Socialist disaster, France ... response to email from a friend

Check out A Short History of Progress for a great perspective on the inevitable failure of humans throughout the ages to organize into societies. Seems to me we've got maybe a couple of decades to figure out how our population, our egotistical organizational skills and our impacts on the earth enable "human society". Religion certainly hasn't helped! (except "ours", of course).

Yes, France is in fiscal crisis like everywhere else except Canada (according to the attached video), perhaps. I was in France last year, and it was wonderful ... I guess I wasn't watching the right news. If only the media spent more time illustrating the good that is/could be done instead of whipping up advertising dollars by blaming "those people" via sensational, misleading and self-serving yak! Seems like we like cage-match fighting better than Nature.

"... critics of federal social programs sound an alarm that the United States is rapidly becoming an “entitlement society” in which social programs are undermining the work ethic and creating a large class of Americans who prefer to depend on government benefits rather than work. ... more than 90 percent of the benefit dollars that entitlement and other mandatory programs spend go to assist people who are elderly, seriously disabled, or members of working households — NOT TO able-bodied, working-age Americans who choose not to work. This figure has changed little in the past few years."[source]

National Defense, now 20% of our federal spending, would be best spent on healthcare, education, infrastructure (including heavy research into geothermal power, of course), ... empowering families, making friends instead of enemies.

20% of the US budget goes to "Defense"
34% of the US budget goes to Entitlement Spending
  90% of that goes to Elederly, Disabled, or Working Households
  30% of that includes Social Security, supposedly a self-financed program
3.5% of the US budget goes to veterans' benefits.

PS: don't forget that American population has gone from 191 to 316 million since 1964. US tax rates are the lowest today since then.

The above was written BY AN AMERICAN! ... ME!

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Vane Lashua, 369 Main Street #65, Beacon, NY 12508
845-337-9435 | http://thnktnk.net | vlashua@thnktnk.net

a distant cousin, classmate & friend wrote:

> Having just returned from France, it is sad to see what is happening there. Even sadder is the similar trajectory of our country.. Until the last five years, I always believed that the European socialist welfare states would go broke in time for us to wake up and reverse course to prevent our economic demise; however, we have caught up at astonishing speed and may beat them over the fiscal cliff.

>
> Subject: The French way - Every American needs to see this (WRITTEN BY A FRENCHMAN!!!!!!!)
> From: Bernd
> This is a very educational video.
>
> A teachable moment. Please listen to this and share with your friends. Trouble is, 60% of our population won't know anything is wrong until a bomb
>
> goes of in their back yard.
>
> Every American should review this video on France.
>
> http://www.cbn.com/tv/3255110732001