"Cut the deficit, cut my taxes, but don't spend less."

It now appears the Obama health care proposal is being watered down even as you and I sit in front of our computers. It appears Congress will exempt about 83% of small businesses from compliance with the new law. I’m sure those 83% of small businesses will, in the spirit of true altruism, offer health coverage to their employees anyway, aren’t you?

In the end, the new law may not offer much reform....but maybe that's what Americans think they want right now. It seems government can't get our attention until disaster strikes us and then government has 15 minutes to straighten out the problem or we dump 'em.

Is this a great country or what!

The NYTimes/CBS poll soon to be released, perhaps today, will say:

"Most Americans continue to want the federal government to focus on reducing the budget deficit rather than spending money to stimulate the national economy... Yet at the same time, most oppose some proposed solution for decreasing it."

"Fifty-six percent of respondents said that they were not willing to pay more in taxes in order to reduce the deficit, and nearly as many said they were not willing for the government to provide fewer services in areas such as health care, education and defense spending."

Think about our recent history on health care reform. When the Clinton team proposed it, all the stakeholders opposed it and it went down in quick defeat. If the Obama effort at true reform goes down with a watered down version of virtually no changes, that will be another setback. And the Republicans want nothing but the status quo because the “free market will solve everything.”

In the meantime, the American people are seeing their health insurance premiums increase in double digits every year while inflation is an anemic 1.5% to 3%. What sort of civic mindedness thinks that’s a better state of affairs than we would get with the Obama plan?

I don’t know about you but I would gladly pay more in taxes if it would result in bringing my insurance increases down to ….oh, say….8-9% annually (which is itself outrageous).

I fear we are reaching a state of national mindset that will not allow anyone or any institution to govern effectively. It was a great republic at one time. Now it's just overweight and selfish...and demanding more and more for less and less.

Republicans Can't Say "Taxes"

Banks will soon begin paying back the money they borrowed earlier this year from the taxpayers. Obama’s early initiative is proving to have been a good investment for those who pay America’s taxes. When you think about it, isn’t the paying of our fair share of taxes about the most patriotic thing a citizen can do?

(Did you notice I used the word “taxes” in every sentence above? It didn’t hurt at all.)

Why then is it that the Rs can’t even bring themselves to say the word “taxes” except when they choose to smear initiatives sponsored by the Democrats? Do they take voters in their party for complete fools, Simple Simons who can’t even find their way to the fair? It would appear so.

Of course, nobody wants to pay too much in taxes, but it is disingenuous to pretend to lead voters by promising to magically reduce their taxes and reduce government spending when you know the truth: you may succeed in lowering taxes for short term political expediency BUT you will not be able to effect a commensurate decrease in spending so long as 67 percent of the federal budget is fixed – which it is. All you will succeed in doing is raise the deficit and soon the debt – as Ronald Reagan did.

But I digress.

The American Petroleum Institute is run by a Republican. How do I know? Take a look at the TV commercials API is running on television in support of off shore drilling. A line from one of their TV commercials says:

“Increased production of oil and natural gas can help rebuild America’s economy by creating new jobs and generating more than $1 trillion for federal, state and local budgets.”

They cannot bring themselves to say “…more than $1 trillion in taxes for federal, state and local budgets.” They can’t say “taxes” because their tongues are incapable of saying the word without giving it a negative partisan connotation. Yes, they prefer to attach the word “Democrat” to it each time it is used. The Rs have succeeded for so long with the slogan – “we’ll give you lower taxes and smaller government” – that they know nothing else. Maybe they should change their name to the “Know Nothing” party. Do you think the Simple Simons of their party would ever catch on?

If Only Peter Could Pay Paul...

The Obama Administration has proposed a budget of $3.6 trillion for FY 2010 which starts October 1, 2009. It is $1.84 trillion more than the government will take in from all sources.

The numbers are so large it is difficult for ordinary citizens to comprehend them, but almost every citizen worries about where the numbers might take us. Most of us see the deficit numbers piling up and worry that inflation will likely be used to pay for most of the spending we are doing today.

$3.6 trillion.

