"John McClane: You know what you get for being a hero? Nothin'. You get shot at. You get a little pat on the back, blah, blah, blah, attaboy. You get divorced. Your wife can't remember your last name. Your kids don't want to talk to you. You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me, kid, nobody wants to be that guy. Matt Farrell: Then why you doing this? John McClane: Because there's no body else to do it right now, that's why. Believe me, if there were somebody else to do it, I'd let them do it, but there's not. So we're doing it. Matt Farrell: Ah. That's what makes you that guy. "
"The era of small government is over ... government has to be more proactive, more aggressive." ( Tim Pawlenty2006)
"You're just petty politicians, who'd sooner sign onto the wisdom of a tyrant in another country, than the demands of ticked off voters in your own." (Neil CavutoJune 2008)
“I didn’t question her patriotism. I questioned her judgment.”
Mr. Cheney went on: “The point I made and I’ll make it again is that Al Qaeda functions on the basis that they think they can break our will. That’s their fundamental underlying strategy, that if they can kill enough Americans or cause enough havoc, create enough chaos in Iraq, then we’ll quit and go home. And my statement was that if we adopt the Pelosi policy, that then we will validate the strategy of Al Qaeda. I said it, and I meant it.”
(Vice President Cheney NYT Feb. 2007)
"A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers. (Ronald Reagan March 1, 1975)
"Oh, no! First of all, if I took one vote away from a serious candidate, it would be a sin." (Al Franken Time Magazine, 9/1/03)
Hey John, its the spending you idiot. You suck at poker, now stop trying to gamble with the future of our Country. You’re playing with socialists, solving the problem is not their goal, socialism is. They’ll take whatever you give them that’s closer to Communism than Capitalism, so give them nothing.
If you don’t have the spine to do so, resign. You’ve done enough damage already.
First off you need to know that she voted for the Medical Device Tax. It is part of Obamacare that she voted for and supports widely.
She’s now doing one of her ambulance chaser moves and trying to repeal part of a bill she voted for. IOW: She created the crisis she is now trying to fix.
But the big key is Amy Klobuchar is not really trying to repeal this bad part of Obamacare, she’s just trying to delay its implementation.
Meaning she doesn’t really oppose this awful tax increase on the medical device industry, she just wants to delay it until the fiscal cliff ponzi scheme can is kicked down the road.
If she really was against the tax on a critical Minnesota company, she’d fight for all out repeal of this punitive tax.
I promised to educate the public on just who the rich is since no one with an (R) behind the name has the cajones to dare stand up [FOR] the most discriminated class of people in America. (I was required to sit through a Fair Housing workshop yesterday, and yes, income status is a class that can’t be discriminated against. Whether low or high, you can’t treat people differently just because of their income.)
Here’s the chart I created to help show that the people making over $200,000 a year and not exclusively Bill Gates or Monty Burns. A large portion of the incomes in that top bracket Obama and Democrats so desperately want to punish er – make pay their fair share, are not people just hoarding cash to use as toilet paper or to burn for heat because they are greedy fat cats.
They are employers, investors, successful people who worked hard and being rewarded from smart investments…. They are every day Americans who lay a huge role in keeping the economy going.
The key is they are the backbone to our economy. Yes, we need workers, but if there is no one to finance or supply the machines or tools….
Take away “the rich’s” incomes and it will affect the economy, more importantly it will remove any incentive for them to consider doing that again. If everything you worked for was taken away from you would you try to do it again, and again, and again?
This chart shows where the incomes in the top bracket actually come from. The data is from 2009 IRS numbers. Individuals, Farmers, S-Corps, Social Security, Investments, pensions, you name it. All play a significant role in the economy. The economy would collapse with out their incomes.
Take note at the bottom, that if you took every single penny that these people made in 2009 away from them, you’d barely be able to balance the Federal Budget for that one year. Keep in mind by the end of Obama’s 2nd term, we will need almost an additional $1 trillion more in revenue (taxes) just to keep pace with spending increases to balance the budget.
Meet the Rich.
Meet the Rich – Taking 100% of the income from those making over $200,000 a year would have barely balanced the 2009 Federal Budget. Then what?
If you took every single penny that “the rich” made in one single year, it would balance the budget for a single year.
Then what?
Folks, the fiscal cliff is not sticking it to the rich. Its not a matter of socialist fairness and a workers revolution.
The Fiscal cliff is the bills of America surpassing the ability to pay. The housing market collapsed by the very same principles being promoted as the cure for the Federal Budget.
Sub-prime loans, cooking the books, interest only loans, gambling on your income going up at exponential rates so you can afford to double your payments in a handful of years….
Another great example is the dot com bubble. Politicians in Washington are not trying to solve the problem, they are trying to swindle you into thinking they are solving the problem.
You want the spending, then EVERYONE is going to have to pitch in, because as I point out above, there isn’t enough to revenue to take away from the rich in order to keep up the high spending rates.
The narrative being used against Republicans is: “They are the party of the rich and won’t make them pay their fair share.” The Republican party, officials, and candidates have done a terrible job fighting back against that lie.
