Time to split the U.S. in half ~ By Robert Ringer

Had I read this column a bit over a week ago when it was posted, this would have been the top priority to post here! In fact, I would have placed the posting of this column over all of the things I need to do around the house, like getting the furnace to light and getting a problem with my plumbing fixed... Oh, wait, never mind, I didn't get those things done, anyway. You know, priorities.

I would have agreed with Robert Ringer all the way in his writing, but I think there is a flaw. After reading the column, and understanding what Robert is saying, I decided that there is an option that should be considered before we divide the country as Robert suggests.

In my humble opinion, we just need to scrub the Federal government from all State's business. Let the Federal government handle our national defense and security, foreign relations, interstate commerce and interstate law enforcement. Outside of those responsibilities, let the states decide at what level to help people or control their behavior.

Yes, that's right, we would be able to do without two of the three 9's in Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan.

Really, we need to leave the decisions to the states, and allow them to compete. The Federal Government shouldn't be involved so much in our personal business. We should know that because it was what inspired some to leave England and Europe so that they could have more personal freedom. That is what made America great, once upon a time. Courageous Americans will move to the States that have the most common sense. I hope that will be the thought that you will think about when you read Robert Ringer's excellent column. Let's not divide America. Not just yet.

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Time to split the U.S. in half

ROBERT RINGER

By Robert Ringer

September 28, 2011 ~ 2:07 pm Eastern

© 2011

Every year or two, progressive New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg actually says something I agree with, like when he recently warned that there could be riots in the streets of America if the economy doesn't improve. On his weekly radio show, Bloomberg said that a lack of jobs is causing people to become desperate. "The damage to a generation that can't find jobs," explained Bloomberg, "will go on for many, many years."

But Bloomberg and I parted ways when he praised Barack Obama for offering a proposal to create jobs and improve the economy. "At least he's got some ideas on the table, whether you like those or not," he said. "Now everybody's got to sit down and say we're actually gonna do something, and you have to do something on both the revenue and the expense side."

None other than debonair Michael Moore echoed Bloomberg's sentiments with his recent Occupy Wall Street protest. In an interview with never-say-die wannabe journalist Keith Olbermann, Moore said, "… the smart rich know they can only build the gates so high, and sooner or later history proves that people, when they've had enough, they aren't going to take it anymore, and much better to deal with it nonviolently now through the political system than what could possibly happen in the future, which nobody wants to see."

Moore is right in the first part of his run-on sentence, but wrong in the last part. Those who long for a left-wing dictatorship do want to see a violent revolution. Why do you think they keep encouraging worker uprisings – out of boredom? Violent uprisings are an excuse for government to implement a state of emergency and suspend habeas corpus.

The truth, of course, is that the U.S., like Europe, is socially and economically beyond repair. Yet, the answer from the left is always the same – take more money from small businesses and working people and redistribute it to handpicked corporations, special-interest groups, and government employees and bureaucrats.

The problem is that there soon will be no wealth to redistribute. Sure, progressive politicians can keep the redistribution vote-buying scam going for a while longer, but, ultimately, a Greek ending is unavoidable. And when that happens, rioting in the U.S. will be much more violent than in Greece, because people have gotten used to a considerably higher standard of living than working people in Greece and the rest of Europe.

Now, here's where it gets complicated. While the left continues to rev up its class-warfare strategy, there are tens of millions of Americans – primarily libertarians and conservatives – who want the government to butt out. Specifically, they want to drastically cut back on government's usurped powers to regulate, tax, redistribute wealth, and interfere in the economy and people's lives.

This is what the tea-party movement is all about, and early on it became such a threat to the aspirations of those in the big-government crowd that they began belittling it as a hate-mongering fringe movement. Thus far, however, it hasn't worked.

In fact, it has backfired, even though those on the left still refuse to believe the movement is for real. They can't accept the fact that ever since the tea party came on the political scene, the freedom revolution has been competing with, and beating, the more-free-stuff revolution that lefties like the Michaels – Bloomberg and Moore – have been warning us about.

