I feel like I'm trying to wrassle Jell-o...

Look, I've already gone more than halfway by accepting your "utilitarian" approach, which can be and has been used to justify pretty much every violation of individual rights throughout history.

Hey, Tom, if Bush's stimulus plan is ideologically impure, you should take it up with Bush. He's the one who says it will have utility help the economy. I want to examine that claim.

Considering that you're the one who really thinks I need to lose more of my hard-earned income to a government that has doubled in size since 1974, maybe YOU should be the one with the burden of proof.



...where the hell do you get the evidence that taking more money out of the private sector and giving it to the government will improve the economy? What proof can YOU come up with?



Tom, who are you arguing with? If you go back up the thread, you'll find that I never once suggested a different plan...not socialism...not a tax increase, nor a tax decrease...not a new government jobs program...not a subsidy to some favored industry...nothing. Who is the "you" you're addressing who thinks you need to contribute more of your hard-earned income in taxes?

I've tried to ask a simple question on two threads now: Will Bush's economic stimulus plan really stimulate an economic recovery. For two threads you've dodged that question. I'm convinced, finally, that you don't have an answer. That you realize that it won't help the economy, and that it's just a political dodge to pass a tax cut that wouldn't be popular if it was called what it really is.

Once again, Bush is lying to us.

--Robert