Gibbs – The 7th Grader

So the latest Gibbs moment came with him writing on his hand and in his typical condescending fashion going after Sarah Palin for the notes she wrote on her hand.

Now I expect the 7th grade media to make a big deal about this, that is what they do. They sit around and try to come up with a story, but President Obama and Gibbs are making a mockery of the Office.

The arrogance, condescension, name calling, blaming, whining, and foolishness coming from this White House makes me sick.

I expect our President and his staff to be above this childish behavior. The President of the United States is suppose to be the most powerful man in the world and frankly right now he and his people, in particular Gibbs are doing a disservice to this Country based on the way they are behaving.

PS – Palin is nothing more then a pawn in the (R) game of hijacking the TEA Party movement. If the Repubs think they can run her out there to compete against Obama in the next election, they may as well just stop now and sign Obama up for another 4 years. She is not Presidential material… nice story, but the Presidency is way outside her capability. It is way above Obama’s capability as well, but just because one unqualified moron got elected doesn’t mean the other side needs to do the same.

We can start playing the game of who can do worse? The Dems send Obama, Repubs send Palin, Dems Tax and Spend and grow Government, the Repubs cut a few taxes and spend some more and grow Government.

Can we find a decent fiscal conservative???

Debt and Deficits 101

You can google this and learn more then you want to know about debts and deficits. I would urge about 75% or so of the people out there to go look it up, because I swear if people understood what the Politicians are talking about they would be concerned.

Here is my crack at explaining it in real world terms.

Deficit is how much more you are spending then what you take in during a given time period.

Surplus is how much extra you take in vs. what you spend during a given time period.

National Debt is a collection of the deficits that just keeps adding up each time you have a deficit in a year.

Why does this matter, because Obama keeps saying I am reducing the deficit. He talks about the Bush deficit spending and how his health care plan, and every other program he is discussing is going to reduce the deficit.

That is like an individual making $50,000/year spending $100,000/year and running a $50k deficit. Next year they then say I am going to reduce the deficit by 10% which means that now they are only going to go backward (into more debt) by $45,000 and somehow consider that a victory. Meanwhile they are now $95,000 in debt and still only have a $50,000 job. The only way out for this person is to make more money or stop spending until their is enough surplus each year to stop the deficits and to start paying off the debt and interest on the debt.

The Government is going to have to do two things to get out of this mess – Stop spending which is highly unlikely or raise taxes. Maybe we are just going to keep going backwards until we get foreclosed on. At some point, who knows how long somebody might want their money back.

Or maybe the economy can get really bad, I don’t remember much about Jimmy Carter as I was just getting around in the world, but he had 70% tax rates, 22% interest rates, and 16% inflation. I think that might be the problem people who 20-40’s either weren’t born or weren’t working when Carter was President so they don’t think that things could be that bad. I think they can and will eventually if the Government (and I mean all Government’s – State and Local) don’t stop spending money on non-essential programs.(90% of all Government programs are non-essential)

There are no individuals or businesses that can operate as Government does and survive, (Wait, except if you are GM, Chrysler, AIG, Banks etc..) yet we continually except that the Government can operate in a such a fiscally irresponsible fashion. The only time our Government should be able to borrow money is in times of war to protect the citizens. Other then that it should be stopped.

This way the people would feel the real pain every time another entitlement program or pork project passed because taxes would have to go up in an equal amount for the amount of spending. The little trick the Gov. likes to play is to run deficits and debts which then removes the pain people would feel with the massive spending. If no one feels the pain, then no one cares. The other little trick is printing money which people don’t typically feel that much either because inflation happens slowly and we sort of get used to it and have come to except it as part of how things are just going to be.

Enjoy the game!!

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STOP!!

So I turn on the TV at 3:30pm today, don’t really care too much about the Super Bowl, really don’t watch pre-game, but I figure I would flip through channels before the game. I stop at CBS maybe to find out if any major happenings in the news, and guess what I get – 15 minutes of President Obama.

Are you frickin’ kidding me?  Can the American people have just one day without hearing from Obama. Regardless of your political persuasion, Obama is wearing out his welcome. Sports are a distraction(well at least they should be) for most people and here comes Obama trying to cram his message down the throats of the people.

