Followers

Total Pageviews

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Puppets on a string

image

I can still remember September 15 of 2008 because that's the date Lehmann brothers went down and almost took down our entire country’s Financial System in a domino effect. However clumsy it was and I think Federal Chairman Bernanke, Secretary of Treasury  Hank Paulson and President Bush made the right decision when they decided to let the taxpayers bailout out Wall Street.  Yet, we still have those that will shill for Wall Street and big corporations because they think taxes and regulations will  weaken them.

I know after 30 years of Ronald Reagan’s prophecy of “ government is a problem not the solution” the followers will all defend trickle down economics'. They will go to bat to give the top 2% a tax cut and go out of the way to see that Wall Street and the corporations have very little interference in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. The republicans have a bill to restrict the EPA from enforcing current emission laws and they want to repeal the finance reform package the democrats passed.  This is the basis for local bloggers like Observer and rollingstone to that the top 2% and the big corporations should not be tampered with if we're to have a robust economy.They are puppets on a string.

Conservatives accused President Clinton of “tax and spend politics” when he raised income taxes on the very wealthy to pay for investments in economic development, education, and new technology. [Washington Post] But Clinton’s policies yielded 23 million new jobs—nearly five times more new jobs than Bush created with his tax cuts for the super-rich. [Bureau of Labor Statistics]

The problem is not that corporations are overtaxed. In fact, a whopping two-thirds of American corporations and foreign corporations doing business in the United States pay absolutely no federal income taxes—despite taking in $2.5 trillion in sales. [Government Accounting Office] In 2005, 28 percent of large foreign companies doing business in the United States (those with more than $250 million in assets or $50 million in sales) paid no taxes.

There's a point of overtaxing and over regulations but we can’t come to the table if zero is the starting point.  I bet the majority of Americans believe that cutting discretionary spending by $61 billion is a great start at getting our fiscal house in order. Not so, says Goldman Sachs that large of an amount would cut the GDP by 2% and other economists have said that it will lead to 700,000 jobs being lost.  There is a rule that says “ when consumers and businesses are not spending- government has to.” we don't want to make the same mistakes of the 1929 Depression by drastically reducing government spending before full recovery. We should sit down at the table and discuss 10 year plans of tax reform, entitlement reform, and defense cuts with tax increases that will trigger if we don't mean our goals.

I'm completely ignorant when it comes to local politics because Lamppost wrote a blog that doesn't make any sense to me.  I'm pretty sure the posters that responded understood what he was talking about because he was articulate and but I don't know if his message was about the good ole boy system, volunteering, or a combination of both. I guess I’m that far behind with my head buried deep in the sand.  Someday,I will will get someone to explain all this to me.I don’t know if “puppets on a string” applies because I don’t know who the puppets are.

In the meantime Mike Huckabee thinks Obama was born in Kenya and Chris Matthews is going off the edge like Charlie Sheen and Rick Perry thought Juarez was part of Texas.

7 comments:

Edith Ann said...

Lamppost is referencing this blog by Matt Ocker.

http://oldsoulfromthesouth.blogspot.com/2011/02/allow-different-ideas-to-be-heard-when.html

He and Matt are old sparring partners on the Advocate, and there is no love lost between the two.

Honestly, between you and me--I think Lamppost had help writing this blog. He's not that articulate in his usual comments.

For the record, I agree with Matt Ocker.

Mike said...

Thanks Edith Ann for always taking the time to answer my questions....I admit the word "oligarchy" turned me off because it's not a good description of what we have in Victoria..I do agree Lamppost's idea came from the source you mentioned...Anyway your answer cleared up a lot of things in understanding the idea behind Lamppost's blog and now the responders posts make sense...If lamppost would have used "the good old boy system," I think a lot more people would have understood and responded..I admit I had to look up the word "oligarchy." ...The good old by system has been talked about since I was "knee high to a grasshopper."...:-)

Thanks again

Edith Ann said...

If you have ever taken a peep at Spotter's WAAC chart, you will clearly see that we have 16 or so folks who are on every board, commission and panel that exists in Victoria. These folks, esentially, are making the decisions for the rest of us. It's not that some of us aren't interested in serving our community, it's just that we weren't at the Country Club Bar when the boards, commissions and panels were formed.

Our bad for not being a good old boy or for not having a VCC membership...

Mike said...

Edith Ann

I'm not surprised that the same people serve on different committees because we live in a city of “who cares?".... We had a discussion on the threads about the cost of new schools but only 17% showed up to vote. I voted for the new schools, but I also argued in favor of the bonds. The city was up in arms over the Police Chief Ure and district Atty. Tyler disputes, but they returned Tyler to office, and the police chief became city manager and on and on.

You know a hell of a lot more about city issues than I do, but I don't think a majority of people knows about the different committees, boards, and the decisions they make. It's like the “program of the month" my old company used to come up with. The new chairman would always start off with " I know. I know; another month; another program but” as we sit there and rolled our eyes. I know there are committee's whose duty is to oversee tax expenditures. There are some who would love to sit on that committee, but I would hate to see Spotter, Matt Ocker, justataxpayer or Jeff Williams on any board, committee, or office..I do believe in a city/county private enterprise joint ventures on occasion, but most of all I want fellow Victorians who love this city and not just their own wallet and ideology...That is just my opinion, so I hope you don't hold that against me because I think you would be an excellent representative on anything you wish to serve on....BTW I'm not saying the ones serving the city,county, and committees don't have a selfish agenda but I don't know about their opinions because they aren't commenting on the forums or newspapers.

Most of the committee members just pad their resume, complete a commitment, and sit there as three or four more aggressive members come up with the agenda and assign responsibilities to different members... I have been a member of three boards and one I just happened to be late and at the wrong place, at the wrong time. I was late for a company meeting, so my cohorts chose me as an honorary member for a charity organization. The other two had to do with youth baseball where I saw that competitive bidding was not allowed, when the owner of a sporting goods store sat on the board.

Edith Ann said...

Mike--

I think you make an excellent observation of what is going on in this town. You are right! Apathy is raging in pandemic proportions! It is exactly that reason that I think it is important to keep these issues that are disturbing out there. Victoria has a very short memory.

I disagree with your assessment of some of those republicans you mention; but if you won't hold it against me for having an opposing opinion, I'd appreciate it! Perphaps I could return the favor some day...8^).

BTW--Look at YOU! Over 5600 page loads! Way to go!

Mike said...

Edith Ann

It is important to keep the issues out there and one day you will be rewarded because (believe it or not) people are starting to wake up.

I never take issue when someone disagrees with my opinion.You kinda get used to it being a liberal democrat in this city/county.

Edith Ann said...

I so hope your prediction is right. I feel the same way, and I believe that the issues are important, and folks do need to wake up!

You're preaching to the choir with the "Differences of Opinion" sermon! 8^)