Screwed again, and we didn't even get a kiss

So our politicians tell us that we're broke....way past broke, actually....because of all the old-timers now signing up for their Medicare and Social Security, which, by the way, they PAID for over their working lives.  (And if the tax rate was insufficient to keep those trust funds properly topped off, whose fault is that?)

But wait....now we find out that a cool $76 BILLION DOLLARS in special-interest tax credits was included in the recent "fiscal cliff" legislation.  Lobbyists such as the firm headed by former Senator's John Breaux (D-LA) and Trent Lott (R-MS), representing companies like General Electric and Citigroup, secured for them an extension to the provision that allows multinational corporations to defer US taxes by moving profits into offshore financial subsidiaries.  (Their profits are all credited to subsidiaries in low-tax countries like Luxembourg where they might have nothing more than a PO Box.  They then pay Luxembourg taxes, not US taxes.)

Known as the "active financing exception", this is the tool that GE (and quite a few others, too) uses to avoid paying nearly all US corporate taxes.  Also blessed with sweetheart tax breaks were companies like rum distiller Diageo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, the American Wind Energy Association and the Motion Picture Association of America. (I checked and Park Place Custom Homes didn't get crap!)

Obviously their shareholders are ecstatic, but how is the taxpayer's interest served here?  

This scam was one the Obama administration insisted be included, and the Republicans feebly and quietly objected to, then voted "aye" anyway.  ("I'll vote for yours if you'll vote for mine?")  I wonder if we went back over the past 30 years or so and looked very carefully how much of our $16 TRILLION DOLLAR debt could be attributed to these kinds of giveaways?

No....no kiss, or dinner, or a movie, or even cab fare home.  Just a plain old fashioned screwing.  "I feel so....so used."

S

Can we just lynch Congress and be done with this? Why not?

NOW we're talkin'!  

(I stole this photo off my friend Kathy Mizell's Facebook page.)

What is it with these wacko nut job Tea Party-ers?  They can't even get along with half of their own Republican Party.  Since the Tea Party gained traction several years ago there have been numerous sitting congressmen from both parties say they would not run for re-election as they were no longer proud to serve in Congress.  They say going to work every day and confronting these Tea Party-ers is unbearable.  

I understand standing firm on moral matters, but nothing Congress does falls in the category of "morality".  That would be the ultimate oxymoron!  They're just a bunch of sleazeballs trying to get all they can while they can for themselves and their fat cat friends.

The American people are NOT extremists.  We believe in compromise.  In fact we founded an entire country on compromise.  It's worked for well over 200 years, but now all of a sudden these Tea Party-ers have a better idea?  They're smarter than our Founding Fathers?  Ha!  I'm surprised they can even walk upright!

Extremism didn't work for the Democrats back in the 80's, and it won't work for the Republicans today.  But until they can be eradicated they are screwing the American people like I've never seen before.

The "austerity" the Tea Party-ers advocate has been ongoing in Europe for several years now and is NOT working.  In fact it's making things worse.  While the goal (reigning in government) is probably necessary, the timing is atrocious.  You start cutting back when the economy is healthy and can afford to absorb the hit.  You don't kick people in the teeth when they're already down for the count.

OK, I feel better now.  Not really, but my fingers are cramping.

Now, go out there and have a great weekend.  Unless you're a Congressman.  Then get your ass to work.  Vacation request DENIED!

;)

S

Are we being played for chumps?

The "fiscal cliff" is apparently the only news out there these days.  That's all I hear...fiscal cliff...fiscal cliff...blah...blah...blah.  Both sides agree spending will have to be cut.  The devil will be in the details, I understand, but at least it's a start.  The sticking point is taxing the rich.  The Democrats say it will bring in a gazillion dollars and help reduce the deficit.  The Republicans say it will cripple job creation.

Here is my question:  How will raising taxes on the rich, the "job creators", hinder hiring?

The argument seems to be that if taxes go up on the rich (actually if the Bush tax cuts aren't extended to the rich), they won't have the capital (money) to finance new entrepreneurs or fund business expansion, therefore no new jobs.  

Here's the fly in that ointment....the rich already have TRILLIONS of dollars (the Wall Street Journal estimates $1-2 Trillion) sitting on the sidelines not currently invested.  Our economy isn't strong enough to support all these new businesses the Republicans envision, and there isn't any place in China or Europe to invest this money either.  (China is slowing and Europe is a basket case.)  It just sits.

