Why Congress will never fix the corporate tax system …

It’s true that the U.S. has one of the highest, if not the highest, corporate tax rates in the world. 

Critics claim this is driving U.S. companies to merge with companies abroad to avoid those high U.S. taxes. They say that if Congress would simply lower our corporate tax rates to a reasonable level – or eliminate them altogether – U.S. companies would bring more of their overseas earnings home, invest more in our own economy, and we’d probably attract more foreign investment as well.

This could boost our domestic economy, reduce unemployment, and result in even more money flowing to the Treasury than the current taxes bring in. 

The critics may be right. But Congress in never going to propose, much less pass, serious reforms to our corporate tax code. 

First, almost no major U.S. corporation pays those high taxes. They avoid paying high taxes legally, using the laws and regulations on the books already. If their management is dumb enough to be paying the top rate when they don’t have to they are too stupid to be trusted to run a lemonade stand, much less a major company. 

So a lot of the talk about the pain big U.S. corporations feel from high taxes is simply not true. What is true, however, is that our corporate tax structure is so completely, utterly screwed up that it’s not so much a question of what you owe than who you know. 

Some economists have suggested that a simple, uniformly applied corporate tax could be much, much lower than today and return much more in revenue. 

Again, they may be right. But that’s not going to happen. 

You see, the power to tax is the power to destroy. It’s also the source of power in general, particularly political power. Politicians in both parties use all the levers of the tax system to exact tribute – usually in the form of campaign funding – and to wreak havoc on the competitors of their friends. They give tax credits and tax breaks to industries and companies in their states. They place special taxes and levies on companies that compete with their states’ companies. 

And each time one politician carves out a tax advantage for one company or industry, another politician feels compelled to counter that with a special tax advantage for their competitor. 

It goes on, and on, and on. Narrow-focused exemptions and credits can be found in practically every piece of legislation passed by Congress. Some are so narrow as to be laughable – like singling out the only company engaged in manufacturing a certain product that’s defined in detail.

I seem to remember one instance where special tax treatment was written in for “companies” – actually only one fit the description – that made some arcane piece of hunting gear, like a specific type of arrow. I could be wrong, but I think that was embedded in what’s called the “Farm Bill,” but is actually the food-stamp bill because 80% of it is about funding food stamps, not helping farmers. How the arrow manufacturing exemption got included makes about as much sense. 

Anyway, that's how the tax code grows. And grows. And grows.   

Consequently, the tax code keeps getting bigger and more unfathomable all the time. Special tax breaks for one guy lead to counterbalanced tax breaks for the other guy. Companies lobby to keep their taxes low or non-existent, and to raise them on their competition. Keeping track of all the loopholes and exemptions is an industry unto itself, and companies spend millions to avoid U.S. taxes. 

Nobody benefits except corporate tax accountants, lawyers, lobbyists, and incumbent members of Congress. And I’d be hard pressed to find four more useless, self-serving groups of parasites on our economic system than these.    

Personally, I’m in favor of doing away with corporate taxes altogether, not because I own a business, but because corporate taxes are so arbitrarily applied – on purpose – they are meaningless.  

[Full-disclosure:  My business is a Subchapter S Corp.; this means all profits and losses flow directly to me and profits are taxed at my personal income tax rate. So even if Congress brought the corporate tax rate to zero, it wouldn’t make any difference to me.] 

Most major U.S. corporations making billions each year don’t pay any corporate taxes to Uncle Sam and it’s all perfectly legal. With enough money, enough smart people on your payroll, and politicians in your pocket, you can bend the system to your advantage. That’s a fact. 

In 2011 it was reported that General Electric -- a company Obama constantly praises -- paid no Federal taxes on $14 billion in 2010 profits. It used loopholes, deductions, credits for investing in low-income housing, R&D and green energy for example, and other special treatments in its 57,000-page Federal tax return to offset taxes on $5 billion in profits from U.S. operations. It reported $9 billion in profits from overseas operations that weren’t subject to U.S. taxes. 

And it was all perfectly legal.  GE certainly was not alone. If you looked, you’d find the biggest names in corporate America paid nothing, or next to nothing, in Federal taxes, year after year.  

This offends a lot of people, especially Democrats. It makes a great sound bite to rail against corporate giants not paying “their fair share.” This continues the class warfare theme we hear so often. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer because the rich – synonymous with business and business owners – don’t pay enough taxes while the poor and middle class pick up the tab.

