That's not what progressive means, in this context. A progressive tax system is one where you pay a (progressively) higher rate when you have more income. What you have is a regressive tax system.

Do you happen to know what percentage of U.S. companies actually pay tax at the stated high rate? How does that compare to other countries? I know that quite a few of your companies weasel their way out of paying any tax at all, but I don't know how many overall manage this.

The ancient Roman empire also had social welfare, of a sort, increased after 122 B.C. See http://www.roman-empire.net/society/society.html for an overview. Then, as now, it was expensive to run.

The comparison is actually quite fair, except that in ancient Rome it was expected that wealthy citizens would give back to society and the idea of unbounded avarice as a virtue would have been quite foreign to them... so in a sense it's back to front.
>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker:

Not quite sure how comparing that to the US economy makes any sense. The US has the highest corporate tax rate on Planet Earth now. We have very high capital gains taxes (compared to global averages). Our income tax is so "Progressive" right now that the bottom 50% of taxpayers only pay 5% of the taxes. Over 75% of the Federal Government's 1.6 trillion dollar budget is dedicated to social programs for the poor.
Only way comparing it to the vid makes sense if if you contextualize it by stating that it is the GOVERNMENT that is deciding the screw the poor by the process of its own incredible incompetence, malfeasence, and mismanagement. Since only about 20 cents on the dollar comes 'out' of government versus what goes in, then yes - the U.S. Federal Government is entirely oriented around screwing the poor.
But of course, that's not what Prog-Lib-Dytes mean. To a leftist, the video means "tax breaks for the rich" ... (insert liberal talking point) et al.

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Tags for this video have been changed from 'Work work work, Hellow Boys, I missed you, Mel Brooks, blazing saddle' to 'Work work work, Hellow Boys, I missed you, Mel Brooks, blazing saddles' - edited by Shepppard

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Work work work, Hellow Boys, I missed you, Mel Brooks' to 'Work work work, Hellow Boys, I missed you, Mel Brooks, blazing saddle' - edited by Shepppard

mel brooks already did that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAZhtT-dUyo
also in worse quality on the sift
http://videosift.com/video/Jews-in-Space-Mel-Brooks-History-of-the-World-Part-1

*promote the funny. Promote the marvelous. Promote the silly. Promote the juxtaposition of biblical verse and Mel Brooks.

I swear the longer the Herman Cain Circus goes on the more it reminds me of Mel Brooks' 'The Producers', i think he is actually trying to flop and just get publicity for his books and instead no matter how bad he appears, people keep taking him seriously... says alot not only about the state of the political process, but also the media and republican party.

Now wait a moment... if there are Nazis in space... does it follow that there are Jews in Space??

http://videosift.com/video/Jews-in-Space-Mel-Brooks-History-of-the-World-Part-1

>> ^davidraine:

"There's trees, there's rocks...
...there's birds, there's squirrels.
Come on! We'll bless them all
until we get fahsnickered!"
- Mel Brooks


Fagelah?

Mel Brooks did something similar (and I actually liked his scene more) in Life Stinks (underrated film, IMO). Still, The Big Lebowski is an all-time classic. Love this movie.

"There's trees, there's rocks...
...there's birds, there's squirrels.

Come on! We'll bless them all
until we get fahsnickered!"
- Mel Brooks

Rabbi Tuckman's circumcision guillotine always makes me smile
Mel Brooks ftw.

mel brooks fought in WWII and watch his movie "the producers"

>> ^rougy:
Fuck him.
He's crass and, obviously, an attention whore.
But everyone has to kiss his ass, I guess.
Smooch the heinie.
$$$$$
Who else got away with that shit?
Mel Brooks? Woody Allen? Jerry Lewis?
Not even. Not one of them used people as props.


but isn't that the point and what makes the character so funny? i totally agree that everything about him is completely outrageous and distasteful - thats why we like him! personally i love his slapstick humour the most (e.g. the naked fight in borat) i think he is a talented physical actor and often demonstrates a keen awareness of his body, gesuture and space.