Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Millionaires and Billionaires



Aug. 16, 2011


Radio personality Mark Levin asked us to do the math. There are less than 500 billionaires in the U.S. at this time and there are about 3.1 million millionaires*. President Obama keeps talking about taxing these guys to fix the failing economy. If only we force them to do their fair share, our debt of $14 trillion would come right on down. Never mind that this argument is class warfare, let’s analyze it.


Forget about taxing the Richie Rich’s at 40% or 50% of their annual income. Let’s get crazy. If we took half of the billionaires’ total wealth away, which would be far greater than the amount we could actually tax them, the resulting amount would come to only about $250 billion, assuming each one is worth $1 billion. The millionaires, because there are so many more of them, have a far greater share. They own about $3.2 trillion all told, assuming each is worth $1 million.


If we took half of the millionaires’ assets, it would total $1.75 trillion. Adding the billionaires’ contribution, this adds up to about $2 trillion. This unrealistic total (we can’t tax anyone by taking half their total assets), doesn’t even come close to our current $14 trillion debt. Congress recently raised the debt ceiling, so the debt will now be allowed to rise to over $17 trillion. This is only a theoretical argument. If it really happened, many of our companies would collapse, as would the entire economy. I’m glad we checked, though.


When the president says that if only millionaires and billionaires would do their fair share the U.S. debt would go away, he’s blowing hot air up your skirt. We know, ‘cause we just did the math!


*The data in this post was retrieved mostly from Wikipedia. On Aug. 20, 2011, on Fox and Friends, it was revealed by Wall Street Journal economics reporter Kelly Evans that there were only 237,000 millionaires as of 2009, down from the previous year. If this is correct, and it's a true trend, then my data for revenue is less than 10% of what I said it would be. Millionaires would account for only about $230 billion, and not 3.2 trillion, and that makes my argument that much stronger. I apologize for my error.


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Tuesday, August 9, 2011

America's Downgrade



Aug. 9, 2011


The erosion of our country continued last week with the downgrade of America’s bond rating. Standard & Poors, an actual investment intelligence company, has changed their rating of U.S. credit as AA+ as opposed to AAA. The Obama administration, at the grand old age of 2 1/2, disagrees. S+P has been around a little longer. About 150 years more, so, they may be slightly more knowledgeable than the president’s men. Of course, you can read about it at:

S&P web site


Our president continues to lead us down the wrong path. He warned us that changes were coming – and, like Ed McMahon introduced Johnny Carson, they’re heeeeeere. A failed stimulus, higher gas prices, debt, and unemployment, a bad economy, and now a debilitating downgrade. It occurred because Mr. President and his Democrats wouldn’t compromise. They’re stubborn. This is the true party of “no.” They laid the evidence down before us when they refused to even discuss the Bush plan to fix Social Security in the middle of the last decade. Jason Mattera said just yesterday that if government spending (Obama’s stimulus) were “this nirvana,” we’d be seeing the results by now. He reminded us that after the Bush tax cuts, we were at 4.6% unemployment, the Dow [Jones] was around 14,000, and there was more revenue flowing into the treasury than ever.


America finds itself on par with countries like Belgium.


Remember that Mr. Obama told the Egyptians in Cairo that [our] colonialism denied rights to many Muslims and that [western] civilization has a debt to Islam. He stood up for a citizen against a law enforcement officer early in his presidency, before learning all the facts of the case. He once explained that American exceptionalism is the very same as Greek or British exceptionalism. Except that it’s not.


Recall his inaugural address: “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality... and lower its costs. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.” Oh, really, a new age of…America down the toilet? November, 2012 can’t come soon enough for me. Let’s plan to vote this guy and his destructive policies and administration out of office!



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Tuesday, August 2, 2011

What’s President Obama Talking About?



Aug. 03, 2011


President Obama’s been telling us that the rich folks need to pay their fair share of taxes. Someone needs to educate him. The upper 50% of wage earners already pay approximately 97% of the income taxes collected in this country. So, what’s he talking about? What is his angle?


The president said that Republicans only want to cut taxes and cut spending. He said, while offering no plan of his own, that conservatives did nothing to promote increasing government revenue. If the economic climate favors businesses, more people will be hired – which would then add to the taxpayer’s numbers, thereby increasing dollars coming into the treasury. He doesn’t understand this simple concept. I’ve noticed he’s now using the term corporations, instead of big business. But we know he’s talking about those pesky capitalists. Those who take the risks deserve the rewards, Mr. President.


Karl Marx, the father of modern Communism, referred to capitalists as vampires sucking workers’ blood. He felt the worker class was exploited by capitalists. Communists like to divide people into economic classes to alienate them from each other. Trust me, I know. They love to talk about the upper, middle, and lower classes. The Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Canada talks about class struggle. This document, written in 1944, states that common property (private property, seized by government) will remove “the greatest of the burdens resting today on the backs of the workers.” My own father, a self-admitted Communist, told me many times that capitalists make money off the backs of the workers.


