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Exploit Envy, Tax the Rich – Obama’s Game August 10, 2011

Posted by andiquote in Budget, Debt, Economy, Taxes.
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President Barack Obama has called for a luxury tax on corporate jets as a means to generate revenue to fight federal deficits.
Let’s look at what happened when George H.W. Bush signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 and broke his “read my lips” vow… [and] imposed a 10 percent luxury tax on yachts, private airplanes and expensive automobiles.
[Democrats] crowed publicly about how the rich would finally be paying their fair share.
What actually happened?…
Within eight months… Viking Yachts, the largest U.S. yacht manufacturer, laid off 1,140 of its 1,400 employees and closed one of its two manufacturing plants. In the first year, one-third of U.S. yacht-building companies stopped production… When it was over, 25,000 workers had lost their jobs building yachts, and 75,000 more jobs were lost in companies that supplied yacht parts and material. Ocean Yachts trimmed its workforce from 350 to 50. Egg Harbor Yachts went from 200 employees to five and later filed for bankruptcy. The U.S., which had been a net exporter of yachts, became a net importer as U.S. companies closed. Jobs shifted to companies in Europe and the Bahamas. The U.S. Treasury collected zero revenue from the sales driven overseas.

Back then, Congress told us that the luxury tax on boats, aircraft and jewelry would raise $31 million in revenue a year. Instead, the tax destroyed 330 jobs in jewelry manufacturing and 1,470 in the aircraft industry, in addition to the thousands destroyed in the yacht industry. Those job losses cost the government a total of $24.2 million in unemployment benefits and lost income tax revenues. The net effect of the luxury tax was a loss of $7.6 million in fiscal 1991, which means Congress’ projection was off by $38.6 million.

Congress repealed the luxury tax in 1993 after realizing it was a job killer and raised little net revenue. Why did congressional dreams of greater revenues turn into a nightmare? Kennedy, Mitchell and their congressional colleagues simply… believed that people do not respond to price changes.

People always respond to price changes. The only debatable issue is how much and over what period.

Here’s my question for you: Is it likely that in the two decades since 1990, American human nature has changed? If Congress imposes a luxury tax on corporate jets and other luxury items, will Americans behave differently this time? In other words, can we expect federal tax revenues to rise and unemployment to fall as a result of Obama’s tax proposal?

I don’t believe that Obama is dumb enough to believe that a tax on corporate jets would be a revenue generator. His agenda is to inspire envy and resentment against wealthy Americans as a tool in pursuit of his higher-tax agenda.

Source: Walter E. Williams, Ignorance, Stupidity or Connivance? – August 10, 2011

Source: Edmund Contoski titled “Economically illiterate Obama, re: Corporate Jets” (7/12/2011).

Rep. Connie Mack’s “Penny Plan” July 28, 2011

Posted by andiquote in Budget, Debt, Defense, Deficit Spending, Economy, Taxes.
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One Percent Spending Reduction Act or “The Mack Penny Plan.”

Real cuts! Take a listen!

“It’s a bill that says to Congress that you’ll have to cut 1 percent – or one penny – out of every federal dollar for six years,” he explained.

“At a time when so many in our nation are hurting financially, the federal government needs to do its part to cut spending,” added Mack. “The Penny Plan is a straightforward answer to our nation’s overspending problem that asks government to eliminate only one penny from every dollar it spends — a simple solution that all Americans can rally behind.”

Every time Washington spends more money, our freedom and security are in jeopardy. Voters have continually said ‘enough is enough’ when it comes to Washington’s appetite for spending, and it is time Congress listens,” said Mack.

Solving Budget Problems, Just Like Government July 27, 2011

Posted by andiquote in Budget, Deficit Spending, Economy, Taxes.
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Our family uses Baseline Budgeting, just like the U.S. Government.

This past year on an income of $50,000, we spent $54,000.

