"What I believe"

["shazbat"]

This is the place.
Gentlemans agreement (no gender bias implied) to not slam anyones post in this thread to prevent loading the thread up with argument.
Rather take any comment to another thread with a link to the particular statement.
Use the "title" line to list the subject of your "belief".

["shazbat"]

At this point in time we all know now that the information about WMD, or lack of, was available to all parties, Democrat and Republican prior to making the decision to go into Iraq. Bottom line is we did.

There is no doubt that Saddam Huussein was a "really bad guy" but prior to our entry into Iraq the nation was relatively stable, as most authoritarian regimes are. As so it additionally was a stabilizing agent in the middle-east where the only overt fronts of extremism were the borders of Israel and Afganistan, in which our involvement was seen as just, and supported by most of our then middle-east and world allies.

It is still my belief that our involvement in Iraq was prompted by two things. George Bush's desire to finish what his father didn't and to enrich his election campaign supporters, ie. big oil, Halliburton etc.

It is obvious that while we have the military capability to wage war, there was, and is still no real policy on how to wage peace. As a result Iraq has become the magnet to any and all destabilizing agents through the world including many of the neighboring nations, Syria, Iran etal. that would not have ventured into that arena were Saddam Hussein still in command there.

I believe that on the whole, we as a nation had noble intentions in allowing our leaders to persuade us into this conflict while turning a blind eye to their true intentions. And from my comments you may think that I am not in favor of our involvement there.
But more than whatever you or I believe about this war in general I believe that we as a nation have a moral obligation to the people of Iraq to secure, restabilize and rebuild their nation.

I don't know how to make this happen but I don't believe that this can happen by just packing up and pulling out.

[DLEIGHTY]

i think we did the right thing! before it was to late.

and it wasnt like Saddam Huussein wasnt warned 8 years before

[MYCAR47562]

Should We Have Went To Iraq? I Dunno. As Far As Us Being There, We Need To Stay We Have To See This Through Or We Will Produce An Enemy For Ever In Iraq If We Leave Now There Nation Will Crumble. We Have To See It Through.

[MYCAR47562]

My Beliefs Are Is Our Goverment Is Corupt And Beyond Repair We Need To Tell Them We Are Done With The Way The Run Thing We Need To Rebuild Our Country Around What Our Fore Fathers Set For Us. True We Have To Change Things Times Have Changed I Understand That. We Have To Handle Thing Diffently Or We Wont Last Another 100 Years. 100 Years Is Longer Than I Think It Will Last But Non The Less Our Childern Or There Childern Will Be Alive Then Do We Really Want Them Placed With The Burden Of Having To Rebuild Or Even Worse Be Stuck Under Oppresion?

[Johnny Dangerously]

Should We Have Went To Iraq? I Dunno. As Far As Us Being There, We Need To Stay We Have To See This Through Or We Will Produce An Enemy For Ever In Iraq If We Leave Now There Nation Will Crumble. We Have To See It Through.

Spot on! Well put. You have my vote in 2012 MYCAR... ;)

[MYCAR47562]

Spot on! Well put. You have my vote in 2012 MYCAR... ;)

thank's remeber vote mycarican

[nelson]

I believe it's time for serious tax reform in America.

And when I say serious tax reform, I mean the kind of reform that will put tax accountants, and most of the IRS, out of business. The long term viability of the USA is much more important than a few jobs.

Our tax code is entirely too complex. It doesn't scale. On our present course both the IRS and the tax accounting industry must continue to grow exponentially in order to accommodate the ever growing, always increasingly complicated US tax code.

If everyone were taxed at the same rate, the rich would account for the lion's share of tax revenues. If everyone paid 10%, someone making 200,000 would pay 20,000 in taxes, while someone making 20,000 would pay 2,000 in taxes. Someone making a million would pay 100,000.

The distributed system we use now has multiplied that lion's share so that the government can provide cradle-to-grave services. That's a recipe for destruction.