That is, of course, complete BS. The rich pay the majority of taxes, the poor pay none, and the middle class pay just a pittance. The oft-quoted 47% pay zero Federal income taxes. 

Democrats like to cite their golden age of taxation in the 1950s when the top personal income tax rate was about 90%.  But like the 1950s, nobody pays the top Federal corporate tax rate of 35% today any more than anyone paid that top personal income tax rate back then.  The rich then, like corporations now, found completely legal ways to avoid those taxes, courtesy of their politically connected friends and smart tax accountants and lawyers.     

Now there are “corporate inversions” in the news where some companies – like Burger King– are taking heat for merging with a foreign firm simply to be taxed at a lower rate. 

Obama and his supporters think this is just wrong, unpatriotic, and on the verge of economic treason.  Democrats in Congress are trying to craft legislation to stop U.S. companies from moving offshore to escape U.S. taxes.  Republicans see an opportunity to attack the high U.S. corporate tax rate as a disincentive to economic growth. 

There’s a lot of chest-thumping going on.  And with it, a lot of hypocrisy.  (Warren Buffett, who famously claimed billionaires weren't paying enough taxes, kicked in $3 billion to help Burger King merge with a Canadian company to avoid U.S. taxes.)  

Democrats and Republicans in Congress won’t admit it, but they like the power they get from their ability to constantly tamper with Federal taxes on corporations. They aren’t going to address the fundamental problem and simply remove all the special-interest provisions they’ve put into the code that make them popular back home and with corporate lobbyists in D.C. They aren’t going to simplify the code this way – or eliminate Federal corporate taxes altogether – because they need the threat of high taxes and the promise of credits or exemptions to wring concessions from corporations.    

Much as good needs evil, yin needs yang, and other tortured metaphors, politicians in Congress can’t get their way unless they have control over both the carrot and the stick.  

Do you think any sane corporation would drop hundreds of millions of shareholder dollars on some of the green energy boondoggles if they weren’t given some tax advantage? Do you think GM would continue to take a rumored $40,000 to $70,000 hit on every Chevy Volt it sells if there wasn’t some deal to offset their losses?  Did you ever notice that anytime Congress “gets tough” with some industry, there’s a change to the tax code or credits or special deductions to help that industry comply?

And where do these deals come from?  Congress.  Because Congress is the only Federal entity with this kind of power. The House controls spending and taxes. The Senate – well I’m not entirely sure what the Senate does any more except refuse to consider legislation from the House – is supposed to approve or reject what the House proposes, in theory.      

So these weasels are always in it together. I’m sure there will be a meaningless bill proposed to halt or slow down corporate tax inversions. It will go nowhere. Just the same as Republican bills to reduce the corporate tax rate. It’s all just theater. 

Republicans rant about high corporate taxes.  Democrats rail about “corporate fat cats” and their companies not paying their fair share. But neither side will do a damn thing. Because to simplify the corporate tax code or lower rates would rob them of power. 

And in the end, it’s never about what’s good for you and me, what’s good for the economy, or what’s good for society. It’s always about the same thing.

Maintaining power.  The power to tax is the ultimate political power. 

Absolutely shameless ...

Obama and the Democrats have reached a new low. 

They are hyping that Republicans are planning to impeach Obama. 

They’re sending the message that all you Democrats and independents better come out and vote in November to keep your Democrat Senators and Representatives or the mean old Republicans will impeach your President. After all those great things he's done for the common man – and as the first black U.S. President – are you going to sit back and let those woman-hating, teacher hating, gay hating religious gun-toting fanatic redneck racists destroy his legacy? 

And did we mention that he’s black? All you black people out there – remember that. They’re getting ready to lynch your man Obama. Don’t you be sitting on your ass when it’s time to vote. Vote early, vote often, because if you don’t vote a lot, well, Democrats could lose this election. Then, as Joe Biden said, those Republicans will be coming “to put y’all back in chains.” 

Young people – wake up!  Get pissed off again. If Obama goes, so does your hope of a fatter paycheck from your minimum wage job. You’ll have to pay for your own birth control. Abortions will be illegal and women will die. Pot won’t be legalized. Plus, you’ll get no relief from the $100 grand you blew on college loans while mastering your mellow and perfecting your tan. You’ll actually have to pay that loan back.  Maybe live in your parents' basement forever. No way, José!

