The Case for US Tax Increases

[Rolling Thunder]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...rope#1945-1989
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...rope#1989-2000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...e#21st_century

You can add to that list the Falklands War, the Algerian War, The Suez Crisis

And in all of these conflicts, the United States played no role: save from arming and funding the IRA, deliberately sabotaging our economy during the Suez crisis, and being an utterly useless ally in the Falklands war.

So, remind me again....why do we need you? It seems more likely that without America's "help", Britain, at the least, would have a significantly stronger position in the world today.

Europe cannot handle a nuclear Middle East.
Europe cannot handle an aggressive Russia.
Europe cannot handle China meddling in Africa.

Neither can the United States. No one can "handle" a nuclear power - it automatically becomes a hegemony unto itself simply by possession of atomic weapons.

[Il-Principe]

Today I read a newspaper article about this very question. The US proves unable to handle the budget crisis. In America the public sector is seriously under financed. Government institutions do not have enough money to pay for employers and programs meaning that the budget must be deficit-financed. That holds true even for the time before the economic crisis and especially afterwards. What is needed to balance the budget and maybe even to reduce the debt is both an increase in revenue and a decrease in spending. Now the dilemma is that the Republicans block tax increases and the Democrats block spending slashes. Both are working hand in hand to destroy America. If the political stalemate cannot be miraculously solved, then the budget crisis is going to continue. By conservative estimates the debt is going to hit 110% of the GDP in 2016 with no end in sight. A state bankruptcy is not likely, but it is possible. The US could indeed end up like Greece.

Despite a lot of late economic mistakes and misfortunes the US should be wealthy enough to reduce the deficit easily. The problem is the political system, which proved unable to come to workable compromise. If nothing changes, the road to perdition is open. Full speed ahead!

Plus I'd like to add some points to the raging discussion, if the American military is beneficial to the rest of the world and especially Europe. Here I'm very critical. If some of you are claiming that the US is saving the world from Russian aggression, then I'd like to ask 1) How belligerent is the modern Russia and even more 2) What exactly did the US in the past? Where was America in the Georgian War? What exactly did America do in Georgia? Close to nothing. Even today a third of Georgian territory is (illegally) occupied with the US not even protesting...It is not the US protecting Europe; it is rather the US getting bases in Europe for very little or even for free. In Germany they do not have to pay anything. On the contrary the German governments pays that the US can use their bases for free. The German government pays for construction, the German governments sends troops to protect the bases (like during the Iraq). All for free. Without Ramstein Air Base the Iraq War would not have been possible; or at least much more difficult from a logistical point of view.

[k995]

Europe cannot handle a nuclear Middle East.

Neither can the USA

Europe cannot handle an aggressive Russia.

Yes it can, russia needs europe even more and is only a shadow of its former self.

Europe cannot handle China meddling in Africa.

Neither can the USA.


So again with or without USA doesnt change a thing.

[MathiasOfAthens]

Today I read a newspaper article about this very question. The US proves unable to handle the budget crisis. In America the public sector is seriously under financed. Government institutions do not have enough money to pay for employers and programs meaning that the budget must be deficit-financed. That holds true even for the time before the economic crisis and especially afterwards. What is needed to balance the budget and maybe even to reduce the debt is both an increase in revenue and a decrease in spending. Now the dilemma is that the Republicans block tax increases and the Democrats block spending slashes. Both are working hand in hand to destroy America. If the political stalemate cannot be miraculously solved, then the budget crisis is going to continue. By conservative estimates the debt is going to hit 110% of the GDP in 2016 with no end in sight. A state bankruptcy is not likely, but it is possible. The US could indeed end up like Greece.

Despite a lot of late economic mistakes and misfortunes the US should be wealthy enough to reduce the deficit easily. The problem is the political system, which proved unable to come to workable compromise. If nothing changes, the road to perdition is open. Full speed ahead!

Plus I'd like to add some points to the raging discussion, if the American military is beneficial to the rest of the world and especially Europe. Here I'm very critical. If some of you are claiming that the US is saving the world from Russian aggression, then I'd like to ask 1) How belligerent is the modern Russia and even more 2) What exactly did the US in the past? Where was America in the Georgian War? What exactly did America do in Georgia? Close to nothing. Even today a third of Georgian territory is (illegally) occupied with the US not even protesting...It is not the US protecting Europe; it is rather the US getting bases in Europe for very little or even for free. In Germany they do not have to pay anything. On the contrary the German governments pays that the US can use their bases for free. The German government pays for construction, the German governments sends troops to protect the bases (like during the Iraq). All for free. Without Ramstein Air Base the Iraq War would not have been possible; or at least much more difficult from a logistical point of view.

Agreed but Neither side really wants to capitulate on their base. For the Democrats and liberals capitulating would be slashing Medicare and other social programs... maybe even education. Reorganizing these departments to make them more efficient is one thing but slashing them like the Republicans want is another is unacceptable to Democrats.

[Col. Tartleton]

Just jack up capital gains. It's all monopoly money for them anyway. If we take away their money we might stabilize things.

But it would never happen because they're too well connected with the feds.