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Originally Posted by buzz2  I'm just not understanding your meaning when you say propaganda. |
Here is a definition of propaganda. I find it difficult to believe you don't know what it is, or how the national sales tax (NST) people are using it, but this link will connect you to references on the subject.
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Originally Posted by buzz2 Is it the books? |
Not
per se. It is, rather, the merchandising the NST folks use to promote it.
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Originally Posted by buzz2 Because I see those as a way to get the information out to the public. |
Books do, indeed, meet the goal of informing people. The question is not the books themselves but their contents and the propaganda lurking between their covers.
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Originally Posted by buzz2 The same with the radio waves or the internet. The information has to get out there SOMEHOW. |
Yes, but if the "information" is nothing other than propaganda and lies, who needs or wants it?
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Originally Posted by buzz2 How else could you do it? So, I don't see it as propaganda, but as "saturating" the public with information. |
Propaganda is not merely "information," it is DISTORTED information meant to trick people into believing something they would never accept otherwise. Labeling the NST a "fair" tax is a prime example of such a manipulation. Another is the lie that the NST will collect itself.
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Originally Posted by buzz2 The motives, the way I see it, are to change a tax system that really doesn't help the "average Joe". |
You see, this is an example of "propaganda." Have you actually sat down and done the math to determine whether or not the NST really, truly, actually does benefit "the average Joe"? Or do you merely take Boortz's word that it does?
Moreover, in order to know if the NST will truly help "the average Joe" you must first define what "the average Joe" is. How much does s/he make?
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Originally Posted by buzz2 It's a system that's friendly to only the politicians and their special interests. |
The NST is "friendly" to those folks who don't do so well under the current system. Which includes a lot of people, but at the same time, the current system benefits some others who might be worse off under the NST.
Such as, anyone who currently earns too little income to pay any income tax. This is a group that includes many millions of people ... ALL of whom will end up paying federal taxes that they had never paid before. At the opposite end of the scale are those who earn a great deal of money and pay a top rate of 36% (if memory serves). Those people would benefit mightily under the NST since they would pay FAR less than they currently do.
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Originally Posted by buzz2 A way for them to buy votes, by telling the general public, "I'll give you this, if you vote for me". And those who are living off of the public dole, eat it up. Example; welfare, food stamps, health care. I know some folks NEED those things. But, some have grown up in the system and don't want to or don't know how to get out of it. |
And there are some who do just fine under the current system but would pay under the NST.
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Originally Posted by buzz2 For example, the Alaskan politician who took about a $million to build a heated bus stop. |
Bzzzt! You're mixing issues. This is the practice of "earmarking" or "pork-barrel politics" and has nothing to do with tax structure.
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Originally Posted by buzz2 That continues only because of the current tax system allows it. The "Fair Tax" would put a halt to that sort of "pork barrel" spending. |
Bzzzt! Wrong. The two have NOTHING to do with one another. The NST is the means of collecting taxes. Earmarks are an abusive way to spend it. They are NOT connected in any way whatsoever.
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Originally Posted by buzz2 I believe the "Fair Tax" is the only plan that addresses all those issues. |
That you believe it, cannot make it true.
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Originally Posted by buzz2 And, as I said in a different thread, we need to install term limits for the Congress and Senate to get rid of all those "career politicians". That I think would help the PEOPLE out also. |
Bzzzt! Term limits are yet another issue totally separate from tax schemes.