Good read

[noharleyyet]

Not trying to provoke an ideological tug o war...am disgusted with the whole lot of em.

Thomas Sowell
Fiscal Cliff Notes
Amid all the political and media hoopla about the "fiscal cliff" crisis, there are a few facts that are worth noting.

First of all, despite all the melodrama about raising taxes on "the rich," even if that is done it will scarcely make a dent in the government's financial problems. Raising the tax rates on everybody in the top two percent will not get enough additional tax revenue to run the government for ten days.

And what will the government do to pay for the other 355 days in the year?

All the political angst and moral melodrama about getting "the rich" to pay "their fair share" is part of a big charade. This is not about economics, it is about politics. Taxing "the rich" will produce a drop in the bucket when compared to the staggering and unprecedented deficits of the Obama administration.

No previous administration in the entire history of the nation ever finished the year with a trillion dollar deficit. The Obama administration has done so every single year. Yet political and media discussions of the financial crisis have been focused overwhelmingly on how to get more tax revenue to pay for past and future spending.

The very catchwords and phrases used by the Obama administration betray how phony this all is. For example, "We are just asking the rich to pay a little more."

This is an insult to our intelligence. The government doesn't "ask" anybody to pay anything. It orders you to pay the taxes they impose and you can go to prison if you don't.

Then there are all the fancy substitute words for plain old spending-- words like "stimulus" or "investing in the industries of the future."

The theory about "stimulus" is that government spending will stimulate private businesses and financial institutions to put more of their money into the economy, speeding up the recovery. But the fact that you call something a "stimulus" does not make it a stimulus.

Stimulus spending began during the Bush administration and has continued full blast during the Obama administration. But the end result is that both businesses and financial institutions have had record amounts of their own money sitting idle. The rate of circulation of money slowed down. All this is the opposite of stimulus.

What about "investing in the industries of the future"? Does the White House come equipped with a crystal ball? Calling government spending "investment" does not make it investment any more than calling spending "stimulus" makes it stimulate anything.

What in the world would lead anyone to think that politicians have some magic way of knowing what the industries of the future are? Thus far the Obama administration has repeatedly "invested" in the bankruptcies of the present, such as Solyndra.

Using lofty words to obscure tawdry realities extends beyond the White House. Referring to the Federal Reserve System's creation of hundreds of billions of new dollars out of thin air as "quantitative easing" makes it seem as if this is some soothing and esoteric process, rather than amounting essentially to nothing more than printing more money.

Debasing the value of money by creating more of it is nothing new or esoteric. Irresponsible governments have done this, not just for centuries, but for thousands of years.

It is a way to take people's wealth from them without having to openly raise taxes. Inflation is the most universal tax of all.

All the pretty talk about how tax rates will be raised only on "the rich" hides the ugly fact that the poorest people in the country will see the value of their money decline, just like everybody else, and at the same rate as everybody else, when the government creates more money and spends it.

If you have $100 and, after inflation follows from "quantitative easing," that $100 dollars will only buy what $80 bought before, then that is the same economically as if the government had taxed away one-fifth of your money and spent it.

But it is not the same politically, so long as gullible people don't look beyond words to the reality that inflation taxes everybody, the poorest as well as the richest.

http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2012/12/04/notes-on-the-fiscal-cliff/

 

[kansasdad]

Some guys on youtube do a good job of helping me visualize the depth of trouble our nations debt woes. The link goes to a little visual aid of what cutting 100 million out of our budget really compares to the totality of our situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWt8hTayupE

 

[schmalts]

We are screwed. Problem is too many voters had no clue how bad our debt is and what really has to be done to get out of it. Obama would love to see the way our country has been run for the last 200ish years change to a kind of "fair share" government..