I’m going to leave the whole how much is fair and I think 1% of the population paying for 40% of Government argument alone for today and focus on the heart of the matter that Republicans need to spread far and wide.
The reason the national debt is sky rocketing and the deficits are growing is not low taxes, its high spending. Now Democrats are seeking a return to the Clinton era tax rates on the “wealthy”. They claim that was the last time we have a surplus.
There are 2 big problems with that argument.
The Republican House lead by Aremy & Gingrich forced Clinton to cut spending.
The 2000′s ended with the dot com bubble. Scores of shell companies were cooking their books in the infancy of the internet boom to get rich quick. Tax revenues were sky high from companies that produced nothing. Similar to the Housing market collapse at the end of the Bush years, the revenue was booked, but it was a mirage not a trend.
Here’s a chart that I made to compare the actual numbers of Revenue and Expenditures from Clinton thru Obama.
Federal Spending vs Revenue Chart Clinton Bush Obama Dec 4, 2012 by: Andy Aplikowski
(Click to enlarge)
The peak of Clinton Revenue (taxes) was in 2000 at $2.025 trillion. Again, that includes the dotcom bubble revenues. You can see that it was a 1 year $200 Billion increase from the previous year.
Just look at the numbers. Obama’s estimates for his next term are pipe dreams.
So what’s the point? Some conservatives and Republicans are throwing up their hands, saying its too late. The point is that Republicans have done a terrible job pointing out the course of the deficit problem, SPENDING.
Look no further than Europe to see that what Obama wants to do won’t work.
Ever expanding government through entitlements and rationed freedoms and a central planned economy where winners are picked based on feeling, emotion and willingness to help enact the political agenda of the left, not free markets – Societies like these eventually run their course. Growth stops, dependency skyrockets, and society is torn apart. Class warfare ensues, and civil unrest takes place.
Stalin was the key to creating the socialist Soviet Union. He tweaked Marxism to create a need for Government, a dependency on Government, that the only hope for everyone to have a shot of having basic necessities was if Government gave it to you.
We are at a fork in the road of America and Obama and his minions on the left know, they have the public convinced that it is not ok for you to go take what your neighbor worked hard to buy themselves, but don’t worry, the IRS will take their money away and Government will give you what you want.
Its like that old saying, “As soon as people realize they can just vote themselves more money, the Republic is lost.”
Of course the media is absent in reporting what is really going on. My suspicion is that because they like it.
This fiscal cliff in America is not coming on January 1st. Its not a crisis of just getting Republicans to cave on taxes. Grover Norquist’s demise will not mark the avoiding of the fiscal calamity.
It will be if we as a free people do fall for the ponzi scheme and promises of the socialist left and pretend that raising taxes on a few rich people will solve a budget crisis created entirely by skyrocketing spending. Spending that was promised decades ago by the first wave of socialist sympathizers in America.
It feels so good to just think that this is a one time rip the bandaid off and everything will be just fine fix. A one time bailout of the Federal Treasury and shazam! everything will be just fine. Government spending can continue to grow at will, and there will always be a 1% to take more away from to redistribute to the other 99%.
Spending is the thing that is going up at unsustainable rates. The only way to balance the budget with out serious spending reductions is huge tax increases.
You could take away every dime of income that the 1% have and it won’t even solve the budget deficit for one single year. In doing so you will have eliminated some of that 1% by bankrupting them and removing their ability to operate their businesses. Which means there will be less of the 1% to get that revenue from next year. Meaning the deficit will grow again and you are right back where you started, but now there are more people dependent on Government.
Obama wants $1.6 Trillion in new tax revenue over 10 years as his answer to the spending crisis. He and his core supporters like Keith Ellison refuse to even consider much needed reforms to the growing federal spending programs creating the deficits in the first place: entitlements.
Somehow taxing Peter to pay Paul is going to balance the budget?
But its for the public good. There is just so much good Friedman material…..
How did we get into the Big Government mess? Liberal do-gooders!
The fiscal cliff debates are about spending.
There is no Santa Claus coming with a big old sack of permanent revenue to bail out America. We spend too much bloody money. Senator Klobuchar is the new queen of do-gooders. She’s an ambulance chasing former County Attorney who is becoming the next Ralph Nader. For every economic action there is a reaction. Ban lead toys for kids, Polaris gets hurt. Require drain covers on pools, public pools close.
There’s always a reason to expand Government…
You can also always find someone you can make people hate and take away what they have to give to someone else. The problem is you eventually run out of other groups of people.
There is no free lunch.
I know some of you out there are saying, ok ok, there aren’t enough rich to make it work but we just can’t even think about cutting anything … and then you think: What about going after businesses for more revenue? Yeah, yeah, that’s got to be the ticket.
I have some bad new for you, there is no Santa Claus.
This is a long post/ Point it
Its the spending stupid. Spending is the reason our debt is so high. You can’t tax your way out of a spending problem.
