Michael Johnson, PE wrote:
> Hank wrote:

>> The problem is that they cut taxes disproportionately in
>> favor of corporations and the wealthiest few, which is exactly
>> the wrong thing to do. Not only do we have a record deficit, but our
>> local taxes are skyrocketing to make up for the federal cuts in state
>> aid. Bottom line is that corporations and the wealthiest
>> few are taxed less and the middle class is taxed more.

> Hank, did you (or anyone) ever get a paycheck from a poor person?

Depends on your definition of poor, I suppose. Compared to
the corporate thieves who destroyed ENRON, most people are
poor. The paychecks I received in my teens came from small
businessmen who certainly were not rich.

> Do you think all rich people are evil, dishonest, lazy,
> uncaring, cheating *******s?

Considering that everyone in my family, including
myself would be considered rich by many people, I
should say not! The bu$h regime's fraudulent, war
profiteering friends on Cheney's Halliburton and
those from Ken (bu$h's top campaign contributor)
Lay's Enron certainly are, though.

> Do you think the solution to every problem is to
> throw money at it by taxing the living **** out
> of the wealthy and everyone making a decent living.

With the exception of taxing his wealthy friends, throwing
our money at his problems seems to be bu$h's approach, and
no, I don't support it. Rather than "taxing the living ****"
out of those of us who earn a decent living and giving the
elite few and corporations huge tax breaks, the tax burden
should be shared more fairly.

http://responsiblewealth.org/

More on our tax system that redistributes wealth from
the working class to the elite few:

http://ctj.org

> Over taxing the wealthy will screw our economy in ways you
> can't imagine.

Fair taxing the wealthy would strengthen the economy, since
the middle class would have more disposable income. What
we do know, is that under taxing the wealthy puts too heavy
a burden on the middle class, and forces cuts in education
and other societal needs.

> If there is one thing we have learned without question
> through our experiences of the 20th century it is that
> socialist governments don't work.

Actually, a better argument could be made that capitalist
governments don't work. See Capitalist Russia as an example.
Here in the U.S., 50 million people have no health care, and
if you look at infant mortality rates, you see countries with
a socialist government with the lowest rates and a high quality
of life.
I suppose you're not concerned with bu$h's record spending,
deficits, or his sale of our economy to Communist China,
either. If your neighbor wrote ten thousand dollars worth of
bad checks each month, he could give the illusion of doing
well financially - until someone with a clue takes a closer
look, or he has to make good on his debt.

> IMO, removing incentives goes against nature and what
> drives us humans to succeed and advance.

Fairly taxing the wealthiest top 5% percent, has nothing to
do with your bizarre "removing incentives" rant. You're not
making any sense at all.

> If you really want to help the poor get the government off
> their backs and quit making them dependent on government
> handouts.

If bu$h continues to export our jobs, and cut job training
and education funding, that's exactly what will happen.
We should stop giving government handouts to billion dollar
corporations before we eliminate school lunches for poor
kids. Greed is ugly.

http://www.corporations.org/welfare/

> Liberals know that keeping the poor dependent and ignorant
> is their only hope of retaining them as a voting block.

You're still not making any sense. Liberals support
funding for education and job training, while conservatives
rabidly reject it. Are you drunk, or always this confused?

> You need to get up with current events and educate yourself on the
> economic conditions of many of the states. They are reaping the
> rewards from the bu$h regime's tax cuts.

You appear to be living in a fantasy world.

http://www.cbpp.org/10-22-03sfp2.htm

Do you think bu$h's illegal and immoral invasion of
Iraq is going well, too?

> The wages in my industry (land development, engineering consulting,
> construction etc.) are up almost 100% in the last 5-7 years. This
> has happened in many other industries.

I notice you don't supply any sort of references to support
your wild, baseless claims.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0822/p...sec.html?s=hns

> I'm going to give you a little history lesson in economics. Back in the
> late 1970s and early 1980s the U.S. transcended to a service based
> economy. You need to read up on what that means. Basically, the
> majority of jobs in the country provide services and not manufacturing.
> It is a natural progression of a growing economy and an improving
> standard of living.

So, in your bizarre, misguided fantasy world, a labor pool based
on mopping floors and flipping burgers is better for our economy
than jobs requiring skilled labor. That's funny. You're giving me a
comedy show, not a history lesson in economics. <chuckle>

> You need to accept that liberalism is hitting a dead end in this
> country.

Because some brainwashed and clueless right wing extremist
who's living in a fantasy world says so, eh? I bet you "think"
climate change and global warming are a fabrication of "enviro-nazis",
and that oil is a clean and unlimited energy source, too.
Go back to insulting the grieving mother of a dead soldier.
That's more your speed...


-


Ever wonder who benefits from the 150 MILLION
U.S. taxpayer dollars spent each DAY in Iraq?
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0223-08.htm
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=21

http://www.commondreams.org/
http://www.truthout.org/
http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/
http://thirdworldtraveler.com/
http://counterpunch.org/
http://responsiblewealth.org/
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/pol/80315675.html

In September and October 2003, McClellan said he had spoken
directly with Rove about the matter and that "he was not
involved" in leaking Plame's identity to the news media.
McClellan said at the time: "The president knows that Karl
Rove wasn't involved," "It was a ridiculous suggestion"
and "It's not true."
Yet another in the endless stirng of bu$h's lies.


"They are waging a campaign of murder and destruction. And
there is no limit to the innocent lives they are willing to
take... men with blind hatred and armed with lethal weapons
who are capable of any atrocity... they respect no laws of
warfare or morality."
-bu$h describing his own illegal invasion of Iraq.
http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm

"Brutal and sadistic? By what girly-man standards? Compared
to how Saddam treated his prisoners, a bit of humiliation was
a walk in the park. AFAIK, No one died or even lost any blood."
-Albert Nurick, a usenet kook and blatant liar, on the rape,
torture and murder at bu$h's Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0512-10.htm

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things
that matter." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

"God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them. And then
he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did."
-- George W. Bush

"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the
will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the
Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."
-- Adolf Hitler

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."
-- Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

Don't let bu$h do to the United States what his very close
friend and top campaign contributor, Ken Lay, did to Enron...