10-23-2004, 04:15 AM
rarnom Wrote:And in regards to taxes, when I was 20 and a student I also didn't care a whole lot about taxes. But now that I am older, have a house, a family, and a regular job, I care a lot more about how much I bring home at the end of the month. //..........// I made less than 30k last year and in addition to not having to pay much in taxes (child tax credit) I also got two of those $400 tax surplus checks that Bush promised AND delivered on. I like having my money and I don't trust a person with Kerry's record on taxes to let me keep my money the way Bush did //.....//Bush has saved me money as a school teacher making less than 30K a year by reducing my taxes.
Wow!! That's so narrow-minded. You talk like Bush's tax cut is free money. Tax surplus check? What is this phantom surplus? Bush delivered? Must be the check part. Definitely not the tax surplus part.
Why don't you go to ATM machine right now, take out $400 cash using your credit card, and have more money in your hands? That is exactly the same as Bush's tax cut. Bush is using our national credit card to give us extra $ on our paycheck and is running up trillion $ of debt. You and I will eventually have to pay for it (to rich people and to foreign governments), and that includes interest as well.
This is what happens when our government borrows money to pay for tax cut. Our treasury has to issue IOU such as governmental bonds and treasury notes, which are heavily bought by foreign governments and rich investors. When too many IOUs by government are issued, it normally reduces the buying power of currency. That means it will cost more to pay for all essentials such as health care, food, gas, etc. At the end, it is not enough for extra money to pay for all the increased costs in goods and services. When Kerry said during the debate, our take-home pay by middle class has been lowest in history despite the tax cut, Kerry was exactly right.
On top of it, our government still has to pay interest to rich investors who own IOUs (which makes the rich richer, of course!!). To do that, our government has to increase tax, or slash the budget greatly, or issue even more IOUs. What did Bush choose? He issued even more IOUs, thereby increasing the budget deficit to all time high. It's a vicious cycle.
But only thing you see is $400 extra, even though the budget deficit can have a devastating effect on our lives. If Bush keeps on increasing the deficit at the current level, the economy could collapse. Your teaching job can easily be a history. Unfortunately, that is not tangible for everyone to see like $400 check in your hands. But anyone can understand how bad it is to have a huge credit card bill. If Bush can balance the budget AND give us the tax cut, I am all for it. Otherwise, his tax cut is purely a political tool that doe not benefit everyday people in reality.