Feudalism Rears its Ugly Head

by Howard Johnson

Straight out of the medieval period, feudalism is about to turn all American common people into serfs—virtually the property of their wealthy and powerful masters, the politicians. We are now facing the comprehensive controlling power of governmental officials—the kings, queens, lords and ladies now in control of our growing feudal political system.

Socialism, Communism, Fascism, Liberalism—no matter what it is named, it is the current version of the cruel, totalitarian feudal system of the middle ages. The Sheriff of Nottingham would be right at home in our new government of “change.” For those educated in our failing government schools, I suggest you read “The Legend of Robinhood” to learn about the Sheriff of Nottingham. If you can’t read, go to your video store and ask for the movie, “Robinhood of Sherwood Forrest.”

Names and dates of movies about Robinhood

The Robin Hood legend has long been popular with movie makers, inspiring the silent version starring Douglas Fairbanks, the Errol Flynn classic of 1938, Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn's "Robin and Marian" in 1976, Disney's own live-action version "The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men" in 1952, and Kevin Costner's latest version in 1991.

* * *

"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

President Barack Obama, July 2, 2009

He may already have this force in place. It’s now called ACORN.

Sounds like Hitler’s Brown Shirts in 1929 to me. See later at the end of this blog

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I have had it! I have listened to hatred spewed from the mouths of idiots, fools, and buffoons for years. Hatred and animosity is constantly aimed at anyone who disagrees with the “HOLY” positions, actions, pronouncements, and agendas of the left. This vilification comes with curses and damnation from so-called “objective” and “compassionate” liberals. I myself have been cursed, called all manner of names like stupid, ignorant, and received many other abusive and demeaning labels and actions. All from the colossal frauds, the minions of the liberal left, that pass themselves off as humanitarians saviors of “the people.” Over many years you leeches on the left have succeeded in using ignorant mobs of blind followers to put in public office all manner of self-serving low lives: liars, thieves, cheats, and worse—men and women without honor or human decency.

All your politicians of the left seem to want is more power, more money, and more control. Just listen to what your President said today, March 27, 2009. He actually said, “The government will tell you when to turn the lights in your homes on and off.” He obviously intends to do just that. This is pathetic!

Powered by a voting public of celebrity worshiping, historically ignorant people, the power hungry tyrants that have driven the corrupt Cook county Democrat machine for decades have invaded and taken over our national government. There is an old phrase reserved for people of high and mighty reputation—those that rise to the top. That phrase is “la creme de la creme,” literally, the cream of the cream. Well let me tell you, there is another material that “rises to the top.” If you have ever seen the disgusting slurry that fills a cesspool or septic tank you will remember the foamy scum that floats on the top. That could be described as “la scum de la scum.” This is a deceptively accurate description of those who have “risen to the top” in the federal government, both elected, appointed, and hired into the bureaucracy. These are la scum de la scum of America. The few exceptions in the federal government merely make the evil majority all the more visible. They have been caught in so many lies and other deceptions in recent years as to have lost credibility with all but the blindest of their slavish followers. As this is being written many protesters are at “TEA” parties shouting, “No more bailouts!” Is it possible the public are finally catching on to what is going on?

Actually, I don’t blame you on the left for your emotional diatribes. To borrow one of your mantras, “It’s not my fault. I can’t help myself.” Maybe it just like one comedian of years ago often said, “The Devil made me do it.” You are merely exhibiting those very human animal instincts, those emotionally driven processes, the instincts that provided homo sapiens the reproductive success that is now overrunning the planet. Humanitarian concerns and reason are completely overwhelmed by angry emotions incited into hatred by the mob leaders you have selected. The bus of state is being driven by a committee of permanent adolescents with little real experience, and questionable backgrounds. These include tax cheats controlling the financial powers of our government. They are so disorganized they frequently counter each other’s arguments. Democrat legislators are passing major legislation virtually none of them have read. I wonder who it was that actually wrote the $800 billion “porkulous” bill? And how about that huge Democrat boondogle, “The Federal Budget?” Who wrote that? Those who would destroy our nation could hardly have dreamed in their wildest imagination that such an instrument of our devastation could been proposed by our own government.

This condition has been brought about by a selection process designed two and a quarter centuries ago for people who mostly walked from place to place, sent mail by horse or boat, traveled on the water by canoe or sail, and couldn’t read. There were exceptions, mostly among the “wealthy,” people who could read and had horses for transport. To use this ponderous, antiquated, and unwieldy process in the age of instant access to the Internet, world wide transport in hours rather than months, and the vast technology available to rapidly expanding numbers of people in most of the world. Because of this, I propose we make a huge change in the selection of all elected officials, federal and state. We will need a major revision of our Constitutionally defined process of selecting all political offices and positions. This proposal is described as a simplified method and easily instituted system for selection of legislators and executives as well as other offices.

I propose we do away with elections which have enabled self-serving, power hungry individuals and groups to bully and buy their way into control of the election process for the legislature. This new process would remove completely the power money and influence have over our current election process. A lottery system for selection of legislators would accomplish the replacement of all financial influence with chance, removing virtually any undue influence by anyone. Any legislature chosen at random from the public would be relatively free of the influence now so powerful a force in government. It couldn’t possibly be any worse than what we have now.
Here’s a first effort at how it would work: Using the social security system, all those with social security numbers would be able to enter the “pool” of citizens for the lottery. Entry into the pool would be optional. Those who did not want to participate could merely not register. Registration would be conducted by the current systems being used to register voters. Current Congressional districts could be used to determine the numbers of representatives and the constituency from whom they would be chosen. All those registered in any district would be in that district’s pool. Each district would draw numbers of nine individuals from the pool. This would provide the members of the second level pool.

The second level pool: The entire group for each state would meet and elect one member as their Senator along with an alternate for each Senate seat. Once the Senators and alternates are chosen, the groups of nine would meet and select two of each group to be their representatives in Congress. Two alternates would also be chosen in each group. Representatives would be selected every two years while Senators would serve four years. By using nine members in each group, the possibility of a tie would be avoided. The purpose of the two alternates would be to replace the one originally chosen should that person be unable to perform their duties for any reason. Any felony conviction would be cause for immediate expulsion.

Reselection: Once their terms in office are over, sitting members of both houses would automatically be included in the next selection group from their district or state. This would make selection groups of eleven and add one more Senate candidate in each state group. These “Incumbents” would face the same election process as other members of each group. Terms would be limited to three for any one office. That is six years for Representatives and twelve years for Senators.

States could set up similar systems for selection of their legislatures. This new lottery system would apply only to legislators. Other offices could still be elected by the existing system.

“Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them.”

“All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.”

Emmanuel Kant

“All our passions begin with emotions—instinctive reactions driven by millennia of evolution. There is no reason, rationality, or knowledge in passion, only the animal actions of flight, consummation, procreation, self-preservation, or combat.”

Howard Johnson

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Subject: Something of Historic Proportion is Happening
Date: Friday, March 13, 2009, 3:10 PM
by Pamela Geller

Pamela "Atlas" Geller began her publishing career at The New York Daily News and subsequently took over operation of The New York Observer as Associate Publisher.
She left The Observer after the birth of her fourth child but remained involved in various projects including American Associates, Ben Gurion University and being Senior Vice-President Strategic Planning and Performance Evaluation at The Brandeis School.

After 9/11, Atlas had the veil of oblivion violently lifted from her consciousness and immersed herself in the education and understanding of geopolitics, Islam, terror, foreign affairs and imminent threats the mainstream media and the government wouldn't cover or discuss.

Her website, www.AtlasShrugged.com, winner of the "Best New Blog" 2005 Jewish and Israeli Blog Award and finalist in the 2005 Weblog Awards, is a counter terrorism site fighting the great fight, changing the world one word at a time. Leading authorities are regularly interviewed. She routinely confers with leading scholars on the Middle East, Islam, Eurabia , China and Russia ..

The objective of her website is to cover related but little reported events of great import. She provides an unblinking, glaring examination of global affairs and is a member of Pajamas Media.

href="http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/a...ing-of-hi.html

Subject: "Something of Historic Proportion is Happening" by Pam Geller

I am a student of history. Professionally. I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied it all my life.. I think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes, these exist but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus.
Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it.

Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about 10 - 15 years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.
We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people whom we know can never pay back. Why? We learn just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700B we all argued about so strenuously just this past September.

Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of "We the People," who lent our powers to our elected leaders..Apparently not.

We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why? We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, and school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?

We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?). We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, Social Security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government. Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about.) The list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth. It is potentially 1929 x 10. And we are at war with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same religion who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.

And now we have elected a man no one knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska . All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more important.)

Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change. Why?
I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now. This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.

And that is only the beginning.

I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930's. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory and promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully them into submission.

And then he was duly elected to office, with a full-throttled economic crisis at hand [the Great Depression]. Slowly but surely he seized the controls of government power, department by department, person by person, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The kids joined a Youth Movement in his name, where they were taught what to think.

How did he get the people on his side? He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless, and goodies for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe , and across the world.

He did it with a compliant media - Did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and .. . . change. And the people surely got what they voted for. (Look it up if you think I am exaggerating.) Read your history books. Many people objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and made fun of. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930's while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though ..

