What Will Stop the Tea Party Movement!

The answer to that question in one word: Intolerance.


First, let me describe what had to happen for the 2009/10 Tea Party Movement to be effective, also in one word: Tolerance.

If you believe some of the people we hear on the TV shows or write the news, you would think that those people who identify themselves as members of the Tea Party are mentally-challenged zombies who hate anyone who is different than them.

Who actually showed up at those rallies, challenged their politicians at town-hall meetings and did all that Grass-roots Activismy stuff? Mostly folks who had never been politically active before. Lots of retirees, blue-collar workers, mixed-in with professionals and regular folk. There were many different religions, creeds and sects represented. The masses were overwhelmingly white, but every race was represented. You had Independents, Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians all there and you couldn't tell which were which, unless you asked them.

What allowed this diverse amalgam of Americans to come together was the shock of seeing Big Government expand out of control in a few big leaps, instead of the gradual metastasis (that they were irritated by but became accustomed to) over many decades.

Organized Right-wingers couldn't have done this. No church, No political party, The Christian Coalition or the Moral Majority would have ever created the groundswell.

The reason why is: the Tea Party was not a Social Conservative movement. It was all about our country's fiscal irresponsibility and how we've strayed from the Constitutional restrains on government and how our economy sucks now, when it doesn't have to!  

You didn't see many signs or hear much about Abortion, Gay Marriage, the War on Drugs, Don't Ask Don't Tell or any of the Social Issues. Those issues are what keeps constitution-loving people separated. If somebody wanted to design some tool to destroy our country they couldn't do better than the politicization of social issues. It's perfect for inflaming passions. It's radioactive to discuss in mixed company. Those who are personally touched by the issues come away with entirely different views and those views frequently turn 180 degrees in the same person as they continue to deal with them. Diabolically Genius!

The wisdom of those who engaged in organizing the many regional Tea Party groups, to leave the social issues out of it, is admirable and enlightened.

My fear is that the Social Conservatives are going to fracture the movement. They are easy to bait, it's like calling Marty McFly a "chicken", they can't help themselves. If the Progressives want to get their opponents to turn on each other they just play the Social Issue Card and the moralists jump to action, forgetting the Big Picture.

My view on all social issues is this: If your parenting skills, your family culture, your church, synagogue, mosque, whatever or wherever it is that teaches values to your children is such a failure and so dysfunctional that you feel that government needs to determine what is moral and right or wrong personal behavior,
I suggest you should straighten yourself out before you go looking to the heavy-hand of Big Brother to step in.

If everybody would just mind their own damn business and quit trying to control others, most of these social issues would quit being issues at all. The fallout and backlash to government imposed social moralizing is the source of most of our country's problems: Hundreds of thousands of drug-related crimes would never happen in the first place, abortions would become rare, you'd be able to enjoy a night of television without the writers shoving the gay agenda, the drugs-are-funny agenda, the pro-life agenda, the pro-choice agenda or whatever is the "hip & cool" subject of the season into every plot-line on every show.

You may notice that Steve and Gary have a different living arrangement than others on the street, but you know that they are not threatening you and your family, so you don't let it distract you from enjoying your own life. Ol' Joe can't keep a job due to his alcohol addiction, besides a private intervention, he's left unmolested, he's not breaking any laws, unless he's behind the wheel. But that seemingly functional dude around the corner got caught growing pot in his basement, do we really need to waste $100,000's on showing him the folly of his ways. No, leave him the hell alone.

Live & Let Live is such an easy concept, but the compulsion to control the personal choices of others is so strong that we will let it destroy our republic and hand it over to those that want even more control.

What If ...? I'm just askin'!

First let me set up the background for why I'm eventually going to ask the big "What If?" question:

In this era of Globalization it seems that everyone assumes that for any country to be prosperous they must be involved in international trade. Let's call that assumption #1.

The second assumption (let's call this part, #2a) is that there is a cap on the amount of the total wealth of all nations combined. Assumption #2b is that there must be a balance of trade between each trading partner, otherwise one party would deplete the wealth of others.

So, here's the the question:
What if, for some reason, tomorrow, there was no other country but us? As I ask this question, I'm using a laptop computer built of components manufactured in Asia. And eating a banana from a Central American country. I had pineapple on my pizza last night which I'm sure didn't come from Hawai'i (Go tour the Dole Plantation on O'ahu, then you'll see why I'm doubting).

