Category: Taxes

The “New World Order”

If a group of companies agreed to fix prices to prevent consumers from shopping for the best value, they’d be brought up on antitrust charges. But what about countries fixing their tax rates, specifically to prevent companies from seeking out the best value in countries (the most efficient government)? That’s OK, right?

Janet Yellen Proposes Bold Idea: The Same Minimum Corporate Tax Around The World

Sounds good, no? Then those evil capitalist companies wouldn’t be able to build inexpensive products in foreign lands, where the government overhead is lower and the workforce more productive. But how do you think this will affect your low-priced, foreign-sourced goods? That’s right – you’ll have to pay more for them. How does Yellen’s plan sound now?

Competition – between companies, cities, states, and even countries – is good; it drives resources and capital to where it can provide the most benefit. But lack of competition results in a monopoly, and the most dangerous kind of monopoly is one run by the state.

Be careful what you wish for; you might get exactly what you deserve.

“Government money” and dependency

The government has no money. They get their money from you in the form of taxes. Even money the government collects in taxes from businesses is eventually paid by you via higher prices or lower wages. The government has no savings for a “rainy day” either, and instead currently has a deficit of over $27 trillion dollars (that’s $27,000,000,000,000). This amounts to almost $84,000 owed by every single man, woman and child in the United States. Let that sink in a bit: the average family of five is nearly $420K underwater from the start.

Joe Biden and congressional Democrats, who recently eliminated a House rule requirement that new spending programs must be deficit neutral (translation: they can borrow as much as they want – in your name – to buy your vote), now want to add almost $2 trillion dollars to our deficit – and that’s only the beginning. This first “relief” package (although I don’t feel very relieved) amounts to almost another $6000 borrowed against each and every citizen of the United States. But you’re only going to get $1600 of it.

The rest of the $6000? You mean the remaining $4400 per person that the government is borrowing in your name? Oh, that’s earmarked for important things… yes, important things…. Like the financial bailout of Democrat strongholds whose social policies have resulted in economic disaster, for instance. Oh, and money to keep public union members like firefighters, police, and school teacher paid (yes, even when teachers refuse to work because of COVID and instead go on vacation). Not a government union worker? For you we’re going to increase the minimum wage to $15/hour. But don’t worry; we’re also increasing unemployment benefits for when we’ve priced ourselves out of the labor market and all our jobs go to China.

I know to many of you this all sounds great (f##king morons!). Only we can’t borrow ourselves into prosperity; it simply won’t work. And I know what you’re thinking: it’s OK to for the government to borrow massive amounts of money because each of us believes that we can stick our rich neighbor with the bill. But what about your less well-to-do neighbors; aren’t they thinking the same thing about you? Don’t worry, though; no one expects anyone to repay this money. In fact, the politicians want to borrow even more on your behalf. It’s really all about control – control through government dependence.

Politicians will obtained this control initially by bribing you with “government money”, but later you’ll surrender control willingly when the economy dips and you find yourself in need of their social welfare programs. Once we are fully dependent on the government for our daily alms, then the politicians who have control over these programs will have full control over our lives, our opinions, our voices – and our votes. We will be ruled by a political oligarchy running a command economy, members of a society where basic necessities and jobs will require membership in the ruling party and strict compliance with their doctrine. Say, this is beginning to sound eerily familiar…

Think not? Think again. All that is needed to implement what I have outlined above is control – and there are few better means of control than dependency. But they won’t stop there – they are also working on control of the media so that we are all able to regurgitate the politically correct propaganda of the day. “One of us… one of us…”! Those who don’t agree will be unceremoniously cancelled. Permanently.

If you haven’t already, I’d recommend you read both George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984”, and also his socialist allegory “Animal Farm”. While you’re at it, I’d also recommend Ayn Rand’s classic tale of liberalism run amuck, “Atlas Shrugged”. I think, in the end, you’ll find each of these books to be quite prophetic.

The U.S. National Debt Clock

According to the U.S. National Debt Clock, our national debt is now nearing $27,500,000,000 – equal to approximately $83,000/person or $220,000 per taxpayer. This is a staggering amount of debt. The question is: why?

It’s because everyone is expecting someone else to foot the bill. But it’s not a game of musical chairs; your political leaders have simply sold you a bill of good. They’ve placated your demands for “free” government services and benefits by opening credit accounts in your name, and eventually the bill will come due. And when that happens, we’ll all be standing around in a room with no chairs.

Good riddance, California

This is why the liberals want to enact their policies at a national level. High taxes, special fees, mandatory employee “rights” and other anti-business tactics on the state level can be avoided by simply moving. This is good since it requires states to compete for employers, just as employers compete for workers and customers. It assures that state governments operate efficiently and do not place undo financial or regulatory burdens on free-market enterprises. But when such liberal policies are enacted at a national level there is no need for the government to act in an efficient or restrained manner (until all our jobs move to China. Oh, wait…).

Oracle moving from California to Texas, joins Tesla, Hewlett Packard 

The exodus continues.

This again?

A recent National Review story makes the claim that Biden is now contemplating the forgiveness of $50,000 in student loan debt. Are you kidding me?

Schumer: Biden ‘Considering’ Forgiving $50,000 in Student Loan Debt via Executive Action

According to the story cited above:

“[Schumer] said they are calling on Biden to take executive action to administratively cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt for federal student loan borrowers with an income below $125,000, and to do so in a way that the borrowers would have no tax liability when they receive the forgiveness.”

Wait a minute – these students are making up to $125,p000 per year only because the American taxpayer loaned them the money to attend college. So now they want a nice Beemer to impress the ladies/gentlemen, but they can’t afford to pay back the student loan that made it all possible? Really?