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Sarah who? ~ By Jane Chastain

Like Palin, Bachmann is attractive and articulate (minus the down-home charm that some find offensive). Like Palin, Bachmann has done an incredible job of balancing family and career. While Palin is a mother to five, Bachmann is a mother to 28, five of her own and 23 foster children. No one can argue. That's an incredible accomplishment!

Palin plowed the field for conservative women who are aiming for the White House. It is now entirely possible that Bachmann may reap this harvest. Could she be the dark horse who thunders out of nowhere like the 304-day Senate wonder who became our 44th president?

After watching the New Hampshire debate Monday night, I decided that the pundits who were saying that we have a weak field of possible GOP nominees are a bunch of airheads! And, fortunately, this will be the election where We, the People, are going to decide who the Republican nominee will be, rather than the mainstream press, belt-way pundits, or the old-establishment Republicans, who gave us John McCain in 2008.

Jane's column does well in explaining why Michele Bachmann would be a better GOP candidate than Sarah Palin. However, I still feel very strong about the candidate that I've been supporting, Mr. Herman Cain, even long before he announced his candidacy on May 21, 2011. At least we now know that Cain would have some very qualified people to choose from for a great running mate in 2012 to defeat Barack Obama. And yes, Michele Bachmann would be an excellent choice and should be high on Herman's list.

Seriously, this needs to be the year that we (the tea partiers) totally ignore what Charles Krauthammer, Dick Morris, or Ann Coulter think. I'm just sayin'...

Sarah who?

JANE CHASTAIN

By Jane Chastain

June 16, 2011 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2011

Sarah Palin. The very mention of her name invokes a strong response from almost everyone. You either love her or hate her. (Count me in the former category.) Until now, Palin has been sucking up all the oxygen in the media with her "Will-I-run-or-will-I-not" bus tour.

I confess that since the 2008 election, I have been disappointed with the former Alaska governor. I was sure that when she was free from the McCain campaign and could finally speak for herself, she would lose the generalities that dominate political speech and dazzle us with specifics. I'm still waiting. In short, I admire what she has accomplished, but I hope she doesn't run.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

I felt much the same way about Michele Bachmann. I hoped she would not run – until around 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Although Bachmann has a potpourri of interesting experience, I felt it was too thin to be a serious candidate. I've admired the fact that she has been willing to go anywhere at any time to build a case for free-market, conservative principles, but I felt she would be nothing more than a distraction.

Long before the end of the GOP debate in New Hampshire, it was clear this lady would be the winner and is now ready and able to mix it up with the "Big Boys." Bachmann grabbed the spotlight at the very beginning when she formally announced that she was, in fact, running for president and, in the hour and a half that followed, she left the other candidates in her dust. She was poised and polished to a high gloss. Her remarks were pithy, specific, carefully chosen and to the point.

READ MORE at WND.com

Don't be afraid!

WE the PEOPLE

are the MOB
ONE NATION UNDER GOD

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
johnny2k's Tea Party Gear

Private sector must lead recovery ~ By Herman Cain

The private sector is the engine of this economy, but putting more spending and regulations in the caboose of the train is not going to fuel the engine. So expecting this economy to grow faster by watching and hoping is an empty expectation.

Much of the public has been deceived into thinking that cutting tax rates reduces revenue into the Treasury, and that it only helps the rich. The experience of the 1960s and 1980s, when Kennedy and Reagan were in the White House, respectively, debunks that notion.

Watching this economy struggle over the next 18 months is going to be especially painful for the unemployed, and those businesses that are barely holding on for survival. And, yes, the private sector will have to take the lead when we properly boost the engine.

Until then, we might as well watch grass grow, because that's about all the green this economy is going to see.

Well, here's the thing... Herman Cain makes the case about what needs to be done to get the economy going again. There is no doubt in my mind that it will take the private sector to stimulate the economy, and that Herman's solutions would be the right thing to do. But, I do have some questions... Oh, wait, not about what Herman wants to do, but regarding what President Obama seems to be trying to do.