It does not surprise me that CBS put him on, a mistake, but at this point most people understand the left stream media is in the tank for him.

Let’s look at just a few of his answers?

Health Care reform will reduce the deficit! – I don’t care how you spin it, if you add 30 million people to the public roles (or 15 million, or even 3 people) it does not reduce costs. If you force insurance companies to insure everyone it does not reduce costs. The fact is the only way an insurance company can reduce costs is by refusing service or by only insuring healthy people that do not go to the doctor. I am not advocating either of those ideas, but at least he can be honest and say it will makes costs go up and then try to make the case that we should still do it.

Let me answer the question from Chris in Falls Church. So you lost your house and your job and are still out of work. I need some more facts, did you buy more house then you could afford, did you have a rainy day fund saved up just in case you lost your job, did you take an adjustable rate mortgage, did you live beyond your means?? So you don’t have a job, does that have anything to do with unemployment being extended for 18 months and it is not worth getting a job, are you not willing to take a $10/hour job? Are you not willing to work 2 jobs until you find something? OK, so on to your questions… YES, the Federal Government can stimulate the economy – but not they way Obama is doing it. The Government could reduce its size, reduce its spending, tax people less, reduce regulation, and basically get the hell out of the way. Things will get back to normal once the Feds stop meddling. Meanwhile, Chris, quit believing the Gov. owes you something and go find a job.

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Math 101

President Obama held his first State of the Union speech this past week. I could point out multiple problems with his speech, but I already puked watching it the other night. No need to have to clean the floor again, so I only am going to take one thing he discussed and point out how out of touch this man is.

$5000 Tax Credit for Small Business to Hire or Increase Pay of Employees – The devil is always in the details but on its face I can make some reasonable assumptions regarding this proposal.

I will use my business as a real life example of hiring for a $5000 tax credit. In my business a technician is a revenue producing asset as they are the operational component that completes the work we can bill the customer and create revenue. There are other components that support the operation such as sales and administrative support. You have to be able to convince someone to hire you(sales), you have to be able to deliver on the promise(operation/technician), and you have to be able to perform AP, AR, Government Regulation Garbage, Payroll, Insurance Regulations, Customer Service etc. (Admin).

Now, with that $5000 tax credit who should I hire – Admin, Sales, or Operations? Obama says it doesn’t matter just hire someone. OK, mmmm…. I am thinking…. shoot I guess I will go with technician but wait I could hire all three because then I would get a $15,000 tax credit. Nah, let’s just hire a technician because Obama tells me if I have more labor then I will have more business. That doesn’t feel right, but I will just go with it… after all he knows… he was a community organizer.

A technician’s average salary is $38,000/year, throw in a $20,000 vehicle to drive around to do service calls, a little employer payroll tax, medicare, social security, unemployment taxes, then some auto insurance and workers compensation insurance, paid time off, and for many companies some retirement and health care insurance and the $38,000 employee you just hired- adjusted for depreciation of the vehicle and you have at least a $50,000 employee.

Why in the world would I spend about $4200/month to get a one time tax credit of $5000? Basic math tells you that a $5000 tax credit isn’t going to motivate any company to hire people if there isn’t a need.

If there is a need hire someone, a company will hire them irrespective of a tax credit. There aren’t may business owners who say, “Gee we can’t keep up with the amount of work we have, I need to just quit taking the work” – A business owner is always looking at ways to increase revenues and create an environment where the newly created revenue substantiates the hiring of new employees. Most small business owners work enormous hours while business is increasing and the revenue isn’t able to support additional employees yet, once the revenue(work) increases to a point where the owner can afford to hire another person they do. That is how it works, not because of a tax credit. Some business owners actually go to the Bank and say Mr. Banker, here are my books, here are my contracts, here are my projected revenues, I need some money in order to hire people or buy equipment in order to meet the obligations/business that is projected. Good books and good business plans usually get money and lead to more growth and more hiring (JOBS, and don’t forget some profit, or in some cases losing the owners house because the business owner sometimes has to mortgage everything to gamble that the business is going to make it – greedy bastards!!!)

