Regarding the upper 2% - who do you think creates jobs to employ workers ? Not the middle class, not the top 10%, but the top 1% who "invest" that money in businesses which employ people. It is no coincidence that when the tax cuts were enacted, businesses started hiring.
I fully agree that we cannot keep spending at this rate. It's madness. But, let's look at priorities. Why do we continue to throw money at a failing school system to the tune of 500 billion a year ? Now, there's a number. Why are we spending money on rainforest projects in Illinois, and all other kinds of pork. Sen. Byrd, a Democrat, is called the king of pork for good reason. Why do congresscritters get to retire with a full pension and benefits after only a few years of service ?
Why do Democrats always talk about raising taxes and so little about reducing spending ? You know the history of all politicians is to spend to buy votes, so starving the beast is the only answer.
No one in this country goes without healthcare. No one. They may go without health insurance, but not health care.
Catastrophic health insurance is very reasonably priced - those who don't have health insurance are either uninsurable because of a major pre-existing condition or they don't care to get it. I know a bunch of people (young and healthy) who choose not to spend their money on health insurance. Well, it's their gamble, but we all pay for it with emergency room bills.
Bankrupticies have grown primarily because people view it as the easy way out of debt. Run up the bills, then get out of their obligations. All part of the entitlement mentality fostered by Democrats.
Foreclosures are beginning to grow. Why ? For the same reason people run a balance on their credit cards - they buy a house they cannot afford. In many communities it's cheaper all round to rent, but some people get interest only mortgages to buy that 4400 sq ft mcmansion. Their choice, they pay the price.
When all is said and done, people have to take responsibility for themselves and their families, much as the Democrats like to think they can take over family life with taxpayer dollars and social workers. The middle class spends about 40% of their paycheck on taxes to support the Democrat socialist agenda. Think what they could do with that money left in their own hands.
And what about those who are truly irresponsible ? Well, they need a reality check. If taxpayers weren't making life so easy for them to escape their obligations, maybe they'd get up off their butts, get an education, and get to work.
Hence the divide, and the reason the upper 2% remain in the upper 2%. Aside, I can cite you chapter and verse how the tax cut did NOT create those jobs and then you can go to your sources and cite me chapter and verse how they did so I won't go there. Suffice it to say that investment income, despite what you say, has nary a job created.
I have no qualms at all with your second paragraph. We are in complete agreement.
Why do Democrats always talk about raising taxes and so little about reducing spending ? You know the history of all politicians is to spend to buy votes, so starving the beast is the only answer.
Not many Democrats these days are talking about raising taxes, and especially not on the middle class. They are also actively promoting investigations in to the WFA in the contracting processes of both the Iraq War and Katrina. Does that count as cutting spending? I would think it should.
Well, it's their gamble, but we all pay for it with emergency room bills.
And higher insurance premiums for those of us who choose NOT to gamble. Personally I like the idea (I think it was Romney?) had - a collective purchasing pool for private insurance in MA that didn't tie the insured to a job but rather to the state. It's a creative way to address health insurance without socializing it.
Bankrupticies have grown primarily because people view it as the easy way out of debt. Run up the bills, then get out of their obligations. All part of the entitlement mentality fostered by Democrats.
Factually incorrect. The number one reason people file for bankruptcy is because they can't pay medical bills. Guess the gamble didn't pay off.
Foreclosures are beginning to grow. Why ? For the same reason people run a balance on their credit cards - they buy a house they cannot afford. In many communities it's cheaper all round to rent, but some people get interest only mortgages to buy that 4400 sq ft mcmansion. Their choice, they pay the price.
OR it could be because people bought what they could afford at the time and then, in an outdated attempt to balance the growth rate of the economy (outdated because so many components of cost to consumers is now determined by fixed components not manipulable by interest rate adjustment), interest rates have risen. I suppose you think it's only Democrats who are being foreclosed upon, since they are the ultimate diners at the public trough...
When all is said and done, people have to take responsibility for themselves and their families, much as the Democrats like to think they can take over family life with taxpayer dollars and social workers. The middle class spends about 40% of their paycheck on taxes to support the Democrat socialist agenda. Think what they could do with that money left in their own hands.
Or you wind up taking responsibility for them as the rate of bankrupcies parlays to negative savings rates and the foreclosures parlay to extreme homelessness. I'm not a fan of entitlements of any nature, but somehow I don't think families in the street are going to sit well with the American people. If you hate the welfare state (which I do as well), you might consider that current policies and economic indicators are leading us precisely back to that.
And what about those who are truly irresponsible ? Well, they need a reality check. If taxpayers weren't making life so easy for them to escape their obligations, maybe they'd get up off their butts, get an education, and get to work.
I wonder how "easy" all these people who work two jobs to pay the bills think they have it - but I agree, there is always a component that will take advantage. Where I think we differ, however, is that I believe that's a very SMALL component whereas you seem to think that's anyone who has trouble.
You've been very civil - but really - your argument? It really equates, for me, to "take care of yourself or go f--k yourself" without considering all the levels between prosperity and destitution.