And btw I agree, when we traveled abroad people always used to say "who the hell do you think you guys are?" etc and I always responded "oh our current system is not supported by me, they do not represent me and I do not at all support them, so yeah I'm very happy to see people finally stood up and saw the light

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Then those donations are deductable from your taxes.



Unfortunately, most of that top 1% are not nearly as generous as you. Much of them are like the WalMart owners who do not provide any benefits to their employees and barely pay more than minimum wage.

But that is not really the issue here....

There should not be a need for private charities and scholarships. The reason those things are needed is because our government has failed us.



I want you to look at this from another perspective for a moment:


Imagine that our government failed to provide a proper military and police force, so that most Americans were not protected from foreign invasion, terrorism, or even crime.

Then seperate communities could raise their own money to fund private militias and security forces to protect their own neighborhoods. The poorer neighborhoods would not be able to do this, and thus would not be protected.

So then we could have charities that raise money to fund private militias and security forces for the poor neighborhoods, but as we all know there would not be enough money raised to provide for everyone.


How does that system sound to you? I'm inclined to think you would be in favor of it since it would save you tax money. After all, what right do these poor people have to security paid for by your tax money, since they don't pay as much taxes?


But alternatively, if you are against such a system and you do like the current system where the government taxes the people and provides security for all Americans, then why are you against the government providing services to protect all Americans in other ways like with Health Care, Education (there would be no need private scholorships), and making sure people have food to eat? Why is protecting people from attack and crime more important than protecting them from sickness and starvation?

Then there would be no need for private charities. The fact that we need private charities shows that our government has failed us.

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my experience on X5world when I spend too much
time posting in political threads in the lounge...

Sounds Socialist or Communist to me

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I don't think my government is as effective at using my money as private groups are, so I would rather give it to the private groups. Maybe in Utopia world, we would not need such groups, but that's not where we live.

As to schools - don't start me. The 'security' hypothesis above is what happens in our school system. At my kids' school, they get 'class sponsors' for about $1k a year. Each class has 3 or 4 of those (this is public school, mind you). They get huge amounts of volunteer hours, allowing to do more with the staff they pay. In other parts of the County, they get no sponsorships and little volunteer hours. The problem is that the school board fails to recognize the inequity and deal with it. Someday soon, I may run for school board to address this problem.

Improvements in education would lead to improvements in opportunity, pure and simple.

Back to the here and now, I pay school board taxes (a couple grand a year), and I sponsor several classes at school (for another couple grand a year). Next school year, as my kids age out of their elementary school, I will take that money and send it to other areas of the county for class sponsorships. In addition, I have tutored at inner city schools. Like I said - I do my part. Which is probably why I get so riled up over blanket statements like "because you make xxx, I have no sympathy for you."

As far as deductions, I guess I am the rare soul who doesn't take the time to count it all up like I probably should. I am blessed, and feel compelled to give back, without the need for public reward or tax deductions.

Some view protecting members of society from sickness and starvation to be a moral obligation not a political doctrine. I guess you aren't one of them.

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Wake up every day that would be a start.

Well, just so you realize you are a rare individual. There are others as well. Bill Gates is a great person and has donated huge amounts of money to charities worldwide. A few years ago Ted Turner gave $3 billion to UNICEF. But unfortunately, the majority of wealthy people are not like this.

It sounds like we have a difference in opinion on the whole Capitalism/Socialism scale. While I'm no communist, I'm for a more mix of the two like is practiced in most European countries, while you apparently are for a more purely Capitalist system like is practiced in .....hrmmm....Mexico? I actually cannot think of another industrialized country in the world that has a more capitalist system than the United States does.

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my experience on X5world when I spend too much
time posting in political threads in the lounge...

I'm actuall very moderate, usually (my Republican friends call me liberal). I can't stand the fact that our government wastes our money, when they could use it more effectively.

Maybe until they do, I am extremely reluctant to part with more of it for their waste.

The Republicans abandonded fiscal discipline, and their own base let them get what was coming to them. I hope the Democrats do better. Taxing me more, though, is hardly the solution. Eliminating some tax breaks on big business might make more sense. In Florida, eliminating special interest sales tax exemptions would generate an additional $1.25 for every $1 collected. That makes sense to me.

Part of the reason there is so much waste actually happens to do with the involvement of private business in government programs.

One example of this I cited earlier in this thread is the Medicaid bill passed last year. It specifically prohibits the government from bargaining with the drug companies for better "group rate" prices like the private insurance companies do. Instead, the bill says the government must pay full retail for all drugs. Now while you may call this "waste", I call this legalized corruption. Your politicians are clearly passing a bill to help their buddies who own the drug companies. There is no other logical explanation for this. One has to wonder if President Bush and congress would have even decided to tackle the issue of Medicaid if there was not some way in which they could make money for some private corporations. My opinion is that they would not have even bothered.

And unfortunately, that seems to be what is happening to most government programs these days. Everything from the education budget to the military budget is filled with this sort of "waste" (corruption). The waste is not caused by a lack of efficiency. The waste is quite intentional.

The only solution to this problem that I can think of is to stop mixing the public and private sector. For example, if the military is going to be run by the government, then so should all the military contractors. There should be no private industry mixing with government spending. That is what leads to corruption. Politicians should not have the power to help big business make a profit by spending your tax money. While you cannot achieve this 100%, the best effort should be made.

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my experience on X5world when I spend too much
time posting in political threads in the lounge...

Thank you all for posting everyone, especially Gresch and Ylwjacket for adding dimensions to the discussion otherwise it would have been an one-dimensional rant.
I enjoyed reading this thread.

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