Tax credits are the absolute worst Government has to offer from both parties, because tax credits are a big game where the Federal Government takes from one person and gives it to another person based on a political whim. The current political whim happens to be increasing employment. Obama knows that if the economy (employment numbers) are trending up, then the American people will be happy. Happiness allows for Obama to take credit for his stimulus spending and allows for the Dems to declare victory in the face of the upcoming elections. Obama is attempting to create a jobs bubble just like Barney, Dodd, and Bush created the housing bubble. This is really no different from any other bubble the Government creates, short term action to create a short term result in order to stay in power.

What this is really going to amount to is companies sitting on the sidelines and waiting. For instance, If I was in need of an employee right now based on “true business factors” I would attempt to hold off until I found out what the Feds were going to do. Why hire someone a few weeks before $5k comes back to me? The more he talks about this garbage the more employers will wait to hire. Obama is actually causing more problems with employment right now then he is solving.

So, when I hire someone, get this massive $5000 welfare payment for 2010, what happens in 2011 when it goes away? Can I use this to budget for next year or do I have to now fire that new employee because I don’t have that tax credit. I dunno… and when business owners dunno – I do know they use maximum caution in doing anything which leads to stagnation. Confidence plays a large role in the decisions a business owner makes, no business owner, well at least those that are still in business, wake up and say “Not sure if it is going to work but let’s give it a go” – Typically they understand the risk but are confident enough that reward is sufficient enough to take the risk.

Now on to “Increasing the Pay of Employees” – the math might be a little fuzzy still because I am not sure how much I need to increase pay for someone in order to get a tax credit in another amount that I am unsure of. This does bring up the question of how employees are paid? Or maybe at least how should they be?

Free market businesses’ pay employees based on the “market value” of the employee – break that down to common sense and it asks several questions:

“What are other companies paying the same type of employee?”
“How critical is this person to my business”
“Can I replace them for less money”
“What is the performance level of this employee amongst others in this role”
“Is there future upside potential for this employee to add future increased value to the company”

Companies may have various different metrics to determine the “value” of an employee but suffice to say they typically pay based on some common set of principals. An additional component that companies use in order to compensate employees is through variable pay plans. These plans include money paid out through stock options, profit sharing, or some sort of cash payment. After the company determines profit they distribute the money to employees based on the “value” the employee brings to the company. Hence the reason a CEO gets 1000 shares and the data entry clerk gets 10 shares. Variable pay plans are a win/win for both employees and employers… if the company does well everyone makes more because all the people contributed to the success of the company. If the company does poorly there is no additional pay and the employees share equally is getting nothing because there is nothing to give. Variable pay plans allows flexibility for companies to use dollars to increase profits with the potential to give employees more money at a later date IF the company performs. If a company pays too much up front it may prevent the company from investing money in other critical areas to grow the business. This is part of the problem with Unions, and Government workers, every year pay increases without regard to the company performance(kids performance- schools) I find it funny that when a business is making “Tons” of money all the employees bitch they want more money but when the company is taking a nose dive and losing money, employees bitch because they did not get a raise or might lose their job. Maybe all pay should be variable??

Back to the point – Why should I give someone a raise again? Cus Obama/Fed Gov. said I should. That is the most ridiculous concept I have ever heard, but I guess that should not surprise me coming from a progressive/Marxist. That is like having an employee walk into your office and say, I just bought a new bigger more expensive house – I need a raise to afford it? What? Really? Cus the economy is in the shitter you need a raise? Because you took out a Adjustable Rate Mortgage you need a raise?

I guess an employee could make the argument that they need a raise because the Fed keeps printing money which makes each dollar paid to them worth less. That makes some sense, but the problem isn’t with the employer, it is with the Feds. If you own a company, the next time “Annual Raises” come around which are given based on no other criteria then “Cost of Living” is going up maybe you can tell your employees to call their Representative and ask them to allow Capitalism to work so prices can come down so they have more purchasing power.

If Obama wanted to “spur” job growth he should just cut taxes, in particular, get rid of every single tax credit, tax loophole, corporate tax, and charge every person the exact same percentage in taxes. No more games, no more picking winners and losers, no more Government power – just let the damn system work and all the politicians can take a long vacation and do nothing for a while.

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Help is on the Way!!!

