Friday, December 14, 2012

Tweet: " If getting employer benefits without paying union dues is BAD, why is getting government benefits without paying taxes GOOD? "

This is a great tweet:
If getting employer benefits without paying union dues is BAD, why is getting government benefits without paying taxes GOOD?  - Twitter
There is absolutely no audit or accountability on all of the money and services being handed out to a good portion of the population. Sure, there is the occasional story about Government employees buying all sorts of items for personal use on Government credit cards, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. How many people are working under the table and collecting Government benefits? How much fraud is out there? How many people simply are eligible to collect some kind of Government handout because instead of leaning forward and trying to find work, they lean back and grab the remote...

Liberals are claiming that to work in a union shop you need to pay union dues, otherwise you are not paying your fair share. Well what about the large portion of the population not paying taxes? Everyone is claiming that the rich, who are already paying large sums in taxes, are not paying their fair share. Well what about everyone else? If their fair share really 0%?

Thursday, December 13, 2012

National Park Service - Job Killer

Ken Salazar is the United States Secretary of the Interior. In his position he is in charge of the U.S. Government Department responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, territorial affairs, and to insular areas of the United States. His Department includes the National Park Service.

Recently he made news for refusing to renew a lease for California's last remaining oyster farm:
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a popular oyster farm at Drakes Bay on Thursday to pack up and leave, effectively ending more than a century of shellfish harvesting on the picturesque inlet where Europeans first set foot in California.

Salazar's decision ends a long-running dispute between the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. and the National Park Service over the estuary at Point Reyes National Seashore where Sir Francis Drake landed more than 400 years ago.

The National Park Service intends to turn the 2,700-acre area into the first federally designated marine wilderness area on the West Coast, giving the estuary special protected status as an unaltered ecological region. To do that, Salazar rejected the oyster company's proposal to extend its 40-year lease to harvest shellfish on 1,100 acres of the property.

Salazar gave the farm 90 days to move out, issuing his decision a day before the lease was set to expire and one week after visiting the Point Reyes National Seashore for a tour. - SFGATE.com

The Obama Administration always talk about how they are 'Pro-Jobs' but they never do anything to show it, unless it happens to be a teacher or Government job. As I have said a number of times before, the Democrats HATE YOUR JOB. This is a perfect example. This decision kills off this business and all of the jobs associated with it.

Now Secretary Salazar is claiming that this decision is for the benefit of the collective people of the United States, but lets see if they let us enjoy this 'treasured landscape'. This is the same part of the Government that has been restricting access to beaches for a while now, including the infamous 'Leave No Footprints behind' signs.
Planning a vacation this summer to Miami’s Biscayne Bay for a little fishing?

Think again, because the National Park Service wants to set aside a large swath of the pristine area as a marine reserve zone, so you might have to leave the fishing poles at home. And the boat.

Perhaps horseback riding is more your speed and the family plans to ride through California’s Sequoia or Kings Canyon National Parks? Sorry, but all of the permits were pulled for those activities this summer.

Or maybe you just want to lounge on the soft sands of North Carolina’s Outer Banks and read a novel, fly a kite with the kids, toss a Frisbee to the dog, and watch dad catch some fish?

No, no, no and no.

Beachcombers along specific stretches of those legendary shores are seeing signs telling them to leave their kites and pets at home, and to watch where they step.

“Leave no footprints behind. Walk in water where footprints wash away,” read the signs posted in February by federal officials.

Beaches that once welcomed fisherman to drive up to the water’s edge are also off-limits to the vehicles, and so is fishing.

These vacation destinations are all national parks that once encouraged such recreational uses and enjoyment but their new “no trespassing” attitudes have angered the local communities, and some in Congress as well. - Human Events
Killing jobs at the beach is becoming a speciality of the Obama Administration.
In California, Republican Rep. Devin Nunes says that by eliminating horseback rides to the backcountry, the National Park Service has essentially blocked the only access that many Americans, including those with disabilities and the elderly, have to wilderness areas. The new restrictions are the result of a lawsuit brought by environmentalists who say the activity may be a threat to nature.

Losing the permits means that at least 15 companies that provided horseback rides are out of work this summer, along with an estimated 500 employees.

“This is just another example of the Obama administration actively killing jobs,” Nunes said. “They have the authority to seek permission from the courts to put these folks back to work, yet they have so far refused to entertain the option.” - Human Events
If the Democrats could get away with it, they would ban access to these areas entirely in the spirit of protecting the environment.

P.S.
Keep in mind that this is the same part of the US Government that lost a $3+ Billion court case related to mismanagement of revenue due to the American Indian trust funds.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Ace - 'What Does Let It Burn Mean?'

Ace over at Ace of Spades blog masterfully explains the strategy/philosophy of 'What Does Let It Burn Mean?'
“Let It Burn” is about inaction. There’s no point in trying do anything that avoids going over the fiscal cliff/sequestration. Remember, the deal that got us to this point was agreed to by House Republicans, Senate Democrats and signed by Obama. That’s as bi-partisan as it gets. I’ve heard from squishy low information voters, Obama and the media that “bi-partisan problem solving” is the Holy Grail of politics. Well, here it is. Will it lead to massive disruptions? Yes. That’s the point. The current system is rigged against conservative. We should play no part in its perpetuation. If you can’t win the game, concede and start new one. That’s the heart of Let It Burn. This isn't some petty "I lost so I'm taking my ball and going home" tirade. This is what people want. It's simply not sustainable. If we can't stop them, we don't have to continue to enable them either. - Ace of Spades
Go read the whole thing.

