At 11:22 AM 1/11/2006, Johnson, Tracy wrote:
>John Lee says,
> >
> > What we sorely lack in the USA are true patriots, those who
> > think of the
> > team first, and personally sacrifice for the good of the team.  Our
> > generation has been taught, and we're teaching our kids, that
> > life is all
> > about ourselves, accumulating material wealth ahead of all else, and
> > getting and staying ahead of others.  We've become a society
> > where success
> > is a destination rather than a journey.  And that's why white
> > collar crime
> > (which is what political corruption is) has become rampant.
> > We're teaching
> > greed.  And I think we're teaching it at every level of
> > society...schools,
> > churches, jobs, youth athletics, etc.  Until we model
> > something different,
> > we'll continue to be a group of individuals trying to
> > cohabitate rather
> > than the cohesive team that this country was during, for
> > example, WWII.
>
>This has also been thought of elsewhen:
>
>CAPT McKim, USNR said in November, "Here in California I see many
>demonstrate their will with bumper stickers on the rear of their monster
>SUVs -- 'Support Our Troops,' -- as they talk on cell phones advising
>their children to avoid any sacrifices.  Today there is no shared
>adversity as there was during World War II."

The troops currently serving are patriots, we have a huge, all volunteer army.


> > And I'm becoming convinced that a big step in that direction
> > is to make the
> > estate tax much much higher for those who have accumulated great
> > wealth.  They should be forced to return most of it to
> > society (this coming
> > from a Republican!!).
> >
> > John Lee
>
>However, they did that with the "Alternative Minimum Tax" in 1969 which
>was designed to tax those with "great wealth".  Thanks to 36 years of
>inflation, this "great wealth" tax has now hit the middle class.  I
>would expect the same to occur with a similar estate tax in a not too
>distant Huxleyan future.

The AMT doesn't tax wealth, it taxes income.  The problem with people 
like Kennedy or Feinstein or lots of other congress people is that 
they have a lot of wealth, not necessarily a lot of income, so it's 
easy for them to continually increase taxes because it barely affects them.


>(Alternatively, an overreaching government will find a way to tax rich
>people no matter what the method or who's in charge.  It depends how
>strongly a government wants the money.)
>
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Regards,

Shawn Gordon
President
theKompany.com
www.thekompany.com
www.mindawn.com
949-713-3276

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