Don't forget that Germany was the most educated, cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And in less than six years - a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency - it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them.
As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong, close my eyes, have another latte and ignore what is transpiring around me.
Some people scoff at me; others laugh or think I am foolish, naive, or both. Perhaps I am.. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe—and why I believe it. I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb."

Benjamin Franklin

See if you see any similarity to the present U.S.

The National Socialist German Workers' Party, (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP), commonly known in English as the Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), was a political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945. It was known as the German Workers' Party (DAP) before the name was changed in 1920.

The party's last leader, Adolf Hitler, was appointed Chancellor of Germany by president Paul von Hindenburg in 1933. Hitler rapidly established a totalitarian regime known as the Third Reich.

Nazi ideology stressed the failure of the economy, the failure of democracy, and the failure of laissez-faire capitalism.

During the 1920s Hitler organized the De-Sturmabteilung.ogg Sturmabteilung, abbreviated SA, (German for "Assault detachment" or "Assault section", usually translated as "stormtroop(er)s"). Originally a “civilian security force” (sound familiar?) that functioned as a paramilitary organization of the NSDAP – the German Nazi party. It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s.

SA men were often called "brownshirts", for the color of their uniforms; this distinguished them from the Schutzstaffel (SS), who wore black and brown uniforms. I wonder what color shirts members of ACORN wear?

"History is the witness of the times, the light of truth."

--Cicero

"Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."

--George Santayana

NASA's Global CO2 Surveyor

My son recently sent me an article about NASA’s global CO2 surveyor satellite that unfortunately didn’t achieve orbit and was destroyed. I could not find any links to the article, so I attached it to this email. In it I found some interesting statements that prompted the following response:

Dear Mike:

I often become suspicious of the veracity and the political motives of articles published by some “scientists” when those articles contain statements that are patently false or at least misleading. I also view as suspect the common assumption made that CO2 generated by human activity is a major factor in and causes catastrophic global warming. This one assumption runs counter to conclusions from many long studied and well known factors that affect climate. The following paragraph is from that article. It caught my eye because one little sentence in italics, the basis for the accuracy of the entire project, is untrue.

“Carbon dioxide molecules aren’t measured directly; the instrument tabulates the absorption of sunlight by CO2 and molecular oxygen molecules before and after sunlight is reflected off the Earth’s surface. Since each molecule has a unique infrared signature, they can be singled out and counted. There are two detectors for CO2 because it is easier to spot near the Earth’s surface at 1/61 microns and in the atmosphere at 2.06 microns. The molecular oxygen A-band channel acts as a survey control because its presence in the atmosphere is constant.”

In rebuttal I offer a substantiated quote from my book, A Convenient Solution, and an article I published in 2007. The full article on global warming can be found at http://hjgulfstream.blogspot.com. Should you want to read the section in my book it is available on the web at http://acsexcerpts.blogspot.com.

From page 47 of the book: With the exception of hydrogen, all gaseous, liquid, and solid fuels produce carbon dioxide when burned in any energy process. In addition, the production of hydrogen by any means other than by electrolysis, using energy from nuclear, wind, water or tidal power plants will add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere from both the energy and the raw materials used to create the hydrogen (coal-fired power plants for instance). It is interesting to note that for each pound of carbon oxidized to carbon dioxide, four pounds of oxygen are removed from the atmosphere. For every thousand tons of CO2 added to the atmosphere, eight hundred tons of oxygen are removed. In all the concern about CO2 there has never been a single mention of that fact.

The obvious conclusion is that the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is not a constant as stated in the article in Aviation Week.

It should be interesting to note that I do not agree with those who say atmospheric CO2 has a catastrophic effect on climate or with those who argue it has absolutely no effect. It is just that the amount of that effect, though real, is so small as to be insignificant compared to other, well known factors. In just the same way, pouring a bucket of water into Lake Erie raises the lake level. I do not think shore dwellers need to fear that will flood their homes. This puts me solidly against global warming proponents in government who use it to gain power and as a huge cash cow of tax revenue. In addition there are literally thousands of groups using proven tactics to frighten the public into compliance donations, and mindless support.

From my article on global warming: Any global warming from the effects of CO2, if indeed it exists or poses any danger at all, is grossly distorted relative to the facts at hand. Most of the data used to show global warming are at best statistical and at worst, anecdotal. Both of which provide great opportunities for opinions (and agendas) to mitigate the data we can obtain. We know for certain that addition to the atmosphere of any gas will contribute that gas’s infrared absorption properties with all its complexities. Actually, all gases in the atmosphere have some “greenhouse” effect. This includes, nitrogen (75.0% - 78.08%), oxygen (20.11% - 20.95%), argon (0.89$ - 0.93%), and carbon dioxide (0.035% - 0.038%). The percentages in parentheses are of air at sea level. Ranges are shown because air also contains a variable amount of water vapor (from 1- 4% ±0.25%) and trace amounts of other gases. Each gas has a complex rate of infrared absorption and emission at various infrared frequencies. Water vapor has from 30 to 90 times the temperature effect of CO2 depending on various conditions.

The warmer air becomes, the more water vapor it can hold. Remember the weatherman’s favorite “dew point” predictions? When the temperature lowers to that point, the air can hold no more water vapor so it condenses out as “dew” or rain in the big picture. Using the same rationale as the global warming folks use for CO2, increasing amounts of water vapor would cause a much larger increase in atmospheric temperatures than CO2 resulting in still warmer air and still more water vapor. Shouldn’t this lead to a runaway greenhouse effect? Wouldn’t this drive atmospheric temperatures higher and higher until the oceans boil and all life is extinguished? Obviously this has not happened so something about these assumptions must be wrong for water vapor and CO2 as well.

Water vapor adds still another factor to the mix. That is the heat of vaporization or condensation of water. Tremendous amounts of the sun’s radiant energy evaporates water all over the earth. All of that energy enters the atmosphere in water vapor. The warmer the ocean or wet land, the more energy goes into the air. When all this water vapor condenses out as rain, that energy is released and the air warms. This is the driving energy that causes the air to move and creates windstorms, tornados and hurricanes. For all practical purposes, the CO2 content of the air has zero effect on the amount of energy that goes into the atmosphere or heats the air when water condenses.

One huge factor that man has affected greatly is the water vapor that green plants give off and particularly dense rain forests. Our continuing decimation of all types of rain forests is removing a huge source of water vapor that formerly entered the air. One example of this effect was used incorrectly as an example of global warming, which it was not. The disappearing snows of Mount Kilimanjaro are not an effect of global warming. Studies have shown that the cutting of the forest around the base of the mountain so reduced the amount of water vapor in the air flowing up the mountain that both the rainfall and snowfall on the higher slopes has been reduced dramatically. This is one correct example of where human activity has interfered with nature. Deforestation worldwide has done far more damage to our environment and effected climate far more than even tripling the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere could do. It alone could arguably be responsible for any temperature increase over the last hundred years as a reduction in the amount of water vapor would reduce cloud cover resulting in less of the sun’s energy reflected away. Why don’t we do something about that?

Whatever the effect of carbon dioxide, it is so small in comparison as to raise questions about the real amount of the danger it poses. Certainly it is not the degree of danger claimed by the high priests of global warming. I seriously question the validity of the often quoted phrase, “Overwhelming numbers of scientists support the theory that man’s use of fossil fuels is bringing about catastrophic global warming.” In the first place, the worldwide destructive clearing and burning of rain forest results in putting far more net carbon dioxide into the air than all the vehicles in the entire world. Second, shrinking rain forests mean less water vapor is released into the air. This could in turn mean less rain and snow where the air over land is drier. The questions remain, does the evaporation from the oceans increase and make up for this loss, and what effect does the drier air have on cloud cover and the resulting reflection of the sun’s energy away from the earth? All of these interacting variables have much larger net effects on global temperatures than CO2.. Because of this, “Overwhelming numbers of scientists” may have no real clue about the degree of effect that CO2 might have on atmospheric temperatures leading to global warming. Obviously it is much smaller than that of water vapor.

The Card Check bill in Congress

I know a lot of you are extreme liberals, but even you should be up in arms about what labor bosses are trying to ram through Congress.

Wake up Americans! Democrat politicians are about to reward labor unions for their help in the last election by doing away with a basic right of all Americans, the right to a secret ballot for elections. First they said they were bailing out the American auto industry with your billions of dollars. That is pure BS. All they were doing was padding the pay checks of lazy and conniving UAW workers with money from the public treasury. No wonder Toyota, Honda and the other off-shore auto companies are beating the pants off of UAW auto companies with their autos, even those built by American workers in American factories. Their labor costs are about half of what the UAW members get paid for the same work. They have crippled our once great auto industry that will certainly go down the tubes anyway, just like our electronics industry and many others that were highly unionized.

Now the Democrat controlled government is about to demolish the foundation of our Democratic Republic, the secret ballot. The American public should be screaming against this destruction of a basic right. Where is the massive outcry from the third estate? Are the masses just so stupid they can’t see what’s happening? Maybe they just don’t give a damn. It’s beyond my comprehension.

