I don’t like the implications of a balanced budget amendment.
Its very name leaves open the idea of increasing taxes to balance the budget. Hell, we don't even have a budget. I don’t want the Spenders and Takers to be able to grow the cost and role of Federal Government without enormous, nearly impossible, difficulty.
We do have spending. Spending is the problem. Limit Federal spending. Limiting Federal spending to below a restricted revenue limit plus special purpose reserves and contingency funds would be a good premise for a Constitutional amendment.
Some growth, if it can be irrevocably restricted to less than or equal to annual inflation, would be permissible. Not some index that can be easily manipulated; and one that includes the costs of all goods, services and government costs.
Emergencies will always occur. Reserves and contingency funds are currently held, although often looted for silly contrived reasons, can be set aside and reserved for all kinds of eventual emergencies. Many already exist. Many more are needed or need to be enlarged and safeguarded. Disaster relief, flood insurance, Federal Deposit Insurance, Federal Emergency Management, etc already exist.
Reserves and contingency funds should be created and begin funding from existing Federal revenues by reducing failed and meaningless programs, and eliminating all expenditures not enumerated in the US Constitution or its amendments.
Unemployment contingency funds were clearly insufficient by recent example. Bank failure funding was clearly under funded. Continuing Government operations during economic impacts to revenue were clearly insufficient. I think we would find that disaster relief funds of all kinds are seriously under funded if we have actual natural disasters that could easily exceed be many times the levels of Katrina.
Man Caused disasters, have little or no reserve funds or supplies today, and terrorist attacks, anarchy, large scale lawlessness, or deliberate economic sabotage are not buffered by stored surplus supplies or funds any where near the required levels that I’ve ever heard of, other than the grossly inadequate Strategic Petroleum Reserve and a few tons of titanium.
Many more reserves of minerals and metal, clean water, safely stored food, temporary housing, diverse electrical generation, mobile medical facilities and stores of medicines must be created and managed to meet the needs of the rapidly increasing citizen populations, not just enough for our leaders and the self-appointed elite.
Here’s the equation I think is needed in fairly simple wording:
Spend a lot less than comes in;
Take 50% or more of the surplus revenue to retire the National debt;
Take 50% or less of surplus revenue to fund various contingency and reserves for inevitable disasters and economic interruptions;
If there’s anything left, invest it in stockpiles of commodities with the highest probable future needs adjusted upwardly for those most prone to interruptions;
And lower future general tax rates to match lower future Federal government costs;
Equals = Fiscal Responsibility
What remains would be to establish irrevocably severe penalties for anyone who steals, diverts, or mismanages reserves or contingency funds for any other silly purposes.
By “anyone” I mean Presidents and Executive Branch staff, Congress persons, foreigners, citizens, rich, poor or famous, and business and non-profit executives, especially doctors, lawyers, academics and Media celebrities each sentenced with a failed teacher of the same sex.
By “severe” I mean death or life imprisonment without parole in Guantanamo.
07 April 2011
03 April 2011
Stop Taxing Businesses,
You’re Looting Their Consumers
First, a brief review for those who don’t know what happens when a business is taxed. Let’s begin with income taxes. Businesses generally have two kinds of income;
Operating income that comes from daily transactions mostly sales to customers. It is income that will be needed soon to replace the things they sell or pay for normal business expenses like wages, benefits, electricity, gas, water, and phone or computer access, etc.;
Net profit, that’s what is left over after every allowable business expense has been paid. Interest on borrowed money, travel expenses, product development, required insurances, license fees, consumer protection and warranties, all required costs and all business improvement, employee costs, product development and growth, all are expenses paid before taxes. Some net profit is used to pay back investors, called dividends; taxable to the person or company that receives them, currently a 15% tax.
The current 35% corporate tax rate in the US is among the highest in the developed world. Small businesses, usually individually owned, partnerships or special small corporations, generally pass the tax through to individuals at their regular income tax rates.
Who provides the money that pays this tax? Not the company, not their terrible bankers, not the over paid executives; they have their own personal tax problems. Not their employees, not their suppliers, not their government regulators, not the juries and courts that award lavish settlements, not their over priced attorneys, not their Senators or elected Representative.
That’s right it’s you, their customers. The ones constantly complaining about the prices while you cry out for more taxes on business, encourage more regulation and stricter laws, and mandatory consumer protections and health care increases, or higher wages and benefits, or excessive safety features, all of these costs must be passed on to and paid by the purchasers in the price of the products.
The costs of all these nice sounding but very expensive mandatory requirements must be paid by customers, even those who didn’t ask for them and don’t want them.
