No offense, but you missed it by a mile.
1913 - The 16th Amendment is added to the Constitution, income taxes are made permanent.
Before then taxes were only levied to pay for wars and the rich payed for them. It was the 'Robin Hood' ideal that made people want an income tax, to tax the rich and give to the poor. Initially, this was a tax ONLY for the rich, which is why it became popular and was voted into the Constitutional Law. A good idea.... in theory, but two main problems: 1) The poor and the middle class were not taught financial education, something not taught by schools, only by parents. 2) Government fiscal policy is very inefficient. The government is rewarded for spending all its money. When they get money, they spend it all, hiring more people and building more. The money does not recirculate. Hence, the appetite for money grew. The rich, having financial knowledge, knew how to get out of this loop, through corporations. With the government appetite growing more and more and the rich paying less and less, the tax moved down to the middle class and eventually to the poor.
Now, this is as true today as it was in the 1920s. Let me take a poll: How many here own their own home? If you do is that your largest investment? Do you consider your home an asset or a liability? When you work at your job, are you working for money? When you get a raise, a bonus or get a new, higher paying job, what do you do with the extra money? Do you buy a bigger house, a new car or bike or go shopping? Or do you invest it in real assets, ownings that make money?
Does anyone see a pattern? The majority are taught to get a job, specialise and work for money. The rich, taught by their parents, have money work for them, they
make money. You should now see that the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer all the while the government grows and grows. The poor are taxed when they earn, taxed when buy, taxed where they live and taxed when they die. The rich use the biggest loophole ever created, the corporation. They earn, buy and live on pre-tax dollars, investing in money producing assets and pay tax on whatever excess is left. The poor and middle class leave their children debt, while the rich leave their children inheritence. Socialism grows, capitalism dies and the masses are blinded by patriotism.
Income gaps have dissolved the greatest empires, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans on up to more recent history. All of them had a widening gap in income. People wanted more money, which led to higher prices which let to people wanting more money, all to buy liabilities. The poor can no longer afford proper health care, nutrition and general goods and dissent, blaming the rich and/or the government. The rich, not understanding the poor, opress them to gain control and security. The poor begin uprising and outsiders see a golden opportunity to attack. This is how the Roman empire fell. The masses attacked from within while the barbarians came from the north and attacked from the outside.
Now, replace the barbarians of 600AD with the terrorists of today. They see what we, in general, do not: a rich, powerful government spreading itself thinner. For whatever reason, religion, opportunity, land, power, they see the time is right to attack. The fruit has ripened.
I do not expect anyone to see this relation even as I have explained it. Most will probably misunderstand, please forgive me as I do not always articulate these points in the most efficient manner. After all, you were taught in school to get an education, to specialise, to work and to spend. As I have seen on other boards, I expect many to be angry and deny these statements. But the truth is as close as the pocket books of yours and mine. It has taken me 26 years of my life to finally put all of the pieces together and just now I am building my financial foundation, trying to squeeze myself out of the mess I made for myself and avoiding the very large mess my own father has made. I feel very fortunate, though. I have friends in their 40s, 50s and 60s who are just starting to realise this. An entire generation of people realising they have nothing but liabilities, ruined health from a lifetime of work savings and social security diminished and debts their children will have to pay.
My apologies if anyone has taken offense to this. I mean not to trivialise the war or insult anyone or prove any point as I am not arguing with any points. I mean only to attempt to reveal the very deep web into which we are entangled. I know I have omitted many points relating to the war itself, but in essence, my view is that the cause is right under our very noses and, in a way, no fault of our own but that of our parents and teachers, their parents and teachers and on down the line. If I can explain this better, please show me how.