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February 24, 2009
Making Sacrifices
by Tina Grazier
We must all be prepared to sacrifice. That’s what we’ve been told. The government has chosen to spend…and spend…and spend. They talk about “transforming” the way problems are approached in our country, which is just a hip word used to describe the act of making the federal government the manager of funding, innovation and invention. They will decide which technologies we will utilize…and which we will not. They will decide which states and cities will build a new ____ fill in the blank. They will decide how our business is conducted.
In this giddy exuberant rush to do something it would be wise to pause for a moment and consider. Credit card spending is always fun at the store. But when the bill comes due the mood is likely to “transformed” to something a lot less exciting. That’s the time when the “sacrifices” we must make will become quite real in the form of tax increases and rising energy prices. We need to be aware…BIG taxes and HIGH prices are coming down the pike:
**Total government taxes — federal, state, and local — were 29.2 percent of GDP in 2007, the last year for which the Office of Management and Budget has data. That’s a $4 trillion boat anchor on the U.S. economy — more than $13,000 for every man, woman, and child in America. That’s $13,000 you can’t save for your child’s college education; that you can’t put into a 401(k) for your retirement; or that you don’t have to meet payroll this month in your struggling small business. **
And the current all Democrat all the time leadership is rushing to make those numbers soar. The Bush tax cuts will expire in 2010 raising tax rates on working Americans in all tax brackets. That very big change however just isn’t enough to satisfy this greedy breed of pols. Take a look at what else is in the works according to Mr. Norquist:
** On Jan. 1, 2011, just a shade over 22 months from now, several rates are scheduled to rise: The tax rate on most small-business profits will elevate from 37.9 percent to 42.5 percent. Also increasing will be the nest-egg taxes on capital gains (15 to 20 percent) and dividends (15 to 39.6 percent). And the death tax, which is set to die in a mere ten months, will come roaring back at a 55 percent rate on estates valued over $1 million. *** And if we take Obama at his word during the presidential campaign, there will be an increase in the Social Security payroll tax for employees and small-business owners making $250,000 or more. This tax could go as high as 12.4 percent, up from 0 percent today. Obama also has indicated his support for a cap-and-trade (or carbon-tax) regime that will increase energy costs by hundreds of dollars a year for the typical family. *** Then there are the congressional highway-bill writers who are beginning to whisper about a gasoline-tax hike. And House Ways and Means chairman Charlie Rangel (D., N.Y.) wants to “close loopholes”… **
The Democrats in power have a vision for America and big plans to create that vision. The problem I have with their vision is that it relegates American citizens to the back of the bus. As the future unfolds we will no longer be the heroes of our own stories but instead managed and directed wards and slaves of the state. When government takes the wealth and decides who will benefit and who will not we no longer live in the land of the free. The greatness of this nation was created not by our leadership but by free people getting on with their lives in creative and innovative ways. The voluntary sacrifices that were made to do that were made by individuals. The risks they were willing to take were taken with the knowledge that it was possible to make a contribution, that if we won we could thrive and better ourselves and others, that if we failed we could come back to try again. This is a vision that is alive with wonder, energy and enthusiasm not available in the current democrat vision. Sacrifice that leads to oppression is not transformational...it is definitely not the American way.
Posted by Post Scripts at February 24, 2009 4:10 PM
Comments
"The government has chosen to spend…and spend…and spend."
Ah, well. Did you hear about the Italian government spending millions to keep the Parmesean Industry afloat? Gotta do what ya gotta do. Gallup says that we're all for letting GM go under ... but you gotta think of the several hundred thousand employees. At the very least, they can't all lose their jobs all at once. I'd say a good 30 percent are gonna have to retrain anyway, but if a little money printing will soften the blow, then that's what we are going to do.
Tri-County residents can just settle down to a long period of pissedness. With the exception of the state and county campuses (enterprises you seem to deem unworthy anyway), you've got no big employers to stimulate, so you'll be seeing very little of the new money. But you'll still have to pony up. Bummer.
