The USA are fucked up bad.

[HIGHERBEAM]

While monocultures may well have been stronger in certain ways (mainly at oppression and forcing conformity), those "strengths" have actually tended to weaken them in the modern world, where individualism and personal enterprise has seen a huge acceleration of creativity, pushing free enterprise productivity to it's limits, while dictatorships, by and large, stagnated. It's not coincidence that China has boomed with the added freedoms allowed in the past decade or so.

Boxy you came from under your rock again,too dark under there,I say again the economies of the world are reliant on america but they would recover more quickly than people think.The sleeping giant of india will be a powerhouse as will asia and the baltic states then we will have a true world economy not dictated to by america

[annielaurie]

Here's an article from Investors Business Daily,

America's fall - It's a choice, not a destiny

By VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
Posted 07/09/2010

We are hearing of all sorts of reasons why the United States is doomed to decline.

After all, America is piling up deficits at a record rate of about $1.5 trillion a year while other countries are slashing their spending. The national debt cascades over $13 trillion and is on track to reach $20 trillion within a decade.

The current recession is heading into its third year. Unemployment still hovers at nearly 10%.

Much of the country thinks the war in Afghanistan is as good as lost. There are more than 80,000 American troops deployed there, along with nearly 50,000 allied soldiers — facing fewer than 10,000 Taliban insurgents.

The largest oil spill in American history has been gushing up from sea for nearly 80 days, with vague promises that it could be plugged in another month or so.

Between 11 million and 20 million illegal aliens currently reside in the United States. And we cannot seem to stop another half million from crossing illegally into America each year.

Politically, the fickle electorate was furious at Wall Street for the 2008 meltdown. But it is now angrier at a government that threatens to take over more private enterprise. In 2006, voters renounced congressional Republicans; in November 2010, even angrier voters will probably be more unforgiving of the once-dominant Democrats.

George W. Bush left office with dismal poll numbers. Yet Barack Obama, who campaigned on the theme that he would serve as a reset button for the prior administration, and who enjoyed an approval rate of nearly 70% at inauguration, has seen his own ratings dive below 50% in just 18 months.

No wonder this dismal news — coupled with constant predictions of a rising, all-powerful China and the emergence of new, upcoming regional powers like Turkey, Brazil and India — prompts nonstop gloom about inevitable American decay.

Even Obama, at times, seems to envision a multipolar world in which the United States no longer is "exceptional" in the manner of the last 70 years.

In the midst of our current malaise, we feel overwhelmed by largely short-term problems and our current inability to address them — without appreciating our long-term strengths and present bounty, or learning from past recoveries.

We are soon to revert to the Clinton income-tax rates last used in 2000, when we ran budget surpluses. If likewise we were to cut the budget, or just hold federal spending to the rate of inflation, America would soon run surpluses as it did a decade ago.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysi ... f=outbrain

[Jovial Monk]

Obama should introduce a GST in America. Would fix the Budget and if the lower income segments were overcompensated it would boost domestic spending.

[Super Nova]

Don't they have state impose services taxes like GST or VAT. tax at the point of sale.

I think they have GST at the state level impossed on all goods and services already. Having a federal GST would really push up prices.

If you have been to the US you would know the visial price is very different to what you pay.

[Jovial Monk]

Nope. Some states have sales tax, very different to a GST that is levied at every point. The states could surrender those taxes for a slice of the GST revenue bigger than what they take now. The individual states are in an even worse position than the USA, with straightjacket laws that say the budget must be balanced. Watch CA, AZ etc legalise and tax marijuana, they have no choice.

[Super Nova]

Thanks for that. I did not realise the different between a sales tax and GST.

[Jovial Monk]

Having run a small business I am all too well aware. Stupid fucking Libs introduced the very worst form of GST despite having all the examples before them, the Brit VAT, etc etc. Then again, with morons like Costello and Minchin involved the worst possible GST was inevitable!

[IQSRLOW]

Having failed to be able to run a small business

Fixxed

[Jovial Monk]

A GST:

Farmer buys wheat seed, pays GST. Sells his harvest, buyer pays GST, buyer sells to bakery, bakery pays GST. Bakery sells bread to a deli or cafe, cafe pays GST, cafe sells sandwich to consumer, consumer pays GST.

Sales tax: buyer pays sales tax to cafe.

And as you say, sales tax generally is not on services, GST does. GST collects waaaaayyyyyyy more tax than a sales tax. GST is regressive, hitting the poor who have little discretionary income, it all gets spent just on food, rent, clothes.

[Super Nova]

A GST:

Farmer buys wheat seed, pays GST. Sells his harvest, buyer pays GST, buyer sells to bakery, bakery pays GST. Bakery sells bread to a deli or cafe, cafe pays GST, cafe sells sandwich to consumer, consumer pays GST.

Monk,

Aern't you stating part of the story.

If you have a GST or VAT certificate then you recover your GST if you buy from GST registered supp;lier. That is the last man in the chain pays the full GST.

Like this: You sell to me +GST, I buy it but provide you with my GST certificate. You claim the GST back from tax man quoting my certificate number or provide certificate number to prove no GST was required becasue i am GST registered. (It depends on the implementation per country). I add value and sell it on with GST to joe public. I collect GST and pass to tax man.

Is this how you see it?. Not everyone in the chain pays GST adding and adding to the final price.