Thoughts for Thursday 12-30-10

Death by union or civil servant?
Well now there are accusations that either the labor unions or supervisors at the New York City Sanitation Department ordered a slowdown to delay the snow clean up after the Christmas day storms. If this is true then it is a major betrayal of the trust of the people. In a time when the American people are losing faith in the institution of government and our faith is being constantly attacked such acts are unacceptable.

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The fact that people may have died due to possible slowdowns is not only a betrayal of the public trust but verges on manslaughter. Clearing streets is not the most glamorous job and is often not shown the respect that should be given. But failing to perform such a vital task which interfered with the vital protection of citizens which caused the death of innocence people with no say over the city’s budget is just reckless and heartless. Anyone who ordered such a slowdown should face punishment.

It is still a vital service not only to the health and well being of the citizens of the city at that time, but it affects the economics health of the city. If the city workers purposely did not do their jobs, then they also robbed the city of tax revenues, by affecting the business community. These lose tax revenue not only hurts the city, but could cause more budget cuts. So such a slowdown is not a good for anyone.

Let me say that I am not totally against labor unions. I know that in some industries unions not only saved lives, but in some cases protected workers from indentured servitude. My concern with unions has to do with very large labor unions and the unionization of public employees. The idea that public employees have split loyalties does not give me comfort. This is not the first time that public employee unions have been brought into question. It seems that it maybe time to review the wisdom of these unions and what affect they have on society.

From the abuses seen in Bell, California to the crisis of public pension plans elected officials and other civil servants seem to no longer have any allegiance to the country or the communities that they are suppose to be serving. But of course the labor unions could be the scapegoat in this tale. It could be the managers of the Sanitation Department that were behind any slowdown or they may have not been any intentional slowdown. I will be interested to see the results of the investigation.

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Lying for a living: Jon Steward
The idea that a person who lies for a living would become involved in a political discussion is not surprising but sad. Mr. Steward happily admits that they make up their stories and calls it a “fake news” program. Of course this did not stop him from attacking Republicans for “Obstructionism.” His support for all Progressive agenda items is well known. He also supports anything and everything from the Democrat party. This includes the blind spending that has no controls, limits, or end. I don’t know if he supported the bill only because of the name or he really understood the content of it, but if either is true he only shows his lack of concern for this country. He has a platform that gives him a lot of power, but power with no concern for the consequences is an act of stupidity. This is a person who should be shunned by the American People, but too many of us are willing to listen to lies and believe that they are true. Living by lying and living believing that what you know is lies only serves those who wish to destroy society.

For some, reading must be hard:
Ezra Kline, of the Washington Post seems to have some problem with reading comprehension. He says that he is confused by the Constitution. Mr. Kline said this week on the Marxist Socialist National Broadcasting Commune (MSNBC) that the Constitution was not relevant today. He only showed his astounding ignorance. This continued attack on our Constitutional government must be answered. If those who claim to represent the standards of journalistic integrity are as misinformed and traitorous as Mr. Kline, then we must stand against this attempt to destroy not only our freedoms but our nation.

There are those who claim that the Constitution is a living breathing document, but this is a lie. They only wish to change the meaning of plan text to their desired interpretation and ignore the foundation of our government. Congress has done this so many times that they verge on being a totally illegal organization. By ignoring their oath of office and imposing their will upon the nation they spit in the face of and betray the American People. Once again MSNBC defines themselves as our enemy. With their declining ratings it seems that loyal Americans are beginning to see this for themselves. Please spread the word that the Constitution is the foundation of this country and if our leaders continue to ignore it we will no longer be free.

A few years ago the “journalist” in this country stopped using the legally defined term of illegal aliens. They decided that the legal term was too cruel and starting using the oxymoronic term of “illegal immigrate” instead. Since immigration is a legal process and by entering the country illegally is not immigration, then there can not be such a thing as an “illegal immigrate.”

The Diversity Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists has said that the term “illegal immigrate” is offensive to Latinos. Well I find this statement to be offensive. They seem to be saying either that all illegal aliens are Latino or that all Latinos are illegal. This shows the bigotry of this so called “diversity” committee. They seem to think that they speak for all Latinos. There are many Latinos who are not only legal citizens but have actually been in this country for many generations. Also, even though the percentage of Latino/Hispanic illegal aliens is high, that does not mean that all are of Latino descent.

The new term that is being “recommended” is “undocumented workers.” I find this term offensive. I find that these self-serving Politically Correct “journalist” are offensive. I find also find the sugar coating of a serous issue in this country to be very offensive. This is not journalism, it is Progressive activism.