Speaking of José, you Latinos, our brown brothers and sisters – especially those of you here “without documentation” living in the shadows – just think what will happen if Republicans impeach President Obama.  Police and the national guard will go house to house to round you up and send you back to whatever Hell-hole you came from. They’ll track down your grandparents and parents who smuggled you here and send them back, too. Everybody will have to get a national identity card, but of course you can’t because you don’t have any documents. Everybody will have to speak English. So you’re screwed. You won’t be able to get a driver’s license. You won’t be able to work.  You won’t get any benefits.  You won’t be able to vote anymore.  You need Obama to protect you and your relatives trying to get here!  Madre de Dios!

Yep, this is what Obama and the Democrats are saying will happen if the Republicans retake control of the Senate:  the Republicans will impeach President Obama and roll-back all of his accomplishments. 

This is helping the DNC fire up the base and raise millions in new campaign money. 

Democrats and Obama should be ashamed of themselves. They know there’s absolutely no Republican plan to impeach Obama. No Republican leaders in either the House or Senate have said anything about impeaching Obama, except to point out that the rumor started and has been pushed by Democrats for purely political and fundraising reasons.  

So why are Democrats and Obama pushing this false narrative? Why are they saying there’s a real threat of impeachment when there is none?

The simple reason is that they’re scared.  And they have good reason to be.

The majority of voters don’t think Obama’s done a good job; they also think he’s incapable of handling the job, in fact. Those are two different things, neither good. Add to that his apparent and highly public disdain for doing his job, and his lack of leadership on important issues here and abroad, and it gets worse.  

He’s obviously a lame duck milking the perks of the office while ignoring its responsibilities.

Even his pals in the media are getting tired of his relentless self-indulgence. They’re starting to ask serious questions of his spokespuppets, about where he is, what he’s doing, and why he doesn’t seem to be addressing serious problems like the debacle at our southern border. 

That’s not good for him, or the Democrats in general.

Then there are the scandals. The mainstream media may not be covering them so much, but the public is still getting the news that a lot of bad stuff is going on with the IRS, the VA, and ObamaCare – all of which have come to a head on his watch. And he’s done nothing. No heads have rolled.  

So Obama and the Democrats are ripping a page out of the old Clinton-era playbook. Back then, Republicans got sucked into a stupid and ham-handed effort to impeach Bill Clinton, in spite of overwhelming public opinion against impeachment. 

We all know what happened. Bill Clinton got impeached. And Republicans got hammered in the next election cycle. Democrats won control because Republicans went too far.

Obama and Democrats are hoping to use the same dynamics to save their bacon this time. Except Republicans aren’t calling for impeachment; if anything they are dismissing it completely.

Talk about “phony scandals” … Obama and Democrats have made this one up from whole cloth. They're daring, actually hoping, Republicans take the bait.  

There's even talk among Democrats of Obama issuing an Executive Order intentionally designed to provoke Republicans into calling for his impeachment; maybe granting blanket amnesty to all illegal immigrants, past and present. I wouldn't put it past the Democrats to try something like that. It wouldn't be the first time.  

It’s all clearly an act of desperation. Republicans – if they are smart, and sometimes that’s open to question – should continue to ridicule the idea of impeaching Obama. 

Until after the mid-term elections. Then, if they do get control of the House and Senate, and public opinion supports it, then – and only then – they can decide whether to pursue impeachment. 

Chances are, even if Republicans win control, they won’t move to impeach.

Not that Obama shouldn’t be impeached, but because it’s not worth it. 

His time's almost up, anyway.  

God protect us from the "well-intentioned ..."

If you fool enough people by appealing to their better nature – their desire to be compassionate and generous – you can gain broad public support for just about anything.  

It makes no difference how cynical your objectives are. Or how laughably shallow you are yourself. Americans are suckers for heart-tugging images of dirty, snotty-nosed kids, down-and-out junkies, single mothers, the unemployed, the disabled, the destitute, and just about anybody in tears.    

To bend this to your advantage, all you need to do is appear equally heartbroken by what you see. If you promise to make things better, to stop the suffering, Americans will stand with you. Nobody wants to be accused of being heartless and cruel to those in need.    

It’s one of our most admirable traits as a nation. Americans as a whole will open their hearts and their checkbooks to alleviate suffering not just here, but almost anywhere in the world. 

Unfortunately, our good nature is also one of our greatest weaknesses. 

Americans’ desire to help, to be generous, to be compassionate, has been exploited by cynical politicians and special interest groups for their own purposes for decades. They know that if they can craft the right imagery that breaks our hearts they can more easily manipulate us.     

