N2S said, Really??? How, pray do tell?

N2S, If you are, truly, "crazier than a shithouse rat", then call me "Feivel", 'cause I do agree with you about one thing; this corporate welfare nonsense has got to stop. Flys right in the face of true capitalism, and smacks of Facism. i.e. government subsidy of private enterprise.

However, this class envy, hatred of the rich/tax the rich silliness must be reigned in. It is a symptom of the death knell of democracy DeTouqville warned us about. When the masses, i.e. the "poor", realize they can vote themselves money, via taxation of the "rich", we tread the slipperary slope to ruination. What shall we do when the producers of society simply refuse to produce, i.e. labor, for the "great unwashed"?

As citizens, we should all share/bear the burdens and sacrifices, of the cost of our society, and its services. When the tax code exempts so many people from any real tax burden, (the Earned Income Tax Credit is a perfect example of this), the aforementioned have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by demanding increased social spending! Hence, expenditures rise, and, eventually, revenues decrease. It never ceases to amaze me that people getting a free ride in the boat feel they have the unadultrated right to tell me to row faster!

There are ancedotal examples of this. In the early '70's, Sweden, in its rush to Utopian socialism, had an oppressive tax rate into the 90 percentile for incomes over $50,000 per annum. It was found, after about the 1st 4 months each year, that their were few doctors to be found in the country practising. Seems they had nothing to gain by working 12 months. When they reached the virtually confiscatory tax limit, they packed up, and went to Spain for extended holiday! (Dirt cheap, at that time.) Eventually, the Swedish parliament came to its senses, and lowered the tax rates, und, viola, the doctors were back.

While the tax structures of the European Union, and the US differ to a great degree, (The Europeans do not, generally, have the extra burdern of State and local obligations, as we do,), there is a lesson to be learned by this parable. At what point, will the "rich" say "enough is enough"?

It has, I can argue, already started. Capital is leaving the country, and is part of the myriad of reasons of out-sourcing. Within certain parameters, it is totally legal, and has some tax advantages.

Go ahead, Dems, make your day, raise the "rich's" taxes, again. My guess is this will merely expedite the outward shift of capital. Good enough for Heinz; good enough for others! Costa Rica is absolutely lovely, any time of year!