Lambdadelta

Oh hey, an American holiday I can actually somewhat support. Go launch some fireworks, Yankees.

You could always park a carrier in the Persian Gulf... y'know, like you are doing right now. Also, the emissions of a few hundred fighter jets are largely inconsequential.

And this is relevant to our current topic of discussion how exactly?

You've got a dozen or so floating military bases that you can deploy to any location in the world in a few days' notice.

It's also worth pointing out that whether Obama or McCain won in 2008 (or whether Obama or Romney won in 2012) is immaterial to those figures. The increase is independent of the President - it has more to do with the accelerating penetration of drone hardware into the US defense forces as the technology improves and more and more drones roll off the production lines. The US President has about as much actual control over these figures as the Prime Minister of Fiji.

That's like saying apartheid-era South Africa was the most democratic nation in sub-Saharan Africa. It's technically true, but not an especially meaningful statement. Israel uses chemical weapons on civilian populations too (for which there is more evidence than of their use by the Assad regime in Syria). Also, you could just pull out of the region entirely and let them all sort it out amongst themselves [Ron Paul detected].

America may think of Israel as a friend, but Israel (specifically, the Israeli government) thinks of America as a lapdog (it's mostly justified in this belief).

But CAPITALISM !1!1!1!!!!!! Seriously. Neither party has the stones to alienate the (in this case literal) rent-seekers.

As someone who actually lives in Australia, [citation needed]. While Wal-Mart doesn't exist here, the other businesses you mentioned do a pretty lively trade, as do our major department stores and supermarkets - hiring largely minimum wage workers. Of course, but can you honestly see a US government of either stripe moving to regulate rents and prices?

The minimum wage needs to be enough to make ends meet. End of. None of these figures should be higher than 40 or 50.

It's actually not a bad game at all. Will be interesting to see how it looks in final release.

I've spent... $0.99.

Agreed, but it'll never happen.

Uh, no. You're still way better-off than the guy "flipping burgers". That's the beauty of progressive taxation - if you earn more pre-tax than someone else, you'll still take home more post-tax. You seem also to have overlooked the point of hiring a tax accountant - the point is that the well-off will often have a net saving for doing so, which would not be true for the less well-off. Which is what they're being told nowadays when the only job opportunities available for them are dead-end minimum wage jobs that don't even cover the basic costs of living (so they have to rely on welfare programs to make up the difference). The only thing that has changed is the way in which the statement is put to the people. Lack of social mobility is a major problem that is crippling the US economy and society. Most of the people on welfare would love to be able to work to better their lot in life. However, as much as the haves of society would like to believe that it is only effort that sets them apart from the have-nots, that is patently not true. It takes more than mere effort to create prosperity - it takes opportunity. It is a fact that there are not enough jobs in the US economy to pay the cost of living for all of the people in the US. Capitalist economies have a natural rate of employment, after all, since the objective of creating jobs in a capitalist economy is not "providing work for the workers" but instead "creating profit for the capital-holders". Then why are you calling them lazy moochers and telling them that they should starve to death? Actually, you've benefited for your entire life from government programs funded, in the main, by taxation. Your stepfather benefited from government-funded disability support, you drive on government-funded roads, you breathe air that's not laden with acid rain thanks to government regulations, you most likely went to a government-funded school, you were employed by a government-funded military, you most likely get your electricity, gas and water delivered to you through government-funded infrastructure. From cradle to grave, we are all aided, in one way or another, by the State. Taxation (especially progressive income taxation) is simply the dues you pay for the help you have received from that State (and will continue to receive until the day you die). As much as you would like to think that you built your success with your own hard work alone, it simply isn't true. No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. PS: Stop selectively ignoring parts of my posts that you can't refute or I'll stop debating with you.

Depends on the country. I certainly learned about the intertwining history of WW1 and the Treaty of Versailles, as well as the failure of the League of Nations, in my high school history class (in a not-so-great public school in Australia). The problem with that is that sometimesvery often Walmart (and other minimum-wage employers) are the only ones who will hire them. Finding a job is not a simple matter of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, walking into an employer, dropping off a resume and starting work the next day. I'm not a fan of Hobby Lobby for other reasons (hiding behind religious beliefs to avoid paying their workers legally-mandated benefits, for example), but there's another problem with this: there still aren't enough such jobs for everyone who needs to be "moving up" from the minimum wage. Yes, either stay poor working dead-end jobs forever, or "volunteer" yourself into whatever overseas conflict that your government decides is necessary for "national security" or "global stability". Some choice that is(!) For a few reasons: 1) Because you've had the benefit of the opportunities (provided by society) that have allowed you to move up in the world. Many of those struggling today haven't had those same (economic and social) opportunities. 2) Because taxes go toward continuing to provide the above opportunities to both yourself and to others. 3) Because taxes go toward educating the people of America (not that the school system there is doing a great job of it, mind you, but it's better than nothing) so that you're not living in a country full of people who are barely smart enough to run the machines. 4) Because as someone who is financially secure, you can afford to part with more of your income without serious disruption to your standard of living than can someone who earns half as much as you. In addition, as a person of increased economic means, you will more often have the ability to utilise tax-minimisation strategies (such as employing a professional accountant, or using investment packages) than will someone on a lower rung of the socio-economic ladder. 5) Because if you don't and, as a result, social services are withdrawn from those who need them to survive, the poor will rise up and eat the rich. Just ask the monarchs of France and Russia how well their policies of impoverishing the poor to make themselves rich and comfortable worked out for them! Progressive taxation is the rent that the well-off pay for the maintenance of a society that prevents the poor from rising up and taking their property by force. You should consider paying taxes to maintain the society that allowed you to get where you are today and that allows others to have the same opportunities a patriotic duty because ultimately, a strong social safety-net, good educational systems and plenty of opportunities for people to advance themselves makes a strong country, both economically and socially - the kind the United States once (nearly) was and could be in the future. Unfortunately, you've been hoodwinked (mostly by the very, very rich) into believing that the poor are the enemy (they aren't - the consumer demand they fuel is what creates jobs and powers the economy), that the rich are the job-creators of society (they aren't, they just accumulate wealth and pass it on to their children) and that, to borrow a euphemism, you built that (you did, but you didn't do it alone - you had a lot of help, most of which was paid for by taxes).