Obama is gearing up to give his “State of the Union” speech this week but in typical fashion there is some media build up to what he just might say. Today he and Biden released a few gems in order to peak the interest of the American audience. Of course the details aren’t available yet, and frankly will never be made available, because normal politicians just name a bill “The Sunshine and Margarita Bill” and come to find out we all get stuck in the Arizona Desert with only salt and limes for the rest of our lives. I digress, so now let’s discuss the wonderful ideas that were released in front of the big “Middle Class Task Force” sign where a bunch of “leaders” got together to discuss how to “help” the middle class.

First of who is the middle class? Is it simply based on income? Do we include standard of living, expenses, children, education level? Not sure how exactly this administration defines it but I would contend that families making up to $85,000 may be middle class, upper middle class, or even lower class. Class has a lot to do with the overall picture not just the amount of money a person earns. There are some families who are fiscally responsible and are providing a high quality of life for their families and some families in the same income bracket that are buried in a way too big mortgage, way too high car payments, way too much credit card debt, way too little health insurance… but plenty of I-Phones and X-Boxes. I guess we should just let the Government decide though – the heck with the actual choices people make.

Second, Why is it the Governments role to ensure any group of people anything, whether it is Corporate America, Middle Class, Unions, Lower Class, Rich, or Trade Associations? The only thing our Government really needs to live up to is our natural rights as defined by the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and The Bill of Rights. Other then that they really have no business ensuring anything for us. And I know some Liberal will want to discuss the “General Welfare” language but I don’t think tax cuts, stimulus money, or other Government welfare payments to specific groups actually provide for the General Welfare of the people. Having F-16 fighter pilots dropping bombs on terrorists provides for the General Welfare.

The Plan (as of Today)

1.”Require companies that do not offer retirements plans to enroll their employees into direct deposit retirement accounts, unless the employee opts out”. Most large companies offer retirements plans, so this additional requirement would effect small and medium size businesses the most. I own a small business and held a Series 6 license and retirement plans come at a rather large administrative cost. The cost is particularly disproportionate for smaller businesses -Retirement Company Admin Fees, Non-Discrimination Testing, Labor Cost for Administrative Time, Fiduciary Responsibilities & Annual Audits, along with more Government employees to ensure that the businesses are actually doing what the Government is telling them to do. Gee this sounds like a winner and a job creator. Who knows what the actually legislation would look like, but it could actually be more burdensome then I described. Just think maybe they will just require all companies to make a matching contribution to retirement plans. We already have one entitlement plan called Social Security that is going broke and several State Retirement plans are also going broke… neither one of those Government plans are working out to good, so I guess forcing business to subscribe to the failed methods of the Government makes good sense.

2. Increase the “Savers Credit,” a tax credit for retirement savings, for families making up to $85,000″ – This is already a gem that is on the books… Frankly I did not know about it but I found it on the IRS Website. Gee, my accountant never mentioned this one to me?? Basically you can get 1k as a tax credit for contributing to a retirement plan, not sure if that is a refundable tax credit or non-refundable, either way tax credits are just another term for welfare payments. Tax credits are an interesting little tool the Government uses because it feels sort of painless to the public. Let’s assume the Government has a pile of money – we will call that Revenue(Taxes), then it has Bills to pay(Spending)… if any money is left over there is a Surplus, if they are short we will call that a Deficit(we call it losing our house). A non-refundable tax credit reduces revenue and a refundable tax credit reduces revenue and can even increase Spending. Now if Revenue goes down and Spending goes up because of a tax credit – how do you make up the difference? Wait… think about it – take it from someone else or print more money(bad bad bad also, but not teaching that lesson today).

Be careful, because what the Dems are trying to do (and the Republicans like it just as much) is to move the threshold of dependency up the ladder. If the Government can push more people into an bracket where they are benefiting from a Government Welfare program the more votes they can get to be re-elected. Politicians have been playing this trick forever and that frankly is one of the flaws of a Democracy. Nobody is going to vote to stop giving themselves more “free” stuff – find more on that in Doctor Bulldog’s Blog, as he does a nice job explaining. We were founded as a Republic for a reason…

3. “Change some of the rules for 401(k) employer-sponsored retirement savings accounts to make them more transparent” – Gee where have I heard transparent before? Oh yeah in the health care debate and for some reason I am not sure most of us really know what is in that bill. Who knows what this means, “Transparent” is just another word that the politicians use to say Fair, Honest, Open… but how in the hell does that apply to a 401k plan is beyond me. What it likely means is more burden placed on the employer in administering the plan or maybe it means that the 401k plans need to tell the consumer how much risk there is when investing in the stock market and that the rich companies you invest in take big bonuses and are bad. Who knows what this means? Sounds good though!