Here's what is bugging me: How could the person that was touted to be so brilliant be such an absolute idiot when it comes to getting the economy going again? All that Herman Cain explains in this column are commonly accepted principles when it comes to encouraging growth in the economy. Businesses need certainty in the tax code. What will happen following the extension of the Bush tax cuts? The clear intent that Herman Cain shows to cut or eliminate the taxes for businesses investing capital in starting or expanding a business would be the jolt that this economy needs at this time.

In the mean time, Obama's rhetoric and lack of a real solution is not very encouraging for businesses, and that stymies any economic growth. His agenda sends a chill down the back of even the most courageous of entrepreneurs. What I can't quite comprehend is how a President would make so many wrong decisions when it comes to getting our economy going again. In fact, from what I've seen so far, Obama's policies are what is creating the stagnation!

But wait! Isn't Obama supposed to be so magnificently intelligent? Shouldn't he be aware of the economic principles that would move our economy forward, and not backward?

What Herman Cain wrote in this column is mostly what I learned in college in Economics 101 and my basic Business Administration classes that I took. So, there is only one thing that I can assume from Obama's actions so far: He is either really stupid, or he doesn't want our economy to improve. I don't believe he is THAT stupid.... So, maybe, he just doesn't want We the People to be able to start and/or expand a business and succeed. That would make Communism look bad! I'm just sayin'...

Private sector must lead recovery

HERMAN CAIN

By Herman Cain

June 13, 2011 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2011

A senior Obama administration official said recently that the private sector will have to lead this economic recovery. He's right! But the private sector cannot do it unless government gets out of the way. The Obama administration's policies have increased the size of the federal government, increased regulatory barriers and dramatically increased the national debt.

Most Americans sitting around the kitchen table knew that we could not spend and regulate our way to prosperity. But the president and the Democrat-controlled Congress at the time did it anyway. And now, after nearly $1 trillion in government spending, the economy is still stalled. Namely, 1.8 percent growth in Gross Domestic Product in the first quarter of 2011is anemic, and a 9.1 percent unemployment rate continues to be disappointing to the nearly 15 million people who are still unemployed.

Our national GDP could easily be growing at 5 percent or more, with the top tax rates for businesses and individuals set at 25 percent and made permanent until we replace the entire tax code mess. And taking the capital gains tax rate to zero is just the fuel that the small business part of our economic engine needs.

It sure would be nice to hear an unemployment rate report of under 5 percent again, which would mean at least 7.5 million people could be back to work. It would be more than just music to their ears. They might even have some real hope again.

"Hope and change" became spend and regulate in the Obama administration. And now, the president and the Democrats want us to "watch and hope." Simply extending the tax rates for two years with a 2 percent one-year payroll tax holiday for employees is not going to tickle this economy back to prosperity.

With all due respect, Mr. President, there is no hope that this economy will turn itself around. It will remain stalled because there are no meaningful tax cuts, there is no regulatory relief and there is still the uncertainty about what tax rates will be in 2013.

READ MORE at WND.com

Don't be afraid!

WE the PEOPLE

are the MOB
ONE NATION UNDER GOD

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
johnny2k's Tea Party Gear

Lower and simplify taxes! ~ By John Stossel

Today, April 15, is a very special day! It's tax day! While 47% of the population don't pay any taxes, the rest of us, both individuals and corporations, must spend hours upon hours just filling out the tax forms, only to find out how much we get to pay to Uncle Barry. (Uncle Sam has now retired. He didn't like what kind of changes were coming to transform America.)

In his column, Stossel illuminates the kind of burden of time and cost it takes to get through all the complexities of the tax law. Does it not seem like a huge waste of productive time and money that could be used for other things? But, hey, I guess the tax attorneys and accountants really don't mind at all!

What are we to do? Some people say scrap the income tax for the Fair Tax, a national sales tax. Others want a flat income tax of, maybe, 17 percent. One form; no deductions.

There's always danger in proposing a replacement for the income tax: We could end up with two taxes. I wouldn't put it past our greedy Congress to promise that a national sales tax – or worse, a value-added tax – would replace the income tax and then, once the new taxes are in place, to say that the need for revenue is so great they must retain the income tax, too.