This coming year, we planned on spending $60,000. On an income of $50,000, someone pointed out that would be foolish. Too right!

Even though the children whined and complained, we worked together in a bipartisan fashion and made dramatic cuts, we now plan on spending only $58,000.

President Obama says, “There must be shared sacrifice.” With such drastic cuts, my only hope is the children don’t starve!

John Boehner’s Plan does NOT cut the budget.

In the link below:

Rush Explains Baseline Budgeting

For real cuts in government spending, check out the Connie Mack “Penny Plan”

Federal Budget vs. Household Budget May 19, 2011

Posted by andiquote in Deficit Spending, Economy.
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… talking about the national economy, most of our eyes start to glaze over. The gigantic numbers… are ridiculous; I thought it’d be fun to turn those figures into something we can understand a little better—like a household budget.

The federal government will take in $2.173 trillion in 2011. That’s their income;… the federal government will spend $3.818 trillion during the year. So, just like many families, the government’s outgo exceeds their income—to the tune of $1.645 trillion in overspending. That’s called the deficit. Altogether, the government has $14.2 trillion in debt.

What would happen if John Q. Public and his wife called… with these kinds of numbers? Here’s how their financial situation would stack up:

If their household income was $55,000 per year, they’d actually be spending $96,500—$41,500 more than they made!… So, in 2011 they’d add $41,500 of debt to their current credit card debt of $366,000!

What’s the first step to get out of debt? Stop overspending… a family that is used to spending $96,500 a year has to learn how to live on $55,000. That’s a tough pill to swallow. Those kinds of spending cuts seriously hurt, but it’s the only way out of debt for John Q. Public.

If I ever got [this] call… you would definitely expect me to yell at them for their dumb behavior, right? Kids, no more McDonald’s four times a week. Snacks come from the grocery store…[No] going to the movies… break out the board games and TV Guide. This family has a problem, so it’s time to amputate the lifestyle!

It works the same way for the government. You can’t borrow your way out of debt, whether you’re a typical American family or the entire U.S. government. At some point, you’ve got to… make the hard cuts necessary to win…

Source: Federal Budget vs. Household Budget: How Do They Compare?
You can’t borrow your way out of debt.
28 Apr 2011
By Dave Ramsey

Government Is The Problem – Jobs and Economy May 3, 2011

Posted by andiquote in Debt, Economy, Government Regulation, healthcare.
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[You have to love the clarity of Thomas Sowell!]

When people in Washington start creating fancy new phrases, instead of using plain English, you know they are doing something they don’t want us to understand…

When the Federal Reserve System started creating hundreds of billions of dollars out of thin air, they called it “quantitative easing” of the money supply.

When that didn’t work, they created more money and called it “quantitative easing 2″ or “QE2,” instead of saying: “We are going to print more dollars– and hope it works this time.”

The policies of this administration make it risky to lend money, … coming up with one reason after another why borrowers shouldn’t have to pay it back when it is due… call[ing it] “loan modification” or various other fancy names for welching on debts. Is it surprising that lenders have become reluctant to lend?

Private businesses have amassed record amounts of cash, which they could use to hire more people– if this administration were not generating… uncertainty about what the costs are going to be for ObamaCare, among other unpredictable employer costs, from a government heedless or hostile toward business.

As a result, it is often cheaper or less risky for employers to work the existing employees overtime, or to hire temporary workers, who are not eligible for employee benefits.

…Believers in the old-time Keynesian economic religion… say the only reason creating more money hasn’t worked is because there has not yet been enough money created. To them, if QE2 hasn’t worked, then we need QE3. And if that doesn’t work…

Like most of the mistakes being made in Washington today, this dogmatic faith in government spending is something that has been tried before– and failed before.

Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, said confidentially to fellow Democrats in 1939: “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work.”

…A headline in the Wall Street Journal of April 25th said, “Fed Searches for Next Step.”