It is enough to take your breath away no matter your political leanings. Democrats will tell you it is a lot of money and it is necessary to (1) meet the demand for government programs and services from the people (everything from defending the shores to making sure beef is safe to eat), (2) restore some semblance of normalcy to the economy (stabilize the banks, secure the insuring entities), and (3) invest in our future in ways only government can. I repeat: …in ways only government can.

In short, there is a role for government in our lives. Dismiss any who say we need less government because it is too late. What we need, what we ask for, what we demand cannot be done with less government. If you know someone who believes otherwise, tell them to “get real.”

$3.6 trillion.

That IS a lot of money. Surely, we don’t need all of it. Surely, there is waste we can cut out and balance our federal budget. Why can’t we just cut those crazy programs at universities that do useless research like the one studying the sex lives of Australian slimy toads? When someone comes up and starts talking about such, I hope you will tell them, as politely as you can, to “please stop.” Such conversations, while they may feel good to the one complaining, do not reflect even a basic understanding of where we are….or, more importantly, where we are going.

Here’s where we are: Fully 65 percent of the federal budget is COMMITTED to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Interest on the National Debt, and Defense of the nation. That’s two of every three dollars – gone. Can’t be touched. You wouldn’t want to cut a dollar from any if you had the responsibility. Obama does have the responsibility and he was able to cut only $17 billion from the Pentagon’s budget for next year. He cut the entire F-22 Raptor program and other major line items but only cut $17 billion from the DOD budget.

OK, OK… so, two of three dollars are committed; what about the remaining dollar?

That last dollar supports every agency and department in the Executive and Judicial branches of government as well as a tiny amount for the Legislative branch. That last dollar goes to Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Justice, Labor, State, Energy, Transportation, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, NASA, Veterans, Treasury, and Congress.

The deficit for the coming year will be around $1.84 trillion, according to a new projection released by the White House today, and that’s more than half of the $3.6 trillion budget proposed.

So, what’s a responsible government to do? It can slow down the rate of growth in entitlement programs, for one thing. It only takes political will. That means you and I have to give our elected officials the freedom to address these issues responsibly without threatening them with dismissal at the next election. It also means we have to give government the freedom to do some risk taking on our behalf, as the Obama Administration is attempting to do by investing in health care reform (control the rate of growth in health costs while improving health care), investing in new energy sources (lead us to energy independence), investing in environmental innovations (slow climate change and improve the quality of air we breathe), invest in infrastructure (improve roads, bridges, transportation, and communication, to name a few).

In other words, we can pay for the deficits of today with inflation if we do nothing or we can pay for the deficits by growing the economy in real terms through investing in the full potential that exists in the human mind. I don’t know about you, but I prefer the latter.

Good for a Laugh

Republicans are good for a laugh, if nothing else. I just read a piece in the Georgia newspapers about a proposal the R’s have offered in the General Assembly this year which they say will be the answer to Georgia’s economic recovery. It focuses on helping small businesses and here’s the way it would work:

One of their bills would provide tax credits to businesses that hire unemployed workers and temporarily waive the fee businesses file with the state to register their corporate names.

Q. HOW DOES A BUSINESS HIRE UNEMPLOYED WORKERS IF THE BUSINESS HAS NO DEMAND FOR ITS PRODUCTS OR SERVICES?

Q. AS TO THE SECOND PROVISION, HOW MUCH DOES WAIVING THE FEE FOR CORPORATE NAME REGISTRATION GET YOU? $30 PER BUSINESS? LET’S SEE, IF 90 THOUSAND BUSINESSES ESCAPE PAYING AN ANNUAL REGISTRATION FEE OF $30, THE TOTAL BENEFIT FOR ALL OF THEM IS A WHOPPING $2.7 MILLION. WOW! THAT’LL DO IT, YESSEREE!

The legislation also would gradually phase out Georgia’s corporate income tax, beginning in 2012.

Q. 2012? FOUR YEARS FROM NOW? IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO? UNLESS YOU DO SOMETHING TODAY, OR AT LEAST BEGIN THE BENEFIT THIS YEAR, HOW MANY BUSINESSES DO YOU THINK WILL BE AROUND IN 2012?