The Democrats and their allies in Hollywood and the press have been especially adept at this. They know that this is no longer the Age of Reason, but the Age of Emotion. Feelings trump facts. Perceptions equal reality. Rational analysis loses to impassioned pleas. Closing one’s eyes to what’s right or wrong – or even illegal or illegal – is justified by claiming higher “moral” and “ethical” values. Laws selectively deemed “unjust” can be ignored with impunity. 

The pitch is always to show some compassion. Don’t be so heartless. Don’t be selfish. How can you not want to help? Isn’t this what America is all about? How can you live with yourself? Put yourself in their place – wouldn’t you do the same? What’s the big deal? Where’s the harm?

What they’re really saying is this: Don’t question; just give us what we want. 

Forget about the law. Forget about who will pay for what we want. Forget about the long-term consequences. Forget about actually solving the problem. Just give us what we want. 

And don’t pay attention to the details. 

Right now the cause du jour is what to do about all the illegal immigrants flooding into our country. But there’s also the problem of what to do with all the illegal immigrants already here. 

Carefully consider what’s really happening. Watch how this is being covered. You’ll see how Democrats, immigrant-rights (??) groups and the general press are setting this up to make us all feel so guilty and compassionate that we’ll ignore the facts.

So we’re seeing the dirty, snotty-nosed kids in donated t-shirts. The teenage girls. The pregnant women. We’re hearing stories of how they came here to escape the violence and terror in their homeland. How some of the women may have been sexually abused while traveling here. We’re seeing footage of crowded, makeshift shelters with kids, teenagers and pregnant women sleeping on the floor. Then we’re seeing crowds of angry people with hateful signs jeering at the buses trying to carry these poor souls to other shelters.    

How awful. It would be truly sad if it weren’t so manufactured to play on our sympathies. 

Not that it isn’t sad that these people are in bad shape. They are. The kids in particular have a host of infections, lice and other nasties that need medical treatment. And who doesn’t feel sorry for the pregnant women?

Until you realize one thing: None of this had to happen.

We could have made it next to impossible to enter our southern border illegally. Other countries far less sophisticated than us have done it. So could we. For about the same money Obama now wants to spend on housing, feeding, treating, and providing lawyers for the latest wave, we could have secured our borders with walls, more Border Patrol, and more sophisticated technology. 

But we didn’t. Because special interests really don’t want us to. They want things to continue to spiral out of control until the rest of us simply are overwhelmed and give up. So on one hand they want to promote the human tragedy on our borders to pull at our heartstrings; on the other they want to make it seem like there’s absolutely nothing we can do about all the illegals here already. Might as well just roll over and grant them all amnesty – what’s the alternative?   

None of this is new. Pregnant women know that if they deliver their child on US soil, it becomes an American citizen, no matter how the mother got into the US. This is an age-old tactic illegals all know well.  Once that baby’s here, then it’s pretty much a done deal that mom gets to stay, then dad, then siblings, cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws, etc. That’s also why they are sending their kids here hoping they get to stay and be anchors to bring over everybody else.     

What is new, however, is that this latest tsunami of illegals can be directly attributed to the message this administration has sent out that if you get here you can stay here. Plus, we’ll take care of you. Not those specific words, but by refusing to prosecute illegals and by essentially granting citizenship to the children of illegals. Free healthcare is another big attraction; illegals know they can’t be refused free medical care at any emergency room in this country.   

A lot of otherwise decent, well-intentioned people are being intentionally misled about what is actually happening on the border. These illegals aren’t escaping violence in their homeland; a recent poll among them showed almost all of them believed that getting here means they can stay here. Nor are they – as Obama said recently – the best and the brightest. And honestly, most of the illegals already here weren’t the best and brightest either. 

The reality is that these people are intentionally breaking our laws. When they get away with that, they are gaming the system to avoid deportation or criminal penalties and to receive benefits they haven’t earned nor contributed toward. They are driving up our education and healthcare costs. They are not contributing “vitality” to our society as some claim. They are driving down wages among our own minorities and poor. In many cases, they are taking their earnings here and sending those back to their home countries instead of putting it back into our economy. 

    

There’s nothing in it for us. The well-intentioned – yet hopelessly clueless – need to step aside this time around and not get sucked into this artificial passion play. 

