Kristokoff

'Occupy' Government

2011-10-29T20:26:00.005-04:00

It is really sad and tragic that after almost four years this still has to be said. That after almost four years many people still do not know the true story behind the financial crisis. Do you not see America? Do not be misled by the politicians, political folk and the media who continue to hide the truth about the financial crisis and the resulting recession.

Government and ill-conceived regulations caused the financial collapse and the resulting recession. Most mortgage lenders would never have taken this amount of risk if government had not taken that risk away. That is the reason why government became involved in the first place. Government not only lowered lending standards but they set the quotas via the 'Community Reinvestment Act', for giving bad loans. When lending institutions did not meet these quotas they lowered the lending standards even more through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mortgage backed securities (MBS) were devised to satisfy the ever increasing demands of government. Government through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bought the bad debt from the lending institutions. They then bundled the bad debt into MBS to trade, thus spreading the toxicity throughout the system. Through its incompetence government took all the bad lending risk away. What is worse is that so called 'community organizers' went in and coerced many lending institutions to do this. The people they thought they were helping ended up losing their homes. Everyone is paying for this massive government incompetence and corruption. The tragic thing is many of the same people who were intimately involved in this giant scam, Barney Frank to name just one, are still in government. They should have been thrown out long ago. Many politicians were corrupt, they ignored the problems, they covered up the problems and they quieted the regulators that warned of impending problems.

What may be an even greater tragedy is that Chris Dodd and Barney Frank designed the financial bill that was supposed to fix this. It is ironic that the clueless and/or incompetent politicians passed a bill that is supposed to fix the problem they do not even think they created. The Dodd/Frank financial bill just institutionalizes the problems that created the financial crisis and 'too big to fail' which will ensure more bailouts. The little guy is already seeing the bad results of this bill. Debit card are more expensive. It will get worse.

The government through the FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who by the way, we the taxpayer continue to bail out, are still giving out bad loans. Government continues the stupidity.

So yes, it is sad and unbelievable that this has to be said. The 'Occupy' protesters are occupying the wrong location. They should be occupying government. It is even more sad and tragic that those that know better are misleading the occupiers.

This will continue to happen until we all know the truth. Only then can we ensure this never happens again.

Unless your agenda is to destroy the system, the solution is not giving millions of people something they cannot afford thereby destroying the whole system and everyone in it. The solution is to ensure everyone has the opportunity and tools to be able to afford a home. They will also be able to create jobs and wealth for others to have the same opportunities they had.

The excellent resources below go into greater detail.
The Financial Crisis: Is Anyone Telling Us the Truth?
Who Do You Really Believe?
Smoking-Gun Document Ties Govt Policy To Housing Crisis
Making Homes Affordable Makes Others Poor
A list of Must Read Articles on the Financial Crisis

Freedom and Health Care Reform

2009-08-17T18:50:00.017-04:00

In a society founded on individual freedom, most of the health care plans currently in Congress should not even be an option. If we have a shred of decency, most of the bills being worked on in Congress will be tossed out and reforms based on the individual freedoms our country was founded on will be devised. Most of the bills in Congress will do exactly what they claim will happen if things are not fixed, except it will happen even faster. There are very few people who say nothing should be done. Do not buy into that straw man argument.

Many jobless Americans would rather have the economy be the number one priority. This does not diminish the health care problems. But first show you can help the economy or at least not make it worse. A growing, healthy economy will alleviate many health care problems. Believe me there are many people and small businesses that are sitting back waiting for fear that cap & trade, all the taxes being talked about to pay for ObamaCare, the health coverage penalty taxes, surtaxes and others will be enacted. This uncertainty will keep jobs from being created and keep the recovery from happening. Many businesses have done all the cuts they can do. Some still offer their employees health insurance, especially those that have found the high-deductable variety with an HSA. Cap & tax, other taxes and the current health care bills in congress, with their included massive tax increases, will cause layoffs and most likely put many out of business, even if they dump health care onto a public option. There are so many in this situation. Small business should be fueling the recovery. Instead they are struggling. This is a bad sign for a recovery.

Many have read the bills that are in Congress and they have deemed them to be disastrous. Yes, many of the claims are exaggerated, however, those writing the bills and those who advise the President have said publicly they want a single-payer system. Those who devised the public option admit publicly that it was designed as the first step to a government-run single-payer system, and even the President has publicly said several times in the past he is in favor of a single-payer system. These facts just make people uneasy and wary of what is in the bills. The ideas the President’s advisors espouse and the fact that he would surround himself with these advisors is troubling. These ideas may be watered down or taken out of the bills. But I believe they should not be advising on something this personal. The bills in Congress have many aspects i.e. taxes, employer taxes and penalty fees, surtaxes, coverage mandates in the exchange and many other things in HR 3200 that will cause many to be dumped onto a public option or co-op if it is available.

Mandates will just raise health care costs. These bills do not address high costs; they just build on the problems without fixing them. Even a deficit neutral ObamaCare plan would cost more. Higher taxes would only pay for part of the trillions in cost. Costs would skyrocket year after year, like Medicare, Medicaid and other government entitlements, because these plans do not address the high costs, they just build on these crumbling foundations. If you have to raise taxes to pay for health care, you are not saving any money; you are making it more costly. The plans in Congress spend trillions and raise taxes, yet they still leave 17-34 million uninsured. This is not a good investment, especially considering it will slow the economy and lower the quality of health care.

You cannot dismiss the plans that are in congress just because they are a work in progress. They are similar and they represent the direction those in congress wish to go. Do not allow yourself to be deceived. Do not dismiss anything until you have vetted it out. Just because you hear it on TV does not make it true. In fact, those pushing the reforms in Congress and sometimes even the President have made wild claims.

Don’t forget the original plan was to get a bill done before the August break. Which means a bill similar to the House HR 3200, Baucus or Kennedy plans would have been voted on with an included public option. One could say that is what they really want. This is far too important for that amount of speed and deception. The American people should have been included from the beginning. That has added to the distrust and related falling poll numbers of Congress, the President and the current health care plans. This has added to the frustration that is now being released at town hall meetings across the country.

The framework for a panel to curb costs and build guidelines for treatments for doctors to follow has already been set up in the stimulus bill and it is in HR 3200. In medicine there is no one size fits all. Everyone is different, everyone responds differently to various treatments. The same form of cancer, for instance, responds differently to the same treatment from patient to patient. Sometimes there has to be fine-tuning or a combination of treatments. If certain treatments are mandated and others are deemed too expensive or take too long to be certified, many patients will not receive the care they deserve. A centralized panel would lower the standard of care. A panel or bureaucracy making these decisions would by their nature arbitrarily discriminate against some, with no recourse for the patient. For those who think health care is a right, this would infringe on that right. In any case, with real reforms there is no need for a panel to curb costs.

Rationing already happens in Oregon, MA (just started because of costs) and the VA. The pharmaceutical companies often pay for drug treatments for cancer patients themselves when these states will not cover it.

There were amendments introduced to add to the bills that would prohibit rationing etc. These amendments would have put to rest those rumors once and for all. They were defeated.

I urge everyone to take more time to research material even if only to debunk it.

A centralized, government mandated and controlled health care system with a “public option” that will lead to single payer health care will lead to disaster. This statement taken on its own is a true statement. I do not make this claim, rather history and current systems around the globe show this. The health care plans in congress have to be studied to make sure they are not going in this direction.

Until there is a plan that is going in the direction of true reform, many Americans will continue to fight for rational reforms and against what currently is in Congress.

Links to Must Read information & resources.
Health Care Resource
What The Health Care Bill Actually Says
Physicians for Reform
Fix Health Care Policy Project
How To Fix the Health-Care 'Wedge'
Health Reform Requires Lawsuit Reform
Defend Your Health Care - Betsy McCaughey, PhD
Health Care - Heritage (Comprehensive Research)
The WSJ Guide to ObamaCare
Condition Critical: What Doctors Think About Health Reform, IBD Series
Health-Care Reform: How the Bills Stack Up
Hold The Mayo
The Whole Food Alternative to ObamaCare
We Don't Spend Enough on Health Care
Open Letter On Health Care
Deadly Doctors
CBO Expert Says Preventive Care Will Raise - Not Cut - Costs
FACT CHECK: Obama's health care claims adrift? -AP
Obama & the Practice of Medicine
Deception is at the Heart of Dems' Plans (Part 3) - Sowell
Whose Medical Decisions? (Part 2) - Sowell
Whose Medical Decisions? (Part 1) - Sowell
No Compromise On Health 'Reform'
A Federal Health Insurance Exchange Combined with a Public Plan: The House and Senate Bills
The Pelosi Jobs Tax
Undue Influence
Europe’s free, state-run health care has drawbacks

Freedom & Taxes

2009-08-17T03:27:00.018-04:00

The more profitable a business, the more taxes it pays. When people get paid more and find jobs; they pay more taxes or start paying taxes. Government will then get more tax revenue. When businesses close and when people lose their jobs, their tax contribution stops. When people get paid less, they pay less in taxes. The government’s tax revenue will be lower.

A profitable business is self-sustaining and creates jobs and prosperity for many people and doesn’t need the government to wastefully spend tax dollars on it and on welfare.

The same goes for industries like the auto and health industries. There is no need for government to waste trillions of taxpayer money on health care. It can be done through a self-sustaining profitable private sector that supplies a very valuable service and provides incredible opportunity and prosperity for millions.

You would think Mr. Obama and Congress would want more tax revenue. You would think they would want more businesses and more successful ones that create jobs that help people make more income. So why does this Administration and Congress want to take away profits and kill jobs which will shrink the tax base and lower tax revenue? Why are all their policies slowing the economy and hurting businesses and jobs? Is it all about freedom and control?

You pay more taxes; you have less individual freedom to provide for yourself and your family. You then depend more and more on the government to provide for you. You are also giving more and more control over to the government.

Most of the money they take from you they squander and give to others. Those in power are buying their votes. They don’t realize it yet, but in exchange, they’ve given up their freedom for government control. Slowly as taxes go up, the government takes more control. Higher taxes equal less freedom and more government control. Lower taxes mean more freedom and opportunities for all.

Government is punishing the achievers and job creators, and rewarding the unproductive. It is human nature for the productive and job creators to therefore be less productive. That means there is less to go around and everyone has less, including government. They tax more and get less. There are fewer goods and food with less money to buy goods and food. You have more poor and starvation. Everyone is slowly becoming equally poor except the elite and those they pay off to support their power.

Of course, without a productive tax base, this is not sustainable and it crumbles. It can only limp along if a corrupt outside source, like the United Nations, IMF, World Bank or a nation props it up. This can be seen throughout history. The USSR, Cuba, Venezuela and others.

This can be a long process as well, like many countries in Europe. Socialist type policies slowly drag them down, an election happens, then they go the other way for awhile, sort of an ebb and flow. Suddenly a deep recession or worse happens, and there is a sizable shift to the “right,” towards fiscal responsibility. They have to or they won’t survive. They never learn though. They will eventually forget, ignore history and turn back.

