Subject:
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Re: Supply-Side Economics? The Evidence Says No!
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 17 Oct 2006 16:40:53 GMT
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Viewed:
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2514 times
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Well, lets be honest here. If your product is too expensive for the masses
in the USA, it probably doesnt stand much of a chance in an even MORE
empoverished world market overseas, especially with foreign governments
market-protection policies (tariffs, etc).
WE are THE market; we are THE CONSUMERS; WE fuel the world economy. This,
BTW, is a blessing AND a curse IMO.
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Not quite true any more. The EU is providing a balanced offset against the US
nowadays (look at the strength of the Euro). From a world markets point of view
the US is playing less of a role.
And I wouldnt whinge about tariffs. Check how much of your tax goes into
supporting large agri-business run farms in various protected areas of
agriculture. Your sugar would be a hell of a lot cheaper if it came from Brazil
or Australia and wasnt supported.
In the Free trade agreement between Australia and the US there are so many
loopholes for US agri-business it would make an ardent protectionist blush. To
his credit President Bush has pushed (weakly) against this blatant protectionism
but theres a lot of Republicans and Democrats alike who have vested interests
in preserving the status quo.
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But if you use that money to assist those on the lower rungs,
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How specifically? Education? We do that.
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Not the extent of other countries. Your undergraduate university system is
innately geared towards wealth rather than intelligence and your public high
school system is regarded as poor even within the US and is considered
completely subpar everywhere else in the world. The only level where you excel
is at postgraduate and that is to a large extent due to foreign input.
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they will
put it back into the US economy, indirectly giving it to that same rich guy
after all, but helping out a greater portion of the population along the
way.
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The problem is that they dont use that help to better their situation and
become productive, but to simply secure themselves to the public teet.
Governmental help too often foils the motivation for improvement, as
manifested in worker morale in a communist society.
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You are jumping to extremes here. A free-market social democracy provides plenty
of incentive for work. I would argue that a laissez fare approach discourages
the poor to work and encourages them to turn to crime as there is minimal
incentive to work when you know that you are never going to improve your
childrens chances without more money than you can earn legally.
--SNIP--
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Well, Im ALL for tax reform. Personally, Id like to see the IRS abolished
and a VAT installed. That way the rich get soaked, and best of all, it is by
themselves-- what could be sweeter (and fairer) than that?
A VAT is the ONLY way to truly make the rich pay, because they have so many
loopholes available to them that arent for the unwashed.
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Actually, theres an awful lot of impetus and evidence that flat taxes are a
great way of getting the rich to pay the tax they ought. They can even work with
redistributive policies by returning cash to those who need it.
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Theres more clarification to be made in terms of payroll vs. income tax and
how the difference punishes the poor more than the rich, but thats a bigger
issue.
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I really dislike discussing our tax system because it really sucks, and I
wish it would all just be wiped clean and begun anew...
JOHN
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Tim
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Message has 1 Reply: | | Re: Supply-Side Economics? The Evidence Says No!
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| (...) What about all of this rubbish about the US being 5% of the world's population (300,000,000 strong now, thankyouverymuch) and yet consuming 75%-ish of the world's resources? Balance that! (...) It's a wonder we are even able to dress ourselves (...) (18 years ago, 17-Oct-06, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Supply-Side Economics? The Evidence Says No!
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| (...) Well, let's be honest here. If your product is too expensive for the masses in the USA, it probably doesn't stand much of a chance in an even MORE empoverished world market overseas, especially with foreign governments' market-protection (...) (18 years ago, 17-Oct-06, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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