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10% Unemployment!
By BrianHull | January 23, 2009
Fresh from Providence Business News:
The state’s unemployment rate reached double digits in December, jumping 0.7 percentage points to 10.0 percent – the first time it has reached that level since 1976, when the government revised the way it measures joblessness. In other words, one out of every 10 people active in the job market does not have a job.
Awesome! All those tax cuts to the wealthy “job creators” are working wonderfully. Look at how well the economy is doing. We should give rich people even more tax cuts, because it always trickles down, right? Oh, tax cuts, how I love you…..
Seriously though, we need to really revisit the tax structure in Rhode Island. I know everyone’s a reactionary when it comes to taxes - we’re such a “high-tax” state. I’ll agree with that but with a certain caveat. Some of us are taxed too much, while others aren’t taxed enough. The property tax burden is too high and the income tax burden is too low. The state (and I suppose the cities and towns) needs to restructure those two elements of taxation. Property taxes need to be reduced and income taxes, especially those for the higher income levels, need to be increased.
The Governor’s “tax-reform” panel is about to release its plan detailing how really, really rich people should pay less while middle-income and working-class folks should pay more.
In general, a taxpayer’s Rhode Island taxable income currently is sorted into five different baskets, with a different tax rate applying to each. Tax rates range from 3.75 percent to 9.9 percent.
Under the plan, the income would be sorted into four baskets, with tax rates ranging from 3.8 percent to 5.5 percent.
Thus, the lowest tax rate would rise a bit, while the top tax rate would fall sharply.
Tell me again how that is fair. Tell me again how taxing the wealthy drives them from the state. Tell me again how giving the wealthy tax cuts creates jobs, because it sure has worked wonderfully here in Rhode Island.
January 24th, 2009 at 4:35 am
I hate to say it man. I lived in Florida for four horrid years and watched the unemployment rate sky rocket, and left before it hit 8%. I just glad I never picked Rhode Island. No offense.
January 29th, 2009 at 8:04 am
you know, that if they still figured out the unemployment rates like they did back in the great depression - our national unemployment of (last i heard) 7.2% would be a lot more like 16%…it was at 25% in the GD. doing the math the same way, puts us a lot closer. new math - making few people unemployed with out giving them jobs.
April 5th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Wait till Obama is done. You’ll think 10% would be just lovely. Over-reaching presidential power started with Bush, and now the “messiah”, Obama, he taken the torch and is running with it. Our country will be in flames by end of 2010. You can mark that in your little blog. The Great Depression is going to look attractive. Prepare for either of these:
1) Civil War (when the gov’t announces the check is NOT in the mail)
2) Revolution (when everybody has had enough - not far off from my sampling of conversations from a wife variety of people)
3) BOTH - The welfare/Disability/Section 8/Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security crowd stops getting their checks, and they rampage.Burning and stealing everything in sight, after all, they are entitled man! Meanwhile, people who REALLY love our country are fighting against the gov’t who pretends to care for them, but don’t, and have destroyed the Consitution, and the people must take out the gov’t for a reboot. At the same time they will be fighting the welfare recipients who are trying to steal everything from the people who really love the country…and real freedom.
Freedom is dead. The government has turned communist/fascist - they are taking over businesses. They are intentionally spending us into oblivion, the Fed is dumping cheap worthless money into the economy, and I could go on and on and on. But what’s the point. Everybody has bought into the new god who will save us all. Yeah right, what a joke. Get ready for hell on Earth my young friends. It’s coming, and you won’t have any idea how to survive it. You’ll probably decide the 2nd Amendment is a fantastic thing - except you wish you had that shotgun to stop the welfare-deprived drug-addict maniac from coming through your front door. Good luck folks..you are going to need it. Young people (I’m fairly young, but not dumb) cannot survive the “Greatest Depression” which is being foisted on us by the people you admire so much. Why do I even bother. Since when has common sense won out in this country? Probably been since before Wilson screwed America. What a sick bunch America has become. Evil, just pure evil. I may as well tell my Chinese wife forget the visa baby, I’m moving there with you. I’ll have more freedom there and we won’t have to fight the welfare hordes when they don’t get their free check compliments of me working my ass off.