[phil_will1]

In addition, I didn't even mention our trade deficit, currently at $600 billion per year. As long as we have a tax system which puts our producers at a disadvantage vs their counterparts in other countries, you can expect that trend to continue. As Allen Greenspan recently warned, this isn't a sustainable trend. Sooner or later, this problem will have to be addressed.

[ARCADIA]

I didn't even mention our trade deficit, currently at $600 billion per year. As long as we have a tax system which puts our producers at a disadvantage vs their counterparts in other countries, you can expect that trend to continue.

We have two real problems:

1) We spend too much (at all levels of government - our budgets are based on overly optimistic economic forecasts).

2) We have a preditory judicial system that has created a mass parasitic drag on our resources.

The fair tax proposal does nothing to address these problems. Until we grow the economy and cut spending to restore balance, it doesn't matter what tax scheme you use, or whether we tax at all. We are all responsible and accountable for the accumulating debt.