Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Pelosi-Obama Stimulus Plan

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'
Federal Obligations Exceed World GDP
Congress Gets Punitive on Executive Pay
1,073 Pages
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
Meet the New Stimulus, Same as the 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

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Is It Wrong To Learn From History?

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

Monday, November 3, 2008

Balancing Emotions and Politics

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

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.

Was Boy in K.C. Fire Attack a Victim of His School's Racist Teaching
Race and class warfare indoctrination in American schools. A disgrace. The destruction of American lives starting from childhood.
How California's Colleges Indoctrinate Students
Pacific Educational Group: Radicalism for Kids, on the Taxpayers' Dime
Illinois Mom: PEG Trained Teachers on 'Institutional Racism'
The Vetting: Bell's Critical Race Theory Promoted in Public Schools
Critical Race Theory Explained
Critical Race Theory: Of the Racists, By the Racists, and For the Racists
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

Stossel's "Stupid in America" documentary special



Institutionalized Corruption

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

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.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Taxes: Election 2008 & Beyond

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


Monday, October 13, 2008

The Financial Crisis: Is Anyone Telling Us the Truth?

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'$ 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"?