Tag: debt

Read my lips: I was against taxes before I was for them

In what will go down in history as one of the fastest reversals of position, Andrew Gillum said on Sunday that he won’t raise taxes to pay for Medicare for all.  After several deflections, he softened his stance to say he won’t raise taxes on “every day working” people.  I’m not sure how that works, since it’s hard to raise taxes on people who don’t work.  But finally, Gillum admitted he actually will raise taxes.  In fact, what Gillum has revealed of his tax plan makes Florida the most expensive state in the south to do business.  But there’s one problem: his plan has already spent the corporate tax rate hike on education.

According to Gillum’s website, the 40% tax hike on Florida businesses will be used to pay for his “fair share” education program.  So how is he going to pay for Medicare for all?  Gillum can honestly say he won’t raise taxes because he supports the Federal Government footing the bill, and taking over healthcare.  Gillum knows this will require a 100% tax hike on “every day working” people, and he knows that Florida can’t possibly afford it on their own.  But since he’s running for governor, he is refusing to answer the question.  Once we realize this and remove federal healthcare overhauls from his campaign website, he’s left with little more than rampant tax increases, sanctuary state status, gun control, and the rest of the Democratic Socialist agenda.  Gillum doesn’t have a healthcare solution.  That’s why he can’t answer the question.

Andrew Gillum against tax cuts before he was for them…in the same interview

Beto O’Rourke in Texas is starting to look less and less like a golden boy.  New details are out about his 20 year old drunk driving crash.  O’Rourke apparently tried to flee the scene and then lied about how much he had consumed.  Of course, fleeing a drunk driving accident is sort of a staple of the great Democrat senators of history.  At least he didn’t leave someone in the car to die.

O’Rourke also supports a single payer healthcare system and has made that central to his campaign.  But like his fellow Democratic Socialists, O’Rourke hasn’t quite articulated how he would pay the $3.2 trillion annual bill.  In fact, his website is more platitude than plan.  If people wanted unicorns, I’m sure free unicorns would be in his platform.  At some point someone will need to ask him how he’s going to pay for it all.  That one question seems to be the Achilles heel of the Democratic Socialist movement.

Beto O’Rourke bets on healthcare

The family of Aretha Franklin made a statement that the eulogy given at her funeral by Rev. Jasper Williams, Jr was offensive.  Williams didn’t really talk about Aretha, but instead spent the entire eulogy talking politics.  At one point he made a statement that black lives don’t matter as long as blacks are killing each other.  The statement was met with shock and calls of “black lives do matter” from the crowd.  The funeral was attended by controversial figures as well, including Fascist minister Louis Farrakhan.  At points in the funeral it turned into a Trump roast.

Franklin family bemoans political speech at funeral

Leftists admit Socialism is unaffordable

“The democratic socialists may do well in November.  Yet upon arriving in Washington, they will discover that even their revolution cannot repeal the laws of math.”  That is how an article with Vox by Brian Riedl ends.  Riedl uses leftist and Democrat sources to compile the costs of the Democratic Socialist agenda and finds that even the most generous sources leave them with $3.4 trillion per year to make up in tax revenues.

Democrats have gained traction in the coming election by claiming that deficits are bad and we need to tax the rich to fix it.  But don’t mistake their feigned concern for actual fiscal sanity.  Even the extensive list of new taxes laid out by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wouldn’t cover 10% of the cost of their agenda.

According to Reidl, Democratic Socialists could pay for all the free stuff they are promising with a 100% tax on all corporations and 100% tax on all family income over $150,000 for married taxpayers and $90,000 for singles.  This would be on top of the current tax structure and assumes the willingness of business owners and capital providers to devote their hard work to charity rather than profit.  Another idea to add on to our current taxes would an 87% value added tax.  Basically, in every step of the manufacturing process, the government gets 87 cents of every dollar made.  The inflation would kill the middle class.  Lastly, we could do it if we added a 37% flat payroll tax on top of the current tax structure.  For the middle class this would mean an all in tax rate of 77%.