Another bill would eliminate the tax on business inventories but that would have to be put to a vote of the electorate. Yep, that’ll happen real soon.

They held a press conference to announce their proposal, taking care to draw geat distinctions between their approach and the approach of President Obama. No wonder no one is paying attention to these guys. They give conservatism a bad name. They give government in general a bad name.

Sense of Entitlement Erodes Public Trust

Earlier this week, as the tax problems of President Obama’s cabinet picks were the buzz in Washington, I exchanged e-mail with a friend in Georgia who expressed a view shared, I'm sure, by a great many Americans:

“I have held a very cynical view of DC politicians for years. Democrat or Republican, I think the process and the bubble of DC makes it, over time, a game to be played. The sense of entitlement becomes pervasive (why pay taxes, that’s what regular people do). With very few exceptions I think that is true.”

I responded that, yes, I’m sure there are those who come to DC wearing an ermine mantle of entitlement. I have known some. However, there are exceptions, and I worked with one: Sam Nunn.

In early 1973, a Gulf Oil lobbyist by the name of Claude Wild claimed in court, during his trial for making illegal campaign contributions, that he had made a cash contribution of $5,000 to each of several candidates in 1972, including US Senate candidate, Sam Nunn. Nunn's campaign had no record of it, nor could anyone associated with the campaign recall the name of the supposed donor. Although there was no record of a contribution from Claude Wild, Sam Nunn incurred $30,000 in legal fees to have a team of lawyers go over every last nickel of campaign contributions in an attempt to find the so-called contribution. It didn't exist, of course, but Nunn was going to make sure it didn't exist...and that the record would show he was willing to take every step to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. He did that, not because he had to, but because it was the right thing to do.

And that’s what public service demands. In order to enjoy the trust of your constituents, one must take every step, even those unpleasant or costly, to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

I thought “DC politicians” were all like Sam Nunn, but they were not..........and are not today.

Not a stimulus but an investment package

The economic stimulus package under consideration should not be described as just another stimulus package. In truth, it is an investment package. It is an investment in rebuilding America, an investment to make America stronger. It is “nation building” in the finest sense because its dollars are dedicated to rebuilding this nation.

Look, our nation’s roads and bridges are crumbling. Many states are “making do,” some are even repairing their bridges with wooden braces – and all such bridges are living on borrowed time. Levees need repairs in California, water ducts are leaking one billion gallons daily in New York. Every state has a long list of urgent projects that need attention and funding. Public works projects in all 50 states soon could employ hundreds of thousands of workers.

President-elect Obama says he wants to bring high speed Internet access to all Americans, especially those who live in rural areas. Building out networks to rural and under-served urban areas will create hundreds of thousands of jobs doing everything from digging ditches to designing the networks that will serve us. This bill makes a down payment on that initiative.

There are tax cuts for the middle class included as well as extension of unemployment benefits…and many other initiatives. Not everything in the package will find universal support, but taken as a whole, it is the best package for our nation’s immediate and long term security.

I have always believed that disaster and opportunity are close relatives. So, while standing knee deep in the disaster of these sad economic times, what better time is there to look for opportunities to succeed before they become opportunities lost in the swirl of our present despair.

It is my hope that this difficult period will be known in history as The Great Transition. Yes, not a recession but a transition, a period when we closed the books at last on antiquated 20^th century industrial leadership and began the transition to a new period of economic growth and prosperity based on technological advances as revolutionary as the telephone, light bulb and automobile.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote, “Often do the spirits of great events stride on before the events. And in today already walks tomorrow.”

The spirit of renewal is upon our land and a sense of tomorrow’s greatness already walks with us. With a new President about to take the oath of office, this is the hour for breaking with the past. The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 shook this nation to its foundation – our national security was threatened; and now the economic system we rely upon has shaken to our core our sense of personal security. We continue to address the former threat, now it is time to address the latter.

