Don’t Raise Taxes

On Millionaires and Billionaires, or anyone else.

Lower everyone’s taxes to 15%.  No progressive rates, just a straight 15% for everyone.

No one should have to pay a higher or lower rate than Millionaires and Billionaires.  No one, rich or poor, should pay a higher or lower rate than anyone else.

15% for Senators, Presidents, for Warren Buffet, for Warren’s secretary, for Mitt Romney, for Bill Gates, for all businesses, for all non-profits, for all churches, for all schools, for all unions, for all political parties, for low income, for high income , for middle income, 15% for all individuals, companies, and organizations. 

Only someone or an extension of an individual, like a business or an organization; with no income or no revenue would pay no tax.

Everyone should pay the same (on non-profit revenue or profit income) tax rate, no exemptions, no exceptions, no credits, no low income credit, no high income surcharge, no subsidizes, and no deductions. 

How much did you receive? 

Send the Federal government 15%

It would be plenty of revenue for the government’s annual costs, future costs, and paying down the debt.

It would be somewhat less than they are used to getting, so they must actually CUT spending.

And that’s what I want; much smaller Federal government, much less spending, much lower taxes, much less regulation, much safer human and constitutional rights, much more prosperity and opportunity, fewer and smaller entitlements, less lavish benefits, no mandatory participation, no means test, much less bigotry and prejudice, much less envy and jealously, much more happiness with liberty and justice for all.

The only way the beast that is Federal government will lose weight, is to starve it by cutting off its revenue.  It will just keep eating away at our carcass, if we let it.

They won’t cut spending on their own.  No tax increases, no new kinds of taxes; just less, much less revenue for the Federal Government.

Equal taxation, equal liberty, and equal justice for ALL citizens

Thank You, Blog Readers

Around the World

I’m honored to have readers from so many other countries.  Some from many countries I haven’t visited yet.  Most of my readers are from USA, but often there are many from Sweden, Germany and Russia, and a few from more than thirty (30) other countries.  I’m not sure why, but I’m happy they find my opinions about American life, politics and religion interesting in some way.

I wish they would comment more often.  I’m interested in their opinions about subjects important to them and their view from a different culture and history from mine about events in my country or theirs.

I have access to a language interpreter for almost any written language; so, even in their own language I can probably read and understand their comments.

I’m sorry I don’t know more about current events and issues in each of the countries where I have blog readers, but I will study each country’s current events looking for subjects that I could have an opinion about.  It might be presumptuous and a little ignorant of me to comment on issues in other countries about which I know very little, but that hasn’t stopped me from having an opinion about anything, anywhere in the world before, and it certainly won’t stop me now.

I am sure the friendly blog readers from other places will quickly inform me about their countries, and their values, and their thoughts.  

So, thank you again for reading my blog.  Please make comments.  It’s easy just click on the word comments at the bottom of each article.  Comment in almost any language.  If your comment adds to the discussion, or is your true opinion, or a link to your opinion blog, I will post it.  If it’s advertisement, or vile and offensive to me; I won’t post it.

Have fun, be well, and learn something new everyday.

Citizen Stormo

Be Responsible

You Can’t Trust Government With Your Future

You can’t trust what they say they will do.  You can’t trust them with your money.  You can’t trust them to conserve any money.  You can’t trust them to hold or protect any money or anything that can be turned easily into money.

You just can’t trust any government, any institution, professionals, community, or family when it comes to your money and your future.

Manage Your Own Life.

You can’t trust anyone else with your money.  An old proverb applies, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”.  It might get dropped.  Accidents do happen.

You must, because of practical necessities, trust governments, institutions, professionals, and family members for some things, but not all of your money and not to any one of them.  Even then, you must watch them closely to make sure they are doing what you have requested and expect.  

“Trust, but verify,” as Ronald Reagan famously said of treaty agreements; applies to anything where your hard earned money is involved. 

Never let others get too comfortable with your money.  Move it around, take some of it away, and let someone new handle parts of it for awhile.  Hold some of it yourself and keep track of it and manage it carefully and responsibly.

