4 ms·
It's unethical because we're all on the hook for the money the government spends. That's the social contract. If you think the war in Iraq was a big waste of
by jbooth 15y ago
It's unethical because we're all on the hook for the money the government spends. That's the social contract. If you think the war in Iraq was a big waste of money (as I do), then great, lobby against that. But once the decision's made, we're all on the hook for the money and wiggling out is akin to welching on a bet or defaulting on a loan when you have the money to pay.
Funnily enough, most of the people who complain about "wasteful government spending" were the the loudest advocates of the Iraq war and the expanded modern security state. It turns out everything became way more wasteful and tyrannical on a single day in January 2009.
- clarky07 15y agoThere is nothing unethical about following laws as they are written. The thing to lobby against is the absurd tax code we have in the US. If the tax code wasn't 16k pages we wouldn't have this "problem." You could put all the information needed on 1 page, and we wouldn't have to read these stories in the news anymore.
- jbooth 15y agoNothing unethical about following laws as they are written? That's a silly absolute. What about the nuremberg trials? There's all sorts of unethical things you can do legally, and if you have a bunch of lobbyists working to change the law in your favor, there's even more.
- clarky07 15y agoThat's a pretty big stretch of what I was talking about going from taking a deduction to murdering people. Would you feel better if I said there is nothing unethical about following our current tax laws? As it is the rich pay far more in taxes than what they make relative to the total so I have no problems with them working to minimize their tax bill just as I do. They simply have more resources with which to minimize their bill. They still pay far far more in taxes.
- jbooth 15y agoWarren Buffett and his secretary would like a word with you. My income has FICA and Medicare taken out of about 90% of the total, those taxes are capped. If I made more, I'd be paying less as a % of income for entitlements. My income is taxed at the personal income rate as opposed to the silly-low capital gains rate. Our tax code taxes the poor almost nothing, and the rich at a smaller % of their incomes than the middle class. So the middle class is paying a huge % of the tax burden, relative to their incomes. Then someone goes "Hey, look, the poor pay almost nothing!" and people get mad about the injustice.
- clarky07 15y agoThe facts would like a word with you - http://www.heritage.org/federalbudget/top10-percent-income-earners http://www.heritage.org/federalbudget/top10-percent-income-e... The rich do not get taxed at a smaller % of their incomes than the middle class. Tell your good friend Mr. Buffett he is welcome to send a big check to the treasury. They will accept it.
- rprasad 15y agoEthics and legality are not the same thing. For example, it is legal for judges to hit up parties before their court for campaign donations. However, it is not ethical for them to do so.
- kiba 15y agoThey will change the government, but will it be particularly effective use of our time? It's like voting for two lizards, one of which is the lesser evil. We change the outcome by voting for the lesser evil and trying to convince everyone that this lizard is the right choice. Of course, we didn't really do shit. The system remain unchanged and the evil lizards are still in control. The problem of politics is not any one particular problem or any one particular candidate, but that the whole decision-making process is rotten.