We have no other choice but to surrender our liberty, freedoms, choice, but most importantly property to the Government so they alone can save this nation.
When Government controls the media, and the media agrees with Government… you get the idea but for 4 years we heard that Obama inherited this mess. the truth is that he maintained the mess, made it worse, all so he could get reelected then use it to force socialism upon the American people.
Everyone that believes they can simply hire Government to kick in their richer neighbor’s door and take their stuff away to give to you – will soon get a rude awakening. Your neighbor is already having a firesale and will soon make as much as you do.
For many of the wealthy, 2012 is becoming a good year to sell.
They’re worried about the “fiscal cliff,” which is when tax cuts expire and spending cuts are set to go into effect at the end of the year.
Fearing an increase in capital gains and dividend taxes, many of the rich are unloading stocks, businesses and homes before the end of the year.
Wealth advisors say that with capital-gains taxes potentially going to 25 percent from 15 percent, and other possible increases in the dividend tax, estate tax and other taxes, many clients are selling now to save millions in taxes.
You don’t have any idea how devastating things like raising the estate tax will be. All it will do is create larger mega-conglomerates because family businesses will be forced to sell since upon death, the government demands half, and waiting in the wings is Warren Buffett to buy your parent’s business cheap.
I know it too late to stop, but I pray that everyone takes a mental picture of America right now. That all the people who came out in droves for those Obama phones or the free pizza when they voted for Obama, and realize that the America they want is impossible to achieve.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. Those who you think make too much, can and will take home less to avoid the massive taxes required to pay for the entitlements and freebies you demand. The pool of the 1% you think can afford to pay more will shrink and the only way to confiscate enough tax revenue to pay for the largess is for those tax increases to trickle down to the middle class.
The exodus from the evil rich status has begun, soon even Hollywood will be selling short to avoid the pain of most of your hard work being taken away by Government and redistributed.
The real fiscal cliff America is facing is when there is no one left to pick up your tab.
What are Minnesotans who voted for Amy Klobuchar in 2006, Alex?
Minnesotans were promised that Amy Klobuchar would ask tough questions and she’d go get things done in 2006. Well here we are in 2012 and she is actually saying that in order for her to make good on her promises, we’ll have to give her another 6 year term (and over $1 million in salary btw) for her to begging working on the national debt.
I am not sure she ever gave a stump speech in 2006 with out hitting the line about how we’re paying billions a month in just interest on the national debt…. 6 years later and she says we just need to give her more time.
Repeat after me: I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today…..
Have you noticed those new signs and ads out there, developers and home builders are saying that if you’re upside down in your current home mortgage that they will build you a brand new home and take your old home in on trade…. yeah, why does that sound eerily familiar?
Anyways, there’s a story on pensions I’d like to rant about. To those that get them, its awesome. The money they get grows on trees. Like: if you pay (read have deducted from you paycheck) 2 to 5% of your salary into a pension fund, and your employer is required to match it, you’ll be able to retire and collect that pension at half or more of your current income…..
Up to 10% a year goes into the fund, yet you get back 50 to 100% of your whole salary if not more…. Sounds like bullet proof accounting to me, maybe we should get Mr. Pension to take over at the Social Security administration. [snark] The money magically multiplies. Really? Like what you paid in to Social Security is just sitting there in a lock box waiting for you to retire….
Can I interest you in a slightly used bridge?
Well, the pension bubbles are all coming home to roost and the outlook is grim. Promises were made, but we can’t afford to keep them.
Already-strapped state and local governments are coming under increasing pressure to reduce pension benefits or increase taxpayer contributions that help pay for them because of new rules that would require them to report those obligations more honestly, advocates say.
The latest rules come on line from the bond-rating firm Moody’s at the end of this month. They are projected to triple the gap between what states and municipalities report they have in their funds and what they have promised to pay out to retirees. That hole would stand at $2.2 trillion.
The donut hole in the pensions is $2.2 Trillion. That’s almost twice the Obama annual deficit average over his term in office. Meaning that in order for Obama and Democrats to bailout pension funds we’d have to run a 100% deficit Federally to bail out the pension funds.
I know, I know, you paid it in so by gosh, you deserve to get yours… well, that “yours” is very likely going to come right out of someone else’s paycheck and should be going to fix a bridge or pay for a Cop or Firefighter but instead is going to go to you.And of course, taxpayers will be on the hook because who will want to be the bad guy and stand up and say, no. I know you are “owed” it, but you were lied to. Are you selfish enough to bankrupt future generations because you fell for a ponzi scheme?
Its the new Obama’s American dream. Write as big a check as you want, promise the world to someone to get their support, then blackmail the taxpayers to bail you out when that road you’d been kicking the can down finally comes to the edge of the cliff….
America’s downfall is going to be the promises Government made to maintain its power, not the poor choices of Wall Street, Boards of Directors, or business owners…..
Another trojan horse is waiting to unleash its ugly little ticking time bomb. Politicians of the past have kicked the can down the road. The cliff is in sight, will we stay the course, protect the status quo, and refuse reforms and honest solutions?
