The disconnection between public treasuries and local domestic needs drawing upon them does not exist within taxpayers' pockets or bank accounts. The same taxpayers supply money for all layers of government. Rather, the disconnection is purely administrative and governmental. It is a political artifact with the strength of bureaucratic tradition...The author talks about the best solution is to separate the levels of government either more distinctly or permanently. She can only name two similar events that were settled peacefully in current times: Singapore separating from Malayasia and Czechoslovakia splitting into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In most countries, the separation would risk terroism and warfare.
Dumbed-down use of taxes - and the dumbed-down use of powers the taxes make possible - imposes deterioation, and it is surprising how rapidly this can happen once it gets under way.
She also covers (lightly) the misuse of foriegn aid money. Including poor locations for dams, destroying premier farmland and ancestral lands isn't always worth the electricity produced. Good intentions are not lacking; susidiarity and fiscal accountability are. Foreign aid failures lead to instability and terroism.
3 comments:
The latest available guide to the Federal government budget (year 2002) shows that 48% of the federal budget is spent on social security, medicare, and other "means entitlement" programs. This means that almost half of the federal government merely redistributes wealth (i.e. they take money from some people in the form of taxes and then give it to others). Interest on the national debt accounts for another 10% of the budget.
So a full 10% of our tax money is completely wasted because the government can't seem to balance it's budget, and another 48% is taken so it can be given to somebody else. Hmmm...redistribution of wealth is a main tenet of Communism, is it not?
Not much of a fan of Robin Hood, eh? Anyway, the "Pirate Economy" has always been my favorite. Take from the rich, take from the poor. Makes a lot of good, solid, economic sense.
Actually, I rather like Robin Hood. Here's the difference: Robin Hood stole from the rich; the government steals from everybody. "Pirate Economy", indeed.
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