I encourage North State activism, but the whole Jefferson thing is just not the way to go. Call the County Supervisors and tell them you want to know how many soon-to-be-released inmates Arnold expects the County to take. Tell 'em no way! Get up a gang and meet the busses. Get yerselves arrested. Make a noise.
Or pick something else. There's going to be lots to pick from.
Posted by: Libby | February 25, 2009 11:06 AM
The government has no money to spend that it doesn't take out of the pockets of it's citizens. If I were a young person listening to you Libby I'd be spittin' mad...you are hanging all of this PORK around their necks.
The BULK of the spending is for special pork projects that will NOT stimulate the overall economy. Real lasting jobs depend on a thriving economy not targeted industry infusions of cash that may or may not cause survival of that industry.
People are hurting...the tax cuts that expire will not help they will hurt...transfers of wealth will "help" the poor but it won't give them a better job if jobs aren't there. Tax increases will harm the overall business climate and cause prices to be higher on goods and services...thus the real opportunity for any American including those who wish to improve their lot in life.
It's a recipe for mutual poverty...accepting crumbs from the table of the elites in Washington is not the American dream.
Posted by: Tina | February 25, 2009 11:20 AM
"The BULK of the spending is for special pork projects that will NOT stimulate the overall economy."
Not true. It will all stimulate the economy, even the "pork", as you insist on referring to perfectly respectable social spending. Will it pull us out? We have yet to see.
What we are seeing, right now, is a Republican Party more interested in demoralizing the populace in the interests of regaining power, than in making an economic recovery. So sad. You want to be helpful, you keep an eye on how that money's spent.
I wasn't happy about the $15 billion to Medicaid, that don't amount to anything more than paying for services already rendered, i.e., treading water. Maybe if all those poor people didn't smoke so much?
Posted by: Libby | February 25, 2009 12:19 PM
The Republican Party is calling attention to bad policy. Let our readers decide whether the following represents pork and payoffs to democrat supporters or expansion of programs that might be needed but do not belong in a "stimulous bill" but should be debated and passed seperately:
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/research-stimulus-bill-full-of-pork-and-payoffs
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently found that the cost of the Pelosi-Reid stimulus package now exceeds $1.1 trillion. CBO also estimated that only 7 percent of infrastructure money would make its way into the economy by the end of the year and only 38 percent would be spent by the end of the 2010 fiscal year. Senator Jeff Session's (R-Ala.) office estimates the actual number going to tangible road and bridge construction is just a little more than 3 percent.
Where is this money going to? A not exhaustive look at the 1,588 page legislation, H.R. 1, "The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009" shows the bill is more payoffs and pork then stimulus. Many thanks to the website readthestimulus.org and its participating organizations.
PAYOFFS
To the "Green" Lobby
* $600 Million To Buy New Cars For Government Workers (Page 89). These cars would be "green" friendly cars - however very few gas pumps have the right gas to run these cars. The Federal government already spends $3.5 billion a year.
* $10M for bike and walking trails (Page 65)
* $200M for plug-in car stations (Page 31)
* $400 million for NASA scientists to conduct climate change research (Page 22)
* $800 million to clean up Superfund sites (Page 122)
* $600 million for grants for diesel emission reduction (Page 119)
* $650 million for "alternative energy technologies, energy efficiency enhancements and deferred maintenance at Federal facilities" (Page 119)
* $1.5 billion for construction of "Green Schools" (Page 176)
To the Unions
* $1 billion to the controversial COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES COPS Hiring Program
* $150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education's current budget. The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students" Sam Dillon, "Stimulus Plan Would Provide Flood of Aid to Education," New York Times. January 27, 2009. NOTE: Private and religious schools are excluded.
To the Abortion Industry
Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) inserted in the original bill billions of dollars for family planning groups, including the abortion giant, Planned Parenthood. Pressure and public exposure from Congressional Republicans forced the Democrats to remove such funding from this bill. However the bill still provides billions in reforming the health care system and working towards nationalized health care - with little to no debate.
