Danville, IN, Town Hall with Rep. Steve Buyer (R), cont.

More questions:

Part 5:

Part 6 (SCHIP):

 

Why Higher Taxes isn’t the Answer

This is something that many people don’t understand. In one way, it should work this way — the higher the tax rate, the more revenue you take in — but it doesn’t. The Laffer Curve is the visual reason why; but the explanation is also quite simple: the more you tax, the more people hide their money; the more you tax, the more they move themselves and/or their money; the more you tax, the less incentive people have to earn money; the more you tax, the less there is to spend; the less there is to spend, the slower the economy goes; the slower the economy goes, the less revenue comes in.

One of the series of books I read through and greatly enjoyed was the Nero Wolfe mystery series, written by Rex Stout (and a few years ago, also made into a series of A&E TV shows). The books were set contemporary to when they were written, with the first one being published in the 30s, I think, and going all the way through the 70s. A recurring motif in several of the earlier ones (probably those written in the 40s and 50s), was the oppressive income tax, and how it squelched the brilliant detective’s desire to take on a case. When the novels were set in late November or early December, it was frequently noted that Wolfe would turn down cases because he was at or near a certain income, and if he earned any more, he would be taxed at a rate of 90% for it, so he figured that 10% of whatever fee simply wasn’t worth it. And that’s true — would you want to do the same amount of work and actually get to keep only 10% of your gross? It’s ridiculous! It’s time to trim the federal budget, so that we can keep more of our money. We are

Taxed

Enough

Already!

 

Ask not what your country can do for you…

Remember that famous quote from John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address? That famous line, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country,” has been repeated by many different people over the past 48 years in a variety of contexts and for a variety of purposes. But it seems that we have forgotten it, and are only asking what our country or our government can do for us.

During this past election cycle, I got in a conversation with someone who was planning on voting for Obama and basically an entire Democrat and/or liberal ticket. She asked me why I was going to vote Republican, because “what have the Republicans ever given you?” I’ve thought about that question a lot in the past several months, and found it to give insight into the reason why government is so big, why they take so much from us in taxes, and why they are elected into office again and again, despite their massive failures. [Massive failures? Yes! Pres. Johnson declared “War on Poverty” in the 60s, and it’s only gotten worse. Yet we continue to throw good money after bad, in the apparent insane hopes that maybe this time history won’t repeat itself. And that’s just one example.]

This woman didn’t realize it, but she was selling her vote to the highest bidder — to whomever was able to convince her that s/he was going to give her the most. In one way, that’s not too different from what everyone does — everyone votes for the person that s/he thinks is the best. The difference comes in the way someone determines who will be the best candidate for the job. It’s an easy thing to vote for someone who promises you to “give” you what you want (even if, like so many campaign promises, the promise is forgotten the day after the election). It’s much harder — requires more discipline, more maturity, more circumspection, more thought — to vote for someone who does not promise you the moon.

But it is important to remember, that “the government” cannot give unless it first takes. They take our money in the form of taxes, then they take a percentage of our money off the top for bureaucracy, then they give us back a smaller portion of our money in the form of “benefits” and services. Some taxation is necessary, and some benefits and services are needful; but it’s time to say enough already!!!

We have to step up and let our voice be heard. A reader named Craig sent the link to this news story about various Representatives and Senators going apoplectic about proposed budget cuts, because the cuts were going to affect their districts. One of the items was a Presidential helicopter that Obama says is not necessary. Although $800,000,000 is a drop in the bucket, compared to the monstrosity of the “stimulus” package, it is still eight hundred million dollars of your money and my money that will be spent unnecessarily unless it is ultimately cut. And it will be spent because people voted, not for what they could do for their country, but what their country could do for them. Unfortunately, that comes at a very steep price, because as I said before, the government cannot give anything that it does not first take away.

 

Another TEA Party letter from Knoxville, TN

Term limits urged for all politicians

I am a great-grandmother who attended the inspiring patriotic Knoxville Tea Party.

I am an angry American who is witnessing our country being destroyed in less than 100 days of the Barack Obama administration.

As a nation, we must return to the God-given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness as provided in the Declaration of Independence.

The grassroots movement by ordinary people must save our freedom in America. We must have limited government–of the people, for the people and by the people.

Term limits for all politicians.

Mary Sanders
Harriman

published in the Knoxville News Sentinel, May 2009

 

Letter to the Editor, Knoxville

Entitled Tea partier is not would-be terrorist

I have been described as the whining rich, arrogant, redneck, astro-roots, would-be, could-be terrorist by the media.

In reality, I am a 78 year-old grandmother who participated in the Knoxville Tea Party.

I worked 33 years for AT&T and earned a pension and am considered in the poverty category.

Everything I buy is taxed. Food is a necessity–a big tax burden out of my budget.

I fear for my grandchildren and their load of our government debt.

My sign said, “Stop Bankrupting America.”

I want the best for my country and pray that we are not headed on the road to socialism and international law.