I believe we are not at the end time for American leadership and influence; I believe our influence and leadership on the world stage has just begun. We must not shrink from our responsibility nor fail to seize the opportunity before us to build upon the heritage that has been entrusted to us.

Congress should pass the new stimulus package. Tomorrow already walks in this day.

Higher taxes on higher profit or lower taxes on lower profit?

"I'd rather pay higher taxes on higher profit than lower taxes on lower profit."

That comment by a businessman in today's news sends a clear message to Republicans: "we're not buying the same old line this year." Did you hear that, McPalin team? We are not buying.


I think Americans finally understand the GOP's game. Every four years for at least 44 years, the GOP walks out the same old line: "Vote for us because we will lower your taxes and reduce the size of government. The only problem: they never do. It's a nice promise and they count on the voters with short attention spans and even shorter memories buying it.

I remember when Barry Goldwater and Bill Miller tried to sell it in 1964. Even Nelson Rockefeller, the acknowledged leader of the liberal wing of the Republican Party in the early 1960s was promising not to raise taxes. (Yes, there was a liberal wing of the Republican Party in those days.)

Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew tried it, too, in 1968 and 1972 with better success. They even threw in a promise of victory in Vietnam with, "Peace is at hand." (They were smart enough not to say "victory is at hand" as John McCain does today.)

In 1976 Jerry Ford and Bob Dole would have used it to better effect if the aftermath of the Watergate scandal had not cleared the way for Democrats Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale to be elected.

Then came Reagan in 1980. The former Democrat, former actor turned Republican, understood what to do with the old line. He and George H.W. Bush got elected twice on the line. Voters generally have forgotten that Reagan/Bush tripled the national debt as they lowered taxes (because they did nothing to reduce spending) and the size of the government almost doubled on their watch. Oh well, maybe nobody noticed.

Reagan -- the fiscal conservative -- never balanced a budget. He never came close to balancing a budget. He never came remotely close to even thinking about balancing a budget. Ronald Reagan, the patron saint of the GOP, paid for his massive expansion of the federal government by pawning off the expense on the next generation. And he used his communication skills to tell us this was all somehow OK.

Bush 41 and Dan Quayle got their chance in 1988 and simply continued the Reagan "borrow and spend" years but Bush made one fatal mistake. He emphatically stated, "Read my lips: no new taxes." He forgot that you are not supposed to lay that sacrosanct campaign tenet in concrete, you are only supposed to promise lower taxes. But those Bush boys were never very good with the English language. When taxes went up and Bush 41 did not veto them, voters turned him out because he could not erase the words he had put in the consciousness of every voter.

Democrat Bill Clinton was the first President since Lyndon Johnson to present a balanced budget to the Congress and the American people. When he left office after two terms of consistent growth and prosperity, he left a $230 billion surplus for the next administration.

In 2000 Bush 43 came into office with his co-president, Dick Cheney (still hard to know who was the real President but that's another blog entry). Bush 43 and Cheney went back to 1964 and picked up the mantra: "we promise you lower taxes and smaller government." And they added, "Who knows better than you how to spend your own money? Certainly not the government." Sounds so sweet, doesn't it? They didn't believe it, of course, but sure thought the electorate would.

The GOP must think we are all infants...or idiots? 91.4 PERCENT OF THE FEDERAL BUDGET GOES TO DEFENSE, SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE, MEDICAID AND INTEREST ON THE NATIONAL DEBT. The GOP will not speak of these locked in spending items. Only Defense can be called discretionary but the GOP certainly does not see it as discretionary.

It is up to us -- as Sarah Palin likes to say -- to "call them out" when they promise something we and they know they can't deliver and indeed, have no intention to even attempt to deliver.

As Obama says, it's time to declare, "Enough."

The truth is this: The fiscally conservative party has indebted this country since 1980 with a mammoth amount of debt. Bush 43 will leave office on January 20, 2009, having doubled the national debt from 5.4 trillion dollars to 10.6 trillion dollars.

Just typing those record debt numbers is depressing to me. I'm ready for someone who will speak the truth to us, not the tired old mantra of discredited political ideology.

