Darkstar, you are right on the money, but i have to disagree with one thing…our military spending NEEDS to be outrageous. Providing for defense is a constitutional mandate. It is the ONE thing that the Federal government MUST do according to our Constitution. Redistributionist social entitlement programs are NOT mandated by the constitution. The amount of bullshit spending by government is staggering. The Federal budget could EASILY be cut in half WITHOUT cutting defense spending ( i am not counting Iraq into this equations, thats a temporary spike that will be going away, i am talking long term here) if only someone had the balls to do it.
I am not going to hold my breath.
George Carlin FTW
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/spending.htm
The Unites States spends 466 billion on defense. The REST OF THE WORLD COMBINED spends ~ 500 Billion.
China and Russia both spend ~50 billion per year.
I agree wholeheartedly that we have to provide for our defense, but what we spend on defense is just fucking insane.
trust me, you dont want to cut that number
Property tax is anti-american. One of the basic tenets of being a free person in this country is the concept of ownership of private property. Property taxes negate that, because if i do not pay my property tax, the government will take my property off of me, so in effect i am just renting it.
Flat income tax…the more you make, the more you pay
Sales tax…the more you spend, the more you pay.
Both are a LOT fairer than property taxes, ESPECIALLY when it comes to funding schools. How is is fairer for someone who owns a home and has no kids to pay $3000 a year in property taxes to a school district, while a person renting with 2 kids in the schools pay NO taxes to the school district?
why? are the terrorists gonna get us? we all saw on 9/11 just how much all that military spending got us. If the terrorists really wanted to fuck this country, they could do it in a heartbeat. A couple random bombings every day in a few major US cities would completly shut this country down. A military keeps us safe from invasion (which would NEVER EVER EVER happen anyways). It can secure “US Interests” in other countries (aka give us your oil or else).
Iraq is the perfect example of how throwing troops and money at a situation isnt the best foreign policy.
meh. Its not anti-american. If you dont pay your income taxes, they’ll come and take YOU. Being in jail is fairly contradictory to freedom. And those people that rent ARE paying property taxes. You think landlords dont figure in the property taxes into the rent they charge?
I feel an attack from that angle on that magnitude could not of been predicted.
It’s our spending that has been preventing future attacks
but its customary to tax a transaction of money, its not customary to keep taxing your property yearly, well at least it goes against the freedoms of owning land
The right number is whatever is required to secure the country from attack and to make sure we do not get taken over. If that number is 466 billion, then i guess thats how much we are constitutionally mandated to spend. However, that number is greatly inflated due to wartime expenditures, which are temporary.
Is there waste and fat in the defense budget? Of course there is, but i do not want to gut the budget to build a fucking school. And if you think that this country could never be invaded, gut the defense budget and watch what happens.
Wow, talk about the thread going off in a tangent…whatever happened to uncle eddy $pendell?
it could have been predicted and it was predicted. It’s not a problem of prediction. We CANNOT defend against terrorism. It’s impossible. The only way we can defend ourselves is to NOT make people want to kill us.
Anyone with a gas can and a match can be a terrorist. Look at Tim McVeigh. Our spending isn’t preventing shit. Airport security sucks. Our borders are wide open.
Look at how much terror the DC sniper brought the US. That was just some asshole with a hunting rifle you can buy over the counter at Wal-Mart.
The huge amounts of money we’re spending on defense, the shredding of our civil liberties… thats what the terrorists really wanted, and we’re playing right into their hands.
you need to get over the false premise that this is a free country. It’s not. Not by a long shot.
only way that will happen is for all of us to drop christianity
It is free. you just need to look at the things that actually matter
who the fuck is going to invade us? 
Canada? Mexico? Look how much we spend on our military and we cant even occupy Iraq. Who the hell is going to occupy us?
not really. although its a fantastic idea.
which are?
hate to tell you, thats why they hate us… our religion, and our interest in israel.
you have to make that determination for yourself, if you need someone else to tell you about your liberties and freedoms, you probably don’t know to much about the country you pledge allegiance to.
Excellent points. If a private sector business consistently increases spending faster than inflation…it will eventually go out of business. With government, it is bigger, moves slower, and is a slower cycle, but the same thing will happen eventually.
Fast Ronny did screw us a bit with his incredulous spending, but he helped the economy at the same time.
I agree with the title…Rendell FTL.
Here is an interesting concept…since government rides on our backs (taking some % of commerce, income, or just taxing property you already own)…they should not be able to increase ANY tax, or introduce ANY new ones, without eliminating some other. Instead, they increase many, and add new ones, every year. That’s why the marginal tax rate is so pathetic, over 50% for the highest earners.