I got an idea...

Okay Billyjeff. :rock:

I'm with you. You've convinced me! We should do absolutely nothing! I have always believed that there is no way a person can borrow their way to prosperity, but I suppose I was wrong. A Nation is only a household, MANY, MANY times over. But apparently what works in my house doesn't hold true for this Country. We CAN buy friends, we CAN spend everything we have, go borrow more and spend that, then go looking for another loan shark to hit up...all with NO concequences. BTW, don't worry about the bills, the past due notices, or the damage to our credit rating.
There HAS to be somebody else we can borrow from. We've already borrowd from all the other countries that will loan us a few billion. We've already borrowed from our reputation. We've already borrowed from our children...and their children...and probably THEIR children.

What was I thinking? Where do we sign? :rofl2:

Never said we should do "absolutely nothing". Look, you started this thread by proposing a flat tax rate of 12% without getting into the tough details of how we would deal with the reduced tax revenue this would entail. I'm merely saying that if you want to truly reduce government spending so that we can reduce the tax rates down to what you suggest, you need to address entitlement spending. Otherwise, dropping the tax rate to 12% will result in a drastic drop in tax revenue with no corresponding reduction in overall spending. And the only way to meaningfully reduce overall spending is to....you guessed it--reduce entitlement spending. So I'm not saying you should give up the concept of reducing spending so we can reduce taxes, but I am saying you'll never get close to the cuts you'd need to achieve through what you have suggested--won't even scratch the surface. Entitlement spending my friend-that's the ticket!

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Originally Posted by billyjeff2

Entitlement spending my friend-that's the ticket!

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Wow, I agree with billyjeff2! But I see no reason why cutting taxes would present the current federal government with tough details in dealing with less revenue. The annual budget deficit continues to skyrocket while tax revenues drop and congressmen don't even bother to read trillion dollar bills before passing them

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Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Wow, I agree with billyjeff2!

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I forsee another cigarette sharing... I guess this would also qualify as oedipean - nice!

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Originally Posted by hoglahoo

But I see no reason why cutting taxes would present the current federal government with tough details in dealing with less revenue.

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Well the pie chart will turn very blue, which is really tough on the government's eyes. It has to be balanced by an orange twice as large as the blue, otherwise regular people do start eating pies, which has an unfortunate side effects. And I can finally use a smiley to depict exactly what I'm saying:
:chop:

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Originally Posted by singlewedge

I say the tax rate should reflect the percentage of rich people, people making over 750,000 per year.

Let them pick up the slack.

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why? what's your justification?

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Originally Posted by billyjeff2

it's social security, medicaid, medicare, etc. So if you're willing to take a cut in your social security entitlement (current or future) by all means, please speak up. We need to hear from folks like you who are willing to do what it takes to tame this out of control entitlement beast. And if you are also willing to forgo any Medicaid or Medicare benefits (like those you or perhaps your elderly parents depend upon to help pay for their medical care and prescription drug bills) again, by all means please speak up and get your friends and relatives to do the same, cause that's where the meaningful entitlement cuts would come from.

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absolutely i would. if i could forfeit my right to social(ist) security if it meant i got to stop paying in right now, i would do it in a heartbeat. i'd invest the money now, and i assure you i'd do a helluva better job and get a much better ROI than the gov't tends to. ditto for medicaid (i'll never qualify for it anyhow) and medicare.

I wonder: Why is it that whenever someone agrees with me on this board, they say something like:"Wow! I actually agree with billyjeff2!!", as if this is such an aberration? Each and every post I've ever made has been extremely well thought-out, and unassailably correct. Agreeing with what I have to say should be a given around here....:hmmm:

Here's my theory on it;
We recognize our posts usually make no sens, so it's amazing when a random post happens to match a well thought out one :). It's pretty sweet to find out you got it right even if it was just a shot in the dark :shrug:

I wonder: Why is it that whenever someone agrees with me on this board, they say something like:"Wow! I actually agree with billyjeff2!!", as if this is such an aberration? Each and every post I've ever made has been extremely well thought-out, and unassailably correct. Agreeing with what I have to say should be a given around here....:hmmm:

billyjeff2

Oh, you are so right...don't you remember, I agreed with everything you had to say?
I believe it's the synaptical brilliance of your brain cells that dazzles me.:bow


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Billyjeff...just look at the first sentence of my first post!

The top individual tax rate should be no higher than the approval rating that Congress enjoys!

It was satirical in nature. It means that I don't think Congress should have more money to play with, than the measure of what their constituents think of them. IF that indeed were the case, you can bet your LAST dollar that they would try to do things a bit differently. Like please the folks who have to actually PAY for all their idiocy.
Like say...if it were automatic, when Congress's approval rating gets up to 14.7%, then they can levy a 14.7% tax on the country. Conversely, when their aproval numbers sink, guess what? My taxes go down.
It was just a thought. A whimsical thought.
So don't wrench your shoulder patting yourself on the back, just yet...

So I spent all that time and intellectual treasure responding to what you now tell me was nothing more than a whimsical post?!? Do you realize that had I not been duped by you into thinking you were serious, I could have directed my vast intellectual powers to finding a solution to global warming AND solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Have you any idea what your little folly has cost the good of all mankind? I hope you have learned your lesson. Now please excuse me while I direct my huge intelliect towards solving the conundrum of mis-aligned toilet paper perforations...