So, for the last little while I have tried to create an argument as to why what is going on within our government makes sense and where it could be beneficial. I have still not agreed with a lot of it, but I have at least tried to look at things from their perspective. You know, tried to see both sides of the argument.
All of that was ruined this morning when I read in the Washington Post and on CNBC that our government is currently considering a VAT tax on top of the current (and proposed increases) income tax. Their reasoning? They need money to cover their spending on this recession and what they want to do with Government Health Care and other future spending. They actually even cited the fact that "many other countries are doing it." Really? Are you kidding me? We have been the number one country in the world for a long time in innovation, economic power and military strength and now suddenly we want to be more like other countries by making our inefficient government bigger?
Why on earth is the discussion not centering around slowing spending and cutting planned projects until we can afford them? Why isn't that even part of the discussion?!! Instead of thinking and operating responsibly and not spending money they don't have, they are spending like crazy and now want to tax everyone more to pay for it.
GGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!
Please join me in just getting rid of all incumbents this next election. Hopefully those currently in power will not have inflicted too irrepairable damage by then.
3 weeks ago
Posts
2 comments:
Our problem is that those in power are only SELECTIVE students of history. They all look back on the Great Depression and think how great the New Deal was to give people jobs. What they fail to realize, though, is that FDR and Congress raised taxes to pay for it all. The deficit spending they got into was unsustainable without taxing, because other countries aren't going to trust as much that the US is going to repay their bonds if they buy them. Another thing they overlook is that the Great Depression was more than a single crash in the stock market. The economy crashed several times, and not once for over 10 years did the unemployment rate get below 10%.
One thing that I was thinking about was the excuse you cited for increased government and taxes: "Other countries are doing it." Again, during the Great Depression, the Hoover administration tried to overcome domestic economic troubles by trying to control the economy. How did he do it? Tariffs. The Halley-Smoot Tariff was the highest tax on imported goods EVER, at nearly 50%. The idea was to protect domestic businesses and jobs. Other countries soon followed suit, worsening the Depression. Raising taxes and increasing the size of government are not perfect analogies for what happened before, but I have a feeling they will have similar effects.
Post a Comment