[wmfights]

In fact with margin buying and leveraged buyouts the money that is used to purchase the stocks is borrowed money so when the capital gain is achieved it is taxed at the lower rate and the investor not only gets the advantage of the lower rate but also gets to offset the gain by the cost of the interest on the loan.

I can't believe I'm reading this stuff at FR.

Risk, risk, risk. Your strawman assumes that all investments go up in value. However, if the investment goes bad the margin gets called. If an investment loan goes bad, for whatever reason, the principals are liable if it's a recourse loan, or the banks are if it's a non-recourse loan. IOW, no one gets free money.

If we want to argue that failure is a key regulator of a free economy I'm with you 100%. The problem with TARP was it broke the chain of responsibility.

Romney's business practices have opened my eyes to realize that there is a huge tax disparity in the treatment of people who toil and sweat for a living and those who live off the toil and sweat of others.

So the guy who puts a huge enterprise together, which employees a lot people, isn't working really hard?

I won't vote for Romney under any circumstances, but it's not because he has been successful in business.

[USNBandit]

Under the premise these people have proposed long term capital gains would be taxed at the same rate as income. I don't know where their capital comes for investment, but mine comes from my income. I don't think I should have to pay taxes over and over again for investing money that I already paid taxes on. This whole thread has become a class war.

I guess I should have quit engineering school and become a historian where you can make $1.6 million a year working for Freddie Mac.

[greeneyes]

Well said. That toil & sweat thing always frustrates me to hear it. Talk about hitting from the left! I run into this straw-man all the time. Thanks for the post.