NÍVEL DA POLARIZAÇÃO FAZ BRASIL E ARGENTINA SEREM MAIS HERMANOS DO QUE RIVAIS? Gustavo Segré explica

With a touch of inimitable eloquence, Abe Lincoln once warned the people: “We must disenthrall ourselves.” It was at a precarious time when the unity of the nation was at stake. Mr. Lincoln asked folks to get down in the dirt and start digging their way out of deep trouble-liberate themselves. The same advice fits the urgent need for government to act on today’s national urgencies around public welfare issues-and the shocking fiscal condition of our Social Security apparatus, for instance. It’s hopelessly beyond the point of rescue by last-minute tampering, tweaking, misleading trickery, or perpetuation of Shell Game maneuvers by Congress and federal agencies. What was born as a well-intended means to aid the dependent elderly during the Depression, now seems likely to end up as a national humiliation.

Americans, after having made their disdain for taxation plain during the Boston Tea Party, have come to terms with the overall necessity for the levies imposed by governments on all levels. We are all aware that the lifestyles we lead must be administered and that our taxes make that possible. Likewise, we simply expect the streets to be illuminated and the trash collected. Now, however, cities across the country are turning to a fee-based system. Unable to control the spending of budgets bestowed upon them by virtue of the tax paying citizenry, and rather than raise taxes even more – which would cause a revolt – they are going to start charging individuals for services for which they have already payed!