* $2.7B in NIH grants which would be targeted to among other things embryonic stem cell experimentation. (Page 56)
Other Special Interests
* $3 Billion for Prevention & Wellness Programs, Including $335 million for STD Education and Prevention - Recent government expenditures in this area include a transgender beauty pageant in San Francisco that advertised available HIV testing and an event called "Got Love? - Flirt/Date/Score" that taught participants how "to flirt with greater finesse."
* $83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax.
* $246 million for Hollywood
* $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (Page 122)
* $75 million for smoking cessation (Page 148). This contradicts the latest version of SCHIP that is funded largely by new taxes on cigarettes.
* $4.19 billion open to ACORN. The Pelosi-Reid bill makes groups like ACORN eligible for a $4.19 billion pot of money for "neighborhood stabilization activities."
MISCELLANEOUS PORK
Some of the biggest winners in the package are federal agencies:
* $54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as "ineffective" or unable to pass basic financial audits.
* $462 Million for Equipment, Construction, and Renovation of Facilities at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (Page 137)
* $150 Million for Repairs to Smithsonian Institution Facilities (Page 128)
* $44 million to the Agricultural Research Service (Page 135)
* $227 million for oversight of the pork barrel spending in the stimulus (Page 11)
* $1 Billion for The Follow-Up To The 2010 Census (Page 49)
Discretion is given to governors and Mayors for how to spend a large chunk of the money. The U.S. Conference of Mayors recently sent Congress a $96.6 billion wish list of "shovel-ready" projects which now could be funded by the stimulus. These projects include: "$1 million for annual sewer rehabilitation in Casper, WY; $6.1 million for corporate hangars, parking lots, and a business apron at the Fayetteville, AR airport; 28 projects with the term "stadium" in them; and 117 projects mentioning landscaping and/or beautification efforts. The taxpayers should be most teed off at the 20 golf courses included in the list."
(Editor's note: All sources are from the National Taxpayers Union unless otherwise noted.)
And that is only one site with limited observation in a huge bill not read by anyone who voted for it. This bill is irresponsible and loaded with special interest spending...not measures that would stimulate the overall economy. It represents insanity at a time when the economy is in trouble.
Posted by: Tina | February 25, 2009 1:31 PM
I really don't understand you, Tina. All this stuff will employ people. What you need to do is make sure we get the most employment possible for the buck.
And this I particularly take exception to:
"$54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as "ineffective" or unable to pass basic financial audits."
This is also untrue. They nailed BushCo repeatedly over the course of the Bloody War, and they exposed countless examples of "creative" accounting with regard to tax revenues and federal budget proposals. Frankly, during the whole of the Bush administration the OMB is damn near the only government agency that DID NOT succumb to White House political pressure to lie ... and did it's job. And that, even more frankly, is what's pissed off the entities you parrot.
Posted by: Libby | February 25, 2009 2:15 PM
I didn't say it wouldn't employ a few people...I said it was targeted spending (some of which will end when the projects end...and some of it will be spent to reelect democrats, ie, ACORN) rather than a policy that will boost or lift the entire economy.
"This is also untrue."
Post something that disputes the claim!
If you have specific examples of what went on under Bush post it.
Using him as a whipping post will only get you so far, however. Most of us know this kind of stuff has gone on forever (which is why the smaller government argument is a good one) and most of us know that nearly all of the making government bigger legislation was conceived and written when democrats were in charge of Congress. Most of us know a lot of the legislation and spending was quietly tucked in to unrelated bills...and sometimes after the bill was voted upon.
Frankly, after witnessing the record of Bill and Hillary Clinton you have a lot of nerve preaching to anyone about lying...especially since you haven't posted proof of any lying by the Bush administration...it's just something you parrot.
"Creative accounting" is a bureaucratic problem associated with BIG bloated government...and you constantly tell us you want more and more of of it.
Posted by: Tina | February 25, 2009 4:58 PM