Like it or not, King Henry Paulson the first, was given $700,000,000,000.00 [the zeros make the number look as impressive as it really is] of OUR money to do something he hasn’t done: buy derivatives AKA ‘toxic assets’ to relieve the credit markets.
Thanks to the wisdom house Republicans, King Henry Paulson I, only got a portion of that money up front and there exists and additional $350,000,000,000.00 [again zeros for emphasis] that still are waiting to be shelled out.
President-Elect Barack Obama the savior won by saying that he wanted to ‘help’ the ‘middle-class’ and ‘bail-out main street’ so here is his chance to prove that his words were not just a ’sell’. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), a member of the conservative House Republican Study Committee, has come up with a plan of what to do with the remaining $350B [done with the zeroes]; and, what’s great is that it is very simple [hence the KISS reference on the title] and engages in what is the only ‘proven’ practice of getting us out of a recession: reducing, and in the case of his plan, eliminating (temporarily) taxes.
Here is a summary of Gohmert’s plan from Human Events:
Gohmert’s tax holiday plan is elegant in its simplicity: every American taxpayer would pay no federal income or FICA taxes for the first two months of 2009. For the typical American family — earning about $50,000 a year — that would mean they would keep about $2000 that would otherwise be paid to the government.
Gohmert doesn’t plan to include corporations in the tax holiday. But, as he told me, if employees don’t have to pay FICA for two months, the employers’ portion of that would also be eliminated, giving corporations some relief of about $65 billion over the two months.
Gohmert’s plan doesn’t pay for Wall Street bonuses or let banks use bailout money to buy other banks or pay dividends. It doesn’t rely on bureaucrats to pay money out to the right people at the right time or try to stimulate the economy with token payments to people who don’t pay taxes.
Most Americans pay about 25 percent of their income in federal income tax and another 7.25 percent in FICA (social security and Medicare taxes). Computing how much money Gohmert’s tax holiday would leave in your family’s checkbook is very simple.
Take your monthly income (the gross amount shown on your pay stubs before tax and any other withholding) and multiply it by .66. That amount is roughly what Gohmert’s two-month tax holiday will leave in your pocket.
According to American Solutions — Newt Gingrich’s group — Americans pay over $101 billion in income taxes and another $65.6 billion in FICA taxes each month. Under Gohmert’s plan, all of that money would — for two months, totaling about $332 billion — be left in voters’ pockets to spend however they choose to meet their families’ needs.
Now, I have said many times that the Fair Tax is the best way to reform our economic system, and I think this tax holiday might finally show, or rather remind, the American people that as Reagan put it in his first inaugural speech:
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.
Maybe, not paying income taxes for two months will show the people that their hard earned money is wasted by inefficient bureaucrats in the Federal Government and that individuals, charities, and private enterprise are the best providers of social services and agents for change.
I urge you to contact your congress representatives and voice your support for Rep. Gohmert’s plan. You can find out who your Representative and/or Senator is here.
I already have.
-W
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Sometime a while back, while praying in church, I was given a moment of rare clarity. My mind, body and soul were lit with a desire, a drive and a vision to initiate a “trialogue” between the three great western faiths.
The problem, you see, is that I don’t know how. I have my ideas; I thought of trying to work through my church’s youth group and contact a local Synagogue and Mosque and see if they’d be willing to host youth joint youth group activities once quarter; or, perhaps, involve the Church, Mosque & Synagogue congregations themselves.
It is something that I continue to be passionate about and that I still have a legitimate desire to do and something that I WILL accomplish. The frustration is that the shifting ground beneath my feet (new job relocation to a new city, for example) has made it nearly impossible to accomplish at this junction. I do not want to start something that I can’t finish.
I believe that Jews, Muslims and Christian worship the same, one true God and that we are of common ancestry; our oldest common ancestor is the father of all the Israels: Abraham. I also believe that our respective faiths spend way too much time focusing on our differences, such conflicts in dogma, in practices and traditions and not enough time focusing on the great similarities of our value systems, or rather; system. I often cringe when I hear America referred to as “Judeo-Christian” because that statement forgets the other third of that value system dynamic: Islamic.
You’re shocked? Don’t be, I am very much steadfast in my resolution against so called “Islamic-Terrorism” which is not Islamic in its genesis. Terrorism in any guise is evil.
Why is “Islamic-Terrorism” not Islamic?
