Domestic Policy

Tax Plan: Obama Wants Women Out of The Workplace

Tickler 1 Comment

In an Op-Ed Piece in the WSJ Obama’s two economic advisers, Jason Furman and Austan Goolsbee outline the domestic terrorism that is the standard Democrat taxation strategy. To bring the propaganda from the O-blivious campaign the New York Sun editors adds the commentary…

Mr. Obama’s two economic advisers, Jason Furman and Austan Goolsbee, have an op-ed piece in today’s Wall Street Journal, and it isn’t pretty. To begin with, they propose bringing back the 39.6% top income tax bracket, an increase from the 35% current top rate. On top of that, he’d impose a new payroll tax on those top earners of 2% to 4%, bringing their marginal tax rate to as high as 43.6%. Add to that the top New York City income tax rate of 3.648% and the top New York State income tax rate of 6.85%, and the nominal marginal income tax rate mounts to a staggering 54%. Because Mr. Obama proposes to put the capital gains and dividend tax rate at 20% even for the “rich” — a mere 33% increase over the current 15% rate — expect to see plenty of high earners scurrying to find creative ways of structuring their income as capital gains or dividends rather than as earned income.

Meanwhile, the most astonishing sentence in the op-ed is this one: “His plan would not raise any taxes on couples making less than $250,000 a year, nor on any single person with income under $200,000.” It amounts to a declaration of war on two-income families, a marriage penalty of punitive proportions. If those two single persons with income just under $200,000 get married, Mr. Obama is going to hammer them with a huge tax increase. If the second earner, who in many cases is the woman, is going to have to give 54% of what she earns to the government, she might as well stay home with the children. Mr. Obama may be able to get away with symbolic slights to women, such as not picking Senator Clinton as vice president. But punishing them with confiscatory taxes for participating in the workforce at a high income level moves the slight into the realm of substance.

Those Responsible, Part 1: Lehman Brothers Board

Tickler Leave a comment

Let’s remember these names, to keep them out of the business world until they die. Perhaps we should send them a card each September 15th…

“For your invaluable direction and wisdom while on the board of Lehman Brothers (invaluable of course in the sense that we’ll never really know the level of destruction your contribution (or lack thereof) waged on the U.S. economy). Best Wishes on dealing with your total failure! As opposed to so many others, you went out at the very bottom of your game.

Sincerely,
America”

“Nine of them are retired. Four of them are over 75 years old. One is a theater producer, another a former Navy admiral. Only two have direct experience in the financial-services industry.

“Meet the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. external board directors, a group of 10 people who, perhaps unknowingly, carried the health of the world’s financial system on their shoulders the past 18 months…”    –Dennis K. Berman on WSJ.com

Lehman Brothers Board of Directors

Richard S. Fuld, Jr.
Chairman and CEO

Michael L. Ainslie
 Private Investor and Former Pres. and CEO of Sotheby’s Holdings

John F. Akers
Retired Chairman of IBM Corp.

Roger S. Berlind
Theatrical Producer

Thomas H. Cruikshank
Retired Chairman and CEO of Halliburton Company

Marsha Johnson Evans
 Rear Admiral, United States Navy (Retired)

Sir Christopher Gent
Non-Executive Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline plc

Jerry A. Grundhofer
 Chairman Emeritus and Retired CEO of U.S. Bancorp

Roland A. Hernandez
 Retired Chairman and CEO of Telemundo Group, Inc.

Henry Kaufman
 President of Henry Kaufman & Company, Inc.

John D. Macomber
Principal of JDM Investment Group

Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae, one root of evil is Barney Frank

Tickler Leave a comment

The shockingly oblivious Democrat from Massachusetts Barney Frank has proven himself to be one of the most vehement protectors of crap management and a record-breaking flusher of others’ wealth. Thanks for the new $200+ billion invoice. And for the liberals and conservatives out there, I don’t want to hear another word about the 10 billion/month we’re spending in Iraq attracting and subsequently pulverizing extreme Muslims. Barney Frank and his kind just waged a single day war on the taxpayer (read “rich white conservatives”, not the “working people”) to the price tag of 18 months in Iraq.

Asked about Treasury’s modest bailout condition that the companies reduce the size of their high-risk mortgage-backed securities (MBS) portfolios starting in 2010, Mr. Frank was quoted on Monday as saying, “Good luck on that,” and that it would never happen.

There you have the Fannie Mae problem in profile. Mr. Frank wants you to pick up the tab for its failures, while he still vows to block a reform that might prevent the same disaster from happening again.

At least the Massachusetts Democrat is consistent. His record is close to perfect as a stalwart opponent of reforming the two companies, going back more than a decade. The first concerted push to rein in Fan and Fred in Congress came as far back as 1992, and Mr. Frank was right there, standing athwart. But things really picked up this decade, and Barney was there at every turn.

