I just love that guy Higgins. I often see him on the Irish news because I'm trying to learn the language and he's interviewed there, in Irish:
Irish President Michael D Higgins Rips Tea Party Spokeman A New One
By Patrick Follow Thu, 23 Aug 2012, 9:34pm 2,545 views 25 comments
In Menlo Park CA 94025
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Patrick says
anything else we should learn from the Irish ?
Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland is a levy on a company’s profits. The tax is charged on both a company's income and chargeable gains. The corporation tax in Ireland is quite low, and is often cited as an example of tax competition, as it is used as an incentive for foreign companies to invest in the state.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_tax_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland
lol! from irish to english(us) the translation for "Investments" are called "tax dodge"...
of course the Irish (Labor Party) have no problem with the criticism.. yes spread the wealth !
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I love this guy. Teabaggers have no answers.
thomaswong.1986 says
These Republican policies are why Ireland's economy is so fucked.
You want to bring this lovely failed economy to the United States.
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Certainly this low corporate tax rate isn't helping Ireland recuperate from the financial crisis.
Especially since instead of taxing corporations, the Irish Gov't decided to bail out banks, subsidize corporations with freebies, and give the bill to the ordinary Irishman.
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In Comparison, defaulting on debt, pursuing developmental economics instead of neoliberal policies, letting former workers seize bankrupt and abandoned factories, seems to lead to better outcomes:
Practicality: When you have ideas
Ideology: When the ideas have you
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Ruki says
Higgins wasn't president at the time. Anyway, president in Ireland is mostly a ceremonial post. The real power is with the Taoiseach (prounounced tea-shock).
The Taoiseach that sold out the Irish people to the banks was Brian Cowen, not Ahern. Though Ahern was quite corrupt himself.
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Ruki says
I'm not blaming Republicans, I'm blaming idiotic Republican policies. Republicans don't extend their reach to Ireland.
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Something about being scolded by someone with an Irish accent makes it more effective...
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Tea Party types are wankers. Sarah Palin is a wanker with however she manages to wank. They are all idiots.
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I think this is not the greatest "rip". He (and maybe Patrick) may confuse the true Libertarians or first tea partiers (not everyone who jumped on the bandwagon) with neoconist republican hawks. For example if you use the term "warmongering", you should only attribute it to Democrats (e.g. Obama) or Republicans (e.g. Bush), certainly not to mostly Libertarian politicians such as Ron Paul, who with his non-interventionist policies would make Obama's nobel peace price look like what it really is - a big hypocrisy and slap in the face of all who lost loved ones in his continuations of unnecessary and cruel wars.
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mell says
As I showed here, libertarians are compelled to vote Democratic because of the Neocon influence on the Republicans: http://www.businessinsider.com/libertarians-you-cannot-vote-for-mitt-romney-2012-8
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thunderlips11 says
and what does Ireland have of interest to export to other nations? without that competitive tax structure it most likely would be more in line with a third world nation status. Overall they done well bringing in revenues... their spending however went nuts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland
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thomaswong.1986 says
Ireland will benefit from a lower tax rate. If you don't think so then how do you explain Merkel and the Germans wanting that low rate rescinded? It is competition for the Germans. They don't like competition.
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bgamall4 says
The Democrats seem to be dependent on the status quo of economics (perpetually increasing extraction of resources to support perpetually growing populations) in order to redistribute wealth to support more equal consumerism.
I think your argument supports voting for the Green party more than the Democrats, but then, the Greens' platform isn't much different.
There isn't an Amish Party at this point, due to the unelectibility of anyone advocating for regressive economics in support of future resources.
What goes around might not make it around the bend up ahead.
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Auntiegrav says
As has been proven by the Pew poll, main street is broke and the world economic machine is in danger because of it. The redistribution for the past 30 years has been massively upward. That is the wrong direction for world prosperity, as the US consumer is the default purchaser of the world's excess goods. If that stops, and it is slowing, the world could be in a lot of trouble economically.
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thomaswong.1986 says
A nation doesn't need exports to avoid 3rd world status. All it needs is to be released from the boot-heel of the aristocracy hoarders.
Ireland can experience an economic boom, all it needs to do is default on its debt like Iceland did.
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Auntiegrav says
There are no sustainable economic models that exist without wealth redistribution to counter the upward wealth distribution caused by the fundamental nature of profits.
The Democrats are the only hope this country has. Republicans will force us into a decade long depression.
