Sometimes absurdity is worthy of a laugh or two...
So we showed yesterday what House Majority leader John Boehner's counter-proposal was to President Obama concerning fiscal cliff negotiations...
In essence, the Republican sought to cut the Social Security inflation rate, raise minimum ages to receive Medicare, make the Bush tax cuts permanent including for the very affluent and as a tossed 'bone' stated they'd agree to $800 billion in tax increases over a 10 year period.
Can you guess which part of that proposal pissed off hard-core fiscal conservatives the most?
"Sen. Jim DeMint, a tea party favorite, ripped House Republican leaders for offering a budget framework that embraced new taxes, saying the GOP plan to raise $800 billion in new revenue would hurt the economy, kill jobs and not reduce the national debt by a penny..." (Washington Times)
Well we agree with the last part of not reducing the national debt since $800B is puny, would be spread out over 10 years, and we showed yesterday that $80bil per year is only the equivalent of two months of Fed spending i.e QE3, which converts to public debt.
Senator DeMint's argument is as thus: "Everyone knows that when you take money out of the economy, it destroys jobs, and everyone knows that when you give politicians more money, they spend it. This is why Republicans must oppose tax increases and insist on real spending reductions that shrink the size of government and allow Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money." (Washington Times)
This of course is the fiscal conservative/tea party mantra...
And it is utter bullshit, pardon our French...
Let's put it this way-- if Corporate America absolutely Refused to create new jobs with livable wages and benefits over the last four years of this recession when there were zero tax increases upon them, why should anyone believe for a moment that by rejecting tax increases upon them now, it will motivate these companies to change their ways and start hiring?
They're not charitable, altruistic entities.. Corporations are cut-throat, uncaring, emotionless entities who's sole purpose is to appease the Shareholders and the possess no moral, ethical or civic obligation to anyone else.
And when it comes to paying corporate taxes, have gotten away with Murder! How much in corporate taxes did General Electric pay last year? Zero... Yes-- Zero. How much in corporate taxes did Goldman Sachs pay? Yep.. Zero..
DeMint argues that politicians love spending money... They sure do. And when Bush was in office and the Republicans controlled Congress, they spent like there was no tomorrow... Spent it on Defense...On Wars.. Two of them in fact.. Simultaneously...
Everyone spends money.. but here's the thing: For every wasteful expenditure or pork project snuck in by a slimy Congressman or Senator to benefit their locality (we doubt you're innocent on that Mr. DeMint), money is also spend on good purposes; helping people-- improving lives in more ways then we have time to go into here...
But let's not be too harsh on those tea-party people..
For those at the very top, they have more money than you and I could accrue in 10 lifetimes and since they'll never receive a penny of benefit from Social Security or Medicare, much less other safeguards such as welfare, unemployment compensation and food stamps, why would they ever seek to keep intact any program they could not benefit or profit from?
And for those who embrace the cause but economically are unexceptional; everyday people like us.. We take pity on the misinformed. How deep in the rabbit hole of brainwashing does one have to be, to actively fight for policies that when put into practice will make their economic lives worse? And the mind manipulators actually dare to use the guise of 'Patriotism', 'Liberty' and 'Don't Tread on Me' to suck in the gullible..
Really sad..
The world was much different in the early days of the formation of the United States. Back then we really were a nation of rugged individuals and pioneers. They could hunt, kill, cook, sew, build homes... There was no Lowe's or local supermarket...
Today, we're all pampered babies by comparison.. Most can't survive 10 minutes without their fucking texting devices in their hand, tap-tapping away irrelevancies while intentionally ignoring every living, breathing soul in vicinity.
This tea party notion of shrinking government... just empty platitudes... Most could not survive a week without government being so directly involved in all aspects of our lives. It may stink to think of it but its nonetheless true. All it takes is a Hurricane Katrina or Sandy to impact their lives adversely and even the most staunch Individualist cries and begs for government to step in and save them; to feed and clothe and shelter them.. like infants to a parent.
We don't enjoy knocking the Republicans, mainly because in other areas of public policy, we find areas of agreement with them. But we absolutely Abhor the tea-party movement and its hardcore fiscal conservative ideologies.. The policies are both heartless and short-sighted, and would be devastating to the US economy if ever allowed to be fully implemented.