Well because to allow a terrorist organization such as Al-Qaeda to call itself Islamic is to allow a terrorist organization such as the Ku Klux Klan to call itself Christian or to allow Kahane LaKnesset to call itself Jewish. As a Christian father of mixed children I know that the Ku Klux Klan is not Christian in its actions or beliefs, as man with many Jewish friends I know that Kahane LaKnesset is not Jewish in ITS actions and as a man whose life was turned upside down by terrorism after 9/11 and spent some of the best days of my life working against it, I KNOW Al-Qaeda not to be Islamic in its actions.
I KNOW these things with every fiber of my being, but I am shocked as to how many of God’s children, of my American brothers and sisters do not. It is human to fear what we do not understand and the truth is that most Americans have never picked up and read The Holy Qur’an or The Holy Tanakh and thus do not know or understand these faiths that are so close to our own.
It is the biggest challenge of the 21st Century to destroy terrorism and I believe that we can do this by promoting understanding. It is not over religion that people blow themselves up or fly planes into buildings, it is not over ideology or even out of hatred. It is about poverty, envy and ignorance that these things happen and I believe that be creating a sort of Ecumenical Society that works together to promote understanding and erradicate poverty can go a long way at achieving this goal.
I am not arrogant enough to believe or assert that God has ‘chosen’ me for this task. I am a rather imperfect man undeserving of the clarity that was granted to me or the many blessings that I am ever so thankful for. I believe however, that there must be others out there that feel as I do and if we can work together then this imperfect man can acomplish something deserving of the blessings that God has given me.
-W
Good day boys and girls. I want o call your attention to this article by the International Institute for Counter Terrorism.
These are the threats the mean and Evil President George W. Bush has kept us safe from the past 7 years.
Frankly, I have grown tired of the shortsightedness and limited short term memory of the American public. Everyone is quick to dismiss President Bush as being “The Worst” or “The Most Incompetent” or some version there of President but they forget a few things. We apparently forget that nine months into his term, we suffered the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor and that the worst natural disaster of American history also happened during his watch; both, by the way, were events he could not control nor prevent.
I shiver to imagine how Al Gore and John Kerry would’ve handled those events. Maybe Gore would’ve sent the Taliban all copies of “An Inconvenient Truth” and they all would’ve commited suicide. Or, Kerry, well, maybe part of his Heintz fortune would’ve helped rebuild the levys in New Orleans.
But yet again, I digress. The point is that we have all been safe since September 11, 2001 and that other than the months right after that horrible attack, for 6 years out of President Bush’s term we have had economic growth and prosperity. But, maybe, it would take a rash of Forest fires to help us realize this. I hope not.
President Bush learned from the difficulties of his own transition and has started the transition process at an unprecedented fervent pace and with an unprecedented early start. Hopefully, we can avert the instability that made Spain and the United Kingdom vulnerable to terrorist attacks after a leadership change.
Thank you President Bush, I know that historians will be much more lenient on you that your short sighted contemporaries.
-W
Hi Everyone. As promised before, I have made available some of my creations on the site. I figured, the ad revenue is now paying for the blog, let me see if by selling useless trinkets I can actually turn a profit. ;-) can you blame me?
There is a “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for McCain” Sticker, a “Keep the Change Comrade Obama” Sticker and Shirt up there right now. I have some others coming.
Some Ideas are:
What’s the difference between empty words and real change: Lipstic!
Keep on Picking on Palin, I hear Pitbulls bite back.
I am also going to put in a few other non-political stickers. Anyways. Enjoy and buy!
-W
Yes, the same people that have given us Social Security want to turn our 401(k)s in to “GRA”s (see below). Now my 401(k) has taken a pounding like everyone else’s but I know another bulky, inefficient and prone to “borrowing” government program is not the answer. If Obama will truly govern from the center, he’s going to have a hard time with his fellow Socialists…err… Democrats. This is insane!
Keep your grummy fingers off my 401(k)! Last thing I need is my hard earned money to be managed like Medicare, Medicaid or worse, Social Security! Enjoy this article from the Carolina Journal Online.
Carolina Journal Exclusives
Dems Target Private Retirement Accounts
Democratic leaders in the U.S. House discuss confiscating 401(k)s, IRAs
RALEIGH — Democrats in the U.S. House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers’ personal retirement accounts — including 401(k)s and IRAs — and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration.
Triggered by the financial crisis the past two months, the hearings reportedly were meant to stem losses incurred by many workers and retirees whose 401(k) and IRA balances have been shrinking rapidly.
The testimony of Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, in hearings Oct. 7 drew the most attention and criticism. Testifying for the House Committee on Education and Labor, Ghilarducci proposed that the government eliminate tax breaks for 401(k) and similar retirement accounts, such as IRAs, and confiscate workers’ retirement plan accounts and convert them to universal Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) managed by the Social Security Administration.
Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, in prepared remarks for the hearing on “The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Workers’ Retirement Security,” blamed Wall Street for the financial crisis and said his committee will “strengthen and protect Americans’ 401(k)s, pensions, and other retirement plans” and the “Democratic Congress will continue to conduct this much-needed oversight on behalf of the American people.”
Currently, 401(k) plans allow Americans to invest pretax money and their employers match up to a defined percentage, which not only increases workers’ retirement savings but also reduces their annual income tax. The balances are fully inheritable, subject to income tax, meaning workers pass on their wealth to their heirs, unlike Social Security. Even when they leave an employer and go to one that doesn’t offer a 401(k) or pension, workers can transfer their balances to a qualified IRA.
Mandating Equality
Ghilarducci’s plan first appeared in a paper for the Economic Policy Institute: Agenda for Shared Prosperity on Nov. 20, 2007, in which she said GRAs will rescue the flawed American retirement income system (www.sharedprosperity.org/bp204/bp204.pdf).
The current retirement system, Ghilarducci said, “exacerbates income and wealth inequalities” because tax breaks for voluntary retirement accounts are “skewed to the wealthy because it is easier for them to save, and because they receive bigger tax breaks when they do.”
Lauding GRAs as a way to effectively increase retirement savings, Ghilarducci wrote that savings incentives are unequal for rich and poor families because tax deferrals “provide a much larger ‘carrot’ to wealthy families than to middle-class families — and none whatsoever for families too poor to owe taxes.”
GRAs would guarantee a fixed 3 percent annual rate of return, although later in her article Ghilarducci explained that participants would not “earn a 3% real return in perpetuity.” In place of tax breaks workers now receive for contributions and thus a lower tax rate, workers would receive $600 annually from the government, inflation-adjusted. For low-income workers whose annual contributions are less than $600, the government would deposit whatever amount it would take to equal the minimum $600 for all participants.
In a radio interview with Kirby Wilbur in Seattle on Oct. 27, 2008, Ghilarducci explained that her proposal doesn’t eliminate the tax breaks, rather, “I’m just rearranging the tax breaks that are available now for 401(k)s and spreading — spreading the wealth.”
All workers would have 5 percent of their annual pay deducted from their paychecks and deposited to the GRA. They would still be paying Social Security and Medicare taxes, as would the employers. The GRA contribution would be shared equally by the worker and the employee. Employers no longer would be able to write off their contributions. Any capital gains would be taxable year-on-year.
Analysts point to another disturbing part of the plan. With a GRA, workers could bequeath only half of their account balances to their heirs, unlike full balances from existing 401(k) and IRA accounts. For workers who die after retiring, they could bequeath just their own contributions plus the interest but minus any benefits received and minus the employer contributions.
Another justification for Ghilarducci’s plan is to eliminate investment risk. In her testimony, Ghilarducci said, “humans often lack the foresight, discipline, and investing skills required to sustain a savings plan.” She cited the 2004 HSBC global survey on the Future of Retirement, in which she claimed that “a third of Americans wanted the government to force them to save more for retirement.”
What the survey actually reported was that 33 percent of Americans wanted the government to “enforce additional private savings,” a vastly different meaning than mandatory government-run savings. Of the four potential sources of retirement support, which were government, employer, family, and self, the majority of Americans said “self” was the most important contributor, followed by “government.” When broken out by family income, low-income U.S. households said the “government” was the most important retirement support, whereas high-income families ranked “government” last and “self” first (www.hsbc.com/retirement).
On Oct. 22, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Argentinean government had seized all private pension and retirement accounts to fund government programs and to address a ballooning deficit. Fearing an economic collapse, foreign investors quickly pulled out, forcing the Argentinean stock market to shut down several times. More than 10 years ago, nationalization of private savings sent Argentina’s economy into a long-term downward spiral.
Income and Wealth Redistribution
The majority of witness testimony during recent hearings before the House Committee on Education and Labor showed that congressional Democrats intend to address income and wealth inequality through redistribution.
On July 31, 2008, Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, testified before the subcommittee on workforce protections that “from the standpoint of equal treatment of people with different incomes, there is a fundamental flaw” in tax code incentives because they are “provided in the form of deductions, exemptions, and exclusions rather than in the form of refundable tax credits.”
Even people who don’t pay taxes should get money from the government, paid for by higher-income Americans, he said. “There is no obvious reason why lower-income taxpayers or people who do not file income taxes should get smaller incentives (or no tax incentives at all),” Greenstein said.