While our government pays people to not work, they and the Left Stream Media encourage the exploitation of people who have entered the country in violation of the law. They also attack anyone who attempts to find any solution other then blanket amnesty. I stopped reading the printed media last year and now I know that this was not a mistake. These “journalist” are not interested in the news. But they seem to not understand why they are losing money. I guess they can use any term they wish since fewer and fewer people are interested in what they write. So the only advice I can offer to any paper that regularly link to my blog, is to consider telling the truth and forget about political correctness. Well that is if you wish to maintain readers.

©2010 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Thoughts for Christmas 2010

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow: As the Southeastern US digs out of one of the earliest snow storms in a century, I just have to ask: Where’s the global warming that Al Gore promised? Well I’m sure that he and his loyal disciples will fall back on the Climate Change excuse. I’m old enough to remember the ‘70s and 80’s when they were calling for another “Ice Age” and then into the 90’s it was “Global Warming.” Well for the last few years it has been “Climate Change.” You know…they may just go back to “Ice Age.” Of course Climate Change allows them to claim anything, since the climate is always changing. Merry Christmas Mr. Gore. I hope you have a cozy winter.

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Congress is Quacking Up: The 111th Congress waddled off the stage of history this week. Their last acts were to slap and spit on the face of the American people. The out going majority decided that their agenda was more important then the agenda of the American voters. It seems that the arrogance of Washington is too strong for the residences to understand the rest of the country. In acts of defiance many of those who have been thrown out of office felt that their last acts was to continue the path that lead to their removal from office. We must remember this the next time the Democrats come asking for our votes. It seems that they don’t understand the idea of elected representation.

My only guess would be that the Progressives know that they can buy a lot of Americans off with our own money. That will be the big question for the next few years. Can the politicians once again buy our silence as we slide into servitude? Will enough Americans believe that we can spend our way into prosperity while we give away our last freedoms?

No Obama Tax Increase…or is there: Congress passed an extension of the tax rates for another 2 years. But as I said last week; temporary taxes are usually never temporary. But what it does mean is that the uncertainty will continue for another two years. Of course there is a chance that enough people will believe, that they can regain power and enslave us all.

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Trusting the Dishonest: Year after year the politicians promise anything and everything to get our votes. Sooner or later it would seem that we would start to disbelieve them. As the year end starts to roll around it is time for us to all take the time to reevaluate our lives. It is also a time to commit to demanding honesty from our elected officials. We must let Washington know that we are watching and will no longer allow them to grab so much power. Too much power in the hands of so few will not end well. Trust is something that is earned. Washington is not doing anything that would make me believe that they deserve my trust.

Net Neutrality: The Obama Administration once again exceeded their legal limits last week. Even though Congress and the Courts said that they didn’t have the authority to regulate the Internet. The FCC decided that they would ignore them. So here is another example of Washington and our unelected government seizing power with no legal authority. The balance of power means that the different branches respect each other. Congress has given so much power to the executive branch that they are making themselves irrelevant. This is the way that dictatorships start. As the administrative branch no longer follows the laws they set themselves above the law. This will not end well if it continues. This has much more to do with the future of the country as well as the Internet.

Merry Christmas to all my readers. Thank you for reading.

©2010 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Thoughts for Thursday 12-16-10

A Deal is a Deal is not a Bill: The 111th Congress limbs toward its final demise as the Democrat leadership sees many of their well thought out plans fail. I can only say that I hope that the “deal” that was negotiated by the President will not pass. This deal is no deal for the American people. Another 2 years extension of the current tax rates is nothing more than the soon to be minority party hoping for an issue in 2012. The Progressive media will say that the Republicans are at fault, but for anyone who actually is paying attention should see that the Democrats had 4 years to do something and decided that it was better as a weapon. I can only hope that it will finally go off in their faces.

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The reduction in the Social Security withholding by 2% would put more money into the economy. The main problem that I see with it is that it will take money out of the Social Security Trust Fund at a time when it is running out of cash. Why pick on SSI when they could have taken the money out of Fed withholding? One is just as bad as the other, but at least they are not robbing SSI to only have to replace it anyway. By reinstating the Death Tax is just another political payoff. So no matter what they are saying, there are no real tax cuts in this plan. It will just increase the suffering, accelerate the death of small businesses, and grow the wealth of large corporations.

Permanent vs. Temporary Taxes: For years there have been certain phrases that mean different things in Washington, state capitals, and the rest of the country. One of those is “permanent” and the other is “temporary.” In “government speak” permanent usually means temporary and temporary means permanent. Take the current debate over the tax rates. The Democrats negotiated when the tax rates were reduced to make them temporary. The problem with that strategy was that they assumed that they would be able to use this issue as a weapon. The timing was not a mistake. The general idea was to use class warfare and paint the Republicans as only supporting the “rich.” I’m sure that at the time it seemed like a great idea. They were able to use the media to paint President Bush in such a way that they were able to take the White House and Congress. Their miscalculation occurred when they assumed that the majority of Americans could be bought off. (This could still happen.) They were hoping to use the tax issue against the Republican, which they may still be able to do, by allowing taxes to go up. They and the loyal Progressive media will blame it on the Republicans. You can see the seed being planted already.

