The fiscal crisis of the federal government, states, cities and school districts could be solved simply by raising the taxes on the rich and on corporations. We should not be cutting school funding and laying off teachers, on the contrary we should be expanding education to make it free from K to Ph.D., as it was in some state only a few decades ago. We should not be cutting back public services, but rather expanding them by creating a single payer health care system, one that provides free health care to all.
We can stop the attack on public services and workers, but it will take a movement. The current situation represents an enormous challenge but also a tremendous opportunity. If we involve ourselves in the fight for jobs and services—as public employees and as part of the community, as both librarians and the clients of the public library, as teachers, parents and students, as fire fighters and the homeowners and apartment dwellers that they protect, as social workers and those who receive public assistance—we can build a broad, popular movement to save our communities and our jobs.
As socialists we know that when given the choice between either sharp budget cuts or tax increases for the rich, working people will choose to make the rich pay.
What I wish to know is why, when Bush’s last deficit was a little over $400 Billion, and Obama’s first was over $1.4 Trillion, that even proposing cuts of $100 billion are considered “sharp budget cuts”?
Socialism Alaska style:
http://www.seattlepi.com/national/332411_dividend20.html
Socialism Corporate style ( very very profitable Corporations I might add)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487043640045761http://floppingaces.net/most_wanted/socialist-answer-raise-taxes-on-the-richbusiness/32542354854866.html
Socialism George Bush style:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/02/10/usa-economy-stimulus-idUSN105653752008021
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/medicare/
http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/19/republican-budget-hypocrisy-health-care-opinions-columnists-bruce-bartlett.html
Damn Socialists are everywhere in both parties, so why do Republicans seem to hate working people so much for?
The truth of the situation is that federal and state deficits can never be brought under control without both spending cuts and tax increases. The longer we refuse to deal with that reality the harder each necessary part of the solution is going to hit us. If we refuse to deal with it at all, the nation will fail.
Someone doesn’t understand Laffer Curves… The current state of Economy can not sustain nor survive (aka double dip recession) a Tax Increase as it will halt or hinder any growth incentive in the Private sector these Socialists are trying to emplace heavier taxation on. We’re already near the apex on the Laffer Curve as from the left side of the curve, so any growth in revenue in taxes in the short term will be negatively impacting on future economic development and growth which will translate to far less revenue in taxes in coming years.
Some States have already impossed policies to Tax the Rich, or at least people in the 500,000 to 1,000,000 dollars range and have seen their State Revenues collected for a certain period be sharply below projected collection levels due to the Citizens and Businesses that are in this bracket have left the States. The theory of increasing taxes in a weaken economy just doesn’t work, considering the level of taxation already in place on Businesses and on Citizens, even at my level of 55,000 dollars a year salary when I was at work I was paying almost 45 percent of that salary to a combination of State and Federal Taxes. Increasing it will only give incentive for the Business to terminate/lay off people that are my counter parts in the market (aka decline in income tax revenue) that are still at work for a 10 percent hike on a Business can equate to over 100 million dollars for a major corporation that deals in a Billion or so in dollars and that sum is typically used to break down and pay the few thousand some employees (in the case of Cessna, 10,000 some employees back in 2007) their wages as to Contract rules while other parts of their Business budget pays raw resource providers and electronic suite providers for services and goods to build a plane (also taxed in form of sales taxation) and an increase in a Business tax could see these resource providers see a decline in purchases which translates to decline in sales tax revenue. And increasing it on citizens who have the money to relocate, aka that damn dirty Rich, will lead to a decline in Citizens that can be taxable in each State that tries to hit the Rich for higher sums. Case in point, Jimmy Carter’s Admin agreed and encouraged Congress to enact exteremly high tax rates on the Rich and Corporations reaching well above 90 percent rate. In reaction, many tax havens popped up in Latin American countries and many of the Rich relocated outside of the United States to avoid the Federal tax rate before its date of enaction (which is legal for citizens to do.)
Human Nature is a fickle thing that can not be assumed static and accepting of higher Taxation in a still weak economy.
@Mr. Irons: I find that only one person out of 100 is able to cogently explain the Laffer curve. Economists do not disagree with the theory but they disagree on where we are on the curve. I totally agree with you that we are on the top of the curve already. Last year when Portugal increased taxes many economists complained that the negative effect on growth would be larger than the tax revenue gain, and force the government to pay higher interest on their debt. This past week they couldn’t sell bonds without paying record interest rates and they will default without a bailout. It sounds nice to soak the rich, and Obama will be shouting for higher taxes in 2012, but most economists know that the risks of higher taxes outweigh the benefits. Even Obama’s advisors knew this and told him to let the Bush tax cuts continue to avoid a double dip. They know that if we have a double dip Obama will never be re-elected. I applaud you for trying to educate the masses, but it is too complicated for the vast majority of Americans to understand. Most Socialists I meet cannot even give me a decent definition of socialism.