Slims

Um, the rich are also consumers...they just buy more expensive goods and services.

I agree that the total tax burden on...say a can of beans is greater than the sales tax plus what the consumer pays in taxes. However, the rich are paying the same tax, plus luxury taxes, plus higher income taxes. If a rich person just 'saves' his money until his death, most of it goes to sky-high estate taxes.

Belief is a poor word choice as most people 'believe' simply because they want to believe while facts may 'convince' them otherwise if they bothered to pay attention. I am not going to post quotes or statistics as they are so subjective, but google the issue for a bit and you will see that the rich do in fact spend their money, and that they do pay most of the taxes.

The idea that rich people somehow are able to avoid spending their money or paying taxes is absurd...except for what is donated to charity.
-----Added 26/1/2009 at 06 : 16 : 26-----
Back to the original topic...

I would also allow school vouchers equal to the total cost of attendance at a public school, good for any school parents choose to send their children to. I would not only cut a check directly to whatever school a child attends, but deny the public school system that revenue if the child attends a private school system...encouraging competition and making quality education available to every family with the motivation to pursue it.

I would also hold teachers at public schools to the same standards as teachers at private schools. Pay will be performance based rather than on number of years as a teacher. I would also encourage successful, retiring businessmen and women to teach...who better to give children the tools for success than those who are actually successful in life?


Sustainable energy: I would create a nationwide drive towards non depletable nuclear power. It is clean, safe, sustainable, and for all intents and purposes unlimited. I would re-allow nuclear reprocessing and attempt to make America entirely nuclear powered within 12 years (time picked at random, insert whatever is actually attainable). This would go far towards reducing our foreign energy dependence. Meanwhile I would drill domestic oil reserves to keep that money from going to the middle east and plow a portion of those profits towards sustainable alternatives so we will have options when those reserves run dry.

Additionally, I would cease all ethanol subsidies...it simply isn't possible to produce ethanol from corn efficiently.

__________________
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence