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ONE CHART, 10,000 WORDS … a case of “American Exceptionalism”; Carl Davidson (KD); Facebook; December 30, 2016.
You can learn more about BCR’s leftster management here. “Leftster” is the combination of leftist and gangster, inspired by the left-originated “bankster.”
Local lefty leader Carl Davidson (KD) wrote, “ONE CHART, 10,000 WORDS. Once again, a case of ‘American Exceptionalism,’” referring to a chart entitled “In 44 Countries College Education is Free*.” Go to the bottom of the chart and in very fine print you’ll find the asterisk in the title means “Free education refers to education that is funded through taxation, or charitable organizations rather than tuition fees.”
As with healthcare, the more government subsidizes education, the more expensive it becomes. Even President Obama (BHO) recognized the problem. In his 2013 state of the union address, BHO said, “skyrocketing costs price too many young people out of a higher education, or saddle them with unsustainable debt. Through tax credits, grants and better loans, we’ve made college more affordable for millions of students and families over the last few years. But taxpayers can’t keep on subsidizing higher and higher and higher costs for higher education.”
After that, however, BHO runs off the rails. Continuing, BHO said, “Colleges must do their part to keep costs down, and it’s our job to make sure that they do. So tonight, I ask Congress to change the Higher Education Act so that affordability and value are included in determining which colleges receive certain types of federal aid. And tomorrow, my administration will release a new ‘College Scorecard’ that parents and students can use to compare schools based on a simple criteria -- where you can get the most bang for your educational buck.”
One contributor (Joseph A. Clore) to the thread wrote, “If the rich and corporations paid taxes at the same rate they paid under Dwight Eisenhower, there’d be plenty of money for free education and a multitude of other society-benefiting programs.” KD concurred, writing, “Exactly. It’s how we got Interstate highways, started by Ike.” JAC responded, “Not enough taxes taken in, so tuitions are raised. I received by BA in 1972, MPA in 1974 from a private university in New York State. This was prior to Reagan’s tax cuts for the rich. There were many scholarships and grants back then. All the tax cuts ended them.”
Messrs. Clore (JAC) and KD failed to mention the top marginal tax rate during the Eisenhower administration was 91%. Yes, you read that correctly. We ran deficits for five of Ike’s eight years in office for a net debt increase of $26.7 billion, or 10%. JAC and KD also didn’t mention our anemic economic growth during the Eisenhower administration. With the exceptions of 1955 and 1959 (both 7.2%), annual GDP growth was 2.5% or lower with two years actually negative [1954 (-0.6%) and 1958 (-0.9%)].
If you want to see businesses die or move overseas, jack up the rate to 91%. The only thing that made the 91% rate “tolerable” was all the “special interest” deductions, exemptions, and so on. One reason our top marginal tax rates are lower than in Ike’s era is today’s rates don’t have all those “special interest” deductions, exemptions, and so on. Who on Earth would tolerate giving 91% of their earnings to someone else?
Though off topic, one of the comments was “Russia won the war in WWII.” A few years ago, Jean Damu wrote, “when I taught US History my students always learned the Red Army won that war.” I wonder if the parents of his students knew what he taught. In grade school I learned the USSR played a significant role in WWII, but not that it “singlehandedly defeated the Nazis.”
Here’s the “Russia won the war in WWII” thread:
Mark Baumgardner (MB) wrote, “Nope. Not thinking red. They fought hard no doubt, but if the Germans didn’t have to deal with the US they would have been over run as well.” Note: I don’t know if MB is real or KD’s “Ashley Jackson.” KD routinely commemorates “The Battle of Stalingrad,” but I haven’t seen him do the same for D-Day.
Diana Dalnes wrote, “Learn some history. Watch Oliver Stones ‘Untold History of the U.S.’ and you will learn that Russia won the war in WWII.” Sure, just about the same time I pay attention to Michael Moore.
Dario Azzellini wrote, “Are you kidding???? You shuld read something about history... The Red Army and the partisans in different countries put their lifes... the US did not intervene to free concentration camps even if they knew what was happening, the US denied to deliver arms to the Italian partisans fighting against the German Wehrmacht because they were communists... so it left them alone in the already liberated zones... in exchange it reintroduced the mafia in Southern Italy, because it did not want any communists in government, so the US brought US-Italian Mafia guys from the US and put them in charge in Sicily... and the story could go on and … I guess your view on history is also a result of the bad education system and the corporate media ownership …”
The basis for these lefty positions appears to be a pie chart showing World War II military deaths by country with the comment, “Now tell me again who saved the world from fascism?”
Because the USSR had 65% of the non-Axis “Military Deaths” and the U.S. had 2%, these folks want us to believe the USSR “singlehandedly defeated the Nazis.” Suffering “the brunt of the war” and military deaths as a measure of your contribution to victory is new to me. I didn’t go to War College, but I think it’s better to kill a lot more of the enemy than they kill of you.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity. <g>
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