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Saxindacity wrote:

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...sorry ass countries where women and the general population are oppressed...

Add hispanics, gays, Blacks, Jews, Muslims and Asians and you have America. Only the rich aren't oppressed. There are more millionaires in America who don't pay a dime in income tax year after year...

"Mr Buffett said that he was taxed at 17.7 per cent on the $46 million he made last year, without trying to avoid paying higher taxes, while his secretary, who earned $60,000, was taxed at 30 per cent."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/tax/article1996735.ece

"New IRS statistics show 7,389 federal tax returns with $200,000 or more in adjusted gross income reported no federal income taxes in 2005."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2008-06-11-taxes_N.htm?csp=34

While I haven't found a source for millionaires, specifically, it's unlikely that none of the above folks are millionaires. My point, anyway, is that nobody earning above a basic wage should be able to avoid paying income tax altogether.

I have a better idea than me trying to prove your (invalid) points. I waste enough time proving mine to you. Where's the help for over two million homeless? Not 2,000, 20,000 or even 200,000. Over 2,000,000! Show me the stats that show large numbers of welfare recipients have all the amenities you say they have. I know you won't even bother looking. Talk about absurd. The only thing you might find is some azzhole like Rush(Not!) Limburger saying it perhaps happened one time by a cheater. Once again, I ask for sources and none will be forthcoming. Talk is cheap, Al. Especially talk from you.

Welfare fraud is perpetrated illegally by the poor and desperate. Tax avoidance is legally taken advantage of by the rich and affluent. "Loopholes" are mostly devised by the rich to help the rich. Let's get one other thing straight. I'm not naive enough to believe that things will change significantly in favour of the poor at the expense of the rich. Wealth in America, like guns in America will come from wherever it/they are most easy to be gotten.

The argument that jurisdictions where gun control has been enacted shows little or no gun-related crime decline is due simply because guns are brought in from other places. Unless you make it extremely difficult to get guns at all, be ready to bury your child, grandchild or yourself from taking a stray bullet.

It's the same story with wealth. I believe it was Maryland that enacted a "Millionaire" law in an attempt to tax the rich a little more. Surprisingly (to some), suddenly the number of filers with income over one million dropped by about one third. They're still wondering what happened to all those millionaires. You can be sure that they didn't suddenly experience a huge drop in their income. Some left the state, some hid money and others more adept at wealth building than I, came up with other methods to stay one step ahead of the tax man.

You can't force people to take care of their own families let alone strangers. For some unGodly, truly unGodly, reason, a lot of Americans are under the mistaken notion that it is possible to keep almost all of their earned cash with no ramifications at all. Why do you think that the streets are riddled with crime, junkies, hos, homeless? Why do you think that individuals and businesses need to barricade their premises like fortresses and spend big bucks on security officers and systems? Why do you think the insurance corporations are among the biggest companies in the world? This all costs everyone a ton of money. These are just some examples of where much of our money goes because we adamantly stick to the principle "I earned my money and no one should take any of it and give it to someone else". Guess what. You are giving it to someone else--just not the ones who need it!

You're giving it to the companies who make the products or provide the services I mentioned above. Then there's the cost of crime prevention, detection, analysis, pursuit, prosecution, incarceration, rehabilitation, etc. My dear, misguided soul--get it through your head and go forth and teach others that to a point, the less tax you pay, the more it costs you. There will always be those who for varied reasons can't or won't fend for themselves. To not help them through the distribution of wealth by means of taxation simply means that most of them will cost all of us even more money as they use more destructive ways to get what they need and want. The rest will waste away on the streets. Neither is a better alternative to higher taxes.

I have proved to countless times that the countries with the most social programs have an overall better standard of living than the U.S. I will concede that the U.S. boasts more billionaires than any other country, but it also has more crime, pollution, drug addicts, prostitutes, inmates, homeless and just about any other negative aspect a society can have. It is a fact that paying more in taxes makes for a more productive, enjoyable, happy, safer life for all. The numbers don't lie. Unless you're Enron, Worldcom, Madoff, etc.

