Posted on 12/23/2002 5:14:07 PM PST by Mixer
Oh, no.. My point was just the tax angle, I have no opinion about how the tax is raised and I am not from NJ.
Personally, I would like to see States cut unnecessary programs and waste as opposed to a tax increase any day. Sometimes however, it's not their fault.. Like when they get handed an unfunded mandate from fedgov. (which, imo should never happen. Fedgov wants something then let them take the heat for a tax increase as opposed to shoving it off on the states)
If you truly believe this, you are very deluded. Corporations, ultimately, do not pay taxes. Any such increase in costs are passed directly through to the consumer. It may not show up as an increase in "rental car prices", but will come in the form of higher surcharges, optional fees, etc.
In the world of business today, there is not enough margin for any business to just absorb the cost.
There is no free lunch.
There were no optional charges or surcharges. The car I rented is $28 a day flat fee. Do you have any records indicatiting that this price has been raised by $2 a day without factoring in inflation? If not please do not call me delusional.
There is no free lunch.
Actually my wife works for Benjamin Moore and they get free lunch, choice of hot or cold, every day as part of the perks of working there. You can call their HR department if you don't believe me. So where do you suppose they balance that off with. Her salaray is more then comparable with others in her field and they have awesome health and dental benefits that surpass mine even.
In my case this was true because insurance companies will not pay any part of this $2
It all depends on your tolerance. There are many police state practices in effect now. There are many more possible. As a practical matter, they have to do it slowly. If they did it all at once, they would have a revolution on their hands. If it comes a little bit at a time, they can get away with much more and not everyone will agree when to call it time for a revolt.
Remember the story about the frog in hot water?
So what you are saying is Americans can be fooled a little bit at a time but not all at once. I sure hope you aren't planning on running for office again anytime soon ; )
Sorry, I don't follow your logic. I am the one who will stop the slide down the slippery slope to a police state. You should want us Libertarians to run and win, since both the Dems and Repubs are slowly pushing this nation to that police state nightmare (their dream, of course).
I believe that it is their duty to protect America. I have seen no proof that the Bush Admin wants anything more then that. People say that they want to envade Iraq for the oil, is this your belief?
If the Libertarians ran congress or the Whitehouse can you honestly say that they would not change their policies to fit the needs of the people who funded them getting into power in the first place? It's all about the money isn't it?
I cannot answer for every Libertarian, of course. I can say that I would not sell out though the temptation would be strong. During my electoral attempts, I operated with very low budgets, mostly self-financed. I managed 19% of the vote in my last try at the state legislature spending exactly $55. My RINO opponent spent $12,000. I got a very high vote yield from the people that I contacted
With just a little publicity from the media, rather than the usual black out, we would have a good chance without having to sell our souls to donors.
We also have a very simple set of principles that guide us so there is little opportunity to sell out without making it obvious to all.
Yes, third choice. I live in Kansas and we are having the same type of budget shortfall that most states are having. Education is mostly a state responsibility here and is 3/4 of the budget. In the campaign, the RINOs all wanted to raise taxes, income tax, sales tax, the whole gamut. The conservatives and the few Libertarians were against it with different alternatives.
I suggested going to school vouchers, giving each student 80% of what the state and county were now spending on each student. The more students took the deal, the better off the budget would be. Of course, the teacher's unions and the school boards were protecting their incomes and were aghast at the prospect.
At speaking engagements, you could tell who was a teacher and who was a net taxpayer. You saw the heads going either side to side or up and down as I spoke. One teacher pigeon holed me afterwards and called me all kinds of evil, stupid names for suggesting any sort of non-governmental education.
The vote totals tell me that, of the people who heard my argument, I got most of the votes. The problem was that most voters came to the polls not knowing either candidate so they voted for my opponents "R", thinking it was safer.
I am not a mind reader, so I do not know what is in their minds as a goal. I just see them violating all kinds of provisions of the Bill of rights and find that intolerable. The "enemy combatant" stuff really scares me. THere is one guy, a US native, arrested in the US, charged with nothing that he can defend against. He is in for the duration without access to court, charges, lawyers, etc as far as the administration is concerned.
I speak of Padilla, the alleged dirty bomber. I can only assume that if they really had any evidence, they would charge him like they did several other terrorist suspects. Since they did not, they are using him as a test case. If they get away with this, they (and all future administrations) can arrest and bury anyone, anytime, for no reason. Do you need anything more for a police state?
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