The Norwegian Christian pleads guilty to terrorism, explaining that he wanted to save Europe from a "Muslim takeover." The Saudi Arabian Muslim, Osama bin Laden, pleaded guilty constantly to his terrorism at the Air Force Barracks in Saudi Arabia, the embassies in Kuwait and Tanzania, the U.S.S. Cole, and the World Trade Towers, explaining he wanted to save the Muslim world from a Crusade or "Christian takeover." The United States is so enthralled with its military and defense that we brag that we got Osama, but ignore his cause. Instead we prove Osama's case with troops in Iraq, Kuwait, Kosovo, Bahrain, Egypt, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and drone kills in Pakistan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. There is no war of terror. If it was, we'd be drone killing every day in Saudi Arabia where Osama bin Laden learned terror, the 9/11 crew emanated, and they still teach terror -- you and I are infidels. We ignore the lesson of Vietnam that you can't change a culture militarily. Thinking we can, we are begging to stay in Iraq, where everyone agrees that the war was a mistake, and after ten years languishing in Afghanistan where General David Petraeus, just before he left, described our gains as "... 'fragile' and 'reversible' making the continued presence of American troops in the oft-violent country a continuing necessity."
In fact, we are so imbued with military that we ignore the economic war that China wages. China realizes that nuclear is the ultimate weapon of defense or a suicide weapon. So China aims to take over the world economically. With population galore, China has work crews around the world building highways, bridges, railroads, etc. -- even in the United States. After Tiananmen, the U.S. obtained a resolution in the United Nations to investigate human rights in China. China went to Zaire where it built its railroad and friends in Africa and the East, and there has never been a hearing. When Japan seized China's ship captain, China withheld rare earth shipments and Japan promptly released the captain to China. China takes the world's technology, alters it slightly, patents the altered technology, and with its market of 1.3 billion, the altered article becomes immediately the article in trade. In a few years, when China no longer needs U.S. technology and production, Corporate America will return home with nothing to produce. This is economic war, and China is using our Good Neighbor Policy, which we have forgotten.
The principal contributors to the president and Congress -- Wall Street, the big banks and Corporate America -- want the easy profits from China to keep flowing. The president and Congress want the contributions to keep flowing, so they subsidize the off-shoring of jobs and the economy. Not one of the 535 members of Congress will introduce a bill to repeal the tax exemption that subsidizes off-shore production. President Obama's appointed Jeffrey Immelt of G.E. to create jobs who promptly off-shores G.E.'s $550 million research facility to Brazil and G.E.'s medical imaging health unit from Wisconsin to China. The president and Congress say they are for jobs, but act as a fifth column in the economic war.
We continue to ignore the weapon of 136 countries in the economic war: the value added tax. If we gave Corporate America the same tax benefit to on-shore instead of off-shore by cancelling the corporate tax and replacing it with a 6% VAT, we could cut taxes, provide billions to pay down the debt, create millions of jobs, promote exports and cut the size of government.
Finally, we ignore the reality that the budget can't be balanced with spending cuts alone. It will take spending cuts and additional revenues. In the last eleven years, we have lost $2 trillion in revenues from the deficits in the balance of trade (ignoring the economic war); $4 trillion from tax cuts; $3 trillion to pay Defense, State Department contractors, and CIA bribes in the wars. Now that the president and Congress have decided to pay for government and obtain a balanced budget like we gave President Bush in 2001, the trillions lost can't be paid for with just spending cuts. President Obama frames the debate "for or against the rich," "for or against balance" instead of the impossibility of obtaining a balanced budget with just spending cuts. Eric Cantor voted for tax cuts and wars without paying for them. Ask the Congressman to list his $7 trillion in spending cuts to balance the budget.
People no longer shop in Wheatland, Wyoming, where neighbors once owned thriving businesses; they drive to Casper or Colorado and shop the chains. Small businesses can't compete. Downtowns consist of abandoned storefronts where furniture, appliance, and clothing stores once anchored communities.
Clearly, we have to change when the economy is global, when the Internet can deliver anything, and when manufacturing jobs are off-shored -- but is anyone really looking at this problem?
We once laughed at tiny Japanese products -- and now buy expensive Japanese electronics that this country no longer makes well or competively. Good for Japan, but what's the answer for us?
In Congress, I see rather venal, short-sighted people looking to their own interests and those of their funders while ignoring their constituency -- until time to shake a few hands and take a few photos for election purposes. Polticians are unconnected to local business, know nothing of our schools and symphonies, and have no real concern for local economies. A multinational corporation means fewer local hands they have to shake - easier for them, worse in every way for us.
Political vision for the country doesn't go beyond the next hill of a politician's re-election. The implications of that are frightening here in suffering middle America.
Google tax structure example.. look it up on Bloombeerg
Value Added Tax will only guarantee no VALUE is ever added to society. Enought of that already.
Tax, Tax, Tax with the existing Progressive Tax Structure. Simply enforce it and add new taxes to Money Manipulation Markets, Specualtion (80 to 1 credit margins) Investment Firms and Hedge Funds. PERIOD
http://michael-hudson.com/2011/07/the-euthanasia-of-industry/
Yet, "we could cut taxes, provide billions to pay down the debt, create millions of jobs, promote exports and cut the size of government"
Budge = REVENUE - SPENDING
DEBT = -BUDGET
What in the 3rd GRADE ARITHMETIC says cutting TAXES which ONLY cuts REVENUE cuts DEBT
Nothing, Nothing, Nothing at ALL. Science and FACT
You want to go deeper and talk about Retained Earnings, TAX and Dividends? I can tell you it get even more OBVIOUS is many cannot tell the difference between the various holes in the ground
Who made it that way in the first place? Why reward corporations to off-shore?
This is law code written by and for corporate lobbyists, at the expense of American interests.
Corporate America has proven itself to be a treacherous scoundrel, and has become a foe to it's own people. Corporate America is opposite of what America stands for, and we Americans need to defend our country and our honor from these scoundrels.
Fix the law now, instead of exploiting it!!!
Many things can be done like Raise Tarrifs on Exports. Right now Oil is used to ship RAW Materials to China and Oil is used to Ship the FINISHED goods back to America. This oil is subsidies at the PUMP and the loss of oil to the world. WHY, supply side Price Fixing. Stop that and you will stop all of this. Selling the same good here in America in NYC as you do in SEATTLE is rediculous and is price fixing. Uneconomical, inefficient and and not effective distribution of wealth, cntribution and subsidy with the price of Oil. And we worry about the Polluted AIR so we use wind farms and allow all of this causing the pollution? Next lesson Airlnes?
Except for one small point... going after American Corporations for any taxation will force them to follow Halliburtons lead. So I say, NO government contract to corporations not based in the United States.
And why are we not putting large tariffs on imports? They do it to us...
The GOP has long ago given up trying to control Bloomberg. He is an old fashioned centrist conservative.
banks 'sitting on' trillions of dollars -- from profit; not investing in anything, not loaning, not hiring.
And these are the Republicans' beloved "job creators".
NO, they trade stock Ownership. PERIOD. They do this for profit or appreciation. THAT IS THEIR CONTRIBUTION to Main Street. 0 investment only Wealth Accumulation.
How do you get their attention and change ALL OF THIS. TAX Corporations, Dividends and Capital Gains. Keeping the cash in the corporation and forcing Jobs and corporate spending to save paying TAXES.
You need to ask yourself. WHY are Harvard graduate Politicians ignoring this. On purpose or are they stupid?
Try sales TAX. On Private JETS, Mercedes Bends, Yaughts, Teenage Prostitution and you will go a whole lot further
We need a third party that would at least present a reasoned case based on the needs of the commonwealth. It would be a significant development, If that it all that this new party could accomplished.