Let's not take our eye off the ball: lower and much simpler taxes.

By John Stossel

Posted: April 14, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2010

It's that joyous time of year: income-tax time. So I spend time with my accountant. I don't want to see him, but I must. I could not do what he's doing. The tax code has grown so complex that today most Americans hire someone to do their taxes.

For the money I pay my accountant, I could get a hundred massages. I could buy a fancy motorcycle. I could take a cruise ship to Venice and back.

Better yet, I could do some good in the world. I could pay for two Habitat for Humanity homes

or help three kids escape government schools by paying their tuition at a good Catholic school.

What a shame that I pay my accountant instead.

How'd we get to this point? U.S taxes were once simple! The government funded itself on tariffs and excise taxes. It didn't violate our privacy by asking us how much we made or how many dependents we have.

But in 1913, the politicians decided they needed an income tax.

At first, they took little money: just 1 percent on incomes between $20,000 and $50,000. Those were big incomes – adjusted for inflation, $50,000 is $1.1 million today. The top bracket paid 6 percent, but that only applied to people who earned at least $11 million. Anyone who made less than $400,000 paid no income tax.

But leave the amounts aside. The increase in complexity is just as evil.

In 1913, the first tax form and instructions totaled four simple pages. Today's 1040, with instructions, totals 176 pages. How did this happen? Because politicians win votes by giving gifts to favored groups.

On my FBN show tomorrow, I'll show clips of the pandering legislators applauding themselves for offering tax credits to special interests. The favored groups cheer their tax breaks, but the result is that everyone else pays more, and everyone must spend more time deciphering the rules.

And with every credit, the tax code gets more complicated. The code is now 3,784,745 words long, not counting the 2009 and 2010 changes. It will get worse in the future.

Americans spend more than 7 billion hours trying to comply, according to a forthcoming study from the National Taxpayers Union.

"That is the equivalent of 3.7 million employees working 40-hour weeks year-round without any vacation. That's more workers than are employed at the five biggest employers among Fortune 500 companies," writes David Keating in the NTU study.

"Counting time and money for individual taxpayers, the compliance burden would total an incredible $103 billion for individual taxpayers alone."

READ FULL STORY at WorldNetDaily.com

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Taxing Atlas ~ By Patrice Lewis

John Galt, this one's for you! 

Patrice Lewis has a rant that I am sure all of us can understand about this time of the year, especially if you are in the half of the American population that DOES pay taxes!

And because of the theme of this great column, I threw in a couple related items at the bottom of this page. A video that I uploaded yesterday morning discusses just how OUT OF CONTROL the U. S. Government is. Deficits, debt, and then the ultimate crisis that is going to happen for the very reason that Patrice will mention here. People are going to just quit their businesses, end their non-profit charities, and basically, we can then ALL put out our hands for the government to take care of us. At the end of the video, there is a very special segment where somebody says, "Tick-tock, Mr. Bauer, you're running out of time..."

Well, that brings me to the final part of MY rant, in the related story: Did America already commit Obamcide? You decide.

So in this season of filing taxes and proving how complicating our government is, we should think long and hard about the kind of hope and change that will lead to further complications by introducing yet more government rules and regulations and red tape.


Otherwise the real Atlas – that sleeping giant of middle America – may shrug, give the government the "finger" and watch the economy collapse.

By Patrice Lewis

Posted: April 10, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2010

The following column can officially be termed a "rant." Sometimes I just need to vent, and this is one of those times.

Taxes have been on my mind this week. That's because I finally finished our taxes on Tuesday night, in time for our appointment on Wednesday afternoon.

Taxes are a complicated business for us. We have four sources of self-employed income, and that means all sorts of fancy paperwork that needs to be filed. Thankfully, our tax preparer, Valerie, is incredibly competent at making sense out of nonsense.

But poor Valerie's business has become more complicated. "Look," she said, pulling a notebook off a shelf. "These were the tax amendments we studied from last year's continuing education class." The notebook was half an inch thick. "And here is this year's notebook." The notebook was three inches thick. I'm not exaggerating.