Now consider this when you hear the Republicans talk about making the rates “permanent.” I keep hearing that they want to make the tax rates permanent so that then they can then work to rework the tax code. So by making them permanent, they make them temporary. Making them temporary make the tax rates an issue and not a solution. Too many times this is the way that politicians think.

When is a Tax not a Tax? In a past post I stated that the Federal government did not tax wealth, I said that they only taxed income. Someone pointed out to me that they did tax wealth in the form of the Estate also called the Death Tax. My answer is: The Death Tax is not a tax. It is wealth confiscation. The definition of tax is:

A fee charged("levied") by a government on a product, income, or activity. If tax is levied directly on personal or corporate income, then it is a direct tax. If tax is levied on the price of a good or service, then it is called an indirect tax. The purpose of taxation is to finance government. Read more: http://www.investorwords.com/4879/tax.html#ixzz18KTRbOE1

So unless you consider death to be an activity, I look it as inactivity, then it is not a tax. The whole idea of this tax is to protect the wealth of the ultra rich. Now many of you will think this is crazy, since the politicians always say it is to punish the rich or some other lame excuse. The truth is much more sinister. Consider the recent death of the Multi-Millionaire Ted Kennedy. Do you think that the government would have taken 55% or whatever amount from his estate? The answer would be no.

The Death Tax is simply when a government auditor comes in and decides the value of property after the death of a person and tells the estate how much they are going to take for the government. In the case of small businesses and farms this requires the liquidation of the business or the family farm.

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I’ve known a couple of people who are millionaires. One died about 10 years ago. His worth was in the millions of dollars and I know that he “earned” at least $2 million a year for many years. When he died his children did not have to sell his business to pay the estate taxes. I can not say for sure what they had to pay, but I do know that he and his children protected his estate very well. He was just simply the CEO of his company and his adult children were officers of the holding and subsidiaries. The really rich know how to protect their money.

So why are we told that a 55% Estate/Death Tax is so important and how does it protect the rich? Well consider that many of the ultra rich and the large corporations see it as a way to increase their holding or market share as families are forced to hand over the family farm or close down a business and layoff their workers. So yes the politically connected rich get richer and the small business is crushed.

The Year of NO BUDGET: In grand political theatric style the outgoing Congress is attempting to sabotage the incoming Congress and set the agenda. In a total disregard for the country the majority party pushed through partisan agenda items and ignored the true business of the country. They failed to even present a budget until Mr. Reid presented his unconstitutional attempt at pushing a spending bill. Senator Reid even dared to claim that he was doing it to preserve the power of Congress and the Constitution. Suddenly Harry Reid is talking about the Constitution and hypocrisy. When it comes to hypocrisy, Senator Reid should first look in a mirror. His sudden concern about Congressional power and the Constitution is a little suspect after the last two years that has been spent ignoring his oath of office. Mr. Reid if you are so worried about the Constitution I recommend that: 1) you read that document and 2) read the Healthcare bill you shoved through last year. You will see how much power was given to unelected officials and the Administration. So your sudden concern about Congressional power rings hollow. Violating the Constitution is not the way to preserve it. The Constitution sets down the rules on how spending bills are created. I states that all spending bills and tax bill are to originate in the House. It does not say to be negotiated between the President and the Senate. This bill was unconstitutional and should never become law just for that reason. Your suddenly proclaiming that you care about the Constitution is not only hypocritical but, what I can only say is, out of touch with reality.

Now I guess I should say that this is totally Sen. Reid's fault. He maybe just trying to fill in for the total incompetent Speaker of the House, whose actual job is to create the spending bills. The Speaker of the House failed to perform her duties and present a budget and spending bills in a timely manner shows how incompetent she is and lacks any respect for the county. Her tyrannical rule is almost at its end. She has been very good at ignoring the will of the American people, dividing the country, and running the most Anti-American House of Representatives in recent history. Harry Reid waiting to the last minute to attempt to push through a spending bill when they think no one is watching once again shows that our elected officials are totally out of touch with the country and that Constitution that he now suddenly proclaims that he is interesting in defending. Harry Reid is the definition of hypocrisy.

Dear Congress: The Constitution is the foundation of the government. I hope when the new 112th Congress takes over in January they will stop using the Constitution as toilet paper. The American people will be watching you very closely. It is imperative that you contact you representatives in Congress and let them know that they are being watched. If you are an elected official and you are reading this welcome, but remember that you must represent us and not the privileged few.