I’d like to make a few salient points:

1) If we don’t collect this money from the students who benefited from the loans – money that was collected as taxes from hard-working Americans, money that we are counting on to replenish the accounts from which it was taken – then from whom will we collect? I know it’s easy to see this as “government money”, but it’s not – it’s your money. And without the return of these funds, the government won’t have the money to spend. That means they’ll need to tax you to make up the difference due to this obscene liberal vote-buying scheme.

2) What incentive do students have to work hard and finish college quickly, if staying a few extra years on the government dole will simply be forgiven?

3) What incentive do students have to choose a useful but difficult degree, like something in the STEM disciplines, if they don’t have to repay their student loans? What incentive do they have to NOT fulfill their pet desire for a “college” degree in a subject of great interest (or ease) to them, but of no or limited value to society?

DO NOT forgive these student loans, Mr. Biden. To do so will be an insult to American taxpayers and will incentivize poor decisions by college students. Is the lesson that we are not to be held accountable for our actions, that the government is always there to bail you out, really the message we want to send to today’s youth?

Oh, yeah – I guess it is. How else can we make sure that the next generation is dependent on the government (and thus politicians) for their daily alms?

Silly me…

“Government” money

Scammers commit unemployment fraud, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the State of California Employment Development Department. But not to worry; it’s “state” money:

Financial losses were suffered by the state, not individuals, the Daily Breeze of Hermosa Beach reported.

Where the hell does the Daily Breeze think the state gets its money? Leprechauns? This is what’s wrong with Americans today: they forget that the government doesn’t actually have its own money. They get their money by picking our pockets via taxes.

Free college… Free housing… Free health care! We’ll just use GOVERNMENT money!

My response: “Bah! Humbug!”

They’ve got it all wrong

I generally like the material at the National Review, but I think they got it wrong this time:

How the Far Left Fails Basic Math

Math’s just not the issue. The math is too simple; even the politicians know that this simply won’t work (as the National Review article clearly shows). But the goal of “tax the rich” proposals promulgated by far left democrats is not to pay for some expensive socialist program; that’s just an excuse.  Instead, the real purpose is to simply punish the rich for being rich. It’s jealousy and envy at its worse, and the eager politicians capitalize on it to acquire votes. What’s incredibly short-sighted about this approach is that it buys votes at the cost of destroying our economy. But what do you expect from voters who are so revenge-driven that their top goal is to destroy those more successful than themselves? Reason?

One-time?

Since when has a tax ever been “one-time”? Does anyone really believe that if the government can  successfully loot the assets of America’s wealthy that they won’t simply do it over and over?

Bernie Sanders wants to tax Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg’s ‘outrageous pandemic wealth accumulation’

I am particularly offended by this assertion from the article:

“As a result of Trump’s tax giveaway to the rich, these billionaires currently pay a lower effective tax rate on average than teachers or truck drivers,” the senator’s statement read.

Possibly true, but misleading. In reality, the top 1% of earners in the United States paid 35.7% of all income taxes in 2016; the top 17% paid a total of 80%. One third of all tax returns paid nothing at all. So yes the tax rate for the rich could possibly be low, but the the amount of taxes paid as a percent of taxes collected is enormously high.

I love this little note, too:

The legislation put forward in coordination with Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., would raise $427.1 billion, which the senators say is enough to cover all Medicare expenses for every American over the next 12 months.

Ok; but with 330M people in the U.S., this amounts to only ~$1300/person/year (~110/month). Seems awfully low for full medical coverage! Hell, I’d happily pay $1300/ year for all of my medical care! Maybe Pinocchio stretched the truth a bit on this one…

Editor’s note: The mandatory health insurance fee for college students at the University of Nevada, Reno is $3800/year. Note that this amount covers a younger, less medically-challenged demographic than the entire population envisioned under the democrat Medicare-for-all plan. Just how do democrats expect to provide health care at $1300/year?

Then there’s this tidbit:

Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., said that the U.S. will tax “billionaires’ outrageous pandemic wealth” incurred between the months of March and August – a period when 50 million Americans applied for jobless aid.

I find it very interesting that they are applying this tax for the period between March and August, supposedly to tax the “windfall” generated by the increasing stock values during that period – completely ignoring the dramatic drop the market took in February and early March. The stock market still has not returned to its previous level, and most gains have simply offset losses. Of course, that wouldn’t play well in the “evil rich” story line being force-fed the public by the left and media.

Finally, I’d like to point out that these “rich” people did not steal your money – you gave it to them willingly. That’s how one gets rich in America: provide a product or service that people need or want at a price they are willing and able to pay. Who, then, is to blame for their wealth? It’s you who has the Facebook account; you who orders products from Amazon; and you who lines up to buy a new Tesla.

We’re going down a deep and dark rabbit hole when we see fit to steal the rightfully accumulated wealth of another. But that’s exactly the kind of trap that these politicians propose to lay for the American people. And they’ll use this stolen wealth to make you dependent on the government for your daily alms, ensuring their control over you.

Does this sound like an America in which you want to live?

Temporary problem = permanent tax?

I find this interesting:

Local governments weigh major tax hikes to plug coronavirus-induced shortfalls

Where are these “shortfalls” originating for local governments, and exactly how much are they? I want more information before we blindly acquiesce to the tax-and-spend advocates. I don’t want this to be a convenient excuse to permanently raise taxes for a temporary problem.

This is going to get interesting….

The Battle of the Unions:

Los Angeles teachers union links defunding police to reopening schools

The teacher’s union is out to defund the police union so that they can use the money to expand our bloated education system (and save their own paychecks during the pandemic). Oh, and they’re calling for an end to charter schools (can’t have competition for your union monopoly now, can we?) and also medicare-for-all (to buy more support for their plan, albeit using YOUR money).

Brace yourself; this is going to get ugly.