READ MORE

Oh, and the best part? Many of the irresponsible people who got into houses they never could have afforded may get to stay in those houses, on my dime. You’re welcome. Now grow up and use your brain next time. The formula is as follows:  work your tail off, get promoted, work your tail off, get promoted, buy a house you can afford in good times and bad, work your tail off, retire. I’m keeping it simple, because buying twice the house you can afford — just because some greedy (and stupid) bankers dangled the carrot — means you can’t follow complex.

Oh, and the greedy bankers? Here’s some for you. We must have experienced a decade of MBAs on Wall Street who were apparently the drunken weak link on their teams in school. Oh, except for the Goldman Sachs guys, they were the ones doing the work.

Do I sound angry? Yeah, I’m angry.

Obama’s ‘Community Organizer’ Days, More Insight

Tickler Leave a comment

The Community Organizer’s New Clothes

There’s a piece by James Taranto of the WSJ today about Obama’s “Community Organizer” days that shouldn’t be missed.

…community organizing consists of helping elect Barack Obama president! This fits right in with Obama’s claim, noted here yesterday, that he is more qualified to be president than Palin is to be vice president because, whereas she has run a mere town, he has run a campaign for himself.

The community Barack Obama has organized is, in [the Obama campaign manager’s] own telling, the community of those who admire Barack Obama. He is mayor of Obamaville and aspires to be president of Barackistan. At the center of it all is a man who, like Hans Christian Andersen’s naked emperor, may or may not believe that his veneer of accomplishment is real.

READ IT IN FULL HERE

also…

Why Obama’s ‘Community Organizer’ Days Are a Joke

Michelle Malkin provides some interesting insight into the non-profit-status-abusing company for whom the “exciting new guy” Obama used to work.

Nobody is mocking community organizers in church basements and community centers across the country working to improve their neighbors’ lives. What deserves ridicule is the notion that Obama’s brief stint as a South Side rabble-rouser for tax-subsidized, partisan nonprofits qualifies as executive experience you can believe in.

What deserves derision is “community organizing” that relies on a community of homeless people and ex-cons to organize for the purpose of registering dead people to vote, shaking down corporations and using the race card as a bludgeon.

Very worth a read… THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Gang Green, The Politics of Recycling

Tickler Leave a comment

There was a brilliant article in the WSJ a few days back about the evangelizing church of green and the hypocrisy of the whole (bowel) movement. Definitely take the time to READ IT HERE.

A good passage from the article…

In reality, household recycling is mostly about absolving the guilt of Lexus liberals who just hate themselves for enjoying an affluent 21st-century lifestyle. The aim seems to be less saving nature than building self-esteem.

And it has worked. Too well. I can barely tolerate the proud recyclers, hybrid-car owners and “save the polar bear” button-wearers who smother us with their self-righteousness. A few weeks ago I was at the house of some friends, and I accidentally tossed a plastic Gatorade bottle into the glass recycling bin. You would have thought that I had made a pass at their daughter.

This is just another way in which the self-loathing liberals avoid true service to their fellowmen and the search for meaning.

Take Down The Bird Feeder

Tickler Leave a comment

There’s an email illustrative story going around about immigration that I felt was well worth the post (no credit given because I can’t find the origin)…

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. What a beauty of a bird feeder it was, as I filled it lovingly with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food.

But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table … everywhere! Then some of the birds turned mean. They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket.

And others birds were boisterous and loud. They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn’t even sit on my own back porch anymore. So I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio.

Soon, the back yard was like it used to be…. quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now let’s see. Our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, and free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen. Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families; you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor; your child’s 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn’t speak English.

Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to “press one” to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than “Old Glory” are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.

Just my opinion, but maybe it’s time for the government to take down the bird feeder.

Great story. But unfortunately the liberal politicians want to buy even more bird feeders.

Ludacris? Certainly. Funny, and more than a little sad.

Tickler Leave a comment

Not that I ever pay attention to so-called “urban struggle” music*, but I thought the Ludicrous performer** Ludacris*** was supposed to be cutting edge. Instead I read the attempt at lyrics to this recent track about Obama “painting the White House black”.

* I say “music”, not to disparage the medium but because “awkward rhythms, the odd attempt at melody, with terribly juvenile rhyming and schizo-syllabic partial sentences cussed and yelled over them” is too long to write frequently.

** Had to think about that too for a minute because he’s not an artist, he’s not a musician, he’s not a singer, and he’s certainly no writer, but he does perform as I understand (like a two-year-old in a toy store).

*** Wow, clever, the pinnacle of hip-hop “talent”, integrate your name into some random word or phrase, and certainly don’t look it up, why would you want to know what ludicrous means?

We should encourage him to continue trying to write, no matter the subject. After all, 1) writing leads to thinking and education, 2) he may someday realize that lyrics should include meter as well as rhyme, and 3) that rhyme, too, should actually be considered and not just desperately grasped in the first word you can think of that sounds similar. This is a common practice that seems to be a rampant hip-hop standard.

I guess we should count our blessings, …anything to keep a little scratch in his pocket to keep one more self-proclaimed “gangsta” somewhat off the streets.

