Taxes around the world

[KG_Jag]

Originally Posted by goldorak

Just like the military. And it doesn't cost as much.
Maybe just maybe the US should spend a little less on military affairs and invest a little bit more on its citizens. And no, downgrading your military will not bring about the end of the world.
You know why you won the cold war don't you ? Not because of military supremacy but because your adversary went bankrupt. And if you continue spending like there is no tomorrow the US will experience the same fate as the old USSR.

The U.S. has traditionally believed that each of its citizens could and should take care of him/her self, family and community with little or no involvement of the federal government. We are a very charitable lot and have local, county and state levels of government which are much closer to the people.

When I was growing up in the 60's and 70's there was great deal of discussion and concerning about our large military budget. But honest concern about that issue has wained, along with the size of the military budget relative to our GNP and current spending allocations. Transfer payments to our own citizens now dominate the budget and threaten to bankrupt us over time--not military spending.

So what if we or the democracies of Europe are attacked by foreign enemies of whatever stripe or flavor on anywhere near the scale that we saw just 70 and less years ago? How many European countries could afford to defend themselves? Is the number great than 0? I worry about our own ability to do so as well--given our current vector of becoming a national nanny state.