Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
It seems like everywhere you turn there is a story about the how bad the deficit is and how the government must make drastic cuts to save the economy and reduce the deficit. The Tea Party is clinging to their demands for $100 Billion in budget cuts or they say they will shut down the government. “Rep. Mike Pence (R) of Indiana, a tea party favorite in Congress, urged taking a hard-line on budget cuts – and if that meant a shutdown, then so be it. “If liberals in the Senate would rather play political games and shut down the government instead of making a small down payment on fiscal discipline and reform, I say, shut it down,” Congressman Pence said, eliciting a chant of “Cut or shut! Cut or shut!” from the crowd. Republicans worried about blame for a shutdown might not be so happy with Pence for that.” Christian Science Monitor
It is interesting to note that cuts in the bloated defense budget were not included in the demands made by the Republicans and Tea party faithful. They want to cut the programs that seem to do the most good for the poor and the middle class, all the while allowing the wealthy and corporations to get tax breaks and tax credits. We have seen the stories detailing so many of the big corporations that paid little or no federal tax. “Last week, the New York Times reported that General Electric (GE), the world’s largest corporation paid nothing in federal corporate income taxes in 2010. In fact, the company made over $14 billion in profits and actually received a $3.2 billion tax benefit.” Think Progress
That is an amazing statistic. GE not only paid no federal taxes, they actually got billions in tax credits! That means that all of those nurses, and firemen and state workers who were in danger of losing their jobs, paying more in insurance premiums and losing their collective bargaining rights in states across the union because of the dire economic situation in their states, actually paid more taxes to the Federal Government than the Third largest corporation in the world! Why aren’t the Tea Party faithful going after the GE’s of the world to share in the sacrifice?
The Tea Party is not satisfied with the large cuts that have been already made and those offered by the Democrats, they simply want to tear away at the heart of the programs that help you and I. They want to end all funding to Planned Parenthood that would actually put poor women in the street looking for serious health care programs because they are also demanding to defund The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as they refer to it as. “With a hard deadline looming, talks to prevent a government shutdown have been stymied for a week because Tea Party members of the House have demanded everything: not just some of their cuts but almost all of them, and not just a reduction in spending but a reduction only in the programs they don’t like. Many are insisting Democrats also agree to nonbudgetary riders, like ending the financing of Planned Parenthood or health care reform. “ New York Times
Why does the Tea Party want to attack the programs that help the most people? Why doesn’t the Tea Party include the Defense budget in its budget cut plans? Why does the Tea Party not want to force our largest corporations to pay their fair share of Federal taxes? I submit that the Tea Party is only concerned about helping themselves. Just who makes up the Tea Party? According to one poll, the majority of the Tea Party is comprised of white, male, wealthy Republicans. “The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45. They hold more conservative views on a range of issues than Republicans generally. They are also more likely to describe themselves as “very conservative” and President Obama as “very liberal.” And while most Republicans say they are “dissatisfied” with Washington, Tea Party supporters are more likely to classify themselves as “angry.” ‘ New York Times
If I read this poll correctly, the Tea Party hates Obama and they think black people and poor people are getting all of the breaks from the government. They also want to end wasteful government spending, but most of them want to keep “government’s big hands” off of their Medicare and Social Security! In other words, I want mine, but the hell with everyone else! These guys might be well-educated, but they must not be well read if they think the poor and minorities are getting all of the “big breaks” from the Federal government. Maybe they need to stop listening to intelligent politicians like Michele Bachmann and Rand Paul and start reading Prof. Turley’s blog! What is your take?
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
WOW, SWM, I would expect that would have happened in Florida and Ohio….But here…come on Winnebago is ultra conservative…..If my information is correct….But…still there will be a recount…state wide…just because of small difference in Jefferson Prosser had picked up 2 votes…so..it may just even out and the Lady wins….after all…
Crap almost done..I hope…
“Do not act offended that I suggested your life was made better through violence and then explain to me how my life was made better through violence. You kind of come off as a hypocrite.”
And you wonder why you’re ridiculed … just don’t forget to kick the puppy when you get home tonight.
Blouise,
“It’s Thursday.”
Lol …
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/07/964478/-Wisconsin-Supreme-Court-vote-tallyindoubt Bad news!
B B B …By By By … Byr Byr Byr … (deep sigh), I can’t get my damn keyboard to … oh, never mind
We won, this thread was worn out anyway.
