The Man Who Could Save America

Since the stunning result of the Massachusetts senatorial race, President Obama has softened his tone quite a bit, essentially saying to Republicans that if they have any good ideas, “Bring ‘em on.”

Whether he’s sincere or not remains to be seen, but the implication is that he’s unworried, because in his opinion the opposition party only knows how to criticize and doesn’t have anything constructive to say.

He needs to call Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, ranking member of the Committee on the Budget, and have him over for tea.

Ryan is a representative who appears to take his job — overseeing the federal budget — seriously. In 2008, he introduced legislation called “A Roadmap for America’s Future.” It died, so he’s reintroducing it this year. It won’t pass, unless the Democrats somehow manage to lose control of the House. It’s just too simple.

It’s also breathtakingly visionary. In one fell swoop, Ryan takes on taxes, health care, Social Security, and the federal deficit, and fixes them all. He puts the government back on the road to solvency, something no other plan comes close to achieving. Most important, he wants to shift our mindset, so we finally recognize that the cure for debt problems is not to pile up more debt.

Income and Other Taxes

Ryan has a nicely targeted sense of humor. For those who can’t bear to part with today’s elephantine tax code, he leaves it in place, and anyone who loves it can still use it. For the rest of us: Single filers would pay 10% on income up to $50,000 ($100,000 for joint filers) and 25% thereafter, with a generous standard deduction and personal exemption ($39,000 for a family of four). That’s it. No loopholes, deductions, credits or exclusions. Fill out the postcard and mail it in.

Additionally, the plan promotes saving by eliminating a whole bunch of other taxes — on interest, dividends and capital gains. It scraps the alternative minimum tax and abolishes the death tax. It replaces the corporate income tax — currently the second highest in the industrialized world — with a business consumption tax of 8.5%, about half the world average, putting American companies and workers in a stronger position to compete in the global economy. And it allows for immediate expensing of new business investment.

Health Care

A refundable tax credit — $2,300 for individuals and $5,700 for families — to purchase coverage (from another state if they so choose) and keep it with them if they move or change jobs. State-based high-risk pools. Supplemental payments to low-income recipients, who can choose their care rather than be consigned to Medicaid.

Medicare

Large-scale, common-sense reforms involving vouchers and medical savings accounts, along with a very gradual rise in eligibility age, designed to preserve the best parts of Medicare while securing its solvency for generations to come.

Social Security

Maintains benefits for current recipients, while making the program permanently solvent by combining a modest adjustment in the growth of initial Social Security benefits for higher income individuals with a gradual, modest increase in the retirement age. Includes a property right, so that your vested Social Security interest does not die with you. Those who own these accounts can pass on assets to their heirs.

Making all this work would require some adjustments, though. Nondefense discretionary spending, for example, would be frozen for ten years at 2009 levels in nominal terms and allowed to grow thereafter by an amount linked to CPI.

There has been immediate criticism from Democrats, mainly centered around cuts to Medicare. And some of the objections could be valid; maybe the plan could be tweaked a little to bring more of the opposition on board. Or maybe they’ll just continue to complain because reducing the size of government doesn’t sit well with them.

But the thing is, even the critics have been forced to admit that the plan would probably work. How do we know? Ryan had the confidence to submit it to the Congressional Budget Office for analysis. As you probably know, the CBO has stated frankly that continuing along the current path leads to unsustainable deficit levels and bankruptcy for the country.

According to CBO projections, debt will spike sharply upward in 2015, rising — relentlessly and unstoppably — to over 700% of GDP in 2080. Of course, the economy will be destroyed and government forced to default long before then.

If Ryan’s Roadmap were adopted, however, the CBO estimates that debt/GDP would peak at 100% in 2043 and “decline thereafter, reaching zero by 2080,” then move into surplus.

Yes, all predictions are bound to be flawed. Yes, we must remain skeptical of anything that comes from a politician. And yes, it’d be better for government to shrink more than this proposal envisions. But, especially concerning taxes, it’s a big step in the right direction.

The president is wrong. There is another idea out there, and according to the government’s own budgetary watchdogs, it’s a good one. It “just” necessitates adopting a 75-year time line.

Of course, the odds of Congress looking that far ahead are slim to none, and you know where Slim is. But who knows, if enough Americans beat the drum for Paul Ryan, this country may actually have a future.

The House passed financial reform bill, crafted by none other than Barney Frank (D-MA) contained a permanent bailout fund for banks and Wall Street firms and created a new agency of government that would be allowed to regulate any and all business in America. It received no Republican votes and close to two dozen democrats opposed the legislation. But, it is alive today thanks to Bob Corker.

The ironically named Consumer Financial Protection Agency will pile a new bureaucracy on top of an existing bureaucracy. It will spend hundreds of millions of dollars imposing job killing regulations on small business. It will have the power to strip consumers of their freedoms and restrict credit opportunities for small business. And, there’s more. Also tucked in the bill is a clause that gives the Federal Reserve the authority to bailout businesses to the tune of an astonishing $4 trillion.

