Its going to take the kids today growing up and seeing how the baby boomers have fucked them to get any changes. There will be a sharp move to the right in about 30 years because todays kids are going to realize that all we need government for is for defense and law and order. The government today exists just to hire more voters to keep the government growing. Since when has our government ever done anything worth a shit?? Our Presidents have mostly been jokes. Our government can't do shit. Go back to FDR. Moron. First he let the Germans get away with murder in the 30's and then didn't have the guts to stop Stalin after the war. Check out JFK. His pea brain got us in trouble with Russia and Cuba, not to mention he didn't get us out of Vietnam. Check out LBJ. POS in action. Vietnam, need I say more. Check out Carter. Fuck head screwed us in the Middle East and single handily gave rise to Iran. Check out Clinton. POS pathological liar. incompetent. John
I don't get it, you support capitalism, yet then post a conservation & savings type of living (which is more socialist than anything) Hate to break it to you, but capitalism is all about perpetual growth, waste & consumption. So you need to pick where you stand. The consumer nature is a by-product of the capitalist system and is heavily instilled by almost every corporation on the face of the earth. Post industrial revolution, the consumer is a vital part of the equation, otherwise capitalism has problems growing and reverts right back to a monarchy & feudalism. Big business is pulling all the strings in this country and turning it into corporate feudalism. Pure capitalism is too transparent and causes revolutions and/or chaos. But with the current system, you can have all the free market/laissez faire supporters cry about big government & socialism, when in fact, they are actually getting what they asked for. Government raises taxes to provide more validity for their debt and generate ability to cover debt service. Yet the financial system is actually in control of a private bank, while the liability is put on the government and then the people through taxes. Hmmmm.
Following the logic that we would be better off if the govt taxed more...then we would really be better off if the govt taxed us 100% of our earnings ... right? The other side of balancing the equation is for the government to spend less...way less. Maybe even the tax system needs changing to be like the Fair Tax legislation which would zap the underground economy (now paying 0%) with their fair share (fairtax.org) Instead of one evil monarch as in olde days, we now have millions of unelected bureaucrats ... each an unassailable master of his/her domain ... city, county or fedagency. The negative feedback has been disabled from the system and we are largely out of control as a result. (I am leaving the construction biz after 33 years of dealing with county planners and federal agencies full of people that have not the tiniest clue or care about practical reality and economics. ) They can suck the system dry only for so long. Only their ability to steal value by steadily debasing the Greenback at a rate that is unnoticable at Joe Sixpack's level keeps them alive. You should read about the "Wake Up Tour" being conducted by the head of the GAO at his website. http://www.gao.gov/special.pubs/longterm/wakeuptour.html Our Comptroller General is an honorable man that cares about our country.
Won't happen. The generation to which you are referring is too brainwashed/braindead/government dependent to reach the conclusions you suggest.
I am inclined to agree with you...I guess hope springs eternal that something will wake up the sleeping before it is too late for US. Good luck to you! T
Thank god the market is stronger than any one man, here in Canada the government is just as corrupt as any other contending nation but the economy is going well. Proof that lacking leadership doesn't necessarily derail a nation. We have to accept the good with the bad. The more I think about it, the more I think that humans are doomed, or that capitalism is the closest thing we have to a perfect system. I watched a video about India yesterday, the young people start behaving like american consumers, while the old people are afraid Indian culture will disappear. What is culture? I don't know exactly, but culture doesn't put food on the table. Culture will disappear where capitalism is victorious. Capitalism, urbanization destroyed the family structure. Do you need a spouse or happy fulfilling marriage? I don't know if you do but marriage doesn't put food on the table. In Sweden, which is as close to a perfect model as we have today has a very very high rate of single people. No one marries there, it's cohabitation everywhere. Are they lonely? I don't know, but you accept the good and the bad. The good is that Swedish can take educational grants from the government, everyone has access to education, one of the best health care systems etc It's very socialist, the European way. Now, why is America failing so? No single reason is the answer or the solution. What made America so successful, and why are the 'check and balances' not properly working today? You have to believe in capitalism or work on becoming the next Lenin.
I mostly agree with your post, John, but it wasn't we Boomers who hosed-up policies... it was the Gummint. We are not going to fare well over the balance of our lifetimes, but the generations to follow will be damaged even worse.
It's not that white & black, I think it's fairly obvious that socialist aspects & capitalist aspects have their place. The raw capitalist system was already proven to cause revolutions & distrust in the system. Pure socialism (which is not communism or Lenin's idealogy) is just too much bureaucracy and government. Biggest problem is the lack of understand of sustainable living. Which means, no perpetual growth, sometimes declines to properly sustain your resources. This is completely against the capitalist model and also breaks the most important rule & duty of any corporation. It's like this. Pick a town and imagine 10 small family businesses. If they fall on hard times, they will try to keep operating to keep people employed and hold the town together. Now instead, imagine a large publically traded corporation. They wont even wait to fall on hard times, they will close shop and kill the town's economy without even thinking twice.
I don't know if the thread is still on topic from the original post or not but I had to insert a GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR BUTTT! There. That feels better. No, and I mean NOOOOO corporation ever pays taxes. It's a great rallying cry for libs to get people to vote for them but they know the only people who get taxed are the little guys who they got to vote for them. What corporation in there right mind wouldn't pass the cost of the taxes on to the consumer. It's just like any other cost of doing business. If the price of hotdogs go up people will pay more at the hotdog vender. If we're ticked off at the increase at the hotdog stand and want those bastards to pay by taxing the crap out of hotdogs. The hot dog stand either goes out of business or the price of hotdogs goes up again, because the hot dog vender has a margin he/she must make on each hotdog after taxes. Lets say 5 % a dog. We just hammered him with a 4% windfall tax. The bastard! Well now what's he going to do. Either it's not worth it to him to sell hotdogs or he increases price to achieve the same level of profit with the new tax taken into account. Who gets hurt in the end? The guy who now has to pay more to the government for each and every hotdog. One way or another, however it's spun at you, individuals are the only ones who pay. And generally the taxes are a greater portion of the small guys income than the rich. Can anyone say 25% to the goverment at the pump. Everybody pays more. But who does it really hurt? Who pays? JIM