continue to increase their wealth without any sacrifice of their own. Saying that "everything is on the table" for debt reduction, EXCEPT asking a little more from the people who can afford it the most while taking away from the people who can afford it the least.

THAT is class warfare.

[Prosperity]

"class warfare" is a stupid term. This isn't 19th century France, we aren't going to cut people's heads off. There is no civil war. It's just a hyperbolic term meant to invoke fear.

[Larry]

Is it IMPOSSIBLE to advocate for a new $1,000,000 tax bracket w/o conducting class warfare?

Freely admitting that I skipped the first pages of this thread, started at the top of the last page, and this was the first post I read. And I really like the question, so I'm not even going to read any of the other posts before responding.

I'd say no, but I can certainly understand the question.

To me, in order to be class warfare, then there needs to be something a lot more than simply "I think the country would be better off is we slightly tweaked the tax system, like this".

I think there needs to be some warfare. Some hatred. At least the rhetorical kind.

For example, if some poster were to propose, to invent an example, that we should raise payroll taxes, so we can keep Social Security from emptying the trust fund 20 years from now, that proposal would disproportionately affect the bottom 80% of taxpayers, but I certainly wouldn't label it as "class warfare". I might not agree with the proposal, but I wouldn't throw that label at it.

OTOH, if some poster in the resulting thread, announces that it's time the government did something about the millions of parasites who contribute absolutely nothing whatsoever to society, and simply demand that their betters hand over the loot, then that's class warfare.

Just my personal definition.