[TaxmanHog]

I believe it's time for serious tax reform in America.
And when I say serious tax reform, I mean the kind of reform that will put tax accountants, and most of the IRS, out of business. The long term viability of the USA is much more important than a few jobs.

Reading further down into your post, I see you still call upon the income tax as a source of revenue, this requires some level of bureaucracy to manage the process & law.

Our tax code is entirely too complex. It doesn't scale. On our present course both the IRS and the tax accounting industry must continue to grow exponentially in order to accommodate the ever growing, always increasingly complicated US tax code.

Too complex it is, our economy is not simple, some people earn a living as a wage earner, others are self employed, this one delineation is cause for much of the complexity.

The accounting industry is big, partly due to the complexity of the tax laws, but accountants do other things which benefit a business operation, cost accounting, financial process analysis, commercial funding, payroll accounting, etc

If everyone were taxed at the same rate, the rich would account for the lion's share of tax revenues. If everyone paid 10%, someone making 200,000 would pay 20,000 in taxes, while someone making 20,000 would pay 2,000 in taxes. Someone making a million would pay 100,000.

I personally agree the the flat rate methodology, unfortunately it's a burden disproportionately on the poor unless you have a generous standard deduction for all families.

The distributed system we use now has multiplied that lion's share so that the government can provide cradle-to-grave services. That's a recipe for destruction.

What services & benefits do you think should be cut to balance the deficit's we had before (the economic crash)?

I for see a LOT of sacrifices, many needed to make ends meet, how am I & you as well as the rest of the nation going to accommodate these sacrifices.

Worst case, Social Security, welfare, Social Services, Indigent Health Care, need to be down graded in future cost's!!!

Are we ready to care for the indigent & unprepared within our extended family circles, Elderly Granny, widow-Auntie, Disabled-Cousin Louie, My stupid lazy Younger 44 year old Brother? Not really!

Foreign aid cut out completely, I can imagine how other Poor Nations will resent us and plot against us or our wealthy ally Nations.

Since we will not be involved in foreign policy much, not telling other nations what do, our military forces will be curtailed to homeland defense & border protection.

These are burdens we will shoulder directly, are we ready?
I do not think so!

[cajun]

I vote for the FAIR TAX

[nelson]

Tax accounting is just one small piece of accounting, that's for sure. Even if there were absolutely no taxes, we would have great demand and need for accountants. My father is a CPA, I have some accounting background, it's critical stuff.

But should our tax code be so enormous that the typical citizen must hire a private businessman in order to determine how much to pay in taxes? That is the reality. Personally, I will pay around $500 for the services of a tax accountant this year - just for my personal tax returns. And I'll spend at least two weeks compiling everything for him. That is a lot of time and money. I have to do this because the income tax code is too lengthy for me to decipher. Let's not even bring up my business returns.

I absolutely agree with you that government services being provided are far too excessive, far too costly, and should be downgraded or eliminated. Unfortunately each time the government votes to provide a new entitlement, that entitlement will probably never be taken away. Alas, new entitlements, and expansions to existing entitlements, are being voted in all the time! This alone will crush us if not curbed very soon.

I don't agree that a flat methodology is a disproportionate burden on the poor. I think a weighted distribution such as we have is a disproportionate burden on, and a disincentive for, those who produce.

But Taxman you are definitely right - it's a complex problem and not an easy one to resolve. Certainly no solution will make everyone happy. I know much of the world has its hands out while the USA sits here going deeper and deeper into debt. I agree they'll plot against us; taking money from the USA is already the primary function of most international bodies. What do we do? I'm sure you know more about this issue than I do. But I bet we agree that it's not ideal. Personally, I think radical change is needed. Unfortunately I don't think any political leadership will be bold enough to propose it, and even if they did, propaganda machines would defeat it.

I don't have all the answers. But it's certainly something I BELIEVE!!!

(Thanks shazbat for the thread idea)

[MYCAR47562]

nelson i believe your right