The companies must add these costs to the prices of all of their products. They must recover all the mandated costs through product sales, or they will have to reduce their future inventory, or lay off employees or pay them less, or stop growing; none of those are wise choices for a successful business.
If customers will not pay all required costs, there is no income to pay taxes, employees, suppliers, interest on loans, utility costs, sales tax on equipment, property tax, interstate transmission tariffs, excise taxes, fuel and highway taxes, health, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment insurance, or court settlements.
The business is broke and all its employees and customers all out of luck, and no Federal, state or local government tax revenues will be coming through or from this enterprise. No New jobs, no jobs of any kind.
Stop hiding these insidious taxes on individuals in the price of products and services, by pretending to tax businesses.
Businesses don’t pay these kinds of taxes, you do. Businesses just transfer part of your payment for their expensive products to the government along with the costs for collecting, reporting and transmitting your money to the government.
By the time consumers pay all the hidden taxes, their own income taxes, sales tax, property tax, fuel tax, excise tax, and mandatory insurances, permit fees, and licenses;
I am surprised most of us can afford to buy much of anything.
Stop taxing businesses, stop excessive regulation, stop requiring unions, stop manipulating markets with tariffs and subsidies; just stop.
You are drowning us, our children, and our grandchildren in ridiculous spending and oppressive debt.
You are bankrupting this great nation and killing its productive people. Stop it!
First, a brief review for those who don’t know what happens when a business is taxed. Let’s begin with income taxes. Businesses generally have two kinds of income;
Operating income that comes from daily transactions mostly sales to customers. It is income that will be needed soon to replace the things they sell or pay for normal business expenses like wages, benefits, electricity, gas, water, and phone or computer access, etc.;
Net profit, that’s what is left over after every allowable business expense has been paid. Interest on borrowed money, travel expenses, product development, required insurances, license fees, consumer protection and warranties, all required costs and all business improvement, employee costs, product development and growth, all are expenses paid before taxes. Some net profit is used to pay back investors, called dividends; taxable to the person or company that receives them, currently a 15% tax.
The current 35% corporate tax rate in the US is among the highest in the developed world. Small businesses, usually individually owned, partnerships or special small corporations, generally pass the tax through to individuals at their regular income tax rates.
Who provides the money that pays this tax? Not the company, not their terrible bankers, not the over paid executives; they have their own personal tax problems. Not their employees, not their suppliers, not their government regulators, not the juries and courts that award lavish settlements, not their over priced attorneys, not their Senators or elected Representative.
That’s right it’s you, their customers. The ones constantly complaining about the prices while you cry out for more taxes on business, encourage more regulation and stricter laws, and mandatory consumer protections and health care increases, or higher wages and benefits, or excessive safety features, all of these costs must be passed on to and paid by the purchasers in the price of the products.
The costs of all these nice sounding but very expensive mandatory requirements must be paid by customers, even those who didn’t ask for them and don’t want them.
The companies must add these costs to the prices of all of their products. They must recover all the mandated costs through product sales, or they will have to reduce their future inventory, or lay off employees or pay them less, or stop growing; none of those are wise choices for a successful business.
If customers will not pay all required costs, there is no income to pay taxes, employees, suppliers, interest on loans, utility costs, sales tax on equipment, property tax, interstate transmission tariffs, excise taxes, fuel and highway taxes, health, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment insurance, or court settlements.
The business is broke and all its employees and customers all out of luck, and no Federal, state or local government tax revenues will be coming through or from this enterprise. No New jobs, no jobs of any kind.
Stop hiding these insidious taxes on individuals in the price of products and services, by pretending to tax businesses.
Businesses don’t pay these kinds of taxes, you do. Businesses just transfer part of your payment for their expensive products to the government along with the costs for collecting, reporting and transmitting your money to the government.
By the time consumers pay all the hidden taxes, their own income taxes, sales tax, property tax, fuel tax, excise tax, and mandatory insurances, permit fees, and licenses;
I am surprised most of us can afford to buy much of anything.
Stop taxing businesses, stop excessive regulation, stop requiring unions, stop manipulating markets with tariffs and subsidies; just stop.
You are drowning us, our children, and our grandchildren in ridiculous spending and oppressive debt.
You are bankrupting this great nation and killing its productive people. Stop it!
19 March 2011
Stop Telling World Leaders
What to Do
The sovereign leaders of ancient tribes and nations resent being told anything, especially by a weak leader from a young nation like the United States.
Mind our own business Mr. President. You are helping the Taliban and Al Qaeda recruit more jihadists than all that has previously happened.
These people listen to what is said, and then like a child, they watch to see what you do. When they don’t match immediate distrust is ignited. So far we’ve shown them cultural and current event ignorance, arrogant disregard and disrespect for history, betrayal and false hope killing thousands of whose loved ones will now be easily recruited.