Not one of us wants to pay higher taxes, we just want to pay our fair share of taxes when it is warranted. That is patriotism in action. And we are all patriots -- at least we believe we are -- when we ask government to keep greed in check by regulating financial markets, care for the elderly by providing a small measure of support through Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid programs, pay for the infrastructure that provides safe roads and bridges and levees, secure our borders from those who would do us harm, and most importantly, provide for the common defense. There's more, much more we Democrats AND Republicans expect of our government, but you get the picture. We will pay taxes, we will pay higher taxes if needed, but we insist they be taxes fairly apportioned among the citizens and expended only in ways that are transparent and fully accountable.

To Iraq and To Ruin

I do not have the words to tell you how tired I am of hearing Republicans recite their mantra: "We will cut your taxes and reduce the size of government."

BS

It is not true and they know it. Their only job --and they will quickly tell you it is their only job -- is to convince you that it is true. You only have to...uh, trust them.

Reagan said it and here's what we got in return. During his eight years in office we endured two economic recession, a 20 percent increase in the size of government, and a tripling of the national debt.

Bush 41 said it and the economy was in a shambles by the time he ran for re-election in 1992. Indeed, not even his victory in the first Gulf War -- which was a true victory, not a "Mission Accomplished" fake victory -- could prevent Bill Clinton from cleaning his clock (not even the one Bush 41 was checking during the debates). Remember, "It's the economy, stupid!"

The tremendous economic expansion the country enjoyed during the eight years of Bill Clinton's Presidency had the Republicans chomping at the bit to get back into power and demonstrate they could do the same thing with -- you guessed it -- cutting taxes and reducing the size of government.

Bush 43 sold the same bill of goods to Americans in 2000, and again in 2004, and here is what we got for it: America's first pre-emptive strike on another sovereign nation, a war fought on fraudulent pretenses, destabilization of world economies, record prices for oil and gasoline at the pump, abdication of federally mandated oversight of financial markets -- among a long list of dubious, indeed, disgraceful, "accomplishments."

But the most telling is the realization that Bush 43 will leave office having more than DOUBLED the national debt, from 5.5 trillion dollars on the day he came into office to 11.6 trillion dollars (if the current Wall Street bailout package is approved

If you hear another Republican repeat that old saw, "We just want to cut your taxes and reduce the size of government and that'll make your life better," you should shout, "ARE YOU CRAZY?" and run for the nearest exit as fast as your legs will carry you.

And yes, Bush 43 will always be remembered in the history books as "The President who took America to Iraq and to ruin."

No Free Pass

A longtime Republican friend sent me the following e-mail over the weekend:

“I am in shock over this choice (Sarah Palin). I can't imagine what McCain was thinking. He chose a totally inexperienced person as his running mate, a person who won't even appeal to the Clinton female supporters. My God, he is 72 and she stands a good chance of becoming President. He has “dissed” the conservatives again. Of course, we have nowhere to go anyway. I just get so fed up with political parties. Why can't we just have an election like they did back in the beginning and vote on who we want and the two highest vote getters are President and VP. Now I have to face the prospect of super liberal being elected President who is going to raise my taxes and have a real SOB as VP. As you can see, I am conceding to you Dems.”

Even as they acknowledge the serious prospect of defeat this November, many Republicans are expressing the sentiments of this one who believes his taxes are going to go up dramatically. I don’t agree with his comment about Biden being a “real SOB.” One thing, however, is clear: Republican leadership has done a thorough job of convincing every last rank and file Republican in America that their taxes will go up when Obama is elected.

Well, I have news for them: your taxes are going to go up regardless of who is elected. How long do you think America will be able to borrow money from China to pay for the wars Bush 43 started? At some point, we Americans have to pay something. BTW, what did you sacrifice during these wars – mmmmmm?

Being a free American does not mean you get a free pass through the life of your citizenship; it means you get the opportunity to show your appreciation by paying the fair share of taxes you owe to support the government you depend on and you get the opportunity to choose – and I hope some Republicans will – to pay back their country through some form of government service. That would be a good thing for all of us to do. And then…we would have the right to complain about paying taxes.