“Moving to refundable tax credits for promoting socially worthwhile activities would be an important step toward enhancing progressivity in the tax code in a way that would improve economic efficiency and performance at the same time,” Greenstein said, and “reducing barriers to labor organizing, preserving the real value of the minimum wage, and the other workforce security concerns . . . would contribute to an economy with less glaring and sharply widening inequality.”
When asked whether committee members seriously were considering Ghilarducci’s proposal for GSAs, Aaron Albright, press secretary for the Committee on Education and Labor, said Miller and other members were listening to all ideas.
Miller’s biggest priority has been on legislation aimed at greater transparency in 401(k)s and other retirement plan administration, specifically regarding fees, Albright said, and he sent a link to a Fox News interview of Miller on Oct. 24, 2008, to show that the congressman had not made a decision.
After repeated questions asked by Neil Cavuto of Fox News, Miller said he would not be in favor of “killing the 401(k)” or of “killing the tax advantages for 401(k)s.”
Arguing against liberal prescriptions, William Beach, director of the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation, testified on Oct. 24 that the “roots of the current crisis are firmly planted in public policy mistakes” by the Federal Reserve and Congress. He cautioned Congress against raising taxes, increasing burdensome regulations, or withdrawing from international product or capital markets. “Congress can ill afford to repeat the awesome errors of its predecessor in the early days of the Great Depression,” Beach said.
Instead, Beach said, Congress could best address the financial crisis by making the tax reductions of 2001 and 2003 permanent, stopping dependence on demand-side stimulus, lowering the corporate profits tax, and reducing or eliminating taxes on capital gains and dividends.
Testifying before the same committee in early October, Jerry Bramlett, president and CEO of BenefitStreet, Inc., an independent 401(k) plan administrator, said one of the best ways to ensure retirement security would be to have the U.S. Department of Labor develop educational materials for workers so they could make better investment decisions, not exchange equity investments in retirement accounts for Treasury bills, as proposed in the GSAs.
Should Sen. Barack Obama win the presidency, congressional Democrats might have stronger support for their “spreading the wealth” agenda. On Oct. 27, the American Thinker posted a video of an interview with Obama on public radio station WBEZ-FM from 2001.
In the interview, Obama said, “The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society.” The Constitution says only what “the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you,” and Obama added that the Warren Court wasn’t that radical.
Although in 2001 Obama said he was not “optimistic about bringing major redistributive change through the courts,” as president, he would likely have the opportunity to appoint one or more Supreme Court justices.
“The real tragedy of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused that I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change,” Obama said.
Karen McMahan is a contributing editor of Carolina Journal.
From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. Lets Nationalize our retirement system AGAIN. Because its been working so well so far.
-W
Vote Eclectic Will in 2010… when I figure out where I’ll be living 
I wanted to take a few days, post election, to decompress. Elections are big for me, I’ve been following politics as long as I can remember. As a child, in Puerto Rico, politics were a bit simpler; you’re Pro-Statehood, Commonwealth, or Independence (I was and am the first). When I moved to the states as a 13 year old boy in 1994 (I was almost 14), I immediately was drawn to the Republican party, its ideals and methods. Because of this affinity I’ve been called many things ranging from “wannabe” to “white-wash Puertorican”. I don’t know what the latter means and I do not care. But I digress.
The point I set out to make is that, post-elections, I try to take some time off of something I love. I do this whether my party and/or candidate wins or loses. I allows me to get back to the normalcy of non-election politics life. John McCain lost. He did, and I am saddened by this but as those who know me I have a favorite quote:
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald
I can also be inspired by an American of African descent, a minority person, being the President of the United States; I know that as an old man, I will be telling my grandchildren where I was when the election was won. I may disagree with the politics, but a fact is a fact and history is history and an Obama Presidency is history.
Now on to the normalcy of post-election life; boy has it hit me like a flipping ton of bricks. My mother, for all of you who do not know me, is Paranoid-Schizophrenic and she has had some legal issues surface and needs my help. I have accepted a new job in a new city and will not only have to relocate but also, somehow, sell my condo as quickly as I can. And, to top it all off, I was failing my Calculus class so I had to drop it; this is going to push back my degree completion a full semester as I cannot transfer on to the University of Florida On-line program without that requirement. Fun, huh?
Sometimes, I wonder why I like elections so much. Is it the excitement? Is it just the love I have for my nation? Is it the quasi-control that a vote offers? Or, is it an escape for me from my regular life which is often tougher than I would have it be? I don’t know nor does it matter.
I know its not the latter. I have been given a cross to carry that I may or rather should not question. God knows what he does and what I can handle. He forgives me when I stumble. Or, at least, I have to believe he does.
