Good article on budget deficits

Pacioli said:

"the big kahuna here is Mr. Bush’s 2001 reduction in income-tax rates, which alone accounts for about $1.2 trillion in revenue foregone over the decade."

I disagree with the philosophy underlying this statement. In order to characterize tax cuts as foregone revenue, you must first assume that the government was the rightful owner of the "revenue," or taxes. This is the common mindset among government and liberals. I fundamentally disagree; the funds in question are the private property of the citizens, created and owned by them. It is a perversion of capitalism and common sense, and a betrayal of the founding fathers sense of private property to consider citizen's money as something belonging to the government who deigns to decide the portion its' citizens may keep.

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Gus McCrae said:

I agree with those thoughts, but our government has been spending as if there was no cuts.

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Kraut said:

Imagine within your neighborhood: There's a new, young family with a lot of kids, and they're poor. They work some, but they're always short of funds. If you have it, maybe you and another neighbor pitch in and drop a bag or two of groceries off on their porch. Fine and dandy. However, if you don't have it and your car note's two months behind, the rent is due, and dinner is Ramen soup for you and your family three nights a week, you might sit and comiserate with the poor neighbor over "hard times" but you're gonna put priority on your own household until things get better for you. Maybe both of you together go to your church or the local food pantry for a little help, but the help's not likely to come from your pocket in that circumstance to go to the neighbor for his needs over yours. My question is, why can't our government understand this, and quit wasting taxpayer dollars on giving crap to other countries? If church groups and private organizations can gather funds, more power to them, but there's no way our government should be the world's charity relief.

Same neighborhood: Two neighbors start squabbling over petty crap, pulling up each other's flower beds, sugaring each other's gas tanks, threatening each other, etc. Do you ignore your household to go solve their problems? Do you start patrolling the property line, and declare one neighbor more correct than the other and worthy of your protection? Sure there are certain needs for diplomatic and military alliances, and there are times when war is warranted, but every petty border dispute, every regime change, every political upheaval does not need US intervention, and we don't need to spend billions and continue risking lives on countries whose populace hates us and are gladly killing our soldiers at every chance they get.

Next neighborhood over: Several people from that neighborhood come over and take up residence in vacant houses in your neighborhood, tap into water and power resources, put their trash at the curb in front of your house for pickup that you pay for, but pay nothing to the city for the services. You expect the city to come put them out of the vacant houses and disperse them, but get no response. When it's time for electing homeowner's association officers or city councilmen, they solicit votes from these people, promise them that they can keep using those unpaid services, but raise your homeowner's association dues and local taxes. Can't our government see how ridiculous that is, how draining to the "neighborhood" economy?

Neighborhood service exchange: Imagine if your HOA set regulations stating that anyone in the neighborhood whose kids mowed lawns for extra money could only collect $20 for cutting lawns in the neighborhood, and had to pay $5 to the HOA if they wanted to cut lawns in adjoining neighborhoods, but the HOA then said kids from adjoining neighborhoods had to be paid minimum of $25 to cut your lawn, and the HOA then paid them $3 for coming in and doing the work. That's about how screwed up some of our foreign trade agreements end up with goofy tariffs and such.

What they hell happens to these idiots when they become politicians that they can't see our problems in simple terms: QUIT SPENDING MONEY ON OTHERS WHEN YOU ARE IN DEBT AND DON'T HAVE IT! LET OTHER COUNTRIES SOLVE THEIR OWN PROBLEMS! QUIT PUTTING THE CITIZENS OF OTHER NATIONS ABOVE OUR OWN! STOP GIVING AWAY THE ADVANTAGE IN WORLD TRADE! I think in ten years time we would be much better off.

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Kraut said:

Imagine within your neighborhood: There's a new, young family with a lot of kids, and they're poor. They work some, but they're always short of funds. If you have it, maybe you and another neighbor pitch in and drop a bag or two of groceries off on their porch. Fine and dandy. However, if you don't have it and your car note's two months behind, the rent is due, and dinner is Ramen soup for you and your family three nights a week, you might sit and comiserate with the poor neighbor over "hard times" but you're gonna put priority on your own household until things get better for you. Maybe both of you together go to your church or the local food pantry for a little help, but the help's not likely to come from your pocket in that circumstance to go to the neighbor for his needs over yours. My question is, why can't our government understand this, and quit wasting taxpayer dollars on giving crap to other countries? If church groups and private organizations can gather funds, more power to them, but there's no way our government should be the world's charity relief.

Same neighborhood: Two neighbors start squabbling over petty crap, pulling up each other's flower beds, sugaring each other's gas tanks, threatening each other, etc. Do you ignore your household to go solve their problems? Do you start patrolling the property line, and declare one neighbor more correct than the other and worthy of your protection? Sure there are certain needs for diplomatic and military alliances, and there are times when war is warranted, but every petty border dispute, every regime change, every political upheaval does not need US intervention, and we don't need to spend billions and continue risking lives on countries whose populace hates us and are gladly killing our soldiers at every chance they get.

Next neighborhood over: Several people from that neighborhood come over and take up residence in vacant houses in your neighborhood, tap into water and power resources, put their trash at the curb in front of your house for pickup that you pay for, but pay nothing to the city for the services. You expect the city to come put them out of the vacant houses and disperse them, but get no response. When it's time for electing homeowner's association officers or city councilmen, they solicit votes from these people, promise them that they can keep using those unpaid services, but raise your homeowner's association dues and local taxes. Can't our government see how ridiculous that is, how draining to the "neighborhood" economy?

Neighborhood service exchange: Imagine if your HOA set regulations stating that anyone in the neighborhood whose kids mowed lawns for extra money could only collect $20 for cutting lawns in the neighborhood, and had to pay $5 to the HOA if they wanted to cut lawns in adjoining neighborhoods, but the HOA then said kids from adjoining neighborhoods had to be paid minimum of $25 to cut your lawn, and the HOA then paid them $3 for coming in and doing the work. That's about how screwed up some of our foreign trade agreements end up with goofy tariffs and such.

What they hell happens to these idiots when they become politicians that they can't see our problems in simple terms: QUIT SPENDING MONEY ON OTHERS WHEN YOU ARE IN DEBT AND DON'T HAVE IT! LET OTHER COUNTRIES SOLVE THEIR OWN PROBLEMS! QUIT PUTTING THE CITIZENS OF OTHER NATIONS ABOVE OUR OWN! STOP GIVING AWAY THE ADVANTAGE IN WORLD TRADE! I think in ten years time we would be much better off.

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Leonidas said:

I'm NOT as stupid as they think. And neither are the rest of the folks here.

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Robhic said:

It's not the folks here that worry me. It's the rest of the population (the ones who elected his highness obama) last time that keeps me up at night!

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