August 2006 Weddings
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
A humble question about tax...
I dont understand the tax system in the US - the UKs is different, so bear with me. Perhaps i am getting this totally wrong.?
But its my understanding that the wars have been quite expensive. I have also been lead to believe that the USA owes quite a lot of money to China.
And I heard that there is quite a lot of US debt, all in all.
So what I want to know is, why are republicans so against tax raises? I realise the current problem isn't just from the Bush admin. However, it was the Bush Admin, supported by the republicans, who bought the US to this point. Unless I am wrong in thinking Clinton left office with a few dollars to spare?
And now I hear a lot of republicans very upset because Obama will raise taxes (I am not debating if Obama will or not, thats just what I hear). My MIL is a classic at this, being pro war, and anti tax. And incidently, rich, so able to afford to pay a tax hike for the security from China and the middle east that so worries them.
So my question is, I guess, why dont republicans want to pay for the war? Isn't it a little irresponsible? I always hear how concerned they are about terrorism etc etc, and the money has to come from somewhere. I am not trying to be partisan or anti republican - I just dont get the thinking, I suppose. These things have to be paid for.
I personally think that either candidate will have to raise taxes. How can they not? I think anything either one says about taxes and what they will do, and what their opponent will do, has to be taken with a huge pinch of salt.
Re: A humble question about tax...
You are under the false impression that Obama is going to pay down debt by raising taxes.
The National Debt and the Deficit are two different things. ?The government operates in the red every year. ?If increased taxes were accompanied by cuts in spending and a balanced budget, I am sure that it would bother a lot less people. ?However, generally, raised taxes turn into greater spending, which makes people mad.?
I personally think that either candidate will have to raise taxes. How can they not?
Because tax revenues correlate with economic growth and not simply the rates. A pro-growth, reformed tax and regulatory structure will result in increased revenues, more investment, greater productivity and a healthy economy. We have many examples of this happening from Kennedy to Reagan and even the early Bush years (before the republicans drank the koolaid and spent us into oblivion). Not to mention the evidence from overseas. FDR had a top marginal tax rate of nearly 100% and the deficit was 120% of GDP. High taxes don't always mean high revenues. Stifling growth at a time when the economy is suffering is a terrible idea. Not only will it not translate to a lower deficit it will reduce jobs, which means increased poverty, and require even more gov't spending, a vicious cycle we can't afford even in the good times. Besides, our national deficit from a historical perspective isn't anything to worry about. We've paid off bigger ones, like the one I just mentioned.
Also, the war is a small part of the budget. Entitlement programs cost vastly more than the war ever will, even if we go invade Pakistan like Obama wants. We hear about the cost of the war ad nauseum so everyone assumes it's bankrupting us. It isn't. Social security and the health & human services budgets are. That's why republicans focus on reforming entitlement programs (which is supposed to be code for cutting spending there). Cutting the outflows and increasing the inflows is the best solution and it's not only feasible, it's a necessity in this global economy if we want to continue being a world leader.