(04-30-2024, 07:03 AM)mikesez Wrote:

(04-29-2024, 11:03 PM)Sneakers Wrote: It doesn't matter if the investment is long term or short term, the risks associated with at-will employment are not at all the same.  Stock prices are far more volatile than employment statistics.  Tesla jumped 15% today, while AMC dropped 11%.  How many company workforces fluctuated so drastically?

Hourly workers can easily see their earnings fluctuate that much week to week.  And that's real to them.  Stock price fluctuations do not affect the owner of the stock unless they intend to sell soon.

There's no risk to principal with employment.  You either have a job or you don't for a temporary period of time.  You are not additionally financially penalized for losing your job.  Your obligations are still there and your income is not, but there's no reaching into your bank account by your now former employer.  And as has been stated previously, there are unemployment benefits available to those that go an extended period of time while looking for new employment.

There is risk to principal with investment.  You can lose every dime you put in depending on the nature of the investment.  If you use leverage, (investor is solely responsible for this) you could lose more than you put in.

Although I see the logic behind your stance, I think you are ignoring the greater benefit that comes from lower investment tax rates.  You would be disincentivizing investment, which the government does not want, by taxing cap gains at generally higher ordinary income rates.  The Feds want a strong economy as should the citizenry.  A strong economy is helped significantly by investment.  Secondly, that corporation you invested in is taxed to death by the government as well which gets baked into the price of their goods and services.  That corporation or many like it don't exist without access to capital which dries up with slower economies as does demand for products and services.

At the end of the day, the end consumer pays all taxes.  Corporate taxes get passed on to the consumer in higher prices.  It's all a tax shell game.  Your effective tax rate is actually much higher than what you calculate when filing your taxes once these things are understood.  The current system should be abolished in favor of a consumption tax like the Fair Tax.  No more shell games.  A consumption tax would also entice more capital around the world to come here.  There would be a ginormous boost to the economy if/when implemented.  It would, unfortunately for politicians, take power away from them and so it will be hard for true dyed in the wool leftists to ever get on board with that.

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