“The bottom 75% of all taxpayers today pay less than 35% of all the taxes paid by the top 1% of all income earners.”
Much criticism has been levied against the Bush tax cuts. The main criticism was that they benefited the rich and not the poor or middle class. Well, as Arthur B. Laffer writes in this article, in slightly complex language, tax cuts for the rich result in a higher percentage of taxes paid by the rich, partly because the taxable income of the rich is much more variable. I’m not an economist, but these numbers are telling. I welcome comments.
I thought this was a very insightful look at curiosity… and curious is something I’m very proud to consider myself. This post is to start the debate with Joel about his outlook on new things… I suspect that despite his religious leanings he is the curious type who “examines the evidence first, then evaluates the implications”… Joel?
“This is the classic dilemma of democracy: Too many people benefit from the status quo to change it; but the status quo isnt sustainable.”
One of my concerns with the Democrat candidates is that if elected, they will continue to push our country toward a more socialist and welfare state. Higher taxes for entitlement programs like health care and social security will lead us to a similar fate as Europe where the citizens resist needed change - they have the needs of life handed to them on a silver platter. I believe a welfare state with higher taxes does harm to a society on a psychological level. If I’m guaranteed the needs of life by my government, why do I need to be productive and innovative. What will it gain me? The primary catalyst for human ingenuity - prosperity - is removed from society by penalizing those who are most productive and most innovative - the rich.
The liberal agenda is to make government the “Savior” of the human race. The difference between this world view and a Christian world-view is that after a government becomes a “savior”, there is little motivation to get off your couch and contribute back to society. This is a great article on the problems that Europe is facing. I’m interested to hear what my friends on the opposite side of the aisle attribute the decline of Europe to.
Single Malt Skull Sessions’ Justin Bradshaw and Joel Van Brunt examine the presidential candidates over a bottle of whiskey….Please let us know what you think!
Before Christmas, when I heard through my Marine friends that the current cobra/huey squadron at Al Taqaddum had not had a casualty evacuation mission in over 6 weeks, my jaw nearly hit the floor! I couldn’t believe it! By comparison, when I was deployed there last year at this time, we had as many as 9 casualty evacuation missions on our busiest of days. It was hard for me to imagine a bigger contrast from my experience.
“Dude, they’re bored over there,” my Marine buddy told me back in December.
“Once widely considered the most dangerous and xenophobic city in Iraq and one of the country’s most resilient havens of al-Qaeda, Falluja is now enjoying a new, if tentative, peace. So, no less strikingly, is the whole of Anbar province, in which Falluja lies, and most of the Euphrates river valley. The Americans say that if you go north and north-west through Hit and Haditha and up to the border with Syria near the town of Qaim, it is clear that al-Qaeda has been chased out—with the co-operation of the local Sunnis and the tribal leaders. In those areas, which embrace the vast majority of Iraq’s Sunni Arabs outside Baghdad, attacks against the American-led coalition forces have dropped more than tenfold compared with a year ago.”
It’s tough to know what’s going on in the Iraq war when there isn’t much news on the topic. Well, no news is good news!! Since this past fall, news out of Iraq has been very positive. But, since good news isn’t forced down our throats like bad news, it’s easy to miss our current success. And now many of our democratic friends will surely want to use this success as yet another reason to get us out of Iraq. Interestingly, a year ago, the argument to get us out of Iraq was because things were so bad. Now that they are looking better for a change, the rationale for withdrawal has taken a new face. I would caution my democratic friends that withdrawal now is not the best strategy for maintaining peace in Iraq. Rather, it is a selfish strategy that would give off the wrong message that we’re ready to quit just when we’re starting to win and make progress.
Justin Bradshaw and Joel Van Brunt are pleased to present their new collaboration: Single Malt Skull Sessions!
In this video podcast and blog you’ll see us wrangle over today’s hot topics over a bottle of a great whiskey to lubricate the lips…
We’re doing this to celebrate civil debate and encourage you to discuss these topics with your friends and loved ones. We reject the idea that politics should be taboo… in fact, they are the most important topics in our world today and we would be better off with more… not less… honest and informed discussion. With that in mind, please feel free to comment on our blog topics and/or let us know directly what you think of our humble opinions (no irony there, not at all).
This project will be successful only when it succeeds in sparking something in you!