It is important that we tell our elected officials that the Progressive media does not care about the American people. Just look at the ratings of Congress and the media. Why would an official worry about being liked by a media that is losing viewers? Look at what happened to Newsweek and the major papers. Consider what is happening to NBC, MSNBC, CBS, CNN, and ABC News. Their ratings are flat or falling. These media outlets and their partisan attacks, on conservatives and the common American citizen, only works to drive viewers to find news sources that are balanced.

Anyone who opposes big government will be attacked by Sgt. Schultz, Keith Ober-Führer, Chris "Saul Alinsky" Mathews, or any of the other media attack dogs. Don’t expect or even think that they will ever be loved by the media. Anyone that is sent to Washington to clean house will be attacked at every turn. If a person is for small government, then they are treated like enemies of the state.

Sitting Down with Billionaires: The President took time this week to sit down with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. One report said that he was meeting with them to discuss their pledge to give away one half of their fortune. Another report said that the President wanted their advice on how to improve the economy and create jobs. I have a major problem with that last idea. If you look at the history of Bill Gates you will see a person who built an illegal monopoly. His idea of running a business is to destroy your competition no matter who is hurt. His ruthless business style forced many market leaders out of business and put a lot of programmer into unemployment. He is not a person that I would turn to if I were looking for ethical advice on helping people. As far as I can tell the only reason Mr. Gates is giving away so much money is due to the number of people that hate him. As he grows older, he hopes to repair his image and put his heartless business style in the past.

Mr. Buffett is an investor. He made his money by manipulating and taking chances on the stock market. I’m not sure how much good his advice would be concerning the creation of jobs, but I fear that he has lost touch with small business. His ideas could be just as out of touch as those of Mr. Gates.

©2010 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Follow Up for Friday 12-10-10

Real Power: In 2005 the American people went to the polls and voted in enough Democrats to hand them the majority in Congress starting in 2006. Again in 2007 the voters not only sent more Democrats to Congress but gave them a “super majority” that would have allowed them to pass any of their parties agenda items. Well except for the minority party, that lacked the votes, but stood in the way of the major plans of the President and his party. Because they had no power, they were able to constantly say NO and stop bills that were critical to the majority, due to the fact that the minority didn’t have enough votes to stop the majority. So these politicians, who have no power, are able to stand in the way of the politicians who were in total control. Because we all know the weakest of all the political parties are the strongest.

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I finally figured this out by listening to the description of the current minority party by the now majority party, which is going to be the minority once the minority takes the majority, apparently which will take the minority out of power, because the minority now have more power then before the November election then what they will have come January. This shift in power will make the new minority unstoppable. Since they will have no power, which is apparently very powerful and exactly what they want.

So now it is very clear why the Democrats elected Nancy Pelosi as Minority Leader for the next Congress. It was her brilliant leadership that led her party from an all powerful super majority, with no real power, to the minority which has no power, except for the power of the minority, which has no power. They can’t seem to wait to take this mantel of power as the minority party, that doesn’t have the power to stop any legislation, but will have the power that ultimately comes for such a position of power.

It is so simple to understand if you start to think like a Progressive, because they know that the few members in Congress that they have the better able they will be at passing their agenda, since they will be like the Republicans when they were in the minority and had the power to stop the majority. In fact if you take this to its logical illogical end, I would expect all of the Democrats to grab ultimate power by resigning from office as soon as the next Congress starts their session. Now that’s what you call a power grab.

Well I’m glad I finally figure that our. Of course I have a headache and may need to lay down for awhile to regain by balance.

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Bomb House: I don’t know but I have to assume with the silence in the Progressive Left Stream Media that the house full of explosives in California was not owned by a “right wing nut-job” radical. I only say this because they have been totally silent. If it had really been some so-called “Tim McVey” want-to-be, the media would be running 24/7 coverage of the story. So from the silence it would seem that this software engineer was more than likely a Leftist that will be portrayed as being misunderstood. Of course if they continue to ignore the story it is almost certainly because he is a Progressive Marxist/Socialist who was preparing for the revolution and just got a little carried away. Don’t be surprised if someone in Mexifornia demands that the state rebuilds his home after the city burned it to the ground to make it safe.

Proof of Rich Greed: It apparently seems that 57 Billionaires have signed a pledge that only proves that they are completely evil and greedy. At this time of financial uncertainty these multi-billionaires think that they can choose to spend their money in any manner that they wish. All of them have pledged to give one half of their fortunes to charity. Of course when I say this I’m talking for those who believe that the government should be making all the decisions on how money is spent. I expect to hear an outcry from the progressives at any time. I just thought I would head them off.

I must say that I’m very pleased with this turn of events. But it is not like this is something new. The rich have been the backbone of charitable giving for a long time in this country. I’m not rich but I do understand that if it were not for those who are willing to take chances to start businesses. All of the things we take for granted in our everyday lives were created by the ingenuity of a person willing to take the risks and create the jobs that keep us feed and clothed.

