Posted on 04/16/2002 12:02:30 AM PDT by BigWest
GERMAN SOCIALISTS PLOT GLOBAL TAXES ON AMERICANS
Reprinted from NewsMax.com
Bush-Bashing Left Pushes Global Taxes
Cliff Kincaid
Exclusive for NewsMax.com
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
WASHINGTON – Bush-bashing was on display Tuesday as activists from Germany, the U.S. and other countries urged international pressure on the Bush administration to support global taxes, the creation of more global agencies, and drastic cuts in American living standards in the name of "sustainable development” for the world. Hilary French, who runs "Global Governance Project” of U.S.-based Worldwatch Institute, suggested that Americans had to get over "the sovereignty thing” and embrace global taxes. She endorsed an international currency tax to generate as much as $300 billion a year for global agencies.
"A lot of these ideas are more accepted in Europe,” where people are "more accepting of government and taxation” and a European Union has emerged to eclipse the power of national governments, she said.
'SHAME THE UNITED STATES'
However, she insisted that the U.S. government could be pressured to go along with a global tax scheme if Europe and the rest of the world "shame the United States” and depict us as out of step with the international consensus.
She maintained that the proposed global currency tax, which would affect Americans’ IRAs, mutual funds and pension plans, was a "small tax” that wouldn’t "significantly affect anyone’s retirement income.” She said "vested interests opposed to these taxes,” such as investment companies, "would whip up public opposition and concern.”
French said it might be comparable to the campaign to defeat Hillary Clinton’s plan for socialized medicine. It would be "misleading” and irresponsible, she said.
HOW ABOUT 'GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY'?
French, who said she was not necessarily against private property rights, called for a World Environment Organization and a convention or treaty to safeguard "community resource rights” over such activities as fishing and access to water. She urged a "Framework for Socially Accountable Production” and a treaty for "corporate accountability.”
French was one of three speakers at the event, sponsored by Heinrich Boll Foundation of the German Green Party and held at (oh, irony) the Ronald Reagan Building. The purpose was to discuss a "Memorandum for the World Summit on Sustainable Development,” scheduled for South Africa this fall.
Geoffrey D. Dabelko of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars introduced the event. He said his group was "a nonpartisan, non-advocacy institute,” created by an act of Congress in 1968, which receives taxpayer dollars from federal agencies such as the Office of Population of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
GERMAN TELLS AMERICANS HOW TO VOTE
The other two speakers, Ashok Khosla of India and Wolfgang Sachs of the German Green Party, ripped into the Bush administration for its approach to global affairs. Khosla said the U.S. had "abrogated its responsibility” and was taking a "very profoundly disturbing and negative role” in world affairs. Sachs said Europe should "forget about America as long as this administration exists” and recommended that the American people "shift their preferences” in future elections.
Sachs said he once saw "some awareness” of a need for sustainable development among advisers to Secretary of State Colin Powell. "I don’t see it anymore.”
Their report, dubbed "The Johannesburg Memo,” criticized the Bush administration as the "notable exception” to countries endorsing the Kyoto protocol on "global warming." Bush rejected the treaty for its bias against U.S. economic interests, and the U.S. Senate voted against it 95-0.
The audience included representatives of the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Nature Conservancy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the British and South African embassies.
DUMMIED UP
None of the audience members took issue with the recommendations of the memorandum, which included a proposed 80 to 90 percent cut in the use of "environmental space” by "consumer classes” in the U.S. and other developed countries over the next 50 years.
The document explains "environmental space” by the use of resources. For example, it says Americans use an average of 82 tons of fuels, minerals and metals annually, versus the average German at 80 tons and the average Chinese at 34 tons.
Politically, Sachs said, he didn’t know how the American people could be persuaded to go along with such draconian cuts in their use of resources. But he thought it was doable if changes in technology, infrastructure and energy sources were implemented over time.
The report calls for a shift to solar and wind power; the creation of regional food markets, as opposed to neighborhood grocery stores; low-speed cars; recyclable appliances; and low-meat diets. Such an outcome, the report insists, can still produce "a comfortable style of living.”
The audience included representatives of the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Nature Conservancy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the British and South African embassies.DUMMIED UP
None of the audience members took issue with the recommendations of the memorandum, which included a proposed 80 to 90 percent cut in the use of "environmental space” by "consumer classes” in the U.S. and other developed countries over the next 50 years.State Dept. and EPA attend this farce at our expense, and NONE TAKE ISSUE. This is a crock.
Not necessarily, as long as the property wasn't private, and that your rights were granted by beurocrats appointed by foreigners who don't even speak your language.
Next time they need Americans with those HORRID -- arggghhh -- GUNS to come over to save their boney little butts from the tyrant-du-jour, tell 'em to call 911 at the old UN.
Absolutely 110% correct...
It is such a shame that the vast majority of humans on this planet do not recognize this...
And yet their own survival is predicated upon it...
Until the conscious human comes to grips with the power of his own consciousness, and the realization that consciousness cannot continue to exist if it is not free, he will continue to dwell in the anticivilization where he currently resides...
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Interesting analogy. The Germans were willing to pay taxes to support the Roman troops because the Romans guarding the borders in the west were mostly German. The Romans were never able to fully conquer or control the Germany tribes. Instead they bought them with money and trade goods. By the time, the Goths and Vandals destroyed the western empire, the northwestern empire was already German in nature. The Germans had married Romans and taken over the Army and other functions. It would be similar to us taxing the Mexicans and paying the Mexicans to guard our southern border for us. Hmmmmm.
I know that it was a simplification. I was pointing out the results of trying that before. We have to make the same decision the Romans were faced with - republic or empire. There is no in between. At least none that I know of. I would prefer we remained a republic. It is one thing to send in the military to destroy. A republic can do this well. It is quite another to occupy land indefinately. That is the path to empire. (What are we STILL doing in Iraq?)
...I think we do use a lot of Mexicans in the border patrols. This of course is a classic notion from slave societies as Texas and Florida once were. What is more natural? They speak the language...
Have you heard of Aztlan? Mexicans on the border and within the border is a dangerous notion. Did you know that we almost annexed all of Mexico after the Mexican wars? It probably would have been better than what we have today.
...Rome did not fall because of the barbarians, it fell because it weakened it's currency as too much gold went to the Far East. One has to wonder about the long term drain on our economy from the drug trade. Over the long haul, even a fraction of one percent in a continuous loss can make or break an otherwise stable situation...
If I had to pick one cause for the fall of Rome, I wouldn't say gold or trade. I would choose the heavy and unequal tax policy that eliminated the once thriving middle class. All that were left were the wealthy and many many poor. The backbone of the society was gone.
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