I agree with everything you said in your replies, VP. There is much more I would like to say on the ideological aspect of this, but I'm limiting myself at least on this forum. I may eventually say more on the Off Topic forum. Suffice it to say that our theories on how to grow an economy are very well aligned, and you are correct that done the right way, everyone wins except those that want to play victim. The government gets more in tax revenue while individuals pay less in various forms, whether from lower capital gains taxes, lower income taxes, etc.

Another thing that we need is lower or nonexistent corporate taxes. So many people make the mistake of thinking that corporations should be "punished" for their success, because success in the minds of a certain group of people can only be because they cheated or stole from a poor person. This makes no sense in several ways, of course, not least of which is that the idea of punishing anyone for success is truly an un-American attitude that really stems from Communist ideology. The truth is that lower or reduced corporate taxes would have a few different impacts:

1) Ability to bring corporate money being held overseas home without HUGE tax penalties. This could be reinvested in infrastructure and/or distributed to shareholders.

2) Lower prices for goods/services. People don't realize that they pay for these taxes every time they buy any product. "Corporate taxes" are actually paid for by the consumers, which means they are a sneaky tax increase on all of us.

3) More dividends and higher PPS. Whether someone owns individual shares or only has a retirement account invested in the market, they would make more money. This means almost everyone would end up doing better in this aspect.

Another thing that I very much believe would be a HUGE positive for our society is the Fair Tax. I think we are getting ever-closer to the realization that we need not merely reforms around the edges, but an entirely different tax system. There are several reasons I think this, but I don't want to get too far off track here.

Your comment about the several million 112+ year-olds was great. I just saw that on the news either yesterday or today. The mere act of trying to clean it up will almost certainly lead to charges from some of, oh lets see here, racism, sexism, ageism, maybe even Martianism. We need a new "ism" to keep things fresh.

This has been an invigorating discussion. :)

Wesley