It is not incongruent for a staunch conservative who believes that one should be responsible for his own well-being to also believe in higher taxes for the purpose of more distribution of wealth. You're not necessarily doing it for others. You will gain as much from it as anyone. In fact, you will gain more. Money for most people is easy to come by. Safety, security, a clean environment and a life rich with culture and fulfilment are the rewards you will reap when you don't force people who for whatever reasons couldn't or wouldn't otherwise live by mainstream rules. For each penny you give them willingly, it's one less penny they won't have to stab you for, or burglarize your home or business for, and make you pay for their stay in prison for, etc. You will pay one way or another. The only question is whether you want to do it in a way that ensures relative peace in society or turmoil.

There is little hope for America to change her path anytime soon. As you are always quick to point out, America will have none of it. More correctly, the powerfully rich will not allow change to the status quo. At least, not without a vicious and prolonged fight that will eventually drag America kicking and screaming (racial epithets) into the 20th century. That's not an error. When she does finally come around, she'll only be a century or so behind the rest of the world.

Well, the unsurpassably intelligent and worldly Al has solved another complex issue. As he says, "Case closed."

We are doing our part. It's just that you (the U.S.) keeps undermining all our efforts. We (Canada) have been on more peace missions (>50) since WWII than any other country while you have been on more war missions (>200) than any other country since WWII. No surprise, either, because you are the biggest purveyor of weapons in the world, you need to test them on live subjects so you can impress your (potential) customers.

(Most) people (and animals) respond better to the promise of reward than to threats of violence, a fact your current president understands. I keep asking you and of course, you never respond since you have no answer, why it is that most of the terrorist activity has always been directed at American interests. Why do they not seem to be angry with the Swiss, for instance?

They do whatever they can to get the attention of those who do them injustice. They have no other recourse. America uses tools like aid, deception, covert operations, staged coups, implements of war, and most of all, a capitalist system that favours the rich and oppresses the masses just enough to keep most of you from complaining too loudly to achieve her objectives. Those who see the system for what it is and the destruction and oppression it causes wherever it is exported have no other means to fight. Yankee go home and see how fast your relationships with the world communities improve.

We're not that isolated up here. We're close enough to America that our streets are teeming with American guns. About half of all guns recovered in Toronto murders originate in The States. Trust me, we know what's going here, there and everywhere else on the planet. And for that matter, we have a pretty good grasp of what's going on in space, too. We currently have two astronauts in the ISS, at least one of which will be there for a six-month stay.

Our franco-phones can be a pain in the neck, sometimes, but at least when we visit La Belle Province we get to indulge in such gastronomic delights as escargots, chateaubriand, creme brulee, chocolate mousse, etc. washed down with a hearty cabernet sauvignon, unlike the swamp-dwelling creatures I stupidly sampled from their franco-phone cousins in New Orleans. WTF happened to these culturally rich French the minute they crossed the border?

I thought I made it clear that...

a) I have been to New Orleans

and

b) I have travelled the U.S. more than most Americans. Probably more than five times as much as the average American.

Oh, I understand the culture...that's the problem.

I will concede that good music has come from the area. But I think we both know how the rest of America, including the feds, feel about the residents of New Orleans. First you treat people like animals and then you hate them for acting like animals. This is the 21st century, bud. Try to pull yourselves up into the 20th, at least.

I came there because my company found it necessary for me to attend conferences, receive training, attend meetings and do some local work and I also came to vacation and to visit my son. I'm not sure I know what you mean or what is meant by hating a country. I disapprove of dozens of actions your country has taken against many parts of the world. I disapprove of how your country has treated and still treats minorities. I disapprove of how hundreds of thousands of lives have been thrown in turmoil because of smoking a little marijuana. I disapprove of laws that allow people to die of poverty and millions to live in squalor while loopholes make the rich obscenely so. I disapprove of people who refuse to acknowledge any and or all of the above. My name is Vinny and I approve this message.