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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (51043)	6/16/2004 11:59:25 PM
From: Taikun	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

The US spends approx. 40% of a $2.4trl 2004 annual budget on military/vets pensions/vets healthcare. Assume Canada had to spend 40% of their public spending on the military. 1. Where would the tax base come from? Resources?(Yikes!!)Income tax(there is a theoretical limit of 65% at which point the underground economy becomes huge-right now it is just very big) Sales Taxes? I guess Canada could go to 25% there. 2. Where would the cuts come from? How about 9 months wait for an MRI or $8/gallon gas like the UK-it is just shy of $3US now right. (and Canada is a net energy exporter!?) Maybe we could run the schools 3 days/wk. Remember what Martin said of his finance minister role: "I just collect the money, I don't spend it". If this was the in the US all hell would break loose. Make no doubt about it, the US civil service is not a place to make money-the private sector is. In Canada some of the best jobs are in the gov't (compare Ottawa's median employment income of Vancouver and it is about twice) and in connected sectors (Power Corp, Bombardier) All the Canadian gov't has to say is "You don't want to be like the US do you" and the taxpayers let another few billion get wasted on superfluous projects all the while seeing their income tax rates skyrocket amid social services that resemble the third world. But you're 8yrs older than me so I have much to learn...