The first weekend after the election I was talking with a friend who knew I wished that the results would have been different. I explained that it is OK as in time my position will be proven correct once the Government runs out of ways to borrow and take an unsustainable amount of money for ever increasing spending. Her comment back was that it sounded like my plan was to let it all burn down. I corrected her by stating that my plan was to elect a President willing to try and fix the country's spending problem. It was my expectation that the country was going to burn down under the weight of uncontrolled spending.

As Ace's piece argues, the sooner the better. The population needs a harder lesson. Thinking that other people can pay your way is fine, until you run out of other people. We have hit that point.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

2.3 Percent Tax on Medical Devices To Kill Thousands of US Jobs

Keep in mind that the US Government's definition of 'Medical Devices' that will be subject to a 2.3% tax on gross sales includes even such generic items such as rubber gloves. Even better, the tax applies to products that are are also used in veterinary medicine.

So vet visits are probably going to go up as well. And since this is a gross sales tax, regardless of profit or loss, it seems that some medical manufactures are thinking twice about having their manufacturing in the US:
According to the Treasury Department, the medical device companies actually stand to benefit from the law. Though the 2.3 percent tax hits the industry, the department argues that the millions of new health care customers insured as a result of the law will increase the demand in hospitals to order more equipment -- in turn boosting medical device companies' profits.

That’s not how the industry sees it. Stephen J. Ubl, president of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, said this week in response to the IRS rules that the tax could cost thousands of jobs – and is already causing companies to lay off workers and cut back on research and development.

“While Washington talks about a fiscal cliff, this tax could push us off an innovation cliff, costing as many as 43,000 jobs and hurting the ability of medical technology companies to find tomorrow’s treatments and cures. It should be repealed,” he said. - Fox News
Sure, you can say that it is only 2.3 percent, but this is out of a maximum of 100%, any more and the business involved is operating at a loss. Out of that 100% revenue total needs to come all of the expenses of the business from raw materials, salaries, manufacturing, research and so on. And lets not forget that if you manage to make a profit, you need to pay taxed before passing those profits to the shareholders, who then pay taxes on this same profit again.

As I have said before, President Obama and the Democrats hate your job. This is just one more example where they are doing nothing to protect these jobs or the industry as a whole, which I would dare say is probably a global powerhouse of development and innovation and at the end of the day a source of massive amounts of tax revenue both directly from the corporations as well as from those who back these companies and eventually profit from them.

Update: 11 Dec 12
 Surprise! Senate Democrats are calling for a delay in implementing this job-killing tax:
In a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid, 18 Democrat senators and senators-elect have asked for “a delay in the implementation” of the Obamacare medical device tax. Like most of the significant tax increases in Obamacare, the medical device tax is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2013, conveniently after the 2012 presidential election.

Each of the 18 Democrat signatories voted for or supported Obamacare in the first place. And now they want a sweetheart exemption from one of its most onerous provisions. Even in Washington DC, that shows a lot of gall. - ATR.Org (Click to read the list of Democrat Senators signing the letter)
There is one way to delay the tax, delay ObamaCare!

Monday, December 10, 2012

US Government Borrowing $4.8 billion Per Day

As some conservative blogs have been pointing out, what is not sustainable cannot continue forever.
(CNSNews.com) – The federal government ran a deficit of $292 billion for the first two months of fiscal year 2013 – October and November 2012 – amounting to $4.8 billion of borrowed money each day. “The federal budget deficit was $292 billion for the first two months of fiscal year 2013, $57 billion more than the shortfall recorded in October and November of last year,” CBO said in its Monthly Budget Review Friday. - CNSNews.com

That comes out the the US borrowing $160 a day per American (at 300 million Americans) or $640 a day for a family of 4 including weekends. so for each week, the Government is borrowing $4,480. At this rate, the US Government will borrow over $58,000 per American in 2013 which totals over $230,000 for a family of four. Keep in mind, this is not what they plan on spending per American, that total is much great. This is only what they have to borrow because tax revenue is not enough to pay for all their spending. 

Just one more example of why this is s spending problem not a revenue problem. After all, how can you possibly keep up this level of spending when the Government is spending more per person that 98% of the population earns

Friday, December 7, 2012

Howard Dean: "The Truth Is Everybody Needs To Pay More Taxes, Not Just The Rich"

I have said it before, the rich do not have enough money to pay for all the Democrats spending demands. At least one prominent Democrat is willing to admit this:
The only problem is -- and this is initially going to seem like heresy from a progressive is -- the truth is everybody needs to pay more taxes, not just the rich. And it's a good start. But we're not going to get out of this deficit problem unless we raise taxes across the board, to go back to what Bill Clinton had and his taxes. And if we don't do that, the problem is the pressure is going to be on spending even more. - Real Clear Politics

Click the link and watch the interview. Howard Dean admits that the country would actually be better off if we go over the 'financial cliff' and return to the Clinton era tax rates for everybody, because that is how you really increase Government tax revenue.

Increasing taxes on the rich only solves 8% of the deficit problem. President Obama and the Democrats are silent about the other 92% of the solution because they have no intention of solving the problem.