Tonight I had the opportunity to watch the State of the Union; which outlines Bush’s final plans for America in the coming year. As the President’s final months come to pass, he is also trying to set some of his legislation chiseled in stone. Of course I am referring to his tax cuts that he introduced in 2001 and 2003. Here is just someone’s opinion on what the tax cuts could do if they are implemented in the tax code for good.

“If Congress makes the tax cuts permanent, the major economic benefits begin in 2011. For example,

Total employment will rise by 1,087,000 jobs per year, on average;
Annual GDP will be over $111 billion higher, after inflation;
Personal savings will grow by $163 billion per year, on average, after inflation; and
After-tax household income will grow by an annual average of $274 billion per year, after inflation.”

Am I true believer of the tax cuts that the Bush administration has put into place over the past eight years? Take a wild guess? No, of course I don’t. Do I believe in lowering taxes? Hell yes I do, but the administration is still going about it the wrong way. I’ve said this over and over now, but the mainstream media still won’t cover the real long-term damages that these tax cuts will have on America without cutting spending. How does the government really expect to purchase all this fancy military equipment without increasing taxes? I am not in favor in cutting military budgets, by any means. I would love to see an increase in domestic military spending and a large decrease in international spending though. It’s like the game of ‘Risk.” It’s much easier defending your boarders than to have your armies spread out all over the map. The Bush administration needs to cut their credit card in half and burn it.

People need to understand that I am not in favor of increasing taxes. I truly believe that raising them will inevitably throw us into a depression, but we must lower our spending habits to save our nation’s future. My first idea that the government could implement that could save them a lot of money, while also cutting taxes for all Americans, is lowering government spending in the private sector.

There are many government programs that tax every single business, but only benefit a few. Here is just an example that helps one industry, but damages another. If the government gives a 10 billion dollar grant to an oil company for global expansion, this will inevitably hurt the alternative oil industry. What happened to the invincible hand of economics that we’ve preached about in econ classes for so many years? Here’s a quick definition - “Smith claims that, in a free market, an individual pursuing his own self-interest tends to also promote the good of his community as a whole through a principle that he called “the invisible hand”. He argued that each individual maximizing revenue for himself maximizes the total revenue of society as a whole, as this is identical with the sum total of individual revenues.”

The other factor here is that every single business will have to pay for some of this “free” grant money. A small business owner in Georgia that makes doo-dads will not see a return in this situation. All they will see is a tax hike in their quarterly payment. Imagine this scenario but a 100 times larger. Government spending has corrupted our nation and truly damaged our economic future. We need to let business fuel themselves and add the real sense of an American meritocracy. In a perfect environment a large business would loan a company the 10 billion dollars and expect some kind of return. That is the true sense of American investing. Business investing in business for the betterment of both parties.

Can we really get out of this hole we’ve dug by implementing tax cuts and still allow rampid spending? Something needs to change… What do you think? What do other people think?

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Now that the Fed cut the rates again, what do you really think will happen? Is this short-term vaccination going to bring a long-term disease? I would have to say YES! Can we seriously keep on prolonging the real issue any longer? Our nation is in over 9 trillion dollars in debt and people still think that a 150 billion dollar tax check will end up fixing our economy. This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. With interest rates going even lower, our debt increasing everyday and our national budget is still out of control, yet the government still wants to give out money…. How is this fiscally able to happen without kicking our country in the a$$ in the future?

What type of package do you think the federal government should implement without stubbing the toe of the American economy? I really haven’t seen anything that jumps out at me. There really isn’t any long-term plan that seems to be important enough to really cover. The stock market is not only going down because of the consumer credit market. It’s also going down because investors are taking a lot of money out of American companies and investing it abroad. They are scared that the 9 trillion dollars will end up killing the American economy in the long run.

Instead of trying to increase the dollars value and decrease our debt, analyst want us to reduce rates so low that we end up in the same situation we were in five years ago -an artificial housing boom that ends up hurting our country even more. It’s pretty amazing to me that no presidential candidate wants to talk about our national debt because everyone is so consumed about our short-term economy, the war and healthcare. We won’t even have a country if we do not correct the wrongs of the past.

Here’s my idea  

-Slash international spending

-Slash domestic spending

-Lower taxes for all Americans

-Reform our current tax system to increase domestic investments

-Remove the capital gains tax (increases investment activity)

-Increase Federal spending on education (if there’s any type of government spending I believe in, education is the way to go.)

