Lots of spinning...

[Noleader]

Bush:

"We've got a record, and a good one," he said. "That's what I intend to campaign on and explain to people why I made the decisions I made, and why they're necessary to protect the American people, and why they've been necessary to keep this economy strong -- and why the policies we've got will keep this economy strong in the future."

I think he has not had a chance to read the news the last few years for the Michigan area. Ford is working to cut 30,000 jobs. Visteon is all but closing its North American operations. Delphi is on really hard times. GM went from posting good profits to loss... All and all I am still looking for this strong economy he is speaking of.

[Tammarion]

" Reports on durable goods orders and unemployment claims yesterday signaled strength in the U.S. economy. Orders at U.S. factories for durable goods last month increased 1.3 percent, the Commerce Department said yesterday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected a 1 percent December gain. Jobless claims rose by 11,000 to 283,000; economists expected 300,000. "

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aqb9cipcNqbw&refer=us

I know what you're thinking WTF?
Modern economists measure a strong economy by GNP, rather than a jobless rate - for instance, if a guy ascended to godhood/omnipotence and was able to replace everyone's job, then everyone else just become unemployed, but everyone could get the same stuff they did yesterday - so did the economy grow or shrink?

I don't think the US economy is doing that hot for my own reasons, but I have zip idea as to what any president could do about it, short of fascist-level powers.

[]LoL[Harm]

He could stop bowing to the WTO. :)

[Murrie]

president could do about it, short of fascist-level powers
lots of things he could work on,
One of the best things he could do for the economy would be to fix the tax system
like the http://fairtax.org/]fairtax - which would in effect make the US the largest tax shelter in the world... companies would put plants and headquarters here becuase the US would have some of the lowest costs in the world. Businesses around the world would be moving here instead of the reverse!

he could work to role back restriction on freetrade across the board. return the system to a more laissez-faire one

could work to lessen the power of unions.

Could do many a thing, but he wont, cuase hes just a politician... He will say all is well, take the credit for any good, and dodge the blame for any bad...

VOTE LIBERTARIAN!

[Sayj]

Does anyone believe the Social Security crisis is over?

[]LoL[Harm]

Not I. And I'm a fairtax.org advocate as well.

[Bedpost]

I don't understand why they just don't have a flat tax. If you make this much money you pay this percent. No questions asked nothing. Seems like to me that they need to have it be as complicated as they can so that they can employ as many people as possible to run the stupid thing. I just don't understand it, However, I don't think you can blame Bush for the wonderful tax system we have.

[Murrie]

no, but you can blame him, every other president, and all the good for nothings in congress for not doing something about it.


VOTE LIBERTARIAN!

[Murrie]

Does anyone believe the Social Security crisis is over?

it will never be over as long as the government has complete and total control over your money.

[Bedpost]

Well at this point, I don't know how many companies there are that have huge stakes in the tax system the way it is. If it was just a flat tax and no calculations were needed HR block would likely go out of business along with several smaller companies that rely on that income during that time of year. What would all the CPA's do every year if taxes were simplistic?

At this point I'm afraid were stuck with out screwed up system for a while just due to those things. There are way to many people that would be affected by taxes becoming a no brainer

[Eiru]

"That's what I intend to campaign on and explain to people why I made the decisions I made, and why they're necessary to protect some of the American people, and why they've been necessary to keep this economy strong for some Americans -- and why the policies we've got will keep this economy strong in the future for some Americans."

Glad I could fix that for Dubya...;)

[Tammarion]

Oh no. I'm not going to get into another discussion of the Omnitax's flaws.

Last time I read it, the Omnitax was talking constitutional ammendment, which needs not only presidential & legislative support, as well as 2/3 of states adopting it - somehow, short of rolling tanks into blue states, I don't see that happening.

What's wrong with the WTO? Other than than who we seem to be letting into the club these days, the idea of a WTO is desperately needed - that is a place where nations can take their trade issues to what is basically binding arbitration. Its not giving up sovereignty, its sticking to your agreements. Otherwise, its no better than some 3rd world kleptocracy (see Chad) or some guy at Vegas trying to change his bets after the dice are thrown.

Topping of my list of things that needs to get the axe: cotton subsidies. Does it make any sense to ship raw cotton to china to be made into cheap tshirts and shipped back here?

Globalization more and more means that the world is shifting toward a kind of labor equality - that is, a guy in africa can compete for your job from africa just as well as if he'd gotten in a boat and snuck in. There needs to be a discussion of just what jobs we want to keep, because the current answer seem to be "mine" - which means the easy jobs to protect (agriculture, civil service) are the ones getting protected, and all the hard to protect (IT, manufacturing) are leaving. Keep this up, and places like China will soon regard the US as "they grow cotton and corn, so we don't have to".

[Allison]

Did someone lose the lockbox?

[MickeyFinn]

I don't understand why they just don't have a flat tax. If you make this much money you pay this percent. No questions asked nothing. Seems like to me that they need to have it be as complicated as they can so that they can employ as many people as possible to run the stupid thing. I just don't understand it, However, I don't think you can blame Bush for the wonderful tax system we have.


There are a lot of reasons for this. The biggest one is marriage/kids, the government supports marriage and does what it can to screw over single people instead. Secondly, the government is a huge supporter of land owners- many tax laws are as old as the expansion days. The books on real estate tax law are huge. Most republican presidents try to find a way to give you a short term rebate, but it doesn't really do much. The entire system is bunk because we never change it; we only add to it.

[Tammarion]

Also please note that the Omnitax doesn't propose a truely flat tax either. Through some sort of rebate/tax break, it proposes to give poor people money. Taken to its logical end, you'd end up with a 'flat tax' that strangely resembles the progressive tax system.

[Coplann]

there is a prognosis saying that by 2050 or so only about 1/4 of the ppl that could work in the EU will actually work (or have to work). everyone else will simply be not necessary.

will look similar in the US and other high-tech nations.

the question by then will be how everyone else is gonna afford the stuff to live that 1/4 of them is producing. if they cant afford it there would be no sense in producing stuff at all, unless we go Star Trek and just abolish money, as the 5th element and "must have". ^^

[Tammarion]

Well thats nothing new - 'non-productive' people will continue to justify getting food by working on things that make the productive people more confortable - like medicine, entertainment, and well on the lower end of the stick, asking them 'would you like fries with that' - or "Welcome to Wal-Mart!" :p

[Gwylenna]

There are a lot of reasons for this. The biggest one is marriage/kids, the government supports marriage and does what it can to screw over single people instead.

Apparently you have not expirenced the, hey what happened all I did was get married and now I owe the goverment way more taxes than I did last year. The way it works most people pay more tax when they get married if both partners are working and drawing income. The only way you pay less due to marriage is if one person does not work or if one makes significantly less than the other.

Now if you are married and have kids you can see some serious tax benefit, but I have heard several non-married parents who live in the same home stay un-married because they would pay more tax that way.

[Sayj]

And following that line of thinking, some couples are "unmarried" because they want to keep their good college financial aid.

[Eiru]

All Glory To Omnitax!!!!!!!

[Noleader]

HypnoToad!!!