Text 17656, 100 rader
Skriven 2006-01-31 08:24:58 av John Massey (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: Why Watch?
==================
SPEAK ON, MR. PRESIDENT.  I WON'T BE WATCHING
Tonight will be George Bush's 6th State of the Union speech.  He'll have the
platform, all alone, before the entire congress, cabinet members, the Joint
Chiefs, the Supreme Court (probably including Samuel Alito) and millions of
Americans, and he'll say very little.  I'm not expecting to hear anything
other than "the state of the union is strong" and a few ideas for expanded
government programs, some additional spending on this, that or the other
thing, how we're going to continue working to make America safe and secure.
New ideas?  Don't look for them.  An earnest attempt to reduce the size and
the influence of the Imperial Federal Government of the United States in our
lives?  Don't hold your breath.

It's no secret that I would like to hear something about tax reform.  The
current tax code in this country is killing us.  No, those words aren't too
strong.  Our American economy is slowly collapsing under the burden of an
onerous tax system that punishes the very activities our economy needs.  In
just the past few weeks we've heard several warnings and items of bad news.
Warren Buffet, a man who some would say knows a thing or two about finance
and our economy, is warning that the biggest danger facing our financial
well-being isn't the huge federal deficit or the price of oil.  The biggest
danger is our trade deficit.  Just yesterday the news arrived that our
savings rate is at its lowest point since the great depression.  You want a
reason?  As for the trade deficit, blame our tax code. The simple and brutal
fact of the matter is that there is no major economic power in the world
that places the tax burden on its business and industry that the United
States does.  You do realize, don't you, that these corporate taxes are a
simple fraud.  They're all a device to convince the American people that our
wonderful elected officials have chosen to relieve us of a portion of our
personal tax burden by transferring that burden to evil and greedy
corporations.  Our pathetic inept system of government non-education sets up
Americans to believe such nonsense.

As for personal savings, the tax code punishes us there also.  You have to
pay taxes on all the money you save, and then you have to pay taxes on all
the interest you earn!  Wow!  What an incentive!  Besides, why save anyway?
Could it be that Americans are saving less and less because they are
embracing the idea that when politicians are so eager to provide with our
every want and need in exchange for our votes, why save?  Every year we see
more and more ideas floated for government-paid this, that and the other
thing .... what's the point?

I hear a lot of pundits telling us that the Democrats just don't have an
agenda for 2006.  Oh, and the Republicans do?  And would someone please tell
me what that agenda is?  Fighting Islamic terrorism?  That's great!  But
that's been the agenda for five years.  This is a short attention plan house
the Republicans are playing to, and this "fighting terror" thing isn't going
to go anywhere. Ending our dependence on oil?  The same party that can't
even get drilling started on that portion of the Alaskan National Wildlife
Refuge that was set aside for that purpose is going to sell us a bill of
goods on energy independence?  Old hat.  Old subject.

Look at the list of issues.  Trade deficit.  Disappearing manufacturing
jobs.  Low savings rate.  Tax reform is the answer to all of these problems.
Sure, I favor the FairTax.  It is the only tax reform proposal I've seen
that addresses so many of the issues we are dealing with.  Our current tax
code is one that was designed by and for the benefit of politicians and
lobbyists. It punishes achievement and rewards laziness.  It punishes the
voting blocks unimportant to politicians, and rewards voting blocks who keep
them in office.  Above all, the tax codes gives thousands of high-income
Beltway lobbyists their fertile territory for exchanging campaign donations
for changes in the tax code to benefit their clients.
The president appointed a tax reform commission.  I don't know how much
money they spent, but whatever it was, it was a waste. This failure of a
commission merely recommended a repeat of 1986.  Get rid of more deductions,
set up a few flat tax rates, and let 'er rip.  That's the 1986 tax reform
act all over again, and as soon as it was passed the lobbyists went to work.
That bill has now been amended and changed around 10,000 times, and nothing
is better.

OK, I know I've been hammering this, but about 11 days ago there was a story
in the Washington Post about the lack of Republican agenda.  The story said
that Republican congressmen were hearing from their constituents on gas
prices and on the FairTax.  One congressman, Zach Wamp from Tennessee, even
"lamented" the fact that people are more interested in the FairTax than they
are in changing Washington.  Can it truly be that these politicians don't
understand that the FairTax is all about changing Washington?  Of course
they realize it, that's why they're not on board!  They know that passage of
the FairTax would constitute a massive transfer of power from the inside to
outside of the Beltway.  These politicians want you to be taxed when they
decide you should be taxed, not when you chose to be taxed.  They want the
control, and the FairTax takes that control away.  They want to tell you how
much you can save tax-free, not leave that decision up to you.

There is good news.  I've been reading literally hundreds of letters from
hundreds of members of congress.  These letters were sent to me by people
across the country who received them as responses to their inquiries about
their representatives stance on the FairTax.  The politicians write back
with excuses as to why they don't support the idea.  The excuses belie a
growing fear that the people of this country may have come across an issue
that could do irreparable harm to the balance of power between the political
class and the citizen class.  The less these politicians hear about the
FairTax, the better they like it.  When they do address the issue, they find
it necessary to misrepresent the FairTax in order to critique it.  We have
the vote, and that puts the advantage with us.  All we have to do is use it.
Sadly, that's a very tall order.
In the meantime ... don't expect any real news from tonight's speech.  I'll
be sawing logs.

--- Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1409
 * Origin:  (1:123/789.0)