At a time when there is a debate over the government raising taxes on the “wealthiest” Americans and a time of economic uncertainty it is interesting to see that the rich are giving away so much money. But of course the Progressives must really hate this since they are giving to charity and not the government. So this is a good thing and I hope the money is spent wisely. This means that the money is not given to the government to waste.

We cannot allow those who live their live in envy to continue to set the agenda of this nation. The American Dream can not be allowed to die because there are people whose only goal is to impose their own idea of utopia. We live in the most prosperous nation that ever existed on Earth. We must learn to be thankful for what we have, not matter how little it may seem to you. If we continue to lose our freedoms they will be lost forever. We must continue the fight that the Progressives started and never surrender.

©2010 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Thoughts for Thursday 12-9-10

We're Not Printing Money: I have accused the Treasury of printing money. Well I stand corrected. Last Sunday the chair of the Federal Reserve stated quite correctly that they were not “printing” money. Technically he is correct. The mint didn’t fire up the presses and start spiting out $700 billions in cold hard cash. But metaphorically I was correct. With a wave of his hand he created money. There are a lot of people that don’t understand the difference. The truth of the whole thing centers around the different money supplies. From About.com

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Definition: "Roughly defined, economists consider money to be anything that is commonly accepted by creditors as repayment of debt or by sellers in exchange of goods and services. Economists have several definitions for what is considered money in a specific situation. The definitions of money differ by their liquidity or specifically how different they are from currency. Some common definitions of money are M0 money (hard currency), M1 money (M0 plus deposits in chequing accounts and traveler's checks), M2 money (M1 plus deposits in savings accounts and deposits in money market accounts). A further definition, M3 was discontinued in 2006 by the Federal Reserve.”

M3 was defined as MO, M1, M2, and money created by debt and credit. Speculation of why the Federal Reserve discontinued reporting M3 as due to the explosion in credit card debt. To help you understand how credit creates money I always think of an old Three Stooges skit. In it Larry asks Moe if he can borrow $5. Moe says sure and hands him it to him. Curly looks at Larry and says; give me the 5 you owe me. So Larry hands it to him. Then Moe says hey give me the 5 you owe me. So Moe gets his $5 back. So from this you see that from these transactions a debt of $5 was created while $10 of debt was satisfied with only $5 in currency. One way of looking at it is that from $5, $15 in transactions occurred.

That was a simplistic example but consider the billions of dollars in out standing debt that is created by credit cards. That is in effect creating money from nothing at all. The Fed has no direct control and I’m sure that they did like reporting a number that was growing out of control and far beyond the amount of money in circulation, the M0 money supply.

So when the Feds created $800 billion dollars by transferring electronic funds to buy Treasury Bonds, they didn’t have to print any money. But they still created money. It is just a manner of how you define it. But since they say they don’t track M3, I guess they think is doesn’t exist or is important. “Hey Moe, can I borrow 5 bucks?”

Plausible Deny-ability: There was a "dumb crook" story from a few years back. It went like this: A DA was cross examining a crime victim on the stand when he asked: "Are the two men who attacked and robbed you in the court right now?" At that the two defendants raised their hands and stood up. I’m seeing something very similar in the Wikileaks scandal. I’ve been watching as officials at many levels are interviewed on the networks. Each has in some way or the other acknowledged the content of the leaked documents. Now I know a little about evidence and how it is handled. The documents that are being posted are considered by the government as stolen property. The issue that I see is with something called the “chain of evidence.” I’ve seen no one deny or question anything that has been released. Considering that we don’t know exactly who has seen these files or if they have tampered with them, I have to wonder if there is more going on here. It just seems that the idea of plausible deny ability is lost upon the government or they have chosen to allow anything to be presented as fact. But as I say it is just a feeling.

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Stopping the Obama tax increases: Did President Obama throw the Democrat party under the bus? His deal with the Republicans seemed to catch the majority of his party by total surprise. He seems very happy to put his party in a position that they thought they could play in their favor. It is possible that they will block the extension of the tax rates. They may have overplayed their hand. They seemed to be happy to allow the rates to increase at the end of the year, but November caused them to rethink this plan. I really believe that they expected to control Congress after the election. There seemed to be the idea that the American people would fall in love with ObamaCare and all things Obama. But now they find that their focus on things that the majority of the American people did not want any idea of fulfilling the Progressive agenda doesn’t seem to be possible.

It may be that President has come to realize that he really likes being in the White House. He may be thinking that if he starts to play ball with the Republicans he can pull a Clinton and win reelection in 2012. This is possible. If he stops the out of control spending and turns the economy around the American people could give him another term. I doubt his sincerity and from what I’ve seen I don’t really buy that he has become a supply sider.