Once again, President Obama spoke today about the debt ceiling debate. And, once again he divided us. The great divider said, “We can’t balance the budget on the backs of the very people who have borne the biggest brunt of this recession. We can’t make it tougher for young people to go to college or ask seniors to pay more for health care or ask scientists to give up on promising medical research because we couldn’t close a tax shelter for the most fortunate among us.” I understand you don’t have to be a Communist or a socialist to slam the rich. If he’s not either of those, though… what is he talking about?



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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Who’s President Obama Talking About?



July 26, 2011


President Obama has conceded in a speech on July 25, 2011, that U.S. government spending is out of control. However, he said the money went for tax cuts, two wars, and prescription drugs. He forgot to mention the $800+ billion he threw away on a so-called stimulus plan (which failed). A $trillion more in debt will be incurred from his ill-conceived health care plan, due to his fiscal incompetence. The president has said recently that we need to behave like grown-ups, relax our rhetoric, roll up our sleeves, and work together. He then stomped out of meetings he held with Republicans and blamed them for the nation’s troubles. So much for following his own advice!


Our partisan-in-chief never conceded an inch during this deficit debate. It’s always their fault. Evil rich people make too much, he’s said. They won’t carry the load. However, he didn’t mention that the wealthy already pay the majority of taxes in this country. They create jobs. All right, not every rich person, but some do it indirectly. Rich folks don’t save money like we do. They don’t use a savings account for most of their money. Instead, investment vehicles are used. Believe it or not, most – if not all – do it this way. Even those we believe are sponging off their mommies and daddies. So, they are responsible for most of the investments made in our economy. Take their money, and most likely, you take one of our jobs away.


The wealthy are not always our heroes, I get it. Some spend foolishly, as our perception would have us believe. $750 on a pair of shoes disgusts most of us, and the gut reaction is to hate the idiots for it. But, realize where their money goes. Their extravagance pays for part of someone’s job in the shoe store. Or, $900 on a single seat at Yankee Stadium might pay for just one more vendor. The $70,000 automobile purchase could help one car salesman keep his job a week longer. Think about what good things a $20-$50 million private jet purchase can do for someone. Let’s not be jealous, let’s be thankful.



When President Obama says he wants to make millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share, let’s remember - he’s talking about those who make $250,000 a year or more. Those from that group making less than $1 million a year are NOT millionaires, so who’s he talking about? One day it might just be you!






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Monday, July 18, 2011

Reducing the Deficit



July 18, 2011


On July 10's Face The Nation program, Bob Schieffer played a clip of President Obama saying that we can't play politics with the debt ceiling. Yet, this is the first president I can recall who threatened old people by saying he couldn't promise they'd receive their Social Security checks if the Republicans don't cave to his demands! Treasury Secretary Geithner says there's lots of potential theater in this. Boy, he's not kidding. Democrats are saying that if the debt ceiling is not raised, every American will feel it. They won't budge on their wild, out of control spending. Republicans say there would still be enough funds to pay all of the Social Security checks, the military, all the interest on the debt, and more - even if the debt ceiling isn't raised. We'll be ok. They won't budge on raising taxes, but for good reason. How has raising taxes ever helped us? Still, there are deals in the works.

The Republicans have come up with multiple plans. There's a Ryan plan, a McConnell plan, the Cap, Cut, and Balance idea. The Democrats have rhetoric, but no plan to solve our debt crisis. They see things in one-dimension. They say that if revenues are raised on middle class and rich people - by raising taxes - then, and only then will we be able to have enough money to pay down the debt. Because they can't get over their jealousy of the wealthy, that's all they've got. Republicans have a more thoughtful idea. This is not obvious to those who only want to tax the rich, so, please try to be open-minded for this one!

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) expressed the proper way to fix things, par excellence, on the July 17 edition of Face The Nation. He admitted that, yes, the government needs more revenue. But we need to do it by getting the economy back on track. You create an atmosphere for business to feel comfortable hiring folks. This seems pretty simple to me - and it will work in most cases. Remember, most (and probably all) rich people invest their money in businesses. Some examples are the stock market, bonds, annuities, certificates of deposit, and many others. So, there are probably very few rich people we can tax more without hurting businesses. If we hurt businesses, they don't hire. When we lower corporate tax rates, companies hire more people, and then we gain more taxpayers - and therefore, more revenue.

Oh, yes, you also cut spending - drastically. As our liberal friends are fond of pointing out, there's also plenty of waste in our military. Cut there, too, and everyone can be happy with the necessary reductions in spending! The Democrats keep chanting that everyone must chip in and pay their fair share. Yet, they are the ones placing the burden on a large group of people. If anything, the rich and the middle class (those who make $1 million a year and less, down to about $25 thousand per year) pay most of the taxes in this country. Why punish their personal success by raising their taxes? Let's let them also pursue happiness. They are Americans, too!



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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Goodbye, Space Shuttle!



