What have you done?????

Also, let's not forget that before WWII, the average American paid around 5% on their taxes.

It's up to 70% now.

Who pays 70% of their income in taxes these days??!?

And lest we forget the LBJ wasted the ENTIRE Social Security Budget in 20 years.


Neither party has a sterling record on spending. However, Clinton is the only one in recent times who's actually presided over a balanced budget.

Again, WHAT HAVE THEY DONE???? I'm curious.

Civil rights, for one. I'll let others go into more detail because it's my bedtime.

 

70%? Tsk tsk major.... you do realize that we pay income taxes AND sales taxes.... and the companies we purchase items from have to pay taxes as well, which, obviously, get passed on to the consumer.

No kidding. And add all of that up and you pay nowhere close to 70%, unless you're really getting screwed on taxes. Take your total income (pre-tax), figure out your expenses and savings, and I guarantee it will add up to far more than 30% of the original figure unless you're just throwing money away and paying excess taxes. The GDP is about 10 trillion. The federal budget is about 2 trillion (very rounded figures). State and local budgets are far smaller. That's not 70% net total taxes.

Take some fundamental economics courses, please.

Brilliant. Look at some basic facts, please.

As for your answer on spending....... AGAIN THIS IS WHAT DEM'S ARE KNOWN FOR!!!!! What has been provided? What?


Of course this is what dems are known for - doesn't make it reality. What has been provided? Social services left and right. Things ranging from school lunches to basic vaccinations to drug addiction services. A phenomenal national defense that would crush any country in the world. Incredible infrastructure like highways and telecommunications. 100,000 cops on the streets. A vast national focus on education spending to modernize schools. Go look at a budget and you'll see what's been provided. By *both parties*. Both parties spend - each just has a different focus... and one tends to tax to cover the expenses; the other tends to borrow. "Tax & spend" is a cute little catch phrase that rolls off the tongue better than "Borrow & spend" so Democrats get the label of being the spenders. Just like Republicans get the label of being "heartless" even though they aren't.

 

Civil rights? Again, need details..... I know American history for the most part. Let me know.....

Seriously? Read about the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/laws/majorlaw/civilr19.htm

Or, things like school integration, eliminating separate but equal, etc. You already know all this stuff if you know American history.

 

Please talk to anyone who knows economics, please. Pretty please with sugar on top?

You might consider taking your own advice, because you are so far off of reality here, it's just silly.


Learn how a dollar can be double/triple/quadruple taxed.


Yes, and that would come out in the total taxes paid. This is really not difficult stuff. Let's take an example of an average person:

You're going to pay a net of about 15-20% in income taxes. You'll pay another 13% in SS/Medicare taxes (including the employer half).

Let's say you spend ALL of your remaining disposable income - 67% of the original. At a 10% sales tax rate, that's another 6.7%. Let's add 5% for property taxes.

You've now paid 44.7% of your income in income, SS/Medicare/FICA/etc, sales, and property taxes. Some states will have lower sales or property taxes and add an income tax, but the net would actually be lower since that state income tax would be federally tax deductible. Now, you tell me what other taxes take up another 26% of your income.

And to get to that number, I assumed you pay a higher than average income tax rate, a higher than average sale tax rate, I believe a higher than average property tax rate, you're taxed on ALL expenses (not even close to reality), and I assumed you saved nothing. Take away any of those assumptions and your tax rate goes down.

There's no way in hell you will get to 70%. To argue otherwise is just ignorant or demonstrates that you're really not interested in learning the truth.

 

Total tax burden of the median American family:

http://www.taxfoundation.org/prmedianfamily.html

Somewhere in the 35-40% range, including federal, state, and local taxes.

But hey, keep promoting your 70% figure and telling anyone who knows facts to learn economics.

 

Or, here you go:

http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/Articles/2003_03_24Ranking.htm

32.7%

Or, listen to conservative Senators arguing for lower taxes..

http://search.csmonitor.com/durable/1998/03/30/econ/econ.10.html

They use 38%. This particular study argues it's closer to 30%.

There's one common theme here - no one argues a ludicrous 70%.

 

I'm disillusioned by both parties...I have been disillusioned by both parties. I've supported both parties in the past...and been disappointed every time.

 

I'm not a Democrat, normally, but let me tell you what the presidents you mentioned have given us.

Johnson - passed more civil rights legislation than any other president. Was instrumental in making sure that minorities had the same rights by law as whites, and making sure they were allowed to vote and that other legislation wasn't passed in covert ways to deny them the right to vote.

Johnson - did a lot for education, basically starting the headstart program, and centered his policy around education for the poor and equal rights. He tried to help others so they could help themselves.

Carter - Was the first to say that Americans might have to make sacrifices, that it was wise to conserve oil and gas. When he was president it was also necessary.

Carter - Facilitated the impossible. He helped bring about peace between Egypt and Israel. This was something that hadn't really ever been done, and most thought couldn't be done. Carter approached the situation in an earnest attempt to achieve peace and stability through diplomacy. He was successful, and gave the region a degree of stability it hadn't enjoyed since the birth of Israel in 1948.

Clinton - Changed record Republican deficits to a surplus. Started paying down the huge national debt, passed welfare reform, used U.S. troops in Europe helping to capture Milosevic, without losing a single U.S. soldier's life in combat. Presided over a record economic gain. Gave orders to kill Bin Laden, formed a committee which came up with the plans to cut terrorism funding, engage other nations in the effort to stop terrorism, use special forces to go into Afghanistan after Bin Laden. Clinton's group stopped the millenium terrorist plot to blow LAX off the face of the earth, arrested and successfully prosecuted those responsible for the '93 WTC bombing. Clinton also helped destroy Saddam's WMD. He did so without a costly U.S. invasion.

 

Unintentionally hilarious.

This is just an example of how disinformation works, I guess.

 

Where in the hell could you have gotten such a misinformed idea?

This has to be a joke, right?

huh?

uhh, yeah, you've been swayed.....

 

OECD puts it at 30%....lower than any western country.

 

Nice

How about the last four Republican presidents, anyone care to give it a shot?

 

Eisenhower- Ended the bloody stalemate of the Korean War. Signed the first major civil rights bill in 1957. Created the Interstate system, one govt. program that I truly admire (and get a ton of use out of).
Nixon- Invented phrase "Only Nixon could go to China." Got us out of the Vietnam War, but unfortunately, thanks to Congress, left the South Vietnamese out to dry. Otherwise, he made several mistakes, the least of which was wage/price controls, which went against the grain of Republican principles and was a disaster.
Ford- Laid the ground for Carter's breakthrough with the Camp David Accords, but made the horrific mistake of pardoning Tricky Dick. Pretty damned mediocre.
Reagan- One of the best presidents of the 20th century, perhaps ever. Cut ridiculous spending, rebuilt the military, sliced taxes and led the U.S. to perhaps the greatest decade, the glorious 80's. Singlehandedly, his tough-talking leadership and rebuilding of the U.S. military ended the Cold War.