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How to fix economy: lower corporate taxes, higher taxes on the middle class

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by YankeeFan, Nov 11, 2011.

  1. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    And we should. I was recently in Naha, Japan on Okinawa. Massive bases dominate that city. Why? 9/11 was carried off my guys with laundry knives. How did the Japaneses bases deter that?

    Why do we have aircraft carriers in an age of missiles. Why do we have bases in Germany when the Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago.

    Basically the vast majority of the population have not seen their standard of living increase appreciably in the past 10 years. And now we have to cut Social Security and Medicare so we can spend more influence.

    The U.S. has basically doubled the defense budget the past 10 years. Increased it about 300 billion a year. And now with Iraq and Afghanistan the plan is to move that money elsewhere? So, at 300 billion a year what did we receive?

    I think we had more world influence 10 years ago because we had a stronger economy.
     
  2. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    I actually agreed with the NPR article. Arthur Okun, who was one of he ecomnomist behind the Kennedy tax cuts, thought the most effective part was the cut in the corporate tax. So let's cut it to 12.5%.

    Given that the effective rate if corporate taxation is about 25% I would estimate it would cost about 125 billion a year. Instead of keeping the 150 billion or so we spent in Iraq in the defense budget we reduce the Pentagon budget by that amount.

    Now which would make us more influential as a nation? Stronger corporations and a stronger economy or that 125 billion in the defense budget? i think a stronger economy.
     
  3. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member


    The old "let's you and him fight", while Daddy Warbucks sits back, puffs on his cigar, and laughs.
     
  4. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Here's the thing: this isn't some secret Republican plan, these are the facts.

    At some point, the powers that be -- Republicans or Democrats -- are going to have to face the facts. To spend at these levels, they're going to have to tax the fuck out of the middle class.

    Both sides know it, and neither are willing to tell you.
     
  5. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    YF, I'm sure the GOP will take the lead on this at some point. Heck, for that matter they already are. They wrote the book on class warfare. And they are winning.
     
  6. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    There is only one side which has sworn blood allegiance to a fatfuck shadow dictator lurking off camera and delcared they will never ever ever ever raise any taxes on anything for any reason.

    As a result, all federal programs, including the massively popular programs which benefit the middle and lower classes, would be eviscerated. In fact, pretty much every program except the military.

    Both sides know THAT and neither will tell you. One is under his thumb and the other side is hiding under the bed.
     
  7. TrooperBari

    TrooperBari Well-Known Member

    There are a few reasons the US will keep a substantial military presence in the Asia-Pacific for decades to come. One is to honor the defense agreements it's signed with countries like Japan, Australia, the Philippines, etc. The government would have a hard time backing up its claims that it promotes free, democratic societies and is a reliable defense partner while retreating from the Asia-Pacific, all but ceding the region to China. There's barely enough room (or infrastructure) on Guam for the people who are there now, let alone trying to cram in most or all of the forces stationed on Okinawa, so where else can the US effectively deploy from to make good on the promises it's made to friendly nations in the region?

    I agree that defense spending could use a haircut, and if you want to talk European drawdown, I think you'd get a lot more sympathetic ears than you would for East and Central Asia. China has shown it's willing to redraw boundaries and ignore international convention when it suits its needs — especially if natural resources are at stake. As long as Japan's military remains handcuffed, South Korea's is keeping both eyes on North Korea, India has its hands full with Pakistan and Asean needs to hold years of meetings before it agrees on what to have for lunch, who else is going to serve as a counterweight to China and keep it from running roughshod over the region? If China gets the whole of its claim to the South China Sea, that not only gives it control over potentially huge oil and gas reserves but puts it right on the doorstep of the Malacca Strait, through which passes a quarter of the world's trade. Even giving the chest-pounding by Xinhua, the Global Times, etc. the requisite grain of salt, with the rise of China's princelings — longer on nationalism than pragmatism — and its increasingly muscular foreign policy, I don't know that the immediate economic gains from a drawdown in the Asia-Pacific would outweigh the long-term hit to the country's standing in diplomacy and trade.
     
  8. printdust

    printdust New Member

    [​IMG]

    Well, we're certainly trying our best.
     
  9. printdust

    printdust New Member


    I'll let you mow my lawn. Or load my luggage, and I'll pay you what any Mexican is willing to work for. In the meantime, give me a tax break!

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  10. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    When did Starman get Print's password?
     
  11. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    I was about to say I think we have either a kidnapping or a case of multiple personalities.
     
  12. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    YF, the military can withstand a substantial haircut while transitioning to the smarter, quicker, more targeted and technologically advanced defense the Obama administration envisions.

    Regardless, I find it amusing that the thesis of this piece seems to be that the logical way to pay our bills is to raise the tax rates on people earning between $30,000 and $68,000 paying only about 10 percent. Yes, by all means, let the bottom fall out a little more. There must still be some people out there who don't deserve to keep up with the mortgages on their homes.
     
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