The bill seemed to be dead until Corker decided to grab favorable headlines from the New York Times. According to news reports, Corker’s solution to the problem is to move the new regulatory agency to the Federal Reserve as opposed to leaving it a stand alone agency. Corker is misleading his colleagues and the public by telling them that this will some how save money.

Let’s be clear, the bill contains bailouts for big banks and Wall Street firms and new red tape nightmares for main street businesses. What difference does the location of this new uber-regulatory bureaucracy make? The only thing this bill will save is jobs, paychecks, yachts and third vacation homes for Wall Street bankers and irresponsible CEOs.

The fact is we need to reduce the size and scope of government not allow a government takeover of the financial sector of the economy.

The word from the halls of the Capital is Corker is still trying to cut a deal. But, honestly, what can conservatives possibly get from such a deal? If you strip out the bailouts and the new Washington bureaucracies and regulations, there is nothing left. So, any deal will be a bad one. A quick look at Corker’s financial contributors leaves one wondering whether Corker supports Wall Street more than Main Street. He is giving those at the top a handout while giving the middle class the bill. And as far as the tea party movement. Corker will forfeit any political ground conservatives have gained back recently.

I made my call and sent an email to Corker. If you value your freedoms and desire limited government do the same. (202) 224-3344.

“Are this year’s ‘tea parties’ really tea parties? What could today’s protesters have in common with the ‘Indians’ who dumped 90,000 pounds of tea in Boston harbor in 1773? Quite a bit, actually. What do today’s tea partiers want? According to the Christian Science Monitor, the movement ‘is about safeguarding individual liberty, cutting taxes, and ending bailouts for business while the American taxpayer gets burdened with more public debt. It is fueled by concern that the United States under Mr. Obama is becoming a European-style social democracy where individual initiative is sapped by the needs of the collective.’ Broadly speaking, the tea parties reflect a growing anger in America that the government seems to be a closed circle, run by an elite in both parties. These elites, combined with a class of bureaucrats, lawyers, journalists and businessmen, use government power to serve their own ends, and not the public good. … When the government is unresponsive to the views of the people, and, beyond that, when our administrative and judicial branches restrict the scope of the people’s legislative rights, protest rises. President Obama, an heir to the Progressive tradition, wants to strengthen this unaccountable, administrative state. The response has been altogether fitting.”

The thing that really bothered me was that talked about creating jobs using stimulus. Rendell is apparently a huge fan of taking tax payer money and spending it on infrastructure to create jobs. I am all for infrastructure spending too. But the problem is that his solution is the tired democrat position of the government being the only job creator. That if the government spending is BIG enough that the little businesses will prosper from it as well.

My view is that it is a stimulus. Not an means to prosperity. Want meaningful long-lasting jobs? Give businesses in this country incentives to create jobs and invest. Borrowing and spending more damn money when our debt and deficit liabilities are through the roof make zero sense. The only answer these tow governors had was to spend more money.

I am sick and tired of these big government statists like Rendell and Schwarzenegger thinking that the only way this country can create jobs is through government intervention. If they would get the hell out of the way and let small businesses get in there and clean up the mess the federal and state governments have created then we would be a helluva lot better off. As long as they think government spending and borrowing is the answer, this country will continue to be in trouble and struggle.

From Online Tax Revolt:

There is a massive rejection of the established powers taking place in our country. Americans are mad as hell and we are not going to take anymore. The Online Tax Revolt is about sending a clear message to Washington that we are a growing and vocal movement that is calling for real change.

The first-ever Online Tax Revolt, a free, interactive march on Washington was launched using state of the art technology. Concerned Americans can have a voice on tax policy, culminating on April 15 with events in Washington, D.C.

“The Online Tax Revolt is open to every American who believes taxes and spending are out of control, harmful to our country and a threat to our nation’s future,” said Campaign Chairman Ken Hoagland. “Our economic future and that of future generations is at stake. We need taxes that are lower and a tax structure that’s fair.
“We’re in serious trouble and it falls to us to get the nation back on track. This march is a wake-up call to everyone in Washington that the American people won’t be ignored any longer,” said Mr. Hoagland.

Marchers simply log on to www.OnlineTaxRevolt.com, choose an appropriate avatar and have it march to the nation’s capital. Participants can march individually or in teams. Other team leaders will be announced in coming weeks.

One team will be led by Michael Reagan. Another team will be led by nationally syndicated radio host Neal Boortz. There will also be state-based teams and veterans’ teams. Other prominent team leaders will be announced in the coming weeks.

My avatar is “chris from TN”. A Tea Party Patriot. I am part of Bootz’s Fair Tax Brigade. I’m marching.

