Without the US I wouldn’t have been born. My people had no place else to go.

I love this country. I want America and our people (all of us not just The Haves) to prosper and create for many centuries into the future.

But I deplore the thoughtlessness and polarization we’re seeing both politically and economically and I doubly deplore all the excuse-making for the well-to-do.

This includes corporations as well as rich people who seem to think health care is for them and not for the rest of us, who seem to think we exist at their sufferance, and especially I am disgusted with people who won’t look honestly at the profitability of war, on the way these last two wars have sucked the vitality from the American economy and shifted enormous monies from the people into the pockets of outfits like Blackwater.

Then on top of that they won’t deal with the human costs.

The most recent slap in the face: the refusal of Republicans to help the suffering 9/11 workers, who are dying like flies.

This goes double for the media – I had had no idea some 900 first responders had already died.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/29/politics/main6726612.shtml

And who is responsible for this? The primary reason why so many do not pay taxes is because of the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit(EITC), first by Reagan in 1986, then George H Bush in 1991 and George W Bush in 2001………..so if right wingers want to complain about only the ‘rich’ paying taxes, perhaps, they should send their complaint to the Republican National Committee.

The top 10% of earners are paying 70% of the income taxes in the US. The bottom 50% are paying 3%.

his tax cuts (which are skewed heavily in favor of the wealthiest Americans)

I repeat. The top 10% of earners are paying 70% of the income taxes in the US. The bottom 50% are paying 3%. Its hard for any tax cut not to benefit the rich – because they are the ones paying the taxes.

It’s worth noting that in the US (unlike the UK) there is a very strong philanthropic tradition amongst the wealthy. Charitable donations per head the US blows away the same UK statistics. Notable examples are Bill Gates, who has put almost all of his considerable wealth – 10’s of billions – into his foundation which is mainly concerned with fighting malaria and Warren Buffet who is also putting all of his wealth into the same foundation.

Instead of ‘taxing the rich’ which makes nobody feel good except the envious, the Left in the UK should focus on getting philanthropy more firmly established. There should also be far greater tax breaks for charitable donations (let’s cut out the inefficient government as middle man).

Let’s also not forget that the US, like every other active belligerent, also borrowed massively during both world wars in the form of war bonds.

FDR tried to soak the rich, and the result was that high unemployment continued until the war

Let’s not forget that unemployment reached its peak in 1935/36, after a sharp and continuous rise since 1929 until 1932, reaching just under 19% of the workforce, then slowing to reach its peak at around 22%. It may be relevant that FDR was not inaugurated until 1933. Thereafter unemployment fell to 14% in 1938, jumped to 18% a year later (the lack of both raw materials, finished goods and associated goods and services from Europe may have had something to do with this – insurance rates in the fur industry increased by 3,000% in 1939), settling at 15% by 1940. Levels above 12.5% had not been seen since the 1890s and have not been seen since; how would a more orthodox approach have found jobs for 15% of the workforce in fewer than eight years given the very high level of private debt in the economy?

In terms of those actually employed, there had been a continuous drop from 30m in 1929 to 23m in 1932, where it stayed in 1933. It had almost reached pre-1929 levels by 1937, and after a dip the next year, rose again to reach over 36m in 1940. None of these figures include stuff like the WPA; so how would a more orthodox approach have created 13m jobs in fewer than seven years given the high level of private debt in the economy?

the economy didn’t recover to pre-1929 levels until the war

GDP fell every year until 1933, the year of FDR’s inauguration, and exceeded 1929 level in 1941 – you will remember that war was declared on December 8 1941.

and we suffered a mini-Depression not enjoyed by the rest of the world in 1936-37.

Perhaps you are not aware of the mini-Depression suffered by France during the same period, leading to the devaluation of the Franc by 30%.

All in all, FDR was so disastrous in the 1930s that he was reelected with huge majorities. Twice.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/01/08/qa-with-david-stockman-taking-aim-at-crony-capitalism/