Democrats’ Gas Solution; More Taxes

The Democrats have long believed that more taxes are the answer to every problem we face. They tax anything and they increase the taxes on everything just to cover their out of control spending. Of course there are those who defend the so called “progressives” and indicate that higher taxes are necessary but that is foolish thinking by people who either don’t pay taxes, hide their income so they are not subjected to taxes, or don’t understand how a budget is supposed to work.

The cost of gasoline is hurting a lot of people in this country. Gasoline went from a little over $2.00 a gallon when the Democrats took control of Congress to over $4.00 a gallon now. Fair or not, it happened on their watch and if they can blame all that is evil on Republicans when they had control then turn about is certainly fair play.

Read the rest of this entry »

Shut Down Banking Giant UBS?

Senator Carl Levin wants to revoke the license of UBS, one of the world’s largest banks because they have been doing some naughty things. The bank has been shielding the money of rich Americans from the IRS thus helping them to avoid taxes.

“They wanted secrecy. UBS gave them secrecy,” Levin said.

Levin revealed a list of “secrecy tricks” he said the UBS bankers used to carry out their tax haven schemes.

The list includes code names for clients, using untraceable pay phones, encrypted computers, fake trusts, counter-surveillance training, and shredding files. (Complete List)

Levin said UBS hid behind Swiss bank secrecy laws to hide its misconduct, and offered services in the US it was not licensed to provide. ABC News

Maybe I am mistaken but aren’t Democrats the ones who get so upset about invasion of privacy? The Democrats are the ones who cry about warrantless wiretaps and other methods of surveillance so why should they be upset that the Swiss have methods in place to ensure that privacy is upheld and people are not spied upon?

I mean, does Levin want us to believe that rich people have fewer rights than the terrorists who are trying to kill us?

Perhaps they should be trying to figure out why all the rich folks are hiding their money. Of course it is to avoid paying taxes on it. Who can blame them when Democrats keep trying to tax the rich out of existence? Every other word out of a Democrat’s mouth involves taxing the rich so those folks want to protect their money.

If they broke the law then find out who they are and prosecute them for tax evasion. However, if they are going to take that tact they need to ensure they go after every person on the list regardless of who it is. If some wealthy politician has been hiding money there or some lefty movie star then those people need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

As for the bank, if they broke no laws then they should be left alone. If they broke an agreement or law then do something about it but the IRS needs to go after every person on the list.

I have a better idea for Levin. Learn these secrecy tips and apply them to our government. Then maybe the New York Times won’t keep getting our secrets and giving them to the enemy.

I hope that list has all the liberals who tell us we don’t pay enough in taxes. Man that would be priceless…

Big Dog

Obama Sees Benefit of not Taxing the Rich

Barack Obama is cut from the same cloth as many Democrats before him. Tax and spend, and then tax and spend some more. Democrats always talk about taxing the rich as if that would solve our problems and as if the Rich don’t pay enough in taxes as it is. Whenever tax cuts are mentioned Democrats recoil like Dracula exposed to a Cross. Tax cuts are always bad unless the have a candidate running in a conservative region. Then they talk about how wonderful tax cuts are. Of course, to a Democrat, tax cuts are always for the rich. This is partially true because the rich pay most of the taxes in this country. However, the middle class made out better under the last tax cuts than the rich did. I don’t include the poor because they pay little, if any, taxes (why they did not get a rebate when the president cut taxes).

Democrats let the cat out of the bag recently when they discussed the “rebate” checks. They all talked about how the economy would be stimulated and that is what they named the bipartisan venture; The Economic Stimulus Bill. Democrats were forced to admit that allowing Americans to keep more of their money causes them to spend more and is better for the economy. The problem is, they gave the money to people who pay little or no taxes. Notice I say gave. In some cases they returned the money to people who paid taxes but a lot of people who pay absolutely nothing in taxes received tax “rebates” from money paid in by others. The Democrats will admit that lower taxes (that is what an economic stimulus is, after all) are good for the economy when it is an election year but they never quite seem to understand that it is better to take less from people than to take it and give some back when an election is not around the corner.

Barack Obama has been talking about how he will end Bush’s tax cuts “for the rich” and how he will tax people who make more than $250,000 a year. He would also lower taxes on the middle class, a group that shoulders a smaller part of the country’s burden than those making more. Obama is full of taxes. Tax this, tax that but in all of it, he admitted that it might not be wise to tax the rich after all:

Among Obama’s other proposals: raising the tax on capital gains and qualified dividends. However, Obama has raised the possibility of deferring some of his tax hikes on the wealthy given the ailing economy. My Way News

So Barry O Bam Bam understands that taxing the wealthy is not a great idea in a difficult economy. He must understand that doing so would make the economic problems much worse because it is the money of the wealthy that provides jobs and business opportunities. It is also the wealthy spending their money that helps stimulate the economy and when they are taxed more they spend less or, like members of Congress, they look for more tax free investments. If taxing them during down times is a cause for concern then why would it be OK to tax them in up times? Higher taxes result in economic troubles and no country ever taxed its way to prosperity. The way to make things better is for Congress to eliminate wasteful spending and there is a lot of that to eliminate.

