A NEW JOB

I start a new job today (Monday).

My hours have not yet been set, so my blogging may or may not be sparse for the next few days.

Try to get by without me, but remember, I'll be back.

Also, try to keep President BO from doing anything more outrageous than he alresdy has.

As soon as I know my regular schedule, I'll let you know (if you care).

I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO!

GO TO JAIL. GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL. DO NOT PASS GO AND DO NOT COLLECT $200.00

We conservatives have been telling you and telling you about the things buried in what is now PelosiCare, the health care legislation in House Bill now numbered 3962.

The House Ways and means Committee has released a letter from the Joint Committee on Taxation, a non-partisan group that confirms that the failure to comply with the individual mandate requiring the purchase of a $15,000.00 health insurance policy could result in people paying up to $250,000.00 in fines or facing up to five years in prison.

Here's the text: "“H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.” [page 1]"

Read all about it HERE.

This is all about the Democrats' desire to be in complete control of your life. It is also the destruction of one more of our freedoms as citizens, the freedom to choose health care or not.

I surmise that liberals are sick and tired of Americans having so much freedom and thus back the content of HR 3962.

Why else would they sit by and allow our government to pass this atrocity of a bill, with all of its restrictions and its rationing of health care?

How far will we let this go?

Will we wait until it has all come to pass and then whine, "Why did they do this to us?"

When I first told you that this would be a part of the health care plan, liberals wrote to me to tell me how stupid I am, and how out of touch with reality I am and how wrong I was.

But I was not stupid, out of touch or wrong.

It is happening.

I told you so...right here on Jo-Joe Politico.

AND NOW TO MY REGULAR SUNDAY FARE:
SUNDAY SAYINGS FROM OUR FOUNDERS-Gabriel Duvall

Gabriel Duvall

SOLDIER; JUDGE; SELECTED AS DELEGATE TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION; COMPTROLLER OF THE U. S. TREASURY; U. S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

"I resign my soul into the hands of the Almighty Who gave it, in humble hopes of His mercy through our Savior Jesus Christ."

CLUELESS IN DC

By now, everybody knows about the unthinkable massacre that occurred at Fort Hood, in Texas.

Certainly our prayers are with the families of those killed as well as with those injured in the melee.

President BO thought it proper to hold a special telecast addressing the event.

As our brilliant, sophisticated, experienced leader stepped to the podium, eyes and ears all over the country waited earnestly for his opening remarks about the tragedy.

What? What's that he's saying?

"Please, everybody have a seat. Let me first of all just thank Ken and the entire Department of the Interior staff for organizing just an extraordinary conference. I want to thank my Cabinet members and senior administration officials who participated today. I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow was around, and so I want to give a shout-out to that Congressional Medal of Honor* winner. It's good to see you. (Applause.)

"My understanding is, is that you had an extremely productive conference. I want to thank all of you for coming and for your efforts, and I want to give you my solemn guarantee that this is not the end of a process but a beginning of a process, and that we are going to follow up. (Applause.) We are going to follow up. Every single member of my team understands that this is a top priority for us. I want you to know that, as I said this morning, this is not something that we just give lip service to. And we are going to keep on working with you to make sure that the first Americans get the best possible chances in life in a way that's consistent with your extraordinary traditions and culture and values.

"Now, I have to say, though, that beyond that, I plan to make some broader remarks about the challenges that lay ahead for Native Americans, as well as collaboration with our administration,..."

There's been a slaughter of American soldiers and he's talking about the conference with Native Americans he's just been to.

With the requisite pauses and stumbling, stuttering nature of President BO's speech patterns, this took about 1 minute and 50 seconds...almost two minutes to accomplish.

He still hasn't addressed the Fort Hood incident.

Finally:

"...but as some of you might have heard, there has been a tragic shooting at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas. We don't yet know all the details at this moment; we will share them as we get them. What we do know is that a number of American soldiers have been killed, and even more have been wounded in a horrific outburst of violence.

"My immediate thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and with the families of the fallen, and with those who live and serve at Fort Hood. These are men and women who have made the selfless and courageous decision to risk and at times give their lives to protect the rest of us on a daily basis."

If there is one of you out there who thinks this televised statement represented President BO's understanding of the solemnity, seriousness and urgency of this very horrific event, you are totally mistaken. Either that or you are so blinded by this man's charisma that you have lost all touch with reality.

What he DID demonstrate is that he is inexperienced, sophomoric, and absolutely un-presidential. He has no sense of dignity, nor does he understand why his opening remarks were inappropriate for the occasion.

His mind was on the preceding conference and he had to express himself about that mundane, irrelevant event before he could progress to the real issue he was supposed to be dealing with.

Already, some are writing that pointing out this shortcoming in President BO's ability to properly assess a situation is "playing politics."

NONSENSE!! ABSOLUTE NONSENSE!!

President BO is the one who was playing politics. He is the one who could not get on topic, not his critics.

The man you people (whoever you are) elected is nothing more than an incapable school boy (Yes, I dared used the word "boy," because that's what he acts like. If he does not want to be referred to as a "boy," then let him start acting like a leader...a man.).

If you are a liberal with half a mind, you must be embarrassed by this man's performance. If you are not, then I feel sorry for your intellect...it has gone missing.

There is no way, under any circumstances that the opening of this speech can be justified.

For those of you who will accuse me of lying, here is the speech (watch the time line):




Did you watch his expressions?

Did you observe his body language?

He was totally out of his element.

Toward the end he said, "...And I want all of you to know that as Commander-in-Chief, there's no greater honor but also no greater responsibility for me than to make sure that the extraordinary men and women in uniform are properly cared for and that their safety and security when they are at home is provided for."

As he said it, he was halting, pausing, searching for a way to get himself out of the grammatical corner he had painted himself into which would have required at least one or two more "I"s, but which he has become sensitive about, since too many "I"s seem egotistical. So he hunted for a way out and found it in "...there's no greater honor for ME (emphasis HIS)..."

Then, in a fitting close to his remarks about this terrible occurrence, he closed by saying, "Again, thank you for your participation here today. I am confident that this is going to be resulting in terrific work between this government and your governments in the weeks, the months, and years to come."

The MainStreamMedia has edited the video of his remarks so as not to include the parts that revealed his un-presidentiality. You will not see the references to the conference with Native Americans, because MSM wants you to think he WAS presidential.

But he was not, is not and never will be.

He will always be, as he is now, clueless in DC.

SO, WHAT WILL YOU HAVE?

A friend of mine sent me this video.

I've seen it before, but I enjoyed watching it again. I learned from it as well.

Maybe you will, too.




President BO seems committed to moving us toward an oligarchy.

All of his proclamations and all of his actions thus far more nearly fit the pattern of an oligarchy than a republic.

In his world, the government, made of a "few" elitists, rule the people.

Wouldn't you rather have a government ruled by law, that let's the people alone?

So, come 2010, and later in 2012, what will you have?

THE FINAL ANSWER

This post will sit poorly with liberals. The sad thing is, it will sit poorly with many conservatives as well.

However, what I am about to propose will solve a myriad of problems that are a direct result of the power yielded to politicians as a result of a very deliberately complicated tax code.

A major portion of the so-called "special interest group" lobbying that goes on in Washington D.C. is related to seeking tax breaks in one form or another for some business category, or some professional group, etc.

These groups invite, encourage and sustain corruption among politicians.

"Hidden" federal taxes raise the cost of absolutely everything we buy.

The price of a loaf of bread is 40% taxes. So is a gallon of gasoline.

The tax code is so complex that even government tax accountants, indeed, the IRS, itself cannot keep up with it.

I have had personal experience with IRS audits on two occasions.

Each time, different IRS agents have given me different "advice" about the exact-same issue.

It is clear that the tax code needs to be simplified.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 resulted in a net INCREASE in paperwork of over 175%. With it came an increase in the number of tax laws, further complicating the whole mess.

Such is the government's definition of "simplification."

One suggestion that has been bandied about to help simplify the tax code is the so-called "consumption tax." It works like a states sales tax, only on a national level.

Whenever you make a purchase, a percentage is tacked onto the total. This is the consumption tax.

If you buy a $20,000.00 automobile, you would pay, let's say 12% on the amount over a certain level, let's say $5,000.00.

Thus you would pay 12% of $15,000.00, or $1,800.00 in taxes to the federal government.

Remember, in many states (as in Florida where I live), a state sales tax applies, too.

A car sold in Florida would have a 6% sales tax as well, assuming that the state keeps its sales tax...and that's on the $20,000.00. It amounts to $1,200.00.

So your total cost of the car would be $23,000.00 plus title and registration.

That would price many people out of the market for that particular automobile.

There are many issues connected to a consumption tax that are difficult to deal with: how to calculate the base line, how to enable folks to make a purchase, pay the consumption tax and wait to have it reimbursed to them if they are below the government established "poverty" or "base" income level.

I know, I've had many "consumption tax" proponents "explain" the issues away, but never successfully. They can't.

And if it's too complex for a person as brilliant as I am to understand (I know I'm brilliant; my father always called me "Sun."), then we're right back to the complexity that is one of the failures of the present system.

I have the answer.

It is simple.

It is sweet.

It is non-manipulable.

It is far, far less prone to corruption.

It is a simple, straightforward single percentage income tax that is paid on every earned dollar in the U.S above the "poverty" level.

There would be no deductions of any kind for anyone, but nobody could be taxed twice on the same earned dollar. This would leave the door open for genuine charitable contributions, which charities would not pay taxes on dollars on which taxes had already been paid.

("Earned dollar" would be defined as a dollar received for goods produced - at both the wholesale and the retail level - or services rendered.)

For the sake of discussion, let's say it was established at 9%.

A base line "poverty" income would be established, on which no taxes are paid. Then 9% of every earned dollar over that poverty line would go to the feds to do with as we tell them.

(That last part might be a pipe-dream).

Let's say I, as an individual have a company manufacturing widgidoodles, from which I personally earn $35,000.00 per year. Let's further say that the poverty level was established at $20,000.00.

