Now that it is time for this joke of a Congress to actually deal with the soon to expire Bush tax cuts, the flow of dishonesty and misdirection from all sides is just blinding. Start with the basic positions. Democrats want to pretend to end tax cuts for the "wealthiest Americans," so they can spend more and Republicans want to cut more taxes so they can pretend to spend less.
Let's start with the party in power. Seems fair - they are currently in charge of the Congressional honeypot. And the Democrats are in trouble on the tax issue. Seems that the recently former chair of the House Ways and Means Committee that actually has to initiate all tax laws (Article 1, Section 7) was himself apparently evading taxes like a Wall Street pro. Charlie Rangel is currently waiting for the full House to hear what amounts to a trial for the ethics violations he committed with his multiple residences, unpaid taxes on revenues and money he just "forgot" he had. In other words, false queen Nancy's hand chosen tax writer was actually a tax cheat. Oh, and a big fat liar.
This tosses a wrench into Pelosi's plan to raise taxes on high income folks and also raise taxes more deviously on everyone else. And that makes it almost impossible for her to keep handing out billion dollar gifts to get legislation passed. The House has gotten into the habit of simply waiving their own rules regarding spending. According to the rules, expenditures or tax cuts (they are actually the same thing) have to be paid for with an offsetting reduction in spending elsewhere. Incovenient.
Now that Rangel is no longer in charge of Ways and Means, false queen Nancy has to find another way to fund her corrupt empire of greed and nonsense. Seems that Rangel was willing to do whatever she wanted as long as he didn't have to own up to his own crimes. Remember, Pelosi kept him in that position for 2 years before finally moving him out.
This would normally be good news for Republicans, who believe that cutting taxes is the magic answer to everything. The GOP position on taxes versus spending was summed up best most recently by Mike Pence. When asked by legacy qualified interviewer Chris Wallace why the unemployment benefit extension was stalled, Pence said it had to be paid for with an offset in spending. That made sense, but Pence's next answer totally negated any logic momentarily present. Wallace asked the redoubtable Pence how extending the tax cuts would be paid for. This sent pence off into a long explanation of economics that I suspect Pence did not fully understand. When brought back down to Earth and pressed for a real answer, Pence said tax cuts pay for themselves in stimulus and job growth. And that is perhaps the lie of the millennium.
See, tax cuts are spending. the same Republicans who decried Obama's stimulus plan as unpaid for spending want to spend almost a trillion dollars on more tax cuts for high income folks. Now I have no problem with cutting taxes. None at all. However, I do have a problem with the false belief that tax cuts somehow stimulate anything and are not really spending. I have an even bigger problem with all of this targeted tax cut garbage.
Tax cuts are spending. I am saying this again because liars like Pence and Cantor can't seem to grasp this. A tax cut removes money from the government just like spending does. It costs someone. Just like spending. But the Republicans never seem to want to admit that. Just like Democrats never seem to want to admit that spending endlessly does not solve anything.
While Pence and company push to cut taxes to somehow magically increase revenue, Democrats are pushing to spend money to somehow magically save money. Only in Congress does this make any sense.
What those 535 boneheads should do is level the taxes to a single rate flat tax. No deductions, credits, exemptions or other trickery. Then they should simply only spend what they have. No deficit spending. If they need more, then let them raise taxes and justify it to the people. Same with the endless tax cuts. Tell us what programs and spending are getting cut to cover those tax breaks.
I am all for lower taxes and less spending. I think the estate tax is an obscenity and the capital gains tax is a deterrent to investing. I think the current multi-tiered tax structure with the bazillion deductions, credits and exemptions is stupid and ineffective. I fully support a one line flat tax with no breaks. Same rate for everyone. Imagine how easy it would be for business if they knew in advance exactly how much of each dollar was tax. Imagine the real dollar savings in paperwork alone.
Here in Florida, we know all about unwise tax cuts. Ask Marco Rubio - the current darling of the reduce taxes and not spending movement. As Florida Speaker, he pushed tax cuts through the legislature with no matching spending cuts. His attitude was to let the counties figure it out since he was leaving the Florida House anyway to run for US Senate. He knew he wouldn't have to deal with the fallout of his irresponsible and unpaid for tax cuts.
And that is exactly what spenders and tax cutters in Congress are doing now. Democrats keep spending in the belief that somehow all of it magically comes back. Republicans keep yelling for tax cuts in the belief that cutting revenue will somehow magically increase revenue. Do any of these morons have a working checkbook?
I think they all need to go. If they worked in private industry, they would have been fired long ago for incompetence and lying. Well, come November, we can do just that. Fire the whole stinking lot of them.
To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:
As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.
You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com
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