It is presumptuous of you to lecture any other countries leader about how to control insurgencies and rebels. They have far more experience than you or anyone from our young nation. Everywhere else in the old world a failed insurgent is imprisoned, tortured and murdered to prevent recurrence; that’s what must happen there. Successful rebels will kill all of the old regime resisters that might imperil them. It just the way life works.
You Sir must stop encouraging the rebellious to overthrow existing governments, especially since we will not and cannot support or defend them.
You Sir are getting them killed by the hundreds of thousands.
Shut up about things which are none of our country’s business. I doubt that any Arab sovereigns called and asked for your uninformed, inexperienced opinion. Apparently, you are ignoring advice from your advisors, not consulting them, or they are the most ignorant pretenders to ever advise a President.
Who is the ruler and why, of a sovereign nation is not up to the United States. We must work with them like we find them. If we continue to interfere in their internal affairs we will reap more misery than our corrupt, bankrupt, poorly managed, fledgling nation can afford or survive.
Say only carefully planned and fully vetted things important to Americans, and;
Shut up about the internal affairs of others, and; especially stop commenting on things about which you are ignorant or incompletely informed;
Which is apparently nearly everything, including inciting immigrant violence in Arizona, or Union violence in Wisconsin?
No one is waiting around for your speechwriters and advisors to think of something cleaver for you to be seen and heard saying.
Pretty much everything would be better if you would just, stop talking and do some work!
The sovereign leaders of ancient tribes and nations resent being told anything, especially by a weak leader from a young nation like the United States.
Mind our own business Mr. President. You are helping the Taliban and Al Qaeda recruit more jihadists than all that has previously happened.
These people listen to what is said, and then like a child, they watch to see what you do. When they don’t match immediate distrust is ignited. So far we’ve shown them cultural and current event ignorance, arrogant disregard and disrespect for history, betrayal and false hope killing thousands of whose loved ones will now be easily recruited.
It is presumptuous of you to lecture any other countries leader about how to control insurgencies and rebels. They have far more experience than you or anyone from our young nation. Everywhere else in the old world a failed insurgent is imprisoned, tortured and murdered to prevent recurrence; that’s what must happen there. Successful rebels will kill all of the old regime resisters that might imperil them. It just the way life works.
You Sir must stop encouraging the rebellious to overthrow existing governments, especially since we will not and cannot support or defend them.
You Sir are getting them killed by the hundreds of thousands.
Shut up about things which are none of our country’s business. I doubt that any Arab sovereigns called and asked for your uninformed, inexperienced opinion. Apparently, you are ignoring advice from your advisors, not consulting them, or they are the most ignorant pretenders to ever advise a President.
Who is the ruler and why, of a sovereign nation is not up to the United States. We must work with them like we find them. If we continue to interfere in their internal affairs we will reap more misery than our corrupt, bankrupt, poorly managed, fledgling nation can afford or survive.
Say only carefully planned and fully vetted things important to Americans, and;
Shut up about the internal affairs of others, and; especially stop commenting on things about which you are ignorant or incompletely informed;
Which is apparently nearly everything, including inciting immigrant violence in Arizona, or Union violence in Wisconsin?
No one is waiting around for your speechwriters and advisors to think of something cleaver for you to be seen and heard saying.
Pretty much everything would be better if you would just, stop talking and do some work!
Knowing and Doing,
For What Purpose?
I spent much of my life’s time, energy and personal resources seeking knowledge detrimental to some other important personal activities.
I wanted to know as much as I could about many subjects; economics, money management, business, religion, politics, philosophy, history, science, ecology, government, human behavior, foreign cultures, and many more. It seems now that I found something interesting about nearly everything.
Going and doing were most important to me for what I hope is the first half of my life. Now that I’m less physically capable and less energetic, I’m less driven to go, but still enjoy visiting and learning about other countries and cultures. I’m less driven to do all the things that occur to me that could be done, although I seem to always have a constructive project in the works.
I am still driven to know. I investigate study and learn several new things each day. I have little more idea why now than before. Some interests are clearly driven by personal needs, some by passing curiosity, some by the need to accomplish, some by simple puzzlement.
And so recently I find myself wondering, for what purpose am I drawn to know? All knowledges have a price, some are very costly.
Many subjects I study just to relieve the irritation of not knowing; some just to refine what I know and how I feel about current or historical events; others just to explore alternative beliefs.
In even the most ludicrous ideas and ridiculous humor is often a grain of simple fact or drop of pure truth. And in the most serious subjects and human predicaments is an occasionally uproariously funny moment.
So, the purpose of this quest to know, I’m not sure. It is true I have learned much. Of course, I began knowing little. It wasn’t to beat my parents. They were both well informed, wise, thoughtful and kind for their time.
I was driven to know, not to take advantage, but to use meager resources wisely. I know that often I sought to avoid misery, although not always or strongly. There are things to be learned from misery.
Having almost always had a reasonable amount of money, or able to get some; I have never been destitute or broke. I’ve lost significant amounts by poorly chosen or badly timed decisions. I’ve occasionally spent more than I could lay my hands upon in the short term. I used money wisely and productively for the most part, saved hard and invested carefully in recent decades and have chosen wisely more times than not; but chasing riches only held me captive until my mid thirties when I recognized my mortality and confronted my fallibility.
Monetary wealth is not what drove me to know. It’s a simple task to accumulate; just use much less than you make.
Maybe it is the simple joy of understanding, or the effort of the quest, or the thrill of surprising discovery.
Esteem, some seek status through the display of what they know. I don’t recall doing it, but I’m sure I took pleasure from knowing what others did not.
Developing and nurturing self-esteem is important, so never take things you haven’t earned, to do so damages self-esteem, because no matter what you say or how you are treated, you will always know, you did not deserve it. To learn was easily available, relatively cheap, they couldn’t tax me for it, or easily take it way, and I will always know I earned it.
Whatever the reasons, I would rather know than not know, even the worst things.
I spent much of my life’s time, energy and personal resources seeking knowledge detrimental to some other important personal activities.
I wanted to know as much as I could about many subjects; economics, money management, business, religion, politics, philosophy, history, science, ecology, government, human behavior, foreign cultures, and many more. It seems now that I found something interesting about nearly everything.
Going and doing were most important to me for what I hope is the first half of my life. Now that I’m less physically capable and less energetic, I’m less driven to go, but still enjoy visiting and learning about other countries and cultures. I’m less driven to do all the things that occur to me that could be done, although I seem to always have a constructive project in the works.
I am still driven to know. I investigate study and learn several new things each day. I have little more idea why now than before. Some interests are clearly driven by personal needs, some by passing curiosity, some by the need to accomplish, some by simple puzzlement.
And so recently I find myself wondering, for what purpose am I drawn to know? All knowledges have a price, some are very costly.
Many subjects I study just to relieve the irritation of not knowing; some just to refine what I know and how I feel about current or historical events; others just to explore alternative beliefs.
In even the most ludicrous ideas and ridiculous humor is often a grain of simple fact or drop of pure truth. And in the most serious subjects and human predicaments is an occasionally uproariously funny moment.
So, the purpose of this quest to know, I’m not sure. It is true I have learned much. Of course, I began knowing little. It wasn’t to beat my parents. They were both well informed, wise, thoughtful and kind for their time.
I was driven to know, not to take advantage, but to use meager resources wisely. I know that often I sought to avoid misery, although not always or strongly. There are things to be learned from misery.
Having almost always had a reasonable amount of money, or able to get some; I have never been destitute or broke. I’ve lost significant amounts by poorly chosen or badly timed decisions. I’ve occasionally spent more than I could lay my hands upon in the short term. I used money wisely and productively for the most part, saved hard and invested carefully in recent decades and have chosen wisely more times than not; but chasing riches only held me captive until my mid thirties when I recognized my mortality and confronted my fallibility.
Monetary wealth is not what drove me to know. It’s a simple task to accumulate; just use much less than you make.
Maybe it is the simple joy of understanding, or the effort of the quest, or the thrill of surprising discovery.
Esteem, some seek status through the display of what they know. I don’t recall doing it, but I’m sure I took pleasure from knowing what others did not.
Developing and nurturing self-esteem is important, so never take things you haven’t earned, to do so damages self-esteem, because no matter what you say or how you are treated, you will always know, you did not deserve it. To learn was easily available, relatively cheap, they couldn’t tax me for it, or easily take it way, and I will always know I earned it.
Whatever the reasons, I would rather know than not know, even the worst things.
Freedom Fighters
Rebels, Who are They, What Do They Want?
I think rebellions are a lot like genetic mutations, most all are bad, but fortunately very few can reproduce.
I think the leaders of some countries have jumped way ahead of the facts. I don’t think they know hardly anything about those who are attempting to overthrow leaders in any other country, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, wherever.
Admittedly, many of these current leaders are not friendly to the US, or ethnic populations and most are stealing the wealth of the people and the country they all profess to love.
Wishing a leader friendly to the US would take over someone else’s country is naïve and selfish. If we want our sovereignty respected we must respect the sovereignty of other peoples and places.
The first question that should be answered by human intelligence is, who is this current crop of rebels and what are they about? Are they just killing their long time oppressor, overthrowing their current government, killing ethnics they hate, stealing treasure, yearning for freedom, or do they just want to be the oppressor for awhile? Do they have leaders who might be capable of running an entire country? Do they want freedom? Can they handle it? Are they any better than what’s there?
These questions should have at least partial indications and answers before our leader says or does anything.
It is said, that one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist; cleaver, but not very useful.
It is shameful if the US has encouraged this current crop of rebels to believe the US will help them throw off their oppressors and take charge of running a country.
It’s terribly foolish for the US President to comment upon the fitness or timeliness of another counties leader, or hint at assistance, wishing out loud for an outcome, that may never come resulting in thousands of dead.
Who are these rebel people and what do they actually want? We cannot and should not even condone their actions until we know for sure; and should never support a new murderous regime over an existing poor leader we know but don’t like.
It should not be our business, unless it’s crucial to our prosperity and security.
Let their friends help them. They likely understand them better than we do, and may know more about what’s needed in their neighbors’ country.
While we mind our own business, not commenting until we know; if the devil we know is worse than one we don’t know.
I think rebellions are a lot like genetic mutations, most all are bad, but fortunately very few can reproduce.
I think the leaders of some countries have jumped way ahead of the facts. I don’t think they know hardly anything about those who are attempting to overthrow leaders in any other country, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, wherever.
Admittedly, many of these current leaders are not friendly to the US, or ethnic populations and most are stealing the wealth of the people and the country they all profess to love.
Wishing a leader friendly to the US would take over someone else’s country is naïve and selfish. If we want our sovereignty respected we must respect the sovereignty of other peoples and places.
The first question that should be answered by human intelligence is, who is this current crop of rebels and what are they about? Are they just killing their long time oppressor, overthrowing their current government, killing ethnics they hate, stealing treasure, yearning for freedom, or do they just want to be the oppressor for awhile? Do they have leaders who might be capable of running an entire country? Do they want freedom? Can they handle it? Are they any better than what’s there?
These questions should have at least partial indications and answers before our leader says or does anything.
It is said, that one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist; cleaver, but not very useful.
It is shameful if the US has encouraged this current crop of rebels to believe the US will help them throw off their oppressors and take charge of running a country.
It’s terribly foolish for the US President to comment upon the fitness or timeliness of another counties leader, or hint at assistance, wishing out loud for an outcome, that may never come resulting in thousands of dead.
Who are these rebel people and what do they actually want? We cannot and should not even condone their actions until we know for sure; and should never support a new murderous regime over an existing poor leader we know but don’t like.
It should not be our business, unless it’s crucial to our prosperity and security.
Let their friends help them. They likely understand them better than we do, and may know more about what’s needed in their neighbors’ country.
While we mind our own business, not commenting until we know; if the devil we know is worse than one we don’t know.
16 February 2011
Ventriloquist's Dummy
Wall Street Journal Reader Comment Forum
– by Alan Caruba, falsely attributed to Eddie Sessions
I have this theory about Barack Obama. I think he's led a kind of make-believe life in which money was provided and doors were opened because at some point early on somebody or some group (George Soros anybody?) took a look at this tall, good looking, half-white, half-black, young man with an exotic African/Muslim name and concluded he could be guided toward a life in politics where his facile speaking skills could even put him in the White House.
In a very real way, he has been a young man in a very big hurry. Who else do you know has written two memoirs before the age of 45? "Dreams of My Father" was published in 1995 when he was only 34 years old. The "Audacity of Hope" followed in 2006. If, indeed, he did write them himself. There are some who think that his mentor and friend, Bill Ayers, a man who calls himself a "communist with a small 'c'" was the real author.
His political skills consisted of rarely voting on anything that might be deemed controversial. He went from a legislator in the Illinois legislature to the Senator from that state because he had the good fortune of having Mayor Daley's formidable political machine at his disposal.
He was in the U.S. Senate so briefly that his bid for the presidency was either an act of astonishing self-confidence or part of some greater game plan that had been determined before he first stepped foot in the Capital. How, many must wonder, was he selected to be a 2004 keynote speaker at the Democrat convention that nominated John Kerry when virtually no one had ever even heard of him before?
He outmaneuvered Hillary Clinton in primaries. He took Iowa by storm. A charming young man, an anomaly in the state with a very small black population, he oozed "cool" in a place where agriculture was the antithesis of cool. He dazzled the locals. And he had an army of volunteers drawn to a charisma that hid any real substance.
And then he had the great good fortune of having the Republicans select one of the most inept candidates for the presidency since Bob Dole and then John McCain did something crazy. He picked Sarah Palin, an unknown female governor from the very distant state of Alaska. It was a ticket that was reminiscent of 1984's Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro and they went down to defeat.
