Some of you may get this off the top.
“By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending”
That's a warning, not an endorsement........
John Paul II, Centesimus Annus
HT: Fr Z
Now guess what commie said this:
ReplyDeleteEconomic activity cannot solve all social problems through the simple application of commercial logic. This needs to be directed towards the pursuit of the common good, for which the political community in particular must also take responsibility. Therefore, it must be borne in mind that grave imbalances are produced when economic action, conceived merely as an engine for wealth creation, is detached from political action, conceived as a means for pursuing justice through redistribution.
For Christ sakes.
ReplyDeleteThere has been better example of "loss of human energies" than the past generation. Where is our man on the moon? Where are our big efforts? Where the hell is the vision? The WTO was knocked down eight years ago and they are still squabbling.
This tax-cutting bunch of losers we've had running our governments have essentially wasted our time. There has been no greatness, only ennui.
Reaganomics and all of its manifestations of greed have been in control in this country, and we have produced a big nothing.
Any one who thinks that socialism or liberalism or what ever has led to our current conditions are delusional and in need of clinical treatment.
Your biggest fear in the this health care debate is that real changes happens, the dam is going to break and a sleeping America might very well wake up.
Wow, KR, that was enough to make the children sing the Internationale!!
ReplyDeleteYou have a future with the Party, Comrade!
Yup. That "sleeping America" is largely Center-Right. And in no mood to be told what to do. KR, enjoy your own delusion.
ReplyDeleteya know, maybe I should ask...what can possibly be good about a government that amasses as much power as this one will with Socialized Healthcare and Cap & Trade? How does taking from thise who have, at the literal point of a gun make government "moral"?
The facts are tax cuts worked, but government was unable to control its' voracious appetite for spending. Because spending gets votes. And votes maintain power. Because the electorate just isn't paying attention.
Tell me where I'm wrong.
Deekaman - the natural outcome of your comment is that Democracy is doomed to fail.
ReplyDeleteTell me where I'm wrong.
Well, you obviously don't understand the definition of "socialized", for starters.
S'pose you 'slain to me, Lucy. How is government-run healthcare with a penalty for not buying into it, including jail time not Socialized Healthcare? And please tell me WTF you would call it?
ReplyDelete"The facts are tax cuts worked, but government was unable to control its' voracious appetite for spending."
ReplyDeleteWorked at achieving what? Real wage growth for middle class Americans? Sustainable long run growth in non-financial sector job creation? Above average GDP growth compared to the time period between WWII and the 1980's when income tax rates were more progressive?
A case can be made for initial tax cuts in the 1980's being effective at stimulating sizeable economic growth. All tax cuts since then have achieved diminishing returns with the Bush tax cuts being simply a re-distribution of wealth to the upper tax bracket with few benefits to the middle class in terms of job creation and/or wage growth and a sizeable addition to the deficit when we should have been reducing it.
I'm not sure what facts you're referring to. The tax cut myth has been repeated so many times that it's taken for truth these days.
I'm not sure what facts you are referring to. Every tax cut since JFK has resulted in increased economic activity and consequently, greater federal revenue. I agree that there are diminishing returns to tax cuts. But there are NO benefits to a tax increase when the government (Both sides of the aisle) are unwilling to restrain spending.
ReplyDeleteThe greater issue in taxes (income and property,anyway) is that there are so many with no "dog in the fight". I've heard it said that there should not be a price of admission to this country. Yes, there should.
I would agree with your comments.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, the effectivness of the income tax cut has diminished to the point that we are reducing total tax receipts, which adds to the yearly deficit in times of relative prosperity without the benefits of increased real wage growth or job creation for the middle class (see 2000-2008). In other words, the income tax cut is doing more damage than good for the middle class, for whom, they're supposed to be helping.
You only have to look at the diverging income distribution among tax brackets in this country over the last 25 years to realize that something is terribly wrong. People worry about income re-distribution? What a joke. Look at the DATA. It's being re-distributed all right.....to the ultra rich.
I also agree that tax increases, given our current economic climate, would negatively effect the economy which is why the Bush tax cuts have been temporarily extended. Again, deficit spending AND tax cuts in times of severe recession are good economic policy (especially when interest rates are zero). Deficit spending and/or tax cuts in times of prosperty leave us in situations we're experiencing today.
I'm (largely) in agreement with Strupp? The apocalypse is surely upon us.
ReplyDeleteI know. I'm beginning to build a bomb shelter in the backyard after this exchange.
ReplyDelete