The Tea Party speaks for me. I am the ordinary guy that simply became sick and tired of all the government spend and expansion. I’m not a bigot. I’m not a racist. I’m educated. I simply do not like what is happening to our country. I do believe that there are people in control of our government that believe in social justice. That would prefer us to live in a socialist society. I simply do not share that view. The Tea Party movement allowed me to join with other people to be heard. We were heard but have been ignored.

The Tea Party is not being ignored now. But the left is doing everything it can to dismiss and attack the movement. They are scared of it. But they are also doing a good job of making regular folks think the people attending these movements are a bunch of uneducated racists.

The thing is there are extremists in every group. Left and right. But the people I’ve met at the Tea Party are good folks. Everyday people. They are moms and dads, shop owners, hard workers. They simply love their country and do not stand for what statists believe in. So they/we protest the takeover of the government by the statists on the left…and right. It’s that simple. We believe in strict constitutional adherence as the Founders created.

The interesting thing is that people have begun educating themselves. They have awakened to the the statism that is happening in D.C. Two years ago I was uneducated about what was going on in D.C. I was the exact type of person they expected me to be. I wasn’t terribly knowledgeable about the debt. The deficit. The erosion of my rights. Taxes. But I am educated now. I read everything.

I am an independent. I haven’t registered for any party. I don’t intend to. I will vote for whomever is NOT a statist. I believe in limited government, low taxes, fiscal responsibility and a strong defense. These ideals are not shared by many on the left and right that we have unfortunately voted for. The sooner we can get rid of people like Nancy Pelosi, Alan Grayson, Harry Reid and John McCain the better our country will be.

Anyway, the rise of statism is what awakened me from my ambivalence. I’m glad to be involved now. I’m focused. I should have been more concerned years before. But I am focused now. This is the essence of the Tea Party.

If the so-called leaders of the Tea Party forget people like me, then the movement will fail. It’s not about party affiliation. It’s about supporting the right people to return this country to what the Founders envisioned for us. European Socialism is failing badly. Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, they are all in danger of failing because of their Socialist policies. Why would we want to change our country into that mess? That is what the Tea Party folks are trying to prevent. The movement has gotten stronger every day. Ironically as it gains credibility it has the potential to lose its soul. Will the “leaders” sell us out for their own power?

I don’t think many in the Tea Party care one bit about party affiliation. That is a problem for the GOP because some Tea Party candidates could come out as a third party and propel the Democrat in office. All I know is I am fighting against statism. If the Tea Party is my vehicle for that then great.

The Tea Party is barely one year old. It started completely in the grass. Who knows what it will grow in to. In every group there are extremists. The Democrats have their liberals loons. The same with the far right fringe. Fine. But the majority of the Tea Party goers are learning their history. Are tired of the federal government and are simply fighting back. Whether the Tea Party survives in its current form is debatable. What is not is that there are millions of people that have been awakened to statism and have simply had enough. Call it whatever you want: racism, hate mongers, whatever. The deal is there are a lot of people (millions and growing) willing to fight against statism, Socialism, tyranny, liberalism. You (statists) will simply have to deal with that.

I took time off work to go to the original Tea Party in Nashville and did the same for the DC rally. There was no way that I could do that again and pay $550 for convention. But I see now that those that could afford it and take the time are benefiting from the message. And those of us that could not come out are also reaping its rewards.

I think I was swayed a bit by the media in thinking that this convention was somehow a result of a fractured Tea Party movement. I don’t think that is the case at all anymore. Perhaps they WANT there to be an appearance of unrest in the movement. Even GOP leaders like Eric Erickson of Red State have come around. The convention is making all of us involved with the Tea Party proud. The next one will no doubt be bigger. The Tea Party movement is flourishing. I look forward to the Sarah Palin speech.

From the AP:

The unemployment rate dropped unexpectedly in January to 9.7 percent from 10 percent while employers shed 20,000 jobs, the government said Friday.

The rate dropped because a survey of households found the number of employed Americans rose by 541,000, the Labor Department said. The job losses are calculated from a separate survey of employers.

Government stats are meaningless apparently. No wonder the market shrugged off the “good” news this morning.

An irate Staten Island mom blasted a grade school principal Wednesday for treating her son like a pint-sized Plaxico Burress after he brought a 2-inch-long toy gun to school.

“This principal is a bully and a coward, and needs to be held accountable,” said Laura Timoney, 44, after her teary fourth-grader was nearly suspended for playing with the tiny toy at lunch.

“The school should be embarrassed. This is a common-sense issue.”

Patrick Timoney, 9, was terrified when he was yanked into the principal’s office to discuss the teeny-weeny plastic “weapon.”

“The gun was so little,” the boy said. “I don’t understand why the principal got so upset. I was a little nervous. They made me sign a statement.”

Patrick and a friend were playing with Lego figures in the school cafeteria on Tuesday when he pulled out the faux machine gun and stuck it in the hands of his plastic police officer.