-Cut the corporate tax code to increase business activity in America

-Reform Social Security and Medicare

 
What do you think?

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This is my first week in the Capitol and things have been a little hairy to say the least. I come to you this morning from the Senate Chamber on Day 3 of the 2008 Legislative Session. Here’s a little recap of what has happened so far…

Day 1 there were fireworks for the first time in 34 some-odd years. The House overrode 12 of the Governor’s vetoes from last session and the Senate has refused to take the issue up. Hopefully, we can see at least some action on those today. Among the overrides is HB 559, a bill put forth last session that would allow charter school teachers access to the state benefits plan, just like all other public school teachers — because remember, charter schools are public school! To the Senate, if you want to show you are not the Governor’s lapdog and override the veto with the House for one bill, do it on HB 559.

Day 2 saw HB 881 move out of the House Charter Schools subcommittee into the full Education Committee. The full committee will vote on the measure in the coming weeks, most likely after budget hearings next week. This is step one of many for this very good bill that would give a better shot to charter school petitioners whose applications are victims of political posturing by local school boards.

Day 3 begins today with a Senate session at 10:30am and the House reconvening at 1pm, followed by the Governor’s State of the State address to a Joint Session at 2pm. It will be a busy day with plenty of opinion and information out there all to digest.

Tomorrow, Day 4, will see a gutted gun bill come to the Senate floor for an up-or-down vote. This issue pitted the 2nd Amendment v. private property rights and it will interesting to see NRA response, as well as response in general, especially if the measure fails.

Overall though, the first session in the Capitol has been most interesting. It is quite a place and I get all warm-hearted seeing representative government at work. I’m sure there will be frustrating times ahead, but that’s all part of the territory I suppose. Win or lose though, what an experience, I’m so lucky to be here!

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Let me ask you this: Is it entertaining and worrisome to any one else that Mexico gets the free pass in this whole illegal immigration fiasco? Two small bits of reading before an opine…

1) This is an article that reveals that, surprise surprise, while the Mexicans and their American supporters want us to give illegals in the US driver’s licenses, Mexico seems to have a tight policy against that. They require proof of citizenship to obtain a license. Makes sense, eh? Oh and to cut this argument off before it starts, the issues is not with preventing illegals from getting around, it is the fact that a driver’s license is really our only form of legal documentation outside of a Social Security card or passport.

2) Pork spending is still out of control, but it is better, one recent report is saying. Coming from Citizens Against Government Waste, one of my favorite groups, the new fiscal year will be welcomed in with nearly 8,000 “earmarks”, more commonly known as pork barrel projects. This looks to amount to $18-20 billion next year.

It is out of control, even if they did reduce it. For some people an apology isn’t enough to rid the bad taste of offensive words (haven’t mentioned Al Sharpton in a while…), for me, meager reductions in the amount of unnecessary spending isn’t enough. Every single one of those fat cats are to blame and it reeks of electoral grossness.

Don’t think it is a big deal? Let me lay a number on you. According to the IRS, last year there were about 135 million tax income tax returns filed, both individual (133 million) and corporate (2 million). That’s about $148 a return. While that is a good chunk of change for the average person, it’s not a deal breaker. But how about this. Now, take that $148 each year, put it into an IRA retirement account at with a return of 6% over 35-40 years, you are looking at $20,000.

Here’s another way to look at it. These elected officials are taking your power, in the form of your hard earned money, to preserve their own. They are using your dollars that you earn sitting in that factory or behind that desk every day in a job that many times consumes your life to fund projects most people will never see nor care about, all so they can come back to your hometown and stomp eight months before the polls open to keep their power.

Young people, people my age, you have to rise up. We can stop this pattern of fiscal abuse. We can reduce our deficit, we can call for responsibility, we can stop this madness. Each day as you try to get your careers off the ground and get your life going, the government stands with gun in hand to take the money you earn. It’s time to say no to the porkers. It’s time to make your voice heard next November.

While the Republicans were a joke of fiscal responsibility and the war is bleeding us dry, if you think it will be any better under Democrats, you are sorely mistaken.

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Seems Barak likes pizza. According to a little blurb that came across the wire today, the esteemed “progressive” from Illinois was interviewed by a 5-year old after a rally today. Let’s just copy/paste the article, eh?

