A busy schedule in tandem with my lack of sleep has silenced my political voice for the past month. While I have been irked by some newscast at least once per day, I have been unable to effectively articulate my opinions, as rage tends to cloud by vocabulary. But I just finished a midterm on the finer points of Machiavelli, and it seems to have cleared my brain and warmed up my thoughts to a free-flowing state. This mental stimulation set in just as I was logging in to check my email and saw, bright on the MSN newsfeed, an article entitled, “How the Stimulus Bill Affects You.” I read.
I could detect immediately, due to flowery word choice and overall syntax, that this article was written by someone who supports the bill. The first paragraph happily boasts that “millions of workers can expect to see about $13 extra in their weekly paychecks.” What joy! Thirteen whole dollars every week? That’s nearly two dollars every day! I can finally afford half a Starbucks!
Thirteen dollars is not going to stimulate our economy, folks. A $400 per person tax credit, spread out over an entire year, makes very little difference in how a person perceives his or her disposable income. And yet we’re spending billions on the initiative. Starting in 2010, the giant bonus drops from $13 to $7.70, an amount that is nearly undetectable unless your starting point is around ten cents. Sorry for the pessimism, but if this is Obama’s brilliant brainchild, I’m voting for intellectual infanticide.
A paragraph or so further in the article comes the statement that enrages me most: “a $1,000 child tax credit would be extended to more low-income families that don’t make enough money to pay income taxes.”
Hi. I’m basic logic. Nice to meet you.
Does it really sound fair to anyone that a person who doesn’t pay taxes should get a one-thousand dollar check from Uncle Sam while those of us who work hard and have giant chunks of our paychecks stolen by greedy Washington fingers have to stand idly by our mailboxes waiting for free money that will never come? It is wrong to punish the employed. God forbid anyone would make an honest living and get rewarded by the government for it. Bottom line: if you don’t pay taxes, you don’t get to drink from the money pool that everyone else’s taxes create. The redistribution of wealth is starting already, and I refuse to stay silent as America ushers in socialism.
While this MSN article is sunny and positive at the start, the final paragraph faces an FAQ that simply cannot be answered in a happy way: What does this bill do to the national debt? It’s no surprise. It jacks it up even higher. Something from the ’08 campaign trail keeps sounding in my head, and it sounds a little like Obama repeatedly promising to get us out of debt, with the background noise of criticizing Bush for driving the deficit up so high. In my iTunes it’s titled, “Hypocrisy,” but, hey, that could be a typo.
The current national debt totals $10.7 billion, rising each day by about $500 billion in new interest. With his first official act in office, Obama has added $1.6 trillion to that total. For every US citizen, that’s a $36,000 bill we’ve each got to pay.
I hope $13 a week is enough to make the payments.
Instead of giving everyone $400 dollars in the form of a tax credit, give us all $400 in tax cuts! Allow the capitalist system to balance the irresponsibility of banks and real estate rather than punishing their innocent consumers, create jobs for poor families instead of handing them unearned checks, and cut out the $700 billion of pork stuffed into the $785 billion plan! This could well prove to be the most fiscally irresponsible bill to ever happen to America. But what less could we expect from the most liberal President we’ve ever elected?
This bill is perfectly fitting for a Socialist. And my outrage is perfectly fitted for an American taxpayer.
4 comments:
I love it. Your best part is, "Sorry for the pessimism, but if this is Obama’s brilliant brainchild, I’m voting for intellectual infanticide." Ouch but amazingly put. I find it amazing that this sugar coated socialism has seeped into our generation and that capitalism is the root of all evil now. Is logic so elusive that people can't see that giving small business tax cuts will create jobs, that reducing or *gasp* eliminating the Robin Hood tax that we like to call income tax will boost consumer spending and saving?
Good job, Kelly. I share your outrage...as does the thinking population of this country.
Kelly,
Just a few comments:
In the para beginning, "The current national debt totals . . ." the 500 billion should be 500 million. I'd like to have either in my bank account.
In the para, "Does it really seem fair . . ." a 1,000 tax credit reduces taxes owed by 1,000--might or might not result in a check.
I'd like to add that basic econ principles that have stood the test of time are: 1) the rule of law, esp property rights 2) money that is stable in value 3) Low tax rates 4) Ease of starting a business 5) Minimal barriers to doing business, both domestic and overseas.
As you'll undoubtable note the stimulus bill addresses these principles similar to vermouth in a dry martini. That's probably because bills are not named for what they are, but what sounds good (think a "pork and pay-back" bill would get popular support?). Free advice (and worth every penny): 1) Look at what things are, not what they are called. 2) Discount what anyone says that has something to gain by 95%.
Love and luck, Terry
Obama may be a pretty liberal president, but there have been some other big spenders and other presidents including Ronald Reagan that supported socialism. Obama might be a big spender, but I want to hear how you justify the Bush debt too. He spent a bunch of money on that war and the expansion of government. how is Bush all that different from Obama? He's not. They both are clueless. You put a lot of blame on Obama, but do you really think McCain would have done better? In fact if I recall, John voted for the bailout loaded with earmarks during his campaign. These republicans that you see now aren't really republicans. that is something that you need to understand.
Anonymous-- I do understand that. Very well. I voted for McCain begrudgingly, solely on the grounds that he wasn't Barack Obama, and while I supported Bush for the majority of his presidency, I started to lose my faith in him when he starting acting and making decisions like a liberal. As far as the war totals go, I do have to say that I would much rather have my taxes go to the liberation of an oppressed people and to securing our freedom than to remedying corporate irresponsibility. But maybe that's just me. I have been calling for someone new to lead the GOP with a return to the essentials of conservatism, but do not mistake me as saying that we've already found that person.
And Terry Bledsoe-- No, I definitely meant billion, not million. But I do wholeheartedly agree with those 5 economic principals, and I note the stimulus bill's complete lack of them. Thanks for the advice, although I try do both of those things as is.
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