Obama's Budgetary Discipline

Does anyone remember that Obama said he would cut the deficit in half in his first three years as president?

Interesting point is that at the time he said it, the deficit was "only" 400 billion and he was blaming Bush for his overzealous spending. I can only assume that Obama was a student of new math because he has more than DOUBLED the deficit every year he has been in office and this is along with directing the use of TARP funds and the STIMULUS program of a TRILLION each.

Of course all this was accomplished with the promise that unemployment would not rise above 8%. I would like to see it get back down to 8%. Hell, he could have given all that money to individual American taxpayers if they were willing to start a business and hire someone and we would have been much better off. Oh wait, that would be like cutting taxes and this wouldn't be "fair" would it?

Remember this in November when you are in the voting booth.

THROW THE BUMS OUT!

If you step back and take an honest look, you’ll see that the unfortunate state of affairs in American politics has resulted from the reign of both political parties. The politicians, from both parties, work together in lockstep to advance their various agendas. Perhaps not as often during this cycle, but don’t let that fool you, this is only an effort to corral people into one party or another in order to maintain their power structure. Reality dictates that both parties logroll together and when necessary, one side “takes the hit” for political expediency. Whenever the illusion of accountability is needed, one or the other party makes a “sacrifice” in order to maintain the fictional separation between the parties. The system depends on the delusion that people can “vote the bums out.” I believe it is time to actually make good on this promise.

As long as we continue to elect the same people to hold the same offices, every government failure becomes the pretext for more regulatory interference in our lives. If you don’t get distracted by the spectacle, it’s impossible not to notice the pattern: Every political solution to any problem involves more regulation of your life and more taking of your money. If you fall for the political fallacy that we live in a country where government operates with the “consent of the governed” you end up with the faulty conclusion that America is populated by a citizenry which enjoys having its every action regulated by one or another branch of the government.

Americans, over the past 40 years have become the most regulated people on the planet. Consider that the Federal Register – for 2008 alone – had 80,700 pages of laws and regulations. This is before the addition of the hundreds of thousands of pages of laws and regulations at the state and local levels. Oh, and did I mention that the IRS tax code consists of more than 70,000 pages of regulations defining how much of your earnings are going to be confiscated by the government in order to enforce these regulations? The sheer annual output of all the federal and state “lawmakers” makes the 70,000 page IRS code seem miniscule by comparison.

The current administration claims this overburdening regulatory environment is necessary to “share the wealth” with the less fortunate amongst us. The most recent past administration claimed it was necessary to protect us from the “Axis of Evil” who mean to do us harm. In fact, the beneficiaries of this “sharing of the wealth” are the regulators. We don’t need to be told how to “share the wealth” or how to protect ourselves. The act of sharing is a voluntary act. That's what makes it sharing. If you're compelled by threat of imprisonment to give somebody something, then it's not sharing. Nor is it fair. Paying your fair share is what you do when you go out to dinner with friends. But when strangers whose salaries you're forced to pay decide, under threat of prosecution, how much of your money to take, in order to spend it on things you often detest, then fairness is not part of the equation. To show just how unfair it becomes, in other nations, if you’re fed up you can just leave, with no future consequence. In America, unless you properly complete the regulatory process to become an Ex-Patriot and remain outside of the country for the balance of your life, you continue to be forced to pay homage to the government or be prosecuted.

Millions of Americans are fed up with the lies, the debts, the taxes, the bailouts, the hypocrisy, the rip-offs, and the wars. The rise of the Tea Party is an acknowledgement that the average American understands that the system is rotten to the core and it is time to take back out nation. It is time to “throw the bums out” and return the citizen legislator to the halls of government.

Federal Taxes

I was planning a post on another subject, but heard a report on Federal Taxes and got sidetracked.

In fact, roughly 47% of households, or 71 million, will not owe any federal income tax, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. This is because our progressive tax system levies higher taxes on higer earners and lower taxes on those who make less. Is this right? I don't agree with it, but the decision is not mine to make.

One obeservation I will make though, is that taxes are used by politicians to direct public policy and as a method to generate votes through class warfare. This is just plain wrong.

The simple answer in my mind -- Cut the cost of government, pass a balanced budget amendment and install a flat tax with the following conditions:

5% of all earned income above 35K per wage earner to the Federal Treasury. This will be used to operate the federal government and if government has to grow smaller and programs dissolved as a result, so much the better. I think we will more faithfully follow the constitution if we leave it up to the individual states to manage the day to day activities of government. The states will still have the ability to levy taxes in any amount and manner their citizens allow. Those who are not comfortable with the taxes levied in their state of residence will have the option of moving to a state with a tax they deem more acceptable. I ask, why should the Federal Government, operating under the limitations placed by the founding fathers, require more than 5% of the American peroples wages?

5% of all earned income per wage earner to be set aside for entitlement programs. This will cover Social Security, medicare, medicaid and any other entitlement programs agreeable to "We the people". This should have a 10 year grandfather clause requiring no reduction in current benefit levels. Thereafter, if this set aside requires a reduction in current benefits those affected will have time to make other arrangements. Why should the American people give more than 5% of their income for entitlement programs?

5% of all earned income used to pay off the Federal Debt. This is self explanatory. I beleive that those who are most responsible for the cost of government have to help repay the debt they help to create. In this way, all will be less willing to allow the government to grow. At the point in time that the debt is repaid, the tax should be extinguished. This will give the taxpayer incentive to make sure the debt is repaid.

This seems both fair and progressive to me. Progressive because the highest wage earners will still carry the greatest tax burden and fair because it takes away our politicians ability to use the tax code for social engineering.