Intro

It's time for a reality check ...

Maybe we’ve reached the point of diminishing astonishment.

But I suspect that much of what we’re hammered with every day really doesn’t make much of an impact on most of us anymore. We’ve heard the same stories too often. We’ve been exposed to the same issues for so long without any meaningful resolution. We recognize that reality is rapidly becoming malleable, primarily in the hands of whoever has the biggest microphone. How else can we explain a society where myth asserts itself as reality, based entirely how many hits it gets online?

We know that many of the “issues” as defined are pure crapola, hyped by politicians on both sides pandering to “the will of the people,” which is still more crapola. Inevitably, it’s not the will of all the people they reflect, but the will of relatively small groups of people with disproportionate political influence.

Nobody wants to face up to the realities of the issues. Nobody wants to say what’s right or wrong – even when it’s obvious and there are numbers to back it up. Most of us are afraid to bring up the realities for fear of being accused of being insensitive or downright mean.

So we say nothing. Until now.

It’s time for a reality check on the fundamentals – much of which is common knowledge to many of us, already. But it might be comforting to know you are not alone …

Thursday, November 15, 2012


Be careful what you ask for

The election hangover is coming.  For all those who voted to put Obama back in office for another four years, you asked for it. 

So let’s not hear any whining from Obama supporters.

Obama and the Democrats ran big on everyone paying their “fair share” of taxes, especially “the rich.”  They wanted to let the Bush Tax cuts expire for families making over $250,000 a year – the reviled 1% we’ve heard all about.  In fact, just the other day Obama claimed that his victory was a mandate on raising taxes on the wealthy.

If that’s what they want, I say let them do it.  Obama won the election and it’s time to give his supporters what they voted for, whether they like it or not. 

Go ahead, let the cuts expire for families making over $250,000 a year in return for extending the tax cuts for everyone else. 

But nothing more. 

When Chuck Schumer makes his pitch again to preserve those same “unfair” tax cuts for families making up to a million bucks a year, turn him down. 

Apparently, Chuckie’s constituents in New York make a lot more money than a paltry $250,000 a year.  Which, I guess, makes them the rarest of rare – “good” 1 percenters.  Too bad. 

If memory serves me, his constituents voted overwhelmingly for Obama.  We’re only giving them what they voted for. 

You want to raise taxes on the rich?  Well, you got it.  No exceptions.

Take the same approach to ObamaCare.  Don’t try to repeal it. 

Instead, remove all the exemptions and exceptions.  Like the carve out for unions.  The waivers for businesses in Nancy Pelosi’s district.  The Louisiana deal.  The Cornhusker Compromise.  All the side deals and special interest payoffs.   Strip them all out.  And bring the individual mandate back in full force.  No exceptions. 

But leave all the taxes in. 

Like the tax on medical devices companies on their gross sales, not their profits.  That will be applied to everything from Pacemakers to MRI machines; you’ll be paying for that, too.  There’s also an increase in the rate employers pay for their contribution to their employees’ Medicare. There are new caps on Flexible Spending Accounts.  And more.   Goes on and on.   

By removing all the exemptions and exceptions, we can make ObamaCare  “pure” again and see how much people like it.   Let everyone feel the full weight of it. 

Let everyone see how under ObamaCare employee benefits are now treated as taxable income.  Yes, that’s right, employees will soon start paying tax, personally, on the value of the healthcare benefits they get from their employer.  That’s probably going to cost them more than the “free” birth control pills they’ll get.  Bet those who voted for Obama didn’t know that.  Or that a whole bunch of other ObamaCare-related taxes are about to hit. 

They thought they were voting for “free” stuff.  They are in for a surprise.   

Next up, the payroll tax holiday.  Let that expire.  After all, we’re worried about funding Social Security – and not cutting that entitlement – so let’s let the working Joe and Jill kick into it, instead of just their employers.  Plus, people voted to raise taxes, according to the Democrats. 

Again, give them what they wanted.    

People tried valiantly to tell the public that nothing is free.  Someone has to pay for everything.  Yet they voted for the party that promised them more free stuff, and a bunch of new regulations and taxes – but they always assumed those would be on someone else. 

Surprise.  Bad assumption.  You will get precisely what you voted for. 

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