This is why the situation in the U.S. is so absurd. While many in Europe have moved to the "right" to survive, those in power in the U.S. have moved to the "left," at the worst possible time. Is it that they would rather hurt this country than to look past their ideology and quest for power and save this country? That is their weakness and freedoms’ tragic advantage. It will make the results of their destructive policies happen much faster and also be more easily seen. People will wake up quicker and in greater numbers.

More individual freedom equals more prosperity. Less individual freedom means less prosperity. That is why the United States in only a little over 200 years has become the most prosperous and powerful nation on earth, while it has taken other nations hundreds of years longer to get where they are. Our freedom and values keep us from conquering the world and instead we help and defend the world, bringing hope and freedom to all.

Sadly, the power hungry and those who’ve forgotten or ignore history have taken over. They are now misleading many. Those of us who have not forgotten are spreading the truth of freedom, and now many wake to join the fight to save our republic, our freedom and prosperity. Slowly more and more eyes are being opened and they are now seeing the results of the destructive policies of those in power.

A government that takes away liberty and free will is a government that is not owned by the people. It is a government that goes against our founding documents. It goes against what our founders and patriots fought for, to win their independence. All men are created equal with inalienable rights, rights that are grounded in natural law not bestowed on us by government. That is why we continue to fight for freedom and liberty for all. To fight for the freedom and opportunity for everyone to become all they can be.

Truth, liberty, freedom, prosperity and the pursuit of happiness were given to us. We must guard and protect them, even fight for them, as many have throughout the years. We must not throw it all away or they will have died in vain. God bless the United States of America.

Links to Must Read information & resources.
Historical Economics
Taxes: Election 2008 & Beyond
The Keynesians Were Wrong Again (Excellent-Must Read!)
Big Government, Big Recession (Excellent!)
Tax Increases Mean Less Revenue: Your Common Sense Guide

The Productive vs. The Unproductive

2009-08-16T20:15:00.004-04:00

Now is the perfect time to streamline government and cut spending. When times are good they will never do it, but now that times are tough, with huge budget shortfalls, we should take advantage of it.

We need to make government more efficient and less wasteful. Get rid of the waste and inefficiencies, streamline pensions and welfare, clean up fraud and corruption, and layoff the unproductive government worker. Layoff the two or three people it takes to do the job of one person. All this will allow deep spending cuts. Combine all this with real tax cuts, not just token tax credits, and it will put money back into the private sector causing people and business to spend and create jobs.

The out of work unproductive government workers can then find productive private sector jobs and create goods and provide services. This will bring in more income that will create even more jobs and allow even more spending. The economy will grow exponentially, the GDP will skyrocket, and everyone will be able to provide for themselves, their retirement, health care, etc.

The small number of those that have legitimate needs can finally be helped. We would not need government bailouts, handouts, welfare, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, pensions and definitely not government health care.

The fraud, waste, inefficiencies and unproductive government workers combined with the resulting higher taxes and spending, just drag down the economy. The economy will increasingly slow and unemployment will rise.

Links to Must Read information & resources.
Phantom Jobs

Stimulus Failure

2009-08-09T23:58:00.027-04:00

The stimulus has failed in many ways. It does not stimulate. History tells us it will actually prolong the recession. It is not pro-growth policy but rather job kill policy. It is irresponsible, massive deficit spending and generational theft. It takes revenue away from the private sector and uses it to prop up public sector waste, failure and irresponsible spending.

The fact that only 10% has trickled out and the rest was designed to be spent in 2010 and beyond is a failure in and of itself. It is also a failure of those who wrote the bill.

Because it is government spending, the process of getting the money out is slow and it is subject to fraud and waste with no accountability, which we have already seen. Most of it is wasteful government deficit spending that ramps up in 2010 and will do more harm than good anyway. Even Keynesian's dropped their support for the bill before it was enacted. Most believe spending should be upfront and on infrastructure make-work projects, which are temporary. A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on the stimulus bill said that "in the longer run, the legislation would result in a slight decrease in gross domestic product compared with CBO's baseline economic forecast." Government spending does not grow the economy.

The tax credits are too small and the dispersal method makes them unnoticeable. The tax credits also increase your tax liability. They are also temporary and people know this. Real tax cuts would stimulate without being filtered through the bureaucratic waste machine. More bang for the buck. A $400 tax credit cost the taxpayer close to $800 in taxes. It basically amounts to the federal government taking close to $800 from the taxpayer and giving them back $400 which they then tax.

It will increase the deficit by a trillion or more by the time it is all done. Borrowing or raising taxes to pay for the stimulus has a negative job-killing impact on the economy as well, not to mention the inflationary impact of weakening the dollar by printing to pay for spending.

The economy will eventually start to recover despite the prolonging effect of the stimulus. But with the trillion dollar budget plan, the trillions this administration is adding in spending, debt and to the deficit, and if cap & tax, ObamaCare and other destructive bills, many which have built-in trade protectionism, are passed the economy will get worse. Indeed, a malaise that will last for decades. These bills will hurt many people and small businesses which will cause many to make less and lose jobs. They will also cause jobs to be shifted overseas.

The uncertainty caused by the unpredictability of this administration and congress i.e. “how bad will future taxes be and what other harmful bills and regulations will be enacted?” is causing businesses and consumers to not create jobs or spend. This administration’s and congress’ policies will do more harm to the economy than even the recession.

This didn't have to be. America will learn once again what history could have taught them, insane tax rates and spending will slow the economy and kill jobs. The progressive policies of CA, NY, NJ and many others are examples of how to destroy an economy. These examples can teach us what not to do. If everyone would study history with a basic understanding of economics this could be avoided.

The rest of the stimulus should be scrapped and real pro-growth policies like marginal tax-rate and spending cuts, and others should be implemented. Consistent, confidence inspiring policies will enable Americans to keep more income and businesses to create jobs, small business being the usual job creators that fuel the economy out of a recession.

Rather than tax income out of the economy, with the resulting bureaucratic waste, only to redistribute it back in mostly to non-productive public sector areas that do not grow the economy, why not leave it there in the first place? Real tax cuts. People would instantly have more income, business would have more to grow and create jobs. This would actually stimulate, cost less, and have quicker, more permanent results with smaller deficits and debt by trillions. There would be no need to spend money they don’t have on bailouts, cash for clunkers, more entitlements and extending unemployment and welfare. This would mean they don’t have to borrow and print trillions either. Combined with spending cuts, the economy would boom, bringing freedom & prosperity to all Americans.

Most of us know the economically illiterate in this Administration and Congress would never do this. There is only one other option, 2010 - 2012.

Links to Must Read information & resources.
The Pelosi-Obama Stimulus Plan
Historical Economics
Taxes: Election 2008 & Beyond
Washington & the Jobs Market (Excellent-Must Read!)
Stimulating Failure (Excellent-Must Read!)
More Stimulus Equals More Unemployment (Excellent Read!)
Industry Evidence on the Effects of Government Spending (Must Read!)
The Man Who Predicted the Depression (Excellent-Must Read!)
Phantom Jobs
Stimulus Spending Doesn't Work (Excellent-Must Read!)
Stop The Spending And Cut The Taxes (Excellent-Must Read!)
The Stimulus Didn't Work (Excellent-Must Read!)
The Keynesians Were Wrong Again (Excellent-Must Read!)
Big Government, Big Recession (Excellent!)
What's the Stimulus Have To Do With It?
A Jobs Bottom
The Lessons of the 'Stimulus' Bill
Obama Is Only Digging The Hole Deeper
Let's See What U.S. Economy Can Really Do
A Third Stimulus? Don't Repeat the Same Failures
Stop The Madness That's Killing Jobs
Why the Obama Stimulus Plan Must Fail
Another stimulus will have same result as first
Blue-State Stimulus?
The Stimulus - The Anatomy of a Failure
The Albany-Trenton-Sacramento Disease
Welcome Back, Carter
Not Everyone Guessed Wrong About Stimulus

Michigan Tax Day Tea Party Draws 5,000+

2009-05-09T06:05:00.028-04:00

Photo by Mike Q

I really had been looking forward to this rally for some time. Yet the morning of April 15, I still had a moment of hesitation whether I should attend. This was, after all, the first protest rally I had ever attended.

I’ve never been involved in politics before but during the 2008 election I felt I had to, in some small way do something. So I started this blog. People are being misled by candidates, politicians, the media and education. Historic and economic truth was and is being drowned out. Now 100 days into the new administration not only has nothing changed, it is worse. The Tea Parties were a way to do something more and build from there.

I didn’t know what to expect, would there only be a small number of us? As I drove around looking for parking there were a lot of parked cars and the parking ramps were full. I thought it couldn’t possibly be all these cars were here because of the anti-bailout rallies? After I found parking, I had to walk a considerable distance. It wasn’t until I saw people carrying signs that I believed all these people walking were Tea Party protesters. I couldn’t believe how far away I was when I first heard the cheers of the crowd. It was quite loud and impressive. The amount of people I saw when I got to the capital was a great surprise.

My first protest was great, I had a good time. America is a great country. We are truly blessed to be here, even if things don't look so good now. It was a great day, great weather, with great American patriots from all over. I was able to work my way through the crowds. People were polite and friendly. Such a diverse rally here at the steps of the Michigan capitol building; so many young people, children, college kids to senior citizens and families. This was a genuine grass roots rally of hard working Americans. The state police were friendly; chatting with the people. After the rally about fifty volunteers stayed after to clean up the area. The Democratic mayor even said there should be more protests because they bring business to the downtown area. If the protests were violent he definitely would not be saying that.

There were a lot of people who protested for the first time today, that really means something. It should be a lesson to all that something is wrong in D.C.

These Tax Day Tea Parties are not a republican thing. They’re about conservatives, libertarians, independents, moderates; Americans fed up with bailouts, irresponsible spending, trillions of debt, corruption, hypocrisy and dishonest politicians only serving themselves with no accountability. Americans fed up with out of control spending and taxing at all levels of government; local, city, state and federal. It’s about this administration and congress choosing to ignore history by pushing their own agenda of piling on trillions of irresponsible spending that will increase job loss, prolong the recession and undo the American economic engine. It’s about a government that is taking away the ability of the people to help each other; a government causing the poverty and oppression of its citizens. We want both parties to know, they serve us, they are not above the constitution and incompetence will not be tolerated. These Tax Day Tea Parties represent an America that understands economics better than this Administration and Congress.

These rallies are getting more people involved in the political process. I am glad I could be a part of America’s awakening. I can’t help but ask, like I am, how many are energized by fellow patriots you rallied with? How many feel you just need to be more involved?

On April 15, 2009 hundreds of thousands of people from over 800 cities, in 50 states attended the Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party. We had 5000+ here in Lansing, Michigan; it was from 12 Noon to 1:00 PM. Michigan had 34 Tea Parties with 19,578 total attendees. According to PJTV, the official count is 832 events with 935,504 in attendance of the nationwide Tax Day Tea Party. There were events held the weekend after and there are links below for events in April, May, June, July and September.

PJTV attendance totals, top events, top states,view by state, by map, logs and event information.

See all events & totals with photos, video, etc. See future events as well, filter by state.

April 15th is past, now what? Check out AfterTheTeaParty.com and get involved.

