Sivad wrote:Mexico is the lowest taxed country in the OECD, so it could fund a lot more social programs if it raised taxes. But it can't raise taxes as long as the entire developing world is locked into the neoliberal race to the bottom. Countries like Mexico are pretty much at the mercy of the global neoliberal financial cartel.
Mexico's personal income tax rate is 35%. Its corporate income tax rate is 30%.
Sivad wrote:What Chavez did in Venezuela was just ignorant, Mexico doesn't have to follow that path.
When dealing with socialists, we aren't just dealing with stupid. Chavez and his ilk are theives. Egalitarianism ultimately questions private property and seeks redistribution. Ostensibly, it's not theft or corruption if you get the state to do it.
Sivad wrote:Mexico could invest in infrastructure and increase social spending gradually over time as the economy grows with increasing development.
Now we're in the realm of posssibilities. What they will do is a separate question. If I were Trump, I would campaign for higher wages for workers at American manufacturers in Mexico to make their lives more difficult when outsourcing.
Godstud wrote:Socialism isn't a bad thing.
So why don't you move your family to Venezuela?
Godstud wrote:Trump lies, almost constantly. Relying on him for facts would be a big mistake, and even quite foolish.
He is the president of the United States. It is still important to know what he is saying.
Atlantis wrote:Good, I hope Lopez Obrador hates Trump enough to ask Putin to build a Russian military base in Mexico.
That would be cool. It would force the construction of the wall.
Sivad wrote:Most people don't need to be pressured to work, most people work their asses off regardless of the economic system. Socialism isn't giving people free shit for nothing, it's people demanding a fair return on their labor.
The welfare state pays people so they do not have to do unpleasant jobs, like harvesting crops.
Godstud wrote:@One Degree Your belief that people need pressure to work, is simply a belief. Do you have ANY facts to support this?
I know a great many people who enjoy work, if they are doing what they like, or there is good pay, or other benefits. We do, after all, mostly do not work for free, so you can't say there isn't any incentive to work. Incentive is not "pressure".
You claim to be retired in your 40s. Warren Buffet is in his 80s and still working. You obviously hit your comfort point quite a bit earlier than Warren Buffet.
Godstud wrote:Capitalism regulated by socialism works. You have a great many Democratic Socialist countries that prove such(Canada, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, etc.), and have as high, or higher standards of living, and quality of life than the USA.
All of these societies are comprised primarily of Northern European populations, where there is a high IQ attributed in part to conforming to social expectations. Anthropologically, the history of people from these regions is that they MUST defer to delayed gratification in order to survive. That is a possible reason that social welfare states have abysmal track records in other parts of the world. Socialism assumes that all people are equal.
All of these theoretical conversations are meaningless. What is meaningful is what AMLO will do when he assumes the presidency in 5 months time. So we're probably about 2.5 years away from seeing any meaningful policy changes.
Trump is a US nationalist. As I said before, if I were Trump I would demand American companies pay higher wages for their Mexican AND American workers, with a stronger emphasis on the former to make it less attractive to move to Mexico while currying favor with the Mexican working class.
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