More about Capitalism?

What we've discovered about American Capitalists is their penchant for buying politicians. The politicians don't try to hide the fact that they have been bought and of course capitalists are prone to brag about the things and the people they own. The Koch Brothers, for example, pledged $889 Million during the 2016 election cycle according to the NY Times. The Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell had to pass because their donors wanted it.

The bill will of course profit the capitalist class by allow them to pay less of the cost of governing and
public infrastructure.

How much less? The shortfall  is estimated to be over a Trillion Dollars in the next ten years.
Of course capitalists need roads and bridges as much as you and I do so can you guess who is expected to take
care of the shortfall? You, me, and our children, that's who. Yes, our children because that trillion dollar shortfall
will be paid for by government borrowing that you and I will pay back with interest. How long do you think it will 
take the us to pay that back? It will be left for our children for sure.

Guess who we borrow from? Capitalist bankers who have extra to lend because they don't pay it out in taxes, 
that's who. It almost seems like a scam, doesn't it? The people who have the most pay less and those with less 
pay more.

Capitalism Will Destroy the World

capitalism | ˈkapədlˌizəm | noun an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.
This is what we need to overcome if humanity is to survive. Current projections of global warming will have us living with a 3 to 7 degree increase in temperatures. Coastal areas will flood and weather catastrophes will become the norm. The oceans will be awash in plastic and fisheries will collapse. Food production (where there is any) will have moved north and south away from the tropics. Fire will have ravaged temperate forests and tropical forests will be gone forever.We all have heard about the problems and have done nothing. Why is that? We all do our little bit to make things better: we buy hybrid cars, we recycle, we even ask for paper instead of plastic bags at the grocery store. It's not enough is it?Oil companies keep drilling and finding outlets for their products. Coal is still mined and used, even though we know it's bad for the environment. Products are still made to wear out quickly so we will buy a new (and improved?) one next year. Even better we get talked into wars that not only kill people, they blow up cities and defoliate the countryside. Who benefits, only the capitalists. Trillions of dollars wasted on death and waste and all to feed capitalism. 

Taxes and who pays?

The party on the right finally has their wish. They control the congress, the white house and the federal judiciary. As sometimes happens when you get all that you ask for, you get lost in an orgy of excesses.

First the Republicans tried to destroy health care, which for some reason they think only the rich need. Then they want to overhaul the tax system so that only the poorer classes need to pay. Makes sense, right? Corporate sponsors will have more to donate to Republican political campaigns.

There's plenty of bad to grouse about in the current tax proposals; reduced progressively, permanent reductions for corporations and not for humans and the list goes on. What I don't see is any discussion of what our spending of those (reduced) tax dollars should buy for the American People. Do these taxes buy services for the poor and elderly? Do they fix roads, bridges, airports and harbors or do they help build schools and hospitals? As you can see, I have a list and I bet you do too. That I don't see is any list from the party in power.

Oh, they have their wants, but as far as I can tell it's mostly negative. They don't want to spend dollars  for health care, education, communications, parks or wilderness areas, immigrant services, or anything related to keeping women safe. There are some Republican wants; A giant pot of money for the military to spend blowing up things and people, lots of help for corporations and businesses, as long as they don't need roads that is. They also like prisons and arms manufacturers.

My gripe is that we don't have an ongoing conversation about which things and services we want government, through our taxes, to provide. When I go to the store I have a list of things I need and I try to reconcile that list with the available cash. Shouldn't that be the way we approach taxes and spending at the government level as well?

I get it that no one wants to pay, but we all know that we must. Let's have some conversation about what we want out taxes to buy and then and only then should we have the discussion about who pays and how much.