Pedro's Podium: 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.

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.