We won WWII, because we could support our campaign abroad and, with shared sacrifice, maintain our families at home, while our enemies could not. The Soviet Union crumbled because their Cold War military expenses decimated their limited economy. Since we've become a country that is a net importer and have sent our manufacturing jobs elsewhere, I doubt we could repeat those successes again.

So, what if we played "pretend", a type of War Gaming. The scenario is: We are alone. Do we have the ability to make our own laptop computer, from elemental minerals, through engineering and manufacturing to provide the product to sell to Americans at a price that is affordable?

Can we grow our own bananas in our southern states, or Hawai'i, American Samoa, Guam, US Virgin Islands or any of our territories?

We send our scrap iron to China to be made into new products to be sent back over here, could we mine the minerals and manufacture steel from scratch again if we wanted to?

I'm sure the answer would be, that if we had to, we could supply everything we need to support our American Lifestyle. We don't now because everything would be too expensive in today's global economy. It's impossible to compete with imports where their expense to hire people to do the work is a fraction of our domestic labor costs.

If there were no global-economy would we just not resume making things because it would cost too much? (Hey, I want to eat bananas and pineapple, and this laptop isn't going to last forever.) Or would we look at why it costs too much and adjust whatever is out-of-wack?

Do we have to be exporting more widgets than we have domestic demand for to be a functioning economy or can our wealth just circulate amongst ourselves?

Does a capitalist economy have to constantly "grow" to function? And, if so, does that mean that some countries have to decline so that others can prosper?

I'm not advocating Protectionist measures, simply because I'm told the Smoot-Hawley Act helped cause the 1930's Depression and because everybody important says that protectionism is a bad thing. But shouldn't we take a look at what we're doing and see if there is a way to make sure that we can take care of ourselves, no matter what?

Are our assumptions valid?

Couldn't we pay the average American wage, (which is $20/hr.) to Americans to make our computers, flat-screen TV's, iPods, iPads, running shoes, jackets and just about everything else?

I'm just askin'.

My "Take" on the November 2010 Elections... Now What?

It's been over a month since the 2010 General mid-term election and, in general, I think good things happened. Yet, I'm disappointed that so many Americans just "don't get it"! Why do so many of us just view these elections as nothing more serious than a football game or any other contest with devoted Fans? "Yea, go Clippers! The Lakers suck!" or "I'm a Republican, my parents were Republicans and I'll die a Republican".

Really?! Is that all this is? Utes verses Cougars? Bruins verses Trojans? Or worse yet, are we going to repeat 2008 in two years and treat the Presidential Election like it's nothing more than a season of American Idol?

There may have been a time when both the Republicans and the Democrats were devoted fans of the Constitution and the philosophical differences between them were within the boundaries of differing emphasis, interpretation or implementation. It hasn't been that way for a long time. I think the Charismatically Delusional among us have had their way with the Parties for decades.

The Republicans have been co-opted by the Neo-Cons and the Religious Fanatics over the past few decades and are starting to get back to a Constitutional philosophy with the Tea Party movement. I'm thrilled to hear people using the term Libertarian in political discussions. So maybe there is hope for the Right.

Wow! But the Democrats have been supplanted by the Progressives to the point that I'm thinking there may be no way back to their being the party with a liberal view of the role of constitutional government. The Progs won't say it in mixed company, but they'd rather have a Constitutional Convention to rip up our existing Constitution and start over with something that Marx, Mao or Chavez would approve of.

The Republicans still have a lot of cleaning house to do, but they seem to be headed in the right direction. The only hope for the Dems is for the Moderates and Blue-dogs to grow a pair and stand-up for their historic role as defenders of freedom. Most of the Free Market Democrat citizenry jumped ship along with Ronald Reagan to become Republicans. I've given up any hope that a third-party could rise-up, the system just doesn't work that way. The Socialists and Communists of the early 20th century figured that out and realized they'd need to co-opt the existing parties and they knew it was going to take time. They were right and here we are, a hundred years later and now they believe it's time for a century of "progress" to finally bear fruit.

The next Eighteen months are going to be historic, the last two years have been and they were just prologue. Power Grabs and congressional end-runs will abound. The violence will be unbelievable. Class-warfare and racism will run rampant. The disappointed Progressives will panic from fear that the window of opportunity is closing with the 2012 Elections and then the civil unrest will begin. America will resemble the countries we've always considered banana republics, at least for a while.

