Sunday, October 31, 2010

Income Tax Lies

this political season, i've heard the refrain over and over again:
  • cutting taxes will cost money
  • extending tax cuts will hurt the economy
  • reducing the income tax will reduce federal program funding
well, it's obvious that these pundits don't read history... and they've never understood the Laffer Curve (which was explained in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) by none other than Ben Stein...

for those of us who don't know of the Laffer Curve (and refuse to look it up), let me explain... imagine a bell-shaped curve; low on one end, rising sharply up, the curve leveling off like a high-thrown baseball, dropping sharply back down, and ending as low as it begun... what this describes, is that the amount of money generated for the federal government by means of income taxes (height of the curve at any one point) is relative to the percent of income taxed (distance left-to-right on the curve)... for example, if you have an income tax of 0%, or no income tax, then the money generated is $0... that's obvious... but if income tax is 100% of earned income, the money generated will ALSO be $0... this is because there is no reason for anyone to earn income if it is taken away... therefore, income drops to zero, and 100% of nothing is still nothing.

the typical Laffer Curve is shown as symmetrical, but in practice it isn't... however, in practice, this concept is absolutely true... when there is no incentive to work for income, especially if your income is taken from you, then there is no reason to work... some may say that socialist or communist financial systems, where income is pooled and distributed, solves the issue of incentive... but it hardly gives one incentive if you work a 40-hour week for the same benefits your neighbor gets for doing nothing... why not do nothing, also?

well, at some point, the government out-taxes itself... but no one is going to ever come NEAR to 100% taxation, right?... that would be idiotic?... beware the idiots of Congress.

in 1916, the top income bracket paid 15% in income taxes... the lowest; 2% income taxes... by 1918, the lowest wage earners had a shock when they paid 12% income taxes... imagine the riots if we asked today's lowest earners to pony up an additional 10%!... but the highest earners of 1918 paid an astounding 77% income tax, a jump of 62%!... for the rich, there was no relief... from 1919 through 1921, they paid 73% of their income to the federal government.

well, if you apply the Laffer Curve to this, you already know what happened... those who earned less than $10,000 paid in total $155million in taxes... those who earned over $100,000 paid in total $194million in taxes... in 1921, there was the dreaded tax-cuts-for-the-rich (down to a whole 58%), after which the first group paid only $32million in taxes and the latter group paid $361million...

tax cuts yield more from the wealthy because they will invest that money into income-generating opportunities... that means, the wealthy will hire more people and produce more goods with the extra income, from which they will earn more income and pay more taxes...

tax cuts for the poor (and often for the "middle-class") yield nothing but less income tax... a 10% tax cut for a $50,000 worker (estimating $5,000 in taxes) gets $500 in savings... they may use this to pay down debt or take a long weekend vacation... it doesn't generate ANYTHING.

tax cuts of this sort do nothing for the economy... maybe a short-term bump in sales-tax, but over all, it's meaningless... so the next time you hear someone claim they want tax cuts for the poor and middle-class, you should know immediately that they are lying to you... they're lying or woefully ignorant.


and neither a liar nor an ignoramus should be running our government.

Friday, October 29, 2010

John Boehner To Campaign With Rich Iott, Candidate Who Dressed As SS Officer


huffpost shows their idiocy (again)... it's called historic reenactment... and to show the history, everyone cannot dress as US troops...

i can't believe how sheep-like some of the comments have been... the DCCC doesn't even think to ask "why" was he wearing this?... apparently, if you wear a costume, you must subscibe to those beliefs... if you wear a Michael Vick jersey, you must support dog fighting... whatever you do, don't dress like a witch this Halloween, or you'll have to start attending Wican ceremonies!... heaven forbid you dress like a ghost in a sheet!

ridiculous, narrow-minded idiots.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Nazi Party Platform

1. We demand the unification of all Germans in the Greater Germany on the basis of the right of self-determination of peoples.


2. We demand equality of rights for the German people in respect to the other nations; abrogation of the peace treaties of Versailles and St. Germain.

3. We demand land and territory (colonies) for the sustenance of our people, and colonization for our surplus population.

4 Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood, without consideration of creed. Consequently no Jew can be a member of the race.

