the bush admin. proposed $380 billion defense budget, not including the $50-100 billion slated for his war on Iraq. but neither the budget nor any tax bill could be passed without votes from BOTH parties in Congress. overtaxation, mismanagement, and waste of resources has nothing to do with party lines.
It always cracks me up when people think a President can actually effect economics. The Fed (which is non partisan) has major power. Clinton took credit for growth and a balanced budget. The truth is that the end of the Cold War combined with major corporate restructuring made a boom inevitable. The investment in tech was mind boggling. Almost every firm from IBM on down dropped employees at an incredible rate (as a percent of net income). Giving Clinton credit for that is a joke. Blaming Bush for the contraction now is equally ludicrous. We are in a contraction phase, and the person in charge has little control over it. Jay
I read somewhere the cost of the military buildup in Iraq is $2.2billion a week. That's without dropping any bombs. Just think what could be done with this money WITHIN the USA. It reminds me of Margaret Thatcher and her military buildup and action in Falkland Islands. Billions wasted.
I say Tax em till they turn blue then tax em some more. But seriously, I would rather pay a sales tax than an income tax any day. My only stipulation that the tax is no more than 5%. Talk about a Boom Market it that happened.
VAT is evil. I hope you guys won't be saddled with a tax that applies not only to goods purchased but also to services ! like labour (add another 17-20% please for VAT!) .Worst thing is often there is no "added value at all" when for ex. the product is just sold through another middleman who marks it up.
RS7 (Rally Sport?), you said it for me. Regressive taxes (VAT) hurt the vast majority. Bush's tax cut plan helps the wealthy, the vast minority. What does this tell you about Pres. Shrub? Ask Europeans, Canadians, Aussies, et al, what they think of VAT.