In a message dated 11/27/2002 7:39:04 AM US Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> > Governments do not generate income. > > Actually, they do. It is called "taxes". (My apology for using a dirty > word.) > Agreed. But the taxes have to come from people who have incomes. Governments do not generate people's incomes. At some point, the taxes become high enough that more lower income people give up and become sucklers instead of sows. Governments do not create the income that is taxible. People scream "It's our money!" and the Government screams "Only what we let you keep." > > > They can't pull money for entitlements out of thin air. > > Correct -- that is why we pay taxes. > And if the tax base decreases but expenditures remain constant? > > > I think the disaster point is when it'll take three workers to pay for > > one retired person. > > That is not so much a disaster but a case of real lousy long-term planning. Long term planning unfortunately means almost nothing but looking towrds one's re-election. If Social Security today was the same as when it was started, it would work. I think only one worker in 20 was expected to live long enough to get benifits, and it was about 15 workers to support one retired person. [Very rough estimate. I bet John has or can get the exact figures instantly.] There were no heart transplants, lung transplant, kidney transplants etc. But naturally, no elected politician is going to decrease benifits. William Taylor --------------------- Give it to the people that are closing air bases. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