OK! I'm sorry to bum you out. There will still be televised talent contests and reality shows to watch. Mrs. Obama won't get your In-N-Out Burger outlawed and just think of all the new Sarah Palin jokes you'll hear from late night talk show hosts and the Comedy Channel! See it's not all bad news!

The Simple, Fair & Flat Tax, -Part Two

     Here in Part Two I'm addressing the Fair Tax, Property Taxation and a couple ideas regarding tariffs.
  
    Fair to me means that everybody pays. The way to do that is through a National Sales Tax (NST) on everything that is bought & sold. Nothing is exempt, not food nor labor. This is not a Value Added Tax (VAT), where a product is taxed a multitude of times as it changes hands or is improved. No this is a tax that is collected at the Municipal level,(cities/township, etc.) on the end-product by the consumer. Yes, I know, we've got States Rights issues here and the states would have to alter their taxation schemes for this to work.

     This is a very simple overview: 
     Let's say that I purchase a Widget at the local retail store for $100. The NST is included in the price. The store owner pays the local City "Revenuer" the $10. The city keeps $2 and passes $8 on to the County, the County then keeps $2 and passes $6 on to the State, now the State keeps $2 and passes the last $4 to Washington. Washington pays for it's fiscal requirements and expects to receive requests from States, Counties and Municipalities to fund special needs from the general pool of money being held by the federal government.


     
     Here's a criticism: You've made everything 10% more expensive!
     No, (besides that this should replace whatever sales taxes are already being collected) due to the huge overhead reductions we've achieved by changing to the new corporate tax of 10% and removed the burden of  Social Security, Unemployment and all the other mandated expenses, prices will drop a whole lot more than 10%. Couple that with regulatory and tort reform, just think of the decrease in money spent by employers on Liability Insurance, Workers Compensation and compliance personnel.

     What about States Rights?
     If a State doesn't want to participate then they have no claim to petition for money from the NST fund held by the Federal government.

     Now, about Property Taxes:
     There should be no taxation of Personal Property nor Inventory. Real Estate, both residential and commercial, is another story. When there is a sale, it should be taxed (by counties/parish/shire/whatever) at 1% of the appraised value and continue to be taxed at 1% every year.

     Tariffs on imported goods:
     I'm not talking about something stupid like Smoot-Hawley. OK, Americans have a right to buy something that competes with domestically-made products to save money. Fine.

Idea #1 -Every product should have an index of the man-hours that must go into selling a single unit to the American end-buyer. That includes acquiring raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, assembly, packaging, marketing and whatever else it takes to get it to the checkout stand. If we decided that if 50% of those man-hours were performed by American workers then no duty is assessed on the imported good. If less than 5% of the paid man-hours were performed by Americans then that product gets the full tariff that brings the price of the product to within 95% of the American-made competing product.

Idea #2 -  Either separate from or incorporated into Idea #1, what if we charged a 10% Import Fee on everything that is imported and that money is used to payoff the money borrowed from foreign governments until the debt is extinguished. Our creditors would be interested in helping us get rid of the debt ASAP to make their exports more competitive in our market.

The "Simple, Fair & Flat" Tax. -Part One

     These three characteristics for funding our country are essential: Simple, Fare and Flat!

     A Simple Tax system would be difficult to manipulate and cheat. Keeping it simple will stop politicians from using the tax laws to favor special interest groups. The entire Tax Code should be a few pages long.

      Fair Taxation is needed, everyone contributes, we've all "got skin in the game" and the best way to do that is through an End-user Sales Tax. Not the Value-added Tax (VAT). That's for later, I'll address that in Part Two.

     There may be a need to address Tariffs, Duty / Import Fees, but not now maybe in Part Two.

     Let me explain the Flat Tax aspect first:
    What I'm proposing is a Flat Rate Income Tax for all taxpayers from "Par and up", Par being an index that represents the average income for American workers. Par is determined by statistical analysis from previous completed years. So, the average income from 2009 would determine Par for 2011. A  Top Rate of 10% from that level and up. The biblical and historical concept of the Tithe just seems "right", Ten Percent, so I'm going with that throughout my proposed system. Also we all benefit from the commercial environment that the government creates, maintains and protects, where we can find employment and earn our living. I think that service has value and 10% is a reasonable commission.

