Taxes Reach Historic Low

phillyhangin

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You are may be where George Carlin was:

George Carlin ~ The American Dream (Fuck Hope)
Well, they do say that angry people make the best comics, and he was one of the better ones. And I do seem to be finding myself rather angry of late; I just haven't found the right project to funnel that anger into yet. World domination will take too long... :wink:
 
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Drifterwood

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Hmm, I wonder if they'd let me borrow their manifesto... :wink:

I'm hoping to last a few more years before I personally sign up to all of it.

Maybe we could start MAGs - Middle Aged Grumps :biggrin1: for 35 to 55 year olds. Sorry to be ageist to anyone over 55, but you have to sit with the GOMs, Grumpy Old Men :eek:. And if you are under 35 and grumpy, you need to get out more. If you are over 75 and still grumpy, then you're a GOG, Grumpy Old Git, you should be happy that your head can still get around being grumpy.

Hang on, I am a Gog :biggrin1:
 

phillyhangin

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I'm hoping to last a few more years before I personally sign up to all of it.
I'm still wrapping my head around the idea of being - technically - "middle aged." :wink:

Maybe we could start MAGs - Middle Aged Grumps :biggrin1: for 35 to 55 year olds.
Looking into that straighaway!

Hang on, I am a Gog :biggrin1:
Well, we'll let you have an honorary membership for suggesting the name. :wink:

At any rate, the ongoing problem is twofold: First, the people who write the laws all happen to be in the upper tax brackets and are thus unlikely to vote for legislation that would negatively affect them; and, secondly, wealthy campaign donors (on both sides of the aisle) play an important role in getting these people (re)elected, so they expect a "return on investment" that involves keeping taxes lower than in other developed economies.

One solution would be public financing for campaigns: This would address both problems because under the current system, it costs a huge amount of money to get elected, meaning that smaller, "average joe" candidates haven't a snowball's chance in hell of mounting a successful challenge to candidates with deep pockets; it also means that large campaign donors have a correspondingly large influence over the people whose campaigns they finance.

Another solution would be to change the way we elect members of Congress from "first past the post" (which favors the well-financed) to some form of proportional representation (which usually creates a more diverse legislature that more accurately reflects the politics of those whom they represent).

I'm not holding my breath for either of those changes to happen - at least not until a lot of other people start feeling similarly angry and vindictive toward their elected officials. Still, it's nice to dream... See my quote below. :wink: