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Sangetsu (Offline)
Busier Than Shinjuku Station
 
Posts: 1,346
Join Date: May 2008
Location: 東京都
Talking 02-19-2009, 09:07 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM View Post
What do you mean? Japan has been doing it for years.

Myths and truths about Japan's stimulus - Jan. 21, 2009
I'm well aware of it. Japan's situation is more dire than America's. Japan remains a "creditor" nation only because the national debt is kept internal. In reality, when you compare the GDP of Japan and America, Japan's national debt is much higher than America's.

America does not need to spend money on any kind of "stimulus" program. In order to fund this stimulus plan, you must tax the people (in this case, borrow it and make our children and grandchildren repay it) to get the money. Why go such a roundabout way? Why not just not tax anyone in the first place? Then we'll have their own money to spend, which we can do with a little more wisdom than the government can.


When all is said and done, right now, how much of your money do you actually get to keep after all tax is paid or withheld? Federal income tax, Social Security, state income tax, sales tax, property tax, utility tax (look at your electric, phone, cable, and gas bills). There are 43 different taxes on gasoline alone. Tax is increased each year, and in exchange we get fewer/lower quality services for it.

Government bureaucracy has become a class unto itself, and is the least productive of any the classes in society.

What's worse is that the stimulus bill contains legislation which pretty much destroys the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. One of the few reasons that the economy grew strongly in the 90's until recently is because more people were working and less were collecting benefits. The stimulus bill does not have an expiration date on it, these changes in law are more or less permanent, which is why some governors are opposed to the stimulus program. Once the federal money is spent, states will be required to fund these programs on their own. And how exactly will they do that? By increasing taxes even further.

The stimulus bill is another example of the cure being worse than the disease. The government has mismanaged our economy for decades, setting the stage for the problems we are facing now. Our federal tax code varies between 2500 and 60,000 pages, depending on which politician you ask about it. No one really knows, yet they are content to add another couple hundred regulations to it, adding them so quickly that very few people have actually had the time to look at them and understand them.

None of these morons in Washington can balance their own checkbooks without help, and yet we allow them to spend our money as they see fit. Does anyone else see any problems with this picture? Barney Frank is one of the worst offenders, yet he is the chairman of the Banking and Finance Committee.

Obama promised change, and its coming in spades...

end of rant

Last edited by Sangetsu : 02-19-2009 at 09:16 AM.
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