And how about those so called protectors of human rights in the media? They should be haranguing everyone to urge their representatives to throw this evil proposal out. Where are all their calls of “foul?” Perhaps they are over enamored with the “Royals,” now controlling our government. Maybe they’re getting a payoff of some sort to ignore what’s happening. Something is very rotten there and it ain’t in Denmark.

Next the Democrats will be rewriting our election laws and doing away with the secret ballot in public elections. How will you like it when politicians know exactly how you vote? There wouldn’t be any goons using coercion and beatings on those who didn’t vote their way, would there. Of course not! This is America. Americans don’t do those kinds of things. Ha!

The Cook County Democrat machine is, in fact, already doing that in a round about way. They know quite well who votes how in the local precincts and their goons are not shy about punishing those who don’t toe the line. Now we have a product of that corrupt machine as our President. Democrat machine politics with all its intimidation, corruption, payoffs, ballot box stuffing, votes by dead and non existent voters, and associated criminal activities—those machine politics have completed their take over of Washington. I wonder how long it will be before we see Democrats elected by 100% of the vote just like Kim Il Sung was in North Korea.

Newt Gingerich explains what is happening in a much less pointed manner than I do. Here’s what he has to say:
_______________________________

March 11, 2009 | Vol. 4, No. 10

Dancing to Big Labor's Tune
by Newt Gingrich

After spending an astounding $61 million to elect Democrats in the 2008 elections, union bosses are getting their payback this week.

Yesterday, so-called "Card Check" legislation was introduced in both the House and the Senate.

Card Check strips American workers of the right to a secret ballot and gives the federal government the right to impose labor contracts on workers.

The timing of this assault on the freedom of the American workplace could not be worse. A new study shows that for every three workers coerced into joining a union under Card Check, one job will be eliminated by besieged American businesses.

Card Check Could Eliminate 600,000 Jobs In Its First Year

Card Check is a job killer. Even Obama supporter Warren Buffet opposes it, saying "I think the secret ballot is pretty important in the country. I'm against card check." Watch him here.

But as far as Big Labor is concerned, a deal's a deal. Their goal is to get their allies in Washington to ram Card Check through Congress this week, before anyone notices that American workers and businesses are losing fundamental rights.

What's happening in Washington this week is old style, quid-pro-quo politics - the kind President Obama pledged as a candidate to end. Supporters of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (that's their Orwellian name for Card Check - it would more correctly be called the Union-goon authorization-to-bash-your-head-in-if-you-don’t-vote-us-in act.) claim to be all about protecting American workers.

But leave it to Vice President Joe Biden to inadvertently tell the truth.

In a meeting with the AFL-CIO last week, Biden made it clear who's calling the shots when it comes to American workers, businesses and jobs. He told the gathering of union big-wigs:

"You all brought me to the dance a long time ago, and it's time we start dancing."

82% of Democrats Oppose Eliminating the Secret Ballot
For big labor and their allies in Washington, it's time to start dancing - and dancing fast.

Vice President Biden and the union bosses hope to duplicate with Card Check the Obama Administration's success in rushing the mammoth $787 billion stimulus bill through Congress so quickly most members never had time to read it.

The reason they have to act quickly is simply this: The vast majority of Americans - 77 percent of Republicans, 82 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of independents - oppose what they're trying to do.

Not only that, but the latest surveys show that a full 82 percent of Americans say they don't want to belong to a union.

The Stakes Are High This Week

But it's precisely this kind of pro-secret ballot, pro-freedom sentiment among the American people that makes union bosses so eager to pass Card Check.

Under Card Check, union organizers and their enforcers will be able to go into any small business, hospital or construction site and coerce workers into signing cards. If they get 50 percent plus one, the deal's done, and the workers are forced into a union. And if management and the new union fail to reach a negotiated contract, the federal government will just impose one. Coerced unionization allows for what is effectively a new, unaccountable form of forced taxation. Workers will have a portion of their paycheck going to the union to be spent as the bosses (many are convicted extortionists) see fit, including political donations to parties and candidates that the workers may not even support.

Talk about an "offer you can't refuse." There's no vote. No secret ballot. No right to freely negotiate the contract. The workers, the workplace, and a portion of the worker's paychecks are controlled by the union bosses.

For Americans like you and me, the stakes are high this week. Hanging in the balance are literally hundreds of thousands of jobs, not to mention fundamental freedoms like the ability of small businesses to create and sustain jobs, the freedom of American workers to have a say in how their workplace is organized, and the freedom of American workers to freely choose whether they want to give money to politicians and political parties.

Congress Is Holding Hearings This Week
Make Your Voice Heard at AmericanSolutions.com/FreedomNotFear

The time to act is now - this week, while Congress holds hearings on Card Check.

You can make your voice heard by the people who matter most by joining in American Solutions' "Freedom Not Fear" campaign.

Freedom Not Fear is grassroots petition drive to preserve American jobs and preserve the right of the secret ballot for American workers. Over 80,000 Americans have already gone to AmericanSolutions.com/FreedomNotFear and signed the petition, but we need more help.

Remember the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" campaign from last summer? With your help we were able to change hearts and minds on Capitol Hill about the necessity of using more safe, clean American energy.

We can do the same with Freedom Not Fear. Congress needs to hear from the sweeping majorities of Americans of all political parties who oppose this massive power grab by Big Labor.

The union bosses want to silence the voices of American workers and businesses. Go to Americansolutions.com/FreedomNotFear today and let them know that we won't go down without a fight.
_____________________________________

A response:
This is a balled faced lie! Get your facts straight! Card check does not do away with the secret ballot, it simply offers an alternative. As your Quoted hero Newt proclaims,"the secret of Politics is to Lie, Lie, Lie, and then Lie some more." Have a good misinformed day .
____________________________________

Another response:
You and Newt sure got it right. I was working in a small automotive supplier in Ft. Wayne for many years, right from the git go. Once the company got big enough to be noticed, the UAW moved in. It didn’t take most employees long to realize that if you didn’t support the union, you were in for a bad time. I only lasted about a year until I found a job with Volkswagen in Ohio. It was for a little less money, but the atmosphere was very much better. Everyone worked. We were all part of “the team.” The goon squads and intimidators will love the power the new law will give them. Once the unions come around, extreme coercion will be the norm. Look what they’ve done to the big three as it is.
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By way of correcting any misunderstanding, here are some facts and some opinions. Of course, the emotionally intense hatred most liberals express for anyone with whom they disagree causes great confusion on their part as to just which are facts and which are opinions. This makes sensible communication damn near impossible, but I try anyway. Incidentally the first responder did what so many liberals do constantly, quoted Newt out of context. I have searched high and low, but can’t come up with the exact line quoted. The closest is a line given in a speech to a Republican organization in Atlanta, date unknown. In that speech he said, “The secret of liberal politics is to lie and lie, cheat and cheat, and tell the victims of your efforts you are working for them.” But Newt was correctly dubbed as one of my political heroes along with so many who have stood up for independence, freedom and personal responsibility. Men like Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and most of our founding fathers as well as Reagan and a few other so often vilified by the left. At least Newt is not trying to destroy what they so masterfully built.

Reality trumps intentions every time. This new law would remove the right of the company to request a secret election, a right they now enjoy. This offers protection to workers who really don’t want a union, but are intimidated to sign the cards. In its place the new law gives that option over to the employees. The law states clearly that only the employees can request a secret ballot election. This gives union goons an open invitation to intimidate employees to sign cards requesting a union and not ask for a secret ballot. They use the same kind of intimidation organized criminals use to intimidate witnesses. I wonder where they learned that? Once more than 50% signed, the union is in, even without an election. I’m sure those disgruntled union members would request a secret ballot election, wouldn’t they. Ha!

I’ve seen the UAW in action unionizing one company started in 1920 in a small town in Indiana. The company and town shall remain nameless to protect the author. It was a small family owned business with about 100 employees that built bodies on Ford and GM truck chassis. Their wage and benefit scale was actually above union standards at the time. The UAW wanted to collect dues and impose their own work rules. During 1948 we were in the plant as part of our engineering studies at Purdue during the time the union began trying to “organize” its employees. None of the employees I spoke with were favorable to the union. Most said the “The old man (the owner) and his boys take good care of us. We don’t need a union.”

We were at the plant several times a week for three weeks. By the time we left things changed and there were some nasty incidents. Employees who spoke out against the union often had an “accident.” Several ended up in the hospital and one died. No one was ever charged. There were three elections several months apart. The union lost in the first two, but won on the third. Within the year the owners decided it was no longer in their best interest to continue operating the plant. Pickets marched in front of the plant as it was shut down and dismantled. The owners shut down their assembly line after finishing the bus contract already underway. They sold their remaining contracts, inventory and machinery to a manufacturer in Tennessee, and all moved to Florida. (There was a rumor that the company in Tennessee belonged to a member of the family, but I have no confirmation of that rumor.)

The small town was devastated as this was one of their largest employers and a sizable portion of the town’s economy. During the year, we studied the effects on the town and determined that there were more than a dozen dependent businesses that soon closed their doors and about 300 people lost there jobs. The fallout undoubtedly left the city’s economy in ruin for a long time. The plant stood empty for many years. I happened by the plant many years later and found a paved parking lot full of weeds, a battered fence and a few empty buildings. I have no idea what became of the owners or their family, but I’m sure they had a good and successful life wherever they went. Maybe they took over that plant in Tennessee. I do know that they remained substantial financial supporters of Purdue University for many years after they closed their Indiana plant. Great job, UAW.