“Crouching to the ground after a rally with 4,000 supporters, Obama briefly outlined for Hadassah his plan to provide health insurance for everyone and to improve schools. He also suggested to the first-grader that wealthier people should help those who are less fortunate.”

“‘We’ve got to make sure that people who have more money help the people who have less money,’ Obama said. ‘If you had a whole pizza, and your friend had no pizza, would you give him a slice?’”

I get you were talking to a kid, Senator, but I think it illustrates that you just don’t get it. What you describe to the young lady is called charity. Government is not charity. Government is a way to manage “donated” tax monies, not redistribute wealth.
For the record, I am the king of giving people a slice. I cook for people all the time. It’s great fun. But Mr. Obama’s delicious pizza pie reference doesn’t take one thing into account…your slice of pizza isn’t seized by force! The government doesn’t come to your house and take your damn pizza!

Yes, I want everyone to be insured, but not by threat of a government mandate and certainly not by having my money seized from me by a faceless Federal bureaucrat. Exhaust free market alternatives first. Don’t just jump into what is a “single payer” system, what will become a nightmare within ten years. Look towards Massachusetts, look towards Casey Cagle’s health insurance marketplace idea in Georgia. Look towards providing people choices in insurance instead of restricting who can offer what. There is your first step towards reform.

Instead of what Barak told that young lady, I would have gone with a different pizza analogy. How about instead of taking one slice and giving it to another, open up the choices of pizza parlors to choose from. This will help to lower the price of a slice. We need to open up the options. Everyone should be entitled to choose from a Wolfgang Puck slice, a slice of Dominos, a piece of the cheap $4.99 large pie from the hole-in-the-wall next to Office Depot, and everything in between. And let’s keep it basic–cheese as a base. You want some pepperoni, throw that topping surcharge into a pot with everyone else who wants pepperoni and pay for services that way, don’t charge the guy who just wants a plain slice. How fair is that, Senator?

Point is, let people choose, don’t restrict their ability to decide for themselves. That is the first step to reforming health insurance in the country. The last thing we need is another hand in the pot, especially when that hand has the gun of law enforcement.

Mr. Obama, I know that you are hungry. Campaigning against the Devil does that. Just keep your hands on your own plate…

Boy, look at all the delicious pizza! What if Pizza Hut said you can only have one type of pie? Think you would ever go back there again?

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Pork spending in Washington is out of control. We all know that. What I didn’t know was how childish the men and women who represent us are. Check out this fun little diddy from today’s Washington Post.

As if we didn’t already know the political elite were a bunch of vote buying, self-serving jackels, now we know that when they don’t want to hear opposition to something that, heaven forbid, will benefit their constituents while at the same time reduce their political power and vote obtaining ability, they just chatter like a bunch of 4th graders at an assembly when the principal is talking about not running in the halls.

Folks, these kinds of activity, both the childish chatter and ridiculous earmarks, are unacceptable. What is even more offensive is the fact that this pork is stuck into bills that must and need to be passed to theoretically make peoples lives better, and done so in a manner that the appropriations are almost impossible to find. Liberal God of Anti-War John Murtha (D-PA) takes this condescending attitude towards journalists and his constituents trying to find Congressional earmarks in bills: “So, you have to work. Tough sh*t.”

That makes a louder statement than pages and pages of my writing can. These people, by and large, are in it not for the good of their communities, but for their own power. It is time to take back our power as citizens. It is time to put their jobs on the line. Demand fiscal responsibility and behaviorally excellence from our Congressional “leaders”. If they don’t comply, throw them out of office.

Usually I am not one to call these folks elitists and what not, but let me tell you why the rhetoric. This is YOUR MONEY! It’s not the government’s money, they do not have a right to it. Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (among others) said that government is a social compact among citizens. I believe it was Locke who said that when government breaks that compact, we as citizens have a right to retake our power. Well, it’s time to retake. Instead of YOUR MONEY, that has been taken from you by force (i.e. taxes), being used for things such as national defense, transportation systems, and judicial due process, things that benefit all of us, we have let this system of governance descend into one that takes money from all to give to some (welfare, local allocations, “pork” spending). Where I come from, this is income redistribution and this is not the role of the Federal government (I’m not saying don’t do it at all –temporary welfare for the truly needy is a good thing–but it needs to be done locally, not by the always blind Feds).

The social contract has been broken when it comes to spending. It’s time to send these little 4th graders home to their mommies.

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