Posted on 08/21/2008 4:45:38 AM PDT by kellynla
Given the hearty support Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama received in Europe last month, he must have noticed the surprise and skepticism among some Germans when he asked that Europeans contribute more for defense. Many Europeans argue they cannot afford such an additional expenditure.
They are right. And therein lies a cautionary tale for the United States, because continental Europe has been following something like Mr. Obama's plans for spending and taxes.
Mr. Obama has revealed his plans in stages. First, on his campaign Web site, he indicated he would solve the long-run solvency of Social Security (a good thing). In a Sept. 21, 2007, op-ed in Iowa's Quad-City Times, he ruled out benefit cuts to achieve solvency and looked first to payroll taxes (a bad thing). Last week, on this page, his economic advisers clarified his evolving tax proposals.
The spending shortfalls in Social Security and Medicare are large. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Social Security and Medicare spending left unchecked would, after a generation, consume about 10 percentage points more of GDP than it does today.
Simple arithmetic suggests that with this much more of GDP eaten up by the two programs, all federal taxes on average would have to be raised by more than 50% to make up the shortfall. Research by economists Eric Engen of the Federal Reserve Board and Jonathan Skinner of Dartmouth suggests that such a tax increase would reduce long-term GDP growth by about a full percentage point. This is no small matter: Think of it as reversing all of the gains in our long-term growth rate from the productivity boom of the past 15 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
According to the Presumptuous One, Hussein (peace on him); “Yes, We Can”.
*ducking*
This is why I can’t stand groups like the AARP and politicians who say we need a “bipartisan” solution to this problem. You can’t have political solutions to economic problems. They never work.
And we can’t keep up the deficit spending either. If something is so important that money must be spent, then the tax revenue should be there to cover it.
Can we tax our way into a Depression? “Yes, We Can!”
That's exactly correct, markets don't care about politics. All political (government) meddling does is introduce artificiality and inefficiency into otherwise free markets.
Mark Steyn said with great wisdom once that as taxpayers relinquish more and more of the duties of manhood to the state, they lose the very manhood they think they have. Caring for offspring replaced by welfare. Education through college. Health care for your family. Retirement for your parents, and you, when elderly.
And now this. Germans have nothing left to give to national defense. Well of course. They've been pussified by letting the state act like a real man, and their tax burden is already too high because of Government benefits.
Rather their intention is to weaken the pocketbooks of the population so that more people are dependent upon the entitlements.
The more people dependent on their entitlements, the easier it is to maintain political power and move towards a marxist nation.
“Can we tax our way into a Depression? “Yes, We Can!””
It’s our mission to see that this does not happen.
I’m NOT a fan of McCain, but he’s a danged sight better that that MARXIST.
"Dear Govt, keep your hands out of the Social Security pot! NOW!"
I'm tired of hearing how broke the SS system is going to be when NO ONE will make the government put Social Security under lock and key. They skim off the top whenever they need money for something else.
It is a "savings plan" that the govt (Dems) told the American people they NEEDED cause they did not know how to save. Admit it is a failure and let the American people either learn how to save or drown! Shift from a liberal mind-set to a conservative, self-supporting one for godsakes. It'll be our own fault for allowing ELECTED officials take us down.
“we can’t tax our way out of the entitlement crisis....”
the objective of liberal politics is to destroy capitalism so that “benevolent” marxism can save society.
I think P.J.O’Rourke said it best “Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink.”
“i think p.j. o’rourke said it best “liberalism is just communism sold by the drink.”
a former crack addict once said, “one is too many and a thousand ain’t enough.”
just like the lies that come from the mouths of liberals.
IMHO
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