     Here's an example:

     Joe grosses $52k per year, that's $1000 per week. His employer, Jack, gives him a paycheck for the full amount. Jack reports to the IRS what he paid Joe, nothing is deducted before paying his employee. 

     Joe can take up to 10% of his paycheck and put it in a fund that is set aside for retirement like an IRA. He can also pay the premium for an Unemployment Insurance plan or a Disability Insurance plan and deduct that himself from his taxable income. That IRA can be invested and grow tax-free, unlimited. The investment vehicle I suggest is an Indexed Annuity or Life Insurance product with a guaranteed minimum growth ("Cost Of Living" Index, at least). When he goes to use that money he'll be paying a National Sales Tax. (We'll deal with that later in Part Two.)

     Joe also gets to take up to 10% of his earnings and place them in a Health Savings Account, an HSA, again he doesn't have to pay the income tax on that amount and it can also be invested like the IRA and can grow as large as the investment he puts it in can grow. And again, when he goes to use those funds it will be subject to the new National Sales Tax. (again...later, Part Two). If he would like to use some of that to pay a premium for Catastrophic Health Insurance or a Long-term Care plan, he can.
     Now, Joe can also donate up to 10% of his gross to a "Certified Charity" and deduct that from his taxable income. The voluntarily donated funds from this will help get the government out of the "welfare entitlement business".

     So, of the One Thousand Dollars Joe brought home, in one week, he has $700 that is taxed at 7.25% and not at 10% because his Taxable Income is now below the "Par" level of average individual income . The rate he pays can be readily deduced by referring to a Tax Rate Table, as that illustrated below. At the end of the month he grabs his checkbook and writes out a check to the IRS for $219.92 with a slip of paper that is about the same size of the check that shows the gross monthly wages and the total monthly IRA, Charity and HSA contributions. No April 15 ritual, no 1040's and no Tax Preparer fees. 

     He's pumping about $4800 into his IRA and another $4800 into his HSA every year. He can contribute more, if he wants, with after-tax funds. Just like today's existing rules on IRA's and HSA's there are ways of accessing those funds prior to retirement, to cover medical expenses and for other purposes. He has also been assisted in voluntarily following the American tradition of being charitable by contributing to an organization that meets certain requirements for efficiency and transparency. Up to $4800 in Tax-deductible charitable giving by average Americans like Joe would be a rather normal event. Had Joe chosen not to contribute to his program he would be taxed at the full 10% of the $1000 he brought home and he would have nothing for his retirement and nothing for future medical care. He would become reliant on the charity of others for his lack of preparation.

     Now here is another example:

     Fred is bringing home $26k gross per year. That is considerably less than the national average of $50k/year, which I'm calling "Par". Below Par there is a graduated tax rate table that divides income brackets in tenths. Here is the illustration -

$50k & up   => 10% Max.

$45k - 49,999 => 9 - 9.875%

$40k - 44,999 => 8 - 8.875%

$35k - 39,999 => 7 - 7.875%

$30k - 34,999 => 6 - 6.875%

$25k - 29,999 => 5 - 5.875%

$20k - 24,999 => 4 - 4.875%

$15k - 19,999 =>3 - 3.875%

$10k - 14,999 => 2 - 2.875%

$5k - 9,999 => 1 - 1.875%

$0 - 4,999 => 0%

     We'd have to fill in between the full percentage rates with increments in fractional 8ths and each would represent an additional 0.125% tax.

     So, for Fred, he would be at the 5.25 % tax rate, if he didn't contribute to his own program But since he is. Let's see how that works for him...

     Of the $500 check he brings home each week, he puts up to $50 in his IRA and $50 in his HSA. He is taxed on the remaining $400 at 4.125%, which is $16.50. So at the end of the month he has paid his fair share of about $71.50 of income tax. He would have invested a total of $1200 in his IRA and HSA from his earnings for the year. He could have donated to charity too and pay a little less tax. He may also be the recipient of charity if something comes up and he needs a little temporary help. The voluntary private sector "authorized charities" would step up, not the corrupting government entitlement programs, redistributing wealth.


