Idiot government and why they are not a business.

Greetings ATS,

I would like us to have a little discussion about why the United States government is not fit to run a business and each share one truth on why they fail on every level as a business or an operation that runs on a profit. Thus proving they have no right, privilege or authority on any financial matter in a country that was founded, raised and built to fund itself.

My example: I was looking for an all in one printer on Ebay today, I shopped for the lowest prices plus shipping and got a dozen or so results on the first page. I clicked on the lowest one and found that it was 59.99 with free shipping so I clicked to buy only to realize that the seller was in my state so an automatic 11.25% sales tax would be added. I lol'd and then clicked the back button on my browser and then selected the one from California that was 61.49 with free shipping and no sales tax.

Is that fair? You tell me........ Our government has there head so far up there asses they don't know what to tax and what not too, they don't even know what to spend the tax money on, republican or democrat. There idiots and if the U.S. government was a business, they would have declared bankruptcy a million times over but I guess they are just too big to fail because we give them way more tax dollars then they are responsible enough to handle.

lol at the state of affairs................ Anyone arguing between Obama and Romney........... lol @ you for thinking it matters.....

reply to post by Helious

The federal government has a long, well established history of destroying and or bankrupting everything it touches.

The amount of waste, corruption and mismanagement is staggering.

This is a great example of how its happening on a state level.

People flock to those states which make it easy to do business and run from those that dont.

Many times it comes down to one thing: over spending. Politicians are incompetent, careless and corrupt. They spend spend spend then need to make up deficits.

As RON PAUL says "we have to live within our means, why dont they!?"

reply to post by gladtobehere


I never get sick of hearing the sweet sound of truth coming from my informed brothers and sisters on ATS, the only thing that keeps me sane is knowing there are others that see through the complete sham this country has become and when I say country..... I mean government because I do and always will love America, the one my founding fathers built.

reply to post by Helious

Good point and this is a line they intentionally try to blur.

I have love for my country NOT my government...

reply to post by Helious


No private business is ever ran by idiots right?

Cali just started making Amazon add sales tax because street store owners in Cali were complaining.

So don't blame the government for something capitalists requested, they always get what they want.

California retailers complain that they are victims of unfair competition from Amazon, Overstock.com — now calling itself O.co — and other Internet sellers that don't operate physical stores or warehouses in the state.

As a result Amazon can undercut their prices by not collecting the state's 7.25% sales tax and additional local government levies. With its razor-thin profit margins, Amazon relies on the no-tax allure to customers for much of its sales.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and its allies in the Alliance for Main Street Fairness, a group that includes big-box stores and independent businesses, still face a major challenge in getting their legislative maneuver to work.....

California lawmakers try to head off Amazon sales tax referendum

We need to realize that while a government is expected to be efficient and cost-minded, it is not a business. It's goal is to not make a profit.

It's goal is to take the collective wealth of the people and provide services to the people. Like roads, police, defense and many more.

It is inevitable that the government may sometimes run in the red, but how far we have gone is far beyond that.

reply to post by sheepslayer247


That's because the government is being used to further capitalist agendas in the middle east. America spends more on military than anyone.

That is where all your tax dollars are going, while those businesses involved are making mass profits and avoid paying taxes...

For decades, the U.S. tax code has encouraged companies like Halliburton to transfer the location of its subsidiaries from the United States to foreign countries. This is one reason why only thirty-six of Halliburton's 143 subsidiaries are incorporated in the United States and 107 subsidiaries (or 75 percent) are incorporated in 30 different countries.

There are two methods by which Halliburton lowers its tax liability on foreign income: (1) By establishing a "controlled foreign corporation" and (2) By establishing a subsidiary inside a low tax, or no tax, country known as a "tax haven."

Halliburton's Tax Haven Explained

Halliburton, the second biggest oilfield service company in the world, on Thursday said work in Iraq had boosted revenue as it swung from a loss to record second-quarter net income of $26m , or 6 cents a share, compared with the year-earlier period.

The Houston-based company credited the quarter's 11 per cent rise in revenue, to $3.6bn largely to increased activity in its Engineering and Construction Group (ECG) projects, including government services work in the Middle East.

Halliburton Profits Skyrocket On Iraq Deals

I guess ya'll still be lovin' you some capitalism though.

reply to post by sheepslayer247

We need to realize that while a government is expected to be efficient and cost-minded, it is not a business. It's goal is to not make a profit.

