[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

The world may not come to an end, but I personally feel it is immoral and repugnant for the government to lay claim to almost 40% of anyone's hard-earned wages. Almost half! And that's not counting other taxes, etc.

As for GWB, the answer is simple - don't spend like a drunken sailor! Too late, unfortunately.

[WilliamReading]

40% of anyone’s hard-earned wages.

That is the problem in a nut shell. A lot of this money wasn’t really wages and really wasn’t hard-earned.

[KeyesPlease]

“...I personally feel it is immoral and repugnant for the government to lay claim to almost 40% of anyone’s hard-earned wages.”

I saw the show too and couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

I agree with you, but if it is not socialism then what is it when the government - at a combined level - confiscates more than half of one’s labor? What would that a$$hat call it?

What is it called when government regulates capital to the degree it does? IIRC, the government required Fannie and Freddie to hold a portfolio of 50% subprime mortgages. The government required banks to lend to subprime borrowers. The politicians require many things of capital that help them get reelected.

What does krauthammer call it when the government controls labor and capital to the unbelievable degree that it currently does? How about when the government decides that the product of our exhalation is a pollutant?

What does krauthammer call it when the federal government achieves this control by operating unbounded by our Constitution?

I call it tyranny.

Will we unclog it and flush or will we let it overflow?

My guess is the people have chosen the latter.