I've been wondering why the Progressive media was not calling Sanders, Weiner and the other Democrats in Congress a racist. For the last two years anyone who opposed Obama and his agenda were called a racist. But now it seems that that is no longer the case. I guess I wasn’t a racist for disagreeing with him on policy issues after all. But I will not hold my breath waiting for an apology. Besides I guess that a weenie like Weiner wouldn’t know the difference.

Leadership: One last thing on the President. I’m still wondering where the silver tongued orator that campaigned in 2008 went. He has not been able to portray his policies or his ideas in a positive manner. No matter what it is, he never seems to show the ability to motivate. This week’s speeches were not what I would call his best effort. He seems to do more to turn people against his plan. He didn’t come on and talk up the tax rate extensions. He said how much he was against it. This is no way to build confidence and inspire people to not only support the policy, but to believe that they can once again feel a little more secure in a dangerous world of uncertainty.

He did the same thing when he announced that he was committing additional troops to Afghanistan. Since he won office he constantly shows doubt and uncertainty in every move he makes. It would be cynical to say that as he obtained the highest office in the land, he began to ignore his handlers. There were a lot of powerful people who helped him get to where he is. He is beginning to like the power, but he lacks the experience to do the job.

©2010 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Tax Cuts for the Rich - Part 3

In part one I discussed small business and the affect of a tax increase. In part 2 the impact on the economy and the myths of the affect on the “millionaires and billionaires” including the moves by the Progressives in government to paint a picture that is far removed from reality. In today’s installment I will try and pull it together. Today I look at the Progressives.

Income disparity: One of the arguments constantly put forward by the Progressives is the idea that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. They point to the disparity in income from the top to the bottom. The problem with this premise is that it really shows a total lack of understanding of economics. Over the last 60 years the Middle Class has exploded. The standard of living in this country skyrocketed past anything ever seen in the history of man. It is clear to anyone who knows and understand just recent history that the citizens of this country have never lived longer or had such comfort, compared to the lives of those who live 100 years ago.

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As I stated in Part 2 that historically when the government raises tax rates, tax revenues go down. One example is from 1924 after an increase in the Capital Gains Tax Rate the government collected less than $50 million in taxes on capital gains. The next year after the tax rate was decreased over $100 million in capital gains taxes were collected. When the rates were high more money went into tax-free securities. When the rates were dropped more money was invested in the economy. In addition the highest income brackets in 1920 paid 30% of all taxes but by 1929 with the “tax cuts for the rich” the same income group was paying 65% of all taxes. The numbers have become even more interesting; in 2006 the CBO reported that the top 20% of income earners paid 86.3% of all taxes.

Also it is important to understand that at that time $100,000 was equivalent to more than $1million today. So when comparing those days to today’s economy you need to understand the difference in the value of the money.

Going back to 1900 there were only 144 miles of pave public roads in the US. “According to the Federal Highway Administration 2008 statistics, there are 2,734,102 miles of paved public roads in the United Sates, with an additional 1,324,245 miles of unpaved public roads. This information can be found in Table HM-12 of ‘Highway Statistics 2008.’” This basic fact demonstrates the amazing growth of not only the country’s infrastructure but the ability of the average citizen to exploit such growth.

As another measure of prosperity; consider the life expectancy at birth. In 1900 it was on average 49.2 years old. By 1997 it had increased to an average age of 76.5. This is a dramatic increase in not only the quantity but the quality of life. This has come about due to the rapid increase in advanced medical care that has been lead by so-called “greedy” pharmaceutical companies. Who despite so-called “huge” profit margins have created miracle drugs and cure for diseases that have plagued humankind for centuries. If not for the example of freedom that this country has provided to the world much of the world would be enslaved. How can anyone really think that returning to totalitarian government would ever be able to provide the advancement that the United States have allowed and inspired?

The Progressive: Most progressives see growth as the problem that plagues the Earth. They complain about the amount of natural resources that is used by this country. They then turn around and complain about the difference in incomes between the rich and the poor. This duplicity always seems to be a contradiction of ideas, especially if you refuse to accept the true goals of the Progressives. Their true goal is to shrink the middle class and lower the living standard in this country to match that of the rest of the world.

This week the Cancun “Climate Change” Conference is one of the largest gatherings on the planet. Listen to the goals of these Progressives. They wish to turn the clock back to a time when life was more simple and death came much sooner. Well so much for the progress that the Progressives claim that they support.

There was a song in the 60s with the lyrics of: “Tax the rich, feed the poor, until there are no rich no more.” The next line should have been: “And then the poor will starve.” Well at least that would seem to be the goal. If you make people dependent and then suddenly the source is gone then who will take care of them? The thing that I discussed before and should be pointed out again, is the way that Progressives have defined “rich” down. At a time when a family of four that make just over $44,000.00 is consider to live in poverty, we are told that anyone making $250,000.00 a year is rich. As inflation continues $250K will be worth less and less. The Progressive Socialist are determined to punish everyone until the only rich left are the elite Progressive Leaders.