The money to invest in new job creation is there NOW.  How will any MORE money in the pockets of the wealthy create any new jobs?  This money has been in their pockets for a DECADE, since the GW Bush administration.  So where are the jobs?

Somebody please (honest question) explain in terms I can understand how tax cuts to the rich will somehow create new jobs while the money sitting there right now can't?

The wealthy seem to like the sound of the term "job creators" and have made it their justification for existing, and their Republican puppets in Congress happily spout it every chance they get without ever explaining it.

In fairness, let me admit right now I think an entirely different set of special interests are pulling the strings on their (Democratic) puppets in Congress, too.  It's a pretty sleazy game they play in Washington and you and I are the big losers.  If you'll just follow the money trail you'll see who the big winners are.

S

This could be bad news....

There is an email going around that says a coup is underway to oust John Boehner as Speaker of the House and replace him with Paul Ryan.  (Hmmm...I actually thought it would be Eric Cantor who would lead the revolt.)  I'm no big fan of John Boehner, but I feel like he would be someone who could/would negotiate with the Democrats.  

Paul Ryan is a headline-grabbing "my way or the highway" kinda guy.   Bad move, Republicans!  The Tea Party-ers apparently didn't get the message:  The People have repudiated extreme politics.  They want our leaders to work together to get something done and not throw us all under the bus.  

My concern is that if this is true and Ryan (or Cantor) does become Speaker, we're going over the "fiscal cliff" next year.  Sequestration (across-the-board spending cuts) will automatically kick in, cutting not only fat from government (good) but meat, too (bad).  And we can ALL see our paychecks reduced when the "Bush tax cuts" expire and we go back to our previous tax rates.  Ouch!  Ryan has said, and I believe him, that he will NEVER allow taxes to go up on the wealthy.  

"If my friends can't get their tax cut, then none of you can, either."

Ryan says the wealthy are the "job creators", which is a half-truth at best.  While the wealthy might be "incubators" of new businesses, they depend on middle class consumers to actually buy whatever the new businesses are selling in order to succeed.  If the middle-class has their take-home pay reduced due to higher taxes, they'll buy less.  New businesses will stagnate or even fail, perhaps taking us into another recession.  How would that create any new jobs?

Whatever the two sides can negotiate regarding tax rates for the wealthy, so be it, but don't hold the middle class hostage in the process.  The election is over.  Now we need leaders, not ideologues.

S

They bicker, we suffer

Have you heard the old saying, "Nero fiddled while Rome burned"?  Nero was a Roman Emperor, and many Romans believed he casually fiddled his lyre after he himself started a fire in order to clear land for his palatial complex.  It was said all he cared about was himself, and gave no thought to the plight of his subjects.

That's about what's happening right now in Washington.  If Congress does nothing, major spending cuts will go into effect in January and the Bush era tax cuts will expire, hiking taxes.  It seems that more than 40% of businesses cited this upcoming "fiscal cliff" as a major reason for their spending and hiring restraint.  Equipment isn't being manufactured and sold and people desperately in need of work aren't being hired because Congress won't work together to put an end to this stalemate.  

In fact, they've "abandoned ship", turning out the lights and going back home while the country goes down the tubes.   Of course they'll tell you they are going back home in order to "consult with their constituents", but honestly all they're doing is fund raising.  Right now the only jobs they care about are their own. 

Most everyone agrees spending needs to be cut, but both parties have drawn lines in the sand and refuse to let their (special interest's) pet projects be cut. By default automatic across-the-board cuts will go into effect in January, and they are draconian.  They refuse to get together and negotiate, everyone giving up a little for the benefit of the whole.   The same with the Bush-era tax cuts....Republicans insisting the rich keep their tax cuts, too, while the Democrats only want to extend cuts to the middle class.  They bicker....we suffer.

They're waiting until after the November elections to see how the power paradigm changes.  If there is a major shift, the big winner will dig in even more and beat the other to death to get what they want. They're playing a game where one side wins all the marbles and the other is crushed.  Not exactly a good way to bring the country together is it?

Leaders would sit down together and work something out for the good of the country.  Ideologues see thing in black and white..."we win, they lose".  We don't have leaders.  Our politicians are a despicable bunch.

S