US Citizens - You may like (probably shouldn't like) this

[MarcusOfLycia]

This video is pretty good at thoroughly debunking some myths about the United States government.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u24nH03NccI&nomobile=1

[Ivellious]

Just saying...If he's trying to convince me that we should cut welfare and medical insurance so that the rich people don't have to pay for it...I ask him this: If we are living in a socialist state that redistributes the wealthy people's money, why do we have one of the worst wealth distributions in the world between our rich and poor?

As far as how we spend our money, yeah, it sucks. But he doesn't even start to point out the fact that our economy is built on false, short-term fixes over the past 40 ish years that are simply coming back to bite us in the rear. We refuse to look for a long-term solution, because our politicians know they won't get re-elected unless they promise immediate revival. Problem is, we simply cannot fix the economy over one presidential term. Sadly, America is going in the toilet before long. We reached too far in our greed, and just like Rome before us, there will be a collapse.

[MarcusOfLycia]

No, we can't fix the economy in one presidential term. In fact, I don't think the president alone can do too much. But the debt is staggering, and no country in the history of the world has survived this kind of thing.

[MarcusOfLycia]

Personally I think the biggest thing that is brought up is the 'purchasing power' of entitlements. A very large percentage of American's do not pay federal income tax but -do- receive federal payments. As Tocqueville put it succinctly over 150 years ago:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years"

[wrain62]

Just saying...If he's trying to convince me that we should cut welfare and medical insurance so that the rich people don't have to pay for it...I ask him this: If we are living in a socialist state that redistributes the wealthy people's money, why do we have one of the worst wealth distributions in the world between our rich and poor?

As far as how we spend our money, yeah, it sucks. But he doesn't even start to point out the fact that our economy is built on false, short-term fixes over the past 40 ish years that are simply coming back to bite us in the rear. We refuse to look for a long-term solution, because our politicians know they won't get re-elected unless they promise immediate revival. Problem is, we simply cannot fix the economy over one presidential term. Sadly, America is going in the toilet before long. We reached too far in our greed, and just like Rome before us, there will be a collapse.

Welfare is paid by the rich? They do not pay much. It is the working class that pays more and the government goes into dept paying for it as well. What is very disturbing is that the welfare state borrowing increases inflation as the Federal Reserve continues its money creation system so that the there is an even bigger wealth gap between rich and poor since the poor are hit harder with inflation than the rich are, since they have to consume more.

Here is Ronald Reagan on the inflation tax.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV3KScSNZK8

The finacially savvy rich know how to get their slice with the system of money creation and end up profiting while the way the poor benefits pay increases. The poor end up depending on the government to go into dept to help them with increasing costs. With dept the entitlements are paid and with dept the cycle continues. not that you do not know but I disagree about what you said that the rich pay for the entitlements. How do we get out of this situation?

[RickD]

I'm glad my citizenship is ultimately in heaven, not is the U.S.

Philippians 3:17-21 17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

[Ivellious]

Wrain, for the record I totally understand that, but the picture painted by the rich and that video is that it's "so unfair that the rich have to hold us all up." My family is probably part of the lower-middle-class, so trust me, I understand how messed up it is that my parents pay higher tax rates than the upper range of the economic scale.

And, sadly, there really is no way out without the government setting up a long-term (~20 years, I'd say) plan to shift our economy away from foreign business and resources, and to re-evaluate the travesty that the rich and the big corporations have so many advantages and breaks at the expense of small business and the middle class. We'd also probably have to accept the fact that we would no longer going to be the ultimate superpower of the world, but rather a part of the collective superpowers. Sadly, I doubt our egos and "instant gratification" mentalities would allow for this to actually happen.

[MarcusOfLycia]

Wrain, for the record I totally understand that, but the picture painted by the rich and that video is that it's "so unfair that the rich have to hold us all up." My family is probably part of the lower-middle-class, so trust me, I understand how messed up it is that my parents pay higher tax rates than the upper range of the economic scale.

And, sadly, there really is no way out without the government setting up a long-term (~20 years, I'd say) plan to shift our economy away from foreign business and resources, and to re-evaluate the travesty that the rich and the big corporations have so many advantages and breaks at the expense of small business and the middle class. We'd also probably have to accept the fact that we would no longer going to be the ultimate superpower of the world, but rather a part of the collective superpowers. Sadly, I doubt our egos and "instant gratification" mentalities would allow for this to actually happen.

Unfortunately I don't know that we can ever get out of 'shifting our economy away' to foreign countries. There's little incentive to stay when things are cheaper overseas. I suppose if demand went down significantly because many people had no money to buy the good/services, that might do it.

[RickD]

Marcus, sorry to derail your thread, but I really like what's in your signature.

[MarcusOfLycia]

Marcus, sorry to derail your thread, but I really like what's in your signature.

Thanks! I probably 'stole' some of it from people on this board, but I definitely like it, too. Hence my signature