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I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Poster Time.

3 comments:

wstachour said...

Boy, that one hits home. The spending for Iraq is the perfect taxation--on the entire world--without representation. A small group of the prez's Republican friends get incredibly rich on tax cuts and government contracts while the rest of us are seeing our country driven toward bankruptcy.

Scott said...

If only the Iraq war was the only problem. It's not even a tenth of the problem. Our foreign policy in general is costing us a trillion a year and the mandatory spending for social security and Medicare are both going to skyrocket in the immediate future. Which is completely unaccounted for.

The real problem though is not the specific cases in which our government spends money, it's the fact that people think the government should be spending this money. So the answer to the poster's question is a resounding, "NO"

CyberKitten said...

wunelle said: The spending for Iraq is the perfect taxation--on the entire world--without representation.

To be 'fair' its more of a taxation on American's and those countries stupid enough to follow you into the conflict...

I do find it 'amusing' in a sick sort of way that Bush has said that combating Global Warming is just too economic and yet has shelled out untold billions in fighting a stupid pointless war in Afganistan and Iraq (and if he gets his own way in Iran too).

scott said: The real problem though is not the specific cases in which our government spends money, it's the fact that people think the government should be spending this money. So the answer to the poster's question is a resounding, "NO"

I think it all boils down to the question: What is the function of the State? To my mind the State is there to create a stable, safe environment that allows individuals to flourish as best they can. Of course the problem is - How does it do that? One way is through the funding of projects that benefit the citizens of a particular State via taxation on those citizens. Which kind of boils down to fiscal responsibility.... Spending per se will never end (so long as Governments and States exist) and money will probably always be wasted but its a question of how much will be wasted and what our money will be spent on - supposedly in our name.