Some of my liberal family and friends constantly vilify me as a Rush Limbaugh worshiping, George Bush loving, far right Republican member of the extreme far right, a Christian fundamentalist homophobe, racial bigot and all that other crap on their long hate list. The truth is they all simply hate anyone who doesn’t go along with their “holy” far left agenda handed down to them from the George Soros crowd and the New York Times. (I wonder why he doesn’t just buy the Times? It’s going broke, you know.) Talking to them is like negotiating with Al Queda or the Taliban. It’s their “holy” way or off with your head. Well, it’s hasn’t come to that quite yet, but one never knows when.

No amount of reason or logic will ever sway their emotional attachment to what they are “supposed” to believe or to “political correctness.” Talk about mind-numbed robots, I realized long ago how fruitless it is to have a rational conversation with any of them about virtually anything with the remotest hint of political content. To me, liberalism is one of the most fundamentalist religions on the planet. It is totally devoid of any rational content, often exuding pure hatred.

One of my very liberal friends was visiting a few years ago and ran across a pamphlet titled, A Real Answer to the Drug Problem laying on our coffee table. He read through it while I was doing something else and asked if I had read it.

When I allowed I had he immediately said, “I think it’s a great idea. I suppose you are very much against it, aren’t you?”

I replied, “Take a look at the back of the pamphlet.” The back of the pamphlet listed seven “solutions” I had developed and written down. It offered pamphlets like the one he held on all of the ideas—my ideas.

“You . . . wrote this?” he asked with great incredulity.

“And all of the others as well.”

“That’s amazing!” he exclaimed. “That sounds more like a liberal idea, than one you would come up with.”

I smiled. “It only goes to show how little you really know about me, doesn’t it? And how little you know about anyone you consider a conservative, or for that matter, anyone who isn’t in side that tight little exclusive box of ideas you virtually worship.”

“Now, don’t get nasty.” he warned.

“By getting nasty I suppose you mean saying anything that doesn’t fit inside your tight little box of ‘liberal’ ideas. It has been my observation that most liberals consider anything proposed or even uttered by a non-liberal that doesn’t fit in that box is considered hate speech.”

“Not really.”

“No? Tell me please, what political proposal that violates any of the holy tenets of liberalism by what Republican politician has not been labeled as hate speech.”

He couldn’t think of any. Incidentally, I wrote the original in 1999 and posted it to my blog in September 2005/ It was updated once in 2008, but still remains essentially as first written down. It’s at http://hjdrugprb.blogspot.com. Click on it if you’d like to see it.

In light of what is happening near our border with Mexico as I write this, my solution could put an immediate stop to all those murders. I am working on revising my proposal in this light very soon.

The financial crisis explained in simple terms.

NOTE: This is a version of a story I heard on talk radio and embellished and added, “The crisis was created deliberately by Liberals aided by greedy bankers and politicians buying votes.”
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Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Berlin . In order to increase sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are unemployed alcoholics - to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around, promoted by liberal politicians and their adoring media and as a result increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar.

Taking advantage of her customers' freedom from immediate payment constraints, Heidi gradually but steadily increases her prices for wine and beer, the most-consumed beverages gradually. Her sales volume increases massively as do her profits (and tax payments)

A young and dynamic customer service consultant at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. Deciding to expand she opens several new bars on her greatly expanded credit.

He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral.

At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert bankers transform these customer assets into DRINKBONDS, ALKBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then traded on markets worldwide. No one really understands what these abbreviations mean and how the securities are guaranteed. Nevertheless, as their prices continuously climb, the securities become top-selling items.

One day, although the prices are still climbing, a risk manager (subsequently of course fired due his negativity) of the bank decides that the time has come to demand payment of the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar and by Heidi for her greatly expanded business.

However they cannot pay back the debts.

Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy.

DRINKBOND and ALKBOND drop in price by 95 %. PUKEBOND performs better, stabilizing in price after dropping by 80 %.

The suppliers of Heidi's bar, having granted her generous payment due dates and having invested in the securities are faced with a new situation. Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor.

The bank is saved by “the Government” following dramatic round-the-clock consultations by leaders from the governing political parties.

The funds required for this purpose are obtained by a tax levied on the non-drinkers.

Finally an explanation I understand...
_____________________________________

In addition, the non-drinkers are mostly business people, some very wealthy, who hire 90% of the people employed and generate most of the new jobs. Seeing their profits deeply cut by the expanded taxes, they reduce their one-year and five-year financial budgets, cut their plans for expansion, reduce their payroll (that’s lay off many of their employees), and cancel orders for new equipment.

The stock market drops by 50% as investors move their holdings to safer places (like gold and Ireland).The media morosely reports the layoffs and order cancellations announcing, “We are now in a terrible recession brought about by greedy businessmen.” Consumer confidence (a very nebulous quality) drops precipitously, profits (and taxes) take a huge drop, and more and more businesses fail.

The government (who can’t manage anything and would seriously “screw up a one car parade”) takes over those failing “business that are too big to fail.” Between feuding and self-serving politicians and anal retentive government bureaucrats the economy collapses in line with a quote often attributed to a Scottish Historian, Alexander Tytler or Tyler. The true origin of the quote is obscure and might have originated in the early 20th century from an unknown politician or writer. Nevertheless, this does not detract from its accuracy.

One version of the quote on why democracies always fail is:

"A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only last until the citizens discover they can vote themselves largesse out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that the Democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, to be followed by a dictatorship, and then a monarchy."

A version of the second part of the misquote, attributed in 1983 to Arnold Toynbee is:

"The release of initiative and enterprise made possible by self-government ultimately generates disintegrating forces from within. Again and again, after freedom brings opportunity and some degree of plenty, the competent become selfish, luxury-loving and complacent; the incompetent and unfortunate grow envious and covetous; and all three groups turn aside from the hard road of freedom to worship the golden calf of economic security. The historical cycle seems to be: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more."

But the person who appears to be the actual author ot the second part is Henning Webb Prentis, Jr., President of the Armstrong Cork Company. In a speech entitled "Industrial Management in a Republic," delivered in the grand ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria at New York during the 250th meeting of the National Conference Board on March 18, 1943, and recorded on p. 22 of Industrial Management in a Republic, Prentis had this to say:

“Paradoxically enough, the release of initiative and enterprise made possible by popular self-government ultimately generates disintegrating forces from within. Again and again after freedom has brought opportunity and some degree of plenty, the competent become selfish, luxury-loving and complacent, the incompetent and the unfortunate grow envious and covetous, and all three groups turn aside from the hard road of freedom to worship the Golden Calf of economic security. The historical cycle seems to be: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more.

“At the stage between apathy and dependency, men always turn in fear to economic and political panaceas. New conditions, it is claimed, require new remedies. Under such circumstances, the competent citizen is certainly not a fool if he insists upon using the compass of history when forced to sail uncharted seas. Usually so-called new remedies are not new at all. Compulsory planned economy, for example, was tried by the Chinese some three milleniums ago, and by the Romans in the early centuries of the Christian era. It was applied in Germany, Italy and Russia long before the present war broke out. Yet it is being seriously advocated today as a solution of our economic problems in the United States. Its proponents confidently assert that government can successfully plan and control all major business activity in the nation, and still not interfere with our political freedom and our hard-won civil and religious liberties. The lessons of history all point in exactly the reverse direction.”

For more information about these quotes and their sources go to:
. . . http://www.lorencollins.net/tytler.html

Observations about trust and major disappointments

Observations about trust - a short one

I have a very simple rule regarding trust for friends and family. I trust them recognizing that they, like myself, can be mistaken or fooled. It's a whole lot easier to trust those I know than to bother with doubts. I have been stung a very few times, but as I have always said, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." It simply makes sense and I don't believe I’ve ever been fooled twice.

As far as those who are not family or friends:

I believe nothing I hear on TV, radio, movies or the Internet that does not make logical sense to me or I cannot personally prove, especially if it doesn't pass a scientific test. That's the basics, math, physics, and chemistry.

I believe nothing I hear from the so called, "unbiased" main stream media that I don't personally know to be true from other sources. Their biggest lie is not reporting or minimizing news that does not promote their leftist agenda.

I believe nothing any politician says, ever. Even things that make sense to my logical mind. I always think there must be something I'm missing, usually about who is the real beneficiary and where the money is going.

Major Disappointments:

I am particularly distressed when I hear these man-on-the-street questions that stump so many Americans, particularly about our government. These interviews usually conducted by late night TV or talk radio make me wonder if those people being interviewed ever attended any school or read anything but advertising copy in their entire life.

Then there are the political fiascos like the senate race in Minnesota. How anyone could vote for that idiotic failed comedian and caricature of a human, Al Franken, for the US Senate is beyond my comprehension. Then watching the blatant vote fraud conducted by Democrats who used the recount process to "find" more than a thousand "misplaced" ballots, all for Franken, even finding more ballots for two precincts than there were voters in those precincts. Of course, as soon as they produced enough votes to push Franken over Stevens, the Democrat secretary of state certified the election and pronounced Franken the winner.

