[geeks] Taxes

[Shannon Hendrix]

On May 23, 2008, at 14:46 , Phil Stracchino wrote:

> Very true.  And indeed, the given reason why the US should not  
> maintain a standing army is that it "encourages foreign military  
> adventures", and is thus harmful to liberty.

Remember too, that even a standing army can be much smaller and/or  
efficient than what we have.  I like the idea of the USMC being our  
standing army because of its efficient integration in the Navy and  
proven rapid response ability.

Of course, we would need to make fewer mistakes than we do now, with  
military hardware development, training, etc, and we definitely need  
to bolster our industrial capacity and bring it back home.

> Aye, and there's the rub.  And the present government and its  
> corporate cronies have an enormous vested interest in maintaining  
> the status quo (and in proceeding further down the same path).

Also, let's be clear: the corporations are made of citizens from all  
over the world, who owe more loyalty to the corporations than their  
own nations.

> How many people scrutinize their paystubs line by line?  And even  
> those that do mostly get to do it only once or twice a month.

I read an article that suggested that the combination of debit cards,  
credit cards, and direct deposit is actually bad for keeping people  
aware of their expenses.

People who take a check and manually deposit it seem much more aware,  
while those who don't "touch the money" are largely unaware of the  
cash flow.

>> To be perfectly clear: we are subject to a national government that  
>> is
>> evil, wrong and bad.  It uses evil means (theft, force) to do wrong
>> things badly.
>
> No argument there.

Minor argument: he forgot to mention incompetence.  :)

-- 
"Where some they sell their dreams for small desires."