Of course, Barry O Bam Bam can’t exactly do that since he is proposing trillions in additional wasteful spending. I am willing to bet he will not defer his plans to spend because of the ailing economy.

Big Dog

Obama Will Screw The Wealthy

I know the idea of screwing the wealthy appeals to many people though I personally don’t understand that mentality. With regard to Social Security and retirement, the idea always appeals to liberals. Social Security is a mechanism with which the government keeps people in poverty because the government controls the fund (which is a misnomer because there is no dedicated fund). The government gets less than a 1% return on the money in Social Security and yet they refuse to consider privatizing at least a portion of it. The presumptive nominee Barack Obama used the current stock market tumbles to stress the point that if retirement money had been tied up in the market people would be hurting right about now. The fact is, they still would have earned more than SS does and they would have the potential to earn unlimited amounts and to receive unlimited amounts in retirement. With SS, one is capped no matter how much income the person made in his lifetime.

Obama wants to increase the amount of Social Security taxes one pays if income is over $250,000. He also wants to raise the cap on the amount that is subject to SS deduction. Obama believes that it is unfair for people making under the cap amount to pay SS on 100% of their income while those who earn more than the cap don’t pay on the portion of income above it. This sounds fair but it is not. People who make a lot of money and who do not begin drawing benefits early are capped on how much they may receive. At about $150,000 the monthly benefit (for 2008) is $2381. It stays at this number regardless of how much money a person makes above the $150,000 so a person who makes $250,000 (or even a million dollars) still only gets $2381. If Obama wants to talk about fairness, how fair is it that they are capped on what they may receive when those who make below $150,000 will get a benefit based upon 100% of their earnings?

As far as privatizing Social Security goes, it is the only proper thing to do. As it stands right now, money is collected from workers and paid to those who are currently drawing benefits. Workers who die prior to retirement lose what they have paid in. Reduced benefits can be paid to spouses but this does not take away from the fact that when you pay it in you lose it, it is no longer yours and you cannot pass it on to your heirs as you could with money you put away in savings or in the stock market. Workers who put a portion of their SS deductions into a private account would make more money and be able to retire on more than $2381 a month. They would also be able to pass the money on to their heirs. The government does not like this because people who are financially independent do not depend on the government and have no need for more social programs. Politicians can’t scare old people for votes if those people are well off.

Obama is a Socialist who believes in redistribution of wealth. He talks about fairness but his ideas are no where near fair. Wealthy people pay almost all the taxes in this country and the liberals keep tapping them for more and more. It is not right and it should not be tolerated.

If only people in this country learned the value of saving and how they could take care of themselves we could all retire in better shape and without government intrusion. Unfortunately, people have come to rely on government for everything. Social Security to the elderly is like crack cocaine to a junkie. Once they get it they are so tied to it they will vote for anyone who promises to protect it.

If they had been able to invest in their youth they would not have an addiction to government.

Source:
WBAL (via AP)
Quick Benefits Calculator (SSA)

Big Dog

Democrats on taxes: You won’t miss your money

The Democrats are proposing an income tax surcharge on people making $500,000 or more (and then saying it is on millionaires) in order to pay for education benefits for veterans. The bill for veteran’s education was shot down last week because it did not have a funding source. The Blue Dog Democrats have decided to enforce pay as you go rather than running up the deficit. Things like that happen in an election year especially with Democrats who are in fairly conservative areas of the country.

I do not like the idea of taxing anyone to pay for these programs. The federal government takes in plenty of money and it needs to get its house in order and reduce spending on BS stuff. They waste money and then pilfer more. It is time for them to get their acts together. If it isn’t bad enough they want to confiscate more of people’s money, here is a demonstration of the attitude they have toward you and your money:

“What we’re talking about is a one-half percent income tax surcharge on incomes above $1 million,” said Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., a leader of the Blue Dog group. “So someone who earns $2 million a year would pay $5,000. … They’re not going to miss it.” Yahoo News

They might be Blue Dogs but they still like to tax people. A couple of things here. Unless I am mistaken a half a percent of 2 million is 10 thousand not 5. Additionally, did you notice the cavalier attitude toward other people’s money? They are not going to miss it. That is the height of arrogance and shows the contempt these people have for us. Who is this puke Congressman to decide whether a person will miss his money or not? It is not up to Congress to decide if we will miss it or not.

This is why they continue to screw us left and right. Their attitude is that they can decide how we should run our lives.

I would not miss Congress if they all suddenly disappeared. Will Congressman Ross be so kind as to take them away somewhere as well? What these “millionaires” ought to do is stop donating money to politicians. They should shut them off completely and not give them one cent. When the politicians ask for donations just tell them; “It’s OK, you won’t miss the money.”

I hate politicians and I especially hate politicians who steal our money. Let’s send all of them packing this year.

Big Dog