Tax the Rich!

[Guest Oaklands]

That day is rapidly approaching. What's Chinese for money?

Renminbi is the answer.

We have to get more production back in this country. That was what put us at the top. Now we are outsourcing all the production so we can spend, spend, spend.

Our corporate tax rates have been #2 in the world and will soon be #1 as Japan is supposed to be lowering their tax rate by 5%. Remember when you used to pick up items and they all said "Made in Japan?" Are system is very unfriendly to bring in industry. This has to change.

Unemployment is much higher than they lead us to believe. People are taken out of the statistics once their unemployment runs out. It was not this way years ago.

We have to even the playing field on trading. Tariffs have to be raised on imports to even that playing field. This is another way to get production going again.

The outdated income tax system has got to go. Want to tax the rich more than the average Joe and the poor, let them pay taxes on what they buy.

Lastly, 1 in 7 people in the US draw food stamps. While some of these people actually do need help, we have got to stop people from making more money by them having more babies. Poverty breeds poverty. If you are going to draw welfare, then you should have to do some sort of work in return. Working people have to do work to get paid. No more paying people to sit on their butts.

I don't claim to be an expert on economics, but commen sense tells you we are doing things all wrong. We can keep printing money as long as the dollar is the standard, but when they change the standard to something else, the dollar will go all to hell S will HTF.

Off my soap box now.

Edited April 7, 2011 by Oaklands
Adding more

[Guest nicemac]

Things are changing, maybe not fast enough, but at least an agenda is being driven by some good

Republicans. The Tea Party is actually growing unless you watch Katie Couric or that Matthews idiot.

I do not believe the Tea Party and Republicans are the same. Yes, the Tea Party was born of the Republican Party, but the current Republicans are (almost) as much of the problem as the Dems.

The Tea Party can change that.

[G27]

I do not believe the Tea Party and Republicans are the same. Yes, the Tea Party was born of the Republican Party, but the current Republicans are (almost) as much of the problem as the Dems.

The Tea Party can change that.

Agree, and I'm hopeful you're right.

2012 will be telling...

[Tim Nunan]

You haven't seen anything yet. Wait until they remove the dollar the standard currency worldwide. That is when the SHTF. There is a lot of interesting reading on it and the IMF has already said they want to replace the dollar with something else.

Going back to the gold standard should greatly stabilize our economy.

[Guest ab28]

Socialism/Communism has killed more people than all the wars in the history of the world combined.

I think religion has it beat.

[G27]

I think religion has it beat.

Show me the numbers. Just the top two communist murders (Mao and Stalin) account for a staggering 50 (some estimate as high as 90) million people...

[mav]

I think religion has it beat.

I would like to see those numbers as well.

[Guest ab28]

Show me the numbers. Just the top two communist murders (Mao and Stalin) account for a staggering 50 (some estimate as high as 90) million people...

Stalin wasn't communist, he was a dictator. The USSR was communist in name only, they had very few of the actual ideals of communism. Not that communism is great, or even works, but that is a common misconception.

[G27]

Read up on Stalinism, then get back to us with those numbers of religious killings, thanks.

[Guest ab28]

Read up on Stalinism, then get back to us with those numbers of religious killings, thanks.

270 million, from Islam alone. Political Islam // Tears of Jihad | Killed by Religion | Effects of Jihad | Political Islam

I have already studied Stalinism, it wasn't communism, if anything, it was a form of State Capitalism.

[7dogguy]

Awesome article explaining why simply putting higher taxes on the "Rich" will not solve our budget (spending) issues.

American Thinker Blog: Why we can't tax ourselves out of the deficit problem

Key statement:

"…so let's just tax it at a rate of 100%, bringing in an additional $404.8 Billion. Unfortunately the country is still $1.26 trillion in the hole for the year"

Even if we tax every wage earner that makes above $367k per year in the US at 100% (on whom the rate is now 35%), that doesn't even solve 1/3 of our deficit problem.

