Get out your check books
Actually, no need to even do that thanks to the scam known as withholding.
Check it out America: Obama is looking at raising your taxes to pay for the “explosion” in the budget deficit. Let’s be honest. To pay for all the bailouts, “Cash for Clunkers” money and health care reform your taxes will have to go up. There is simply no other source of revenue for the government that is as easy to tap and as easy to increase as the income tax. And Obama’s administration is not just taxing the rich. No sir. He’s going to hit middle class America with tax increases. That’s you and that’s me.
The bottom line is that Obama has taken full advantage of a Democratic Congress and spineless Republican leadership to move America even closer to socialism. He’s done it by spending money like a drunken sailor on shore leave in Thailand. The good news is that now middle-class America will finally take its head out of its ass and realize that when Democrats will take only the rich, they are talking about middle-class America. The bad news is that it may be too late to stop what is already in motion. Let this be a lesson to you America. Pay attention to what your government is doing.
(Side note: I think my favorite line in the article is this one “If we want an economy that’s going to grow in the future, people have to understand we have to bring those deficits down. And it’s going to be difficult, hard for us to do. And the path to that is through health care reform,” Geithner said. How does SPENDING BILLIONS on health care reform bring down a deficit? It doesn’t!!!! This is probably the worst attempt at working the party line into an answer in the history of politics. It’s hard to believe that Geithner is the best person to head up the Treasury if he doesn’t understand simple economic concepts. Spending creates deficits; it doesn’t bring them down. I totally agree that deficits need to be eliminated for the economy to achieve robust growth. But I disagree with the idea that spending outrageous amounts of money to make health care worse is the way to do it.)
Congress sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong…again.
Congress is at it again. They are pressuring the NCAA to switch from the BCS to a play-off format.
Now, as a college football fan, I am all for a play-off, in some form. I think the BCS doesn’t really do any better than the old poll system did at deciding a national champion. I do think that the BCS does a really good job of creating a thunderstorm of media coverage every year with all the disagreements and arguments both for an against it. But ultimately, I’m in favor of a ply-off.
What I’m not in favor of is Congress mandating that NCAA switch from one format to another. Not only is this type of action a complete waste of taxpayer time and money, it’s an flagrant abuse of power. In no part of the Constitution is the right to a fair and balanced college football championship format guaranteed. There are certain congressmen who are reaching far beyond the scope of the Congress’ power to win votes in their own states and are attempting to bring big-time college football money to their state funded institutions.
With the shape of the economy (it’s recovering but not we’re not completely out of the woods yet), justices using international law to influence decisions in American cases, and a president who has forcibly taken control of an automaker and illegally changed bankruptcy laws to favor unions in the most blatant of vote buying actions, you’d think our congressmen and women would have better things to do with OUR time than tell the NCAA what to do with college football. But when you consider the actions of our president in regards to GM, then they could simply be playing a very expensive, very dangerous game of follow-the-leader.
If you are as pissed about this or any other issue as I am, I highly encourage you to contact your Senator and Representative and let them know. The only way that we can change this country is to change the leadership. And the only way they will change is if they think Americans have begun to pay attention again and aren’t simply sitting in front of the TV with their eyes glazed over as Simon Cowell yells at the latest American Idol flunky.
Make your voice heard.
P.S. – I know that a while back, I promised a few articles on the FairTax, since it was tax season at the time. Due to illness, craziness at work, a friends wedding and the launching of a new site, I was unable to sit down and write some comprehensive posts on the FairTax. I will at some point actually do it, I just don’t know when. Sorry to all those who were expecting the posts.
Time for limits?
With the enormous amount of spending being done by our current Congress (pork included), I think the questions needs to be asked:
Do we need to impose limits to the number of terms senators and representatives can serve?
We limit the terms our President can serve (which limits his power), yet we do nothing to limit the power and influence of the Congress. Take Ted Kennedy, for example. Here’s a guy that has been in the Senate since 1962. So this man has exerted influence over the country for 47 years. Read that again.
47 years.
47 years of Kennedy’s politics. 47 years of extreme left wing ideas. 47 years of one man’s agenda affecting the outcome of bills and the money being spent by our government (read: you and I).
