"The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe -- the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God."
Give up yet? That beauty was taken from JFK's inaugural address given on January 20, 1961. In the interest of full disclosure, I am not overly fond of President Kennedy, but he or someone of similar belief or ideology would be infinitely preferable to Senator Obama. The interesting thing about JFK's presidency and indeed his legacy, is that the Democrat party has moved so far to the left from where he used to stand, that he in all likelihood would not be able to get his party's nomination if he were a candidate today. As if to punctuate that fact the then Senator Kennedy spent a lot of time talking like he did in his address to the DNC on July 2o, 1960:
But the New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises--it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride, not to their pocketbook--it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security.
His policies of challenging the American people to work harder and achieve more coupled with high military spending and lower taxes are an anathema to today's democrats; and yet they hold him out as a shining standard bearer for their party. That situation reminds me of a quote by President Reagan, "I did not leave the Democrat party; it left me." In any event, we have a lot to cover today and it's going to be something of a grab bag of issues that I want to cover in a bit of stream of consciousness kind of fashion.. so lets get it started!
"Fairness" in Taxes:
It's become a part of the national lexicon in the political arena, "fairness" seems to be the key word of the day, though oddly enough no one seems to be fully exploring all the implications and repercussions that go along with that word. What exactly is "fair?" It's funny because most people don't even know their own tax rates let alone those of others. Is it fair that those that make over $250,000 a year have a tax rate of 35% in JUST federal income taxes? That doesn't take into account state taxes, and other expenditures that I term "cost of living" taxes, like sales, SS, etc. Do I make $250,000 a year? No where even close! But I one day hope to, and if I am able to achieve that success, I'd like to know that I won't have to give up over 50% of my earnings yearly (total taxes) to the government. The thing about high taxes on the rich and redistributing the wealth to the poor is that it negatively affects both classes in society, in some unexpected ways. It should be fairly obvious that whatever government taxes, you have less production of that product. In this case, the more the government taxes success in the private sector the less of it you will have. That means slowing growth, lower creation of jobs, and all around economic stagnation. For the people that would ordinarily hold those jobs, since they are no longer employed they go on the government dole and live relatively comfortable lives when compared to their counterparts world wide. So in effect you have a lack of incentive and productivity on both ends of the spectrum which as we found during the years with President Carter, is disastrous. But just for the sake of argument lets look at the facts and you tell me if THIS is fair.
- 86% of all federal income taxes are paid by the top 25% of income earners.
- The top 50% of income earners pay 97% of all federal income taxes.
- The top 1% of income earners pay 39% of the income tax burden.
Don't take my word for it, I think the Wall Street Journal did a great piece on this one awhile back and it's still relevant today. There should be no question as to whether the "rich" are paying enough in America because it is apparent in the numbers provided by the IRS itself. The real question should be, "Is government better equipped to know how to spend your money or are you?" The answer should be obvious, the person that creates wealth first off should be able to keep it and beyond that, knows how best to spend it. But going back to those figures I just gave you, if the top 50% of all income earners pay 97% of all federal income taxes, wouldn't that then mean that the bottom 50% pay little to none of the federal income tax burden? That certainly seems to be a legitimate train of thought to me. Now lets extrapolate that even further, to Senator Obama's tax plan. Senator Obama claims that through his plan he will "cut taxes for 95 percent of workers and their families with a tax cut of $500 for workers or $1,000 for working couples." How can that be if 50% of workers do not pay federal income taxes? Is it right for the government to give MORE money to people that don't even pay into the system? It is in essentially just giving them a government check for being poor. The irony is that the money would be welcomed by the people who would then thank the government, not the "evil" rich people that the government had to take the money from to begin with; because we all know that the government can not CREATE wealth, it can only TAKE it through taxation.
It's funny because even the New York Times, not exactly known as a bastion of conservatism, got the story exactly right though in kind of a backward fashion.