For my money the Democrat party is totally corrupt, buying and manufacturing votes with total impunity, right out of the Cook County IL Democrat machine play book. Meanwhile their coconspirators in the "unbiased" main stream media completely ignore these blatant unethical if not illegal activities and fawn over Obama and his wife. Our new President obviously was and probably still is involved up to his eyeballs in Cook County Democrat machine crooked politics. Of course the MSM (Main Stream Media) will never even breathe any of this so it has to be found from other more reliable sources.

I hate to admit it, but many Republicans are as crooked and self serving as their Democrat counterparts. Unfortunately they are amateurs at vote stealing and don't have the adoration of the MSM so they are quite unpopular.

I am amazed at how the American people seem to accept all this criminal activity as normal and acceptable. I guess the new Americans believe that the way to get what you want is to lie, cheat and steal. It’s all right as long as you don’t get caught or are a Democrat politician and get a pass. Perhaps that is the new American ethic replacing the old hard work ethic of previous generations of Americans and new immigrants. Never in our history have so many politicians become so wealthy so fast as Democrats like the Clintons, Reid, Pelosi, Raines, Obama, and others. I wonder where all that sudden new wealth came from—I mean really came from, not the conveniently opportune immediate source. The real sources are doubtless hidden by several untraceable steps. No wonder there are so many felons and criminally indicted in the halls of our nation’s federal buildings. It seems like criminal accusations and indictments are almost a testimonial for so many Democrats. There are so many it would be foolish fo me to list them here. They run continuously from Bobby Baker (remember, he took a fall for Lyndon Johnson) to Jessie Jackson’s protégée, Mel Reynolds (sent to prison for bank fraud and having sex with a minor) to William Jefferson from Louisiana (unexplained $100,000 found in his freezer - is he still in Congress?). How about Barney Frank having a male prostitution ring run from his home? (He says he knew nothing about it, snicker, snicker.) Any Republican or Conservative in these circumstances would have been hung, drawn, quartered, and boiled in oil by the main stream media.

To refresh you memories check out these websites:

Bobby Baker - . . . http://http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=4332

Mel Reynolds - . . . http://http://baic.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=57

William Jefferson - . . . http:///theoryequalsdogma.blogspot.com/2008/12/congressman-money-in-freezer-william.html

Barney Frank - . . . http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958598,00.html

Some interesting quotes:

* "[Karl] Marx never did a day of work in his life, and never took the trouble to find out how a worker really feels when on the job. He naturally assumed that workers were a lesser breed of intellectuals."
--Eric Hoffer

* "Natural science does not consist in ratifying what others have said, but in seeking the causes of phenomena."
--Saint Albertus Magnus

* "More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones."
--St. Teresa of Avila

* "Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead."
--G. K. Chesterton.

* "You shall not go about spreading slander among your kinsmen; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor's life is at stake. I am the LORD."
--Leviticus Chapter 19:16 NAB.

* "Every former protester I know passionately defends the actions of the 1960s and early '70s as "exercising our First-Amendment right to criticize government policies." None seems to have read the First Amendment to the end where it speaks about "peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government." More importantly, even in their advanced years, many seem incapable to confront the reality of having served the interest of America's enemies."
--Balint Vazsonyi.

* "The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once they get humanity strapped to the operating table, they operate on it with an ax."
--Eric Hoffer.

* "Enlightened people seldom or never possess a sense of responsibility"
--George Orwell.

* "Where is all the knowledge we lost with information?"
--T. S. Eliot.

* "There’s no such thing as life without bloodshed. I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, that everyone could live in harmony, is a really dangerous idea. Those who are afflicted with this notion are the first ones to give up their souls, their freedom."
--Cormac McCarthy.

* "If there were no God, there would be no atheists."
--G. K. Chesterton

* "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other."
--John Adams

* "In children we have an innocent audience not yet hardened and brutalized and made cynical. They look to us trustingly for information and enchantment. How very few of us are worthy of such trust.”
--Sterling North

* "A trained flea can be taught to do most the things a congressman does.
--Mark Twain

* "Add a few drops of venom to a half truth and you have an absolute truth."
--Eric Hoffer

* "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
--Philip K. Dick

* "With our progress we have destroyed our only weapon against tedium: that rare weakness we call imagination."
--Oriana Fallaci

* "Hollywood has unfortunately become a memory. It's nothing but a sign on the side of a hill."
--Mickey Rooney

* "The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it."
--George Orwell

* "The desire to transcend the human condition is an invitation to tyranny."
--Gertrude Himmelfarb

* "When only cops have guns, it's called a 'police state.'"
--Robert Heinlein

* "Without violence nothing is ever accomplished in history."
--Karl Marx

* “The United States will be a socialist dictatorship by 2030.”
-- Howard Johnson

Reflections on Inauguration day

I am not very hopeful our new President will acknowledge and follow the many excellent policies and programs of the last administration in spite of the attitudes he has shown on this up to today. Once he is President with a majority in both houses of Congress and an adoring press corps he will probably take a very different course. No matter what he does, the media will proclaim his greatness to the skies even as they cursed and damned our last President. The orgasmic reaction of the media will prove a real problem once Obama faces the realities of the office. Only then will we find out what he is made of. My guess is he will be a disappointment to many of his adoring subjects who almost all have their hands out. The political money machine is currently in deep doo doo and will probably continue to decline simply because those who make it work see Obama’s “change“ as a black hole of new and oppressive taxes and are planning accordingly.

The financial realities of nations like Ireland who radically lowered taxes on business and realized huge increases in economic growth even in tax revenue, are lost on those American liberal socialists who’s mantra is “soak the rich.” There is no question but that Obama’s announced policies caused many businesses to quickly cut back on investment and employment in their plans for the years ahead. All because business must plan at least a year ahead and many plan for five or even ten years. Looking at and planning for huge new taxes and their effects on profits, investors, owners, and business managers had no choice but to cut employment and expansion to the bone in order to survive. Add that to the government created and promoted mortgage crisis and the media’s constant harping, “the worst economy since the great depression” and you have a recipe for econoomic disaster. Incidently, the Carter years were much worse than the current crisis by any measure you can use and that is something the left including their media completely ignore. Together these factors make a serious and long depression like that of the thirties an almost certain result. Incidently, government jobs will definitely exacerbate the depression. Only private sector expansion and job creation has a positive effect on the economy. I firmly believe that the policies Obama and his liberal Congress will put into effect will prevent any recovery and will lengthen and strengthen the current economic woes in our nation. At this point in time I see Nancy Pelosi and her control freak Marxist efforts as even more dangerous for America than Obama’s, but the reality of that opinion remains to be seen.

I think we can get some idea of where Obama will take us from several salient facts. First of all, this inauguration is costing tax payers more than the last four inaugurations put together. And this at a time of dire financial conditions. Second, maybe small, but indicative of things to come. Michelle Obama has spent more money on food, entertainment and clothing since her husband’s campaign began that Laura Bush spent since GW took office. Her penchant for $400 lobster “snacks” at expensive hotels is well documented. Incidently, all of those tabs were picked up by “others.” The media panned Sarah Palin for spending so much Republican money on clothes during the campaign, but they never mentioned the bills the Democrat party picked up for Michelle, and she wasn’t even a candidate. I wonder why?

On the brighter side, we had a former President who, like Obama, was the product of a corrupt political machine yet who history now sees as one of our best Presidents. Harry Truman was disdained by many of his democrat colleagues, a number of whom tried to keep him out of the Presidential race. On spite of this he won the Presidency even with pundits predicting a Republican landslide. He surprised everyone with his performance, friends and foes alike, and is now called one of the best Presidents ever. Then there was the peanut farmer who’s policies brought on interest rates in the twenties, double digit inflation and unemployment, and a recession that was far worse than the current one, at least to this point. Perhaps Obama can rise above his corrupt beginnings and become a good President for all the people. I certainly hope so.

One other prediction—the media will change their tune soon after Obama takes office and will begin commenting on how the situation is now beginning to improve. Anecdotal success stories of “ordinary Americans” will begin replacing the doom and gloom stories so common for the last few years. The media will try improving the public’s confidence rather than destroying it as they did while the Bush administration was in power. It will be a miraculous “change” brought about by “the messiah.” Don’t kid yourself, this will happen.

As a result of the sickeningly fawning media, I absolutely refuse to watch any TV on inauguration day. I will listen to his speech over the radio, but most of the media are so orgasmic over our new President and his wife that it sickens me greatly. For obvious reasons, he is receiving the exact opposite treatment from that Bush and his wife received eight years ago. The media are providing Michelle the same adoration heaped on Jackie and then Princes Di. Elitism, royalty, and pop culture rule in the current main stream media.