Ruth Yetsko
Harriman

published in the Knoxville News Sentinel on May 9, 2009

 

Ten things you can do during tough times

I have been spending countless hours in conversations about politics and the direction our country is going in. One thing that seems to be continuing to pop up in these conversations is the questions “What can I do?” I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and have assembled 10 things you can do to help during this critical time in our country:

1. Trust the Almighty Creator who has endowed upon each man his/her inalienable rights
2. Spend time with your family. Take your kids out to the park. Buy your spouse some flowers. Just be with them. Enjoy them.
3. Get out of debt. I know this sounds weird but I think our government reflects its constituency by and large. Sometimes it does not feel that way but if you really examine the issues closely you will see it is true in many ways. That being said if we are to expect our Federal Government to stop deficit spending and to eliminate our National debt we must get our personal finances in line. Irresponsible consumer spending certainly contributed to the current mess we are in.
4. Read some good books. Expand your understanding of what our government is about. I suggest John Locke two treatises of government, Thomas Payne’s Common Sense, The US Constitution, Mark Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny, Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm (Orwell was a socialist), and Huxley’s Brave New World. This would be a good start.
5. Be courageous. If you feel that someone is trying to bully you stand up for your belief’s in a calm and intelligent way. Common sense goes a long way. Remember that the US Constitution has propelled America into the most powerful nation on earth in 200 short years.
6. Email/Write your state and federal representatives. http://www.votesmart.org is a great way to find out how to contact them and to even get information on how they have voted in the past.
7. Call your representatives. I think this is important for a couple of reasons, one being that it allows you to articulate what you think. This can be therapeutic. The other reason is that it helps you develop the ability to have conversations about politics.
8. After key votes are taken follow up with an email or phone call letting your representatives know how you feel about the way they voted. This immediate feedback lets your ELECTED official know that his/her constituents are in tune with what is going on.
9. Become a member of a conservative cause such as The Heritage Foundation, your local Tea Party, the912project.com, or even just visit some conservative blogs like Black and Right.
10. VOTE.

So there you are. 10 solid actions you can take during this time and for the rest of your life. I too feel frustrated and I have not been consistent with pursuing all 10 of these actions but I am trying harder now than ever. I suggest that if you are failing at items 1 and 2 you will have difficulty being effective with items 3-10. John Locke had a huge influence on our Constitution. If were to eliminate the idea of God and His relationship with man you might as well use all of Locke’s books as fire kindling. Please let me know what you think.

JP

 

2010 proposed budget

A trillion dollars.  That is a hard number to wrap your mind around.  I wanted to try and make what is happening in our government easy to understand.  The only problem is that most of us have a hard time understanding how big a billion is.  A billion is 1000 million.  One hundred billion is 10,000 million.  A trillion?  100,000 million dollars!  I know… still impossible to understand.  So I have a different idea that might make this easier to understand.  Step 1:

 

Estimated income for Federal Government is 2,381 billion dollars, or 2.381 trillion dollars.  This number is what the president and his lackeys came up with.  The CBO a non-partisan group of very smart people think 2,289 is probably a little closer to the mark. 

 

The estimated expenses for the Federal Government are 3,552 billion dollars.  That pesky group of smart people at the CBO thinks that it will actually be 3,669 billion dollars.  I am going to use the estimates of the pesky, non-partisan, smart people for my example. 

 

Before I go into my example there are a few more things to note:

 

1. 1,362 billion dollars are being spent on discretionary spending
2. 172 billion dollars will be spent on paying net interest
3.  At the end of 2009 the public will hold 7,987 billion dollars of debt
4. At the end of 2010 we will hold 9,319 billion dollars of debt

 

I could get a lot more in depth but I really think this is enough information to make anyone a little… oh what is the word I am looking for? (see last sentence of this article)

 

Step #2  So here is my example with applying percentages to the above facts to a $100,000 salary.  This is about an every day Joe or Jane who has to manage a budget and here is what their situation would look like.

 

Gross income $100,000 a year

They don’t have to pay taxes!  Hooray for them.

They are planning on spending:

House payment 4,000 a month (48,000 a year)

Car expenses 1,000 a month (12,000 a year)

Food 1,500 a month (18,000 a year)

Utilities 1,000 a month (12,000 a year)

Miscellaneous expenses 250 a month (3,000 a year)

Interest that they owe on credit cards (8,000 a year)

 

OK… lets add this up *picture an old fashion cash register ringing up a total* $101,000.  Houston we have a problem.  At this point I think most of us would start looking at a few different options.  But that is you and YOU are NOT the Federal Government.  After all it is their job to stimulate the U.S. economy.  So here is what our everyday Joe or Jane does.

 

Ice Skating lessons $1,000 a month (12,000 a year)

Charities $3,000 a month (36,000 a year)

Going out to eat $1,000 a month ($12,000 a year)

 

Oh no!  Another $60,000 will now equal $61,000 in the hole for this year.  I still have not told you what is going on in the background.  You know that $8,000 a year they pay in interest?  Well the balance of that credit card is $400,000.  Now this Joe or Jane has a really good plan.  They have sat down and forecasted where they want to be by the end of the year 2019.  You are probably thinking to yourself that they are going to pay off their credit card and stop ice skating lessons and maybe move into a smaller house.  But I they think it will be a good idea to run their credit card up to a balance of $755,000!

 

There is one last little hope for this person.  Look how charitable they are with money they don’t have.  Let me tell you about the charity they give to.  It rewards people to have children out of wedlock.  It rewards people for not working.  It rewards people for not getting an education.  That is just the surface of what an ill conceived charity this Joe or Jane gives money to.  Does this surprise you given the information above?

 

FOLKS… this is EXACTLY what our Federal Government is doing with OUR MONEY.  Except it isn’t $100,000 we are talking about.  We give them an annual budget of $2,289,000,000,000 and this is what they do with it!!!!!