RE: United States of Europe. We are all socialists now.
This is very much to the point. It makes me ill to contemplate this. I have little to say, other than that it ain't going to be pretty. Speaking for myself, I forsee the day coming where I look at the punitive taxes that have been levied upon me (not now, in the future) and I'll decide, screw it, I'm dialing my work efforts back. Why work 55 hour work weeks (I billed 2650 hours last year -- 53 hours x 50 weeks) just to have the vast majority of the upper 20% of my income confiscated by progressive taxes? I'll reallocate that time to reading Proust, learning a new language, writing, and other personal avocations. When the kids get out of the house, why continue grinding, I'll downsize my abode, move to a favorable location, and live cheaply -- trading my time for my labor. It is just a matter of scaling one's consumption. If I can keep 80% of my income, I'm pretty motivated to kick butt and earn. If I surrender 70% of the margin, I'm highly incentive to instead dedicate that marginal time to my avocations. I forsee this coming. Maybe I can game this new dispensation so I myself can be a net consumer of government benefits?
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