The average American’s utility bill is higher than wages in Mexico. Tariffs and higher taxes on companies exporting jobs will run them out of this country and we can get back to making our own stuff again. The stuff you are b*tching about is why our quality of life has been better than most.
parsy, who thinks you are a communist agitator (well not really, but I wanted to start calling names first for a change)
No you're a communist agitator ;) Now that we have that out of the way....
Ok look, I agree that we have a higher quality of life. But, the government's intervention and expansion HINDERS our quality of life.
If the free market was allowed to dictate wages and price, goods and service would cost less. Fuel taxes do not increase your standard of living. Legislation and political antics preventing the building of a clean coal power plant do not raise your standard of living....especially (using Arizona for example) when political pressure is applied to build solar power plants.... then after wasting money on a 2 year environmental impact study it is determined solar plants CANNOT be built. Rather this makes electricity costs higher; not only for a homeowner but also for a factory owner.... how does this raise your standard of living?
How does a 55% death tax on properties over $500,000 raise your standard of living? Seems to me this would ruin someone's living if they inherited a family farm and had to sell it in order to pay these taxes.
How does paying someone $7.25/hr reward good work ethic when they can't even remember "no pickles" contribute to the overall standard of living? Sure it makes a hamburger cost $5+ but I would rather pay to be based on performance.
How does GE lobbying to MANDATE BY LAW the ban of incandescent lightbulbs raise the standard of living? It seems to me GE is one of the only companies currently capable of producing these new lightbulbs. So now, instead of paying $.96 for a box of 4 incandescent lightbulbs from a competitor GE has managed to legislate the death of their competitors; or at the very least legislate them a large debt load to re-tool. And we get to pay $7.98 for TWO crappy lightbulbs... yes, that raises our standard of living. How about those that lose their jobs because the factory has to re-tool to compete with GE and they have to cut labor costs? Or worse the companies that move off shore?
Protectionist tarrifs....Smoot-Hawley... how did that work out again?
How does paying through the nose in income taxes increase the standard of living? God help you if you are self-employed? Oh sure the standard of living is increased if you're a parasite (by this I mean habitual offenders) and collect WIC, Food Stamps, Welfare, Section8 Housing etc etc. Yes, then the standard of living is raised because you live off the toils of another.
If you are 35, have the IQ of a turnip and can't remember to put a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom you are assigned to clean ----this raises your standard of living because your employer is forced to pay you $7.25/hr vice "forget" to pay you for the tasks you forgot to do. Of course firing you would somehow be discriminatory....
Yes, paying property taxes on VEHICLES year after year raises the standard of living..... ever increasing sales taxes, vehicle registration fees, dog registration fees.... I am so happy I get to pay all of these taxes and fees instead of buying new clothes for my kids vice hand-me-downs. I am so happpy to contribute to the overall greater good and standard of living all the while using a 6 year old laptop that stinks. I am happy to pay all of these fees/taxes in order to subsidize public transportation for those not willing to work hard enough to own their own vehicles.
I am happy to contribute to the standard of living of UAW folks that now own a commanding share of GM thanks to my tax dollars. I am so happy all of the taxes in play that kept Fannie and Freddie afloat so people can continue to believ credit is a civil right that is doled out to illegal immigrants.
The average American’s utility bill is higher than wages in Mexico.
I agree..... lets make the minimum wage $50/hr.... heck why not $1000/hr? And if tarrifs are so great, why don't we set them to 1000%? Why, golly I bet our standard of living will go through the roof and we'll all live like kings.... kings I tell ya.
"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed. Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand