AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS

The democrats, led by the ultra-lib socialist obama, have proposed a bill that directs the country down a dark road to a grey socialism that is anathema to all real Americans.

America was and is built by entrepreneurs. What makes the country unique and exciting are the opportunities that everyone has to be anything they have the talent and drive to be.

We are a country of choices. One can choose to put his heart and soul into gaining an education and use that knowledge to make a fabulous life. Equally, one can choose to pass on school and spend his years in ignorance and relative poverty. Lord knows that today we have plenty of the later.

Today, because the democratic party passed laws forcing lenders into making unsustainable loans to millions of unqualified people, the country, and indeed the world, is facing a financial nightmare. Many people will argue who was responsible for this catastrophe but no one can reasonably argue that, had not five million or more home loans not gone into bankruptcy, the problem would not have occurred.

Having said that, we now are embroiled in a great legislative battle of philosophy and wills to determine what the best way is for the country to fight its way back to prosperity.

On one side we have the new president, an avowed believer in government largess, together with his far left supporters in congress, bent on a government spending spree unlike anything ever seen in any country in history. Their belief is that the Government can jump start the economy by creating massive debt, on the order of trillions of dollars, and then, by “throwing” that money into  multiple sectors, they hope that somehow this will “stimulate” the economy.

Their idea is rather like getting a mechanical water pump to start pumping by dumping some water in the top of the pump. This is called “priming the pump” and most certainly does work.  The problem is that the American economy is not a water pump and the dems have not and cannot define exactly why and how their idea will work. They admit, when pressed, that they can’t guarantee their idea will work and indeed, have no earthly idea if it will or won’t. Someone once said that a government trying to spend it's way out of a recession is like a man standing in a bucket trying to lift himself by the handle. The thing is that they just want to spend money because that is what they do and that is what they promised the legions of porch sitters who voted for them they would do.

Government has only a few ways to get money, tax revenues, borrowing, confiscation, fees, leases, fines and printing. Since money, to carry value, must be earned, the only 'real' money government can get its filthy hands on comes from taxing productive citizens and companies or borrowing and fees, leases of fines. Today, our government, having spend all its legitimate money and being unable to borrow more, is printing huge quantities of what is essentially counterfeit money. obama and his minions are running the presses 24/7,  diluting the value of honest money at a terrible rate.  The federal government has 18 million employees, all of whom are paid from tax revenues. Taxing these employees is a form of financial sophistry as is the entire obama budget and absurd stimulus plan.

Conservatives, on the other hand, know positively that the lib’s ideas won’t work and will only drive the country further into debt providing absolutely no boost to the economy. They know for a fact that the only way the Government can hope to help the country and economy is to get the hell out of the way and let the American businessmen and the markets work.

Remember, it was government intervention in the first place that got us into this fix (by tossing a legal monkey wrench called the Community Reinvestment Act into the banking system). What needs be done, if anything, by Washington is to reduce taxes on all businesses, cancel the gasoline tax for a year and give everyone a “holiday” from all payroll deductions for a few months. These actions will produce more positive results that any amount of borrowing, printing and debt increases that the feds could possibly do.

Let’s just look at a single statistic. Gasoline usage for cars in America in 2008 was about 142,421,076,000 us gallons. The Federal tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents. By cancelling this tax for a period of time, the effect would be to dump an extra $25 billion directly into the pockets of our citizens. If this were expanded to transportation as a whole, trains, trucks and airlines, the overall effect would be immediate and beneficial. If the states joined in the tax holiday this figure and the benefits would double. Individuals and companies, across the board, would all have more money and be able to spend and invest in the economy. There would be substantial growth in many economic sectors.This is economics 101 and should be known by all elected officials- sadly, it isn’t.

Let’s consider what taxes really do to any industry or individual. Undeniably, any tax drives up the cost of goods and services. Taxes create an artificial burden on business that has nothing whatsoever to do with the costs of production or running a business. Everything the American consumer buys in this country carries a tax. Some clever economist once figured out that a single loaf of bread, before it gets to your table, has 37 different taxes imposed.

In general, the European economies have stagnated and are dying because of the oppressive taxation imposed by their governments. In Germany, as in most of the socialist countries in Europe, the government confiscates 50% of the GNP. I have a friend who just closed his business because he got tired of seeing half his labor and money being transferred to the government and then used to support millions of Turkish Muslims squatting in Germany.

The current socialist agenda proposed by the leftist wackos in Washington is insane and entirely the wrong way for America. Either the Republicans, together with the American people, the 50 million who voted against obama, stop the libs or our beautiful country will be shuffling down the dreary road to socialism, obscurity and the end of the American dream!

Robert Firth