MI Local Newspaper Coverage
The Lansing State Journal
The Detroit News

Photo by Sandy G (Great Sign) I blew my middle-class tax cut on this sign.

Tea Party Experience (blogs, photos, videos)
MI Capital Tea Party Photos, Saul Anuzis
Lansing, MI Photo-Blog, The Blogshevik
Lansing, MI Tax Day Tea Party Video, RightMichigan.com
My Tea Party Experience, Sarah Way Down South, Atlanta
Austin, TX Photos & Blog, PatriotWriter
Tax Day Tea Party, Mississippi Mama
Jackson, Mississippi Photos
Lafayette Sq Tea Party Photos, Heritage-Foundry
Dallas, TX Photos (Great Sign!)
Atlanta, GA Photos, Political Crave
Phoenix & Gilbert, AZ Photos, Sticker Patch
St. Louis, MO Photos
Everett, WA Photos
Boston Tea Party Photos
Tea Party Photos, ZooColony
Face of America Photos, UKnow I Am Right
Tea Party Directories
Tea Party Videos
Tea Party Update

Editorials
Tax Day Becomes Protest Day, WSJ
Tax Day Rallies Were Anything But 'Astroturf', IBD
Tea Party animals not boiling over, Mark Steyn
Big Government Backlash Brewing, Heritage-Foundry
Tea Party System, IBD
Republicans & the Tea Parties, WSJ

Tea Party Sites & Info
Tea Party Patriots
Tax Day Tea Party
Re Tea Party July 4
Tea Party Revolution
TEA Party Day

The Pelosi-Obama Stimulus Plan

2009-02-10T19:29:00.067-05:00

Updated March 6, 2009.

This bill showcases the chronic corruption of Congress. It should be called the Obama-Congressional Self-Stimulus Plan. It is full of projects that Democrats have wanted to do for a long time. It is full of wasteful spending paybacks to groups that helped get them elected. They are taking advantage of the American people by using an economic crisis to push through their own agenda instead of a true stimulus package. Like so many things government does, this bill rewards irresponsibility.

The health care provisions slipped into the stimulus plan without discussions are one more of many reasons to contact your congress person to stop this stimulus bill. It is tragic that the UK is trying to figure out how to privatize their health care system because of the poor quality of treatment, long waiting lists (people die while waiting) and incredible cost of service while the clueless in Washington D.C. try to emulate the Brits’ and others' failed health care systems.

The bill also rolls back the highly successful welfare reforms of the ‘90s. It is tragic that congress and the president would want to undo such successful reforms, that so many would want to take jobs away from people and make them dependent on government.

This stimulus bill will likely prolong the recession, hopefully not make it worse and we will probably never recover from all the government expansion. The inflation it will cause will probably feel worse than the actual recession. There will be no way to close the “flood gates” and turn off the “fire-hose”. Even worse, an “accelerant” is being used to put out the “fire” instead of water or sand.

It is dishonest to tell us that there is a consensus among economists in support of this plan.

Even economists that believe the theory of some sort of government spending stimulus don’t support this bill anymore because they believe stimulus has to take effect right away. They recognize the stimulus in this bill won’t hit until 2 to 4 years from now and they believe the recession will be over by then. Even worse, they believe most of the spending in this bill is not even "stimulus". The Congressional Budget Office says it will make things worse in the long run.

This bill does not meet the criteria of making 3 to 4 million jobs and there is no way to quantify saving jobs.

You can argue for some type of make work stimulus but you are dishonest if you argue that this bill is stimulus. This bill contains only a small percentage of stimuli that will actually hit right away, the other parts of the bill will not put money in for several years and most is just wasteful spending that will just take money and jobs from the private sector. The stimulus needs to hit right away to be effective. This bill creates some temporary work not long term jobs.

In the 90’s Japan had a recession and their solution was massive government spending that quadrupled their national debt. The recession got worse, so they spent more. The more they spent the worse it got. They are still recovering and now they want to try the same thing here.

The President gives a false choice to the American people. He says the choice is either those that want to do nothing or his spending plan. That is not being honest with the American people. Everyone in Congress seems to believe something should be done, tax cuts and spending solutions with varying levels of agreement.

If you look at the final bill, it is almost all spending with even less tax credits than before. It is a partisan bill. If you look at some of the republican’s alternate bills, they are actually bi-partisan, more of a compromise. These plans would create more jobs for less money than the Obama-Pelosi bill. They have more balance between tax cuts and spending. They include government spending that is more immediate and real tax cuts that stimulate quickly, but democrats and the President would have none of it. Spending offset by wasteful spending cuts elsewhere would be even better. Instead, Mr. Obama and Congressional democrats cling to failed ideology. They only listen to economists that support their agenda. They pretend to be bi-partisan by talking about working together with republicans but they shut them out of the process and then turn around and accuse republicans of being partisans when they don’t go along with their bill. The President talks about the need for bi-partisanship but in the same speech he says if they come and bring the same failed policies from the past 8 years don’t bother and they’ve lost credibility because they spent too much money. So he is saying I’ll work with you but only if you support my ideas and don’t bring any other ideas to the table. He says he will work with others as long as they go along with his views. He is shutting the bi-partisan process down before it even begins. When republicans were invited to speak and discuss the stimulus plan with Mr. Obama and democrats, they were reminded that “I won” and “we won”. How is that bi-partisanship? They are playing political games. Everyone in congress was re-elected by the people so you could say they all won.

Trying to woo or bully the opposition to vote for your bill is not bi-partisan. Bi-partisanship is working together to come up with a solution that benefits the American people. Come to think of it, why are democrats even making a big deal about getting republicans to vote for the bill? Why are they pretending to be bi-partisan? They have enough votes to pass this bill. They don’t need their votes. Well, they only need two of their votes in the senate. Those are easy votes. Maybe they know this bill will prolong the recession and they want to be able to share the blame or blame republicans when it fails.

Mr. Obama complains of the deficit he inherited from the previous Administration while at the same time he is increasing the deficit even more than the previous Administration ever did. He has even less credibility than the previous Administration because he is not only doing the same thing but even more of it. Mr. Obama was a member of Congress and democrats did have control of the house for the last 2 years so he inherited the deficit from himself as well.

There is a better way and they refuse to see it. Their mind is set and they refuse to see the better way to proceed forward. Their solution to everything is always spending. They ignore history and try it time and time again. It is time we stop trying the failed policies of the past and do something that works. The out of control spending is one of the reasons we are in this problem.

It is a good idea to keep ideology away, to keep an open mind when studying these problems. To keep from being blinded by ideology it is best to have an understanding of economics and social global systems while studying history and current events.

Nothing is ever too urgent to rush into doing something just for the sake of doing something, something that will make a crisis worse. In fact, the problem and effects of solutions are urgent enough to get it right. This is being rushed through way too fast. Congress does not even have time to read the bill before their final vote, meanwhile lobbyists have received copies of it before Congress. Main stream media has not brought the contents of the bill to the American people. Instead they shut down any discussion and opposition while they support and tell us it does not matter what is in it because President Obama says we need it. Main stream media is now working with the corruption in government against the people of America. The era of transparency is over. Ironic since one of Obama’s campaign promises was to bring back transparency. One of his promises was to post any legislative bill online for 48 hours for all Americans to see before it is voted on.

It is also about time our President reassures the American people, that he instills hope for the future of America that we will overcome this crisis. This would go a long way in restoring consumer confidence and thereby help in the recovery of the economy.

The voting record on this stimulus bill can be used as a litmus test. Perhaps the republicans have found their way again by not voting for this bill, all except three. The democrats have not, except maybe the seven who voted no. Wishful thinking perhaps?

History shows that spending is usually tried and it never works. Tax and spending cuts always work. This is the quickest stimulus.

Obama's Plan For A Debt-Ridden Future
Freedom Is Still the Winning Formula
Secretly Ending Welfare Reform
Capital On Strike
The Obama Economy
Propping Up Least-Productive 10% Is A Recipe For Economic Decline
Entrepreneurs Can Lead Us Out of the Crisis
A Short History of the National Debt
Obama Warned Over 'Welfare' Spendathon'
The Liberal Welfare State
Federal Obligations Exceed World GDP
Congress Gets Punitive on Executive Pay
1,073 Pages
Economic Stimulus Package: Workers Net $13 More a Week.
Congressional Offices Don't Have the Stimulus Bill, Lobbyists Do
Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan
The Unstimulating Stimulus Bill
Fiscal Reality Central-There Is No Consensus Among Economists
PDF Format Ad - There Is No Consensus Among Economists
Tooth Fairy can't sweeten stimulus plan
Economic Freedom Is Still the Best Policy
Obama's Rhetoric Is the Real 'Catastrophe'
McCain's Vote Should Trouble Obama
The Liberal Agenda Disguised As "Stimulus" Spending
New Stimulus Is Same as Old Stimulus
The Real Stimulus Burden
Exactly How Does Stimulus Work?
Obama's Enablers in Chief
Reaganomics vs. Obamanomics
Harvard Economist Robert Barro on Stimulus Bill
Harvard Economist Robert Barro on Tax Cut Stimulus
Barack Obama-san
What Other Financial Crises Tell Us
Pelosi's Indefensible Bill
50 De-Stimulating Facts
CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul
The Missing Obama Tax Cut

Welfare Spendathon: House Stimulus Bill Will Cost Taxpayers $787 Billion in New Welfare Spending

The Stimulus Tragedy
$3 Trillion Gov't Overdose Must Be Stopped
There's No Stimulus Free Lunch
How Government Created the Financial Crisis
A Tale Of Two Indicators - Jobs and Stocks
How About a Payroll Tax Stimulus?
An $800 Billion Mistake
The Return of Welfare As We Knew It
What Is Congress Stimulating?
The Stimulus Package Is More Debt We Don't Need

Why Tax Rate Reductions Are More Stimulative Than Rebates: Lessons from 2001 and 2003

There's No Pain-Free Cure for Recession
Tom Daschle's Washington
The Entitlement Stimulus
A 40-Year Wish List
$646,214 Per Government Job
A $545 Billion Private Stimulus Plan
An 8.3% Deficit Is Plenty of Stimulus
Government Spending Is No Free Lunch
Let's Stimulate Private Risk Taking
Pelosi Turns Back the Clock on House Reform
The Deficit Spending Blowout
The Krugman Recipe for Depression
Why Spending Stimulus Plans Fail

Is It Wrong To Learn From History?

2008-11-04T00:40:00.010-05:00

The best defense against being brainwashed by “brilliant” politicians is to learn from history. If a candidate’s views contradict these historical facts they should be rejected.

History proves that too many candidates promise tax cuts but raise them instead. We now have a candidate who is actually promising tax credits on some and higher taxes on others. If someone is promising to raise taxes on some that is even more of a reason to expect higher taxes for all. History would have to be ignored to believe higher taxes on those that create jobs would actually benefit those that have jobs and wish to someday create jobs.

Labels can be put on others, but the label is not important. It is what they do, have done and plan on doing in relation to historical data that determines if they are a bad choice to be the leader of the free world.

