Econoquiz Answers

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Few years ago I had the opportunity to live and work in Denmark for several years .It is a beautiful country and I have never met so hospitable, generous and happy people anywhere else.
The surprise came when I had to pay taxes,,,one year when I calculated the state taxes, VAT taxes and assortment of other
taxes it came to about 68% of income, for gross salary of a little over $70,000.Yet , besides some young university graduates, no one complained, no one moaned.One can hire and fire an employee as business dictates , the unemployment and welfare benefits are high enough to provide a reasonably good life. Health and education are universally provided as needed and the country had almost full employment.What amazed me was the quality of life , the happy outlook of the people, their high productivity, theit integrity and the general satisfaction of the people with their life.

NKanavis of MA 9:09PM October 23, 2008

Taxes in America are too high and create a situation that fosters less work and an attitude that I deserve what you create.The government tells me so!
Parenthood has become a joke on the in this too secular society. I can have a child but "you" must raise it and be accoutable for its actions. No need to support this lifestyle with our earnings(taxes).
Schools are not a place where we should promote political agendas but an environment of learning about the earth that we live on, in the key subjects of science,history,ethics and the psychology of man.Where have all the teachers gone?Better question.Where have all the responsible parents gone?
The american dream is give me an opportunity and I will create something of value that offers me a better life for me and my family. It is not give me a job,a house,a car,a three week vacation,no cost health care,a retirement paid for by someone elses'hard work!
We need a government that knows that its main job is to provide a safe nation, that is capable of securing our borders against all threats to our democratic way of life. This government should have term limits to its service and not be allowed to lobby after they leave government.This government must live up to the written Constitution and direct the judicial practitioners to abide by that responsibility.
We need an educated populace that has an understanding that this is their country and know that it is their responsibility to elect officials that are knowledgeable about the tasks of government as outlined above. Clearly any government official must have taken a course or two in basic economics as well as world economics.Where have all the patriots gone?
We need to reduce if not eliminate the high cost of litigation in America.Protect us from greed, corporate and individual.
Where have all the honest people gone?

Rich DeGregorio of TX 12:15PM September 23, 2008

Similar to rdw, socal, I would like to see questions which are outside the box. For example, how would persons in the various tax brackets be affected by dropping the federal personal income tax and going to a national sales tax? Notice I did not suggest dropping the federal corporate tax, nor payroll deductions for social security, medicare/medicade, etc. Implicatins: illegals would need to pay taxes! Someone would need to figure out what would be taxable--clothes, groceries, medicines, personal vehicles--and at what single rate; no multiple rates, please. Most retailers have checkout software able to handle such a change, or could get it soon enough. One rub might be--might be--how to handle personal retirement programs and profit/loss from stocks or other investments. Please think about this idea, add comments pro or con.

Jim of ND 10:35AM September 23, 2008

Government ignores any issue that may have negative impact on their re-election.
1. They have know for 30 years the ramifications of oil dependency, but they consistently vote against drilling on and off shore, expanding nuclear energy, building added refineries, and expanding the use of clean coal to produce more electricity.
2. They failed to enforce the immigration laws that they wrote during the Reagan amnesty as required by the Congressional Oversight Manual, which they also wrote.
3. They failed to provide for our national security by refusing to secure our borders during war.
4. They fail to address the $50 trillion dollar liability of our entitlement programs including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Entitlements cost the taxpayer $1.758 trillion dollars in 2007. What we pay for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is equal to the Gross National Product of Canada.
5. They failed to provide oversight to Fannie and Freddie. Fannie was embroiled in an identical scandal, cooking the books, in 2000 that cost shareholders $30 Billion dollars, 60 times the amount of Enron. They were fined $400 million dollars, the largest amount ever. The CEO was Franklin Delano Raines, former Director of Management and Budget under Clinton. Other board members included Jamie Gorelik, former Deputy Attorney General, author of the memo that created a wall between our intelligence assets, also under Clinton. And lastly, Jack Quin, point attorney for the Clinton pardon of Mark Rich, tax evader, who's wife contributed $1 million to the DNC. Raines got 20 million in bonus' and Enron CEO died in prison.
6. And now we find that Congress, including Obama, Dodd, Kerry, Pelosi, Reid, and a number of Republicans have accepted campaign contributions from Fannie. Couldn't be payment for not providing oversigt or for aborting tough legislation that would affect Fannie, could it?
Time for a legitimate investigation of the 'most ethical Congress in history."

David of NE 10:04PM September 15, 2008

I think it is being profoundly stated through most of the media outlets concerning why and how young Americans are going to the polls this election. Yes, they want change - just as many of us do - but nearly all of them queried as to why they chose a candidate or what affect the candidate's policies would have on America, they had no clue - and it appears neither do many of the candidates from local to Federal level. Therefore, my suggestion for questions would be those that ask what the cause and affect of the various tax and spending proposals were instead of comparing them to other nations as "ron of wv" suggests. Other nation's economics are far different from those of the United States for myriad reasons. Sure, let's raise taxes on the large corporations; this then has the reciprocal affect of downsizing corporate spending to pay for or reduce the tax increases or do more of their business outside U.S. borders and therefore reducing the U.S. workforce to pay the higher taxes and increasing the burden on the government to pay more for the unemployed. I would bet that 95 percent of young people asked some of this type of question - and probably 80 percent of the over 30 eligible voters - would score well below the 50 percentile mark.
A thought, but just my opinion.

rdw-socal of CA 5:09PM September 15, 2008

The biggest threat to our safety and security is the national debt. Nearly all armed conflicts in the past three centuries have been fought over economic reasons. Economic strength is security and although we still have clout, the trade deficit and national debt are eroding our economic and military strength faster than any terrorists. We need to fix the first two problems which will give us the real power to deal with the third.

J Songin of NY 3:23PM September 15, 2008

The major problem is the Federal Government is spending more than received in taxes. In normal tines, we have two choices: increase taxes OR reduce spending. Unfortunately, we will probably find ourselves in the position where we need to do both. The size of the deficit (in excess of $9.6 trillion) will overwhelm the country unless dealt with in the coming years. There are many who complain about the tax and spend policies of the Democratic party. The tax cut and spend policies of the Republican party has proven to be MUCH WORSE as the bulk of the $9.6 trillion debt has been accumulated while the Republican party held the White House.

DElliot of MI 3:04PM September 15, 2008

Still amazes me that folks think that we should raise the Tax Rate. We have seen again and again (Most recently with latest Bush tax cuts) that when we RAISE the tax rate, the total revenue collected by the US Government goes DOWN. Latest Bush tax cut INCREASED overall US Govt revenue by almost 20%!. So if you want more money for a social program (or anything else) then LOWER taxes and overall revenue will go up. The last thing we need is someone who changes us for the worse because they don't understand reality and US history.

S Zoltek of PA 2:24PM September 15, 2008

The country is still radically undertaxed for the amount of economic changes we need to create social justice and a sense of participation of all Americans. WE need change we can believe in.

theophrastus t cornpone of MO 12:45PM September 15, 2008

what does it matter by comparing the USA to other countries? there is no other country like it anywhere in the world. it is a dangerous thing to try to make the US to be more like other nations. we need to build on what is done well here and build on that. we are too negative and try to tear down our nation way too often. go live overseas for a while...you'll stop complaining so much. and quit the distortion by comparing oranges and apples. even if we're not perfect.
we are taxed too high. look to what the founding fathers said about taxes. but bigger govt=higher taxes.

ron of WV 11:06AM September 15, 2008