Archive for the ‘Political’ Category

S.1660 – American Jobs Act of 2011 = Socialism.

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

Unfortunately, under the direction of our beloved President Obama this country is rapidly spiraling out of control. His latest debacle, in a long line of ridiculous proposals to overturn the principles on which this country was founded, is the American Jobs Act. He touted this piece of legislation as a “jobs bill”. He explained that it’s purpose was/is to create jobs, that it would be completely paid for, and urged Congress to pass it “right away”. What he didn’t say is the message of this post.

True, this piece of legislation is aimed at creating jobs. What the POTUS didn’t tell you, is that this particular jobs bill is socialism in action, and is being used to Band-Aid existing problems with government at various levels. I personally disagree with unemployment, so that part of this bill rubs me the wrong way – it’s designed to extend unemployment benefits. The details of how this bill would magically pay for itself were forthcoming, and as I recall, not part of his speech back in September.

It turns out, the President is making a rather bold attempt to play Robin Hood; tax the rich and give to the poor. In this case, “the poor” include those who are unemployed, as well as various government employees who are without work or soon will be. If you live in America, and you make more than $1M per year (based on your taxable income), Obama proposes taking 5 – 6% of your money and redistributing it where it’s needed most. His plan is a win-win. The government is trying to save the day!

Some people cringe when you use the word ‘socialism’ in the same sentence as President Obama. If you haven’t looked it up, here’s the definition (according to Dictionary.com):

socialism (noun) – a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

In other words, redistributing wealth is an obligation of the community – by the community, for the community. If you make more, you “share” more. Barbara Boxer, on MSNBC tonight, said that “the wealthy realize they need to pay their fair share”. What’s “fair”, Senator? I don’t disagree with taxes; however, I disagree with penalizing higher income earners. I asked my wife how she feels about this proposal – taking more money from the wealthy and redistributing that money in this way. She said she agrees with it, that Senator Boxer is right. I then asked her to, as I would ask you to do the same now, imagine she and I are millionaires!. How would she feel about the government swooping in and demanding that we pay an additional $50,000 – $60,000 per year just because we fall in an upper-upper income bracket. She respectfully withdrew her agreement and responded, “I see your point.”

This is scary. Think about it. We already have a progressive tax system, ie: the more you make the higher percentage of your income is taken (or owed) to the government as a tax. If you didn’t know that, think back to those weeks when you pulled a bunch of overtime, anxiously awaiting your trip to the bank to cash that check with all those time and a half hours. When you open the envelope with your precious check enclosed you realize you’ve netted at or below what you made the week before when you didn’t work any OT at all! What happened? The progressive income tax happened.
Imagine you work a little harder. Earn a little more. The higher you go (up to a certain threshold) the higher the percentage you pay. Obama’s proposing that once you’ve maxed out your percentage contribution (which, last time I checked, is over 30%) in taxes, the government slap an additional tax on top of all of that as a penalty (of course he’ll never call it that) for earning such a high income. Just because you earn so much, doesn’t mean you should be able to take home the same percentage of gross pay as the people in America who earned significantly less than you.
I’m pleased to know that the Republicans in Congress rallied together and stopped this thing dead-in-the-water. Of course, and as usual, Obama’s already touting his back-up plan to ram the bill back into Congress, but in pieces.
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The Government and Jobs

Monday, September 12th, 2011

At what point in American history did the government take on the responsibility of job creation? Was it in part when Social Security was signed into law, or was it more subtle, slowly leaking into campaign speeches and political agendas as a way to get elected?

I don’t claim to be the best or the brightest, but it seems like common sense to me – the governments role should not be job creation. As I understand the principles in which this country was founded, the government is a necessary evil to protect certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I interpret that to mean protecting our nation from war, foreign invaders and terrorism.

Last week President Obama delivered a speech about his “jobs plan” to a joint session of Congress. As always, he used that platform to promote other elements of his agenda, namely the debt crisis. Ironically, his jobs bill (which he repeatedly insisted Congress should, “pass right away”) adds nearly half a Trillion dollars to the rapidly mounting federal deficit! He claims that he has a plan to fully fund this bill, but those details are forthcoming.

What I find even more interesting is this presidents abuse of his office to further his own agenda. I say abuse because there are so many other things I feel the President should concern himself with. It’s one thing to give a speech like he just did, then go back to presidenting; not Obama, he’s traveling out to various swing states to promote his bill which is just now before Congress for review and debate. That’s funny, he even mentioned in his speech the 14 month gap between now and the next election to emphasize the need to act (on this legislation) now. Wait? Where are you headed, sir?

The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter to the President if the bill passes or not. To the public, he’s making an effort to strengthen a crippled economy with a other grandiose “stimulus” plan (although he doesn’t call it that). If it passes, great. If not, he blames it on the failure of Congress to see his vision and continues to campaign for reelection.

Let’s try something different for a change. Cut all the unnecessary, duplicative and wasteful government programs. Reform the justice system which (because of frivolous lawsuits) is suffocating most of our economy. Bring our troops home and have them help deport the illegal aliens that have also drained our precious, limited resources. Or are these issues that aren’t important until post-2012?

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Common Sense

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

“Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.”

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