That a product of one of the most corrupt political machines in the country who was ushered into the political process by known mobsters and radical, hate-filled so-called "holy" men should receive such adulation is pathetic. The extremely biased reporting of the media far out shadows the really important and historic fact that America has elected a "black" man President. They are treating him and his wife much more like rock stars or Hollywood celebrities than President and first lady. He was elected our "pop culture" President by hordes of celebrity worshipers who couldn't care a rat's annie about any of his policies except maybe his promise to "soak the rich." But wait a moment, his promise to “soak the rich” applies only to businessmen and then only to those who don’t contribute to the liberal cause. That is apparent from the number of private jets that flew into Washington for his inauguration. There were so many at Dulles they had to close a runway to park them. At more than 600, twice as many as had ever been there before, this was an unprecedented turnout of the wealthy privileged few who scoffed at the environmental impact of burning all that fuel and flaunted their wealth while thousands of ordinary citizens were losing their jobs and homes. Remember the brouhaha when three auto execs flew to Washington for a handout in their corporate jets? Hmmmmm! I wonder how many who came in those 600+ jets are looking for bail-out money for themselves?

Yes, "Hollywood" has taken over and that includes the media. They have triumphed over capitalism, business, Republicans, the religious right, and common sense with hatred and bluster. These promoters of celebrity worship more and more control the thoughts and actions of those who react emotionally without thinking and refuse even to listen to any who do not toe their "politically correct" lines on anything. When an asinine and inept comedian like Al Franken can become a U. S. Senator by stuffing ballot boxes and a totally inexperienced, stammering debutante looks to be appointed the next Senator from New York simply because she has the name Kennedy in her repertoire, our government has sunk to unprecedented new lows. Both along with numerous others should be an embarrassment and an insult to the American public. But wait, we've already proven that integrity, honor, intelligence, respect, experience, and most other attributes of personal excellence do not matter to the pop culture adherents in the entertainment world. There are only two things that count, celebrity and complete submission to the emotional and hate driven agenda of the far left. I wonder but one thing. When capitalism and business are destroyed in this country, who's going to pay the taxes to support the rapidly expanding and money consuming monster our government has become?

Two years ago I responded to a scathing message from Arianna Huffington condemning George Bush and the Republicans for virtually everything including natural disasters while praising the actions of Democrats. That response never made it to the Huffington Post, but did trigger a vitriolic email response from Arriana to your’s truly. I include my response verbatim.

My dear Ariana:

As usual, you are close to being right, but are looking in precisely the wrong direction. I see your Orwellian predictions as at least equal to and probably truly more applicable to those on the liberal left than the conservative right. Of course, I am quite disappointed in Republicans who seem more intent on aping the worst behavior of the liberal Democrats than applying a steady conservative hand to the nation. Democrats are on a rampage of hate and destruction simply because they are out of complete power. Like spoiled brats who can’t have their way, they scream destruction for the very nation that serves them. Republicans, so long out of power, seem unable to handle the power they do have, falling into the trap of mostly reacting to the constant stream of charges and accusations from Democrats who have behaved even worse for decades. The whole thing would be just another comedic struggle between groups of fairly equal idiots hungry for power were it not for the vast number of Americans who really care about their country and want their leaders to do the right thing democratically. These people in the middle, and I don’t mean moderates, but the poor individuals caught in this titanic and completely indefensible warfare between politicians and their media cohorts from the two sides are the ones who will ultimately suffer as they are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils in so many elections.

Myopic, and totally adversarial gadflies like your self from both political extremes help polarize the nation into warring factions who are becoming increasingly radical in what they say and encourage. Can major violence be far behind? I don’t think so. It appears to me even our general populace has sunk to new lows in recent years.

America has apparently become a nation of hate filled, boob grabbing, irrational, bed hopping, lying and cheating men with no understanding of culture, honor, responsibility, reverence, or respect, and who adore politicians who act, talk and posture as they do. Could it be the American male has sunk so far from civilization as to be almost completely controlled by his basic instincts? Has the macho, baby making culture of the Latin American males and the killing culture of the inner city males (and of many Muslims, I might add.) taken control of our young people? How about the women? American women have become vulgar, violent, vain, vindictive, venereal, vicious and vacant in a sorry imitation of the latest version of the male of the species, indeed trying to out do most males in cursing, fighting and sexual activity. Has the self-serving, self-centered, self-righteous, sex-obsessed, cursing "anti-lady" become the new feminist icon? Have Madonna and Hillary become the idols and heros of Americas "new" women?

The most primal primate instincts seem to have risen to the fore as the controlling force for so many. Freed from the moral constraints of religion, the emotional constraints of family and the cultural constraints of community while being constantly bombarded with the unbridled promotion of sex and violence, American young people are growing in anger, animosity and activism against everyone and everything they see as opposing their absolute freedom from any moral constraints. In addition, they are increasing in hatred for those who are benefitting from the existing system. This seems true no matter how hard those they hate have worked, how positive the results, or how many people benefitted or were carried to success by their efforts. Listen to and watch the music videos that our young buy in the millions and to the adulation they express towards their chosen icons who star in them. Exempted from the outpouring of hate and venom despite promoting it are the carriers of the message: the politicians, media icons, educators, sports heros, and activists who are whipping up this violent class warfare. In their diatribes they have been very careful to grant themselves immunity from all this hate and venom.

Is this the future of America? How far are fundamentalist liberals from the killings and mob violence of fundamentalist Muslims? I don’t think that kind of violence is very far away. It is infinitely easier and quicker to get attention by violent, destructive action than by peaceful, constructive efforts. 9-11 provides us with a prime example. Eric Hoffer gave a powerful description of these sick and sorry individuals many years ago when he wrote,

"Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. Thus people haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both."

It truly amazes me that Hoffer so accurately describes the political climate, actors and actions of today in words written during the forties, and fifties. That he so deftly describes the activist left of today, so very long ago is amazing. I shall use his quotes freely in this essay.

It is well known that intense hatred can unite people in a way nothing else can. People who dislike each other intensely will work together, even pause their own battles, to fight a common enemy, real or imagined. It is the power behind the lynch mob, the underlying force within riots, the basic motivator for war and the real enemy of peace. As is often the case, the so called, "peace movement" in our country is a movement that will lead us unerringly to hatred, violence and warfare. It is the last resort to those who have lost the legal, political, intellectual or practical battle against the other side for whatever reason. "When you can’t convince them or counter them democratically, bury them with protests and screaming hatred to silence them completely, or finally, blow them up." could well be the mantra of most protest groups. Freedom and individual independent and democratic action is the enemy of these groups that exist only because their programs or ideas do not convince the majority to adopt them. These are the sour grapes losers in democratic elections or determinations that would use any means to impose their will on the majority who did not agree with them in the first place. Once more, the prophetic words of Eric Hoffer,

"The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do. People unfit for freedom - who cannot do much with it - are hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an attribute of a "have" type of self. It says: leave me alone and I shall grow, learn, and realize my capacities. The desire for power is basically an attribute of a "have not" type of self."

Believe me, there are far more "have not" types than "have" types and the percentage seems to be growing. Maybe it’s because the "have not" types breed more frequently and so expand their genes in the human pool much faster and wider than the "have" types. In spite of strong economic growth and the widening breadth of middle income types, the numbers of individuals in the lowest economic and educational groups continues to expand. The trap of birth into the lowest economic and educational level is a trap these groups have great trouble overcoming despite countless government programs designed to provide just such a lift. This trap is certainly aided and abetted by self-styled "leaders" of these groups who desperately want to keep their minions in poverty and ignorance so they can control them. Why is this and how did it come to be?

In my own perception the biggest cause is cultural bias aided and abetted by a system of education geared to the poorest students. Excellence is almost deemed an evil in so much of our present culture. That there is a concerted effort to label those who excel intellectually and in earning power in a negative light is obvious. Poor students are told that the reason they are not successful is outside of their control and is being imposed on them by others for their own benefit. People told they are not to blame for their own problems will rarely if ever make any effort to solve their problems. They have a valid and highly touted "reason" not to succeed constantly being rammed down their throats. People who assume the responsibility to solve their own problems will usually solve these problems themselves, even those few problems for which they lack complicity or responsibility. Again, the prophetic words of Eric Hoffer:

"The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one where opportunities are abundant. In an affluent society, the alienated who clamor for power are largely untalented people who cannot make use of the unprecedented opportunities for self-realization, and cannot escape the confrontation with an ineffectual self."

Here is a classic example from my own experience: My church as part of their outreach program sponsored a Cambodian refugee family each year. These families, often with three generations, were provided a house to live in, a program to learn to speak English, and help in obtaining employment. Few of their members had any job skills and the language barrier was another major obstacle to normal employment. Fast forward three years for the very first family. The parents and three children are now fluent in English. The grand parents speak some English, but because they stayed home to care for the children they did not have the pressing needs of the parents. All three children rank very highly in a school system known for its high achieving students. Both parents have good jobs and have advanced steadily because of hard work and good skills development. By the time of my last contact with this church, the family has paid back almost ninety percent of the down payment made by the church for their house. They would soon have the title and mortgage in their own names. They were not required to repay the church, but insisted, saying the church could use the money to sponsor another family. They had become successful, contributing, tax paying Americans with no drag on the local economy or welfare programs. Every Cambodian family our church sponsored followed this same pattern.