It's not just personal income taxes that are getting complicated (like they were ever simple, right?). All nonprofit organizations in the U.S. are suddenly being required to provide preposterous amounts of paperwork, documentation and other proof that they are, indeed, nonprofit. It's like the government is trying to bleed all the joy out of being charitable.

But the government is desperate for money, and who knows how many of those evil and secretive nonprofits are engaging in nefarious behavior to elude paying their fair share of Planned Parenthood's operating expenses? So now nonprofits are required to pony up paperwork demonstrating their worth and status.

And on and on it goes. Prove this. Document that. Take everything – employment, personal lives, charitable endeavors – and reduce it to nothing more than a dipping pot of money for an ever-increasing and ever-intrusive government, which wants nothing more than to seize control of your assets and resources in order to, um, spread the wealth.

And of course most of your wealth is not spread to individuals or groups (deserving or not), but to the government oversight of those individuals or groups. In other words, any time a government entity runs a "charitable" organization – spreading your wealth – it skims off a huge percentage for (cough) administration costs. Gotta pay all those bureaucrats, after all.

And of course there's always the Ponzi schemes of Medicare and Social Security that robs Peter to pay Paul. What's wrong with this picture?

While no previous administration was ever innocent of increasing the size of government, there's no question the pace has intensified drastically in the last decade. We are being micro-managed to death. Our driving habits, our health care, our energy usage, our lighting options … the list is endless, and endlessly humiliating. I mean honestly – we're supposed to be grown-up men and women, independent and responsible. We shouldn't have to report to Big Brother for permission to live decent ordinary lives.

Now we learn that nearly half of U.S. households escape paying federal income taxes. This means that half the people in this country are paying for the other half's share of benefits.

Unlike liberals, I don't resent the wealthy. They're the ones who create jobs. They're the ones who keep the economy going. And if they're taxed to the point where they decide it ain't worth it, what then?

And you don't have to be wealthy to reach the breaking point. At what point will small businesses simply conclude all the increasing hassle of government red tape and excessive micromanagement isn't worth it? At what point will charities conclude it's too much trouble to comply with federal interference and throw in the towel? At what point will nonprofit groups grow tired of proving themselves and decide it's not worth continuing their efforts?

See my point? The more the government complicates our lives, the more we reduce our efforts to start businesses, act charitably, do something for the public good, or simply follow our dream (pursuit of happiness, remember?). There goes the economy.

READ FULL STORY at WorldNetDaily.com

RELATED VIDEO:

April 09, 2010 ~ "Deficit, Debt, Crisis," or should that be, 'Tick, tick, tick... We're running out of time"

I think you will understand the meaning of this video just by watching the last minute of the video. But, you should see the whole thing. It is the budget deficits, the national debt, and the oncoming crisis that all has to do with the unemployment problems: How we got here (deficit spending), where we are now (huge national debt), and where it will go from here (crisis) that will determine what happens in the next few months.

Video provided by TheREALjohnny2k

RELATED STORY:
Did America Commit Obamacide? ~ By John Kubicek

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Facts don't matter to Obama and Dems ~ By Herman Cain

After reading Herman's commentary, you will be asking, "Are Obama, Pelosi, and Reid intentionally trying to collapse and destroy capitalism ... and America?"

We just want the government to get out of our way, win or lose. That's the spirit of the American people that founded this country.


The president and the Democrats in Congress may not think deficits matter, nor that facts matter, nor that the Constitution matters, but the people of this country believe strongly that they do.


That's a fact, and the people will not be ignored.

By Herman Cain

Posted: March 22, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2010

In December 2008, before President Obama was even sworn in, he said "Deficits don't matter." Although it's not true, as economist Brian Wesbury explained in an article dated Dec. 8, 2008, President Obama and the Democrat-led Congress have shown that's how they roll by increasing the national debt to nearly $4 trillion in Obama's first year.

The national debt increased by that same amount under President Bush in eight years. That's just an annoying fact to this administration and this Congress, so they just choose to ignore it.

