You're making some assumptions that aren't true. For me the most glaring one is assuming that the economic success came from large government rather than vice versa. Sorry, but there isn't any logical explanation for that position.
Again, you're STARTING from the position that "there isn't any logical explanation". You're STARTING with the assumption that "this particular set of possibilities are unthinkable, so we will ignore them." Do you not see the illogic there?
If you choose to ignore the fact that all wealth is created by business profits, you simply don't explain how government creates profits.
No, not all wealth is created by business profits. That, sir, is yet another assumption on your part. There are several ways that wealth is created. One, of course, is by business profits. Another is by the perception of investors - there's a huge amount of money created in the stock markets of the world; it's not a zero-sum game and never was - because if our economy was a zero-sum game, we would not see boom times (or bubbles). And another way that wealth is created is by the government - yes, the GOVERNMENT. From
an interview ("Does the Fed create money out of thin air?") on PBS of
Paul Solman:
The two main forms of money created by the U.S. government are currency — about a trillion dollar’s worth out there at the moment — and “Federal Reserves:” electronic blips on the books of financial institutions — mainly banks. The Fed does indeed create these so-called reserves “out of thin air,” as you put it, when it buys securities to increase the money supply.
Since it doesn't create profits, it doesn't contribute to wealth creation. I explained that earlier.
You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.
It is you who chose to ignore it.
Because you are STARTING with the assumption that possibility X cannot possibly work, and then you claim that there's no logical explanation for the economic results - the REALITY - that your economic theory says should be impossible.
Government doesn't contribute to wealth creation. It never has - ever - anywhere.
Wrong. You really should learn to stop STARTING from assumptions.
The wealthiest nations are the capitalistic ones.
YES! The wealthiest nations ARE the capitalistic ones - and (with the exception of China which is per capita about 1/4 as wealthy as America)
they are ALL the ones with the higher effective taxes, strong regulation, and significant social safety nets that you think SHOULD drive a nation to the economic dustbin of history! Do you truly not see the glaring hole in your logic in that your logic DOES NOT EXPLAIN why it is that the nations with the economic structures you think are destructive to any economy????
That hole in your logic is big enough to sail an oil tanker through, but you're STARTING with the assumption that you can't be wrong, that the fact that all the most successful first-world democracies are SOCIALIZED first-world democracies must be some kind of impossibly-unexplainable COINCIDENCE, and you cannot bring yourself to even consider just for the least moment that maybe, just maybe...it's NOT a coincidence.
Why they decide to use so much money to fund a bloated government is beyond me but, apparently, that's what they do.
Did you know that conservatives are honestly, truly right about something when it comes to taxes? All taxation -
all taxation - is indeed wealth redistribution. Sure as heck is - and it's absolutely crucial to any nation's economy.
Look, guy, every conservative out there will claim that he knows how to invest his money better than the government does - and of course you see it the same way. But I've got another challenge for you: can you tell me exactly how our tax dollars are wasted (except for that which goes outside our borders)? When the government collects taxes, do those taxes go *poof* and disappear into nothingness? And if not, then where do those tax dollars go? Trace the life cycle of, say, a million dollars in taxes, and show me where even one dollar of it is wasted...
...because I've been able to think of one way, and one way only (and it's something our government does very rarely). I'm sure there's more ways - and maybe you can edjimicate me on that - but...let's see what you can do with this challenge.
