Posted on 02/06/2009 7:25:30 AM PST by Tolik
I love it also. Allowing the people to see their paychecks without any deductions would be the death of our tax system and with it the power of our politicians.
That is why it is unlikely to ever happen.
Milton Friedman regrets the day he gave government the idea to do this.
There is a on radio here, (FL) from 10a to 12n that would be great for Mark to be on ... instead of the boring fellow that's on now. I won't mention the boring chaps name, as I couldn't stand the slings and arrows that would be launched my way.
Whatever the "gizmo" I'm certain El Rushbo will be around.
Giving up Rush would be like quitting cigarettes. Quite unsettling, and leading to a depressive "Let's storm Congress" mode for over twenty million people.
Got it!
My only problem with Rush is his shtick of El Rushbo and other such self-aggrandizing. I’d rather he did not waste time on self promotion like that. Isn’t he above that level already?
I prefer his intellectual side. But its just MHO.
Took me a while to understand him, and still he screws with my head at times.
Like when he had that ex football star on a few weeks ago (?) and kept calling him "my brother". I was saying to myself ... "enough already with the my brother garbage".
I'm retired now, and have him on in the garage when I'm in there piddling around. Many times I just turn him off when he gets too much.
Like you, I enjoy it when he get his intellectual side in gear, and calls shots that have yet to be fired.
Oh ... well. The "Babe" didn't hit them out of the park every time up, but man could he sell tickets?
Regards
As a European and a Scandinavian (Sweden) I can testify to the truth and validity of these facts and comparisons. I've seen it with my own eyes.
I lived in the UK for one year as a child, in 1979-1980. At that time, the nation was beginning to wake up after decades of unionism and fruitless government actions aiming at keeping doomed, unproductive industries alive by artificial respiration.
Sorry to say so, but Britain of those days probably made the impression of a third world country to most visitors from countries like the US, Sweden and Switzerland.
Around 1975-1980, my Sweden adopted the policies that, so severely, had failed for decades on British soil. The result? Sweden quickly went from being a leader in the GDP growth area among the OECD countries to a bottom position.
In the beginning of the 1990’s most Swedes had became aware we had to choose a different path in order to restore economic growth. Since then, the development in all fields of the economy has been marvelous.
Sweden's closest neighbors, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Norway - the other Nordic countries - all share our insights in the department of what really makes the economy grow.
Some interesting facts about the Nordic countries in the light of these issues (Scandinavia + Finland):
- The five Nordic countries are FIVE of the world's NINE richest countries measured by nominal GDP per capita
- The combined Nordic GDP is 125 % that of Russia's and 50% that of China's
- If the 25 million inhabitants of the Nordic countries are viewed as one single economy it constitutes the 9th largest economy on Earth
- Income taxes are lower than in most parts of the US
- Corporate taxes are lower than in the US and very low compared to Germany (a nation that, just like France and Italy has suffered from very slow growth since the early 1990’s)
- National debt is very low or non existing (as in the case of Norway)
- Norway boasts the highest number of dollar millionaires per capita in the world
- In Sweden and Norway many families own two houses
- In Sweden, a country that has about the same number of cars/capita as the US, the average car is a Volvo V70, a $32 000 car. On top of that, public transport is efficient and very affordable.
- The Nordic countries together have 69 companies listed on the Forbes Global 2000 list. Germany (population 82 million) has a mere 57.
This illustrates the benefits from steering away from Socialism. It could, of course, be viewed as the words of someone who enjoys bragging about the economic performance of our his corner of the world, but I prefer to call it bragging about economical sanity.
One thing I have to commend you on, is that while I think you often gloss over ominous portents for your region of the world, you always cheerfully make the case that Scandinavia isn’t as socialist as some think and that there is a way unique to your country that can lead to success.
The only thing is, every article and study I’ve read has indicated that half of a Scandinavian’s income goes to taxes. The size of the government sector maybe isn’t as large as that dark time you followed the UK, but it’s not at a healthy level either.
Does that mean there is no hope? certainly not. But I think you are a bit too sanguine about the current state of Scandinavian Europe (though I DO really want to visit and marry a woman with that phenotype lol. My grandmother’s people are from Finland.)
Actually JFK and even Hubert Humphrey would be to the right of today’s Republicans. Humphrey sponsored medicare but he probably never in his wildest dreams would have imagined that a Republican president would expand it to include prescription drug coverage. Neither in his wildest dreams could have thought of government paying for abortions in other countries.
Today’s dimrats come up with absurd ideas that would have given the real Democrats a heart attack and then act as though they are great geniuses and everybody who doesn’t agree is stupid.
- Yes, but it's a matter of our high VAT (see link below) and excise taxes (dito) financing government goodies like cheap/free child care, university education and so on.
I'm not saying our system is better (and by the way, there are in fact several hospitals, schools, homes for the elderly etc, etc here in Scandinavia that are not government-run), but I claim such activities could well stay government-run without much loss of efficiency, while businesses like vehicle and computer production, by all means, should not be run by any government whatsoever.
For some reason, many Scandinavians wish their governments to provide their health care, education, child care and care for the elderly.
Personally, I'd like to see more of Capitalism here in Thule, but I guess it all boils down to cultural traits among us Norsemen.
Concerning taxes:
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