 

[the nikster]

I propose new legislation. It pertains to any elected official.
You are elected to a given term. At the beginning of your term we measure our debt. At the end of your term we use the exact same criteria to measure our debt. If the second number is higher than the first, you rescind any claim to continued/ongoing benefits. (and all the boys get a western style wrangler cheerio applied to their nutsack)

 

[tarheel]

We are screwed. Problem is too many voters had no clue how bad our debt is and what really has to be done to get out of it. Obama would love to see the way our country has been run for the last 200ish years change to a kind of "fair share" government..

Add to that the fact that all too many don't give a damn as long as they can hold out their hand and some socialist will be there to put some money or food stamps in it. Our welfare has reached the point that recipients can make more money by being on welfare than they can by working. We're breeding a society of moochers and ne'er-do-wells, not worth the powder required to blow their brains out, and now there are enough of them that they can keep the idealists in power until the country crumbles.

 

[tarheel]

NHY, Thomas Sowell is a wise and outspoken critic of the current pretender to the throne, and isn't afraid to tell it like it is. For those not familiar with him he is by coincidence from the same town I live in, African American, and a staunch conservative. He's one of the few who are capable of seeing through the smoke and mirrors.

 

[dustinf]

You guys realize welfare is controlled by State governments, not the Federal government, right?

Directly from www.welfareinfo.org

Welfare system reform became a hot topic in the1990's. Bill Clinton was elected as President with the intention of reforming the federally run US Welfare program. In 1996 the Republican Congress passed a reform law signed by President Clinton that gave the control of the welfare system back to the states.

The Federal government provides assistance through TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). TANF is a grant given to each state to run their own welfare program. To help overcome the former problem of unemployment due to reliance on the welfare system, the TANF grant requires that all recipients of welfare aid must find work within two years of receiving aid, including single parents who are required to work at least 30 hours per week opposed to 35 or 55 required by two parent families. Failure to comply with work requirements could result in loss of benefits.

 

[noharleyyet]

NHY, Thomas Sowell is a wise and outspoken critic of the current pretender to the throne, and isn't afraid to tell it like it is. For those not familiar with him he is by coincidence from the same town I live in, African American, and a staunch conservative. He's one of the few who are capable of seeing through the smoke and mirrors.

Yes tarheel, I'm sure quite a few refer to Mr. Sowell as Uncle Thomas due to the fact that he refuses to be a John to the race pimps.

 

[whyelkhunt]

There is no talk about how the Federal Reserve is artificially holding interest rates low and the long, to prevent another recession.

 

[dustinf]

There is no talk about how the Federal Reserve is artificially holding interest rates low and the long, to prevent another recession.

They have to. It's the duct tape keeping the economy together. 90% of the middle-class, are only middle-class because of the value of their real-estate. If interest rates were to rise, even to 6 or 7%, real estate values would totally collapse and we'd be in a depression right now.

Most people don't realize their house is a place to live, not an ATM machine.

 

[tarheel]

You guys realize welfare is controlled by State governments, not the Federal government, right?

Directly from www.welfareinfo.org

Doesn't really matter to me who doles it out; the shameful thing is the culture which has evolved to rely on and abuse the hell out of it to the end that they feel that it's their right. What ever happened to people taking care of their own? I have given thousands to three of my kin who have been less fortunate than I or had catastrophic events put them in need of help, and I feel it's not only my honor but my duty to do so. Sadly those are two words that have fallen out of practice in our society and it bothers me that I've lived long enough to witness it. I realize that not everyone is capable of the same, but so many of the recipients seem to delight in the fact as if they were getting one over on someone. Unfortunately we now seem to have a majority of people who fail to see what the long term results of their ideology are.
Off my stump, must leave soon to drive 3.5 hours to probate my Dad's will and pay his medical bills.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Good read, I am sure Al Sharpton, et al gave Obama sound Financial advice yesterday. LOL John

 

[noharleyyet]

Good read, I am sure Al Sharpton, et al gave Obama sound Financial advice yesterday. LOL John

...even the crickets are indifferent Dstud.