Why is it that many inner city families, and in particular, African American families are unable to do this? In my opinion it is the vast difference between cultures and an indictment of our own culture that so demeans the unfamilied, the poor and the uneducated. For all their pious pronouncements, so many so-called leaders of inner city communities not only blame everything under the sun except the poor themselves, but insist the poor will remain poor unless they (these leaders) are given the power and the money to dole out to them. Apparently they have never heard the old Chinese saying, "Give a man a fish and he has food for a day. Teach a man to fish and he has food from then on." In actuality, programs to educate and help the poor to pull themselves up by their bootstraps along with a great deal of individual initiative by some of these same people has brought a massive movement of the poor into the ranks of middle and even higher income folks. This in spite of being told constantly they cannot do so on their own.

Do these same "leaders" talk encouragingly about this progress and how individuals have worked hard within the system to succeed and advance themselves up the educational and economic ladder? No! They not only hammer away at absolving the poor from any culpability in their sorry state, but even condemn someone like Bill Cosby when he dared to suggest that the poor have some responsibility for helping themselves. In effect they loudly proclaim, "The enemy is the system that is deliberately denying you any opportunity to climb out of your lowly state. They owe you (lots of money) just for being poor and you should demand it now." It seems to me they are doing everything in their power to keep the poor poor and subservient to their leadership. Why do they do this? I believe it is because they know that hate unites and they use hate skillfully to get their serfs to do their bidding.

Once more I turn to Eric Hoffer for appropriate thoughts:

"All mass movements avail themselves of action as a means of unification. The conflicts a mass movement seeks and incites serve not only to down its enemies but also to strip its followers of their distinct individuality and render them more soluble in the collective medium."

"There is apparently some connection between dissatisfaction with oneself and proneness to credulity. The urge to escape our real self is also an urge to escape the rational and the obvious. The refusal to see ourselves as we are develops a distaste for facts and cold logic. There is no hope for the frustrated in the actual and the possible. Salvation can come to them only from the miraculous, which seeps through a crack in the iron wall of inexorable reality. They asked to be deceived."

Could anyone better describe those who support the liberal left?

"There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life. Moreover, when we have an alibi for not writing a book, painting a picture, and so on, we have an alibi for not writing the greatest book and not painting the greatest picture. Small wonder that the effort expended and the punishment endured in obtaining a good alibi often exceed the effort and grief requisite for the attainment of a most marked achievement."

The liberal left and their subservient gadflies have honed victimism, individual irresponsibility, hate for the productive, and envy for the successful into a high art form. They look at their own failings and evils and loudly accuse their opposition of doing the same things. Their message to their eager hate-filled mob is, "Our opposition is just as evil and conniving as we are, but we’ll take a whole lot more from the rich and successful and bring them down to your level–really make them suffer. Who cares if we destroy the country, you’ll at least get your revenge." That is indeed a powerful, motivating message and it is working.

I agree with Osama bin Laden in one of his statements. "America will soon collapse into oblivion. All we have to provide is a tiny bit of terror every year or two. It will fan their internal flames of hatred and disturb their already precarious internal power balance. They will soon destroy each other. Islam will then march triumphant over the rotting corpses of these satanic monsters. Their passion for things of the flesh and not of the spirit will surely destroy them." I pray this is not prophetic, but fear that it is.

June 15, 1858 Abraham Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand! I believe this government cannot endure permanently..." (paraphased from this point on) half left and half right. I expect the Union to be dissolved in a massive, violent... Leaders of the liberal left are indeed doing everything in their power to divide our nation with hate and vitriol while at the same time claiming it is their opposition that is causing the division. Somehow they seem to think that by destroying the nation they will come to power, permanently as a socialist, atheist dictatorship arises from the debris and ashes of the capitalist nation that once was America. The prophetic words of the Scottish historian, Tyler will have come to pass. The "shot heard round the world" will have at last been silenced. The serfdom of the middle ages will once more prevail with all new masters–lords and ladies. Virtually all people except those in power will have been reduced to the lowest common economic, social and educational common denominator. We will then have true liberal equality?

I'm sure you get lots of emails and lots of links to blogs, but do you ever read or listen to any who disagree with your opinions? Most liberals I know of listen to or read only the words of those who agree with them. You might browse through a list of my blogs. It has links to lots of stuff you may never hear about. Click on http://hjbloglist.blogspot.com/ and see some different views about a lot of things.

Howard Johnson

Where now? The economy, down or far down?

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Most of our politicians do not seem to be about solving problems. They seem to have become more about creating them with increasing frequency and severity, and using them as clubs with which to bludgeon opponents. Now it looks as if they are going to kill off all America’s spirit and incentive to work and create by punitive taxation and wealth redistribution. Read that as take from the haves and give to the have nots. Or, as Karl Marx put it, “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” (taken by threat of prison and enforced by men with guns and handcuffs.)

It looks like the government (who can’t manage anything and would seriously “screw up a one car parade”) will take over those failing “business that are too big to fail.” Between feuding and self-serving politicians and anal retentive government bureaucrats our economy will surely collapse in line with a quote often attributed to a Scottish Historian, Alexander Tytler or Tyler. The true origin of the quote is obscure and might have originated in the early 20th century from an unknown politician or writer. Nevertheless, this does not detract from its accuracy.

One version of the quote on why democracies always fail is:

"A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only last until the citizens discover they can vote themselves largesse out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that the Democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, to be followed by a dictatorship, and then a monarchy."

A version of the second part of the misquote, attributed in 1983 to Arnold Toynbee is:

"The release of initiative and enterprise made possible by self-government ultimately generates disintegrating forces from within. Again and again, after freedom brings opportunity and some degree of plenty, the competent become selfish, luxury-loving and complacent; the incompetent and unfortunate grow envious and covetous; and all three groups turn aside from the hard road of freedom to worship the golden calf of economic security. The historical cycle seems to be: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more."

But the person who appears to be the actual author is Henning Webb Prentis, Jr., President of the Armstrong Cork Company. In a speech entitled "Industrial Management in a Republic," delivered in the grand ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria at New York during the 250th meeting of the National Conference Board on March 18, 1943, and recorded on p. 22 of Industrial Management in a Republic, Prentis had this to say:

“Paradoxically enough, the release of initiative and enterprise made possible by popular self-government ultimately generates disintegrating forces from within. Again and again after freedom has brought opportunity and some degree of plenty, the competent become selfish, luxury-loving and complacent, the incompetent and the unfortunate grow envious and covetous, and all three groups turn aside from the hard road of freedom to worship the Golden Calf of economic security. The historical cycle seems to be: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more.

“At the stage between apathy and dependency, men always turn in fear to economic and political panaceas. New conditions, it is claimed, require new remedies. Under such circumstances, the competent citizen is certainly not a fool if he insists upon using the compass of history when forced to sail uncharted seas. Usually so-called new remedies are not new at all. Compulsory planned economy, for example, was tried by the Chinese some three milleniums ago, and by the Romans in the early centuries of the Christian era. It was applied in Germany, Italy and Russia long before the present war broke out. Yet it is being seriously advocated today as a solution of our economic problems in the United States. Its proponents confidently assert that government can successfully plan and control all major business activity in the nation, and still not interfere with our political freedom and our hard-won civil and religious liberties. The lessons of history all point in exactly the reverse direction.”

For more information about these quotes and their sources go to http://www.lorencollins.net/tytler.html

The recent election was all about money from the public treasury—money for this group or that group—lowering taxes for those who currently pay the least and raising taxes on those who now pay the most. We are among the highest taxed nations in the world and the incoming congress and administration promise more and bigger taxes. Within a year the US will have the highest overall rate of taxation of any nation. This is an indicator of economic doom. Here are the facts.

After the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debacles came the gifts of $700 billion in our tax dollars to financial institutions who, because of their own greed amplified by government interference, seriously damaged our economy costing billions of dollars in losses for a great many people. And just how many hundreds of millions did those individuals responsible for the mortgage debacle stick into their own pockets and walk away with? They should be stripped of their property and dumped in jail, but what’s really going to happen to them? Well, glory be! They are now in charge of fixing the very fiasco they orchestrated. Something is very wrong here.

Since then we have seen several other leaches with their hands out come to Washington to ask for billions to save their own sorry butts, some even flew there in their private jets. I see no reason why the big three can’t do what the airlines did by using chapter 11 to reorganize and become competitive again. I know most pilots had their pay cut in half and many lost most if not all of their pensions. With big three auto workers at about $74 per hour while foreign auto makers in America (who are not asking for a bail-out) pay their employees about $43 per hour. Gimme a break! This is more a bail out of the UAW than the auto companies. Unless they dump those ridiculous pay and benefit scales and become truly competitive, all that money will just disappear down the usual political payoff rat hole. How many more companies are waiting in the wings to dip their hands into the till? Why can’t we afford to let them fail? All that money is just sending good money after bad and will only postpone the inevitable. It’s bite the bullet now or bite a bigger bullet harder later.

