Fair Share

While fingers point over who is to blame for the recent U.S. credit downgrade, one talking point continually trotted out is we are in this mess because rich people don’t want to pay their fair share. Exactly what is “fair share”? Can this be quantified? And isn’t this the wrong starting question anyway? The question should be, “How much is needed to fund basic government services as specified by the powers reserved for congress in the Constitution”? The filter should never be, “We need to provide birth control for people so who do we find to pay for this”?


Evaluate the predicament we are in and most signs point back to egregious spending in areas the government should never be allowed into in the first place.

Let’s assume though, for sake of analysis, we need to assign a definition to “fair share.” I’ve asked many a person using this term what fair actually is. I never get an answer. Usually I get ignored or get a blank stare or a redirected question. Fair appears to be a floating term meant to change the conversation whenever more revenue is perceived to be needed. Fairness is also usually defined by the recipients and not the contributors. Fairness for how long and hard you make others work to pay for their own family plus the 50% who pay nothing in federal taxes is never even thought of.

I think most Americans, in fact I know most Americans, are a generous lot. We have no problem helping others in need. Remember Haiti’s earthquake and the $1billion+ the United States raised? The rub is when the government tries to be all things to all people. We’ve built up a government alter from which all with needs are supposed to seek. It’s becoming ingrained in our culture. Why would somebody “want to pay more” voluntarily when the expectation is somebody else (the government) will take care of the need?

Most of the rich as defined by the fair share crowd already pay close to 50% in federal, state, local & FICA taxes. They pay a lifetime of 6.2% FICA with no Social Security benefits of their own (taxed away) because they earn too much. They pay federal taxes when half the country pays none. If 50% isn’t fair, what percentage is? How much more work, stress, time away from family, and risk taking are expected of these people before they’ve paid their fair share?

The dialog needs to change in this country if we want our vibrant economy back. The 50% not paying tax now should be paying something even if it is 5%. They need skin in the game, especially since it would be human nature to vote for more entitlements and let somebody else pay for it.

Bloodbath

Wasn’t a crisis supposed to be averted with the stroke of President Obama’s pen merely a week ago? We were certainly told so. Democrats and Republicans were touting the genius of their two-tiered $2.5 trillion spending reductions. Republicans, wanting additional spending cuts, won a “moral victory” by changing the dialog in Washington. Democrats, not happy there were no tax increases, won a “moral victory” because no meaningful entitlement reforms took place. Investors (many of which are US taxpayers) are now down $2 trillion in personal wealth in merely three days.

As touted during the debate by many of us using simple math this deal was inadequate. It kicked the can down the road. Our core problems were not addressed. Most of the dialog in the media was short-sighted and bent through the prism of class envy without a shred of honest math put forward. Many on the Right, ignoring why they were elected in 2010, ran scared by an artificial deadline and presidential scare tactics. They feared Americans were going to blame them for asking their government to stop the runaway spending.

Here are some simple insights on the topic as you discuss with your friends America’s first debt downgrade in ninety seven years.

• No amount of taxation is going to fix this. Our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or sum of America’s total output, is $14 trillion dollars. This is not total PROFIT but total output. Total PROFITS are much less than total output. Our national debt is $14+ trillion dollars. It would take a 100% tax on everybody’s output to eradicate the debt. Of course then we would all be bankrupt and living in tent cities as none of us would have any money.

• Revenue is not the problem. Revenues have more than tripled since 1965. Adjusted for inflation, in 2010 we collected around $1.9 trillion. The highest dollars ever received were just four years ago at $2.4 trillion. To believe revenue shortfalls drive our debt problem ignores common sense and is often bandied about by those who want more of a say in how other people’s money is spent.

• Spending IS the problem. We borrow 40 cents of every dollar spent. Congress has not passed a budget in three years. Spending is up 27% in two years. AFTER the recent debt ceiling agreement, our debt is expected to be just $22 trillion instead of $25 trillion. In the next ten years our economy would have to increase by 57% just to keep pace with the debt. We are on an exponential spending spree already.

• Reduce spending by 1% a year from 2010 levels for six years and your deficit is balanced. This hardly tells grandma to drop dead.

America is the Earth’s last great hope for freedom. We remain a beacon of light in a very troubled world. While our reputation has been sullied our spirit does not have to. There is time to recover if we face our problems honestly. We need politicians who will do the same.

US Debt Debacle

All Americans need to be anxious over the long-term implications of S&P's US debt downgrade. This is a truly historic and very sad moment for our country. Our AAA rating has been in place since 1917. A rating maintained through the Great Depression and World War II. Many will try and soft pedal the downgrade but this is a potential interest rate tsunami. We now have to hope we "aren't as broke as Europe" in order to draw new money in and tamp down potential interest rate increases. The Chinese are laughing. Middle Eastern countries rejoicing. Tyrants around the world now more emboldened then ever to take down the paper tiger.

We are fast becoming impotent on the world stage. Once unthinkable, all signs point to future generations living a downwardly mobile lifestyle. I'm embarrassed for us. I'm angry. I'm ready to capitulate and throw in with the notion of a third party as the only way out.

We must stop the spending madness and do it immediately. We have few leaders willing to do so. Those who do stand up for fiscal restraint are labeled terrorists. Those who advocate entitlements for just about every ailment are hailed as compassionate. Facts are ignored at the holy grail of emotional spending. And we haven't even begun to implement the Obamacare entitlement yet. How can our Republic continue another few decades like this?

There is precious little time left to right our ship. The iceberg ahead is imminent. Many on the left have succeeded in implementing Saul Alinsky's vision to overload the system with so many handouts we simply can't continue without significant reductions in our personal freedoms. We must elect waves of fiscally constrained conservatives in 2012 (Reagan types not Bush types) or I fear the ditch will be too deep. Fellow conservatives should sit back, take a deep breath, lick your wounds, and then press harder than ever in the arena of public ideas. Now is the time to get involved. There is no more time for heads to be in the sand. Liberalism is a terrible disease that destroys everything in its path. If we don't change hearts and minds now, our Republic is in grave jeopardy.

A Video Is Worth a Thousand Words

I will be pithy today and just say that recently I've been debating a few liberal friends who keep telling me how paranoid I am. Despite all the associations, the government take over of banks and car companies, and the White House's 'rat out website', we are crazy wackos to think Mr. Obama might actually try to indoctrinate children to go home and tell their parents to believe this and that.

The first two minutes of this video have some really good ideas and I wish our Hollywood friends would've consented to make such a video under the Bush administration.

But, after two minutes you start to hear some very liberal sounding ideas and at the end of the video you find out we are going to pledge allegiance to Barack Obama and to "change." In this entire video, you hear nothing about the benefits of capitalism which has taken more people out of poverty and lifted more people out of tyranny then any nation on earth. Apparently, this is not something to be celebrated.

I pledge allegiance to no man and I give up my life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness to no one. I live in a country of freedom, and I plan to keep it that way.