Those of you that study history realize the failed policies that are in use around the world by countries with weaker economies, poorer citizens, oppressive governments, less freedoms, less charitable giving by citizens are slowly creeping into our government. As these policies are implemented things get worse, we are slowly inheriting these attributes. Do the proponents of these policies seek to make our great country more like these other countries? Do they realize that they are weakening our country? Do they seek to make us less powerful? Do they realize that some countries support candidates because they will weaken our country? The leaders of some of these countries are beginning to realize why we are the great country we are and they are trying to change. Ironic that they choose our best attributes, while we may be choosing their worst.

Our founding fathers may be the first to ever learn from history and thus conceived the constitution, our form of government and economic structure. Our constitution and capitalism take human nature, self-interest and the human spirit and put it to work for the good of everyone. It and a free people are two of the reasons the United States has become one of the most successful and powerful countries today, the center of the financial world, the dollar being the standard of currency, the most charitable country, etc. History proves time and again and is still proving this everywhere you look.

We must be ever vigilant against the attacks of those that would destroy our nation from within, sometimes by seemingly harmless and incremental steps; by those that would use the fear and uncertainty brought on by financial crisis against us, to call for change, a change that will ultimately allow the few wealthy ruling elite to oppress us all. The great depression and its aftermath, which continues to this day, seem to be a history lesson few of us are willing to learn.

Obama’s economic tax plan and his promised massive spending increases combined with the additional bailout and other massive spending plans of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank and many other democrats in congress will actually do what H. Hoover and F.D. Roosevelt did to cause and prolong the great depression. It is unbelievable that these politicians are willing to ignore history and possibly destroy the lives of millions of Americans.

Open your eyes and minds America, before it is too late. Ask the oppressed around the world, they will tell you. The stories of those silenced and killed by tyranny, despotism and hatred. You are still a great nation, don’t throw it all away.

Economics Lesson: Socialism will never work...
Tax Increases Mean Less Revenue: Your Common Sense Guide
Obama's Plan For A Debt-Ridden Future
The Founding Fathers On Redistribution
Most Presidents Ignore the Constitution
I Vote No Confidence In Congress
A Liberal Supermajority
FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 yrs
Get Ready for the New New Deal
Almost Everyone Would Do Better Under the McCain Health Plan
Eyeing Your Pension
The Election Choice: Taxes
Socking It To Small Business
An Obamanomics Preview
Obama's Plan for a Second-Class Economy
Obama's 95% Illusion
'Senator Government'
Obama Talks Nonsense on Tax Cuts

Balancing Emotions and Politics

2008-11-03T18:50:00.001-05:00

Emotions and feelings not issues are reasons many give to vote for Obama. These are not the important reasons to choose a leader. If we base our choice on these alone we are destined to choose someone who will lead us into poverty.

We should not vote on emotions alone i.e. looks good, feels good, cool, a good speaker. Vote on historical truth.

Are emotions blinding us if we are not willing to find out why our economy is the way it is today? We are at risk of being misled into going along with what we have been told instead of finding out for ourselves.

It is a sad day in American politics when emotions like hate determine the choice for many voters, when a candidate uses hatred, fear, class envy and other divisive tactics to stir up and agitate others to vote for them.

If we really want to help others, if we really want to help the middle-class and below, if we really believe everyone should have a fair chance, if we’re really honest with ourselves, than we will at least study history. If we study and understand history and we want all these things is Obama the right choice? If we still wish to ignore history than how can we say we want these things for our fellow citizens? We owe it to ourselves and our fellow citizens to use our minds and find out the truth so we can make an informed vote, not an uninformed vote based on anecdotal, feel-good, one-liners, on theories that have been proven false over and over again. We are Americans, we are blessed and we can all make a difference.

Exposing Radical Influence

2008-11-03T18:25:00.014-05:00

If nothing good comes from this election hopefully the exposure of Bill Ayers and the many like him to parents around the country will. The fact that he is radicalizing and teaching our children lies and teaching teachers to do so may be worse than what he did before he retired from terrorism. Our schools and universities are full of teachers and professors that migrated from various radical groups from the ’60s and ‘70s. Not only are they trying to undermine our society, they are destroying the minds and lives of our children as well. This indoctrination is even practiced in our grade schools. They are taking the focus off of reading, writing, math, science and history. They are taking away the right of our youth to choose what they believe. They are imposing their will on our youth. Whether this was a planned strategy or not, it is a good one and it is working.

I come across more and more people; a lot of them with college degrees, that have been taught this stuff. You can’t even have a discussion with them. They have been radicalized. Rather than discuss issues they just demean and spew hatred.

Perhaps we should require everyone to live and make a living, starting with nothing, in a socialist/communist and/or pseudo-socialist country for awhile. Maybe we would all appreciate and understand the freedoms even the least of us have. Maybe they would not be so quick to throw out our freedoms for the failed social systems practiced around the world.

Unfortunately, many civil rights leaders, preachers, teachers and community organizers are teaching and radicalizing many communities that they don’t have the same chances to make it as the rest of the country. They are teaching hatred and racism. They are destroying their own communities and the lives of millions of people.

I know many refugees from other countries that come here with absolutely nothing, families from Sudan that live here in one room apartments. They still see the United States as a beacon of hope and many still believe that if they could just make it here they will succeed despite the negative propaganda from politicians, professors and hollywood. Because they have not been taught the lies that many of our citizens have been taught, they succeed. They get jobs, work hard, graduate college, have successful careers and give back to others. They know there are no limits to their success. This hope and opportunity for all is in danger.

The aforementioned is the reason the country is split and radical hatred type behavior is so common and getting worse. But that is the radical strategy, the strategy of the current Democrat party and based on Obama and his campaigns’ behavior, it is his as well. Community agitation and division as spelled out by the deceiver, Saul Alinsky in his book, “rules for radicals”. Bill and Hillary Clinton, Pelosi and others use this book as their rule book. He was Hillary’s mentor and she wrote her college thesis about him.

The book starts with this tribute, “From all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins – or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer."

This book is incredibly dangerous. It and those that follow it will destroy our country. Our only hope is educating parents and finding and firing the professors and teachers that are destroying our children’s lives.

Alinsky's rules include:

• "Wherever possible go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear and retreat."

• "Make the enemy live up to his/her own book of rules. You can kill them with this. They can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity."

• "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also, it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage."

• "The threat is generally more terrifying than the thing itself."

• "In a fight almost anything goes. It almost reaches the point where you stop to apologize if a chance blow lands above the belt."

• "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it." (Think Gingrich, Lott and the success of name-calling used by the likes of Bill Clinton, Paul Begala, James Carville, Maxine Waters and others against conservatives and Republicans. Think of how Clinton "enemies" like Paula Jones or Linda Tripp were treated.)

• "One of the criteria for picking the target is the target's vulnerability ... the other important point in the choosing of a target is that it must be a personification, not something general and abstract."

• "The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength." For instance, Democrats imply conservatives are racists or that Republicans want to kill senior citizens by limiting the growth of the Medicare system, they imply Republicans want to deny kids lunch money without offering real proof. These red-herring tactics work.

I have noticed many Democrats in power use these divisive tactics, many pundits on TV as well. It allows them to bypass rules and even the constitution. Nothing matters but the end result, so far it seems to be working. This is a serious threat to our constitution, freedom and nation.

Take a look at the way everyday Americans like “Joe the Plumber”, journalists and their spouses, Gov. Palin and others are treated by Obama, his campaign and the media. Obama’s statements about Pennsylvanians indeed many Americans, this latest “selfish” comment, the various spread the wealth around comments and many more statements from his past; the people he has surrounded himself with in the past, some of them follow the Alinsky rules; he is also the most secretive, think about how little we know about him, things he has not released that other candidates have, all these things should make everyone nervous and take a second look at Obama.

Obama says he is a unifier, a non-partisan. His tactics and actions say otherwise. He seems to be one of the most partisan and divisive politicians I have seen, whilst being smooth and cool at the same time. Unification by forced conformity?

If you only watch main-stream media you would think republicans in leadership positions aren’t as intelligent as democrats. The media seem to go out of their way to report only things that make them look bad. Democrats and republicans that have talked with and/or interviewed McCain, Palin and Obama all say they are smart, intelligent people. They say Palin is sharp, quick and very personable. It seems only those that base their opinion of Palin from the media, haven’t met her or haven’t heard her speak at rallies think she is not smart and is bad for the McCain campaign. Don’t believe them. Sarah Palin is intelligent, knowledgeable, a quick study and likable. She continues to energize many across the country. She has had several great policy speeches that the media has not shown. I bet if the media were biased towards republicans most people would like G W Bush. Their perception of the economy and the war would be more positive. Well, until the financial crisis anyway. Congress’ approval ratings would still be deservedly dismal.

This would also explain why main-stream media is quickly becoming propaganda and they don’t care. They are losing viewers and money and they still don’t care. That is why democrats in congress will renew their efforts to make the “Fairness Doctrine” legislation. It is the first step. If you only watched one news network and did not have access to another network, you would have no way of knowing you were being misled. If all news networks were misleading, you would have no chance of finding out the truth or knowing they were biased.

The various legislation Pelosi, Reid, Frank and the democrats in congress are discussing in preparation for Obama’s win should be a great motivation to vote for McCain and Republicans for congress. The threat of a democrat super-majority is yet another reason. If they are following the Alinsky rules then we can expect opposition to be quieted and our freedoms to disappear. Usually they are divided, so that is hopeful.

This also explains why democrats in office get away with so many things, things that republicans cannot. Many see it as a double standard. They seize the opportunities corrupt republicans give them to destroy and gain power in congress, just another tactic from Saul Alinsky. If republicans adopt this strategy and some probably have out of exasperation. The destruction of our country will be even faster.

Those that follow these rules accuse others of the very same practices they themselves do. Those that ignore history, mislead and raise taxes to increase their own power and wealth are blatantly practicing selfishness.

A lot of the chaff can be sifted out by determining those that are filled with hate and follow these rules. These rules that guide them can be used to determine if someone is using these tactics, if so, you know they are not truthful and you shouldn’t waste your time with them.

What Newcomers Know About Thanksgiving
Rules for conservative radicals
Obama, Alinsky, & Scapegoats
Saul Alinsky Takes the White House
Fear Factor: White House Edition
The Coming Obama Thugocracy
Alinski's Rules: Must Reading In Obama Era
The Alinsky Administration
Obama, the Quintessential Liberal Fascist
Obama Campaign Is Modeled On Alinsky

Institutionalized Corruption

2008-11-03T17:47:00.001-05:00

Our tax system is already redistributive and we do have a lot of problems. But that is not a good reason to vote for someone who will be even worse than the last president, someone who will make the tax system even more redistributive, a tax system that will encourage greed and selfishness rather than use that greed and selfishness to benefit others, a tax system that will move all the wealth to the government elite, giving the few the power to oppress all those who voted for change and those that didn’t.

It is not a good reason to vote for a party whose congressional leaders are even more selfish, corrupt and greedy than the republicans could ever dream to be. Most democrats in America today have no representation in government, at least not with the current leaders of the democrat party. Not all congressional democrats are this way but a large and growing number are. Corruption by anyone in government should not be tolerated. Major reform throughout all government is needed.

