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Saturday, February 23, 2013 - 6:22pmSanction this postReply
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John Lott supposedly does a good job in this book showing how you get less when you spend more on government. He surveyed the major countries of the world for the last several years.

A related note is that John Mackey ( Whole Foods CEO; author of Conscious Capitalism ) says that in 2012 we paid more in aggregate taxes than we took home in net profits -- and that still wasn't "enough": we still borrow ~40 cents of every dollar spent! Talk about a government which has overstepped its bounds! If the 50% line is the Rubicon, then -- in 2012 -- we were more of a fascist nation than a capitalist nation. Mackey was on NPR and used the f-word (fascism) when describing ObamaCare, but then on Sean Hannity he refused to use the word again -- because of the backlash from being totally and brutally honest about the issue. He also mentioned how in 2000 we were 3rd in economic freedom, but today we are 18th, noting we have the highest corporate income tax in the world. That means that there are now 17 countries where it is easier to make money than it is here in the US. Talk about a fall from grace!

I hope that one or two of these 17 countries might be able to force us to take a hard look in the mirror and inspire us to 'return' toward the unknown ideal of real capitalism. There are 2 main ways to get inspired, and one of them is better than the other:

1) Seeing -- even if only in your mind's eye -- how much better other people are doing at living as human beings on planet earth.
2) Experiencing pain.

I hope we don't have to go through too much of  (2) before we get to (1).

Ed

(Edited by Ed Thompson on 2/23, 6:41pm)


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