4. “Increase the child tax credit rate to 35 percent of qualifying expenses from the current 20 percent for families making under $85,000 a year. Families making up to $115,000 would be eligible for some increase in the tax credit” – See #2 – this is called Welfare and why am I being punished for not having kids? Who decides that someone should have kids or not… last I checked the Right says God and the left says it is a Woman’s right… what happened to me? I think I will need to get together a group called “Married People Who Decided Not To Have Kids Association” so we can lobby and pay off some Politicians in order to get a tax credit for not having kids. Really middle class families tend to have kids so if we can get them more addicted to Government hand outs the better.

5. “Increase child care funding by $1.6 billion in 2011 to serve an additional 235,000 children” – Welfare – pay for your own kid… the Taxpayers already pay for enough of them. How does that help the middle class?

6. “Boost government spending by $102.5 million for programs aimed at helping families who provide home care for an aging relative.” – Remember #2 about spending… Gee this is sounding a lot like cradle to grave care… pay you to have kids, pay you to take care of kids, pay for your college(#7 ), pay for your health care, pay for your retirement, pay you to caulk your house, pay you to buy a new house, pay you get rid of your clunker & pay your family to take care of you. – Trust me I missed a bunch of them, the list is far longer.

7.” Ease the burden for student loans by limiting a borrower’s payments to 10 percent of his or her income above a basic living allowance” – Who decides the basic living allowance? Does that include of the Zit faced college kids who have the I-Pods hanging out of their heads oblivious to the rest of the world, banging out a text, tweet, or updating some social sight on the new Droid, Blackberry, I-Phone App… is that included in the basic living allowance? Today Biden talked about the poor college student who after graduation is burdened with such high student loans and the job they get just isn’t enough to make it. HE IS DEAD WRONG!!!! I graduated with over 20k in student loans and I have never missed a payment, NEVER! I have a job, I now own a business, I worked almost the entire time I was in college, I quit with 6 hours left for my Masters because I was broke and needed full time work, I had to take night classes for a year to finish… Guess what? I did it!!! Biden makes me want to puke when I hear him talking about student welfare.

Maybe the cost of college is disproportionate to the preparedness a college grad has for entering the job market.  Maybe the free market recognizes that a college degree is only part of the equation, or maybe that in many well paying fields is not even required. Maybe our State run Universities and Secondary schools do such a miserable job preparing students that the pay reflects it. Or how bout this one, maybe the college education was worth every dime, maybe you have to have a roommate after you graduate as you progress into the next level of employment, maybe you can’t have a new car right away, maybe you have to actually work to achieve something in life. I know – Novel Concept – Just though of it – please spread the word along – this one might take off.

Finally all private banks will get out of the student loan business because they once again won’t be able to compete with the Government. If the Government tells them the exact terms of the loans, they will just find another line of work. But with all of the other crushing regulation that Obama wants to impose on banks there may not be much more work. And by work I mean money to loan to people and businesses in order to make a profit. Do you know who will be left standing? The Federal Government but that is okay because we want everything guaranteed for us from the day we are born to the day we die – go to public schools, get a college education, have known interest rates, get a good paying guaranteed job, with guaranteed benefits, guaranteed retirement, a guaranteed home, a guaranteed car, and for good measure maybe they can throw in a guaranteed kid and spouse. (Dating leads to so much heartbreak and pain)

7A – “If you enter public service your loan can be forgiven” – Another beauty which will also increase the size of government which will add to the cost for the very few taxpayers left. This is sort of like the last kick in the teeth and is self explanatory and does nothing to help long term “sustained” job growth and economic prosperity. Government only takes from society – they do not produce anything which means those that produce have to pay for Government which decreases wealth, which decreases employment, and only hastens our ultimate demise.

