What's up with the liberal stereotype? (Santa Barbara: budget, money, property)

[things and stuff]

Telemutt: It is unbelievable how fast you respond to posts. It's like you are on here watching 24/7 and don't have any sort of job or hobbies. It is no wonder you support the things you do.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by things and stuff

Telemutt: It is unbelievable how fast you respond to posts. It's like you are on here watching 24/7 and don't have any sort of job or hobbies. It is no wonder you support the things you do.

What an odd statement. What does being retired and having leisure time have to do with political views? C-D is rife with retirees spewing about their conservative views. Is that a problem for you as well?

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by things and stuff

Telemutt: It is unbelievable how fast you respond to posts. It's like you are on here watching 24/7 and don't have any sort of job or hobbies. It is no wonder you support the things you do.

Kid, I go days sometimes without posting. Other times I check back and forth a half dozen times in one day because I'm on the computer writing anyway. In the case of your posting I suspect it might be I have a sixth sense that non-sense is forming in the internet ethers.

And no! Right, I have no job anymore. I am a couple years into my retirement now. Thus able to commit to the public service of correcting false information on the interwebs.

[snoopygirlmi]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Why is it that Americans are fairly unique in grousing about "eating up tax dollars", and about how paying taxes is a waste? In Scandinavia, while people complain about the tax burden, they don't speak in terms of that money being wasted. To the contrary, in general they're proud of the benefits their system provides. Free university education, decent pensions, good support and medical services for the disabled, etc. They don't talk about wasted tax dollars.

Our population is a lot more diverse and larger than any Scandinavian country. Also, the US is in the unique position of being the "lone superpower" and provides a lot of services and money to other countries. Most European countries don't have large armies because they have treaty alliances with America to guarantee their security - through NATO, etc. I think, it's only Finland or Sweden, that doesn't participate in this alliance. I could be wrong.

Regardless, instead of funding a large military that has bases and troops all over the world and providing aid to other countries, a lot of countries actually can use taxpayer dollars to provide a very generous social, safety net.

We talk about wasted tax dollars because we don't trust out our government to do the right thing for the people. I don't care if you are a liberal or a conservative these days. Most Americans don't voted for or want our current social contract (for one reason or another.).

Sorry, if these points have already been made, but most Americans aren't happy with the way their "government" is "working for them".

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by snoopygirlmi

Our population is a lot more diverse and larger than any Scandinavian country. Also, the US is in the unique position of being the "lone superpower" and provides a lot of services and money to other countries. Most European countries don't have large armies because they have treaty alliances with America to guarantee their security - through NATO, etc. I think, it's only Finland or Sweden, that doesn't participate in this alliance. I could be wrong.

Regardless, instead of funding a large military that has bases and troops all over the world and providing aid to other countries, a lot of countries actually can use taxpayer dollars to provide a very generous social, safety net.

We talk about wasted tax dollars because we don't trust out our government to do the right thing for the people. I don't care if you are a liberal or a conservative these days. Most Americans don't voted for or want our current social contract (for one reason or another.).

Sorry, if these points have already been made, but most Americans aren't happy with the way their "government" is "working for them".

The military is the obvious objection, but complaints about misuse of taxes go far beyond that. People complain about wasted highway funds, welfare waste and fraud, waste in a lot of specific areas, not that they pay money to the federal gov't that gets spent on wars.

And this pattern plays out on the state level, as well. Waste of state tax dollars is a big topic, an arena in which militarism isn't relevant.

There seems to be a psychological difference between Americans and citizens of those so-called welfare states. The latter seem to trust their government more, even though there's criticism between the two main political parties, overall people are happy with the system. In the US, they aren't. The difference may be simply between a system that delivers (because it has more tax dollars with which to do so), and a system that doesn't (because people don't want to pay taxes).

[mateo45]

^ ^ Of course you also won't find a bunch of well-funded "think tanks" constantly crafting conservative propaganda within these so-called "welfare states" (with the term itself being yet another bit of rightwing-speak)!

[SoCalbound12]

Originally Posted by snoopygirlmi

Our population is a lot more diverse and larger than any Scandinavian country. Also, the US is in the unique position of being the "lone superpower" and provides a lot of services and money to other countries. Most European countries don't have large armies because they have treaty alliances with America to guarantee their security - through NATO, etc. I think, it's only Finland or Sweden, that doesn't participate in this alliance. I could be wrong.

Regardless, instead of funding a large military that has bases and troops all over the world and providing aid to other countries, a lot of countries actually can use taxpayer dollars to provide a very generous social, safety net.

We talk about wasted tax dollars because we don't trust out our government to do the right thing for the people. I don't care if you are a liberal or a conservative these days. Most Americans don't voted for or want our current social contract (for one reason or another.).

Sorry, if these points have already been made, but most Americans aren't happy with the way their "government" is "working for them".

If we didn't waste trillions of dollars a year in militarism and corporate welfare we could damn well afford any "socialist" program we wanted. We only "can't afford" Social Security, Medicare, etc. because we spend so much on our empire and corporate welfare. Stop bailing out banks and funding endless warfare and you'd be surprised at how much money America has. Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by SoCalbound12

If we didn't waste trillions of dollars a year in militarism and corporate welfare we could damn well afford any "socialist" program we wanted. We only "can't afford" Social Security, Medicare, etc. because we spend so much on our empire and corporate welfare. Stop bailing out banks and funding endless warfare and you'd be surprised at how much money America has. Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor.

We can't afford Social Security because Bush cut taxes and undermined SS, funds for science and medical research and welfare, in so doing. He was warned in advance by a group of 100 economists that his tax cuts would destabilize SS and other programs.

We also spend money on paying corporate farmers not to plant certain crops, and subsidizing water use for water-intensive crops grown by corporate farms in the arid West. I wonder how farms in Scandinavia get along; are they subsidized? Do they get tax breaks?

[dexter14]

Originally Posted by things and stuff

Telemutt: It is unbelievable how fast you respond to posts. It's like you are on here watching 24/7 and don't have any sort of job or hobbies. It is no wonder you support the things you do.

You are correct. He doesn't own a home or work a job, probably doesn't even own a car either. He lives on a 20 foot dinghy. No, Im serious.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by mbell75

You are correct. He doesn't own a home or work a job, probably doesn't even own a car either. He lives on a 20 foot dinghy. No, Im serious.

But that dingy travels! He takes it up to Puget Sound for the wooden boat show every year, and sails around the islands. It's quite a life. You can float in and out of Canada up there, without a passport or ID, if you're underage.