GIThruster wrote:Yeah, yeah, I get it. And I'm familiar with all the arguments that raising taxes on the rich can't possibly generate enough income to fix our problems. In fact, I'm probably more than familiar with all of the arguments against raising taxes.
I also note that the country did not fall apart during the Clinton years.
Half way through Clinton's term, Republicans took over control of the house. That STOPPED the worst abuses, and thereafter Clinton had to stop pushing his previous agenda. Coincidentally enough, that's when the Surpluses began.
‘What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what all the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.’
— Lord Melbourne —
paperburn1 wrote:"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of
government. It can exist until the voters discover that
they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury.
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the
candidates promising them the most benefits from the public
treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses
over loose fiscal policy....
The world's great civilizations have progressed through
this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from
spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty;
from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness;
from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to
apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back
again into bondage."
Alexander Tyler (ca.1770)
Hah, someone else who has read this!
The development of atomic power, though it could confer unimaginable blessings on mankind, is something that is dreaded by the owners of coal mines and oil wells. (Hazlitt)
What I want to do is to look up C. . . . I call him the Forgotten Man. (Sumner)