If there were limits to the number of terms served, you’d get more accomplished. If you knew you only had 6 years to accomplish something while in office, you’d be a lot more focused in your approach. Also, you’d be a little less worried about buying votes (through pork spending and the like) for the next election (since you wouldn’t be eligible) and more worried about making a real change.
Why do we limit the term of one man, but let 535 people serve for as long as they want, especially when they are passing garbage like the most recent spending bill? (For those wondering, “What spending bill?”, it’s the one masquerading as a “stimulus” bill.) It doesn’t make sense.
Limit the number of terms and you’ll see a more focused Congress and a more efficient Congress.
28th Amendment – The Right to Cable Television
I read this the other day and I’m just now getting around to posting it.
I tried to come up with something creative and witty to get my point across, but it’s late and this makes me more furious as I think about it. So I’ll be short and brutal in getting to my point.
Here’s the gist of the article for those too lazy to read it: Obama wants to delay to transition from digital cable because the majority of Americans who use analog TVs to receive broadcasting are unprepared for the digital switch.
Folks, this required transition was mandated by Congress in 2005. That’s 4 years to get your ass in gear. If 4 years wasn’t enough time – tough. Turn off the TV and go buy a converter box right now.
And that’s not even the part that pisses me off. The fact that Obama or any politician wants to help people receive TV broadcasting by delaying the switch to digital and passing out government (read: THE AMERICAN PEOPLE) funded vouchers is bullshit.
Take a look at the Bill of Rights. While you’re at it, take a look at all 27 amendments of the Constitution.
Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Show me the one that guarantees you and I the right to cable television. You can’t because it’s not there.
So why are we wasting taxpayer money on converter box vouchers so people can watch TV? Why is the Congress now going to waste our time (and it is OUR TIME since we voted them into office as our voice in government) discussing a potential delay in the digital switch?
The answer is simple. Americans see television broadcasting as a right and not a luxury. The Government knows this and will use that fact to further our reliance upon them. No need for us to make sure that my TV will work after the switch – government will take of me.
Welcome to the death of individualism.
Um, can Elmo count that high?
Filed under: Finance, Foreign Policy, Politics, Uncategorized, Waste
Many of you will remember the days when you actually waited impatiently for the end of Sesame Street to hear the phrase: “Sesame Street was brought to you today by the letter ‘A’ and the number ’12′ (or whatever the generously inclined alphanumeric benefactors were for that day). Well, I want to know if they are going to have an episode that is brought to you by the number 3,000,000,000,000…
Given that congress stands ready to burden the children of today with a ‘bailout’ tax bill that carries the same number, I would suggest that “The Count” get himself a packet of no-doz and a pot of coffee. It’s gonna take a hell of a long time to count that high…
One! One Woefully Wasted dollar! Ah AH AH… Two! Two Terminally Taxed Toddlers! Ah AH AH!
Who on earth REALLY thinks that this is a good idea? I mean seriously… do these idiots go home and tell their kids that if the piggy bank doesn’t have enough that they can raid the “Monopoly” box for the rest?
AUGGGGGGHHHH!!!! I could spit nails. In fact, I might. Just to see if it helps.
Auto Bailout Update
Quick update on the auto bailout.
First, I pointed out a while ago that Union’s will do anything to retain their considerable power. They’ve already flexed their muscle regarding the bailout by stating they they would make no wage or benefit concessions with the auto companies and they expect the government to step in to make sure that the American auto industry doesn’t crumble. Now they are showing their true colors. After some Southern Republicans sank an auto bailout bill in the house, UAW leaders accused these Senators of conspiring with the foreign auto makers to drive UAW wages down so that there would be no benefit to joining the union. The UAW knows that their time of controlling the auto industry and having enormous political power is ending, so they will do whatever is necessary to retain that power. Even if it means accusing members of Congress of conspiring with their competitors.
Personally, I think these Senators should be commended for saying enough is enough. I’ve made my thoughts on the bailout of the auto industry quite clear but I’ll reiterate them here. The American auto industry has been completely mismanaged for decades and they are going to die with or without our money. Don’t drag out their death by wasting our money; let them die now.
The truly sad part of this whole story is that the actions of these Senators will be all for naught in the end. The Bush administration has that they will make money available to the auto industry, possibly from the $700 billion bailout kitty.