Seems to me when about 50% pay nothing, large corporations pay nothing, we need a SERIOUS overhaul of the IRS. Think about it - tax codes and issues are so much of a problem there are many many law firms that do only tax law; that should be the good indicator (if we needed imore) of how out of control the codes are and the harm it does.

But for politicians in the Democrat/Liberal camp, taxing plays well to the base. It will be a very interesting next year and a half with the election race.

[Guest nicemac]

I think religion has it beat.

Based on what evidence?

[DaveTN]

Most of the respected financial experts have said that our economy can't recover until we get our manufacturing base back. (But that really just common sense; no degree in economics required) That's up to us, not the government.

Foreign countries aren't responsible for damaging our economy; they are just doing what's best for them. (Exactly what we should be doing) Most Americans are only patriots when it doesn't cost them anything.

[Guest nicemac]

Most of the respected financial experts have said that our economy can't recover until we get our manufacturing base back. (But that really just common sense; no degree in economics required) That's up to us, not the government.

Foreign countries aren't responsible for damaging our economy; they are just doing what's best for them. (Exactly what we should be doing) Most Americans are only patriots when it doesn't cost them anything.

Agreed. And we can't get our manufacturing base back until we become competitive with other countries. As long as you can make a widget in China for a 1/10 of what you can make it for here, we will not be able to compete.

[Guest monkeyhumper]

Agreed. And we can't get our manufacturing base back until we become competitive with other countries. As long as you can make a widget in China for a 1/10 of what you can make it for here, we will not be able to compete.

I've read that part of the cause of America's manufacturing boom was due to the fact that WWI and WWII destroyed industrial nations, and their ability to compete. They also posited that after the war, the factories that built war machines were poised to mass produce on an unheard of scale.

I don't know how much rebuilding a nation in ruins costs, and I'm sure there are plenty of people with strong opinions (naw!) on why our industrial backbone was once so strong, and is now struggling, but to consider and ponder the toll war took on Europe and Japan... it's an interesting angle to add to the giant equation of our position in the global blah blah blah.

[East_TN_Patriot]

270 million, from Islam alone. Political Islam // Tears of Jihad | Killed by Religion | Effects of Jihad | Political Islam

I have already studied Stalinism, it wasn't communism, if anything, it was a form of State Capitalism.

Um... no. Capitalism assumes that the means of production and profits are held by private interests. Stalin implemented a socialist economy in the Soviet Union under the belief, based on Marx's writings, that it was the necessary precondition for ushering true communism. Marx, and Stalin, were aware that communism was not something that could happen overnight, so they believed that the state had to play a role in forcing people to abandon the social attitudes and social values associated with a free-market economy until the masses realized the benefits of a communist society at which point they would adopt it without coercion or intervention from the state, at which point, the state would essentially dissolve and be replaced by a communal style of popular rule.

All that said, you are correct. Religion has socialism/communism beat.

This site lists death tolls for religious vs. non-religious conflicts: Twentieth Century Atlas - Death Tolls and Megadeaths

And this site summarizes the above data: Deaths over history: religious vs. nonreligous « Bookrate

To be fair, comparisons are difficult at best for a couple of reasons. First, it's a little disingenuous to compare total death tolls from religious wars throughout recorded human history with political movements of the last 100 years (such as communism/socialism/Nazi atrocities/etc.). Second, there is no clear diving line between many religious wars and political wars. These designations regularly bleed over into each other.

[Guest ab28]

State capitalism has various different meanings, but is usually described as a society wherein the productive forces are controlled and directed by the state in a capitalist manner, even if such a society calls itself socialist.

From wikipedia, which I know is not the most reliable source for information, but it will do. The above sentence pretty much describes Russia. They may have started out socialist, with the intent to become communist, but it never happened. Stalin and the "communist" party controlled everything. Stalin was the government. People how go crazy and scream communism every time Obama does something, truly have no idea what it actually is. Most people I have talked to have no idea what communism or socialism actually is, it is just some scary word used by republicans to take away people's "freedoms".

