Capitalists say less government is the answer; socialists say more government. Who is right? I say neither -- at least in its entirety. Greed on both sides is partially at fault. Unregulated businesses tend to take advantage of consumers, and people who do not produce anything only take from the marketplace.
The trouble we face today is that neither Democrats nor Republicans are smart enough to fix the economic problems we are in today, or have the will to do so. Too much politics. The culprit, as we like to point out, is not the financial world, the auto industry, the housing market or any other entity in the economy -- at least in this nation. What we have is an 800-pound gorilla in the room: a world economy no longer controlled by a few nations. No matter how many laws we write to try and fix the economy, we will not fix it unless the laws we write are written in conjunction with the laws of our trading partners. This may be our biggest obstacle to finding solutions.
Cheap labor on a worldwide scale has redistributed the wealth to such a degree that this country's middle class has been nearly obliterated. Soon we will have two classes of Americans: rich and poor. The long-term job problem will not be solved by just creating infrastructure-type jobs. We need manufacturing jobs. But that is not possible while cheap labor is available in the world marketplace.
The lifestyle we have been used to is gone -- "gone with the wind." A redistribution of wealth is taking place as never before, and it is not caused by government policy necessarily. Rather, it is a product of globalization -- something that is out of anyone's control. As the cheap labor force grows, the less need there will be for American workers -- at least for those who refuse to work for less.
Politicians have no simple answers for making our lives more prosperous -- and neither do I.
Grady Abrams
Martinez
Comments
Politicians have no simple answer, but the voters do. Get rid of the manipulators and " interferers" that are holding office in congress right now. More laws are not going to fix what more laws have broken. Mr Abrams, a trick of the left is to constantly confuse regulate and oversight. Government schools see that this trick continues to work.
And a trick of the right is to deregulate so that the wealthy can do exactly what it did for the last 8 years, and then blame the left for the catastrophe we end up in.
And GAC's answer is to regulate so the wealthy have to cough up their wealth to people who didn't earn it. Your wealth envy is showing again.
No, regulate so they won't do exactly what they did to our economy. Regulate so they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings that I pay, not 17%. http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/29/irs-high-income-personal-finance-taxes_...
Our financial problems in the U.S. began when businesses jumped on the Globalization band wagon. These businesses began exporting jobs that American workers were doing. What they seemed to forget is that when an American worker is unemployed, that worker cannot spend money here in the U.S. Instead of expanding operations in other countries, those operations were removed from the country! The economy here began to shrink, ever so slowly at first, until it started falling apart. Mis-use of the Globalization Principle of Economics has brought us all to the brink of a Depression! Until big business starts creating jobs here in the U.S, our economic infrastructure will continue to crumble.
Thank you GAC for the insight. Bush show created a mess before he got on the helicopter flying to Texas. HELLO! HELLO!
GaC, your education (and wealth envy) lead you to not know the difference between regulate and oversight. It probably also explains your anger and foolish comments. Want proof? See if jack234 agrees with you.
The Fair Tax would significantly reduce America's labor cost element of production, making us more competitive. Add the national sales tax and we're back on a level playing field.
Not. The FairTax would only finish destroying our economy. A flat tax is a much better way to make us more competitive. At least everything is taxed equally.
"They take those billions and trillions and give it to their own kind...hope you don't mind being robbed blind." The rappers have it figured out. The dollar's current status as a reserve currency is the thread that the USA is hanging by.
Doubt it. You forgot to add in fluctuations in State taxes to make up for the reductions in Federal taxes. Do you honestly believe the states would just cap their rates. Look at Thailand for a model of flat tax, two classes of people, very rich and very poor.
The wealthy would continue to avoid paying taxes. The black market would become their new Sam's Club.
"Unregulated businesses tend to take advantage of consumers," No, they don't. Businesses that take advantage of consumers go out of business; that's how you know they were "taking advantage." That statement only makes sense if you posit some magical world in which there is a "right" price for every good or service. Then, anyone charging more than the "right" price is "gouging" his customer, and anyone charging less is "undercutting" his competition or "dumping" on the market. But there IS no "right" price. The "right" price for me, for a 1/2-liter bottle of water, is 25 cents when I'm at Sam's buying it by the case. But when I'm at a game, and it's hot, and I didn't bring anything to drink, it's worth $2 to me to pay the guy who took the risk, bought the water knowing he might not sell all of it, brought it to the venue, kept it cold, paid people to deliver it to me at just exactly the moment that I wanted it. And you know HOW I know it's worth that $2 to me? Because I freely give that vendor $2 and get my bottle of water. Want to keep your $2? Don't buy the bottle of water, don't let the vendor "take advantage" of you. It's very simple...
By definition, it's not the "wealthy" who created the problems we are seeing in this economy. If I am "wealthy" and I have a mortgage, I can pay my mortgage note. If I am "wealthy" and the price of gas goes from $15/week to $50/week, it's unlikely that I notice (or even fill the tank--just ask Daschle's driver). The problems were caused by people who were not "wealthy" enough to buy a house, who were willing participants in liar loans and every other scam that was made possible, not by the "wealthy," but by two government agencies: fannie and freddie. Hell, if it was the wealthy who made poor home-buying decisions, we'd be fine: just take their wealth and let them keep the house. And no, liberals, you don't get to kick your little feet on the ground and say, "See? Those mean conservatives don't want you to buy a house! They just want you to live in a cardboard box!" It's not that. We don't want you to buy a house...yet. See how important a single word is? Don't buy a house, until you can afford a house. Work hard, save the down, figure out how much mortgage you can handle. THEN you buy the house. See how easy???
Southernguy, I don't mean to quibble, but I do make a distinction between the itch rhyme and the word wealthy. If your net worth is below $5 million, you are are not wealthy. If it's above that then you most likely have a retinue of beancounters. You don't have to be Jewish in order to be genetically indisposed to paying retail. Most people who rave about the flat tax are Southern white middle class or are delusional enough to imagine that they are.
You poor semi-literate boob. I am a rich Jew, okay? Now quit your kvetching, you pathetic little goy.
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