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Public Service Messages
Mar. 28th, 2011 10:39 am1) Nobody earning an "average" salary in the Industrial world can pay for their own healthcare through insurance in the event of them getting seriously ill - EVEN if they pay ZERO in taxation
2) Nobody earning an "average" salary in the Industrial world can "save" enough money over a 30 - 40 year working life to have a comfortable retirement - EVEN if they pay ZERO in taxation - this is even more of a problem if they have children who want to go to University or life somewhere with high property prices. NOTE: I am not including any schemes where an employer basically pays for the pension fund...
3) NOBODY in the Industrial World is paying the actual price for virtually anything. Some things are higher in price, but a lot of stuff is heavily subsidized. If you were transported to a Libertarian wonderland tomorrow you'd find that you couldn't afford jack shit
4) The government taking "your" money i.e. taxes, is no more theft than your credit card company wanting to be paid for the stuff you've bought on the cards over the years
5) The government borrowing money to pay for things like... well... roads, railways, hospitals, healthcare, social security and other such nonsense is no more of a problem than you borrowing money to buy your home
6) Money given in tax breaks to the extremely rich and corporations does not trickle down anywhere except into accounts in tax havens where it's "safe"
7) The halcyon days of the 1950s where everything seemed to be better (from the perspective of a certain type of American Right Winger) also included taxation rates which would make modern day left wingers wince
This message is brought to you thanks to the Tea Party person I listened to on a podcast on the flight back from Orlando who kept harping on about the government taking peoples money and how it had to stop. If you want to live in an advanced, developed, modern, industrial society and actually have a chance to retire before you drop dead in the saddle, then the money needs to be moved around the economy more.
2) Nobody earning an "average" salary in the Industrial world can "save" enough money over a 30 - 40 year working life to have a comfortable retirement - EVEN if they pay ZERO in taxation - this is even more of a problem if they have children who want to go to University or life somewhere with high property prices. NOTE: I am not including any schemes where an employer basically pays for the pension fund...
3) NOBODY in the Industrial World is paying the actual price for virtually anything. Some things are higher in price, but a lot of stuff is heavily subsidized. If you were transported to a Libertarian wonderland tomorrow you'd find that you couldn't afford jack shit
4) The government taking "your" money i.e. taxes, is no more theft than your credit card company wanting to be paid for the stuff you've bought on the cards over the years
5) The government borrowing money to pay for things like... well... roads, railways, hospitals, healthcare, social security and other such nonsense is no more of a problem than you borrowing money to buy your home
6) Money given in tax breaks to the extremely rich and corporations does not trickle down anywhere except into accounts in tax havens where it's "safe"
7) The halcyon days of the 1950s where everything seemed to be better (from the perspective of a certain type of American Right Winger) also included taxation rates which would make modern day left wingers wince
This message is brought to you thanks to the Tea Party person I listened to on a podcast on the flight back from Orlando who kept harping on about the government taking peoples money and how it had to stop. If you want to live in an advanced, developed, modern, industrial society and actually have a chance to retire before you drop dead in the saddle, then the money needs to be moved around the economy more.
Right. Have we cleared that up? Good.
