hey vi,
long time no argue. yes, i realize the repub talking points about socialism. thanks for repeating them.
here's a few facts, check them out:
the top 5% of income earners pay almost exactly the same proportion of the total taxes as their share of total income. the often quoted stat of how large a proportion of taxes are paid by the top 5% never takes into account their share of national income. i think that's without cap gains, too. in reality, we do not have a progressive tax structure - that is a myth of the right.
secondly, the neocon/religious right repub party has run up a $10 trillion deficit through runaway military spending (check it out, the US is 52% of the world's military budget) and giveaway social spending (eg, medicare drug program).
the issue for me is not socialism, it is globalization and the resulting huge change in income distribution in this country. the richest in this country have benefited greatly from globalization as profits have flowed very efficiently and purposely to the top. great job in fact. the rest of this country, however, suffers from the low cost competition from overseas. individual income in the middle class has not grown in thirty years. check it out. family income has increased only because of women entering the job market. over the past 8 years even household income has been flat and consumption has grown only by the amount of easy credit available. those days are over, of course.
a nationalistic capitalistic model in a global economy is a formula for eventual social anarchy. frankly, i am out of solutions that doesn't involve some type of bottom up approach. would be happy to hear one - ??
