[quote=spdrun]I don’t get the opposition to taxes. I’d be glad to pay a sizable chunk of my income in tax if I had a family, in exchange for certain guarantees.
(1) My kids get a decent public education no matter what happens to me
(2) My kids have access to secondary education at low cost
(3) My family has access to healthcare at low cost with minimal risk of medical bankruptcy
(4) Government retirement system (read: Social Security) remains well-funded
(5) Infrastructure and public transport systems are well maintained
(6) Things like the environment, food quality, and drug efficacy are well-regulated to prevent corporations harming the public. Also, working hours are regulated and vacation time is guaranteed as a matter of health and safety.
Problem with the US isn’t our taxes are terribly high — it’s that we don’t get much back for the tax money spent. We waste it on homicide sprees abroad (aka, power projection) and abuse of our own citizenry (overpolicing, mass incarceration, war on the bugaboo of the week).[/quote]
Bingo. We could cut our military spending in half and still out-spend every other country on the planet. The Military Industrial Complex has been running the show for far too long. Think of where we would be WRT healthcare, education, infrastructure, etc. if we hadn’t spent all this money on wars that most of us (those of us who pay attention to what’s going on in the world) never wanted.
And the notion that cutting taxes while increasing military spending will magically make deficits disappear is pure idiocy.
Trickle-down economics has NEVER worked. Why do so many people still believe in it?
