What can I say?

Political science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Andrea Louise Campbell, agrees with me.  The current issue of 'Foreign Affairs' features an article by Ms. Campbell entitled 'America the Undertaxed'.  Yes, they are.  And they want to be even more so, if the Republicans win.  I know, I know, I do harp on about taxes, but hey, you gotta have 'em.  No way around it.  That's how successful countries function.

"The most inportant debates in US politics today center (sic) on the cost and the role of government.  Cutting taxes, limiting expenditures and reducing debt have become the chief concerns of Republicans, whereas Democrats generally seek to preserve or even expand government spending and are willing to raise taxes to do so," writes Ms. Campbell.

The free market and big business cannot run a country.  Unfortunately, the Republicans think they can.  Don't get me wrong, I am not an Obama fan, but he is the lesser of two evils -- except for the fact that the American system stymies him at every turn.  He can never seem to get to his agenda. 

The article contains a graph which shows the total tax revenues as a percentage of GDP in the industrialized world.  Denmark is at the top, with 48.1%, Canada is in the middle, with 32.0% and the US is third from the bottom with 24.1% -- just ahead of Chile and last-placed Mexico.  How can you run a country like that?

She concludes:  "The decision of tax reform is a referendum on the direction in which Americans would like to take their country.  The US currently taxes top earners at some of the lowest effective rates in the country's history.  The US tax system collects little revenue, poorly re-distributes that money across the population and is mind-bogglingly complex."

Recently, tax dollars have been used to bail out automobile giants and investment banks.  What a mess.