Comments on: Here Come the Tax Increases http://www.behindbluelines.com/2009/07/13/here-come-the-tax-increases/?utm_source=subscriber&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss Samizdat from the Blue Northeast Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:02:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: admin http://www.behindbluelines.com/2009/07/13/here-come-the-tax-increases/comment-page-1/#comment-506 admin Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:25:20 +0000 http://www.behindbluelines.com/?p=6235#comment-506 While we do appreciate all comments here at BBL (enlightened discussion being a good thing, even among people who disagree), you've had two turns at bat and each time you've chosen to lace your comment with <em>ad hominem </em>attack and vulgarity. I noted in my posting on NHS salesmanship that advocates of the welfare state feed on grievance. You seem to prove my point - with angry references to the 'filthy rich', insurance companies and republicans. And yet you call me paranoid. Hmmm. As to getting out - I'm both a US lawyer and a UK solicitor. I read honours at Durham University, taking my degree in 1979. I was in the UK during the great economic and labor upheavals of that time. I regularly travel to the UK and have friends and colleagues there. I can also read the UK papers, which are filled with NHS horror stories - confirmed by the people I know there. In my business, I travel literally around the world, and I observe what goes on in other countries as well. I also know that the hospitals in Maine (where I live) along the New Brunswick border are filled with Canadian patients who either (1) couldn't obtain a particular treatment in Canada, or (2) couldn't wait the months to get it in Canada. As to the WHO rankings, they really don't mean much. Here's an analysis from a U of Toronto researcher criticizing the WHO, which, by the way, placed Canada 30th on the list. http://www.longwoods.com/product.php?productid=17238 As to taxes, who said anything about 'small business'? Unlike you, I don't think that a 'beggar thy neighbor' approach to taxation is appropriate - revenge against the 'filthy rich' is not good tax policy. While I would have to check the job numbers, as Arthur Laffer has shown, tax cuts result both in higher goverment revenue and stimulate the economy - that's why even the Russians and Chinese are cutting their rates at the moment. While I'm no great fan of President Bush, remember that the country did have to contend with the bursting of the tech bubble and the 9/11 attacks. Actual tax revenues to the government dramatically increased after the Bush tax cuts - it's just that Congress spent it all and then some. In any event, we're glad that BBL irritates you enough to return and comment. In the future, however, we'd appreciate a different tone. While we do appreciate all comments here at BBL (enlightened discussion being a good thing, even among people who disagree), you’ve had two turns at bat and each time you’ve chosen to lace your comment with ad hominem attack and vulgarity. I noted in my posting on NHS salesmanship that advocates of the welfare state feed on grievance. You seem to prove my point – with angry references to the ‘filthy rich’, insurance companies and republicans. And yet you call me paranoid. Hmmm. As to getting out – I’m both a US lawyer and a UK solicitor. I read honours at Durham University, taking my degree in 1979. I was in the UK during the great economic and labor upheavals of that time. I regularly travel to the UK and have friends and colleagues there. I can also read the UK papers, which are filled with NHS horror stories – confirmed by the people I know there. In my business, I travel literally around the world, and I observe what goes on in other countries as well. I also know that the hospitals in Maine (where I live) along the New Brunswick border are filled with Canadian patients who either (1) couldn’t obtain a particular treatment in Canada, or (2) couldn’t wait the months to get it in Canada.

As to the WHO rankings, they really don’t mean much. Here’s an analysis from a U of Toronto researcher criticizing the WHO, which, by the way, placed Canada 30th on the list.

http://www.longwoods.com/product.php?productid=17238

As to taxes, who said anything about ‘small business’? Unlike you, I don’t think that a ‘beggar thy neighbor’ approach to taxation is appropriate – revenge against the ‘filthy rich’ is not good tax policy. While I would have to check the job numbers, as Arthur Laffer has shown, tax cuts result both in higher goverment revenue and stimulate the economy – that’s why even the Russians and Chinese are cutting their rates at the moment. While I’m no great fan of President Bush, remember that the country did have to contend with the bursting of the tech bubble and the 9/11 attacks. Actual tax revenues to the government dramatically increased after the Bush tax cuts – it’s just that Congress spent it all and then some.

In any event, we’re glad that BBL irritates you enough to return and comment. In the future, however, we’d appreciate a different tone.

]]> By: Polaris http://www.behindbluelines.com/2009/07/13/here-come-the-tax-increases/comment-page-1/#comment-505 Polaris Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:16:36 +0000 http://www.behindbluelines.com/?p=6235#comment-505 Before we go all wingnutty here, there's three facts (yes actual facts) that put things into perspective : 1. You will have a hard time finding a "small business" that makes up to $200,000 per year. 2. The Bush tax cuts did major harm to the country's finances and had no affect on job creation. Bush's job creation percentages are the lowest since the Eisenhower era and a quarter of the jobs created by the Clinton administration. 3. In terms of the quality of health care the WHO ranks the USA at 37th. Just behind Cost Rica and just ahead of Slovenia Before we go all wingnutty here, there’s three facts (yes actual facts) that put things into perspective :

1. You will have a hard time finding a “small business” that makes up to $200,000 per year.

2. The Bush tax cuts did major harm to the country’s finances and had no affect on job creation. Bush’s job creation percentages are the lowest since the Eisenhower era and a quarter of the jobs created by the Clinton administration.

3. In terms of the quality of health care the WHO ranks the USA at 37th. Just behind Cost Rica and just ahead of Slovenia

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