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House of Cards

The new Health Care Reform legislation is about to be shoved down our throats. The availability of information and how horrible this bill is rather easy to find on the internet so not sure if serves me well to discuss the terrible components of the bill.

Although the damn tanning salons really need to get an “association” together because they just got kicked in the teeth with a 10% tax. You realize the reason they are getting singled out is because they do not have a good enough lobby group and money to influence politicians. Plastic surgeons have far more money and resources so they did not get hit with a 5% tax.

Really, what this is about is an expansion of Government and Socialism. According to one report I read a family of four making $88,000/year could be eligible for federal subsidies to buy health insurance as the threshold will be set to 400% of the poverty level. A family of four making $88,000 can afford health insurance now, they may have to make some choices about the type of cars, house, and vacations they take but they can afford health insurance. In particular if we actually had any real competition in the industry… True Capitalism always always always drives prices down… just go buy a computer today and see what you get for your money.

This is about Government doing more and more for all people and removing the individual responsibility that we used to have.  This creates more and more dependency on Government and then it becomes expected. Eventually as more people become dependent on the Government the Government has more financial obligations, which means they have to find more ways to get the money to fund the expenses. They can do that in a few ways but they all amount to a tax on the people whether directly or indirectly like printing money.

We will all start moving to the lowest common denominator as the Government continues to provide more of the same to more people. The system will collapse on itself at some point because eventually the Government will have no way to get more money. If you continue to take more from the top and move it to the bottom, the top shrinks, the bottom and middle get equalized and we will have two classes of people – The ruling elite and the rest of us.

Our system, which is called Socialism, will fail at some point. The question isn’t if it will fail, just when? It might take another 10, 20, 50 years but it will collapse. The newer generations may not understand what happened because if you have a new born today the world with look far different then it did for our parents.

A child today is going to grow up being dependent on the Government for – Education, Health Care/Drugs, Housing(See Fannie/Freddie), Auto/Transportation, Energy, Security/Safety, Communication, Employment, Flood Insurance, Investments, Banking/Loans, etc… These things become expectations and the norm because that is just how it has always been since they can remember. What is next that Government can provide?

I have recently read some left blogger defend some of the tactics that are being used by the left to get this bill passed and it reflects the way the Country thinks as whole. The leftists don’t care about the pay-offs, bribery,  and scum-bag deals that were struck with every different group because the ends justify the means. If the right was passing a bit of legislation with the same tactics the left would be outraged – and properly so but the right would be behaving just like the left is now because the ends justify the means.

If I kill three people, take their money and give it to you,  how much would I need to give you in order for you to not call the police?

Really?? BCS Legislation

I want a college football playoff system. I currently think the system that exists now is awful and really doesn’t determine a true champion. With that said, The House of Representatives, in particular, Joe Barton (R) of the 6th District in Texas, agrees with me, and probably millions of other college football fans so he decided to introduce legislation in order to change the BCS.

This is a direct quote: “What can we say – it’s December and the BCS is in chaos again,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He said the BCS system is unfair and won’t change unless prompted by Congress.

That should scare the crap out of you not because he doesn’t like the system but because he feels like it is Governments role to correct it. This is a Republican, a so called Conservative, he may tow the party line to fight against come crazy lefty legislation, which is good, but at the end of the day he is no different than most politicians. They think it is their responsibility to “fix” everything. Heck, in many cases there aren’t really that many problems to begin with so there really isn’t much to “fix”.

Here is another beauty from Democrat Bobby Rush, one of the bill’s co-sponsors that was taking a little heat regarding this bill. “We can walk across the street and chew gum at the same time, we can do a number of things at the same time.”

I actually agree with Mr. Rush – they are doing a great job at destroying the economy, hitting from all fronts all at the same time.

Health Care Legislation; Cap and Tax; Controlling Executive Compensation; Bailing out GM, The Unions, Banks; Massive Tax Subsidies to “Green” Energy, Causing the Housing Bubble, Increasing National Debt, Printing More Money at the Fed; HR45 Gun Control Legislation (Sponsored by Bobby Rush), and the list goes on.

So when are we going to throw them out? Or do you even care?

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I am going to Jail – Who is with me?

Alright, so I am not going to jail today, but I certainly keep getting threatened with it. At some point I may just have to take em up on the offer – if the rest of you do the same, maybe they will let us out.