There is regulation in government, a whole lot of it. It is a myth that Bush and republicans want to do away with all regulation. They just want to take away or reform the regulation that is actually causing problems. Some of it is a major contributor to the housing/financial crisis. It is ironic that the democrats in congress are on record covering up the corruption and ignoring the oversight recommendations. The problem is not that there is no regulation or that there is not enough. The problem is that it is corrupt. Adding even more corrupt regulation to already corrupt regulation will make everything worse. The idea is to have regulation and oversight that works and doesn’t cause more problems than it solves.

Everyone knows there is incredible wasteful spending in Washington. They could run the government and all its programs with a little over half the amount of money they use now. If you cut out wasteful spending, end programs that are not needed, streamline other programs and cut out fraud and corruption you could save even more. There is no need to ever raise taxes on anyone. They should actually be lower.

The only reason our economy is able to withstand our massive and corrupt government is because of capitalism and freedom. Centrally planned programs have crept into government, taking away the built in accountability, encouraging corruption. The bigger the organization the more corrupt it is. The more money they take from citizens the more corrupt they become. The more redistributive our tax system gets, the higher our taxes get, the more nationalized type programs creep into government and the closer we get to a socialist type centrally planned system our economy will be less and less able to withstand the increased size and corruption of government. We will eventually be crushed by the top-heavy, corrupt and massive government.

How can you expect the corrupt to clean up corruption? Since no one seems to want to fix these things. The only thing left to do is make government smaller and lower taxes, to elect those that say they want to reform government, cut spending and taxes. We could stop electing known corrupt politicians as well. We need to reject those that want to increase spending and taxes of any kind.

Historical Economics

2008-11-03T16:41:00.003-05:00

Every time taxes are lowered the economy grows. When taxes are raised the economy slows. Economies are not static they are dynamic. Most of the tax plan graphs show static statistics, they are misleading. You have to look at a dynamic graph for the real truth. But you don’t need to look at graphs and charts. All you have to do is look at history. Global history proves this time and again.

The best way to lower a deficit and balance a budget is to cut spending and lower taxes to increase economic growth and create jobs. If this is done the government actually gets more tax revenue than if they raise taxes. Doesn’t it make you wonder why so many politicians’ first reaction is to raise taxes? That will only slow the economy and actual tax revenue will decrease. History proves this over and over.

Obama’s economic tax plan raises many other rates on earners including dividends, capital gains, corporate, etc. This has been proven to slow the economy and cause the middle-class to make less and lose jobs. The tax cut he is giving is not enough to offset the negative slowing effect of the higher taxes on earners. This slowing effect is even more pronounced if instituted during a recession. History proves this time and again.

The more government takes and decides who and how much to give, because of their greed there will be nothing to give those that need. And sadly those that currently give on their own will have nothing to give either. History proves this time and again.

Government is corrupt. If its size increases it will be more corrupt. If it has more power and money it will be even more corrupt. The more money they take the less we get in return, and the more oppressive the government will be. Government is full of elected and appointed democrats and republicans. Corruption is non-partisan. Government is the ultimate monopoly. Global history proves this time and again.

The gulf between the poor and rich will widen even more under Obama’s tax plan. Only a handful of people will be rich and the rest will be poor. In this system it only pays to be the person in power. The only way to narrow the gap is to lower taxes and shrink government. History proves this time and again.

Centrally planned economies/wealth redistribution does not work. The more aggressive the redistribution scheme the more freedoms are lost, the more oppressive the government and the more disparity between rich and poor. This is what happens everywhere redistribution is tried, in most European countries, the Soviet Union, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela and on and on. History proves this time and again.

Economics is a complex system, if we open and allow our minds to learn and study it we will understand the cause and effects and the unintended consequences that any seemingly small change will do. We may have to be willing to unlearn some of the misinformation we were taught in school as well. Some of the class warfare indoctrination will have to be excised. We are all equal after all, it does not matter what "class" society has put us in. We are all in this economy together.

Taxes: Election 2008 & Beyond

2008-10-17T21:29:00.053-04:00

It is widely known that you never raise taxes when the economy is in crisis. That will cause a recession to last for years, or even go into a depression. Economists also agree that raising taxes caused the great depression to last as long as it did. It also caused the long period of stagflation during the ‘70s. More and more economists from a wide political spectrum are starting to realize that Senator Barack Obama’s plan would raise taxes on the very people that will get this economy going. The very people Obama thinks he is helping will make less and lose jobs. They will be worse off. The unemployment rate will skyrocket. There would be no incentive for the economy to grow, for jobs to be created. Economists also say that Obama’s tax and spending plan as it is now could cost 1 to 2 trillion dollars and his higher taxes come far short of paying for it all. We are all in danger of oppressive tax hikes.

Balancing a budget is done on paper. It is a forecast, just like determining if you have a surplus or a deficit during the year. When politicians see a deficit, their first reaction is to raise taxes. The economy slows so there is less revenue from taxes, lower taxes and the economy grows, there is more tax revenue. There is no formula for putting these results into the budget or applying it to the deficit. If a budget falls short and they decide to raise taxes to get $750,000 to balance the budget, they don’t realize they won’t get $750,000. The economy will slow, so there will be less income to base the tax increase on. So the government will get less than $750,000. So the next fiscal year there will still be a deficit, probably worse than the year before. If they had lowered taxes, there might even be a surplus. That is if they didn’t spend too much

The left has done a good job at misleading America into believing that business is separate from workers. They work together. If you hurt one you hurt the other. If there is no business, who is going to hire the worker? Jobs can’t be created by over-taxing and hurting business and those that create jobs. Entrepreneurs and achievers create jobs and do the investments that are in 401ks. You can’t make the poor rich by making the rich poor. Both groups will be worse off. Those that have their taxes increased are hit twice. First, they make less when their taxes are raised. Second, they make less when the economy slows. Socialism and redistribution schemes just push everyone down to the “lower-class”. We would all be equal at zero or close to zero, except the ruling elite and the “super rich”, empowering them to oppress the “lower-class”.

Listen to “Joe the Plumber” the man Obama talked with. Obama’s plan does sound like socialism. It is redistribution of wealth and class warfare. We are all in this together. It appears that we are being taught to resent and even hate those that work hard to achieve what they have; rather we should see it as an example that "I too can succeed". We cannot drag some down to pull others up. We will end up dragging everyone down. It will ensure the "middle-class" and below have lower incomes, lose jobs and push many into poverty. They will lose the opportunities they had to better themselves. Why should the government decide what to do with your hard earned money? You worked for it, you deserve it. Does the American dream end at $250,000? Where’s the incentive for the plumber to realize his dream to buy and then grow his business and create more jobs, when he knows he is going to be punished for it. The more you succeed the more you are a target. The 33% tax rate will go up to 36% and it begins to hit this year at incomes of $164,550 for an individual and $200,300 for joint filers. If you're an individual with taxable income of $164,550, you will pay more taxes.

Many small businesses file taxes as individuals and 70% of the larger more productive ones, those that have more than 10 employees, make over $200,000. The tax credits that Obama has for some businesses that file in the $200,000 bracket are not enough to offset their tax increase. In one recent year small businesses created 100% of the new jobs while big business was cutting hundreds of thousands of jobs. A lot of the larger small businesses will cut workers pay, cut jobs or even go out of business under Obama’s plan. “Middle-class” workers work for someone. They will be hurt, not helped by Obama’s plan. Small business hiring will be a critical part of bringing our economy out of the crisis we are in today.

The other part of Obama’s tax plan, raising capital gains and dividends taxes will cause investors to invest overseas instead of in America. At a time when many have lost money in the stock market now is not the time to raise taxes and make them lose even more. This will also encourage people to take their money out of the stock market causing it to crash even more. Lower taxes will encourage investment in the stock market creating more tax revenue. Higher taxes will keep businesses from raising capital to grow and create jobs. If you raise corporate tax on business they will pass the cost on to the consumer. If they feel that is not possible, they may cut jobs or even move jobs out of the US to other countries. You are actually hurting the individual. This will also put more of the tax burden on those that make over $250,000.

When someone says the Bush tax cuts were only on the rich, they are misleading you. About 10 million people in the lower tax brackets don’t pay income taxes now. Even “middle-class” families received a tax cut. In 2010 these tax cuts will expire. Will that mean even higher taxes for everyone? The latest IRS statistics confirm that the “rich” already carry more of the tax burden than ever before.

Obama is cleverly misleading us when he says that 95% of Americans will get a tax cut. Obama’s plan is a complicated tax credit mess. Around 40% of Americans do not pay income taxes, so they would get what could be classified as "welfare". Our tax code is a mess because politicians like to use it as a way to get votes.

The $3000 tax credit to employers for up to two years for each worker they hire is a slap in the face. When the economy is slow and businesses have to cut back to stay afloat, they don’t have the money and there isn’t enough business to hire. $3000 is not enough to offset say a $40,000 a year salary. They would go out of business.

Raising the cap on the social security payroll tax would be one of the largest tax increases ever. Millions of “middle-class” workers would receive a direct tax increase, up to $2000 or $3000. The hardest hit would be small business owners and the self-employed. The self-employed would be hit twice as hard because they have to pay both sides of the payroll tax. The wealthy would receive more benefits as well. It would destroy economic growth and job creation. This could be one of the worse things that could ever be done, especially during a recession.

One more thing that would devastate small business and take away workers’ and employers’ freedom of choice is the Free Choice Employee Act. It would take away secret-ballot elections that protect workers from union and employer harassment and intimidation. It would allow unions to be invoked by a card-check majority, doing away with an election. It could force contract arbitration forcing employers into contracts that could cause them to go out of business. This legislation would allow corruption to enter the system by taking away the checks and balances that are built in. Democrats in congress are set to impose this on America. This is just more legislation from congress that makes it easier for corruption to enter our society.

At a time when our economy is expected to enter a recession that could last a while, when businesses are already laying off workers, Obama’s tax plan would take even more from them and slow the economy causing businesses to lay off even more workers and even causing many to close. How does it help the “middle-class” and below by causing them to make less, lose benefits and jobs? What good is a tax cut if you lose your job and there are no jobs to replace it with? His tax plans would cause a perpetual recession or depression. We need to do what history proves works every time that is lowering taxes to create economic growth and job creation.

Now Senator Obama, Senator Biden and the media are insulting and trying to discredit Joe Wurzelbacher, a “middle-class” voter. The very people they claim they want to help. Why? Is it because he asked a question that caused Obama to answer in a way that exposed his true view, “I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody,” a view many Americans don’t agree with? Is it because this one “middle-class” American managed to expose Barack Obama in a way the McCain campaign has not been able to? Is it because this “middle-class” American resonates with millions of Americans? How can they expect to win over the average American by insulting them? Is this how everyday Americans will be treated under an Obama administration?

