IS Austerity the way to go? Your opinion

[twoshooter]

You guys are hilarious!!! Every time I hear you talk about faith in the private sector, and how government is untrustworthy. Sherson- Lehman, Enron, Bernie Madoff, Jim Baker, where would one stop ?? I make no claim that the government is efficient, lean or effective, but when the last human on earth is born, there WILL be a government there to take note of it. The only other professions as old are prostitutes and preachers.

Money. ALL of it belongs to the government . ALL. Let me repeat that. All. You may "own" wealth, but the government owns the money. Only they can print it. They can take it away if you have too much in one place without a good explanation. Money is not actually worth anything, it is simply an abstract representation of perceived value. It allows "wealth" to be quantified in order to make it portable and transactional.

Austerity. Makes no difference how much you cut, if you have no income. you cannot spend zero. You MUST generate more than you use. We have to pare back closer to need than to wants, that may be unavoidable. We must spend more wisely, and generate more revenue.

1% vs 99%.  For every entity on earth there is an OPTIMUM size. That is true of trees, cattle, cars, stores, corporations, AND personal holdings. When anything passes a certain size, mass, volume, it produces decreasing returns for unit of input. When a steer gets to about 1200 pounds the feed conversion ratio goes down, the meat becomes coarser and tougher, less goes into steak, more into hamburger. That is why when they get to almost that size, we eat them. Why then would we allow the creation of a billionaire, when a thousand millionaires would be much better for the US ? That is why Teddy busted the trusts. Too big to fail ?? That is why you break things up, to keep them manageable.

[ironglow]

  Don't expect any political courage from politicians.  Here is a city that has been in trouble for years..but nobody in power has had the moxie to correct the situation.  I don't know, perhaps this is one of those stupid cities which keep electing the same party back in power, no matter what....
   In any case, I think we can easily predict that no real courage will be shown by politicians.  They may find a slithering way to claim other than bankruptcy..but it will not be good.
   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/26/stockton-set-to-become-largest-us-city-to-declare-bankruptcy/#ixzz1yyC0NF97
 
  Then comes the state..then the nation ?

[ironglow]

We may HAVE to implement 'austerity measures' whether we like them or not.  just like the Washington politicians, the Stockton politicians had plenty of warning..but no political courage.
      http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-stockton-bankruptcy-20120627,0,2285815.story
 
   Next will be California itself...so can we expect the DC politicians to be any more sensible ?  I doubt it !!!
 

[Cuts Crooked]

We need to keep our elderly solvent and not easy prey to pick off based on weird austerity theories that contradict reality.

Contradict reality? Nice catch phrase there! Too bad that if we were institute policies that will actually get us out of this mess it's going to be "austerity measures".

Reality: You cannot tax a nation into prosperity!

Reality: You cannot cure economic problems by in creasing corporate taxes! (They WILL leave)

Reality: You cannot cure economic failure by "taxing the wealthy" !

Reality: Government has grown into an overbloated  monster!

Reality: Government has made too many of it's citizens dependent on it!

[Casull]

Cuts Crooked, true, true, true, true, true.

[Cabin4]

Comparing tax % rates to GDP levels is about the dumbest comparison I've seen in a long time.

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Which means decoded from corpo speak>>...ITS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT INDICATORS OF THE OVERALL TAX BURDEN ON THE CORPORATE SECTOR OF A NATION..!!
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And the USA stands at around 3.5% corporate tax percent of GDP....about the lowest or lowest in the world. And it also means the % share of total tax revenue from corporate sources is the lowest it has ever been.  One could believe this by realizing the 5 biggest oil companies made $135 billion profit last year while they got about $10 billion in subsidies and paying little or zero tax. Now cipher this in the equation: these tax breaks, credits, subsidies, shelters, etc...are all taking place while corporate entities are allowed to buy more political clout then ever before. So there's some where for alittle austerity to take place, and a little pure capitalism be injected into the system in place of corpo welfare. We need a corporate tax structure similar to PRC and less scamming, shucking and jiving. We need to keep our elderly solvent and not easy prey to pick off based on weird austerity theories that contradict reality.
 
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"Every dollar spent on making a bomb or a tank (and other corporate welfare) is a dollar
not spent on education, infrastructure, health care."....  Dwight D. Eisenhower..
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...TM7

Yes, as you now have reworded your argument, comparing a tax percentage to a GDP $$ level, make no sence.
 
 
Yes, overall corp tax $$ revenues are down for the Federal government. Not sure if anyone told you, but our economy and job situation is getting worse, and that results in lower tax revenue.
 
Raising taxes in this situation is like putting salt on the wound.
 
I've never seen a situation that you dont advocate for higher tax on business and people, yet you cream the federal government for funding an endless global war machine. Did you ever think that if we cut off the funds (tax revenue), they cant fund the endless wars? How about a balanced budget requirement? Seems like everyone would benefit from this but liberals never want a limit on what they can tax and or spend.
 
Best for you to make up your mind on these points.

[Gary G]

We need to keep our elderly solvent and not easy prey to pick off based on weird austerity theories that contradict reality.

Contradict reality? Nice catch phrase there! Too bad that if we were institute policies that will actually get us out of this mess it's going to be "austerity measures".

Reality: You cannot tax a nation into prosperity!

Reality: You cannot cure economic problems by in creasing corporate taxes! (They WILL leave)

Reality: You cannot cure economic failure by "taxing the wealthy" !

Reality: Government has grown into an overbloated  monster!

Reality: Government has made too many of it's citizens dependent on it!

Cuts, I would add one more thing. At present, over 50% of the people believe that those idiots in Washington can do something to get us out of the mess in which they have gotten us. (If only we elect the right guy. And when we don't, they just blame it on that guy and look for another savior.) Those people are about to learn a lesson the hard way. Adam Smith's "invisible hand" always rules in the long run and governments will be proven futile at best.