You can’t trust your money or your future to the government or anyone else.

You cannot trust governments with anyone’s money.

Manage your own money.  Manage your own future. 

Manage your own life, if it's screwed up, at least you will know precisely who to blame.

Government Bait and Switch

“Means Testing”

For fifty (50) years I paid in for Social Security Retirement Insurance benefits, and thirty seven (37) years into Medicare benefits.  It was mandatory.  If I got paid to work I had to pay for promised benefits.  There was no widely known option.  I never welshed on my obligations, not once.

Now that I’m drawing the benefits I was forced to pay for, the government wants to change how much I get in benefits.  If an insurance company or a private business cheated millions of customers like this the US Attorney General would certainly indict them, and so would most state’s Attorneys General.

What does so called, “means testing” have to do with me getting what I paid for?  Everyone who pays for an advertised product or service, especially in advance, should receive it exactly as advertised.  Remember these are insurance benefits I already paid for.

If you are Bill Gates or Homeless Joe now; that should have nothing what-so-ever to do with whether you get the benefits you paid for and were promised by our government.

 

Benefits are not entitlements.

Many, if not most, entitlement recipients pay in nothing.  Entitlements are an unspecified list of assistance based on someone’s personal circumstance or condition at some point in time, hopefully for a short period, regardless if they ever paid in a penny in tax revenue.

Entitlements definitely should be “means tested”.  It’s one of the primary justification used to determine if an applicant is eligible for aid.  I don’t think enough “means testing” is being done for entitlement programs like, food stamps, child care, and aid to dependent children, Medicaid, school breakfast and lunch, or whatever names these aid programs are known by today.

Benefits come from paid up government insurance and must be delivered as promised.  In no place or time while they were gleefully taking my money did the government ever mention “means testing”. 

The fact that I worked hard my whole life, and planned, scrimped and saved, invested, took good care of myself, and carefully managed my life and what little money the government did not grab; somehow now, I should not get the benefits I paid for. 

But, someone who didn’t do anything of those things well should get some of the benefits I paid for is unbelievably ridiculous, criminal, immoral, and socially and legally unjust.

I provided for myself, they did not.  The government took some of my hard earned money while I was working and now that I’m too old to re-earn it, that they would dare to take any of the benefits that I paid for is a travesty. 

The unmitigated gall of these manipulative, backstabbing, cowardly, hypocritical cheaters, liars, and thieving elected and appointed officials to tout “means testing” is unimaginable.

Shame upon them and their despicable ways; they should be damned to hell, and if given the chance, I’ll gladly help them on their way.       

Government Jobs,

Are Not “Real” Jobs

Some government jobs are work and those who do them get paid, but they don’t make money.  There’s no profit made from the activities of government employees; not legally anyway.

The money used to pay them, comes all most entirely from taxes paid on the profits of businesses or the pay checks of their employees.  Government employees are supposed to pay taxes too, of course, but the money for their pay comes from taxes on business profits and the paychecks of the people with “Real” jobs. 

Non-profit and philanthropic employees pay income taxes, but from money donated by businesses and individuals either before or after taxes; so, again it’s money made by others.  If they were paying their employees from surplus revenue (profit); they would not be qualified as non-profit would they?

The only sort of “profit-like” revenue generated by governments is interest on deposits of surplus revenue, which they haven’t had since the 1990’s and rarely ever for many decades before.  Occasionally, but not for the past hundred years, the government sells enough surplus land to make a profit, but usually they’ve spent so much money “managing” it, that it rarely sells at a profit. 

The government also gets fees, royalties, and natural resource lease fees, rarely does it ever produce a profit, the government process and procedures all most always cost more than the revenue was worth.  Recycling and the sale of surplus equipment produce some revenue, but it always seems to cost more than it recovers.

So, although some government jobs recover part of their cost, none make a profit; and therefore are not “Real” jobs.

“Real” jobs are created by businesses to service current or expected demand for their products and services for a profit.  If the business and its employees do a good job of meeting the demand, the business makes a profit and pays taxes on it and for its employees; and the employees have a job and pay income taxes and payroll taxes on their pay checks, that the employer was willing to pay them for the chance to make a profit for the owners.