[1] The Election Choice: Taxes
[2] The Election Choice: Unions
[3] The Obama and McCain Tax Plans: How Do They Compare?
[4] Statistics About Business Size From the U.S. Census Bureau
[5] Obama Tax Cut 'Refunds' Those Who Don't Pay
[6] Raising the Social Security Payroll Tax Cap Does Not Fix Social Security
[7] Ten Myths About the Bush Tax Cuts
[8] How the Employee Free Choice Act Takes Away Workers' Rights

Tax Increases Mean Less Revenue: Your Common Sense Guide
Obama's Plan For A Debt-Ridden Future
The Progressive Tax Rate Myth
Obama's '$4 Billion for Exxon' Myth
Socking It To Small Business
An Obamanomics Preview
Obama's Plan for a Second-Class Economy
Obama's 95% Illusion
'Senator Government'
Obama Talks Nonsense on Tax Cuts
The Founding Fathers On Redistribution

Obama Redistribution of Wealth Video

The Financial Crisis: Is Anyone Telling Us the Truth?

2008-10-13T01:40:00.030-04:00

There is plenty of blame to go around for this latest financial crisis, but how can we fix this problem and keep it from happening again, if we don’t find out how it happened?

Republicans can be blamed for not pushing enough, for not having enough leadership, but if we do not find out and/or we ignore what caused this problem, it will happen again.

Many people blame President Bush and republicans because they were in power, even though the policies of past administrations started this, even though congress has been democrat controlled for the past two years, even though Bush, McCain and republicans warned and tried many times to fix this and legislation was proposed, even though the congressional oversight committee, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and fellow democrats blocked them and said everything was alright, even though Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were corrupted and turned into political fundraising machines for these and other politicians. B. Frank, Chris Dodd and many other democrats are on record and caught on video going against the regulatory commission’s findings that there was a problem.

Past administrations, congress, the policy of "affordable housing for all" and others, the mark-to-market ruling and others and various regulations caused this problem, not the free market. Past administrations, congress, the congressional oversight committee and groups like ACORN encouraged and strong-armed mortgage institutions to give loans to people who can never pay back the loans. The pseudo government firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did the same thing. They bought up the bad loans and bundled them into mortgage-backed securities, making it easier for mortgage firms to give out more loans because they knew the government was backing the loans.

They took away the accountability that is built in, allowing corruption to enter the system. Do you think these financial institutions would give mortgages to people who are not able to pay them back? To give loans to people when their loan payments would be 40 to 50% of their gross income? Of course not, that would cause the companies to go bankrupt. When housing values started to decline, corrupt CEOs of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Countrywide and other firms covered it up with deceitful accounting practices. The CEOs ran these companies into the ground while taking millions.

There are more contributors to this crisis including Alan Greenspan and others. A lot of factors came together to create this crisis

Why aren’t democrats calling for an investigation of republicans? If republicans were to blame democrats would be all over this, it is all we would be hearing about. In fact, it seems the republicans are the ones calling for an investigation, which will happen later in November after the election of course. Why is the media not telling us about these corrupt democrats and the impending investigation?

There was oversight, it was just corrupt. Do you really think even more oversight will be any better? The more oversight and government bureaucracy there is the more corruption there is. We need reform, not more oversight. We need to stop enforcing moral hazard. It is far better to have accountability built into the whole system. We have various government regulatory bodies in place already. We just have to figure out how to keep them from becoming corrupt and causing these problems in the future. We can start by electing public servants who have some type of moral fiber and stop electing public servants who already have known scandals. If politicians don’t care about their families, do you think they are going to care about their constituents?

Many democrats in congress still don't understand the problem. They are even calling others racist for trying to fix this problem. They don't understand that the very people they were trying to help, they hurt. Now it is hurting every American and many people around the world. How can we expect those that caused this crisis to fix it? We need to have a congress that understands that when the economy is growing again any remedy that was implemented that caused any nationalization of the financial markets needs to be undone.

If you give free houses to hundreds of thousands of people, what do you expect will happen? If you really want to help those that can't afford to own their own home, you have to get the economy going, to give them the resources they need to better themselves.

The more the government announces and tries different solutions to this crisis and the solutions don’t have immediate results, may be causing the stock market to drop. Government can’t spend our way out of this crisis. They are just raising the national deficit. They may be causing other problems, hopefully not making it worse. It may be time to step back, implement the bailout plan and let the markets bounce back. Too many bailouts made arbitrarily may be enforcing moral hazard as well. The markets like clarity.

It's time we take our heads out of the sand and stop being misled. The American people need to know the truth so we will never let this happen again.

If the media does not tell us the truth about this crisis, they are complicit in this cover-up, in causing many Americans to lose everything, in causing a problem that could bring our country close to the situation of the great depression and in possibly tearing up the constitution of this great country.

If the people of America knew the truth, McCain would probably win by a land-slide, many politicians would be voted out of congress and the American people would demand an independent investigation of congress and the unelected entrenched bureaucracy.

If you want to understand the financial crisis, you must see this FNC Special Investigation: Saving Our Economy - What's Next? (Hulu.com)

Shocking YouTube Video showing Housing Scandal Cover-up That Led to our Economic Crisis

Ticking Time Bomb
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
ARC's Response To the Financial Crisis
Stop Blaming Capitalism for Government Failures
Barney's Rubble
The Real Culprits In This Meltdown
Another 'Deregulation' Myth
How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis
Wake Up, America
Blame Fannie Mae and Congress for the Credit Mess
Should Congress Be "Perp-Walked"?

Hatred, Political Apathy and Government Corruption; How Can You Make an Informed Vote

2008-09-19T05:34:00.016-04:00

I don't understand the hate people have for others who believe differently than they do, especially in politics. It's crazy. When people are so filled with hate, freedoms are taken away, or worse. If those like current far left liberals/social progressives in hollywood, in congress and elsewhere ever totally controlled government it would be just as bad as far right conservatives taking away religious and other freedoms. We would also be a socialist type country, which means they would have to change, ignore and/or amend the constitution. Changing the constitution would be one of the worst things that could happen to this country. That is why politicians, like Barack Obama, that think the constitution is a fluid document, open to interpretation really scare me. I may think Obama could seriously damage this country and the middle class and below, but I do not hate him, I do not want his freedoms taken away nor do I want to force him to believe the way I do.

I am a skeptic when it comes to politics. That is why I study economics, taxes, history, countries, states and cities and what party is running them, etc. Then I can choose a candidate based on economic and other facts. Knowing these facts and having at least a basic understanding of economics will help keep you from being misled. There is so much misinformation everywhere you turn; it is just so easy to be misled these days. Politician’s records, their voting records, the people they surround themselves with and listening to what they say well before the final days of an election are all important in making an informed decision.

One reason for the lack of enthusiasm for either presidential candidate is that they both are members of congress. Historically Americans favor candidates that are governors or vice presidents. I agree with this. I am usually more enthusiastic about and would rather vote for candidates that are governors. They have more experience, because they are the executive officer of a state. They have to lead, make executive decisions and run the state. This more closely matches the duties of the president. They may not have foreign policy experience, but history is full of presidents that were governors, including the last two. Also, three of the candidates are members of what may be the worst congress in history. Because Barack Obama has been in congress for only one term and has only been there 160 days out of the 4 years he’s served, he has the least experience. His lack of experience shows when you hear him speak. I could go as far as say that Sarah Palin has the most experience just because she is a governor. I am also not a fan of candidates who are lawyers. Both candidates on the democrat ticket are lawyers. It seems that a lot of democrat candidates seem to be lawyers these days. The president of the United States and any politician should be an example to everyone, so moral decisions and behavior are a factor in my decision.

I don't know if you can make an informed decision based on major network news anymore. They seem to bias and ignore things to support who they think you should vote for, whether it is Obama over Hillary Clinton or Obama over John McCain. This is becoming a serious obstacle keeping Americans from making an informed decision. The media is at risk of becoming propaganda. The American public does not like to be told by the media or other countries around the world who they should vote for. The 30 lawyers for Obama scouring Alaska for anything bad they can find on Sarah Palin is one thing, but why are so many media journalists in Alaska trying to do the same thing as well? Why are they only going after one candidate, what about the others? There are so many questions that need to be asked about Obama and Biden and the media is ignoring them. Where are all the fluff pieces on McCain and Palin and their families, like the ones we saw earlier on Obama and his family? Why are they going along with the off limit lists of topics that Obama and his wife bring to interviews? That is not typical media behavior. The presidential race is too important to selectively give any one candidate a pass on serious questions.

Why is the media ignoring the success the surge has had in Iraq? You can’t blame it on the old standard “the media only reports the negative” answer. If that were true, you would hear a lot more negative news about the Obama/Biden presidential campaign, instead of the consistently positive news.

Democrats have been calling for our troops to be withdrawn from Iraq, saying the surge was destined to fail. Now that the surge is working they have been forced to acknowledge it. And yet many still ignore it and some even still say it is not working. Why are they misleading the American people? What does this say about their foreign policy experience? How can they make good decisions and lead America if they ignore facts? A good leader can only make the right decisions if they base their decisions on all the facts, both positive and negative, regardless of their political bias.

It is rather remarkable that the US economy came out of the recession that began toward the end of the Clinton administration and has been growing for the past 8 years, despite high gas prices, the weak dollar, the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Iraq war, the worst congress ever, the housing market bubble bursting bringing to light the housing and financial scandals and the media and politicians only reporting negative information about the economy. Only reporting negative economic information affects consumer confidence, which is an important factor that affects our economic growth. It is also dishonest to imply that the country is in a recession. A recession is negative growth for two full quarters. The growing economy can be attributed to President Bush’s tax cuts over the last eight years. There is actually quite a bit of positive stats and info that can give hope to those in states and areas that are hard hit and/or in a recession. The positive should not be ignored. It is necessary to take into account the negative and positive in order to see our countries' true economic health and it is necessary to know this in making an informed decision. Growth was back up last quarter after slowing a bit. The median household income rose recently. Consumer confidence has been unexpectedly up and it has been up so far this month. First-time owner house sales are up in California. Unemployment rates have been close to their lowest levels, they have recently gone up a bit. There is more positive and negative data as well. If Bush and congress would have cut spending instead of increasing it, the deficit would be lower and we would be in better shape. Of course lower taxes would help even more. The only way to minimize the threat of corrupt government is to keep it as small as possible. It is time for us to learn from history and our mistakes.

If a state or city is suffering it is usually because their state and local leaders are letting them down (high taxes, etc.) and/or an industry in the state is suffering. This is because the US economy and many state economies are growing. Take Michigan for example, it has been in a recession since 2001. The unemployment rate just went up to 8.9%. Part of this is because of the automakers financial problems and part of it is Democrat governor Grandholm and other state and local leaders. Despite the bad economy Grandholm and the state legislature keep raising taxes. The new service tax has really hit some businesses hard. Some saw their tax burden suddenly jump by $10,000.00. They also raised the minimum wage several times, which caused an unemployment rate spike. The cost of doing business has continued to increase but since the economy is slow businesses are at the point where they can’t increase the cost of goods and services to the consumer anymore. Now there is no money left to make unskilled jobs available at the semi-skilled labor rate. So they can’t afford to offer these types of unskilled jobs anymore. A minimum wage hike when an economy is in recession can also raise the cost of living while salaries stay the same. Cost of energy has skyrocketed exponentially as well. Some businesses are paying over $1000.00 more per month than they did just months ago. To make things worse Grandholm is about to sign an energy bill that will raise the cost of energy for households and businesses alike, within a few months. Renewable energy is a good thing but get the economy going first. There are people in this state that can’t afford to pay their energy bills now. Enough is enough. Why should they lose everything because inept politicians put energy above lower income citizens and those that have lost jobs, some with debt that they can no longer afford because they had to take lower paying jobs? For the past six years companies have been moving out of Michigan, the latest being Phizer and Comerica Bank. Michigan is ranked third, behind California and New York as the worst state to do business in. Businesses are now leaving because of a direct result of Grandholm’s policies. The solution is painfully obvious. She raises taxes, the economy gets worse. Their total lack of economic understanding and inability to learn from their mistakes just boggles the mind. It is inexcusable. If you want to know what an Obama presidency will look like just look at Michigan, except it will be several times worse, especially if democrats have a majority in congress. Just look at all the states and cities with economic problems, most have high tax rates and many are run by democrats.