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Democrats = the road to serfdom. We need real leaders willing to make the tough decisions for the country's future...not kick the can down the road which has been done for the last 80 aor 90 years (in exchange for votes).
All for the common good (wink, wink).
Regardless- obama needs to be evicted from the White House for failing to deliver on his promises to the American people. Its that simple.
Abe
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Honest Abe says
I construct detailed explanations of why Republicans lead us to serfdom including models, historical examples, and plain old economics 101.
You just fucking say it and hope people listen do you. You don't even know why you believe it.
Honest Abe says
Obama needs to stay right where he is to oppose people like you who are misguided and aren't qualified to vote.
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iwog says
It is like Abe and Wong learned absolutely nothing about the housing bubble from this site, Iwog.
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iwog says
Yes there are. We just don't accept them into our cultures.
The First Nations had one. The Amish have others.
It isn't wealth redistribution that is important: wealth redistribution assumes wealth accumulation in the first place, and that's the problem. Humans don't have a right to extract resources from their own future selves: we just do it and rationalize it based on cultural beliefs in "standards of living" which are based on wealth accumulation, not sustainable generosity (putting our talents toward enhancing the future of our needed resources, rather than toward consuming those resources).
The real problem is consumerism, not capitalism or socialism: it is the belief that we can do whatever we want as long as we all do it, and somehow, the Invisible Hand Job will make everything come out all right. The challenge we are going to face as a globalized economy is the challenge of whether we are actually intelligently intentional beings, or just yeast with tools.
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iwog says
Have you actually TALKED to them? I don't mean the nice old Truman Democrat that lives on the farm next door. I mean the goggle-eyed people working at the local Democrat headquarters.
The only hope we have is that people will stop buying shit they don't need from corporations that own their political system. The rich get richer because WE BUY THEIR STUFF AND WORK FOR THEM TO MAKE THEM RICH!!
The ONLY votes that count in a capitalist system are the dollars. Those dollars are counted only to a small degree by the advertisers and at the tail end of the process by politicians. The real Accounting For Things is done in corporate computers. All decisions about our activities are made based on things like the "Rent or Buy" spreadsheets that people are so accustomed to using. Nobody actually fucking CARES anymore. They just turn to their accountant and say, "What tax bracket will I be in if I give a million bucks to Greenpeace?"
The ones that actually DO care don't have control of enough money to make a fart get noticed in this factory farm cesspool we call "America". The cows and the people are being milked to death by BOTH political parties, and neither the cows or the people are bright enough to jump the security fences and walk on the perfectly manicured illusion of grass with a red, white and blue Freedom sign on it.
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Auntiegrav says
I like to suggest the Georgist land-vlue tax as a possible solution.
It nicely helps preserve the environment as well as making it difficult to live off of the work of others.
It's simple, fair, and cannot be evaded because property tax records are public and land cannot be hidden. Winston Churchill spoke eloquently in favor of it:
http://www.landvaluetax.org/current-affairs-comment/winston-churchill-said-it-all-better-then-we-can.html?source=patrick.net
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Why not go a step further and eliminate the ownership of property altogether?
That's the kind of question which leads to further questions, I think.
Why do humans own property but earthworms don't?
Why is wealth accumulation treated with such reverence in a capitalist society when so few are successful at it? The American Dream of 40 acres and a mule worked because of the value our labors put into the land, not the value we extracted from it. Consumerism has been built on the premise that people will put their labors and value toward buying things when the perceived price is lower than the labors they have to put forth. By externalizing the costs of pollution, energy, diplomacy, and force projection, the consumer system can be kept going even while the individual's labors are actually useless and the 'goods' are mostly just packaging.
Are the wealthy successful at accumulation because they keep others from being successful at it?
Are they actually wealthy, or is the wealth a perception of wealth, based on false scarcity and devalued currency?
What attributes of wealth accumulation benefit the long term sustainability of our species (thousands of years, not cyclic boom/bust decades)?
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Auntiegrav says
That's a step further? How about this. That's a radical reactionary insane suggestion that no one wants and doesn't work when tried.
Both extremes are broken systems. The fact that someone wants progressive taxes DOES NOT imply that he also wants to throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Auntiegrav says
No one is suggesting this stop.
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iwog says
Odd, Friedrich von Hayek would disagree with you. In fact, all Austrian economists would call you out on your BS. So please, show us these enlightening explanations and models that prove that Democrats and Obama's great economic plan that is SO working out splendidly.
iwog says
And you're not misguided?