Subject:
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The Economy, Stupid! (was Re: How many things etc)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 14 Jul 2003 20:37:03 GMT
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Viewed:
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336 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:
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Additionally, Dubya will probably claim that his economic stimulus
package *would* have worked if only the states hadn’t raised their
own taxes!
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You’re so cynical, Dave! Too bad it is not more contagious, it might keep more
politicians on their toes.
In theory, I’d like to see taxes so low that much of what we now have as part of
local, state, and federal governments would be impossible. I am a social
liberal, not a fiscal one.
But our economy will never recover from a purely “taxes” based remedy anyway --
it’s a far bigger issue than that. What we need is a complete overhaul of
several areas of american life, including:
1. corporate culture -- how govt. interfaces with corps., the end of extravagant
corp. benefits or “welfare”, tighter contracts forcing corps. to serve a public
good for the benefits they do receive, tighter control over multinationals such
that if they gain from the U.S. they also pay taxes to the U.S. and hire from a
U.S. workforce, etc.
2. campaign finance reform -- the end of the corp. gravy train for both sides
(i.e. democrats and republicans), extreme limits on who can contribute and how,
etc. I mean, politicians well know who their masters are: the people that
finance their reelections and give them some nice offshore moolah to boot.
3. education -- not just the rhetoric, but the reality of becoming the best
educated society on earth. We certainly have the resources, it’s just that
everyone with the real money is thinking globally instead of nationally at this
point. Why train americans at a cost when you can hire asians or east indians at
a fraction of that cost? The other side of the coin is why train yourself at a
cost that you may have trouble recouping? The cost of higher education must drop
radically, otherwise the U.S. will continue to economically disadvantage its
workforce from the outset. In this new “global” world, we can no longer afford
to think in terms of keeping our politics pure (if they ever were) in an
increasingly socialistic world. How can americans fairly compete with workers
elsewhere when those workers will work for less because they have less overhead
in obtaining higher education?
4. Put up or shut up -- the allegiance of the extremely wealthy (individuals and
corps) is always placed where they can shelter their money the best, usually
somewhere other than their own country. Well, I say let the meat follow the
money: they can live where they put their resources. Forget about jail time for
these high level tax cheats -- expatriate them as does England! Ever heard of
english tax exiles? If you live a certain number of days in country, and are
amongst the wealthy elite, be prepared to pay the price of freedom -- or you can
choose to live abroad. No problem. Buh-bye, Shrubbies...
Anyway, that’s just off the top of my head -- feel free to add to the list.
My God, I’m a radical! Who knew?
-- Hop-Frog
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