That is a big part of the problem. It is not politically possible for either the Federal Reserve or the Obama administration to leave the economy alone and let it recover on its own. Both are under pressure to “do something.”

…All this constant experimentation by the government makes it more risky for investors to invest or employers to employ, when neither of them knows when the government’s rules of the game are going to change again… ever- changing policies… can paralyze an economy, just as it did back in the days of FDR.

The idea that the federal government has to step in… ignores much of the history of the United States. During the first hundred years of the United States, there was no Federal Reserve. During the first one hundred and fifty years, the federal government did not engage in massive intervention when the economy turned down.

No economic downturn in all those years ever lasted as long as the Great Depression of the 1930s, when both the Federal Reserve and the administrations of Hoover and of FDR intervened.

The myth that has come down to us says that the government had to intervene when there was mass unemployment in the 1930s. But the hard data show that there was no mass unemployment until after the federal government intervened…
That was the fundamental problem then– and now.

Source: TownHall Daily, May 3, written by Thomas Sowell

Hyper-inflation Coming? February 19, 2011

Posted by andiquote in Economy, Government Regulation.
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Michigan is in the process of eliminating the need to price each item in a store. The following is a proposed amendment:

House Bill 4158 (Repeal item pricing mandate )
Amendment offered by Rep. Kate Segal (D) on February 15, 2011, to prohibit a retailer from increasing the price on an item more than once a day. The amendment failed by voice vote in the House on February 15, 2011, to prohibit a retailer from increasing the price on an item more than once a day.

http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=128354

What reason would there be to propose this, other than a fear of hyper-inflation?

Internet “Kill Switch” Not OK for Egypt; OK for U.S.? January 31, 2011

Posted by andiquote in Constitution, Defense, Economy, Egypt, Government Regulation, Internet, Liberty, National Security, socialism.
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Governments across the globe recognize that the Internet is increasingly the life-blood of democracy — that’s why Egypt… has scrambled to shut down online communications.

American officials are rightfully decrying the regime’s actions. Here is what President Obama said:

Here’s what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this week:

“We support the universal human rights of the Egyptian people including the right of expression of association and assembly we urge the Egyptian authorities to allow peaceful process and reverse the unprecedented steps it has taken to cut off communications.”

[Yet] American politicians have just declared that they’re pushing legislation that would give the President the power to do the exact same thing.

A controversial bill handing President Obama power over privately owned computer systems during a “national cyberemergency,” and prohibiting any review by the court system, will return this year. The so-called Internet ‘Kill Switch’ would allow the president to declare a state of cyber-emergency under which he could order covered critical infrastructure (CCI) to do essentially whatever he wants — without judicial review or congressional approval.

It was introduced by Joe Lieberman, and last year it passed out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee by a unanimous vote.

The revised version includes new language saying that the federal government’s designation of vital Internet or other computer systems “shall not be subject to judicial review.” Another addition expanded the definition of critical infrastructure to include “provider of information technology,” and a third authorized the submission of “classified” reports on security vulnerabilities.

Source: January 24, 2011 10:12 AM
Renewed Push to Give Obama an Internet “Kill Switch”
Posted by Declan McCullagh

Source:
David Segal RI State Representative, Demand Progress
Posted: January 31, 2011 10:12 AM BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Bloggers’ Index
Fight America’s Internet ‘Kill Switch’

Gadgets That Can Spy on You January 21, 2011

Posted by andiquote in Constitution, Liberty, Privacy.
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Street Cameras -
The sheer number and sophistication of public cameras is creating an enviroment of constant surveillance, Google’s roving Street View cars… routinely capture images of houses and pedestrians… In police cars… law enforcement [officers]… run checks on thousands of unsuspecting drivers each day. “We are now seeing proposals in states to allow police to upload, record and build [cartracking] databases,” says Peter Eckersley, of Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Fight back: If you don’t want your house on Google Street View, load the offending image and click the Report a Problem link on the bottom corner. It will bring up removal instructions.