In the president's last-ditch effort to pass health-care deform legislation, he and the Democrats have also demonstrated that they ignore facts just as well as they ignore deficits. While the administration and the Democrats have bought enough votes to pass this historic legislative disaster, they continued to stick to their talking points about how great the legislation will be for everyone while persistently ignoring compelling facts that suggest otherwise.

One of the more egregious factual deceptions using accounting gimmicks, such as the "doc fix" in Medicare, is the claim by the president and the Democrats that this plan would reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion over 20 years. Never mind that they had said earlier "over 10 years." But if you make assumptions far enough into the future, it is almost impossible to prove otherwise.

Fact: No government social program has ever hit a budget in the history of this country. We're supposed to believe that the biggest new bureaucracy in history will actually save money? I don't think so.

Secondly, according to Americans for Tax Reform, the Obamacare plan has more than $600 billion in new taxes that would hit all taxpayers either directly or indirectly. The bill is a politician's sneak-a-taxes dream.

Fact: When you impose billions of fees and taxes on the insurance and health-care industries, those businesses will pass those taxes on to the consumer. They have to make a profit to survive. But then maybe the administration and Congress do not want some industries and businesses to survive. I'm just saying!

READ FULL STORY at WorldNetDaily.com

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The most oppressed minority in America ~ By Robert Ringer

From WorldNetDaily

A Voice of Sanity By Robert Ringer Posted: November 13, 2009 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 Any civilized person dislikes the thought of minorities being oppressed, and I would argue that the most oppressed minority in the U.S. is the small-business person. But he is not without his supporters. By and large, his employees think highly of him. Why not? After all, he gives them the opportunity to earn a living. So, who is it that doesn't like small-business owners? The government! Why? Because small-business people are stubbornly independent. They don't need or want government help. They make their own way in the world. Profitability is the name of the game for them, but it's not an easy task. In a truly free society, it would be difficult enough for a small business to make a profit. A small-business owner is like an orchestra conductor. He has to be on top of every aspect of his enterprise. He has to make sure that every employee is doing his job correctly. And when he goes broke – as millions of small-business people have done – he often feels like all he has to show for his work is that he gave his employees a good lifestyle for an extended period of time. They go on to the next job, and he goes on to face his creditors. Ironically, the small-business person's biggest threat is also his biggest employee – the government. I say biggest employee, because the government is supposed to work for him. It says so in that antiquated little piece of work called the Constitution. But those who hold the reins of power don't much care about the Constitution. As a result, the government taxes the small-business person at every turn, regulates him to death and harasses him in an almost sadistic fashion. Rather than being his humble servant, the government has transformed itself into the natural predator of the small-business person. Without government, it is breathtaking to imagine what the average small-business person could accomplish. In a true laissez-faire economy – which, by the way, has never existed on this planet – the small-business person would be able to create wealth on a scale that is impossible for a socialist thinker to comprehend. Now, along comes government's next big roadblock for small business – government-run health care. In one form or another, sooner or later, a bill will be passed – over the objections of a majority of American serfs. And when it passes, the one thing of which we can be certain is that it will mean higher taxes for everyone – particularly small-business people. Having said this, I thought it would be a good time to disrobe an economic myth that even most libertarians and conservatives buy into. For as long as I can remember, conventional wisdom has insisted that companies don't pay taxes, only consumers do. The idea is that any increase in a company's taxes are merely passed along to its customers. While this is true, to a great extent, in some industries (utilities being the most obvious example), it is not true in most. A government-enforced monopoly like a gas or electric company can, for the most part, pass along higher taxes to its customers. Even with utilities, however, there is, at least in theory, some degree of choice. But in most industries, especially those that sell discretionary products and services, customers always have a choice. Whether it's parallel competition (alternatives to a product or service), dollar competition (people making decisions to purchase some products and do without others), or invisible competition (entrepreneurs always being ready to enter into an overpriced industry and compete at lower prices), companies can't treat their customers as though they are cows waiting to be milked at the whim of corporate executives. [CLICK HERE TO READ MORE]