I am an American who has lived and worked in Denmark for over
40 years and I have seen what the US has become in that time
and I am ashamed of it. Americans have been sold a fairytale
about individualism and taxes and welfare and it goes on and
on. The poor are not poor because they are lazy and stupid,
they are poor because there are powerful people who profit
from ignorance, crime and poverty.On-the-ground middle class people with normal jobs and small
businesses and no Phd. in Econ find it harder and harder to
navigate in today's world with so much uncertainty. And I see
no reason why people in the US should feel any form of stigma
about help from their government. We have all paid taxes at
some point. It is our way of saying we belong to a group, are
members of a club. And it is up to those member to decide just
how funds are collected and used. In the old days being a
member of a community was how we got by - helping neighbours
and others in time of need and getting it in return. Today's
communities are defined by county, state, or national borders,
but they are still communities.
Tax cuts do not automatically generate jobs - that is a myth
of what we call "Trickle-down-economics" enthusiasts which is
kept alive by false data and it is just incorrect. Recent tax
cuts in Kansas have backfired and had the result of reducing
Kansas tax revenue while increasing the tax revenue of
neighboring states from Kansas-based businesses. It is also
turning every freelance and 2nd job worker in Kansas into a
private business exempt of taxes. This sounds nifty but in
truth it simply has undermined tax revenue and damaged what
remains of the trade union force in Kansas. Remember that
federal tax cut under Bush Jr. were an attempt by ultra right
wing groups to reduce the federal govt. so much it could be
"drowned in a bathtub!"
One thing I've learned as a longtime resident and small
business owner in Denmark, the world's highest taxed country,
is that here, at least, everyone gets some form of tax money
back in some way either directly as child-money, free
healthcare, and free universities, or indirectly in the form
of having a middle class with spending money and no poverty.
Here there is no stigma attached to "government money". It is
considered a citizen's right. And the more there is, the more
of it gets spread around.--by Tim Newlin
40 years and I have seen what the US has become in that time
and I am ashamed of it. Americans have been sold a fairytale
about individualism and taxes and welfare and it goes on and
on. The poor are not poor because they are lazy and stupid,
they are poor because there are powerful people who profit
from ignorance, crime and poverty.On-the-ground middle class people with normal jobs and small
businesses and no Phd. in Econ find it harder and harder to
navigate in today's world with so much uncertainty. And I see
no reason why people in the US should feel any form of stigma
about help from their government. We have all paid taxes at
some point. It is our way of saying we belong to a group, are
members of a club. And it is up to those member to decide just
how funds are collected and used. In the old days being a
member of a community was how we got by - helping neighbours
and others in time of need and getting it in return. Today's
communities are defined by county, state, or national borders,
but they are still communities.
Tax cuts do not automatically generate jobs - that is a myth
of what we call "Trickle-down-economics" enthusiasts which is
kept alive by false data and it is just incorrect. Recent tax
cuts in Kansas have backfired and had the result of reducing
Kansas tax revenue while increasing the tax revenue of
neighboring states from Kansas-based businesses. It is also
turning every freelance and 2nd job worker in Kansas into a
private business exempt of taxes. This sounds nifty but in
truth it simply has undermined tax revenue and damaged what
remains of the trade union force in Kansas. Remember that
federal tax cut under Bush Jr. were an attempt by ultra right
wing groups to reduce the federal govt. so much it could be
"drowned in a bathtub!"
One thing I've learned as a longtime resident and small
business owner in Denmark, the world's highest taxed country,
is that here, at least, everyone gets some form of tax money
back in some way either directly as child-money, free
healthcare, and free universities, or indirectly in the form
of having a middle class with spending money and no poverty.
Here there is no stigma attached to "government money". It is
considered a citizen's right. And the more there is, the more
of it gets spread around.--by Tim Newlin
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