Thought of the Day

One thing everybody knows, yet too few discuss is the fact that this country is in serious debt. The most likely reason not many discuss this is because neither of the major parties can offer a real solution. Both parties vote for more spending, the only difference being that the Republicans say they want to keep taxes where they are, and the Democrats want to raise them. Considering the overwhelming amount of debt we're in it seems that the latter of the two would be the obvious choice to move us in the direction we need to go. Hardly any issue in politics is so cut and dry however. The effects of a higher tax rate on the overall economy first has to be considered. Especially when you factor in the current recession we're in. The fact is, the majority of jobs are created by the wealthy. As an anarchist, I'm not a big fan of this idea, but with the way our market functions, that's just how it works. Taxing the wealthy more, would only cause them to decrease the amount of money they re-invest back into the economy. This means less growth, fewer jobs, and lower wages for the rest of us. In other words...like it or not, right now we all depend on the few wealthy Americans that create our jobs (I'm ready and willing to make the sacrifice, but I'm not sure the rest of America is).

Secondly, raising taxes doesn't necessarily mean an overall increase in the governments revenue. If a tax increase causes the economy to slow, or even decrease, despite the fact that tax rates were higher the overall income of the federal government could actually decrease.

One area where I might support a possible increase in taxes is on corporate taxes. This, however has to be done very carefully as not to drive away more jobs than it creates. Scaring corporations overseas is never a good thing unless you have small businesses ready to take over the hole they've left in the economy. With increased corporate taxes, they can not only go overseas to avoid the tax, but also typically pay lower wages to their workers; therefore still providing the same product at cheaper prices than American owned businesses can. There has to be a careful balance between corporate taxes, and tariff taxes on goods that we import from other countries in order to even the scales on these corporations that are considering going overseas to save money. In any case I support the small businessman over big corporations any day. The majority of the jobs in this country come from small businesses, and not only that but...they pay better too.

In the end I'm not sure it really matters how much revenue the federal government takes in. Regardless of whether we have a Republican or a Democrat in office, they simply see that as more money they have to throw away. The majority of our tax dollars goes simply to paying off the interest we've accrued on the money we borrowed to begin with. Everything we spend thereafter is simply added on to that.

We are now fast approaching 10 trillion dollars in debt. That's about $33,000 worth of debt for every one of us. My generation will never see a dime of what they've paid into their social security, and speaking as someone who's accumulated over $200,000 in medical bills; Medicaid and government intervention in medical care has done nothing but decrease response time and increase the prices. I have a feeling if Grady Hospital didn't think the government was going to cover my medical bill for me, they wouldn't have bothered charging me to the fullest extent on every little thing they did. Being young and self-employed, I was uninsured. And yet, Medicaid refused to cover my hospital bill, because at the ripe old age of 21, I was strong enough to recover from a horrific traffic accident and work a part time job making a solid $12,000 a year. At that rate it would have taken me just over 17 years to pay it off. Assuming of course that I devoted my entire salary to my hospital bill. I find it strange that the issue of socialized medical care wasn't even in question until long after the government had already stepped in with their so called "managed care". They seem to have created this dependency; just as they create these problems, then try to offer up a solution. The bad part is, that solution always seems to involve more government intervention.

Despite my horrendous experience, I'm not one to think health care is a "right". To me something that is a right is something that CANNOT be taken away from you. Not something that has to be granted to you. If health-care was free it would have to be provided to you by the government. Therefore, the government has granted you this "right". In the same sense, they can take it away just as easily. I believe in self-reliance. No one can take anything away from you then. You have the right to...the PURSUIT of happiness. Not necessarily the right to happiness, but rather the right to pursue it...on your own. Whatever that may mean to you. There will always be good doctors out there who will do the right thing, regardless of whether the money is there or not.

Our government has managed to create a dependency on their intervention in every aspect of our lives. Not only is this present within our own country, but abroud as well. Iraq being the obvious example of a country that is dependent on American support. We need to allow these countries to become independent while we draw our troops back into our own country, and begin to defend Americans rather than our oil reserves in the middle-east or other interests that do not directly effect our national security.

We ABSOLUTELY need to become energy independent. Drilling is NOT the answer. It's not that I have a huge personal problem with drilling for oil, but rather the fact that it would take upwards of 5 years before we saw the first barrel of oil if we started drilling today. We need a solution NOW. Alternative energy is within our reach and there is nothing stopping us from powering our homes with wind or solar power. We have to remember with the power of the free market, comes great responsibility. It is us who ultimately decides what products sell and what businesses fail in this country. If you are concerned about your independence, much less your environment, you must demand products that provide for such concerns. As far as cars go, right now there is a fully electric car that can go from 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds, and drive on a single charge for over 200 miles. Why have you never heard of it?

As far as immigration goes, I am just a little uncomfortable with the idea of building a wall around our country. However, I think immigration is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with. Illegals in this country are allowed a free ride (no taxes), while we (the taxpayers) provide them with free medical care and education. I think a lot of the concern over immigration could be solved if we simply stopped offering up the handouts. The next step would be to find a tax system that would force them to provide an equal contribution to this country, like a consumption tax of sorts.



I'm not sure what time it is now, but I'm going to have to leave it at that until I can rejuve. I don't even remember what my point was, or why I got started on this rant in the first place.