Well, duh. Of course America is not #1. It followed Ronald Reagan down a path that made the nations relative decline compared to other countries a certainty. But, if some of you need proof of that, check out Nicholas Kristofs article chock full of statistics that should splash the requisite amount of cold water on American jingos with foam Number 1 fingers always at the ready. My favourite example from the Kristof article about just how wrong the wrong path the US has taken has been...France (that country where mean socialists tax the wealthy into fleeing the country) has done a better job by the bottom 99 percent of its population than has the US, judging by the study period 1975-2006 (in other words, for France, Giscard, Mitterrand, Chirac; for America, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr.) Think about what that statement means. We are always being told that Frances overweening welfare state and solidarity wealth taxes (that is, taxes on accumulated wealth, not just new income) is ultimately harmful to its citizens, because wealth creators in the top 1 percent can just take their money elsewhere. Well, guess what - even if some do flee, the bottom 99 percent of French citizens are _still_ better off than the bottom 99 percent of American citizens, even though Americans have, in the past three decades, seemed horrified by the nightmarish thought that taxing the rich would make them move their operations elsewhere, impoverishing the people. Oddly, despite less taxation in America, the mega-rich still outsource, impoverishing the people. America is _far_ from Number 1. Indeed, its forgotten most of the positive things about its own democratic tradition - the one thing that used to properly place it highly in the esteem of the world. Indeed, the time sequence of the drop in Americas real prestige in the world correlates nicely with the time sequence of increased use of God bless America in political speeches...because, as everyone knows, it is only polite to say bless you to those showing signs of infirmity. -Zachary Klaas
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 13:00:31 +0000
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