Raff,
Do not act offended that I suggested your life was made better through violence and then explain to me how my life was made better through violence. You kind of come off as a hypocrite.
B,
Heres a line of logic that i doubt anyone has presented to you before. If I, as an individual, have no right to commit violence on you or take your money or your possessions how can any number of people confer a right they do not have to any government?
Also, i bet that negro guy is really upping your appreciation of my correspondence. haha jeez whered you find him?
Gyges,
Id agree with most of your cuts, especially military, but there are many people, liberals and conservative that would balk at any reduction in that spending. ( I dont get the food subsidies? The market distortions from that is the reason were shoving corn sugar in soft drinks and trying to run our cars on corn alchohol.) But you still havent addressed my conclusions. Even if GE cannot pass on all the new taxes, you are merely pricing out goods and services from the middle class. GE will adapt. Its customers will simply do without while still footing the bill for the upper class and the lower class. I still see no reason not to allow them to keep their money instead of being forced to funnel it through the governments redistributive mechanism. Also refreshing to see someone on this blog with at least a basic knowledge of fundamental market mechanics.
Also I think the point of that ice cream article was simply to illustrate the wonder of the division of labor and the fact that given the massive amount of intensive labor and coordination needed to produce ice cream, it is still possible for the market to deliver it to you for 5 dollars a quart.
Aweeee did I hurt the sockpuppets feelings.
It’s Thursday.
Oh you were so rough on me last night Buddha.
Ekerya,
Also, just for clarification, not all taxes could get passed on to the customers, demand goes down as price goes up (no matter the reason for the price increase), so there’s only a finite amount a company like G.E. can raise “prices” before they start loosing enough costumers that they stop making a profit. Where that point is depends on the elasticity of both the supply and the demand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_incidence
BTW, did you see that Mises article claiming there was no such thing as Homemade ice-cream? Apparently the author thought home-made meant only from ingredients produced at home.
If you’re going to be a professional writer, you should own at least one dictionary.
Buddhas’ in love with his hand. Buddha never gets lonely at night. Buddha’s cheating on his middle finger. Is it true Buddha has clothes to dress all of his fingers up at night so they won’t feel cheated on?
Buddha don’t know shit. He posts and boasts all sorts of shit. The weather is changing, fool. At least my IQ is bigger than your dick sized one. It don’t even go past your little finger, boy!
For clarification, those changes would make the bit about our military the penultimate spending program.
Er, I’m not sure where my others went.
There was one about foreign aide for any nations military at the beginning, and one about any no-bid contract at the end.
Ekeyra,
My Father flew 50 missions on behalf of this country in WWII and was activated again during the Korean War and was killed in a plane crash while being deployed. The VA and Social Security benefits that I referenced above are due to that service. You are either unwilling to see the reality of that time, or devoid of any knowledge of our history. As Buddha suggested, if it was not for the Army Air Corps in WWII, we may be speaking German today. You may be at a loss for words because you can only take your anti-government claims so far before they become a waste of time to read. .
Ekerya,
O.k. here, in no particular order: Subsidies to any for profit corporation (with a few exceptions, I actually support targeted subsidies for food production, but only when specifically targeted to increase competition, having a diversified food supply just seems like good disaster prevention management); The vast majority of “defense” spending (which since that’s roughly half of the federal budget is a pretty big deal).
I’m probably leaving a few small things out, but the penultimate is the big one.
ekeyra,
Oh I understood your point just fine. It was simply crap. Without the Air Force, formerly the Army Air Corps? You’d be whining in Japanese or German right now.
And without taxation to build commonly used infrastructure, again – you’d be shouting your nonsense at woodchucks through the door of your outhouse . . . but in Japanese or German. Which it is good for the woodchucks that we have an Air Force. They are terrible with foreign languages.
Buddha’s Negro,
Quite simply, you’re an imbecile. It has been a long time since somebody with an IQ smaller than their shoe size has posted. Usually the drooling shorts out the keyboard. If you have any other random inane thoughts? Why not just stop right there. It’s clear thinking isn’t your strong suit.
We all know how much Buddha loves to eat. When he is not eating he is sucking the life out of troll’s. It is his diet, maybe he can get skinny from this. Who knows he may never take a dump and that is the reason that he is so irrational.
“This is what happens when you view the world in terms of black and white – no room for grey – and don’t think that perhaps, not everyone’s circumstances are exactly the same …”
Really, because top down, authoritative government bureacracies are world renowned for their flexibility and would never take the approach that one size fits all and individuals dont matter?