My objection is that no one pitched a bitch over high taxes and deficit spending like this when it was Regan and the Pentagon was ordering $500 toilet seats, and that people want to tar and feather the Democrats as "tax and spend" when Slick Willie Clinton could manage a budget with a surplus.
I really don't know much about Reagan's spending, because I was in grade school at the time. He did bail out the Savings and Loan banks, which I don't agree with. On the other hand, I don't think even he spent the kind of money that Washington has tossed around in the last six months. The amounts now are utterly staggering in their enormity, and when we look at the Congressional Budget Office's projections, well it get's downright frightening.
But you're right that wasteful spending is wasteful spending, and that the Republicans are just as guilty as the Democrats. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that it's the nature of a big government, no matter who is in charge, to waste taxpayer money. That's why I think limited government is a good thing, albeit probably something that will never happen now.
Certainly Bill Clinton deserves credit for the budget surplus as well as the congressional Republicans that controlled congress at the time. Actually, since this protest took place in Michigan (the last time this state went red was Reagan's second term), it's quite probable that a lot of these people voted for Bill Clinton - especially the union guys that came.
However, I am tired of people not grasping the concept that stuff like fire departments, schools, roads, libraries, unemployment, and other benefits of civilization do not come cheap.
I don't think anyone there was angry that they pay taxes to support any of that stuff, at least I know I wasn't. Judging from their signs, they were far more focused on the out of control deficit spending over the stimulus package and government bailouts of the banks.
True, some of the stimulus money is going to be used for that stuff, but I'm not convinced that throwing a shit ton of money at problems like education, healthcare, etc... is the answer. Personally, I think there are far cheaper policy decisions that could be made to help those areas that wouldn't cost us much at all. And to borrow over a trillion dollars to just dump into the economy - when we're eventually going to have to pay interest on that money - I just think that's madness.
But I do get what you're saying - that people want all of the government goodies, but don't want to pay for them, and to some extent I agree with that. I just don't think it really applies to what this protest was about.
I'm also furious over the fact that 2/3 of corporations pay NO taxes, and that those who can pay CPAs to cook the books a bit can weasel out of their share or create some tax haven out of a Bahamas mail drop while the (honest folk/proletariat/working class/rest of us) have to make up for their share.
I don't know about the numbers over how much most corporations pay in taxes. I can say, with bitter experience, that I've seen what Michigan's high corporate tax rate has done to our business community - namely that it's driven a ton of businesses out of the state and in some cases, to foreign countries. In a global economy, where it's far easier for businesses to simply leave if they don't like the tax rates, I'm afraid that higher corporate taxes will only make things worse.
Don't get me wrong though. Even though I have a somewhat libertarian bent, I'm not a big fan of corporate America (my husband has been laid off four times in the last eight years - so I definitely hear what you're saying).
And thanks for your thoughtful comment. It's always interesting to hear what people with different points of view have to say.
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Date: 2009-04-16 01:09 pm (UTC)I really don't know much about Reagan's spending, because I was in grade school at the time. He did bail out the Savings and Loan banks, which I don't agree with. On the other hand, I don't think even he spent the kind of money that Washington has tossed around in the last six months. The amounts now are utterly staggering in their enormity, and when we look at the Congressional Budget Office's projections, well it get's downright frightening.
But you're right that wasteful spending is wasteful spending, and that the Republicans are just as guilty as the Democrats. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that it's the nature of a big government, no matter who is in charge, to waste taxpayer money. That's why I think limited government is a good thing, albeit probably something that will never happen now.
Certainly Bill Clinton deserves credit for the budget surplus as well as the congressional Republicans that controlled congress at the time. Actually, since this protest took place in Michigan (the last time this state went red was Reagan's second term), it's quite probable that a lot of these people voted for Bill Clinton - especially the union guys that came.
However, I am tired of people not grasping the concept that stuff like fire departments, schools, roads, libraries, unemployment, and other benefits of civilization do not come cheap.
I don't think anyone there was angry that they pay taxes to support any of that stuff, at least I know I wasn't. Judging from their signs, they were far more focused on the out of control deficit spending over the stimulus package and government bailouts of the banks.
True, some of the stimulus money is going to be used for that stuff, but I'm not convinced that throwing a shit ton of money at problems like education, healthcare, etc... is the answer. Personally, I think there are far cheaper policy decisions that could be made to help those areas that wouldn't cost us much at all. And to borrow over a trillion dollars to just dump into the economy - when we're eventually going to have to pay interest on that money - I just think that's madness.
But I do get what you're saying - that people want all of the government goodies, but don't want to pay for them, and to some extent I agree with that. I just don't think it really applies to what this protest was about.
I'm also furious over the fact that 2/3 of corporations pay NO taxes, and that those who can pay CPAs to cook the books a bit can weasel out of their share or create some tax haven out of a Bahamas mail drop while the (honest folk/proletariat/working class/rest of us) have to make up for their share.
I don't know about the numbers over how much most corporations pay in taxes. I can say, with bitter experience, that I've seen what Michigan's high corporate tax rate has done to our business community - namely that it's driven a ton of businesses out of the state and in some cases, to foreign countries. In a global economy, where it's far easier for businesses to simply leave if they don't like the tax rates, I'm afraid that higher corporate taxes will only make things worse.
Don't get me wrong though. Even though I have a somewhat libertarian bent, I'm not a big fan of corporate America (my husband has been laid off four times in the last eight years - so I definitely hear what you're saying).
And thanks for your thoughtful comment. It's always interesting to hear what people with different points of view have to say.