capitalism, economic freedom, taxes, state, and federal spending
Post on 04-Jan-2016
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Capitalism, Economic Freedom, Taxes, State, and Federal
Spending
Capitalism – Old or Young?
• Capitalism has been around as long as the barter system– When farmers, merchants, craftsmen bartered weren’t they
trying to get the best possible deal?
• System used by the ancient Mesopotamians, Persians, Greeks, Phoenicians, etc– Did these cultures flourish or flounder?
Capitalism – good or bad?
• Pros– Allow hard-working
entrepeneurial individuals to prosper
– Hard work is often rewarded
– Provides motivation for ppl to work harder
– Can allow for choice and economic mobility
– Allows a society’s class structure to be more fluid as opposed to rigid
• Cons– Does not provide for all ppl– Big owners/businesses can
“squeeze” the little guy out– Hard work is not always
rewarded– If not regulated
unscrupulous ppl can take advantage
– Many “fall through the cracks”
How much economic freedom should businesses and individuals
be accorded?
• How much power to regulate should the govt have?• Does the American govt have too little or too much?
– Give an example(s)
• Are taxes a necessary evil or an evil monstrosity– What would we not have if govt didn’t tax its ppl
• Are taxes fair (amt paid by various individuals)– Would a flat tax be more fair– Do the tax codes need to be changed? If so what changes would
you make
Who pays the majority of taxes?
• Wealthiest 10% pay 70 % of taxes.
• Top 50 % pay 100 % of taxes
• Bottom 50 % of Americans pay no income taxes
Have social programs such as the Great Society helped to decrease
poverty?• Poverty rate today is essentially the same as
it was in 1965!http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/incpovhlth/2010/figure4.pdf
• Today approx 1/6 Americans is on food stamps(When President Obama took office 32,000,000 Americans
were reliant on food stamps)
• More Americans rely on food stamps, welfare, unemployment, etc than at any other time in our nation’s history
Is the answer higher taxes?
Is the answer something else – if so what?
Is everything fine and there is no reason to worry?
Govt spending
• Currently our govt is spending more money per year than at any other time in America’s history
• If left unchecked the National Debt will become unmanageable by 2020
Who is at fault?
• From 2000-2008 Pres Bush approx doubled the nation’s debt
-from 5.7 trillion to 10.6 trillion
• With Bush in office spending was approx 500 Million dollars a day
• From 2009 – 2011 under Pres Obama the debt increased from 10.6 trillion to 15.25 trillion
• With Obama in office spending has averaged approx 1.4 Billion dollars a day!
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
President Obama’s Stimulus• Was more money than any other
administration has ever spent (for the entire term in office!)
• If $1,000,000 a day had been spent since the birth of Jesus Christ it would still not have equalled the amt of the Stimulus!
• Has it worked, has the economy improved?
Stimulus success?• When Pres Obama took office the unemployment rate
was about 7%, now it is just under 9% (at its worst earlier this year it was 9.9 %)
• 47,000,000 Americans are on food stamps – more than at any other time in our nation’s history (by % or raw numbers)
• Our nation’s credit rating was downgraded for the first time in our country’s history
• The value of the dollar has fallen in comparison to every other currency
• Billions of dollars have been wasted on “pet projects” that have added little to no jobs!
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