From the BBC UK News service…

“Ludacris is a talented individual but he should be ashamed of these lyrics,” said Mr Obama’s spokesman Bill Burton.

The rap star’s publicist initially declined to comment, reported the Associated Press.

‘Great talent’

The musician used a misogynistic term to describe Mrs Clinton and urged Mr Obama against appointing her as his running mate, saying that she “hated on you”.

Mr McCain, the Republican candidate for the presidency, does not belong in “any chair unless he’s paralysed”, according to the rapper.

Mr Burton added: “As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn’t want his daughters or any children exposed to.”

During my own reading of the lyric, I imagined Chris Bridges (his name) sitting on the floor of a studio, a fully clenched fist wrapped tightly around a crayon connected to a sheet of construction paper, and tongue straining against the corner of his mouth, toward a grape jelly stain on his t-shirt. Subject matter aside, it’s perhaps the worst writing I’ve ever read. I kept reading because I thought it must be a parody of inner-city educational systems, as an argument for electing Obama, who will drive more social welfare programs that keep inner-city families from the difficulties of self-reliance and accountability.

Hmmm…. maybe it was a parody after all. Did he sneak it by me? Very subtle satire of “where he at” and “where he come from”, delivered in character. Now I’m actually impressed. Or not.

The Dust Will Settle on King Barack Hisself Obsessa

Tickler Leave a comment

I don’t know about you, but all of this fawning over the sock puppet makes me snicker. I’m not the least bit concerned about it frankly. The dust will settle and the many and varied analyses will be done on the dangerous positions his ill-informed and naive statements have taken, and reality will set in as we near November.

The intelligent, good folks of these United States will thoughtfully consider the issues and matters at hand.

  • They’ll ponder the implications of a having a socialist, and an inexperienced freshman socialist, as president (as opposed to getting one who has actually had some responsibility, like running the people’s lemonade stand).
  • They’ll ask themselves what this guy has done to justify running for president, letting completely alone getting my vote.
  • They’ll ask themselves what justifies all of the premature ticker-tape parades the networks and newspapers have thrown him, tipping their crooked slant clearly into daylight in their eagerness, after years, to sell a “democrat” candidate (ok, non-republican) that anyone is excited about.
  • They’ll consider why the warm reception B.O. got in places like Jordan and Germany are anything but a warning in and of itself.
  • Black people will ponder the relevance of skin color in a country where it’s supposed to be irrelevant and still vote black (because, “well, short of Satan, he’s alright with me. And, oh yeah, O.J. was framed.”)
  • White people too will ponder the relevance of skin color in a country where it’s supposed to be irrelevant (but certainly still be required to ignore it for openly racist causes and organizations such as Affirmative Action, the NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus, BET TV, Essence/Ebony Magazines, etc.) and still likely vote white, but feel better about it because at least they agree with 40% of McCain’s policies (which is simple math over 0% for O.B.’s)
  • The black Christians will disregard all policy positions and vote for the sock puppet for the same black reason.
  • The white Christians will consult absolute truth and find B.O. to be guilty of gross obliviousness and malicious intent to open the U.S. to destruction from both outside and inside, and vote McCain.
  • The dirt-worshipers will be content to praise the nearest shrub, extolling the wonderful possibility of having an 82% ACLU Scorecard pinkster as POTUS.

With any luck…

  • The informed on both sides will all turn up to vote. Fair’s fair.
  • The many colors of racists, and the self-loathing, will all sleep through it
  • The fence-sitters (who have, sadly, decided the last few elections) will continue to waffle until November 4th, waiting to be persuaded to one side or the other by wind-direction and speed, indigestion, planetary positioning, or a maybe just a stimulating conversation in the car on the way to the voting center (these are the luke-warm people Jesus warned us about by the way), and find themselves hopelessly lost in the woods, as they tend to get, and die of exposure.
  • Good people from sea to shining sea will consider each side’s values and weigh them carefully against everything we’ve built up since our founding (and some have started to tear back down).

Rest assured, both very good and very bad things will be said and done between now and November, but I choose to have faith that God still blesses this country and that we’re not too far gone to merit the promise of prosperity. I believe enough good people will actually consider the issues and vote like it matters. Because, while the democrats who want any ignorant vote they can bribe with food, illegal voter registration, and a drive to the voting center, for very different reasons I DO care who you vote for. I wish knowing the issues was a requirement to punch the card (as well as biometric IDs for all to prove citizenship). But so goes hope, oh, and desire for change!

Al Gore Still Running Black Car & SUV Convoy

Tickler Leave a comment

From Glenn Beck’s newsletter this morning…

Al Gore recently gave a speech where the advertisements encouraged people to ride their bikes (in 90 degree heat) or take public transportation to get to the event. Gore, always looking to live out his do as I say not as I do philosophy on life, showed up with a fleet of cars and SUV’s. This video is taken by a group who crashed the event and asked some attendees why they didn’t ride their bikes, and they ask Gore’s driver why he’s leaving the car idling with the air conditioning on.

Watch the video clip here.