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The argument is not that these things are exclusive to the USA. The argument is that you said you get very little in return for your tax dollars here in the USA. Most folks would disagree with you wholeheartedly.
Very little return? Hmmm....Then i'd advise you to quit paying taxes and then:
- Don't drive on paved streets or highways.
- Don't call 911.
- Don't flush your toilet.
- Don't bring your garbage to the curb.
- Don't fly in an airplane that uses air-traffic controllers.
- Don't use the court system.
- Don't call the police when you get robbed.
- Don't use the US Post Office, send all your letters via FedEx or UPS.
- Don't ask for a farm subsidy for not growing crops.
- Don't ask for a taxpayer subsidy to do business in a city or state.
- Don't buy a sports franchise and ask the taxpayers to build your stadium.
- Don't send your children to public schools.
- Don't attend a state university.
- Don't expect a social security payment.
- Don't let Medicare pay your bills if you are over 65 or disabled.
- Don't make use of police services.
- Don't be rescued by fire department paramedic team.
- Don't call the fire department.
- Don't expect federal assistance if a natural disaster destroys your home or business.
- Don't visit national parks or hike in national forests.
- Don't eat USDA inspected meat, cheese, eggs or produce.
- Don't take any medications tested and approved by the FDA.
- Don't drink, bath or otherwise use the water from municipal water systems.
- Don't look at or relay a weather report.
- Don't look at a NASA generated picture.
- Don't expect a unit of measure like a gallon of gas to be a full gallon.
- Don't expect an elevator to work correctly or not fall.
- Don't expect a red light to work.
- Don't use the public library.
- Don't watch state college sports.
- Don't apply for government grants.
- Don't use your state's convention centers.
- Don't go to a state, city or municipal-run airport.
- Don't ask for rural electrification.
- Don't ask for FEC regulations
- Don't ask to keep the airwaves free
- Don't ask for a business loan from the small business administration.
- Don't ask to use the G.I. bill to go to college.
.........you get the point.
Oz is speaking about federal taxes. Most of these services are based on municipal taxes, and some of these services are free (e.g. volunteer fire dept). None of our taxes go into these services either. It primarily goes to servicing debt.
I am not saying this to slam the US. I love the USA and I am an American, and I hope that it becomes a great country again, but right now it is not a good place to live.
I moved overseas once again recently and it's like a breath of fresh air in many, many ways.
The people here are not constantly paranoid and nuerotic like in the US.
The people here are not nervous wrecks, swallowing anti-depressents all day making pharmacuetical companies rich.
The streets are not dangerous and a cesspool of criminal activity like the US streets are.
There are not perverts, crackheads and freaks everywhere like the US. You can walk by strangers and assume that they are safe and peaceful instead of having to tense up. You can actually expect people to be NORMAL instead of living in a society of fruitcakes.
There is actually life on the streets past 10 p.m. besides drunken buffoonery and fighting.
I can go to the hospital without paying thousands of dollars when I need to.
I can go to the dentist without paying a ton of money. I can afford a perfect smile.
I pay about 4% in taxes instead of over 15%.
I do not have to pay unreasonable rent prices that suck all my money away. Rent is very affordable.
I can walk outside at 11 p.m. and eat at hundreds of restaurants, go to dozens of bars and clubs, go clothes shopping or grocery shopping, and I am in a small town too with nearby hills to hike.
What else? There are so many things wrong with the USA that hit me like a slap in the face when I go to other places and see that it is not that bad everywhere. When I go back to the USA again I will probably not be too happy with it, it's just not a functional society, it's dysfunctional, the people are weird, it's expensive and difficult to survive. It's just not a very comfortable society, the energy in the US has gone rotten.
My fellow Americans ....please, please, PLEASE realize that you have let the USA go to crap. Yes YOU have let it go to crap. Take responsibility for your own country instead of constantly pointing the finger or expecting your political party to clean up the mess.
The Democrats and Republicans will not fix the USA. The American people will have to do it THEMSELVES. People in most places realise this concept, but Americans seem to just back up corrupt political parties, hoping that will solve the problem.
While you all are fighting amongst yourselves in stupid, juvenile, left vs. right arguements. The politicians have been slowly destoying the USA for the past 30 years, accelerating the process drastically in the past decade.
You all fight amongst yourseves like tigers in a zoo cage, when you should be going after the zookeeper who has you locked in the cage? You all like the house slaves who have totally sold out to the master, just to be able to live with him in his comfortable house and live a slightly better life than the field slaves.
You know what i'm saying?
The US federal government is growing and growing and growing. They are in fact hiring lots of people right now. What does that tell you? It tells me that the government is growing HUGE in the USA. And no, this is not a leftist thing, the right wing in the US is in on this too.
The Dems and Repubs in the US are both scum. These political parties MUST not be allowed to drag the USA into the toilet. WHEN WILL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE STAND UP TO BOTH OF THESE POLITICAL PARTIES AND SAY THAT'S ENOUGH?????
Please do something about this. Over here on the other side of the Pacific, the USA's reputation is starting to become tarnished. The USA is losing it's status as being a wonderful land of opportunity.