Phone GPS -
By using a phone’s GPS chip to broadcast your location–and by making it easy to find friends who have done the same–”geosocial” networking services like Facebook Places [can have] dangerous consequences. Security researchers have shown that it’s possible to hijack info from these services. “You are giving access to yourself to anyone in the world,” says Kevin Haley, director of Symantec Security Response.
Fight back: [If you feel you must use these networking services] post where you’ve been, not where you are.

Social-Network Data Mining -
Facebook has come under fire for allowing third-party app developers to collect and sell information about users. “Google, Facebook, Myspace and others have gone beyond collecting people–they’re exposing them,” says Babak Pasdar of the security firm Bat Blue.
Fight Back: “Don’t put your age and household info out there–these are key building blocks of a profile,” says Michael Fertik, CEO of Reputation-Defender.

Stolen Databases -
Over 2000 major data breaches [have been] made public since 2005. Breaches can occur… from [a] sophisticated attack on a credit card company’s server, to a laptop lost by a health insurance employee.
Fight Back: If a company wants to use your social security number to identify you, ask them for an alternate ID number.

Cellphone Hacking -
The next big wave of cyberthreats will be aimed at mobile phones, which have the double vulnerability of being location-aware and storing plenty of personal data. There are apps that can track a phone’s physical location [and can] remotely turn on an Andriod phone’s microphone or build-in video camera.
Fight Back: Limit phone apps [to] developers you trust. If you think your phone has been compromised, a factory reset (usually found in [your phone's] general or privacy settings) will wipe away any malware.

WI-FI Hijacking -
Public Wi-Fi hotspots are often set up with no security [making] it easy for hackers to ‘session hijack,’ wherein one user grabs the browser from another after he’s logged into a supposedly secure site. The attacker then has complete access to the victim’s account , and can change the password to lock the victim out.
Fight Back: Thinks twice about what you do when logged on to a public hotspot – a determined hacker can intercept anything you send. Use networks you trust.

GPS Car Tracking -
Low-cost GPS devices for tracking kids and pets can also be used for more sinister purposes. It is illegal for citizens to secretly track each other via GPS. [Do you think a stalker will care if it's illegal?] The law is unclear when it comes to government. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that law enforcement agencies have the right to attach GPS trackers to your vehicle without a warrant–even in your own driveway.
Fight Back: A good mechanic [can] find trackers during routine inspections. Look: under the car, near the rear wheels.

Internet Trolls -
[A young female athlete posted her picture] on a track-and-field enthusiast site, the image of the pretty athlete inexplicably went viral. Within weeks, she was dealing with unofficial fan pages, fake Facebook profiles and a deluge of lewd messages and phone calls. [The] internet posting site ———-… motives its users (known derisively as trolls) to gang up on almost anyone… The site’s tech-savvy trolls have been known to find and distribute its victims’ personal information.
Fight Back: [Difficult] Trying to fight back could further provoke the perpetrators. Most reputable sites such as Facebook, Myspace or YouTube will respond to take-down requests for any material that is lewd, slanderous or threatening.

Cyberstalking -
As privacy invasions go, stalking is the most personal and intensely frightening. Keylogging software makes it possible to remotely monitor every word typed on a PC, webcam hijacking software can secretly capture video every time someone moves in front of their computer, and cellphone trackers can transmit the location of victims in real time.
Fight Back: Harassed? Contact a local group of the National Center for Victims of Crime, says Michelle Garcia. Check the info on their website – ncvc.org. Victims should document everything. “Let all… calls go to voicemail so they are recorded. Print out instant messages and create a log of the date, time and place of each incident.”