Austin Business Journal is reporting that State of Texas is looking at mileage tax to fund roads.

The basics of the story is something like this:

State is complaining that they are running of money(that is a big shock, ever here of a Government saying “Wow!! We have all this extra money”);

Fuel tax revenues are down because auto’s are becoming more fuel efficient(Damn, those unintentional consequences of the fake green movement. Also might have something to do with less driving because the economy is in the toilet);

State will install “GPS tracking” device on vehicle with readers at gas stations or with GPS it will just be able to figure out how far you drove. Don’t worry the State says Europe has had success with this program and that the concerns over privacy should not be an issue. (I feel better)

The article ends with a beauty from an unnamed consultant “By April 2010, we need to get the Chamber of Commerce on board. It will require a big lobbying effort. Right off the bat people will say, ‘Your tracking me. No way!”

So let me break that down for you… The State of Texas if going to take your tax money, hire a PR firm to create a marketing campaign to convince you that you need another tax or the roads will just fall apart and don’t worry we won’t be tracking you. In addition we are going to twist some arms at the Chamber of Commerce because they will need them to convince businesses that this will be such a good idea, and then they will take some more money and grease the pockets of some politicians to get them to vote for such an idea. Sounds great!!!!

It finishes up the article by mentioning that, oh yeah, the Federal Government is also considering a mileage tax also. Wouldn’t it be convenient if  States already had the mechanism and infrastructure in place? That is a big shock the Feds are looking for another way to tax us…

Now let me guess how this would exactly be implemented. When you register your car, you get a tracking device that goes on your window, without the device you can not legally register your car, the State tracks your mileage and sends you a bill in the mail. What happens if you don’t pay the bill? Do they charge late fees? Do they send you a ticket in the mail? Obviously when you go to re-register your car you would have to pay the taxes or not get a registration? When you get stopped for a traffic violation, if you are delinquent in paying do you go to Jail? What happens if other States don’t have the tracking device? – (I will have an out of state address real quick) How do you collect from illegal immigrants? How do you collect from non-residents who are just passing through? Ah heck – just make it Federal and all those little issues go away.

What about the poor people who can’t afford the taxes? I can almost guarantee this will happen.. a subsidy from the taxpayer will be created or if you are under a certain income level you don’t have to pay which means the rest of us who drive and who own businesses who drive a lot will have to offset the difference. They will call this ECONOMIC JUSTICE!! At least with a per gallon tax which still sucks it is indiscriminate to social standing. You pay based on how much fuel you consume, not based on which poor poor me group you are associated with.

Finally… if my memory serves me correctly Pres. Obama and Congress recently passed an almost 800 billion dollar stimulus package where a large portion of the money was going to be used to rebuild the failing infrastructure and that there are all these shovel ready projects. If the Feds are going to give away all this freshly printed money (we pay later) then shouldn’t we get a tax break? Wasn’t BO going to start cutting checks to States so we could get moving on these projects?

Folks… it is time to stand up and take back your Country. When are we going to stand up and ask the greedy bastards in Government to run an efficient operation? When are we going to demand a better return on our dollar? When are we going to demand less Government and less Taxes?

Email, Call, Write, & Vote… do something!!

Hypocrite Bastards!!

Yep, that’s right… I am calling out the Government for being just that. Unfortunately this may not come as a shock to anyone but here are some real life examples.

Apparently I have had a bad run as of late getting the Government paid on time. No excuse for that other then I can’t stand paying the bastards and am busy doing other things… mainly running a business.

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts – Sales Tax

Original Payment – $411.18 – Late Fee – $70.56 – 3 days late (15%)

Texas Workforce Commission – Unemployment Insurance

Payment was on time, but forgot to send proper form on time – $22.56. I even have a credit balance with them, in other words I have overpaid the bastards but form was late.

Internal Revenue Service

Original Payment – (Let’s just say it was painful)

S-Corp Late – $89/per shareholder per month – or for me$356.00

Personal – $429 for one month late

Total – $785

So Barney Frank and the gang can pass legislation “protecting” consumers from  the nasty evil credit card companies charging fees to their customers but the government charges the same exact fees.

In addition the Fed recently slapped some more regulations on the banking industry regarding overdraft fees.

