>>>snip
>>>
>>>>Damn that pesky electorate. How dare they want to keep what they earn. If only they'd succomb to the wisdom of an enlightneed elite. ;)
>>>>
>>>
>>>Can you name any evolved society / country in which people get to keep all of what they earn? There are some who seem to feel that is an inalienable human right, but in fact such a society does not exist.
>>
>>The United States 1776-1862 & 1868-1913.
>>
>>>Now before you lay into me for presuming to be part of some "enlightened" condescending elite, I agree with you up to a point. The social burden should not be such that individual motivation to try harder and make a better living is crushed. We are nowhere near that point. In fact the gap between haves and have-nots in this country has widened significantly in recent years.
>>>
>>>I don't enjoy paying taxes any more than anyone else does. I just consider it the price of living in the society we live in. Let me give you a hypothetical. Let's say there is a country where everyone gets to keep every "nickel" they make. OTOH this hypothetical country does not provide police or fire protection, parks, museums, infrastructure maintenance (roads, bridges, disaster cleanup, etc.), street cleaning, garbage pickup, criminal justice system, all those things falling under the umbrella of social services. Nor does it provide any assistance for those who for whatever reason are unable to fend for themselves. It is inaccurate to lump them all under the epithet of people who are too lazy to work and just want a handout. Yes, such people exist, but considering that to be the universal circumstance is a convenient dodge for the greedy. In this country people would be hungry and homeless in large numbers, literally starving in the streets in extreme cases.
>>>
>>
>>Tell you what, how about we lose, SS, Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment, Welfare, and every other state wealth redistribution scheme and focus on police/fire protection, parks, infrastructure maintenance (roads, bridges, disaster cleanup, etc.), street cleaning, garbage pickup, criminal justice system, etc. We could do it without the payroll and income taxes.
>>
>>>Would you want to live in that country? Some Europeans would say I have to an extent just described the United States, certainly the U.S. some Americans desire.
>>
>>In a word, yes. I would love to live in that USA. ;)
>
>Pass the A-1 sauce..

Since the US has had access to A-1 since 1895 I guess we enjoyed 18 years of coating our fellow americans in the stuff before diggin in. Right?