The President was clear when he debated Hillary Clinton that he was not interested in increasing tax revenues. In this video he states that he is only interested in being “fair.” The only problem with this definition of “fair” is that it really means revenge. He has said that there should be limits on the amount a person could make. This type of thinking from an American President is counter to the theories that made this country great. Such thinking spells the end of the American Dream and the beginning of a new American Nightmare.

Those who subscribe to the Marxist theories believe that the skilled workers and the intelligent hard working people of the world should work and support those less skilled. This is an attractive idea to the lazy. If you don’t want to work or think that you are entitled to the fruits of other people’s labor then you will obviously be very attracted to these principles. The idea of “spreading the wealth around” sounds good to Socialist or as Karl Marx said: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” This is the heart of the Communist Manifesto but it is not in line with the ideas that have made this country the leader of the free world. The repeated experiences in history shows that eventually Socialism/Fascism/Communism all led to total government with the population enslaved to the state.

The Progressives work very hard to rewrite history. They want to say that Capitalism is evil and that the rich exploit the “workers.” But many of the people that they call rich lazy Capitalists are very hard working people who only wish to provide for their families. They use the example of a few bad capitalist or just simply lie about business leaders of the past and present. Sure there are bad rich just as there are bad and evil people at all levels of income. But do we lock up all people when one person robs a bank. Well no but there are people who think that that would be the answer to bank robbery. Actually they would say to take the money from the bank so that people are no longer tempted. So they would rob the bank to prevent bank robbery.

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Envy: The most powerful weapon being used against those who are loyal to the American way of life is Envy. As I’ve visited various sites that I maintain or my blog is posted, I see comments like: “The rich have stole their money; we should take it all away from them.” Of course reading many of these posts makes me believe that the person behind them must be a teenager or younger. From the time they spend online they are either very young or unemployed. Either way they’ve bought into the entire socialist dogma and have no idea of the reality of what the history of Progressive Socialism. With a large number of people who have bought into the underlying cruelty and hate that drives this movement, there is a danger to the country far beyond what many people want to believe.

This envy of the accomplishments of other is human nature for someone who feels inadequate, but it should not be that way. We should return to a day when people took pride in not only their possessions but their life and liberty. Independent people don’t covet the property of their neighbors. They live their lives to earn a living and pick themselves up and dust off when they fall. They will accept a hand but not a handout.

Tax Cuts for the Rich - Part 2

In part 1 I wrote about why raising taxes on small businesses could be detrimental to the economy. No matter what Nancy Pelosi says about some study by some so-called non-partisan foundation, common sense says that taking more money away from people is a bad idea in a difficult economy. There is no proof that government does any better and a lot of evidence that the government is not efficient with the money they take. During the Healthcare debate there was a constant refrain that because the insurance companies where driven by profits they were somehow evil. But as anyone who understands the concept of profits knows that the drive for profits creates efficiencies.

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Venture Capital: The latest idea from the Progressives is go back to the pre-1990’s idea of “rich” and to raise the tax rates on people who actually net over $1 million. The only problem that I see with this idea is that it includes those “rich” investors who are willing to put venture capital into risky project. They invest in new businesses in hopes of make large profits. This idea allows new ideas to be explored and new technologies plus new jobs to be created. As the potential profit margin decline the less likely that money will be invested in such ventures. High risk means big losses or big gains. If there is no opportunity for big gains then the money will stay on the sidelines.

Beyond just the financial considerations of starting new business is the heavy regulation burden. The idea of acceptable risk also includes physical risk. The idea that all business owner don’t care about the safety of their employees drives this regulation madness. By forcing small business owners comply with the paperwork and requirements of local and federal regulations make it much harder to operate a profitable business. Progressives will take that last sentence and say that I don’t care about safety. I do care about safety but there must be a balance between unreasonable regulations and the ability to feed, cloth, and support the need of a family. That also includes the families of the employees. If you have never created a job then this is a point that you may never have considered. Since many of our elected officials have only created government jobs with other people’s money, they can have no way of really knowing what it is like.

$700 Billion: The Progressives are throwing the $700 billion amount around as the amount that not raising the tax rate will cost the government. The only problem with this number is that they rarely are only very briefly say the key words; “over 10 years.” Any projection of the costs estimate of 10 years is nothing more than a made up number. This type of blind guess only serves a political agenda and is not rooted in reality.