     Nobody gets Tax Refunds because nobody overpays their taxes, there is no Mortgage Interest Deduction because it's not the governments business to "socially engineer" by incentive-izing Americans into being homeowners. Some folks just shouldn't buy their home, there is nothing wrong with renting. The "American Dream of Home Ownership" is a myth and a mistake which has cost our country literally trillions of wasted treasure in the form of TARP, Stimulus Bills and the debt we are in. Neither Joe nor Fred have paid into Medicare, Social Security nor Government Unemployment. If they come into hard times they can access their IRA and HSA funds under certain rules and conditions. If taxpayers choose they can designate a portion of their IRA/HSA accounts to be used for charitable purposes. Over-funded accounts can be willed to others with under-funded accounts tax-free pre- or post-mortum. Government doesn't need as much revenue now that Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and welfare are no longer their responsibility.

     Only those making less than $5000/year pay no income tax and without the Welfare State, that should be a temporary situation

     OK, now for Corporate/Business/Self-employment taxes...
     Subtract your expenses and pay 10% on your profits, Ta-Daa! What's the big deal? If business wasn't paying for health insurance, got rid of burdensome tax accounting expenses and if we cleaned up our tort law to reduce Workers Compensation and Liability Insurance, profits would increase and there would be huge increases in tax revenue. Employers can continue to pay for employee health plans or other benefits if they want or have agreed to it as part of collective bargaining, but there would be no government requirement and the value of that would be considered as employee compensation and someone would need to pay the income tax on it. If business and individuals were taxed at the same rate there would be no advantage to using Delayed Income strategies and all the other silly games executives play to get around paying taxes.

     In Part Two I will introduce a plan for a National Sales Tax.

Forensic Investigation of Health-care Costs, just what DrTimster ordered.

     I went onto the web to get an idea of the average costs for an Open Heart Surgery and came across an article from 2007 that showed that at that time an American $50,000 surgery costs $4,400 in India. http://bit.ly/9Powac
     I think the $50k is probably "way low" at today's rates. I'd like to see a comprehensive accounting for a recently performed procedure and have every itemized charge examined and justified.

     Here is how I can imagine a forensic audit interview would go:

"So, why is the single aspirin being charged at $15?"

     Answer, "Because the overhead in the post-surgery wing is so high, we need to pad the bill any way we can",
"OK, show me the itemization of the overhead",

"Oh, geez! Why are these liability insurance premiums so high?".

     Answer, "I dunno, we can't find any cheaper rates".
     (Then we would need to bring the Insurance Company in to justify the rates, and I'm sure the high rates are a result of  wacky payouts from lawsuits.)

"Let's get back to your overhead, what is with all this accounting, billing, compliance and other 'pencil-pushing' expense?"

     Answer, "Government mandated paperwork is, by far, our largest expense. They won't allow us to be in business without it".
"So, from what we've seen so far, the time, the expertise, the real costs of  materials and devices, the charges that actually are contributing to the benefit of the patient, plus a reasonable profit, are about a tenth of the total charges, is that right?".
     Answer,"Yep, welcome to the world of modern medicine." 

     Regulatory and tort reform is what we need. Every expense needs to be critiqued, investigated and justified, we don't need over-regulation and it's time to shut-down the "lawsuit lottery"

Why Atheism is incompatable with Freedom

     Here's the bottom-line of my thesis: "If somehow it could be definitely proven, beyond doubt, that there is no God, we would need to pretend to have never seen the evidence and agree as a society to continue to believe".   

     We have to realize the meaning of what the Founding Fathers stated in the Declaration Of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, ..."

     If we believe our rights are something that can be bestowed by government, then what government gives, it can take away. If you choose to be an atheist in your private life, go for it, it's your god-given right! If you want to impose that belief on society you are proposing the potential loss of your rights! A little humility and tolerance keeps the tyrants away. People who don't get it are the same one's who would go behind the back of a 4 year-old's parents to tell little Suzie that there is no Santa Clause. Yeah she's crying but the spoiler feels justified and self-righteous.

2010 and counting...

     Just two years, eleven months and 20 days left before 12/21/2012, when the planet heats up from the middle (from a solar microwave-oven phenomenon) and starts rearranging it's tectonic plates, thus causing major catastrophic quakes, volcanoes, polar shifts and all manner of mayhem! Also from the sun is a repeat of the 1859 Carrington Event, where a huge solar flare erupts in the direction of earth and causes a massive geomagnetic burst that fries all electronics which takes a few years to recover from. And then we'll have to get those damn Mayans to start a new calendar again!  I wonder how much they're gonna charge for that?