The US is gaining a reputation for being a cesspool of violence, political corruption, unnaffordable living and rude, psychotic, drug addicted people all over. Yes, the US has this reputation here.
Realize. The USA is in BIG trouble. So much trouble that I escaped the USA just to be able to survive, work, get health care and live a comfortable life.
Oz is speaking about federal taxes. Most of these services are based on municipal taxes, and some of these services are free (e.g. volunteer fire dept). None of our taxes go into these services either. It primarily goes to servicing debt.
Clarify yourself. Who is "our taxes?" Surely you're not referring to citizens of the United States.
I am not saying this to slam the US. I love the USA and I am an American, and I hope that it becomes a great country again, but right now it is not a good place to live.
I moved overseas once again recently and it's like a breath of fresh air in many, many ways.
The people here are not constantly paranoid and nuerotic like in the US.
The people here are not nervous wrecks, swallowing anti-depressents all day making pharmacuetical companies rich.
The streets are not dangerous and a cesspool of criminal activity like the US streets are.
There are not perverts, crackheads and freaks everywhere like the US. You can walk by strangers and assume that they are safe and peaceful instead of having to tense up. You can actually expect people to be NORMAL instead of living in a society of fruitcakes.
There is actually life on the streets past 10 p.m. besides drunken buffoonery and fighting.
I can go to the hospital without paying thousands of dollars when I need to.
I can go to the dentist without paying a ton of money. I can afford a perfect smile.
I pay about 4% in taxes instead of over 15%.
I do not have to pay unreasonable rent prices that suck all my money away. Rent is very affordable.
I can walk outside at 11 p.m. and eat at hundreds of restaurants, go to dozens of bars and clubs, go clothes shopping or grocery shopping, and I am in a small town too with nearby hills to hike.
What else? There are so many things wrong with the USA that hit me like a slap in the face when I go to other places and see that it is not that bad everywhere. When I go back to the USA again I will probably not be too happy with it, it's just not a functional society, it's dysfunctional, the people are weird, it's expensive and difficult to survive. It's just not a very comfortable society, the energy in the US has gone rotten.
My fellow Americans ....please, please, PLEASE realize that you have let the USA go to crap. Yes YOU have let it go to crap. Take responsibility for your own country instead of constantly pointing the finger or expecting your political party to clean up the mess.
The Democrats and Republicans will not fix the USA. The American people will have to do it THEMSELVES. People in most places realise this concept, but Americans seem to just back up corrupt political parties, hoping that will solve the problem.
While you all are fighting amongst yourselves in stupid, juvenile, left vs. right arguements. The politicians have been slowly destoying the USA for the past 30 years, accelerating the process drastically in the past decade.
You all fight amongst yourseves like tigers in a zoo cage, when you should be going after the zookeeper who has you locked in the cage? You all like the house slaves who have totally sold out to the master, just to be able to live with him in his comfortable house and live a slightly better life than the field slaves.
You know what i'm saying?
The US federal government is growing and growing and growing. They are in fact hiring lots of people right now. What does that tell you? It tells me that the government is growing HUGE in the USA. And no, this is not a leftist thing, the right wing in the US is in on this too.
The Dems and Repubs in the US are both scum. These political parties MUST not be allowed to drag the USA into the toilet. WHEN WILL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE STAND UP TO BOTH OF THESE POLITICAL PARTIES AND SAY THAT'S ENOUGH?????
Please do something about this. Over here on the other side of the Pacific, the USA's reputation is starting to become tarnished. The USA is losing it's status as being a wonderful land of opportunity.
The US is gaining a reputation for being a cesspool of violence, political corruption, unnaffordable living and rude, psychotic, drug addicted people all over. Yes, the US has this reputation here.
Realize. The USA is in BIG trouble. So much trouble that I escaped the USA just to be able to survive, work, get health care and live a comfortable life.
Thank you very much.
The worth of a country morally politically economically is determined by how many people are trying to get in it compared to how many people are trying to get out.
I think you will find the USA as the number one country people try to get into and very few who try to flee it .
tha said I am please you are happy in an Asian country away from a country you think is awful
Most Americans have little idea of what happens outside America's borders.
About those who have been to other countries I wonder what they miss, not enough people communicating in English? Not enough fast food joints? Little interest in NFL and NBA? Not enough guns? Not enough christianity? Not enough obese people? Not enough emphasis on V-8 horsepower? Not enough guys with shaved heads or buzz cuts? Not enough violence on TV and in movies?
The "patriotic" Americans usually believe America has no problems that can't be fixed by the Right Wing with god's help. Or is it that America has no problems?
The argument is not that these things are exclusive to the USA. The argument is that you said you get very little in return for your tax dollars here in the USA. Most folks would disagree with you wholeheartedly.
Being forced to surrender half your earnings isn't exactly a bargain for what is provided in return....
Federal income tax do not go into funding services. They primarily go into servicing debt to the moneychangers. Fun times are coming.
Wow. Nice spin. Of course the debt incurred wouldn't come from the services provided, huh? Surely you're not asserting such.
Of course taxes are used to service debt. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. But the debt incurred is due to services provided, which amounts to more than the tax revenue generated. I'm not sure why you felt the need to point that out. Sort of like stating the obvious if you ask me.
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