US Taxing 100% of Personal Income Will Not Cover Deficits

[piezoe]

Quote from Scataphagos:

We Americans voted for "hope and change" last November. Well, we're getting both... BUT IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!!

Unless America undergoes a MAJOR metamorphosis towards lower, more broadly based tax collection and in the size/function of government, WE ARE DOOMED. Only question is "how long does it take?".

Scat, perhaps the US is hamstrung by the first amendment. I rather think so, because it is this amendment that so far has made it impossible to get around the influence of money in politics. That, and an increasingly under-educated electorate would seem to bode ill for the future of the Republic.

I am all for tax reform, it's sorely needed. But can that do much in the face of the fundamental defects in our constitution?

Were i younger, i would definitely be looking for greener pastures elsewhere.

 

[drsteph]

Quote from Scataphagos:

I have always thought "they" keep us in the dark on purpose... if we are not financially aware, makes it easier for them to get away with shenanigans.

How can a course in personal finance not be a requirement to graduate from high school? What could be more important?

Hell, my college REQUIRED a course in public speaking.... "for my own good", of course. But nothing was required in the way of economics or finance.

In the USA educational system... if you want to learn about anything financial you have to dig it out on your own.... most of us don't get past the part about "charging it".

Nice thought, but fairly useless and also impossible when government can change variables that affect long term investments on a whim.

If we all only stand a small chance of surviving the next few years financially intact, how much of a chance do you think joe six pack does with meager assets to invest and limited choices in his cafeteria plan 401k?

 

[Scataphagos]

Quote from drsteph:

Nice thought, but fairly useless and also impossible when government can change variables that affect long term investments on a whim.

If we all only stand a small chance of surviving the next few years financially intact, how much of a chance do you think joe six pack does with meager assets to invest and limited choices in his cafeteria plan 401k?

1. Investing is ever dynamic and the hardest part about financial planning... partly for what you said (I'm a CFP).

2. But it would NOT be useless for people to learn basic finance... checkbook, borrowing in general, mortgage, credit cards, saving, compounding, budgeting, living within your means, etc.

3. What chance does J6P have in the coming years? Same as about 99% of us... the proverbial's "snowball's chance".

 

[zdreg]

even in this thread people are blaming outsiders for the ills of the US particularly
foreign oil producers. look at yourselves first. the legacy costs ie pension costs both public and private are suffocating the country. they are much more important to the economic well being of the US then the price of oil. public pension cost can set the country off into a hyper inflationary cycle just as has happened in argentina and brazil some years ago, indexing to inflation will lead to hyper inflation.

the managers of large corporations are in bed with the labor that they hire. e.g. general motors etc. boards of directors are nothing but rubber stamps for management.
management enriching themselves at the expense of shareholders.
public servants make more than their counterparts in the private sector.

wall street is in a incestous relationship
with washington which throws good money after bad money.

the educational system below the graduate level is second rate. parents think the system is bad but not the schools their children go to.

the US is broke and refuses to accept the sharp pain that would go with a quick cure. the inability to accept failure and bankruptcy as part of a capitalist system will lead to a major catastrophe.down the road.

u made not believe but the economy is still in the Goldilocks stage compared to what lies ahead.

 

[antitrust]

Quote from Scataphagos:

Let's take gasoline. With the average(?) motorist driving 15,000 miles per year and getting 15 mpg, that's 1000 gallons of gasoline. At recent "normal" prices of $2.50/gal, that's $2500 per year in gasoline costs. When gas was $4.50, that's $4500 per year. Sure, $2000 is something. But if that presses one's budget too much, cars and behavior can be modified to reduce "motoring fuel" costs back to near $2500 per year. (Remember, in Europe they pay $7-$9 per gallon. By comparison, our fuel costs are waaayyyy cheap.)

The "800 Gorilla in the room", however, is the "massive deficit spending, government is much too large vs. private sector, high unemployment which will soon be recognized as STRUCTURAL, unfunded social liabilities, overspending by consumers, housing/credit bubble, and the move towards Facist/Socialist America", complex.... threatens everything we've loved about our country.

so the price of oil only increases the cost of driving your own vehicle. What about the cost of shiping every thing you buy and have in your house, the construction of said house, the production and transportation of food, the use of food as an energy alternative and the other 10 million things made out of petroleum.

but ya 2000 sounds right

 

[piezoe]

Quote from zdreg:

even in this thread people are blaming outsiders for the ills of the US particularly
foreign oil producers. look at yourselves first. the legacy costs ie pension costs both public and private are suffocating the country. they are much more important to the economic well being of the US then the price of oil. public pension cost can set the country off into a hyper inflationary cycle just as has happened in argentina and brazil some years ago, indexing to inflation will lead to hyper inflation.

the managers of large corporations are in bed with the labor that they hire. e.g. general motors etc. boards of directors are nothing but rubber stamps for management.
management enriching themselves at the expense of shareholders.
public servants make more than their counterparts in the private sector.

wall street is in a incestous relationship
with washington which throws good money after bad money.

the educational system below the graduate level is second rate. parents think the system is bad but not the schools their children go to.

the US is broke and refuses to accept the sharp pain that would go with a quick cure. the inability to accept failure and bankruptcy as part of a capitalist system will lead to a major catastrophe.down the road.

u made not believe but the economy is still in the Goldilocks stage compared to what lies ahead.

You raise good points. The U.S., like most countries i suppose, is a country where reasonable solutions to all of the problems you mentioned are known, but it is not politically possible to implement them. Instead, matters are often made worse by adopting policies and measures that favor a minority with undue influence at the expense of the majority.

As recent examples of what could be an endless list of U.S. absurdities we have: the invasion of Iraq; the production of ethanol from corn to use as a motor fuel; the voting for weapon systems by U.S. Senators that the Pentagon neither asked for nor wanted; and the dismantling of the Glass-Steagall Act, due mostly to the efforts of Senator Phil Gramm, with too little debate, as though nothing at all had been learned from the banking crisis of the Great Depression. Sadly, this list could go on and on.