5. Whoever has no citizenship is to be able to live in Germany only as a guest, and must be under the authority of legislation for foreigners.

6. The right to determine matters concerning administration and law belongs only to the citizen. Therefore we demand that every public office, of any sort whatsoever, whether in the Reich, the county or municipality, be filled only by citizens. We combat the corrupting parliamentary economy, office-holding only according to party inclinations without consideration of character or abilities.

7. We demand that the state be charged first with providing the opportunity for a livelihood and way of life for the citizens. If it is impossible to sustain the total population of the State, then the members of foreign nations (non-citizens) are to be expelled from the Reich.

8. Any further immigration of non-citizens is to be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans, who have immigrated to Germany since the 2 August 1914, be forced immediately to leave the Reich.

9. All citizens must have equal rights and obligations.

10. The first obligation of every citizen must be to work both spiritually and physically. The activity of individuals is not to counteract the interests of the universality, but must have its result within the framework of the whole for the benefit of all Consequently we demand:

11. Abolition of unearned (work and labour) incomes. Breaking of rent-slavery.

12. In consideration of the monstrous sacrifice in property and blood that each war demands of the people personal enrichment through a war must be designated as a crime against the people. Therefore we demand the total confiscation of all war profits.

13. We demand the nationalisation of all (previous) associated industries (trusts).

14. We demand a division of profits of all heavy industries.

15. We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfare.

16. We demand the creation of a healthy middle class and its conservation, immediate communalization of the great warehouses and their being leased at low cost to small firms, the utmost consideration of all small firms in contracts with the State, county or municipality.

17. We demand a land reform suitable to our needs, provision of a law for the free expropriation of land for the purposes of public utility, abolition of taxes on land and prevention of all speculation in land.

18. We demand struggle without consideration against those whose activity is injurious to the general interest. Common national criminals, usurers, Schieber and so forth are to be punished with death, without consideration of confession or race.

19. We demand substitution of a German common law in place of the Roman Law serving a materialistic world-order.

20. The state is to be responsible for a fundamental reconstruction of our whole national education program, to enable every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education and subsequently introduction into leading positions. The plans of instruction of all educational institutions are to conform with the experiences of practical life. The comprehension of the concept of the State must be striven for by the school [Staatsbuergerkunde] as early as the beginning of understanding. We demand the education at the expense of the State of outstanding intellectually gifted children of poor parents without consideration of position or profession.

21. The State is to care for the elevating national health by protecting the mother and child, by outlawing child-labor, by the encouragement of physical fitness, by means of the legal establishment of a gymnastic and sport obligation, by the utmost support of all organizations concerned with the physical instruction of the young.

22. We demand abolition of the mercenary troops and formation of a national army.

23. We demand legal opposition to known lies and their promulgation through the press. In order to enable the provision of a German press, we demand, that:

a. All writers and employees of the newspapers appearing in the German language be members of the race;

b. Non-German newspapers be required to have the express permission of the State to be published. They may not be printed in the German language;

c. Non-Germans are forbidden by law any financial interest in German publications, or any influence on them, and as punishment for violations the closing of such a publication as well as the immediate expulsion from the Reich of the non-German concerned. Publications which are counter to the general good are to be forbidden. We demand legal prosecution of artistic and literary forms which exert a destructive influence on our national life, and the closure of organizations opposing the above made demands.

24. We demand freedom of religion for all religious denominations within the state so long as they do not endanger its existence or oppose the moral senses of the Germanic race. The Party as such advocates the standpoint of a positive Christianity without binding itself confessionally to any one denomination. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit within and around us, and is convinced that a lasting recovery of our nation can only succeed from within on the framework: The Common Good before the individual good.

25. For the execution of all of this we demand the formation of a strong central power in the Reich. Unlimited authority of the central parliament over the whole Reich and its organizations in general. The forming of state and profession chambers for the execution of the laws made by the Reich within the various states of the confederation. The leaders of the Party promise, if necessary by sacrificing their own lives, to support by the execution of the points set forth above without consideration.

[emphasis added]

What makes you think you're so right?

In everyone's rush to judgement, few take the time to consider the truth.