The second thing I wanted to comment on is this announcement from GM. They are temporarily cutting production and jobs in order to adjust to declining demand for their cars.
I don’t what’s funnier – that it’s taken GM 20+ years to make a sensible business decision or the fact that this is all a temporary move. They are facing extinction and their answer is to temporarily cut production as opposed to permanently cutting capacity and costs.
Do they think that the American public will one day again clamor for poorly made American crap?
Waste of Money
I’m sure you’re already aware that Congress wastes your money. Sometimes it’s wasted on pork spending. Sometimes its wasted saving poorly run auto companies from themselves. But, no matter how bad we think those are, they are no where near as bad as this.
That’s right. Congress will now spend time on legislation designed to scrap the BCS and implement a play-off in college football. Now, I want to make it clear, that as an avid football fan (and a rabid Alabama fan), that I am in favor of some sort of play-off system in college football. But I don’t think that the American public’s time and money should be wasted in an attempt to get a play-off implemented.
Does Congress have nothing better to do right now? We’re in the middle of the worst recession since 1980 and Congress is going to waste our time and money debating the merits of this legislation. And did anyone notice who it was that introduced this garbage legislation? That’s right, Republican Joe Barton from Texas. Anyone care to take a guess as to which team felt they got screwed by the BCS this year? That’s right! The Texas Longhorns. This jackass is TAKING A DUMP ON THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS so that he can maybe score a few more votes from the Longhorn fans.
I might not be this pissed off, if this wasn’t a persistent problem in all levels of government. Last year, the legislature in my home state of Georgia passed legislation supporting the implementation of a play-off in college football. This was after the Georgia Bulldogs felt they were screwed out of the title game. Last year and earlier this, the US Congress spent an insane amount of time and resources investigating steroids in baseball.
Government needs to stay the hell out of sports. The American people have their hard earned stolen from them by Congress and in turn, Congress wastes that money on bullshit like this. Write your Senator and your Representative and tell them NOT to waste your time – and it is your time if you elected them to serve you – on crap like this. Make sure they know that there are worse problems in this country than the Texas Longhorns not playing for the national title. The last thing we need is for Congress to ignore the demise of the country in favor of getting their hands into sports.
Besides, government has already screwed up education; they’d probably screw this up too.
More on the Auto Bailout
Here’s a couple of follow-up pieces regarding the proposed bailout of the auto industry.
First, if you paid close attention to my first post regarding the the auto bailout, you will notice that I mentioned that the UAW was lobbying the Democrats to send an obscene amount of money to the auto makers to delay their inevitable demise.
Looks like I was correct. UAW president Ron Gettelfinger has stated the workers will not make any more concessions to help the slumping auto makers. Gettelfinger called for Congress to act quickly on a bailout plan for the auto industry.
Don’t you just love this? The UAW refuses to make concessions and then demands money from the government. Does it matter that a big reason the auto industry is failing is because unionized employees blackmail employers into paying far more in benefits and salary than they are worth? No. What matters is that unions retain their power. If Ford and GM go under, these unions and union leaders suddenly hold no power and they will not stand for that. So, instead of making concessions from their insane salary and benefits demands, they require that government give the industry money to keep it afloat. They trade the votes of the union membership for money in order to retain their power. Democrats are more than willing to play along since they are also seeking to retain power in the government.
Now to address another article I read regarding the auto industry bailout. I stated before that the Democrats were putting on a clinic on how to buy votes by pushing for an auto bailout. As it turns out, the current administration is guilty of this as well.
Bush is suggesting that the money used to bailout the auto industry come from loans that were approved in September (but not dispersed). He is suggesting that Congress accelerate the availability of these loans. Originally, these loans were earmarked for the purpose of helping auto makers build more fuel-efficient vehicles so that they could become more competitive in the global marketplace (even though they have failed to do this for decades spending their own money). Now these loans will be used to simple keep the companies from crapping out financially.
To sum up – Democrats want to send $25 billion from the financial bailout to the auto makers to secure their votes and Bush has upped the ante by allowing money that was originally set aside for the development of fuel efficient vehicles to be used to keep the auto makers from going under. Looks like the Republicans are going to secure a few votes for themselves in the next election.
Its bi-partisan vote-buying like this that has driven me to libertarianism. And the worst part is that they are buying votes with MY money.