The problem with the two dimensional projects of the cost of increasing or decreasing taxes is too complex. In this type of thinking the idea is put forward that taxation is static. Raising or lower taxes will put in or cost X amount of dollars to the treasury, does not take into count the affect on economic activity. The principle of cause and effect is known but very hard to understand. Unlike the laws of physics, in economics for every action there is sometimes an unequal opposite or positive reaction. The reaction may change depending on other factors.

Debt Reduction Commission: Anytime Congress creates a commission to do anything the real purpose is to give elected officials political cover. This is an old trick used to protect politician that are only concerned about protecting their power. It is good that people in Washington are actually taking a serious look at ways to solve the Budget Deficient. But the only thing that may be the final produce is politicians saying that they have looked at the problem and that none of the answers were workable. If the only reason for this commission was to provide an excuse for the politicians then the nation is doomed.

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Pay Freeze: President Obama announced a pay freeze for all government employees this week. He said that it would save the government $28 Billion a year. I just wonder if that also includes a hiring freeze. The Healthcare Reform law creates hundreds of new government agencies which will require the hiring of thousands of new government employees. Did the President include these new jobs in this projection? Also there is the matter of the huge increase in government employees in the last two years. The fact that total compensation for government workers has increased and is 20 to 30% higher than private sector jobs means that the pay freeze is meaningless.

Veto Threat: Beyond the announcement of the pay freeze, the President has threatened to veto the Tax Rate extension if: “it does not include an extension of unemployment payments.” So he is going to hold 100% of the population and the economy hostage unless they also increase government spending. It is time for economic policies that will put people to work, not on unemployment. It seems that he has no clue on how to do this.

The real idle rich: If you are a former multi-millionaire Presidential candidate who buys a new yacht, docks it in another state in what appears to be a tax dodge, you get a pass from the Progressive media. Well if you are John Kerry then you got a pass for something that would sent the Progressive media into full attack mode had it been a member of the other party. But as has been demonstrated over the last 2 years, it seems that everyone but Progressive Socialist Democrat Elites must pay taxes. While they drag their feet in hopes that they can damage the economy and pin it on the Republicans, the nation continues into deeper financial trouble. My fear is that these rich elitist will continue to abuse the American population and regain power. It is a nightmare scenario for the nation. If these idle rich elitist politicians continue to wield power, the rule of law is meaningless.

Local Tax Increases: Beyond the rate increases that the Progressives in the federal government are willing to allow, we must be concerned about local tax rates. Local governments are being financially squeezed. There is a danger looming that makes the federal tax rate change even more important.

California and New York are just 2 of the states who have state budgets that are critical. The last election showed that the people of these states were willing to elect people who are willing to tell them what they want to hear. These election results almost guarantees that they will financially fail. As their economies continue to fail the elected officials, if they follow the patterns of the past will determine that it is the fault of the rich. Remember that most of the states do tax wealth and income. If they continue the taxation policies of the past they will accelerate the flight of the wealth builders. As the wealth builders leave and tax revenues will decline. This is a death spiral. California is the eighth largest economy in the world. Bailing out California alone may push the federal government over the edge. This alone is a good reason why the federal government should not continue these economic crippling policies.

The Productive Rich: It’s not what you make it’s what you do with it. There are productive people who make large sums of money that use it to the betterment of society. Unfortunately Progressive Politicians are very insecure and don’t trust people to do the right thing with their hard earned money. They believe that they must be in control of the nation’s wealth. Actually as can be seen by the episodes of those who have avoided paying their tax obligation, while accusing the rich of being greedy, that they believe that their money is theirs and so is the money of everyone else.

When the Chairman of the Ways and Means committee is found guilty of failure to pay his taxes, it is time for more Americans to find their voice and speak out against this abuse. Our system is built on trust and honesty. How can any thinking person, who is believes in this country, continue to trust the honesty of people who have shown to be dishonest.

The Great Depression: There is a reason why The Great Depression was given that name. Economics is as much about people’s attitude as anything else. Good times are created when people are motivated to work toward a common goal. For years the Progressives and their Media allies has constantly talked down the economy. During times of a booming economy with near 96% employment, the media constantly pointed out the negatives. The continued manipulation of the population to not only distrust but to destroy the opposition party shows the arrogance of the party’s leadership. It would seem that their ideas are so alien to the Constitution that they must destroy it and anyone who stands in their way. This drum beat of constant negatives is designed to discourage the population and only serves to damage the ability of people to support themselves and their families. Such policies create dependence and will drive anyone that is not part of the elitist group into poverty. It happened the last time these progressive ideas were tried and we are heading in the same direction now that the same policies are being implemented.

The Progressive policies of the past sent the country into the Great Depression. Their ideas killed millions and nearly destroyed the nation. It took the Second World War and turning away from the ideas that caused the poverty of the 30’s to once again bring prosperity to the nation. But starting in the 60’s the Progressives started working to return the nation to the policies of the 30’s and that the rules have been changed in a way to cement them into power.