Wednesday, April 15, 2009

T.E.A.'d Off!

On April 15th, in hundreds of cities and towns across America, people gathered to protest taxes. Ironically, many of these protests took place in federally-funded parks, at federally-funded museums and historical sites or at federally-funded places of business.

The right wing of our political system got behind these events and sent conservative radio talk show hosts and members of its chattering class to promote them. The left wing of our political system either ignored or called foul on these protests by claiming these were staged events by Republican political action committees in a move called astroturfing (a formal political campaign that seeks to create the impression that it is a grassroots campaign). Left wing commentators made dirty jokes about tea bagging (you'll have to look it up for yourself if you don't know what I mean) and could barely stifle their laughter.

Whether FreedomWorks,a Republican political action committee chaired by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, pulled the strings behind these protests is really irrelevant (but their website sure is full of propaganda about these events). The truth is that there are several thousand people and maybe millions of people who think that are taxes are too high and that we should not have stepped in to help any failing businesses. And it is their right to get out there and scream at the top of their lungs about the perceived injustice of it all.

Just like it is my right to turn away in disbelief and slowly shake my head when I see people carrying posters that compare President Obama to Adolf Hitler. These signs are a direct indication that we aren't taxed enough. Our school system has failed miserably! These people actually believe that we are headed towards a socialist or fascist society. They truly have no idea what these ideas and politically theories are and how they work.

We were actually closer to socialism under President Bush because he took the first steps of repealing the Constitution of the United States of America by making it acceptable to listen in on all of our phone calls, read our mail (electronic and written) and rifle through our records and backgrounds. He also readily handed out government contracts to companies with no bid, creating a de facto nationalized military industry that was parlayed on favors and contacts. On the other hand, President Obama has used federal money to stave off nationalizing the banking industry by investing our money in these institutions.

And Fascism? How we ended up there, I don't know. Fascism is a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. These people were allowed to say their peace. In a fascist state, they would have been tortured and killed (once again, closer to the policies of our last president).

I am sure that a lot of these people protesting have great intentions and are worried dearly, but unfortunately, they were overshadowed by the racist and uninformed that only went because Hannity, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Beck, Malkin and others told them to go. The Republicans see this as a jumping off point, but a new Gallup poll show that 48% of Americans feel they were taxed just about the right amount. And most people can look forward to a tax cut once the Bush taxes expire in 2010. Just another ironic twist; they were actually protesting a Republican tax policy.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

(April) Fools!

The Republicans, with much pomp and circumstance, delivered their budget proposal to the American people today. The highlights of their plan include:
  • Repealing the entire economic stimulus package.
  • Rolling back the recently passed 8% spending boost in the budget for the current fiscal year.
  • Transforming Medicare for Americans younger than 55 by allowing them to choose from a series of pre-approved private insurance plans, with premium payments from the federal government to insurers varying according to an individual's age, income and health.
  • Extending all of former President Bush's tax cuts permanently.
  • Suspending capital gains taxes through 2010.
  • Repealing the estate tax.
  • Dropping the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%.
  • Increasing Department of Defense spending by $5 billion over Obama's budget.
  • Creating a two-tiered tax code - 10% on the first $50,000 ($100,000 for joint filers) and 25% for everything above.

Most of this junk was lifted straight from McCain campaign stationery (at least the Republicans are learning to recycle and re-use), but one item from that list really got my attention. The Republicans proposed a tax increase!

That's right. This proposal would raise taxes on all single filers making between $50,001 and $178,001 and all joint filers making between $100,001 and $265,721 (against the 2008 tax brackets). Per the Republican Playbook, everyone above those top amounts either stays the same or gets a tax break.

How fitting that the middle class gets stuck paying the bill again while the wealthy and the corporations skate away with less responsibility under another Republican plan. Of course, the party line is that the wealthy and the corporate world create jobs. However, that is all theory and conjecture and the statistics don't back it up. When looking at national income shares from 2001 to 2006, wages and salaries have decreased from 55% to 51.6% while corporate profit has grown from 8.5% to 13.8%.

The Republicans didn't lose this past election because people want to pay more taxes. They lost because they are completely out of touch with the majority of the people in this country. We want solutions to problems that have been hampering us for decades and the cost of shifting the focus elsewhere right now would be much greater than the debt we will incur trying to find those solutions.