Get rid of the 4,794 different types of taxes we "created" in the last 30 years first. Then we'll talk about increasing the ones that are left, after they are reviewed and justified.
As long as lobbyists and the two party system exists the power and size of the state will continue to increase. Funny how so many Americans really thought that Obama was gonna bring in a whole new era of politics...
This really is a problem. The problem with military spending is that it has no potential for future revenue. Infrastructure, schools, etc all have potential to bring in future revenue, but military spending is just things that blow up. Just take a look at a cost of living graph for America. In every war time the economy weakens and the cost of living goes up. Now after the wars it tended to go back to normal, until after world war 2. After WWII our cost of living has never stopped raising for various reasons. Eh fuck it, im movin to europe.
Military spending leads to a lot of tech advances that create private sector innovation: the internet, fuel efficiency increases, and GPS are just the tip of the iceberg. Plus the US military itself is a huge investment in global growth that pays serious dividends over the long term by opening new markets, building new middle classes, and expanding the peace zone created by global trade.
Also the interstate system was built first and foremost for military purposes. So to say that military spending doesn't provide economic benefits doesn't really work, as it would be difficult to argue that interstates don't provide economic benefits.
ahhh the old Eisenhower Interstate Highway system based off of the Autobahn. Every 1 mile in 5 has to be straight so that a Jet fighter could land and take off of it. It's a good system but even though it was intentionally built for military purposes it is a Defensive infrastructure. I have no problem with military spending on defensive nature that benefits the taxpayers too. I would argue that less than 10% of military spending today benefits the United States infrastructure. All we pay for is maintaining the empire and building highways in other nations after we disable them. Just Remember Grasscity, if SHTF stay off of the interstate
But remember that rule of law and political stability abroad means economic opportunities here as well. Building highways in Afghanistan doesn't seem like such a bad deal if it helps a new generation of consumers and entrepreneurs alike to enter the global market.
They didn't ask for our help. the Afghani people are still tribal and live in clans. Rule of law??? what "laws" are we forcing by gunpoint to the Afghan people? They don't want a nation, they just want to live in their tribes and do what they do best. Grow poppy plants and some Afghan buds. Lol what economic benefits are you talking about? No bid contracts for all the mining of resources we are planning on doing over there on the tax payers dime? They sure as don't want Americana forced on them (McDonalds and GAP jeans). Highways? Alot of those fuckers still ride around on donkeys and horseback. Afghanistan will never have functioning national government but a nation of Tribes and Clans
When China ends up reaping the benefits of Afghanistan's huge mineral deposits the US will have no one to blame but itself for abdicating from our sphere of geopolitical influence. Some nation will invariably use military force to modernize the remaining portions of the world that haven't been reached by economic globalization. Either it will be the US or China, for all the flaws of the US I'd still prefer to live under an international system guided by America's values rather than China's.
You underestimate my interest in an issolationist foreign policy and total American economic and industrial self-sufficiency.
Afghanistan is called the graveyard of empires for a reason. Only Alexander the Great succeeded while the British and Russians failed. they want to live in tribes and want nothing with globalization and modernization. China would lose way more casualties in Afghanistan than us as they lack the military equipment and logistics. Why do you want to live in a international system? With the States having the greatest naval fleet in the world, the Atlantic and Pacific still protect us in the age of the internet. I say we get out of all our damn alliances, shut down the empire and rebuild America by ending this Service based economy based on a fiat currency provided by the Federal Reserve. Alliances with none, trade with all Welcome to Grasscity btw mayne
Im not saying that China is a paradice that is better than the US, but have you lived in china long enough to know whats really going on? Probaly not. So you've learned what you know from the media, aka our biased government.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP8CpXd4i74]YouTube - Ron Paul & Barney Frank Team Up To Reduce Military Spending! pt.1[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNozF5S9Ewo]YouTube - Ron Paul & Barney Frank Team Up To Reduce Military Spending! pt.2[/ame]
I agree with Paul's argument that our Nation is going to collapse if we don't control spending. End the War on Drugs completely and cut Military and Defense spending by %75 percent. Problems solved.