Income sources for wealthy retirees

The problem with Obama's desire to raise taxes is it is a job killer and a way to punish the successful--the dream of all socialists/marxists who want the power of the purse over everyone, not just the poor. I've never been in the top quintile of income, but I have roamed around the other four. And I've had a good life. The bottom quintile was when I was a married college student in 1961 living in an apartment with no car, and a job translating Russian medical journals, warming up baby bottles and changing diapers, and using a wringer washer 3 flights down that took quarters. The fourth quintile was when we were "DINKS" double-income-no-kids after the children left home in the late 80s, early 90s when I was an Associate Professor and my husband was a partner in a small architectural firm. Now we're both retired, and probably hovering between second and third.

But there are definitely wealthy retirees. Among people in the highest quintile who are technically "retired," 43.7% of their income comes from wages, salaries and self employment. Only 18.7% of their income in that group comes from private pensions, IRAs, annuities, etc. So when Obama is successful in raising taxes by scolding Americans about being stingy and greedy, this is the group who can afford to just stop earning income. That means zip, nada zilch to your state government coffers too. Now that's a huge problem, because unlike the feds, the state governments can't just print more money. They are obligated by law to stay on budget. Raising taxes collects less money for the government--especially from rich people who either can take their business off shore, hire a smart tax lawyer or just stop earning until somebody wises up after the next election.

But it's also a big problem for the government to be taking in a lot as it did during the Bush tax cut years, because politicians, whether Democrat or Republican, just salivate when they see those numbers, so instead of paying down the debt, they just increase the government programs.

Source for figures (not opinion) "Income of the Aged Chartbook, 2008," issued by the Social Security Administration, although I can't find a picture that exactly matches those--this one is close.