So I know the dates all this Regulatory crap is due to various taxing authorities and I was late. I take full responsibility for that but how in the world can the Government tell banks that “They can not charge excessive fees on credit card over the limit fees and also limit the issuer from only charging it 3 times”  and then stick it to “Consumers” when they are late paying the Government. So does that mean if I am late two more times with these various agencies I can ask that they no longer charge me the fees? What are excessive fees… I think $89 per shareholder per month is excessive, but I haven’t seen any legislation protecting me from that.

In addition, I did not choose to pay the Government, it is compulsory that I pay all of these taxes and fees otherwise the Government will use the full force of the Government and even incarceration if I choose to not pay.  Consumers choose to enter into agreements with Credit Card Issuers… Consumers choose to overdraft their bank accounts and borrow money from a bank.  At any time a consumer can choose not to do business with a bank or a credit card company… but yet at no time can I choose to not do business with the Government. They may as well stand outside my door with a loaded gun…

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Give me your TV… or I’ll take it!!

I should start every post with “Folks I can’t make this shit up!!”

So here we go… Folks, I can’t make this shit up.

The State of California Energy Commission has recently passed new rules for the amount of energy your TV can use. These new regulations are going to be phased in over time and by 2013 your TV will have to use under 116 watts vs. the current average of 313 watts for a 42″ TV(Sheppard Smith). Energy Commission estimates that this will save the average consumer about $30/year. Let’s do a little math… the average 42″ TV costs about $850 for a decent TV so with the massive savings that a consumer will get from the reduction in energy usage it will only take about 28 years to recoup the investment to be in compliance.

Another link for a bit more info

So how is CA going to enforce this regulation? Certainly they can’t come to each persons home and get their old TV, I suppose the only real way to enforce this is through disallowing the sale and punishing retailers & distributors if they try to sell these TV’s. Someone is going to have to enforce it at some level and with the budget issues that CA is currently having(one of the top three worst States in the Country) this makes so much sense. Let’s create some more government regulation and spend some more taxpayer money to enforce it.(I could fix CA budget problems – have the Government and every regulatory agency take a 2 year leave of absence- the State might actually recover)

This is all because the energy usage contributes to global warming. Burning those damn fossil fuels contributes to Carbon production which for some reason all the State and National Governments believe contribute to global warming. Global Warming caused by Carbon is the greatest scam ever, and yet Governments at every level use Global Warming as the reason to pass more restrictions on individuals.

Anyone with half a brain would try to figure out a way to meet the new energy demand, instead CA and the rest of these jackasses try to figure a way for us to to all go back to the Stone Ages. I would say go back to Horse and Buggy, but the Horse farts and shit contributes so much to Global Warming that we can’t even have that as an option. I swear pretty soon the crack pots on the left will be telling us how many kids you can have because a new kid increases your families carbon footprint. 2 years ago I might have said that was nuts but with the radical crazies running our Government and the rest of the world this isn’t that far fetched.

Case in Point: The US Preventative Services Task Force is now recommending that women should not have a mammogram until age 50.  According to these folks, screening women between ages 40-49 only saves 1 in 1900 from death because of breast cancer. Between 50-59 that increase to 1 in 1300.

Let’s do a little math here: Per the 2000 Census there were 21,675,000 women between age group 40-49. Lets assume all of these women get mammograms – that would save 11,407 lives, between age 50-59 there would be 12,339 lives saved. That assumes that all women in those age groups are screened and that is certainly not true… but what is your number for a life saved?

I am a statistics and math person but my mother life isn’t a statistic, and I don’t think your wife or mother is a statistic either.

The left wing media blasted the idea of “Death Panels” but what do you call this. When the Government decides that your loved one or you isn’t statistically relevant and they are the only choice for Health Care, what are you going to do? The Government is trying to take over health care in a push to single payer government only provided health care. Most Americans won’t be able to afford to spend their own money so they will be stuck with whatever “Cost Saving” measure the Government is attempting. Meanwhile you can lye by the side of your 46 year old dying wife and thank Nancy Pelosi.

So now do you think it is crazy they might just come for your unborn… “Brave New World” used to just be a book? Maybe yall should read it again!!

Rise Up America…

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