Defense is 3.3% of GDP. It’s lower than it was in the Cold War era. Federal government spending is 21% of GDP. Finland’s government spending is 56% of GDP. That gap is 10x more than what we spend in defense.
It’s Trump’s way of negotiation with the congress and the American public.
The fact that everyone is talking about this is the proof of the mere one page summary has had provoked more thought processes than thousands of pages of tax code.
Trump has successfully attracted national attention and deep thought from every citizen. I have a better understanding about out tax system from the discussions provoked by his 1-page summary. I prefer a 1-page summary over thousands of pages
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If Finland really spends 56% of gdp on government then they would be better off under Russian control…Taxes in Russia, 13%, are quite reasonable. .Plus they get all the socialist crap for free…Although according to my wife the quality is low…
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In Russia, doesn’t the govnement control the oil, so that helps fund the government? That works when oil is $100/barrel.
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In Brunei, oil is owned by the sultan so no personal income tax, no residential property tax, no sales tax, no value added tax and no capital gain tax.
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Most of the gulf countries, IIRC Saudi Arabia, Dubai…etc, are like this (no personal income tax, no residential property tax, no sales tax, no value added tax and no capital gain tax.). Living expenses max $300/month and rest goes to savings. Many US citizen are working with big pay checks !
But you need to withstand more than 100 F sun heat !
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Brunei is not that hot. Ain’t Arizona is hotter than that?
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So, I’ve asked before, and I’ll ask again, are we sure this isn’t a sign of inflation from QE?
Of course it is. But it could be the new norm as QE might not be removed like forever.
Around the world, countries are racing in a war of currency devaluation. It’s natural for hard assets to do well with that policy. Is there anything that could cause that policy to change?
At least this time we have fully qualified buyers with 20%+ down and high credit scores. To me, what makes a bubble is easy credit. The crash comes when the easy credit ends. It’s how the .com crash and Great Depression happened. Most people don’t realize why the .com crash was so bad. The .coms were a tiny part of the crash. The real crash with far larger maker cap were hardware providers. They has sold to .coms with easy credit and were allowed to book the full revenue of the sale. When the .com failed and wasn’t going to payoff the equipment, they had to start restating revenue. That’s the biggest thing SOx changed. Now financed revenue can only be recognized as it’s received. The same goes for lease agreements and service contracts. Even if they are paid for upfront, the revenue can only be recognized over the length of the contract.
Yeah, let’s keep cutting taxes!
What works for a nation doesn’t imply work for a state 
Simple wisdom not understood by politicians?
Big difference between a state and a nation e.g. crossing between states, no need a passport 
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Agreed. In fact, I wouldn’t mind just stopping funding for the IRS.
The process of submitting, checking, reconciling and auditing taxes is very unproductive 
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Repeal state income tax. Use sales tax to replace state income tax.
Federal tax is already doing the job for redistribution, no need for a second redistribution.
Is state income tax an American innovation? A bad innovation
Finland’s corporate tax rate is 20%, so it’s far lower than the personal income tax rate. It seems even they understand you need to create an environment where businesses want to operate in your country. Businesses create the jobs.
Yeah… no kidding. Could you imagine what would happen if all those people were working on something worthwhile instead? We’d probably have a cure for cancer by now.
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IMO, Bubble (esp real estate) will not be there until Stock falls down, rest assured.
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Finland has an export-led economy. USA has a consumer-led economy. For export-led economy, is ok to have corporate tax rate lower than personal income tax rate.
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Aside from delicious Fazer mints, what is Finland exporting?