Geithner - the average man in the street to blame for financial crisis

Trickle down does work. Have you every worked for or been paid by a poor person? Right now our tax system is a mess. When you have 10% of the income earners paying 80%m of the taxes and 47% either paying no taxes or receiving a paycheck from the government something is wrong. When you look at the lowest income earners they receive more back in refunds than was withheld in taxes. Right now our tax system seems to reward those who do very little or nothing at all and punish those who work hard. We need a tax system where everyone pays something into the general fund. The problem I have with the statement made by Giethner is that once again you place the blame on one group and there by pitting one group against another and ignoring the elected and unelected people who make the rules but don't have to live by all of them.

Bob, I don't make more when my employers taxes go down, I make more when I make them more money. If you raise the taxes on my employer than we pass those prices on to the consumer, but if you lower our taxes we just pocket that money. AGAIN, please show me one example of where "trickle down" economics has worked!!!!! I agree that our tax system is a mess, but how much of this is brought on by right wing conservatives? I am married, have three kids, and make $50,000 a year. Before I was married I paid about 30% of my income in taxes, today I don't pay a dime. Why? Because our tax system gives me a tax break for having kids and getting married. Sound fair to you? I am sure you remember when Steve Forbes ran for office an wanted a flat tax rate. All of his republican opponents bashed him for because many of them knew that even the top tax rate doesn't pay 10% in their taxes. All of know that rich have high power accountants that make sure that they pay as little as possible in taxes. Your numbers are right, but look at D!ck Cheney's 2008 tax returns, and realize that he paid a lower percentage of his income than I did when I was single. The difference is that he is a multi-millionaire, and I didn't make a percentage of the INTEREST he makes per year. Please explain to me how it is that a multi-millionaire who should be taxed in the 30% range is paying 9%? If you look at the facts Bob, you will realize that when you raise taxes to pay down debt, than lower than the economy grows. When you just cut taxes, and increase debt, you have a lost decade. Just ask George W. Bush!!!!!!

I agree that we are all some to blame, but it sounded like he was excusing the banks and blamming it all on the average citizen.