Cameras In Your Home -
Microsoft [Xbox 360] Kinect is a… camera based gaming accessory that recognizes the movements of players’ bodies. [It] has the potential to become a sophisticated digital marketing tool. Last November, Microsoft executive Dennis Durkin commented to investors that the Kinect could conceivably be used to track the behavior of people watching television. Durkin said… [we could track] how many people are in a room when an advertisement is shown; how many people are in a room when a game in being played [or when watching television].” … [The] camera can differentiate between different players, and… record sound.
Fight Back: Keep tabs on the evolution of any technology in that watches you in your home.

Listen again: “I was amazed at how sensitive and accurate the camera is” and “We are actually making it easy to connect living room [ or board room] to living room.”

Smart-grid Technology -
Smart-grid technology, already in use by some major utilities, allows for real-time monitoring of electric meters, with an eye toward eventually embedding intelligence in every appliance in the home including thermostats, washers, dryers and refrigerators. The aim is to promote efficiency, but [it] turns your home into a highly precise behavior-monitoring system.
Fight Back: Monitor how this technology is used. Data collected by these devices could eventually be used by everyone from nanny-state public officials to criminals cruising for empty homes.

Source: February 2011, Popular Mechanics, Surviving the Digital Swarm by Glenn Derene and Seth Porges

Source: Kinect’s Camera Could Record Data for Advertisers by: Molly McHugh • November 12, 2010
Full Story: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/kinects-camera-could-record-data-for-advertisers/

U.S. Excluded; China Buys FaceBook Shares – Your Privacy at Risk? January 21, 2011

Posted by andiquote in Government Regulation, National Security, Privacy.
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Goldman Sachs decided to restrict a private share offer by Facebook from U.S. investors [ie. U.S. investors are NOT allowed to buy shares]. The controversial investment bank [which you recall, received over 10 Billion in 'bail-out' TARP money] said it would limit the $1.5 billion private share offer to “offshore” investors.

It [Goldman Sachs] feared that they could be stepping over U.S. regulation… the potential violation could stem from the fact that as the number of Facebook shareholders exceeds 500, the company would be required to disclose detailed financial information, something it has managed to avoid. (See Facebook, Twitter, And The Shadow Stock Market).

[In 2009,] Goldman [was] widely perceived, on Wall Street and in Washington, as too big and important to fail. If its bets pay off, Goldman profits and its employees get rich. If its bets go bad, ultimately taxpayers will have to pick up the bill.

“Many observers on the market believe that Goldman and others of its size now have a free insurance policy,” said Elizabeth Warren, the chairwoman of the Congressional oversight panel for the $700 billion bailout fund.

Goldman valued Facebook at $50 billion. A total of about $7 billion in orders for Facebook shares have come in, with strong demand from Chinese investors.

Source: Goldman Sachs Limits Facebook Share Offer To “Offshore” Investors, Fears Breaking U.S. Law by AGUSTINO FONTEVECCHIA
Full article: http://blogs.forbes.com/afontevecchia/2011/01/17/goldman-sachs-limits-facebook-share-offer-to-offshore-investors-fears-breaking-u-s-law/?boxes=Homepagetopnews

Source: Despite Bailouts, Business as Usual at Goldman by JENNY ANDERSON
Published: August 5, 2009
Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/business/06goldman.html

Mortgaging Our Children’s Future January 17, 2011

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… President Eisenhower [said] on January 17, 1961… something that speaks to us today:

“… Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society’s future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.”

When President Eisenhower began his first term as President of the United States in 1953 the national debt was around 260 billion dollars…

Today the national debt is well over 14 trillion dollars.

David Schwartz is the author of the children’s book How Much Is a Million? To help young minds grasp the concept of large numbers he says: “One million seconds comes out to be about 11½ days. A billion seconds is 32 years. And a trillion seconds is 32,000 years.”

Mr. Eisenhower was right… about the… warning he delivered that day, the one about mortgaging the material assets of our grandchildren, [we] should have… revisited and heeded [it] long ago.

Source:
David Stokes, Insolvent Democracy—A Warning From History
Full article: http://townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/01/16/insolvent_democracy%E2%80%94a_warning_from_history/page/full/

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