Because government is so corrupt and no one is willing to fix it; it, its programs and involvement need to be as small as possible. It's sad but in reality, I don't have a whole lot of faith in any party to fix problems, so I vote for the person who is most likely to keep government small and taxes low, because at least corruption will be minimized somewhat and the economy can still grow. The freedoms our constitution affords we the people, just makes the giant corrupt government that much worse, even more than any big corrupt business. If people stood up for what is right, instead of looking the other way, corruption in business could be prosecuted and/or fined based on current laws. But who will protect us from big government?

[1] Ten Myths About the Bush Tax Cuts

Obama Says Constitution Deep Flaw Continues Today

The Effects of Human Nature on Global Social Systems

2008-09-17T05:03:00.048-04:00

There are several economic facts that are ignored and not even taught in many of our schools.

First, when taxes are raised the economy slows; when taxes are lowered the economy grows. When the economy grows the government’s tax revenue increases.

Second, as long as there are greedy and/or corrupt people, any centrally planned economy, whether it is socialism, nationalized redistributive programs, etc., will never work.

Our founding fathers were brilliant when they wrote our constitution. It and capitalism take human nature; greed, corruption and the human spirit and put it to work for the good of everyone. It and a free people are two of the reasons the United States has become one of the most successful and powerful countries today, the center of the financial world, the dollar being the standard of currency, the most charitable country, etc. Socialist type systems work against human nature, dampen the human spirit and encourage corruption, which makes their failure inevitable. It takes away the human desire to be a productive member of society. History shows that some of the first settlers that came over from Europe learned this lesson the hard way. Socialist type governments have to take away freedoms and oppress their citizens in order to prolong their demise. Basically, socialism and redistribution schemes push everyone down to the “lower class”. We would all be equal at zero or close to zero, except the ruling elite and the “super rich”, empowering them to oppress the “lower class”. This can be learned by studying history, our mistakes, governments, nations, states and communities around the world. Examples of oppressive and slowing socialist type economies are everywhere. The state of Vermont is an example right here in the United States. One example of an economy growing after lowering taxes would be Ireland. They recently lowered their corporate tax rate to 12.5% and businesses are growing and flowing there from all over. The US corporate tax rate is 35%, one of the highest. This is just one of many examples.

A lot of people in this country look to Europe as the example they want to emulate. But why would you want 50% and higher taxes, 17-20 % unemployment, redundant government bureaucratic waste, no common sense in government, governments that are literally almost bankrupt, governments that do all they can to keep businesses from surviving, lower charitable giving and loss of freedoms?

The bigger the organization the more corrupt it is. Governments, unions, school systems, nationalized programs, etc., are all perfect examples, our government, particularly the current democrat run congress, being the worst in history. Our judicial system is catching up with the corrupt congress. Many judges go against the will of the people by favoring the convicted offender instead of the victim or they make unconstitutional rulings. Since no one wants to do anything about it, the only thing left to do is keep government small. Everyone is eager to go after big business but they are willing to ignore the even more corrupt federal government and many state and local governments. They are the largest single factor in slowing our economy. The more they take, the less we get in return and the more corrupt they become. The government spends twice as much money to do the same thing that can be done in the private sector. Another way to put it, as soon as the government has your money half of it disappears. Everyone makes less and many lose jobs.

The latest example is the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac financial scandal. These were pseudo government entities that were rife with corruption. Basically congress caused this melt-down and then has the audacity to blame it on the free market. During the ‘90s the government encouraged mortgage lending to people who could not afford it, under the guise of affordable housing for all. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bought all these bad loans, loans that would never be paid back, from banks and mortgage companies. This is one of many examples of what happens when government gets involved instead of letting the free market regulate itself. In reality, there are laws and regulations already on the books that if enforced would provide sufficient regulation. If the government was not involved these bad loans would never have been made. There was no accountability because the federal government was backing and encouraging these bad loans. The fall-out was inevitable. Many republicans in congress including John McCain warned many times of this outcome. They and the president tried several times to pass legislation to change oversight, but it was always blocked and filibustered by Chris Dodd, who is the head of the congressional finance oversight committee, Barney Frank and many other democrats. If you follow the money you will find that many democrats and liberal organizations received the bulk of the many generous contributions doled out by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These companies were turned into political fund-raising machines for politicians. Chris Dodd is at the top of the list receiving the most contributions; Barack Obama received the second highest amount for his political campaign. Frank Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae and a Clinton appointee, stepped down because of an ethical accounting scandal. He left after running the company into the ground while taking multi-millions of dollars from the company. Now he and another Fannie Mae executive, Jim Johnson, have advised Senator Obama on economic matters in his campaign for the presidency. This is probably the largest government scandal in history yet no one is demanding an investigation. While Obama and fellow democrats are blaming the free market and republicans for this scandal, democrats in congress are not crying for an investigation the way they usually do. A lot of democrats, some republicans and many companies would be implicated if they did. The very people these bad loans were supposed to help are even worse off now. Many have lost everything. This is the classic example of big government helping its citizens. While it was necessary for the federal government to step in and take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to avoid a run on the banks and a major collapse, the very people who caused this problem are now directly in control. Even after all this, many of the corrupt executives of these companies are still receiving multi-million dollar severance packages. This will happen again unless they split up the companies and completely privatize them. Why is it that we need oversight committees to oversee the congressional oversight committees that oversee these government programs? The American people should demand that these members of congress resign and that an investigation be done. If they don’t resign they should be voted out of office. This is major news; the media should be demanding this as well. These scandals and crisis will happen more and more as socialism and its nationalized programs creep into government. The collapse of the Social Security and Medicare systems is inevitable as well, unless we fix or end them. It’s just a matter of when. How can we expect government to “fix” health care when they refuse to fix or end social security, especially in light of the recent financial scandal. If they nationalize health care, they would just be creating another time bomb for future generations. England is now trying to privatize their nationalized health care system after years of failure.

These are complex systems so solutions have to be well thought out. There are so many things that affect each other. It’s just too easy and common for a solution to have unintended consequences. Linear thinking is all too common in every single aspect of society, which would explain why so many “solutions” today have the opposite effect and actually make things worse. Instead of learning from these mistakes we blame everything and everyone else but the “solution”. The same “solutions” are tried over and over and because people are being misled by the proponents of the “solution”, things continually get worse.

Politicians, the media and professors today make big government and nationalized redistributive type programs that spread the wealth around sound good, this is even taught in our schools and universities, but they have the opposite effect than what is intended. They hurt those they profess to help. Socialism and nationalized programs like welfare, health care and social security bring out the worst in society. High taxes, high unemployment, people make less, the economy slows into a recession with generations of people saddled with hopelessness. In extreme cases there is only a rich, ruling elite and their corrupt friends in various industries. Everyone else has nothing.

These centrally planned economies seem to make sense in theory, but in practice they do not work. They have been and are tried over and over again and they do not work. Global evidence proves this. How many times will we ignore history and destroy peoples’ lives.

Our constitution with its bill of rights ensures our individual liberty, freedom and prosperity while protecting us from the corrupting effects of government. These socialist type programs circumvent these protections giving government too much oppressive power. Individuals crushed by the weight of government. Our government is already too big and corrupt now. Do we really want to give them even more power while at the same time removing the mechanism that protects our individual freedoms? There are those that believe the constitution is a fluid document open to interpretation. There are those in congress that seek to add a second bill of rights. There are those that wish to use judges and the Supreme Court to circumvent our constitution. We must recognize those that wish to do this and stand up to them. Education and the privilege to vote is the best way to keep them from taking away our freedoms and destroying our great country.

People from around the world still see the United States as a beacon of hope and many still believe that if they could just make it here they will succeed despite the negative propaganda from politicians and hollywood. In fact, many from other countries come here with nothing at all, some who are forced to flee their own countries. They know there are no limits to their success. This hope and opportunity for all is in danger.

If we keep government small, cut spending and cut taxes then the economy will boom, everyone will make more, more people will have jobs and unemployment will be even lower than it is now. Then we will be able to help those that really need help. Citizens will be free to give even more money to charities than they do now. When citizens have liberty and freedom of every kind including economic and the human spirit is allowed to soar, people can achieve extraordinary things which translates into a strong, robust economy.

Government is not there to give us a handout it is there to ensure that each and every citizen is free and has every opportunity to be all they can be.

Economics Lesson: Socialism will never work...
The Founding Fathers On Redistribution
Most Presidents Ignore the Constitution
Obama's Plan For A Debt-Ridden Future
Tax Increases Mean Less Revenue: Your Common Sense Guide

Milton Friedman educates Donahue on Capitalism & Greed - Video (Excellent!)

Obama Says Constitution Deep Flaw Continues Today Video

Obama Redistribution of Wealth Video

Taxes, Taxes, Scandals and The American Dream?

2008-09-17T04:54:00.007-04:00

What happens if the “rich” are taxed 50% or more and their charitable loopholes are eliminated? The $95.5 billion or 79% of US foreign aid US citizens give to charities around the world would be a lot less. The world would be a very different place after that. That amount does not include domestic charities. So the total amount is even higher. The US is by far the most generous country in private donations given. That is just one of the many things to consider when taxing the American dream.

That $95.5 billion also includes corporations and foundations. So the same loss of giving applies if you eliminate some corporate loopholes as well. If you raise taxes and think you can compensate with government aid. Think again. The government spends twice as much money to do the same thing that can be done in the private sector. Another way to put it, as soon as the government has your money half of it disappears. It is more efficient to give incentives for private giving than to let the government do it. This is by the way one of several reasons not to tax oil companies profit “windfalls”, but rather give them an incentive to invest some of their profit directly in renewable energy. This is also one of many reasons to stay away from nationalized programs or any centrally planned program.

If a politician talks about raising taxes, even if they say it is only on the “rich”. You better be prepared for tax hikes for everyone. Another thing to remember, many Americans are living beyond their means, they have too much debt. So if taxes are raised on the rich and it starts at the $100 to $250K income level, you may be hurting those with a high debt-to-income ratio.

A fair tax is good, as well as eliminating many loopholes for individual and business. Just be thoughtful when doing it or there will be unintended negative consequences. If taxes are raised the economy slows, if taxes are lowered the economy grows. When the economy grows the government’s tax revenue increases, which can help lower the deficit. If we keep government small, cut spending and cut taxes then the economy will boom, everyone will make more, more people will have jobs and unemployment will be even lower than it is now. Then we will be able to help those that really need help. Citizens will be free to give even more money to charities than they do now. When citizens have liberty and freedom of every kind including economic and the human spirit is allowed to soar, people can achieve extraordinary things which translates into a strong, robust economy. Government is not there to give us a handout it is there to ensure that each and every citizen is free and has every opportunity to be all they can be.