What we’re seeing today is a carefully scripted play on our emotions. That’s probably the thing that infuriates me most. These people didn’t have to come here. They weren’t forced to leave their homelands to survive.  They were intentionally lured here. All for show. 

I am sorry for their suffering. I am sad for their situation. But I am not responsible. Nor am I willing to house, clothe, feed and support them now that they’re here, or pay for lawyers to argue for them in hearings they never plan to attend. 

This one is Obama’s and the Democrats’ from start to finish. They caused it. They own it.

And you can be absolutely certain their motives were not well-intentioned.    

The public is not listening ...

And the media is at a loss as to what to do. 

The media’s generally been in the tank for Obama for years, carrying water for him on practically everything. They’ve promoted the “phony scandals” tactic, the “war on women” nonsense, and the “income inequality” silliness for him. They’ve lied or shaded the truth through meat-cleaver editing to hide the real facts from the American public. They’ve promoted everything he’s wanted them to promote, leaving their objectivity – and integrity – at the door. 

They’ve downplayed his childish petulance, his divisiveness, his failure at governing here and lack of leadership on the world stage, his wanton disregard for the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and even his snooping on members of their own profession. 

They’ve functioned as unflinching propagandists for Obama and his administration.  And that’s being kind.  In truth, Obama’s been their superfly pimp and they’ve been his bitches.  He’s told them what to do and they’ve done it, not matter how repulsive or degrading, including defending him when he’s clearly and demonstrably been lying to the public, and to them. 

They’ve done an exceptional job of keeping Obama afloat since he’s been in office. Through the multiple fiascos – auto bailouts, shovel-ready jobs, cash-for-clunkers, green energy failures, ObamaCare, Benghazi, IRS targeting, and decisions to make and enforce laws as he alone deems necessary – they’ve always been there for him.  Putting a smiley face on bad news.  Inventing rationalizations.  Pooh-poohing or using ad hominem attacks to diminish his critics.  Giving unequal airtime to misleading, off-topic drivel from partisan nitwits like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to muddy the waters.  And of course, simply burying the facts. 

As hard as they’ve worked to further Obama’s misinformation – always relying on the public’s inability to separate fact from fiction, and, to be candid, the media’s belief that the American public simply isn’t that smart – their hard work is starting to unravel. 

A big part of the American public is not buying what they’re selling anymore.  A major reason is Obama himself. It’s hard to cover for a guy who just doesn’t care. 

The public is starting to see Obama for who he really is – a petty tyrant who is in way over his head. He’s incompetent on domestic as well as foreign issues.  He’s also lazy and self-indulgent to a fault – he thinks nothing of using Air Force One as a private jet for him and his family to visit exotic places around the world. 

At a time when most Americans are having trouble making ends meet, he and Michelle are tone deaf with taxpayer funded trips to Spain for shopping, extended vacations in Hawaii to celebrate her birthday, and trips to Africa for his kids’ adventures.  Air Force One costs about $180,000 an hour, so episodes like sending separate flights to ferry the Obama’s dog someplace, or flying Obama on one plane and Michelle and the kids on another to the same place are stupidly extravagant.   

One columnist recently said that it’s obvious now that Obama enjoys the perks of being President – the fame, ability to hang with celebrities, and first-class treatment – but not doing the job.  He doesn’t like negotiating, much less compromising, with grubby politicians in either party.  He doesn’t enjoy working with our allies abroad, much less confronting our enemies.  From the beginning, he’s demonstrated time and again that details bore him.

So he doesn’t bother anymore. He prefers being a rock star at fundraising events and using his media access to ridicule his critics with snappy one-liners.  So that’s what he does. 

He’s a modern day Nero – playing golf and hobnobbing with Hollywood and sports celebrities at fund raisers – while America and the world burns.

Because of his insatiable appetite for publicity, he’s everywhere.  Except at his job.  You can’t watch the national news on almost any channel without a clip of Obama surprising tourists somewhere, golfing, on some exotic vacation, or slamming his critics with snarky, smart-ass comments.  But how often anymore are there clips of Obama doing something meaningful? Solving a problem like the chaos at our southern border? 

His lack of interest in doing his real job and his general ineptitude is becoming impossible to hide from the American public.    

The American public is seeing crises all over the world and Obama does nothing. The economy – despite what media hacks keep telling them – is in shambles.  The market may be booming, but they just have to look at all their friends and neighbors, and perhaps themselves, to see how many are still out of work or working part time, and how their wages buy less and less all the time.   

The middle class is getting screwed, not by “income inequality” or a “war on women,” but by higher health insurance premiums, rising prices on practically everything and a stagnant economy Obama has failed to fix.  The middle class is watching Obama’s policies reward people who don’t want to work at the expense of people who do work.  They also see Obama’s policies favoring the ultra-rich and the politically connected, despite his constant claim to represent “the working man.” 

In short, they are seeing Obama as a fraud.  A failure.  A hypocrite. 

In a recent survey, a rather substantial majority of those polled chose Obama as the worst U.S. President in modern history.  Worse than Carter.  Worse than Nixon.  A majority also said he was incapable of doing the job of President. 

Now did they form those opinions solely from Fox and right-wing talk show hosts?   

Nope.  Obama managed to turn the public against him all by himself.     

His lackeys in the media must be beside themselves.         

Don't do that ...

Patient:  Doctor, it hurts when I do that.  What should I do? 

Doctor:  Don’t do that.

Some solutions really are that simple.  So why do so many people ignore those?

For example:    

If you don’t like the pay or benefits offered by your employer, don’t work there. 

If you don’t like the policies of a company, don’t buy their stuff.

If you don’t agree with what an organization does, don’t donate money to them.  

If you don’t like the views of a speaker, don’t go to their speech.   

If you don’t like the views of a performer, don’t buy their work. 

If you don’t like what an author writes, don’t buy their books. 

If you think eating meat is bad, don’t eat meat. 

If you think sugary soda is bad for you, don’t drink it. 

If you think fast food is crap, don’t eat it. 

Nobody forces you to work for someone, buy from certain companies, donate money to causes, go to speeches, buy works of people you don’t like, or eat or drink something. 

In case everybody has forgotten, this is a free country.  You have free will. You also have the freedom to not do a lot of things.  You’re not a slave, an indentured servant, and you always have choices. 

I bring this up now because it doesn’t seem to be common knowledge anymore.  By design. 

A certain segment of our society wants to grant themselves new rights at your expense.  There’s a hard sell on by this administration and the media to make us believe this is all for our own good and to demonize anyone who dares to oppose, or even question, this agenda. 

If you follow the mainstream media outlets closely it appears to be a coordinated effort.  What’s most notable is what’s being left out of the coverage – the actual details – that if brought to light would profoundly change the tone and meaning of the final story.  It’s so obvious that I can only think this is being done consciously. 

A near perfect example is the coverage of the Hobby Lobby story and the Supreme Court’s ruling.  Hobby Lobby only objected to paying for coverage of what they considered to be abortive birth control, such as the morning after pill. They had always provided coverage of 16 contraceptive methods for their employees – a point left on the editing room floor – and objected to covering only four post-conception contraceptive methods. They faced fines of up to $90,000 a day for not covering those four. 

The Supreme Court narrowly ruled that the government could not compel closely and privately held Hobby Lobby, founded on Christian principles, to violate their beliefs opposing abortion, given other avenues available for the government to provide those four contraceptive methods in question.  Also, the possible financial penalty on Hobby Lobby for exercising their beliefs was excessive. 

That was pretty much the opinion of the majority. 

Interesting how this was covered in the media.

Harry Reid was quick with a sound bite about how “five men” shouldn’t decide what women should be allowed to do. That was on all the national news broadcasts that night.  Pelosi claimed that this opened the door for corporations to limit access to medical procedures for their employees. 

CNN and others pushed the angle that – in effect – the conservative, Republican-appointed majority on the Supreme Court had ruled that religious nutjobs could use this decision to withhold vital contraceptive coverage for their female employees, putting those employees at great risk.  Further, these all-male right-wing justices were opposed in their ruling by the three female justices and one enlightened male justice. (The dissent from Ginsburg was more widely covered than the majority’s opinion.)

They also implied, again by omission, that Hobby Lobby was always opposed to providing contraceptive coverage to its female employees – which was a bald-faced lie.  Then they took the “war on women” narrative even further by speculating, completely without basis, that because of the Hobby Lobby decision other businesses that didn’t want to cover any contraception methods could now refuse to do so, using vague religious objections. 

So the media and their Democrat friends used a narrow ruling – completely out of context, and with reckless disregard for the facts – to continue the “war on women” (by conservatives and religious fanatics) narrative, in other words. 