The mainstream political media fell in love with him. It was a schoolgirl crush with febrile commentators like Chris Mathews swooning then and now over the man. The venom directed against McCain and, in particular, Palin, was extraordinary.
Now, nearly a full 2 years into his first term, all of those gilded years leading up to the White House have left him unprepared to be President. Left to his own instincts, he has a talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. It swiftly became a joke that he could not deliver even the briefest of statements without the ever-present Tele-Prompters.
Far worse, however, is his capacity to want to "wish away" some terrible realities, not the least of which is the Islamist intention to destroy America and enslave the West. Any student of history knows how swiftly Islam initially spread. It knocked on the doors of Europe, having gained a foothold in Spain.
The great crowds that greeted him at home or on his campaign "world tour" were no substitute for having even the slightest grasp of history and the reality of a world filled with really bad people with really bad intentions.
Oddly and perhaps even inevitably, his political experience, a cakewalk, has positioned him to destroy the Democrat Party's hold on power in Congress because in the end it was never about the Party. It was always about his communist ideology, learned at an early age from family, mentors, college professors, and extreme leftist friends and colleagues.
Obama is a man who could deliver a snap judgment about a Boston police officer who arrested an "obstreperous" Harvard professor-friend, but would warn Americans against "jumping to conclusions" about a mass murderer at Fort Hood who shouted "Allah Akbar." The absurdity of that was lost on no one. He has since compounded this by calling the Christmas bomber "an isolated extremist" only to have to admit a day or two later that he was part of an al Qaeda plot.
He is a man who could strive to close down our detention facility at Guantanamo even though those released were known to have returned to the battlefield against America . He could even instruct his Attorney General to afford the perpetrator of 9/11 a civil trial when no one else would ever even consider such an obscenity. And he is a man who could wait three days before having anything to say about the perpetrator of yet another terrorist attack on Americans and then have to elaborate on his remarks the following day because his first statement was so lame.
The pattern repeats itself. He either blames any problem on the Bush administration or he naively seeks to wish away the truth.
Knock, knock. Anyone home? Anyone there? Barack Obama exists only as the sock puppet of his handlers, of the people who have maneuvered and manufactured this pathetic individual's life.
When anyone else would quickly and easily produce a birth certificate, this man has spent over a million dollars to deny access to his. Most other documents, the paper trail we all leave in our wake, have been sequestered from review. He has lived a make-believe life whose true facts remain hidden.
We laugh at the ventriloquist's dummy, but what do you do when the dummy at the teleprompter is President of the United States of America?
– by Alan Caruba, falsely attributed to Eddie Sessions
I have this theory about Barack Obama. I think he's led a kind of make-believe life in which money was provided and doors were opened because at some point early on somebody or some group (George Soros anybody?) took a look at this tall, good looking, half-white, half-black, young man with an exotic African/Muslim name and concluded he could be guided toward a life in politics where his facile speaking skills could even put him in the White House.
In a very real way, he has been a young man in a very big hurry. Who else do you know has written two memoirs before the age of 45? "Dreams of My Father" was published in 1995 when he was only 34 years old. The "Audacity of Hope" followed in 2006. If, indeed, he did write them himself. There are some who think that his mentor and friend, Bill Ayers, a man who calls himself a "communist with a small 'c'" was the real author.
His political skills consisted of rarely voting on anything that might be deemed controversial. He went from a legislator in the Illinois legislature to the Senator from that state because he had the good fortune of having Mayor Daley's formidable political machine at his disposal.
He was in the U.S. Senate so briefly that his bid for the presidency was either an act of astonishing self-confidence or part of some greater game plan that had been determined before he first stepped foot in the Capital. How, many must wonder, was he selected to be a 2004 keynote speaker at the Democrat convention that nominated John Kerry when virtually no one had ever even heard of him before?
He outmaneuvered Hillary Clinton in primaries. He took Iowa by storm. A charming young man, an anomaly in the state with a very small black population, he oozed "cool" in a place where agriculture was the antithesis of cool. He dazzled the locals. And he had an army of volunteers drawn to a charisma that hid any real substance.
And then he had the great good fortune of having the Republicans select one of the most inept candidates for the presidency since Bob Dole and then John McCain did something crazy. He picked Sarah Palin, an unknown female governor from the very distant state of Alaska. It was a ticket that was reminiscent of 1984's Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro and they went down to defeat.
The mainstream political media fell in love with him. It was a schoolgirl crush with febrile commentators like Chris Mathews swooning then and now over the man. The venom directed against McCain and, in particular, Palin, was extraordinary.