Biden wants your 401(k)
You can kiss your 401(k) account goodbye if Obama and Biden are elected. As Kristian stated in his previous post, Biden has gone on record as stating that he wants the money from your 401(k) plan. He, along with all the other House Democrats, want to eliminate the tax breaks given to 401(k) accounts and redirect those into mandatory, government run accounts.
More specifically, all workers would receive a $600 annual inflation-adjusted subsidy from the U.S. government but would be required to invest 5% of their pay into a guaranteed retirement account administered by the Social Security Administration. The money in turn would be invested in special government bonds that would pay 3 percent a year, adjusted for inflation. The current system of providing tax breaks on 401(k) contributions and earnings would be eliminated.
What does that mean for you and I?
One of the big draws of 401(k) plans for employees is the company match. Many companies match your contributions at various rates (anywhere from $.50 for every dollar put in, up to as $1.50 or more for every dollar put in) up to a certain percentage of your income. For example, depending on company performance, my company will match up to $1.50 for every dollar I put in, up to 5%. Even in the very worst years of company performance, my company will match at $.50 for every dollar I put in. That’s a 50% ROR on my money, even in trying economic times like these. If you can find a better rate right now, let me give you my cell phone number so that you can tell me where.
Under the plan that Biden and House Democrats are proposing, tax breaks for employers would be eliminated. Many employers match 401(k) funds to receive these tax breaks on their own defined-contribution plans. Without those tax breaks, employers will have no incentive for matching 401(k) contributions. Like most Americans, I really enjoy the match that my employer gives me because it helps grow my retirement account much faster. Without that match, I would likely have to work longer to have the kind of lifestyle I want to have in retirement.
Sadly, not having the company match is not even the worst part of this plan. Take a look at that second paragraph again. You will be required to put 5% of your pay into a retirement account administered by the Social Security Administration.
Read that one more time, just to be sure that you understood it. The government will require you to direct 5% of your pay into an account administered by the SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION. This is the same group that runs the current Social Security system that, at best, will be bankrupt in 2042 and at worst will be bankrupt within the next 10 years. Under the proposed plan, they will be squandering even more of your money. More specifically, the money that you will need in retirement. If that doesn’t scare the liberal out of you, I don’t know what will.
On top of that, the money will be invested in government bonds that will earn 3% a year, adjusted for inflation. For comparison, here’s my 401(k) returns, by year, for the past 5 years:
2004: 38.3%
2005: 27.8%
2006: 7.5%
2007: -1.8%
2008 YTD: -44.5%
3% blows. Sure, the last 2 years have been crappy, but take a look at the other 3 years. All of them are over 3%. If all I wanted was 3%, I’d stick my money into a savings account or a CD. I have it in my 401(k) because I can invest in equities, which, over time, will provide me with much greater returns. Granted, the risk is higher (as evidenced by that 2008 YTD number), but I’m willing to take it in order to achieve the other numbers.
And risk is what this is all about. With all the uncertainty in the markets these days, people are shying away from risk out of fear. And Democrats are like dogs – they sense fear and feed off it. Democrats are using the American public’s fear of the markets and of risk to scare the public into allowing Obama, Biden and their Socialist Posse to steal even more of Americans hard earned money and use it for their own Socialist vote buying programs.
I’ll leave you with this. If you don’t think that Obama, Biden and other Democrats actually will “spread the wealth around”, take a look at this quote from Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic-policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, the woman who is the mastermind of the above plan. When speaking of this new plan, she had this to say: “I want to spend our nation’s dollar for retirement security better. Everybody would now be covered.”
Not “the individual will spend their dollar for retirement security”. Not “if you work hard and put money in, you will get money out. No. She and other Democrats think that they know what’s best for you and they will remove your money from your paycheck in order to spend it in a way that they see fit – which includes covering everyone, even if they have done nothing to contribute towards their own retirement.
Democrats don’t think you are smart enough to handle your own money. They think they know how to take care of you better than you know how to take care of yourself. But what it really comes down to is that Democrats are salivating (again, like dogs) at the prospect of spreading your wealth around to buy votes that keep them in power.
One has to wonder if the American public will take it head out of its ass long enough to keep this from happening or if they’ll simply remove it so that Obama and Biden can screw them.