-W
It has become aparent that, much to my dissapointment, Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. In one regard, I am happy our nation has turned such a major page in race relations. In another, I am going to wait for the silver lining as I expect that the Democrats will not have their filibuster proof senate.
I am now going to turn my attention to paying my debt down wait for Obama to turn this recession into a depression with his assinine tax plan. God Help Us All.
Oh, and I’ve decided I will run for congress in 2 years. I can’t allow the democrats to ruin this nation I love.
-W
UPDATE: I’m going to start selling “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted McCain” bumper stickers on the website soon. Keep an eye out for those.
Exhibits “A” and “B” below.
First, and pay attention Pennsylvania (and West Virginia, Western Virginia, etc.):
Then:
Well… it seems that what Biden said here, wasn’t so crazy after all. Maybe Biden and Obama have been talking “privately” about this.
Well… I guess we’ll see tomorrow.
Good Night Boys and Girls… tomorrow night should be fun.
-W
On the heals of my most popular post ever, “Corey Miller the Well Driller“, I want to put out there some other information that may not be completely apparent out there; and that is the other part of the 95% argument that is not talked about.
Before you read on, please read the following article in the Wall Street Journal.
First, Obama is not lying when he says that “95% of privately-owned businesses don’t earn $250,000 a year”, but that is not where the true story is; when you break down that “top 5%” you get a better picture.
Here is a pretty good example from Neal Boortz (who, by the way is a Libertarian):
Here’s the trick. Let me illustrate reality with a simple comparison. Let’s say that we have 1000 small businesses. About 950 of them, that would be 95%, employ one or two people each for a total employment figure of 1,200. Now let’s assume that the other 50 businesses employ anywhere from 20 people to hundreds of people for a total of about 250,000 workers. If someone comes along and says 95% of small businesses won’t be affected by his tax increases, how do you feel? You know that the tax increase is going to slam those businesses that employ 250,000 workers, while leaving the 95% of businesses that employ just 1,200 people alone. Quite a deal, huh. Aren’t you impressed?
So… what does it amount to? Punishing success and hard work, we find that the harder you work, the less you are rewarded and then those who made different choices, who do not work as hard or do as well will benefit from your hard work. It is Income redistribution and clearly a Socialist, if not Marxist, principle.
There it is folks. For a treat I give you 4:17 minutes of Obama’s 2001 interview with NPR in which he candidly speaks about “not optimistic about bringing about major redistributive change through the courts” but saying that it would be better achieved through legislative means.
So go ahead America, give Obama, Pelosi & Reed the legislative means to bring about “redistributive change”.
As for me, economic justice, is having the ability through my own hard work and dedication to earn and keep my earnings.
-W
Hi boys and girls; I’m out of town this week in lovely Charlotte North Carolina and my posting time is limited. So, on the heals and in the spirit of of my most popular post ever “Corey Miller the Well Driller” I am posting this little bit of email dark humor. I don’t know whether to laugh because its sad or because its true.
Anyways, I’m working on a new post to address the crazy “95% of Americans” bullshit statement of the Obama campaign. I’m analyzing new SBA numbers about small business employment and that top 5% that Obama seems to have a vendetta against.
Anyways, I digress here it is:
As of November 5, 2008, when President Obama officially becomes president-elect, our company will instill a few new policies which are in keeping with his new, inspiring issues of change and fairness:
1. All salespeople will be pooling their sales and bonuses into a common pool that will be divided equally between all of you. This will serve to give those of you who are under-achieving a “fair shake”.
2. All low level workers will be pooling their wages, including overtime, into a common pool, dividing it equally amongst you. This will help those who are “too busy for overtime” to reap the rewards from those who have more spare time and can work extra hours.
3. All top management will now be referred to as “the government.” We will not participate in this “pooling” experience because the law doesn’t apply to us.
4. The “government” will give eloquent speeches to all employees every week, encouraging its workers to continue to work hard “for the good of all”.
5. The employees will be thrilled with these new policies because it’s “good to spread the wealth around”. Those of you who have underachieved will finally get an opportunity; those of you who have worked hard and had success will feel more “patriotic”.
6. The last few people who were hired should clean out their desks. Don’t feel bad, though, because President Obama will give you free healthcare, free handouts, free oil for heating your home, free food stamps, and he’ll let you stay in your home for as long as you want even if you can’t pay your mortgage. If you appeal directly to our democratic congress, you might even get a free flat screen TV and a coupon for free haircuts (shouldn’t all Americans be entitled to nice looking hair?)!!!
See what I mean; Sad or funny… I guess both.
W