The truth is, any economic system is going to have corruption. Capitalism isn't a shining standard, it is basically "the best of the worst" as far as economic systems go.

[DaveTN]

Agreed. And we can't get our manufacturing base back until we become competitive with other countries. As long as you can make a widget in China for a 1/10 of what you can make it for here, we will not be able to compete.

If the goal is to have our skilled trades and factory workers working for the same wages as other countries, or even for minimum wage; it’s not really worth it is it? Protectionism is not the bad word some would have you believe.

This ain’t rocket science.

[G27]

Since we're relying on Wikipedia (oh boy), here's their definition of Stalinism, which matches that I've ready most everywhere over the years:

Stalinism, when used in its broadest sense, refers to socialist states comparable to the Stalin-era Soviet Union, i.e. that are characterized by an overly centralized state, totalitarian figure head, secret police, propaganda, and especially brutal tactics of political coercion. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, "Stalinism is associated with a regime of terror and totalitarian rule."

What's even better as the page on Stalinism is part of the series on communism.

Further, 'state capitalism' is a misnomer - Soviet era Russia was 'state socialism':

Some currents of socialism, often referred to as state socialism, advocate complete nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange as a strategy for implementing socialism

In all my years of studying history, you're literally the first / only person I've ever heard claim Stalin was neither socialist nor communist.

[G27]

If the goal is to have our skilled trades and factory workers working for the same wages as other countries, or even for minimum wage; it’s not really worth it is it? Protectionism is not the bad word some would have you believe.

This ain’t rocket science.

Protectionism is the ONLY answer if we're going to concede to a minimum wage and still try to compete with global producers.

[mav]

270 million, from Islam alone. Political Islam // Tears of Jihad | Killed by Religion | Effects of Jihad | Political Islam

I have already studied Stalinism, it wasn't communism, if anything, it was a form of State Capitalism.

Interesting. While I don't accept those numbers at face value, I do find it interesting that Dr. Bill Warner considers Islam to be "more of a political system than a religion." Also, the name of the site is called "Political Islam." Based on the arguments they make, it is not a religion that has killed the number of people quoted, but a political system.

[Guest monkeyhumper]

I read a blog last night that estimated that in the bible, God himself killed approx. 25 million. The Flood alone had to wipe out a shi... a lot.

[Guest ab28]

In all my years of studying history, you're literally the first / only person I've ever heard claim Stalin was neither socialist nor communist.

He did start out socialist, and using many of Marx's ideals. It gradually became a dictatorship, and had almost nothing in common with communism. I have heard plenty of people say the USSR wasn't actually communist, many people have known this for years.

I read a blog last night that estimated that in the bible, God himself killed approx. 25 million. The Flood alone had to wipe out a shi... a lot.

Well, the biblical flood was not worldwide, it was a local phenomenon. There isn't enough water on the earth to cover that much space, and there isn't geological evidence of a worldwide flood. I was a geology major, and studied this stuff in depth. Many cultures have flood stories, and there are histories of cultures during the same time period, so humanity could not have been wiped out. Reading the whole bible, there are many things missing and a lot that is flat out wrong. The bible does have a lot of really good stuff in it, but it is just like any other book out there.

[Guest monkeyhumper]

There isn't enough water on the earth to cover that much space

I'm not going to swing this into a debate on religion*, but Jesus also only had five loaves and two fishes.

I hope you don't tell me you used to be a short order cook, and that even with additives and sauces, there's no possible way 5,000 people could eat on that.

*After this.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

If the goal is to have our skilled trades and factory workers working for the same wages as other countries, or even for minimum wage; its not really worth it is it? Protectionism is not the bad word some would have you believe.

This aint rocket science.

At least protectionism to the extent our tariffs meet

their tariffs. That's one area China and others are

killing us, not to mention the damn near slave labor

cost they have. Protectionism is what other countries

have been practicing against us for years.

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