Here’s an interesting (no pun intended) video about interest payments and our national debt.
Right now, interest rates are at historical lows. Now imagine what happens to us when interest rates go back up.
Want to re-think that whole borrowing our way out of debt plan?
There was an article in the local paper (Pensacola News Journal, April 11) about the ‘sign holders.’ You’ve probably seen them in your city too. It was more a human interest story than anything political or requiring police action. It was exactly like the writer, syndicated columnist Mark O’Brien said, an example of making lemonade out of lemons in these tough economic times.
But later in the week, the light-hearted piece took a dark turn for the one-man entrepreneurs. On his blog, O’Brien wrote . . .
As a result of the article, City Hall got complaints and the men were told to get off the sidewalks.
According to Police Chief Chip Simmons, ‘complaints’ were received at the Police Department that a city ordinance was in violation and the men were told to leave. The violation was for ‘doing business on city property.’
Which begs the question, when does freedom of speech end and business begin? These guys were not doing business. They were holding signs. Prostitutes do business on the sidewalks.
O’Brien notes the inconsistency in enforcement. Long live the ‘going out of business’ sign holders, and the furniture company and ‘buy your gold’ sign holders, and the ‘homeless, please help’ sign holders. And the ‘buy my pizza,’ ‘file your tax return,’ and ‘save the ta-ta’s car wash’ cartoon characters and sign holders.
So the City of Pensacola decides to dump on those that can least afford it. Just where is the ACLU when you need them?
What is the Democrats’ answer to solving our national debt and deficit problem? Tax the rich of course. It’s really that simple. Or is it?
Revealing Democrats for the class warfare and wealth envy pimps that they are, the truth about tackling the debt problem is that it isn’t going to happen without the help and pain from the middle class too. And too bad for Democrats in Washington when ‘working people’ figure this out.
The debt and deficit are not a product of too little taxation. They were created by the government spending more than it has. The solution is not going to come from raising taxes. It will come from paring back government programs (aka spending) to a sustainable level.
Steve McCann at the American Thinker Blog explains why we can’t tax ourselves out of the deficit problem.
In a nutshell, if everyone in the highest tax bracket, now 35%, was taxed 100% of their AGI (adjusted Gross Income) over $357,700.00, we would be $1,260.0 Billion (or 1.26 Trillion) short for the year. Below is his research on the numbers . . .
The data is contained on the following IRS site: Section: Tax Generated; subsection; Tax rate and size of Adjusted Gross Income (2008): Table 3.5 (The table is here)
The tax year of 2008 was the last to date that the IRS has done this kind of analysis. In 2008 the highest marginal tax rate of 35% applied to all AGI above $357,700.00. In that year the total amount of AGI subject to the highest rate was $622.8 Billion. The government collected in taxes $218.0 Billion (35%).
In 2011 the annual budget deficit will be nearly $1,665.0 Billion and in 2012: $1,100.0 Billion. If the Liberal Democrats in league with the Socialists, the Unions and the Communists, succeed in raising the highest marginal rate, how much more would Washington D.C. receive, assuming no change in behavior and a general eagerness to pay more?
If the highest rate of 35% were raised by a factor of 20% to 42%, then the additional tax revenue would be $43.5 Billion, not much of a dent in $1,665.0 Billion. So, let’s raise the rate by a factor of 50% to 52.5%; the additional revenue would be $108.9 Billion. Still nowhere near enough, so let’s just tax it at a rate of 100%, bringing in an additional $404.8 Billion. Unfortunately the country is still $1,260.0 Billion in the hole for the year.
Obviously by confiscating at 100% of all the income of the so-called rich above a predetermined level, there would never again be an incentive to earn above the highest tax rate threshold. So where will the Left have to turn next: where the money is, the middle class.
The Left knows the gullible among us easily fall for centuries-old class warfare rhetoric that demonizes the wealthy, yet they persist in doing the unconscionable, as it keeps them in power despite the fact that it enflames passions and in some cases, violence.
You have to laugh at Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) when he says that Republicans’ spending cuts are “political.” As if Democrats’ spending, bailouts, and takeovers are not.
Once we get past the part that the government spending is, was and always will be politically motivated, it makes the hard choices much easier. It is the administration’s plan to use the current spending level as the baseline from which their spending is based. A baseline inflated by stimulus spending. So from that standpoint, the budget battle is not only about money, it is routed in ideology. A big government limiting freedom and liberty vs a limited government that protects freedom and liberty.
It is the Republican’s idea to recognize that all that stimulus spending was temporary, and to revert back to spending levels of the 2006-2008 range. A place that, compared to 2011 standards, represents real and fiscally responsible spending levels and, coupled with entitlement program reforms, puts the country on the path to reducing and eventually paying off the debt. Leaving future generations of Americans a country they can be free in and proud of.
Link: Deficit Commission And Debt Ceiling Sleight Of Hand
While the economy is paramount in everyone’s mind, it’s time to get back to the basics for some guidance. And Karl Denninger from The Market Ticker will show you exactly what that means in this video.
A look at life before (or without) video games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_KCTv08vro&feature=player_embedded
A guy walked into the local welfare office to pick up his check. He marched straight up to the counter and said, “Hi. You know…., I just HATE drawing welfare. I’d really rather have a job.”
The social worker behind the counter said, “Your timing is excellent. We just got a job opening from a very wealthy old man who wants a Chauffeur and body guard for his beautiful daughter. You’ll have to drive around in his 2011 Mercedes-Benz CL, and he will supply all of your clothes. Because of the long hours, meals will be provided. You’ll also be expected to escort the daughter on her overseas holiday trips. This is rather awkward to say but you will also have as part of your job assignment to satisfy her sexual urges as the daughter is in her mid-20’s and has a rather strong sex drive.”