I disagree. Prior to the Sub-prime initiated collapse(Personally I think Enron's collapse was what started all this - but that is beside the point) my local council was in the black as far as debt was concerned and was actually generating enough income from investments to be able to spend on the community in areas that would have not normally been allocated funding. After the collapse A$130M was lost to American investments. While it is not the norm in Australia, there are many local governments who operate in the black and prove that it is possible to operate a government efficiently whilst retaining quality services to the community.

reply to post by OccamAssassin


Being in the black is not the same as making profit. Profit is what is taken by an owner, or owners, as their income from their company. Also known as surplus value.

If the government makes money it goes back into the country, so it is not profit.

reply to post by ANOK


At least when a small group does something stupid, it only affects a small group. When our government does something stupid, we're lucky if it only affects our 314+ mil, and not much further.

reply to post by ANOK


I completely agree. Wars are the biggest ball and chain around the American ankle. We could afford to do much more productive things here at home, but we finance the war machine instead.

By the way, capitalism is a great economic theory, but what we have is not capitalism. We are fascist now and the corporations run everything.

Originally posted by CynicalDrivel
At least when a small group does something stupid, it only affects a small group. When our government does something stupid, we're lucky if it only affects our 314+ mil, and not much further.

But what is stupid is open to interpretation.

A lot of what they do seems stupid to us, but you can guarantee it is benefiting someone in the capitalists class in some way.

Don't get me wrong, my comment wasn't meant to seem to be support for government but most of what government does is for capitalist interests. The government rarely does anything by itself, all the laws they pass, or decisions they make, are due to outside pressure from lobbyists.

The government we have is due to the authoritarian economic system we have.

The ball and chain is entitlement spending social engineering,

16 trillion dollar in debt.,

50 million on medicare
50 million on medicaid
50 million on welfare
50 million on SS

That right there is 200 million people getting paid by multiple government programs that accounts for over 2.2 trillion dollars of all current federal spending.

The problem is people are consuming more tax revenue than they are paying in at the request of socialists not capitalists.

Idiotic government is right because if it was a business they would have gone out of business a hell of a long time ago.

reply to post by ANOK


Simplest rule of thumb: stupid is what stupid does. When it only benefits a handful of people, in an environment that is supposed to be for all, then the move was definitely worth a sign.

Originally posted by sheepslayer247
reply to post by ANOK

 

By the way, capitalism is a great economic theory, but what we have is not capitalism. We are fascist now and the corporations run everything.

Capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production, it is the root cause of our economic problems.

Corporations are capitalist institutions. They are a way for capitalists to protect their personal wealth. If a business is in a corporation and it goes bust, only the company is held liable, not the owner of the company.
If the business is not a corporation then the owner can be sued directly.

If you understand corporations are bad, then you should understand capitalism is the system that created them, and is the root of the problem. Corporation are capitalists collectivizing to protect their wealth.

Originally posted by neo96
The problem is people are consuming more tax revenue than they are paying in at the request of socialists not capitalists.

Idiotic government is right because if it was a business they would have gone out of business a hell of a long time ago.

No, it's by the request of liberals. Please understand liberals are not socialists.

"Liberalism is not socialism and never will be", Winston Churchill, 1908, while Liberal Party candidate for Dundee.

Socialist want worker ownership, not hand-outs from the government.

Originally posted by CynicalDrivel
reply to post by ANOK

 

Simplest rule of thumb: stupid is what stupid does. When it only benefits a handful of people, in an environment that is supposed to be for all, then the move was definitely worth a sign.

The problem is it is not an environment for all. Once you realise that it is capitalist interests that influence government action you will discover the root of the problem.

reply to post by ANOK


I disagree with that. In a truly well-regulated capitalist system, corporations are held the the strict guidelines of government corporate charters. In that charter, it specifically states that the corporation has to serve the common good.

If they don't, the charter is revoked.

So we have the infrastructure to do it, but we have to adhere to the rules.

reply to post by ANOK


As if that was the sole influence.

reply to post by neo96


Social programs, like welfare and SS, would not be hard to fund at all if we didn't allow the government such a huge war chest and allow the corporations to pay nothing in taxes on their massive amounts of wealth.

I'd rather pay a little taxes for someone to eat than for my brother to go die oversees because it was "good for the economy".