At present, government creates problems because our elected officials ignore or deliberately refuse to see the realities going on all around them. Without exception in virtually all nations, the higher their taxes, the slower their economic growth. It has even been shown that virtually every time taxes are increased, total tax revenue decreases. The opposite is also true. When taxes are lowered, business thrives and grows, the economy becomes more vital, more new jobs are created, and tax revenue increases. Certainly there is a point of no return, but the result of Ireland’s drastic cut in business taxes to 12.5% including capital gains clearly demonstrates the efficacy of business taxes far lower than what we have currently. To increase business taxes is one certain way to lower tax revenue and damage an economy. It may make some people feel good to see politicians punish the “wealthy” by taking their hard earned money, but when it costs them their job things may look a bit different. It’s low tax rates and a business friendly atmosphere that makes for a successful, growing economy. There have been countless examples throughout history and all over the world. Government taxes and controls stifle creativity, productivity, satisfaction, incentive, and the creation of wealth. The less government controls and taxes the more incentive the people have to be creative and work diligently. This always results in greater creativity, productivity, satisfaction, and the creation of wealth. Even the Chinese have realized that and acted on it. I have asked numerous liberal leftists about this fact but they have no answer. They seem more interested in punishing the “wealthy” (a relative term) and bringing them down than in rewarding diligence, thrift, and inventiveness and so bringing up those on the lower income levels. At the same time they seem to want to reward those who for any reason are unable or unwilling to work to earn their keep.

A look at America’s tax systems.

US personal CGT (Capital Gains Tax) is now 15% (5% for lowest income brackets) (Obama has proposed to at least double this rate)

US corporation CGT is 35% (Obama proposed to immediately raise this to 39%)

US Corporate income tax rate is now 35% (Obama has hinted at rates as high as 55%.)

SS tax rates are 15.4% of gross income (that’s a flat tax on the first dollar earned up to $103,000,00 per year, no deductions) (Obama has proposed we tax all income at this rate.)

VAT(Value Added Tax) varies from 0% to 9% by state and municipality.

State income tax rates vary from 0% in seven states (2 states tax only dividend and interest income) to 8.14% in NY and 10.2% in CA. New York City adds a 4% city income tax.

Total state tax burden varies from a low of 6.4% in Alaska to a high of 11.9% in New Jersey. Most of the high rate states are in the north east with New York second at 11.7%. California is 4th at 10.8%

Hidden federal taxes on purchases (excise, transport, license fees, etc.) amount to between 15% and 24% of every dollar spent by every individual for everything purchased. This tax falls heaviest on those with the lowest incomes.

Federal excise taxes are 18.4¢ per gallon for gasoline and 24.4¢ per gallon for diesel. Since fuel is taxed by the gallon, when gasoline prices fall the percent taken by taxes rises and visa versa.

There are many other hidden and specific taxes and tax exemptions that transfer money from private citizens to the federal, state and municipal treasuries.

All of these taxes—all of them—are actually paid by the public, the consumer, the end user. Corporations don’t pay taxes. Professionals don’t pay taxes. Taxes levied on any private income generating entity are merely passed through to the end user in the price they pay for the goods and/or services they purchase. THEY ARE A COST OF DOING BUSINESS! Just like rent, utilities, advertising, and all other business expenses they end up on the “expense” side of any business ledger and must be balanced by income. All expenses are added into the price of goods and services supplied by the company or individual who is in any business or profession. I really don’t know why this is so difficult to understand. The result is that when taxes are raised, the total amount of that increase is passed on to the consumer.

Example: Take a hardware store that sells paint. Say that at present the paint sells for $20.00 per gallon and that the store makes a gross profit of $5.00 on each gallon of paint that yields a net profit after expenses and taxes of $2.00. That’s 10% of sales. Now comes the government and raises the tax on net profit to the tune of 50¢ on each can of paint. The store owner realizes this and in order to maintain his level of profitability and be able to support his family, he raises the price of the paint to $20.50 per gallon. He also raises the price of every other item in his store by the same percentage, 2.5%. His competitors, faced with the same tax increase, will raise their prices as well.

You can apply this rule to every business, profession, individual, and corporation in the world. All taxes are ultimately paid by the end user. You can rest assured the guy who is the head of the hardware conglomerate that supplies the paint had his taxes raised as well so his price to the hardware store has gone up another 25¢ which he passed on to the hardware store owner as a wholesale price increase. This 25¢ added to the cost of the paint means the store owner must add that in as well so the paint now sells for $20.75 per gallon. Now think about all the components that go into that one product: the pigment, the oils, even the can and label, all have added to the cost of the can of paint. Let’s say all these little increases from the raise in tax add up to another 20¢ in the wholesale cost of that paint. The store owner must now raise his selling price another 20¢ to $20.95 .

But wait just a moment. This leaves the store owner with the exact same income he had last year and because of the tax increase everything is now about 5% more expensive. He does some quick calculations and decides that in order to maintain his living standard he must raise the price of the paint (and everything else in his store)at least 5% just to stay even. Then his clerks come to him complaining their take-home-pay has dropped and in the face of rising prices for everything, they need at least a 10% raise. His landlord raises his rent and on and on until that can of paint is now selling for $21.29. So, who really pays for tax increases?

Now let’s look at one of those wealthy taxpayers who are going to get soaked by all those raises in corporate and capital gains taxes. Joe is a multi millionaire with a large stock portfolio, some real estate and a good chunk in the bank. His investment counselor called him early last year and suggested that the future didn’t look good for several reasons including specifically a drastic drop in the real estate market and a huge increase in income and capital gains taxes. It took Joe more than two months to liquidate most of his real estate and sell many of the American stocks he held. He flew to Ireland and looked into some real estate and business investments there. He lost nearly 25% of his holdings because of the declining markets, but is certain he will gain in the long run because of the vigor of the Irish economy and the Irish capital gains tax of 12.5% instead of the 39% CGT America is facing. He had started a small energy research company in California several years ago that had grown to thirty employees. In August he moved the entire operation and all but five employees to Dublin. He also moved most of his cash to the Bahamas. He will wait to see how the new administration and congress act before deciding what else he must do to maximize his asset growth. His home in Palo Alto has been put up for sale. When asked about his losses from liquidation he replied, “I will be receiving a larger after tax income from a smaller but growing investment so I should make up my losses rather quickly. Right now I am considering moving to Ireland permanently.”

The Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, two center-left think tanks, said that, "a lower corporate tax rate and a lower capital gains tax would encourage multinational corporations to invest more in the United States and, for a given amount of investment, to report a larger share of their worldwide taxable income to the United States instead of foreign treasuries." With investment capital deserting our economy in huge quantities because of punitive business taxes is it any wonder the American stock market is crumbling? It is interesting to note that as Obama’s poll numbers dropped the market gained ground and visa versa. Since the election the stock market has been in a virtual free fall. This drop is the direct result of the anticipated tax increases that are already a major factor in our failing economy.

Let’s look at some tax consequences at today’s rates:
First, take Ahmed, a resident of New York City at the lowest income level. Assuming no federal income tax look at what happens to $100.00 he earns. FICA tax takes 15.4%, State Income tax takes 8.14% and New York City takes 4%. That takes from Ahmed $27.54 reducing his after tax earnings to $72.46. Then when he spends that amount to purchase life necessities lets say these have the minimum hidden taxes of 18% or $13.04 giving him a total tax burden of $40.58 out of the original $100.00 he earned. That’s a rate of taxation of the poorest NYC wage earner of more than 40%. Who said the poor don’t pay taxes?

Second, the same earnings in December of Louise, a person in the highest tax bracket. Under the present law, state and city income taxes take the same amount, $12.14. (She pays no FICA tax because she has passed the maximum income) The highest Income tax bracket of 35% takes another $35.00 reducing her after tax earnings to $52.86. When she spends that amount, minimum hidden taxes of 18% take $9.51 for total tax burden of $56.65 out of the original $100.00 she earned. That’s a rate of taxation of the wealthiest NYC wage earner of 56.65%, just 41.65% higher than the poorest. This means that the wealthiest New Yorkers pay less than 50% higher taxes than the poorest New Yorkers. Sounds more like soak the poor than soak the rich. Like Joe in the earlier example, Louise has options Ahmed does not.

Let’s look at the third example. Louise is not a wage earner. Instead, she makes her living with investments, holding, buying and trading stocks. By holding them for more than a year and then reporting her income as capital gains she would only be liable for 15% tax on her capital gains and dividends. She would have 6.85% NY state CGT and 2.3% city CGT (capital gains tax). So, how does this shake out. Federal CGT would be $15.00, State CGT $6.85 and city would be $2.30 or a total of $24.15, a rate of taxation of 24.15%, lower than the tax rate of the poorest taxpayer. But look at it another way. Of that $100.00 earned, she would retain $75.85. If her ordinary expenses were $5.85 out of that, it would leave her with $75.00 to reinvest to grow business and create jobs for other people. The more investment capital she had, the more jobs she could create and the more the total economy would grow.

Small business owners employ the largest number of workers in the private sector. Recent interviews with many of these businessmen show their planning for the next few years has been scaled back considerably. Most have put off or cancelled expansion plans and new jobs. Some are planning facility closings and layoffs. Some that can are moving off shore while others are closing their doors and going out of business. This does not bode well for our economy and is all a direct result of promised tax increases. I know why rank and file workers are so blind to these realities, but why is it that politicians and the media refuse to recognize them?

Would any of you liberals out there tell me where my math is wrong or what should actually be done that will not destroy the American economy? Facts and logic please!