Political leanings

[Stewart]

I would argue that a flat tax is a better alternative.

You want the same % tax for everyone from the first dollar earned up to the last?

So the rich just get richer?

[katoeylover]

(Stogie @ May 16 2009,09:53) People in the UK are finding out that, actually, the people who govern society and those who govern a 'free market' are one and the same thing right now.

All the politicians are stealing from the tax payer... the Lords are being bribed to change the law in the favour of corporations... corporations are sleeping with the government.

Sure, it's happened in the past, but now only a revolution can restore government and justice back to the electorate.

Not just the UK, happens everywhere. Just the freedom of information act has made it easier to spot here.

What about George W and Cheney and the oil deals?

How about Thaksin and the telecommunications?

Marcos in the PI?

The list is endless. Politicians are always on the take. Period. from anywhere, anytime.

Think i'll stand!!

[Stogie]

(Stewart @ May 22 2009,15:57) So the rich just get richer?

Being rich is not a crime. Being paid well is not a crime. Having expensive things is not a crime.

Fucking whiny poor people hate the rich because they don't have what they have.

In the UK hunting was banned because rich people do it. The Labour government have introduced rates of tax that they specifically said they would not do in their election promises. Expensive cars are vandalized...

I don't mind poor people (too much) but I truly fucking hate the ones that complain about it and think that people better off than them somehow owe them a slice of their pie.

Scrap benefits and force people to work. There's jobs for all in the UK. If we are to provide benefits then at least get these crappy low lifes cleaning up the streets or something and not laying in bed all day getting drunk off their ass while the workers and well off feed them with endless cash and housing.

It's a crime to see 7 million people doing nothing in a country where there is so much to do.

If you don't work, you don't get paid.

It works in Thailand and this country definitely has a much MUCH higher quality of life than the UK (unless quality of life is based on your big telly and your meaningless salary.)

[Tomcat]

(katoeylover @ May 22 2009,15:58) Think i'll stand!!

White Suit, Panama hat, ..

you can replace that silver haird bugger thats always on about corruption
Whathisname, "Martin Bell"

[Torurot]

Alan, USA IS a socialist country In all but name. Look at what recently happened. Govt bailed out the crooked "capitalist" bankers & car makers. In your "capitalist" version of "socialism" it's always been "privatise the profits, socialise the losses". You don't have the intellectual honesty to state it like Hudson does. You try and shoot & disarm the messenger by screaming "socialist". You must realise that "socialist" does not equal "communist". There are many more of Hudson's articles at the "left" leaning counterpunch.
The "cold war" finished 20 years ago, and your still tilting a wind mills.

[pacman]

    Thank you Torurot, I wanted to respond to Alan but I can't put it better than what you have written...   Well done...      

Why is it that Amercans are always proclaiming themselves as living in the Land of the Free when, in reality, it is not free-er than many countries & notably less-free than most first world democracies.

Here in Australia, we do not have our own Bill of Rights but according to friends who have lived & worked in the US many years, they all tell me that we enjoy greater personal liberty here at home.

I know a comment like that is bound to trigger an argument, I will simply say that I am repeating what I have been told.

And it cannot be refuted that the US Treasury has nationalised the banking system, the most fundamental of all sociallist manouvres. Control the money & you control everything.

To date, over 3 trillion has been pumped into the banks, not just the 700 billion that was voted on so quickly & there is still no credit easing. When is the money going to put to the use it was intended for?

Wait till the man in the street learns that all this bail-out money has gone into propping up the balance sheets of the failed banks. More money will be needed & credit will still stay jammed.

Treasury are now printing the money to buy their own bonds because no-one on earth will touch them.

God knows where this is all going to end but the day of reckoning is sooner than you think.

[sev7en]

(pacman @ May 22 2009,21:28) Why is it that Amercans are always proclaiming themselves as living in the Land of the Free when, in reality, it is not free-er than many countries & notably less-free than most first world democracies.

Ignorance and lack of education. They don´t know any better. They have nothing to compare with.

[strocube]

Americans are fucking IDIOTS. Most of them have been so indoctrinated with this "land of the free, this is the greatest country in the world" nonsense, so that is what they believe. There are a few who recognize this as the bullshit propaganda that it is, but they are a minority.

Yes, I'm an American.
"America, fuck yeah!"

[guydesavoy]

I voted for JaiDee's avatar... wrong thread...

Moderate. I tend to lean to the left of centre on Social issues, and to the right on foreign policy...Reagan at least got that right, even if he did sleep through most of the briefings...  

Ladyboys I've met don't have a clue, even the 'educated' ones. According to some that should immediately qualify them for a Green Card, so what are they doing wrong ?    

[kahuna]

(strocube @ May 22 2009,21:46) Yes, I'm an American.  
"America, fuck yeah!"

Perhaps not all of it...

[alan1chef]

Torurot, you are the one who is confused. You are confusing an adjective, SOCIALISTIC, with a noun, SOCIALISM. It's easy to take any government on this planet and look at particular decisions made by that government and call it socialistic in nature. However, it is not socialism. Hudson is talking about socialism. Hudson is talking about more government intervention. Your assertion that I do not know the difference between socialism and communism is absurd.

Pacman, I suppose greater freedom at home in Australia would include 50% income tax rates and a dole system that is absolutely socialistic.

You guys wanted Obama and the Democratic Party with their "more government" philosophy and now you've got it...and you are whining more than ever. Unbelievable.

A flat tax means NO loopholes, so everyone pays their fair share. I fail to see how the rich get richer in that scenario. I believe in less government and no bailouts, no welfare, no tax breaks, no subsidies....that's capitalism. If you still don't understand, you must have been sleeping through all those classes in high school and/or college.

[Lefty]

(Tomcat @ May 22 2009,01:43)

(Stogie @ May 22 2009,13:55) Why are Americans generally afraid of the word 'socialism'?

The Chef Answerd it already....Socialism needs severe controls and state interferance .

example
In the UK alone i think 1.7 Million alone claim the in- capacity benefit and 90% are faking it.. there is fuck all wrong with them.

I was walking behind two guys in the street last week and i head one say, "well thats it .. im on the lame list now..ill never have to work again"

Everyone knows at least one skunk on the lame list...some even begin to believe they are lame after a while even though they faked the bad back.
Throw them all in the poorhouse and put them on mouldy bread and water

We have many people just like that in the USA too.

[PigDogg]

(alan1chef @ May 22 2009,10:19) A flat tax means NO loopholes, so everyone pays their fair share.

Even better is a progressive tax with no loopholes.

[Torurot]

Alan. As your American I give you the benefit of the doubt.  When talking to Americans one needs to place 'socialism' in quotes as they immediately (Pavlovian) equate "socialism" with "communist".  The "cold war" is dead.   US thinking and the rest of the worlds definition of socialism is NOT same same.  You (USA) insist on the "commie" link.  Your missing Hudson's main point.  US Americans are being rorted and screwed up the arse without KY by the "banking/financial" system.  If that's "capitalism" at it's finest  then "capitalism" is truely a fcked system..  You haven't commented on the "Fed's" 'privatise the profits, socialise the losses", and it isn't over yet. Do you find this acceptable?

[Torurot]

here's another one for all you "right" wingers

The American Way
In Defense of George W. Bush
http://counterpunch.org/floyd05212009.html
By CHRIS FLOYD May 21, 2009