Now, nearly a full 2 years into his first term, all of those gilded years leading up to the White House have left him unprepared to be President. Left to his own instincts, he has a talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. It swiftly became a joke that he could not deliver even the briefest of statements without the ever-present Tele-Prompters.
Far worse, however, is his capacity to want to "wish away" some terrible realities, not the least of which is the Islamist intention to destroy America and enslave the West. Any student of history knows how swiftly Islam initially spread. It knocked on the doors of Europe, having gained a foothold in Spain.
The great crowds that greeted him at home or on his campaign "world tour" were no substitute for having even the slightest grasp of history and the reality of a world filled with really bad people with really bad intentions.
Oddly and perhaps even inevitably, his political experience, a cakewalk, has positioned him to destroy the Democrat Party's hold on power in Congress because in the end it was never about the Party. It was always about his communist ideology, learned at an early age from family, mentors, college professors, and extreme leftist friends and colleagues.
Obama is a man who could deliver a snap judgment about a Boston police officer who arrested an "obstreperous" Harvard professor-friend, but would warn Americans against "jumping to conclusions" about a mass murderer at Fort Hood who shouted "Allah Akbar." The absurdity of that was lost on no one. He has since compounded this by calling the Christmas bomber "an isolated extremist" only to have to admit a day or two later that he was part of an al Qaeda plot.
He is a man who could strive to close down our detention facility at Guantanamo even though those released were known to have returned to the battlefield against America . He could even instruct his Attorney General to afford the perpetrator of 9/11 a civil trial when no one else would ever even consider such an obscenity. And he is a man who could wait three days before having anything to say about the perpetrator of yet another terrorist attack on Americans and then have to elaborate on his remarks the following day because his first statement was so lame.
The pattern repeats itself. He either blames any problem on the Bush administration or he naively seeks to wish away the truth.
Knock, knock. Anyone home? Anyone there? Barack Obama exists only as the sock puppet of his handlers, of the people who have maneuvered and manufactured this pathetic individual's life.
When anyone else would quickly and easily produce a birth certificate, this man has spent over a million dollars to deny access to his. Most other documents, the paper trail we all leave in our wake, have been sequestered from review. He has lived a make-believe life whose true facts remain hidden.
We laugh at the ventriloquist's dummy, but what do you do when the dummy at the teleprompter is President of the United States of America?
08 February 2011
Your Actual Taxes
Total Tax Burden
The Total US Tax Burden, according to Forbes for 2004 as a percentage of Gross Domestic Production was 25.5%
Our personal total tax burdens are much higher than that. Our Federal income tax burden alone for most of my working years was about 25%
But I paid many other taxes from my income. Here are just a few with my estimate of the percentage of my income.
Social Security Tax (6.2% of your pay and 6.2% by your employer of pay that could have been yours)
Medicare Tax (1.45% of your pay and 1.45% by your employer of pay that could have been yours)
State Income tax (10%)
Real Property tax (.5%)
Personal property tax (Auto, tools, appliances, RV’s
Federal Excise tax, (handguns (10% of sale price) rifles and ammo (11% of sale price) tires, fishing and archery equipment)
Federal Gas tax (18.4¢ per gallon-¢pg)
State Excise Tax;
Tobacco Tax (cigarettes 87¢ per pack, other tobacco 33.02 percent),
Alcohol Tax ($3.30 per gallon distilled <100 proof, 20¢ per gallon beer and wine),
Nature Gas, Emergency phone and Energy resources surcharges Container recycling fee CRV (5¢ per bottle< 24 oz, 10¢ ≥24oz.)
Tire fee
State Gas Tax (35.3 ¢pg, 47.7 ¢pg counting other taxes and fees, 10 cents higher for diesel)
State Sales Tax (8.75%)
Federal tobacco Tax (small cigs and small cigars $1.01/20, large cigs $2.11/20, large cigars 40¢ each)
Federal Liquor Tax (distilled $13.50/proof gallon, beer $18/barrel 5¢/can, wine $1.7/gallon)
Licenses, (vehicle, bedding, hunting and fishing permits,)
Fees () Required Insurances () Required Safety Equipment
Luxury Car Tax, originally only on certain cars over $40,000, now many cars and trucks cost over that, so luxury tax applies to pick up trucks.
In the purchase price of many necessary commodities are the taxes, licenses, fees, and regulatory costs levied on businesses, but paid for by consumers. Here are just a few with my estimate of the percentage of purchase price that was tax and regulatory burden.
Fuel and food; some foods use fuel many times before they reach the consumers table. A 10% fuel tax can increase food costs by 70%. For some foods fuel is used to till the fields, kill the weeds and bugs, fertilize a couple times, harvest, haul to market, haul to storage, haul to processing, haul to warehousing, haul to retailing, and hauled home by the consumer, all using fuel.