"Families earning more than $1 million a year saw their federal tax rates drop more sharply than any group in the country as a result of President Bush’s tax cuts, according to a new Congressional study.The study, by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, also shows that tax rates for middle-income earners edged up in 2004, the most recent year for which data was available, while rates for people at the very top continued to decline.
Based on an exhaustive analysis of tax records and census data, the study reinforced the sense that while Mr. Bush’s tax cuts reduced rates for people at every income level, they offered the biggest benefits by far to people at the very top — especially the top 1 percent of income earners.
Though tax cuts for the rich were bigger than those for other groups, the wealthiest families paid a bigger share of total taxes. That is because their incomes have climbed far more rapidly, and the gap between rich and poor has widened in the last several years."
So lets get this clear.. Tax rates went down, tax revenues went up and everyone should be happy right?! WRONG. If you read further on in the article it starts talking about how Democrats want to "increase revenues," which means raising taxes, to fund more domestic programs. I wonder if anyone will ever stop to think about this question. Do you honestly think government will ever say it has "enough" of YOUR tax money? I think not. There is always some government program that needs funding because people obviously can not provide for themselves either through their own merit, or through the help of friends and family members. This is the crux of the election today, and indeed the crux of American politics in general; we have a problem of ignoring the reality of situations and the consequences, good and bad, that go along with those realities.
Finally, I want to leave you with these pearls of wisdom from Congressman Jim Moran who represents the 8th Congressional District of Virgina, "We have been guided by a Republican administration who believes in the simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it and they have antipathy towards means to redistribute wealth." I submit to you that Congressman Jim Moran is right. We have been deceived for all these years.. capitalism is wrong, indeed no man should exist under the illusion that he has the right to keep what they produce or earn! Oh wait, I'm sorry, I'm not in Soviet Russia or Communist China, I'm in America, and last I checked that kind of ideology just doesn't fly here. In truth we need to distance ourselves from the far left people in this country who have fundamentally anti-American views. Yes, I said it. Anti-American views, things that directly go against the spirit, words and actions upon which this nation was founded. I know that issue has been in the news a lot also, but to be quite honest, it should be a non-issue. Some things are simply not American and I don't see how anyone could think otherwise. But in the final analysis there is a clear and distinct difference between the world that some politicians live in and the reality that we all exist in. In the future, we will have to elect people that can actually recognize that fact and act on economic reality instead of Rockwellian Utopian hopes for the future. We can do better than Senator Obama and Congressman Moran, indeed we must do better than them to ensure a prosperous future for our children yet to come in this greatest nation on God's green Earth.
Video/Audio Clip(s) of the Entry:
I'm not even really sure what to say about this video except that it's disturbing at the very least. The guy on the phone to the side, was calling CNN and wondering why they weren't covering this type of stuff. While i don't know what their answer was, I can offer my own thoughts on that, they are probably busy covering the construction of Obama's Victory Party and can't be bothered to do any real reporting.
This next video is in completely different league than the last. This is Ronald Reagan speaking at the Republican National Convention in 1964 and I have to say it was probably one of his best speeches ever, and that puts it in rarefied air considering what he told Mr. Gorbachev to do with that wall he had over in East Germany.. In any event watch it if you have time, it runs about 30 minutes, listen to it and appreciate that many of the things hes talking about are still very relevant to today; and if we had consistent policies based on his propositions.. well we wouldn't have the specter of an Obama Presidency looming over the country for one thing.
Random Thoughts:
When we go to work,
How the day seems so long..
The only thing I think about,
Can't wait 'til we get home..
'Cause we got a way of talking,
And it's better than words,
It's the strangest kind of relationship,
Oh, but with us it always works..
And no one does it like me,
And no one but you,
Has that kind of whip appeal on me..
Whatever you want,
It's alright with me,
'Cause you've got that whip appeal,
So work it on me,
It's better than love..
Sweet as can be,
You've got that whip appeal,
So whip it on me..
Quote of the Entry: Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns--or dollars. Take your choice--there is no other.
- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged US (Russian-born) novelist (1905 - 1982)
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