Consider these examples:
  • Illegal immigrants are only doing what they think is best for their families; yet, they are still breaking the law.
  • A woman has the right to choose to not have a baby; abortion still ends a life.
  • Those who do not have healthcare would benefit from having it; someone has to pay for it.
  • The unemployed need capital to survive; someone has to work for it.
In every case, there is a value judgement. Some say the illegal alien deserves to reap the benefit of the host country. They have risked life and limb. Those who risk nothing should gain nothing.  But shouldn't those who follow the rules also be rewarded?  In a zero-sum game, for every winner there is a loser. Money which is earned by an illegal comes from those who are legal.

The woman has every right to choose what to do with her body. It is not anyone else's decision. Every individual has the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".  When do we grant the same honor on the child which was conceived? A child, born one second ago, cannot be killed lest it be deemed murder. A child, waiting to be born in one second, is simply a late-term abortion. Some would still value this as murder, but terminate that life three months early, and it's no longer murder. It's a medical procedure. Removing an unwanted growth.

Healthcare and welfare are both zero-sum games. Someone benefits from the work of another. A single mother, whose sole income was her deceased husband who died without life insurance to cover even his own funeral, has few choices in healthcare and welfare. As a society, we make the judgement that she is in need and worthy of help. Our work goes to care for her and her children. Yet, if her children grow up and do not provide for themselves or their own children, when do we make the value judgement to cease assisting them? And when we do, aren't we "taking away" their subsistence and their homes?

Every one of these choices is a value judgement. If you believe one way greater than the other, that is your right. But never dismiss the other end of the spectrum. It is equally as valid.

Friday, October 8, 2010

did i just pay for your yacht?

Recovery.gov data
$218,206,202,543 awarded
$85,703,541,778 funds received
750,045 jobs created or saved reported
is anyone doing the math on this?... they have awarded $218 BILLION and made 750 THOUSAND jobs... that is the US Government, your tax dollars, paying $290,924.15 PER PERSON to create or save their job... has this not sunk into your heads yet?... they are actually saying, even admitting, that they are paying an average of a QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS to create a single job... and the government, our government, is okay with this!

but... let's take a breath... step back and consider the bigger picture... some of that money goes to create the business which then hires the people... perhaps there's a market which needed capital to tap into, thus the created job provides a useful service, creates a product, and provides long-term employment, thus generating sales tax, income tax, Social Security, etc... you have to spend money to make money... i get that...

or... you could give $50,000 each to 4 million people and call it a day... they'll spend it.

or... you could buy a house (average of $200,000) for each of 1 million people and call it a day... they'll pay taxes on it.

the point is, the "Recovery" is just another way to take money from all of us and give it to some of us... if this were a capitalist system, the people who took a financial risk reaped the benefit (or suffered the loss)... good thing we don't live there! (for humor impared, that's sarcasm!)

just for fun, check out the Gross Domestic Product over the last couple years... call me stupid, but this fiasco has been during a Democrat controlled Congress... prior to that, things were pretty good...
http://www.bea.gov/briefrm/gdp.htm
and the manufactured growth appears to be failing, too... but that's just me being an optimist.

i'm offended = make a law

Special Olympics: Rosa's Law

i'm sure i'll be thought less of for saying this, but do we really need a law passed rebranding mental retardation as "intellectual disability"?... really?... a LAW?

Merriam-Webster defines retardation as slowness of development or progress... disability is a restriction, disadvantage, or impairment... yet the offensive term is the most benign... if you have a retardation, you have a slowed progress... your progress hasn't stopped, just slowed... but if you have a disability, you are impaired and restricted... you're at a disadvantage... a disability often means you cannot succeed... retardation just means it may take longer to succeed...

but i'm not blind to the cause of this law... mean and hateful people have used the term "retard" as a pejorative... there are hundreds of examples of this... many of them, even i am hesitant to utter... or even write on the internet... normal, often technically correct, words are deemed offensive... mainly due to people, whom we would typically disdain anything they might say, using the words in an attempt to hurt other people...

now, so not to offend, the term "retarded" is off limits... to quote Charlie Brown, "Good grief!"... do we really need to make a law every time someone gets offended?... at what point do we make it official and deputize the Thought Police?...

i would say that practice is retarded, but that would imply progress... this law is intellectually disabled.