Without demand, there is no profit, without profit there is no real job, without real jobs there is no tax revenue to pay government employees for the time they spend at their pretend jobs.

So, get a real job helping business owners and managers make a profit, and you and your coworkers have a job and can pay your taxes; so, millions of people with pretend jobs can do the good things that help other people make money; so, we can help the ignorant and poor and government employees reelect Democrats; so, they can all pretend they have meaningful lives.

Get a Real Job.

Make some money for those who bother to save and invest in this country and its people.

Pay your taxes, so others have a job pretending to do something they think you might need or want.

Get a Real Job. 

Think ahead, save and invest in businesses and people; not governments.  

What solutions will you try and why?

How will you get them enacted?

Political Debates; here’s what I’m hoping to hear:

Reduce Federal spending by actual spending cuts, not just slightly slower growth.   

Reduce the size and scope of Federal government, cutting some

Departments and consolidating others, and eliminate many Agencies, Offices, Commissions, Bureaus, Institutes and Endowments.  Significantly reduce Federal employment.

Lower lavish entitlements, like welfare, Medicaid, etc.

Fully insure benefits, like Medicare, Social Security and Unemployment with secure, set-aside funding.

Spend less than the incoming revenue, cut everything until you are.

Secure the borders, all of them.  Make illegal immigration very difficult.

Reduce military spending and overseas deployments.

Streamline the legal immigration process.  Weed-out fraud and corruption.

Expel non-citizen law breakers, systematically and urgently.  No special exemptions for long-time violators.  Those born to non-citizens while here can stay here with citizen relatives; or return with their parents to their homeland until they are 18 years old, then choose to return as a legal citizen.

No new taxes, no tax increases, and no fee increases.

Eliminate all exemptions, deductions, credits, subsidizes, and tariffs.

Eliminate the progressive idea in income taxes; one rate, the same percentage for everyone.

Increase the volume and availability of medical care, abundance will lower all its costs.

Substantially lower or eliminate business taxes.

Eliminate life-style regulations, encourage education, and let people suffer for their mistakes.

Significantly cut Federal Regulations.

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t heard much mention of these ideas as solutions to our economic problems; and heard practically nothing of how they might be accomplished. 

C’mon candidates, try bold meaningful solutions for once!  Or do you lack the courage to do what’s right?

Don’t Raise Taxes

On Millionaires and Billionaires

Lower everyone’s taxes to 15%.  No progressive rates, just a straight 15% for everyone.

No one should have to pay a higher rate than Millionaires and Billionaires.  No one, rich or poor, should pay a higher rate than anyone else.  Everyone should be taxed exactly alike, no exceptions.

15% for Senators, Presidents, for Warren Buffet, for Warren’s secretary, for Mitt Romney, for Bill Gates, for all businesses, for all non-profits, for all churches, for all schools, for all unions, for all political parties, for low income, for high income , for middle income, 15%  for all individuals, companies, and organizations.  

Only someone or some activity with no income or no revenue would pay no tax.

Everyone pays the same revenue (income) tax rate, no exemptions, no exceptions, no credits, no low income credit, no high income surcharge, no subsidizes, and no deductions. 

How much value did you receive? 

Send the Federal government 15%

It would be plenty of revenue for the government’s annual costs, future benefit, pension, and entitlement costs, and paying down the debt.

It would be much less than they are used to getting.

And that’s what I want; much smaller Federal government, much less spending, much lower taxes, much less regulation, much safer human and constitutional rights, much more prosperity and opportunity, fewer and smaller entitlements, less lavish benefits, no mandatory participation, no means test, much less bigotry and prejudice, much less envy and jealously, much more happiness with liberty and justice for all.

The only way the beast that is Federal government will lose weight, is to starve it by cutting off its revenue.  It will just keep eating away at our carcass, if we let it.

They won’t cut spending on their own.  No tax increases, no new kinds of taxes; just less, much less revenue for Federal Government.

Equal taxation, equal liberty and equal justice for ALL citizens