Please remember what the actual facts were:  Hobby Lobby already had – and would continue to – pay to cover 16 of the 20 contraceptive methods required to be covered by the ACA.  It objected to paying for four post-conception methods only, which it opposed on religious grounds.  The court upheld their right to not be forced to pay for those methods.  It said nothing about what female employees of Hobby Lobby could do on their own, including deciding to work for someone else. 

Which brings me back to my original point. 

The media, Obama and the far left keep approaching problems from the wrong direction.  Rather than concede that people have free choices to vote with their wallets and their feet, they presume people are helpless pawns.

 “Something must be done …” is always their battle cry, when, in truth, if they simply stepped back most social issues would probably resolve themselves over time.  But when government gets involved they are certain to make a mess of things, for no apparent reason except to prove how important and powerful – and necessary – government is. 

That’s the real scandal.  Government has the Roto-Rooter touch – just about everything it touches turns to crap. Almost every time it inserts itself into decisions people could easily and logically make on their own, it makes matters worse.  All politicians really need to do is stay out of things. 

Nobody is forcing female employees who want all 20 contraceptive methods covered to stay at Hobby Lobby, or anyplace else for that matter, or not spend their own money for those.  They can always try to get a job somewhere else that has the benefits they want.

That’s the free market. 

But instead of recognizing that option, and letting market pressures drive employers to provide more benefits to attract the employees they want, government feels the need to interfere.

Why? The official line is to protect the health of female employees who would otherwise be at grave medical risk without free condoms, IUDs, and birth control pills.  Who knew? 

The truth is that liberal and Progressive politicians wanted to provide free birth control to just about everyone to appease their allies, plus build their street cred for supporting women (unlike those mean-spirited, sexist religious nuts in the Republican Party).  However, as usual, they wanted somebody else to pick up the tab. In this case, businesses.      

There’s no proof that free birth control was desperately needed, or that it was priced out of the reach of women.  If anything there was ample proof to the contrary:  most birth control is cheap, often about $10 a month, readily available, and for the poor Planned Parenthood dispensed birth control devices and pills for free.  

So the bigger story is not about access to birth control, Hobby Lobby or the mythical war on women.  It’s about how much government, far-left Democrats, and Progressives are doing to limit our freedoms and our ability to make our own decisions.  And how much the media is trying make these efforts appear to be increasing our choices and freedoms, when the exact opposite is true.

What we’re seeing is a relatively small group of the political establishment shaping a new, Orwellian reality where words and acts only mean what they want them to mean, not what they have always meant. And where, as Orwell put it in Animal Farm, all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. 

People do have free will. They do have choices.   Always keep that in mind. 

Even when those in the government and the media try to convince you that the choices they are making are actually your choices.  

They aren’t. 

An “honest discussion about race” …

“We need to have an honest discussion about race in America.”

How many times have we heard this? 

Problem is, the people asking for this don’t really want an “honest” discussion. 

And they don’t want to discuss all races.  What they want is to deliver another lecture about black people, by black people, to everybody who isn’t black, about how tough it is to be black, and how blacks therefore deserve preferential treatment.   

There will be no “discussion”; they aren’t interested in exchanging views. 

Despite that, and only because they continue to ask for it, here’s my view:

The only people who think about race all the time are racists. 

And yes, blacks certainly can be racists. 

I’m thinking in particular about those who view everything in the world through the prism of race – like Obama, Holder, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, John Lewis and others who always see a honkie in the woodpile. They are racists, plain and simple.   

To maintain that blacks can’t be racist because they’re black is as silly as saying that everybody who isn’t black is a racist.

Jeez., Give it a rest.

Okay, so this is for you – Sharpton, Jackson, Lewis, Rangel, Holder, et al: 

You know who I’m talking about – the black “leaders” who are always first to interject race, no matter what the context. Yes, you are the same ones who treat the black community as helpless children incapable of fending for themselves.    

You are obsessed with race.  We’re not. 

Outside of the black community, most of us don’t care what race anybody is. 

No, honestly and truly, we don’t.  That’s probably a surprise to you. 

Then again, as cynically as some of you try to manipulate events, perhaps not. 

We hardly ever think about race unless someone jams race in our face.  Or tries to transform something that isn’t about race into something that is, as you are wont to do. 

The Trayvon Martin circus, the manufactured outrage over voter ID laws and changes to the Voting Rights Act come to mind.    

However, just because the media make a big deal out of stuff like this, and you can put crowds in the streets, that doesn’t mean it’s a big deal to all of us.  Or even most of us.   It isn’t.    

