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Author | Topic: An End Of Hubris-Kissinger | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Phat Member Posts: 18298 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.1
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The Economist had an article way back in 2008 by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, where he commented on the conflict between global financial goals and global political goals.
An end of hubris Kissinger says: Now that the clay feet of the economic system have been exposed, the gap between a global system for economics and the global political system based on the state must be addressed as a dominant task in 2009. The economy must be put on a sound footing, entitlement programmes reviewed and the national dependence on debt overcome. He further goes on to say: The Economist writes: With the recent news from Europe about Greece...and eventually perhaps Portugal and Italy dragging down the banks of Northern Europe...I again fret and worry over the future of the US economy as it seeks to pacify global investors and maintain a sound footing and hopeful economic recovery domestically. Every major country will be driven by the constraints of the fiscal crisis to re-examine its relationship to America. Alland especially those holding American debtwill be assessing the decisions that brought them to this point. I fully agree with these "Occupy:_____" rallies going on throughout the country and hope that the wealthy people will be put in check by a unified electorate...but I wonder if people in general understand the extent and detail of the problem at hand. I'm willing to tighten my belt and pay higher taxes if the money gets used appropriately, but I don't trust the politicians nor do I trust the speculators who always seem to abuse money to line their own pockets. When will the power become that of the people again rather than the special interests?
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crashfrog Member (Idle past 1488 days) Posts: 19762 From: Silver Spring, MD Joined: |
When will the power become that of the people again rather than the special interests? When we have a political system that can accurately balance preference intensity.
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Buzsaw Inactive Member |
Phat writes: I fully agree with these "Occupy:_____" rallies going on throughout the country and hope that the wealthy people will be put in check by a unified electorate...but I wonder if people in general understand the extent and detail of the problem at hand. Put in check for doing what? Paying the lion's share of income tax to support the poor who pay none, yet drive the roads, eat the free food, get employed, and all the other perks, etc? Put in check for investing in businesses which produce the food, clothes and goods we all use? Put in check for all of the benevolent free will support? Put in check for purchasing large amounts of goods to insure a robust economy? Put in check for all of the research development of techy goodies we all benefit from? Phat, that mentality is why so many businesses and factories are moving out of New York state and going to places like Tennessee, NC, etc; to escape what the sheeple like you are imposing upon them. BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW. The Immeasurable Present Eternally Extends the Infinite Past And Infinitely Consumes The Eternal Future.
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crashfrog Member (Idle past 1488 days) Posts: 19762 From: Silver Spring, MD Joined: |
Says the guy on the public dole.
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Modulous Member Posts: 7801 From: Manchester, UK Joined:
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Put in check for doing what? There is a conflict of interest between profit and society. Of course there are times when their interests coincide too as you point out, but to ignore the conflicts would be dangerous. It might be profitable to pollute the air of a certain community, but this can have negative health impacts on the people of that community. So, companies should be checked on the amount of pollutants they put into the air. Likewise, it may be profitable to speculate in ways which cause negative impacts to the people. Such as ways which leave society with a choice: Economic chaos of a failing bank, or billions upon billions of the people's hard earned taxes. Checks should be in place to prevent this, no matter how profitable it is for those at the top. It may be profitable to corrupt politicians, but since this can lead to the subversion of the people's will and the undermining of democracy, again checks should be placed to prevent this. It may be profitable to open gigantic supermarkets and use tremendous buying power to acquire goods cheaply and thus sell them at low prices, with a relatively small amount of staff per sale to pay. But on the other hand, this means smaller businesses that hire more staff per product sold cannot afford to compete and they go under. It may be profitable to continue growing, buying out competition, or driving them out of business with the power that comes with large sizes until one acquire monopoly status. But that has obvious downsides to society too. The profit incentive has obvious benefits to society at large, but it should be equally obvious that unchecked it has obvious drawbacks to society too.
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Rrhain Member Posts: 6351 From: San Diego, CA, USA Joined:
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Buzsaw writes:
quote: As if income tax were the only taxes anybody paid. There are these things called "payroll taxes" and the poor pay a significantly larger percentage of their income into them than the rich. In fact, payroll taxes are regressive: The more money you earn, the less of it is paid in taxes until you stop paying them at all. Payment into Social Security, for example, ends once you hit $106K. Someone who earns a million dollars a year pays less than 1% of his income into Social Security. A person earning 25K pays more than 6%. Then there are sales taxes, business taxes, property taxes, etc., all of which poor people pay.
quote: Paid for by gasoline taxes which affect the poor more than the wealthy.
quote: "Free food"? Since when was food ever given away for free? Or are you claiming sales tax doesn't exist?
quote: And are subject to regressive payroll taxes.
quote: Ah, yes...the "Lucky Ducky." It's so much better to be poor because you don't have to pay as much income tax. As if eating cat food so you don't starve to death were a good thing. Exactly what are these "perks" you seem to think poor people have?
quote: Except they're not. Remember, Buzsaw, Fox News Lies. New York is still one of the biggest economies in the country. What we need to do is reinstate the New Deal regulations that were dismantled from the Reagan administration, through Bush and Clinton, and completely dismantled under Bush II. Strange how nobody noticed that before regulations like Glass-Steagall, the US had a long history of economic bubbles that burst and nearly wiped us out every 20 years. But after the New Deal, it didn't happen anymore. That isn't to say that things were perfect. The oil crisis of the early 70s under Nixon was hardly of no concern, but that was a world-wide crisis. But when Reagan came into power and started dismantling the financial regulations, we had the Savings and Loan collapse, the housing bubble, the tech bubble, until finally it all came crashing down under Bush II. We need to learn from our mistakes and re-instate the New Deal. Repeal the Bush tax cuts. In fact, repeat the Clinton cuts and even repeal the Reagan cuts. If that's too much for your mind to accept, I point out that taxes are at their lowest since just before the Great Depression...and look at how that turned out. If raising the tax rates back to Clinton-era levels is "Socialism" then Reagan was a Socialist, Nixon with his 70% top tax rate was French, and Eisenhower with his 90% top tax rate was a god damned Commie. The old joke has come true: IBM, UBM, we all BM for IBM. The corporations have taken over and this is what fascism looks like.Rrhain Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time. Minds are like parachutes. Just because you've lost yours doesn't mean you can use mine.
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Phat Member Posts: 18298 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.1 |
What would Jesus do, Buz?
Quite likely, He would render unto Caesar that which is Caesars...thus would have no problem with higher taxes. Am I right?
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Dogmafood Member (Idle past 370 days) Posts: 1815 From: Ontario Canada Joined: |
What would Jesus do, Buz? Jesus would say "Shazam!" ...and all of our tax problems would disappear.
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