July 12, 2011


Orlando Sentinel correspondent Mark Matthews appeared solo this past January on Washington Journal, a call-in program on CSPAN, in a segment about NASA. I wrote about it on May 17. To see it, please do a find for "blog archive" in your browser and scroll down a little. Open up May. Click on: NASA: Gifts From Space. This time, CSPAN leveraged some needed expertise in calling in Scott Pace, an older and wiser gentleman, to appear with young Mr. Matthews. Mr. Pace is George Washington University's Space Policy Institute Director. Why a college might need a position such as this is way beyond me, but Mr. Pace provided plenty of respectability in the segment. Susan Swain, the host, began with a line mainly answered by the callers, and not the guests, "We're going to talk about what America gained from the Space Shuttle program…”


Mr. Matthews, the reporter, fed us some pessimism by revealing the Shuttle cost more and let us down in the safety department during its years, but he did tout the Hubble Telescope as a major achievement. There have been about a million other benefits from our space programs, such as metal alloys, smoke detectors, scratch-resistant lenses, pacemakers, and insulin pumps. I challenge you to google this, you may be surprised. Mr. Pace, the professor, educated by telling us that the Nixon Administration, where the Shuttle gained its initial support, made a mistake by concentrating on cost benefits rather than scientific gain. He therefore concluded that the Shuttle failed economically, but exceeded what it was asked to do in the technical sense.


I recall the hope and inspiration instilled in us through the space programs over my entire lifetime. Yet, both President Bush and our current president, Barack Obama, seemed content to terminate the Shuttle program by now (2010-2011). Perhaps it had already run its course. However, as early as 2004, President Bush revealed a bold vision for returning men to the moon by announcing the beginning of the Constellation program, the step beyond the Shuttle. (I’ll bet the mainstream media never told you that!) You can read his rather inspiring speech at this URL: http://history.nasa.gov/Bush SEP.htm Unfortunately, President Obama, in a fit of ignorance, and with a lack of insight, cancelled Constellation in favor of ‘investment’ in future research. This is consistent with his energy policy in some respects. Why drill for oil (an actual fuel), when you can do theoretical research instead?


In a later reconsideration, President Obama proposed we keep the Orion capsule from Constellation, but still proposed the program’s termination. To be fair, I’ll admit that Mr. Obama did commit to a new space vehicle by 2015, but his plan delays manned missions to other worlds by at least 20 years. In that time, where will our unemployed expertise go? Much of it will run away from the NASA space programs, for sure, and that’s a shame. In the mean time, Russia, and other countries, will lead the way in space for the foreseeable future. The current president seems to enjoy situations in which America is not leading. As a citizen of the U.S.A., I find that circumstance – at the very least - disappointing. It's expensive to push even an ounce of weight into space. When thinking about the final frontier, we should consider the past and future benefits of space exploration. It's always a natural result of the urgent need to miniaturize.



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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Liberal Thinking



July 5, 2011



Sometimes I wonder what kind of world I live in. I listen to liberal talk radio (The Mario Solis Marich Show, on AM 760 in Denver) and what do I get? I hear a caller saying that we need to allow only one Republican in the Senate and only one Republican in the House of Representatives. Yeah, that’s sensible. The reason? Because the Republicans are all on the same page, she says. They do not think correctly. They do not have enough of a diversity of opinion for her liking. She asks Mario why we are paying their salaries. So, Mario rhetorically asks the lady if she thinks we are paying for these non-essential, governmental employees. They agree. They laugh. This shows how intolerant our liberal friends are. Get rid of the conservatives. Completely! To quote someone I know, “This is crazy talk.”



Liberals are convincing me that Ann Coulter may just have it right. She recently published a book entitled Demonic. It’s subtitled How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America. I have not read her book - yet. But I have heard her speak about it. Her theory is that liberals have adopted a mob mentality. One case highlights how conservative women are despised by liberals today. What liberals do, Coulter says, is assume conservative women are stupid. They hear one speak, and reason backwards that what they’ve just said is stupid. For example, Sarah Palin recently said we need to get with the Spirit of 1773. A broadcaster, without thinking – or, rather, thinking that Palin had just said something stupid, corrected her “error” by saying, achem, that it was actually the Spirit of 1776. But, Coulter explains that Palin was speaking to a Tea Party Rally, and was referencing the Boston Tea Party, which occurred in 1773.



I abhor stereotypes and generalities, and I believe that liberals are not looney-tunes, but what are they thinking? Are they thinking at all? Michael Eric Dyson appears on This Week with Christiane Amanpour this past Sunday on ABC to discuss immigration, and what’s his thesis? Every point he makes is aimed toward emotional claims that America is and always has been racist towards people of color. The above-mentioned Mr. Mario Solis Marich, on his own radio show, says that the states of Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina have copy-cat “anti-immigration” bills which are similar to Arizona’s controversial SB1070 bill. He says he thought Arizona was the new Alabama, but instead, Alabama is the new Alabama. And he implies these states are “racially oppressive,” like Arizona, because of their new bills. (If you read the Arizona bill yourself, and you should, you will see how tame it is.) Sorry, but what am I missing here?




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