It is rather remarkable that the US economy came out of the recession after the last administration and has been growing unexpectedly for the past 8 years, despite high gas prices, the weak dollar, the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Iraq war, the worst congress ever, the housing market bubble bursting bringing to light the housing and financial scandals and the media and politicians reporting mostly negative information about the economy. Only reporting negative economic information affects consumer confidence, which is an important factor that affects our economic growth. It is also dishonest to imply that the country is in a recession. A recession is negative growth for two full quarters. The growing economy can be attributed to President Bush’s tax cuts over the last eight years. There is actually quite a bit of positive stats and info that can give hope to those in states and areas that are hard hit and/or in a recession. The positive should not be ignored. It is necessary to take into account the negative and positive in order to see our countries' true economic health. Growth was back up last quarter after slowing a bit. The median household income rose recently. Consumer confidence has been unexpectedly up and it has been up so far this month. Unemployment rates have been close to their lowest levels, they have gone up a bit recently. There is more positive and negative data as well. If Bush and congress would have cut spending instead of increasing it, the deficit would be lower and we would be in better shape. Of course, lower taxes would help even more. The latest IRS Stats came out in August. They show there is already significant tax redistribution. Some say the top 10% pay more of the tax burden than ever before and the top 40% carry most of the tax burden.

The groundwork was actually laid for the housing market scandal during the late ‘90s when the government encouraged mortgage lending to people who could not afford it, under the guise of affordable housing for all. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were pseudo government entities that were rife with corruption. Basically congress caused this melt-down and then has the audacity to blame it on the free market. This is one of many examples of what happens when government gets involved instead of letting the free market regulate itself. In reality, there are laws and regulations already on the books that if enforced would provide sufficient regulation. If the government was not involved these bad loans would never have been made. There was no accountability because the federal government was backing and encouraging these bad loans, loans that would never be paid back. The fall-out was inevitable. Many republicans in congress including John McCain warned of this outcome. They and the president tried several times to pass legislation to reform oversight, but it was always blocked and filibustered by Chris Dodd, who is the head of the congressional finance oversight committee, Barney Frank and many other democrats. If you follow the money you will find that many democrats and liberal organizations received the bulk of the many generous contributions doled out by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These companies were turned into political fundraising machines for politicians. Chris Dodd is at the top of the list receiving the most contributions; Barack Obama received the second highest amount for his political campaign. Frank Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae and a Clinton appointee, stepped down because of an ethical accounting scandal. He left after running the company into the ground while taking multi-millions of dollars from the company. This is probably the largest government scandal in history yet no one is demanding an investigation. While Obama and fellow democrats are blaming the free market and republicans for this scandal, democrats in congress are not crying for an investigation the way they usually do. A lot of democrats, republicans and many companies would be implicated if they did. The very people these bad loans were supposed to help are even worse off now. This is the classic example of big government helping its citizens. While it was necessary for the federal government to step in and take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to avoid a run on the banks and a major collapse, the very people who caused this problem are now directly in control. Even after all this, many of the corrupt executives of these companies are still receiving multi-million dollar severance packages. This will happen again unless they split up the companies and completely privatize them. Why is it that we need oversight committees to oversee the congressional oversight committees that oversee these government programs? The American people should demand that these members of congress resign and that an investigation be done. If they don’t resign they should be voted out of office. This is major news; the media should be demanding this as well. These scandals and crisis will happen more and more as socialism and its nationalized programs creep into government. The collapse of the Social Security and Medicare systems is inevitable as well, unless we fix them. It’s just a matter of when. How can we expect government to “fix” healthcare when they refuse to fix social security, especially in light of the recent financial scandal. If they nationalize healthcare, they would just be creating another time bomb for future generations. The only way to minimize the threat of corrupt government is to keep it as small as possible. It is time for us to wakeup and learn from history and our mistakes.

[1] Ten Myths About the Bush Tax Cuts
Obama's Plan For A Debt-Ridden Future

The Social Decline of Our Society

2008-09-16T04:30:00.010-04:00

In our quest to do anything we want, to live how we want, to put self first, we ignore facts and the consequences of our actions. This behavior is everywhere, from politics, education, to our economy. So many aspects of our society bring everything down to the lowest common denominator. Most of the problems in society are part of complex systems so solutions have to be well thought out. There are so many things that affect each other. It’s just too easy and common for a solution to have unintended consequences. Linear thinking is all too common in every single aspect of society, which would explain why so many “solutions” today have the opposite effect and actually make things worse. Instead of learning from these mistakes we blame everything and everyone else but the “solution”. The same “solutions” are tried over and over and because people are being misled by the proponents of the “solution”, things continually get worse. Another aggravating factor is that the bigger the organization the more corrupt it is. The problem is compounded if the organization is centrally planned.

Many of our public school systems are too big and corrupt. The billions and billions of dollars from the federal government and elsewhere being poured into them year after year seems to have no effect in improving them. Supervisors at the top make millions and waste the money and it never gets to the children who need it. Teachers unions are full of corruption and look out for themselves even if it harms students. Teachers are grossly underpaid. No one is looking out for kids. Teachers don’t get the support they need from parents. Many parents look out for themselves instead of their children. How can we solve this problem if parents don’t even care? This is just another vicious cycle. The more bad parents we have in society the more children grow up to be selfish, corrupt people that make up these corrupt organizations. Music, TV and other media compound the problems parents face when raising their children. Children see and are told every day, sex, drugs, it’s all ok, I can do anything I want without having to face the consequences of my actions, and on and on. We as a society and as individuals owe it to our youth to let them know all the facts and consequences so they can make informed decisions. This has to be balanced by a parent’s right to raise their children and decide when their child is ready for any exposure. Under the guise of free speech and the belief that children should have access to everything in society, the very people that set the standards for our public school system are allowing children access to media and information, including pornography, that has a negative impact on children and can cause abnormal behavior. Some districts bring in people that give talks to our children telling them to go ahead and experiment with drugs, sex and unprotected sex. Parents’ rights to raise their children should be safeguarded. It is so bad in the corrupt democrat run city of Chicago that school children are demonstrating and striking in an effort to be noticed and given the tools they need to be all they can be. It seems the public school system and society have forgotten about many of our children. If no one is willing to do anything but throw money at the problem, how can we ever expect to clean up a system as corrupt as this? When you think about it this way, the No Child Left Behind initiative makes sense. How do you fix a system that is corrupt from the top down and no one is willing to fix it. Many people, including many in congress, are even standing in the way. The only thing left to do is take money away from the greedy miscreants, based on performance. Then they have to do something to fix the problem or they lose their cash cow. If they don’t improve, it exposes the problem for all to see. The parents and those willing to do the right thing can bring the corrupt people to light, the media gets hold of the story, there is a public outcry and someone is forced to step in and remove the corrupt people. There is a better solution, but until everyone is willing to change, this may be the next best thing.

The media brings everything to our children at such young ages. The music, movies and video games of today are also a bad influence on children. There is also a growing lack of role models for them to look up to.

The welfare system encouraged families and single women to have more children just to be eligible for more money. There was no incentive to find work. Some of these children did not have parents that cared for them, creating a vicious cycle of despair. This contributed to the inner city poverty we have today thus creating generations of people without hope. Now civil rights leaders, preachers, teachers, community organizers and many in the democrat party are teaching and radicalizing many that they don’t have the same chances to make it as other Americans have, that they are being held back by other Americans. Those teaching this are destroying their own communities and the lives of millions of people. Why do so many from other countries come here with nothing at all, some whom are forced to flee their own countries, succeed? They have not been taught and they know that there are no limits to their success.

Has anyone noticed that the industries with the most problems are the ones with the largest, most powerful labor unions, the auto and airline industries and the public school system?

Labor unions may have a purpose, but many are too big and corrupt. Some have people at the top that make millions while their workers get stuck paying dues that are too high for what they get. The whole system seems to be setup to bring down the quality of work, to encourage bad working habits. The union mentality of making workers and companies’ enemies, instead of working together is bad for the economy. A company and its employees should work together for the good of each other. One cannot exist without the other. They are a team. When employees are doing the best they can do and the company is doing all it can for its employees, they both benefit and profit from it. It is a cycle that should not be disrupted. The practice of giving promotions based on seniority and making it costly and difficult to fire people is another factor in bringing the performance of all the workers down to a lower level. Promotions should be based on job performance first and seniority second. Hard work and constant improvement should be encouraged. Many times a hard worker comes in and is passed over time and again by people who have seniority but are slackers or should be fired. After awhile they will become discouraged and realize there is no point in working hard so they will be like everyone else. This also affects morale, which in turn affects job performance. They may become angry and disruptive as well. There are documented cases of hard workers being asked not to work as hard because they are making everyone look bad. How can we compete in the global economy if we encourage and promote bad working habits?

Steve Malanga writes about what Alexis de Tocqueville & Max Weber would think of America today.
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Women In Politics

2008-09-10T22:34:00.015-04:00

Why do some women in America think Governor Sarah Palin should just stay home and raise her children? We hear some women from various women’s rights groups, in politics, in hollywood and in the media voicing their strong opinions on this matter. Some of the remarks could be labeled as sexist, many are profane ignorant comments filled with hate. Where is all this hatred coming from? Is it because she is a republican, a conservative? Should all women be free to be all they can be, to choose what they believe in or does this only apply if you are a liberal or a democrat? Men are free to choose to live their lives the way they see fit; they are free to choose to be liberal or conservative, democrat or republican. Women should be allowed the same freedoms. They should not have to conform to the ideals of one group in order to succeed. Do these women’s rights groups seek conformity instead of freedom for all women? Do the liberal women in politics and in the media seek conformity instead of freedom? Are they advocating rights and freedoms only for liberal women? What about the millions in this country who have the same views as Palin? Are they hated just as much because of their views? What happens when people filled with this much hatred of any kind are in control of government? They oppress and take away the freedoms of those with different views. Hatred of someone different than you whether it is because of political views, moral views, skin color or nationality is one of the causes of oppression, wars and loss of freedoms around the world.

Is it because she has a pregnant, unmarried teenage daughter? Then should all mothers with pregnant teenage daughters quit their jobs and stay home to raise their kids? If so, the American workplace will soon be a very different demographic.

Is it because she is a successful woman who has achieved so much in such a short time and yet is not a liberal or democrat? Her record as governor of Alaska is there for everyone to see. You can choose to ignore it, but it speaks for itself. She has the highest approval rating of any governor. While the state has no sales or individual income tax and each citizen receives a yearly dividend from their share in the state’s oil profits, she pushed through the legislature an additional $1200.00 check for each citizen to pay for heating bills this year. The state now has a budget surplus; she has the surplus funds making money in some type of savings fund. She pushed through and signed an ethics reform bill in 2007.

What if she had chosen to be a stay at home mom instead of pursue a political career, would she be less successful?

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