$1.75 trillion federal budget deficit

[MrFun]

Indeed. Let's keep some perspective. I mean as bad as things have been, we haven't even reached 10% unemployment.

I would not be totally shocked if at some point, we do reach ten percent unemployment. IIRC we're already at 7 percent.

[Naked Gents Rut]

The real question for me is whether I want to stick around and try to fix the country or just bolt to sweet, low-tax Ireland...

We'd need an 18% hike in total revenues (including state and local) to hit Ireland's tax/GDP ratio. Federal revenues would have to go up by 36%.
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/48/27/41498733.pdf

Ireland's score on the Tax Misery Index is almost as low as the United States' and is the lowest of the countries I might consider moving to. Seems like the best alternative to escape a rising American tax burden.

http://www.forbes.com/global/2005/0523/024chart.html

[Imran Siddiqui]

I would not be totally shocked if at some point, we do reach ten percent unemployment. IIRC we're already at 7 percent.

Then you can start getting 40% worried about us going into a Depression that needs a New Deal.

[Zkribbler]

The boom was because people were having babies, not because of govt spending.

Ah yes, babies -> $$$. I can only sit in envy of the riches of places like Mexico and Africa.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well, you know, the whole, every other Western country's economy was destroyed and needed imports from the US could have helped with that post-war boom too. Just sayin'

[Kidlicious]

Ah yes, babies -> $$$. I can only sit in envy of the riches of places like Mexico and Africa.

If those places didn't have huge birth rates their economies would be in the craper. People spend more money because they have larger families, even in the third world. Hell, in the third world large families are even more important because the children are workers.

[rah]

Yeah, the only country who's factories hadn't been bombed out.

[Zkribbler]

Well, you know, the whole, every other Western country's economy was destroyed and needed imports from the US could have helped with that post-war boom too. Just sayin'

Yep. You're right.
And we had strong unions, getting workers their fair share of the pie.
But we also had the GI bill getting service people into college and the FHA helping them get houses. Ike built the Interstate Highway System, putting lots of people to work and aiding commerce. The Cold War fuelled a strong military-industrial base.

[Ramo]

Ireland's score on the Tax Misery Index is almost as low as the United States' and is the lowest of the countries I might consider moving to. Seems like the best alternative to escape a rising American tax burden.

http://www.forbes.com/global/2005/0523/024chart.html

As long as it's clear that you're using some bull**** metric instead of a simple revenue/GDP figure, whatever dude.

[Naked Gents Rut]

Doesn't really matter what metric you choose...

The tax burden in Ireland, as measured by Forbes Misery Index, is lower than most of the world.[2] It gets a score of 90.3, lower than that of France (174.8), Germany (117), the United Kingdom (111.3), and Canada (111.2) However it is beaten by South Africa (85), Taiwan (82.1) Singapore (79), Hong Kong (43.5) and the United Arab Emirates (18).

Another popular measure of the tax burden in a country is by working out total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP. By this measure Ireland comes out low, with a score of 31.2% in 2003. This compares to 51.4% in Sweden, 49.4% in Denmark, 42% in the United Kingdom, 28.7% in Lithuania and 29.1% in Latvia. Currently Ireland scores 4th lowest in Europe.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland

[Ramo]

Yes. The US actually isn't in Europe. BTW, that figure is six years old.

[Naked Gents Rut]

So what? You think European tax systems have changed dramatically in the past 6 years? You're just *****ing to hear yourself ***** at this point...

[Ramo]

Right wingers such as yourself are frequently ignorant about how the Irish tax burden compares to our own. Just correcting you. It's a public service.

[Naked Gents Rut]

How was I ignorant? I said Ireland had low taxes and I'd consider moving there when U.S. taxes go up. There's nothing there to correct.

[Ramo]

Implicit in that ridiculous statement is the belief that federal taxes are going to increase by significantly more than a third.