Regulation, Product liability insurance, fees, surcharges, environment requirements, licenses and permits to the extent they are excessive they add 30 to 50 percent unnecessarily to the cost of everything.
Each year we spent about 15% of net income on commodities, about $15,000.00 annually.
Vehicle and transportation taxes and regulation burden; we averaged about $22,000.00 per year in transportation costs.
Real Estate taxes; we averaged about half of one percent of our income because of Prop 13 in California. Had we sold our original home from 37 years ago and moved elsewhere in California our property tax could have easily been two to five percent of income yearly. Many homebuyers pay:
$5,000.00 per year in property related taxes.
I think our effective tax rate including regulatory costs, mandates and fees, direct and indirectly passed along in product and service prices is about;
75% of your income!!! Are you getting your moneys worth? I doubt it.
Incidentally, this doesn’t include the cost of eroding the value of your savings and investment through intentionally induced inflation. Our money has been reduced in value by about 90% since 1960. That’s right; a dollar today is worth about 10¢ in 1960 money.
Think about that when you cash your government check.
The Total US Tax Burden, according to Forbes for 2004 as a percentage of Gross Domestic Production was 25.5%
Our personal total tax burdens are much higher than that. Our Federal income tax burden alone for most of my working years was about 25%
But I paid many other taxes from my income. Here are just a few with my estimate of the percentage of my income.
Social Security Tax (6.2% of your pay and 6.2% by your employer of pay that could have been yours)
Medicare Tax (1.45% of your pay and 1.45% by your employer of pay that could have been yours)
State Income tax (10%)
Real Property tax (.5%)
Personal property tax (Auto, tools, appliances, RV’s
Federal Excise tax, (handguns (10% of sale price) rifles and ammo (11% of sale price) tires, fishing and archery equipment)
Federal Gas tax (18.4¢ per gallon-¢pg)
State Excise Tax;
Tobacco Tax (cigarettes 87¢ per pack, other tobacco 33.02 percent),
Alcohol Tax ($3.30 per gallon distilled <100 proof, 20¢ per gallon beer and wine),
Nature Gas, Emergency phone and Energy resources surcharges Container recycling fee CRV (5¢ per bottle< 24 oz, 10¢ ≥24oz.)
Tire fee
State Gas Tax (35.3 ¢pg, 47.7 ¢pg counting other taxes and fees, 10 cents higher for diesel)
State Sales Tax (8.75%)
Federal tobacco Tax (small cigs and small cigars $1.01/20, large cigs $2.11/20, large cigars 40¢ each)
Federal Liquor Tax (distilled $13.50/proof gallon, beer $18/barrel 5¢/can, wine $1.7/gallon)
Licenses, (vehicle, bedding, hunting and fishing permits,)
Fees () Required Insurances () Required Safety Equipment
Luxury Car Tax, originally only on certain cars over $40,000, now many cars and trucks cost over that, so luxury tax applies to pick up trucks.
In the purchase price of many necessary commodities are the taxes, licenses, fees, and regulatory costs levied on businesses, but paid for by consumers. Here are just a few with my estimate of the percentage of purchase price that was tax and regulatory burden.
Fuel and food; some foods use fuel many times before they reach the consumers table. A 10% fuel tax can increase food costs by 70%. For some foods fuel is used to till the fields, kill the weeds and bugs, fertilize a couple times, harvest, haul to market, haul to storage, haul to processing, haul to warehousing, haul to retailing, and hauled home by the consumer, all using fuel.
Regulation, Product liability insurance, fees, surcharges, environment requirements, licenses and permits to the extent they are excessive they add 30 to 50 percent unnecessarily to the cost of everything.
Each year we spent about 15% of net income on commodities, about $15,000.00 annually.
Vehicle and transportation taxes and regulation burden; we averaged about $22,000.00 per year in transportation costs.
Real Estate taxes; we averaged about half of one percent of our income because of Prop 13 in California. Had we sold our original home from 37 years ago and moved elsewhere in California our property tax could have easily been two to five percent of income yearly. Many homebuyers pay:
$5,000.00 per year in property related taxes.
I think our effective tax rate including regulatory costs, mandates and fees, direct and indirectly passed along in product and service prices is about;
75% of your income!!! Are you getting your moneys worth? I doubt it.
Incidentally, this doesn’t include the cost of eroding the value of your savings and investment through intentionally induced inflation. Our money has been reduced in value by about 90% since 1960. That’s right; a dollar today is worth about 10¢ in 1960 money.
Think about that when you cash your government check.
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