So let’s talk about this blue wave?  Are voters really ready to kill the economic growth by ending the Trump tax cuts?  Are they really ready to hand over their healthcare decisions in exchange for giving 77 cents of every dollar they make to the government?  Is this what people really want?  It’s not like the Left is running on anything else, except for extreme Trump hate.  Well, now you have an idea of how much that hatred will cost you just in taxes.

Need to Know 8/1/18

Ontario, Canada is scrapping a basic income program after discovering that it was unsustainable.  The plan, which provided $17,000 to individuals whether they worked or not and half the benefit if they did work, was started in 2017 and meant to be a three year program.  There was shock and anger from the beneficiaries who will soon see those government provided checks dry up.  Universal basic income in the US would cost $3.8 trillion a year, or twice our current annual tax revenues.

Canadian universal basic income trial run fails miserably

Speaking of admitting failure, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro is joining a proud history of socialist dictators who finally realize their economic model doesn’t work.  However, unlike Gorbachev and Yeltsin, Maduro is vowing to press on.  While blaming outside forces, he called on his comrades to figure out a way to make the economy work.

Venezuela President admits failure, but not defeat

Speaking of economic failure, I wonder how many people think Obama had something to do with the economy getting better?  What actually helped during the second half of Obama’s Presidency was a GOP congress wrangling out of control deficits mixed with quantitative easing from the Fed.  The Fed bought up trillions in US private equities to artificially jumpstart the economy, and lowered interest rates to almost nothing.  Now, in the Trump era of American prosperity, the bill is coming due.  That is the biggest thing that keeps JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon up at night.  He sees it as the biggest economic threat currently.  It’s like Obama put America’s economy on a zero interest credit card, and now Trump has to pay it off.

American economy is great, time to pay off Obama’s credit card

Need to Know 7/26/18

There’s a double standard in how the media is treating Democrats versus how they treat Republicans.  I know, you’re in shock.  The latest example is Georgia candidate Stacey Abrams.  In Time Magazine’s “The South is Still Racist” edition, Abrams is pictured as the next rising star of the Democrat party; if only Georgians can overcome their racism and vote for her.  One thing that I found interesting was the coverage of her debt situation.  Abrams is $220,000 in debt.  It’s not mortgage debt.  Abrams owes the IRS about $50,000 and has student loan and credit card debt of about $170,000.  CNN Money excuses this as something everyone has.  In fact, her debt troubles prove she’s a charitable person and helped her develop her economic plans.

Contrast this with Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh.  Financial disclosures revealed that at one point he had over $60,000 in debt, maybe even as high as $200,000.  He has since paid it off.  CNBC’s article on his debt, which some have suggested disqualifies him from the Supreme Court, said “Don’t be like Brett”.  They chided him for how much money he wasted on interest payments.  Of course, Supreme Court justices don’t control state budgets.  Governors do.

MSM: Everyone has debt, just like Democrat Stacey Abrams.  It’s OK!

Also MSM: Don’t rack up debt like Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The war between Trump and CNN is heating up again.  After CNN aired secret taped conversations between Trump and his attorney, Trump banned a CNN reporter from covering White House events for the day.  Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen is now working with former Clinton attorney Lanny Davis.  Davis provided the secret tapes to CNN and CNN aired them.  The banned reporter tried to ask about the recordings and refused to leave after the press conference was over.  CNN was not banned, but that specific reporter who refused to leave was.

Trump bans CNN reporter after CNN airs secret conversations

Speaking of the Cohen tapes: Clinton lawyer Lanny Davis has promised there are more tapes to come.  But none of them feature Trump.  The Trump legal team made the decision to waive any sort of right to block the release of the tapes because Trump is only in the ones that have already been aired and no crimes were committed by Trump.  Sure, it’s embarrassing to Trump to have tapes out there discussing his private, immoral sex life.  But Trump isn’t going to make the mistake of covering it up, or worse, lying under oath about it.  That was it; it’s all out in the open.  The media may milk it for another week or two, but viewers will be as disappointed as they were when Rachel Maddow found and way over-hyped a page of Trump’s New York income tax return.  The Cohen tapes were a flash in the pan.

Cohen tapes turn out to be a whole lot of nothing for Trump