My personal taxes would be 9% of the difference between what I earned and the poverty level, or 9% of $15,000.00, or $1,350.00.

Then let's assume that my company makes a NET before tax profit of $150,000.00. Allowing the first $20,000.00 profit to be tax-free, 9% of that would be paid in taxes, equalling $11, 700.00 in corporate taxes.

That would leave me an after-tax profit of $118,000.00 from which I could pay my investors and/or put back into company growth. Still a good profit...my payroll was met, as were my expenses.

All other federal taxes would be done away with totally. Absolutely.

At the present time this 9% system would afford the government would an estimated $3 trillion per year and every person and corporation would have the incentive to grow based on being able to keep 91% of everything earned.

There would no longer be cheating over this deduction and that deduction.

Talk about simplified tax returns! (I earned $35,000.00, deduct $20,000.00 "poverty allowance" and pay 9% of the difference).

The government problems would no longer center around, "How can we get enough money to meet the budget, the issue would only be how do we properly divide what we take in."

I would suggest that a fixed percentage of income be assigned to each budget item such as 30% for national defense, 30% for all federal salaries and benefits, and so-on.

The consumption tax people will jump up and down, yell and scream, turn red in the face and get angry at me for not liking their plan.

Government lobbyists will hate this plan, because 60% of them will be unnecessary.

Politicians won't know what to do with themselves if they can't come up with new ways to tax people and then tell them they are going to lower taxes...taxes will never go up or down because of the federal government, only because of increases or decreases in earnings.

What? You have an argument against my plan?

Save it.

I've heard them all, and none of them holds water.

The final answer is: for you Consumption Tax People, yours isn't ever going to happen.

Sadly, neither is mine.

Unless.........

THE PROBLEM OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS

I attended public schools in Puerto Rico, Texas, Oklahoma, Washington State, Florida, France and Georgia.

Today, most kids attend government schools.

"What's the difference?" you ask.

The difference is in how you view core subjects such as basic arithmetic and mathematics (you think they are the same thing? Guess again).

In public school I learned that to find the unit cost of something, you divide the total cost of the entire project by the number of units in questions.

For instance, if you purchase a herd of 10 cows for $7,000.00, you can find the cost of each cow by dividing $7,000.00 by 10. Using public school math, that comes to $700.00 per cow.

Government schools don't work that way.

In our county, if you divide the total education budget by the number of students enrolled, you arrive at a cost of $15,000.00 per student.

The teachers' union, however, says the cost is much lower per student because the cost of buses, administrators, janitors (sorry: ministers of maintenance), and the like do not count in the cost of actually educating students.

Government employees think that what taxpayers actually pay for schooling is not related to the cost of educating a child.

The federal government thinks the same way.

According to the White House, after several revisions downward due to faulty statistical analyses, the "stimulus package(s)" have created or saved nearly a million jobs at a cost of $160 billion.

Those jobs include "the waitress who's still on the job," according to VP Joe Biden.

Using that logic, every job in America was saved by the "stimulus package," which is just absurd. But since when has absurdity been an issue with this administration?

A public school graduate would divide $160 billion by the number of jobs "created or saved" to arrive at the total cost per job, which is $160,000.00 per job.

Jared Bernstein, chief economist and senior economic advisor to the vice president, called that "calculator abuse."

He prefers the government school approach.

He said the cost per job was actually $92,000 -- but acknowledged that estimate is for the whole stimulus package as of the end of 2010.

So you see, if you were educated in government school, actually using the correct formula to solve a mathematical problem is "calculator abuse."

Instead, you should interpolate the results with such things as good wishes and good intentions, factor in unintended consequences and draw a conclusion that you HOPE satisfies the expectations of the electorate, being ready to CHANGE the result if you need to.

Giving Jared Bernstein the benefit of the doubt, and accepting the $92,000.00 per job "saved/created," let it be noted that ONLY A RANK LIBERAL could accept that figure as a reasonable cost to "create/save" an above the poverty level job, and many of the jobs "created/saved" did not qualify for even that.

Once again our elected officials have taken the approach that, "...we will do what we want to do, when we want to do it, where we want to do it, how we want to do it, and the citizen's wishes for honesty and integrity be hanged."

What do you know about Jared Bernstein? You don't know much, because there is little about him anywhere, birthplace, early life, state he's from, etc. Here's all we know: He is reported to be 53 years old, but that is not known for sure. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts from the Manhattan School of Music; a Masters Degree in Social Work from the Hunter School of Social Work; a Masters Degree in Philosophy and Ph.D. in Social Welfare from Columbia University. He has also taught at Howard University, Columbia University and New York University. Bernstein is on the Congressional Budget Office's advisory committee and has been a contributor to the financial news station CNBC. He is an extreme leftist and does not believe in a free economy. You can find out a little more about him HERE.

SUNDAY SAYINGS FROM OUR FOUNDERS - John Dickinson

John Dickinson

SIGNER OF THE CONSTITUTION; GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA; GOVERNOR OF DELAWARE; GENERAL IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

"Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among His works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity.

"[Governments] caould not give the rights essential to happiness… We claim them from a higher source: from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth."