http://www.reuters.com/article/domes...9?feedType=RSS
1) Blame the rich for all he world's problems.
2) Tax the minority of people whose income is above some arbitrary amount.
3) Encourage the majority of people
below said arbitrary amount to praise you for "socking it to them."
...
Most. Taxes. Are. Bad.
Bad for you. Bad for me. Bad for everyone.
Yes, you need to fund a military. Beyond that there's precious little worthy of having the state mandate.
Natural monopolies? Check. Education? Er, maybe. Health care? No fucking way.
I've never understood the rationale that the Government can spend money better than we can. They can't. Not even if they were the most intelligent people alive. It just doesn't work that way.
http://moneychimp.com/articles/econ/gdp_diagram.htm
Bleh. I know I'm incoherent. Just frustrated by the stupidity of all.
Whoever thought of the idea of choosing one's leader based on a popularity contest needs to be kicked in the balls.
It's all a big game of saying "Can't someone else pay for it?" To the populace at large they say, "We'll soak the rich!" since most people aren't rich. To special interest groups they promise to support legislation that furthers their goal. To corporate sponsors they promise to give tax breaks that will lessen their tax burden. "Don't worry; when we said we'll soak the rich we didn't mean you."
They need the cash and they need the votes. Is it any wonder why politics is so fucked up?
You can't blame them, either. The game they play is not a conspiracy--it's the natural result of a popularity-based political system (read: democracy). Even the most upstanding, moral individual needs to play the game to get (and stay) elected.
It's absolutely retarded.
"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"
"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like to straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said ford. "It is."
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?"
"What?"
"I said," said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, "have you got any gin?"
"I'll look. Tell me about the lizards."
Ford shrugged again.
"Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happened to them," he said. "They're completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone's got to say it."