The guy, just plain wide-eyed, said, “You’re bullshittin’ me!”
The social worker said, “Yeah, well … You started it.”
And in the “you gotta be kidding” department, try this from Philadelphia. Man shot 16 times and survives.
Liberals don’t love big government because they think it’s efficient, compassionate, fair or even remotely useful. They support big government because they are guaranteed the support of nearly everyone who works for the government.
H/T Ann Coulter
At this point in our deficit and national debt, shutting down the government, for as much as it will actually be shut down, would be an improvement. It means they would be unable to spend more than had last been allocated under an approved budget, which was in 2010.
Since the media seems to have forgotten why Washington is haggling over CR’s (continuing resolutions), let me remind you. And no, it’s not Bush’s fault. It is Obama’s fault. And to top it off, I just heard him say today that it is irresponsible to not have a budget. What? Yes, he said that.
“At a time when you’re struggling to pay your bills and meet your responsibilities, the least we can do is meet our responsibilities to produce a budget.
“That’s not too much to ask for. That’s what the American people expect of us. That’s what they deserve. You want everybody to act like adults, quit playing games, realize it is not just my way or the highway.”
How’s that for a cup of arrogance and a pound of audacity?
Here’s where it began. Well, actually it began in a Democratic caucus somewhere in the bowels of the Capitol, but it ended in this: House Democrats Deem Faux $1.1 Trillion Budget as Passed
Adding a little perspective to the dollars and the demagoguery: Obama’s Budget Up Close
And now for the real reason that we are where we are today. The Obama administration made the political calculation NOT to have a budget in public view prior to the mid-term elections. From where I sit, Harry Reid and the rest of them have absolutely no standing whatsoever to demagogue the party that has a plan to fix the financial mess and the 2012 budget because they voted present on both. No Federal Budget for 2011.
This is what Speaker Pelosi meant by having to pass the (health care) bill to find out what’s in it. Who knew that the ‘Affordable Health Care Act’ was going to have taxpayers paying the health insurance claims for labor union, corporations, and government union employees who choose to retire early? Before they are eligible for Medicare.
The program totals $5 billion and is supposed to last until January 1, 2014 when ‘State health insurance Exchanges’ are ‘up and running.’ But there’s a problem already. Over $2 billion has already been spent, and at this rate the program will be out of money sometime in 2012. Two years earlier than ‘planned.’
Are you feeling secure now that you know your health care will be managed by the government? Do you still believe that Obamacare will bring costs down, and make the quality of care go up? We already know that we can’t keep our plan if we want to, and that we won’t be able to keep our doctor if we want to.
At this point in time, payments to individual states are dwarfed by the payout to the auto workers union, which received more than the states of New York, California, and Texas combined. Other unions also received government funds, including the United Food and Commercial Workers, the United Mine Workers, and the Teamsters.
Nationwide list HERE. State of Florida list HERE. And you can do a search by Zip Code HERE.
Links: Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) | New $2 billion bailout in Obamacare
Not to be out done by First Lady Michelle Obama‘s ‘Let’s Move’ initiative to fight obesity, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (the hemisphere’s idiot) has a health initiative of his own.
Chavez’s plan is simple. He says to avoid obesity, cut your calories. Here’s the funny part . . .
“Be careful with weight gain!” warned Chavez on Sunday, speaking during his weekly television and radio program. “We are eating better, that’s been proven. We’re leaving malnutrition behind. It no longer exists in the country, but be careful with obesity.”
Contrary to Michelle’s ‘Let’s Move’ program, which is being funded from taking food from the mouths of hungry (the Food Stamp Program), Chavez’s program depends on empty shelves in the supermarket.
Venezuelans complain of shortages of basic food items: Many residents say they often take four or five trips to various markets only to end up with bitter coffee and unbuttered bread.
When he says it’s ‘been proven’ that Venezuelans are eating better, he means they are eating maybe two meals a day, up from one and a half meals a day.
Links:
Chavez urges Venezuelans to cut calorie intake | What’s on the shelves of Hugo Chávez’s socialist supermarket | Dems Message For Food Stamp Recipients: Eat Less, part 2
Wasn’t it in January 2011 that President Obama called for setting a ‘new tone’ of ‘civility?’ And just a few weeks ago he and the First Lady had a bullying summit or some such? Apparently the Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24, never got the message. Or they believed that the President was exempting labor unions from the general population.
They have become un-hinged and are now attacking businesses, large and small, with threats of a boycott if they don’t support their cause. That includes business who have said, hey, I want to stay out of it. Leave me alone.
Members of Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24, have begun circulating letters to businesses in southeast Wisconsin, asking them to support workers’ rights by putting up a sign in their windows.
If businesses fail to comply, the letter says, “Failure to do so will leave us no choice but (to) do a public boycott of your business. And sorry, neutral means ‘no’ to those who work for the largest employer in the area and are union members.”
I learned a long time ago that one man’s rights end where another man’s nose begins. But what do they know about individual rights? Union individual is an oxymoron. The WSEU are community activists with an underworld twist. Nice business you’ve got there. Shame if something happened to it.
The point these union thugs miss is this. Aside from a place that provides goods and/or services, businesses are employers. And I don’t know of any employer who would hire an applicant that threatened him.
Hey, you’re going to hire me or you’ll pay the consequences. Yeah right. If they are so ugly and in your face when they’re not working for you. Why would anyone think they’ll change if you were to hire them? And sorry, take your anger, hate and belligerence somewhere else. Thank you very much.
NYT’s columnist Paul Krugman has an idea of who and where the ‘thought police‘ are. You know, they say a fox can’t smell his own hole.
Below is the Op-Ed that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker submitted to the New York Times. The one that his thought police refused to publish.