Quote :

"because that is what will happen with the increased debt. National debt gets included in spending."

I'm sorry nutsmakr, our children will need to make tough decisions, just like we needed to. They are going to need to figure out a way to live within their means. If that means Medicare spending must stop growing, then so be it.

5/17/2007 11:45:45 PM

Quote :

"i think that weaning Americans from the government's teat is, in fact, a great idea, but most people who pay lip service to "cutting spending" don't REALLY want to cut spending."

as much as i would wish this to happen i think a lot of americans are too ignorant/irresponsible/lazy to be a responsible productive member of society. idealistically we could throw these people into labor camps but in reality they will be breaking into my car, begging me for money on the streets, or selling crack.



[Edited on May 18, 2007 at 1:28 AM. Reason : ;]

5/18/2007 1:27:26 AM

Quote :

"They are going to need to figure out a way to live within their means.If that means Medicare spending must stop growing we stop spending half a trillion dollars on some bullshit that we can't win, then so be it."

5/18/2007 9:04:07 AM

Lets try to stop with the insanity that the Bush tax cuts increased revenue. They did no such thing. A simple exponential trendline explains over 99% of the variation in tax cuts since the last major revenue negative tax cut in 1981. The Bush cuts significantly underpreform that line.

The tax cuts, as cuts tend to do, lead to less revenue.

5/18/2007 1:43:41 PM

Good graph.

I'd like to revisit it a few years from now and see the long-term trend of those tax cuts.

5/18/2007 1:51:42 PM

^^^^ let's trade them to Mexico for people who will work

5/18/2007 2:45:32 PM

there are other issues with having a bigger sales tax and greatly reduced income and property taxes

property taxes have a purpose, most of them are directly used by municipalities to generate and maintain infrastructure.

income tax set at a low flat % with a floor (below which you don't pay taxes 16-18k i would guess) and otherwise a 10-15% flat income tax for everyone

social security becomes a 'planned savings/pension fund' where you pay in to your 'account' a small % (5 or so) and it is invested in various ways to keep up with inflation plus a decent interest return that way you never support anyone but yourself and SS becomes self sustaining.

5/18/2007 3:51:01 PM

I still need to read up on this some more, but from what I've read so far I'm all for some fairtax.

5/18/2007 4:14:33 PM

forgive me, but I'm willing to bet that that "graph" is biased as hell. Show me more than 20 years, mang. that's too convenient. plus, how well does that deal with the dot-com bust or, I dunno, the biggest fucking terrorist attack on American soil ever. Exactly.

5/18/2007 7:55:28 PM

^do you even know what that graph is?

5/18/2007 11:28:42 PM

Well gulf war one, the collapse of the Soviet Block, Black Monday, the Asian Financial Cirsis, two recessions much larger than the 2000 and the dot-com boom are all inside of the blue line yet there is almost no variation up or down from trend

I chose 1982 because in 1981 the first Reagan tax cuts were passed which were also a big slash in rates. If you want to see that graph I can post it as well. The 1981 tax cuts underperform as well.

[Edited on May 18, 2007 at 11:31 PM. Reason : .]

5/18/2007 11:31:34 PM

The more inelastic the supply of a good, the less allocative impacts a tax will have. I would imagine that real property is a lot less elastic than most other goods and a tax upon it would therefore have less consequences for economic efficiency.

So I don't really get the argument behind this thread. Does the author still have a naive conception of a man's "right" to his property?

6/16/2007 4:00:38 AM