By this point, we’re more like dogs watching TV – we hear what you’re saying, we see what you’re doing, we understand why, but it doesn’t make any difference to us. It’s nothing more than background noise to most of us.   

You see, we’ve heard it all before.  Your problems and issues never change. 

You’re always offended by one thing or another, regardless how innocent or innocuous.  You hear imaginary “dog whistles” of hidden racism all the time.  You don’t think a black person can get a fair hearing, much less justice, in this country.  You don’t think blacks are treated fairly but you can’t define what “fairly” is.

And you seem to be pissed off about something most of the time. 

It’s exhausting dealing with you.  And fruitless.  So many of us are giving up. 

No matter how much we try to help – or appease – the black community, nothing we do seems to work.  Nothing seems to please you.  There’s never enough.

When society tries to help the black community we apparently often do more long-term harm than the value of any short-term good.  So instead of giving a hand up to self-sufficiency, we end up giving a handout that leads to more dependency.

It’s the fulfillment of the cynic’s creed:  No good deed goes unpunished. 

Still, according to many black leaders, things are worse for blacks now than they’ve been in years, especially in terms of racism and discrimination. 

Since many of us lived through the 50s and 60s, we – and you – know that’s complete bullshit.  Society’s come a long way.  But a lot of black leaders keep beating that dead horse. 

Here’s a big heads-up to today’s black leaders:  It’s time to leave 1960 and the days of Bull Conner … America has moved on.  It’s okay to put the bullhorn down and join us. 

Want proof? 

Since the 1960s Americans of all races elected a black President, not once but twice. 

They’ve also elected black governors, legislators and other officials.  There are blacks serving as the heads of Federal, state and local government agencies, and black judges on a variety of state and Federal benches, including the Supreme Court. 

There are many other successful blacks in leadership positions in business, industry, healthcare, communications and education throughout our society.

How do you explain them? You don’t. You look the other way and pretend they don’t matter. 

You won’t be happy until … until … well, we honestly don’t know.  Perhaps never. 

And that’s part of our frustration, leading to our growing indifference. 

In many ways, your black community is like a black hole in our society – no pun intended. 

America’s poured trillions of dollars down that hole, created special programs out the wazoo and it’s like it never happened.  All of it gets sucked into a bottomless vortex.  After about 50 years of shoveling resources into that hole we don’t have a lot to show for it as a society.   

There are some positives.  Black life expectancy has gone up by almost 30% since the 1960s and is now roughly the same as whites.  Education has also improved:  in 1960 only about 21.7% of blacks had completed high school; in 2010 it was 84.2%, about the same as whites.  In 1960 only 3.5% of blacks had college degrees; by 2010 it was 19.8%.

So health and education have improved for blacks, which are usually key building blocks for success by other races.  What’s been the result?     

Unemployment remains much higher for blacks than for other races.  When the rate recently dropped to an average of 7.3%, the black unemployment rate jumped to 13.5%. The overall teen unemployment rate is 25.1%; but for black teens it’s up to 43.1%.    

Blacks account for about 13% of the U.S. population, yet account for about 40.1% of all males in prison or in jail, about 39% of all welfare recipients, and about 22% of all food stamp recipients.  The black population is disproportionally represented in being in the system, and largely supported by the system. 

Not a great record.  What’s the cause? 

Black leaders say it’s all the result of a justice system stacked against blacks, bias and prejudice in hiring, and a lack of funding for inner-city programs and schools.     

Okay.  Could there be different causes – maybe some more obvious causes?  

1. Perhaps more black males are in prison or jail because more crimes are committed by them, and some already have a criminal record that started in their teens which results in harsher sentences. 

2. Employers are less likely to hire someone with a prison record, which is their right, and many now do criminal background checks.  If you’re a black male of any age with a criminal record, your employment prospects are severely limited. 

3. Only about 9% of black married couples live in poverty.  Since 38.2% of black children are living in poverty, the vast majority of those are in single-parent or caretaker households. 

4. If you’re a single female in your teens with a couple of kids – and their baby daddies are in prison – you’re going to have a hard time finding and keeping a job regardless of what race you are.  

Don’t know about you, but I find these more plausible causes than a vast conspiracy by the legal system, employers, and state and Federal officials against blacks.

Frankly – and I think I may speak for a sizable portion of the non-black population when I say this – we’re tired of all the excuses.  We’re also tired of being blamed for your woes. 

It’s not our fault the black community as a whole has not been more successful.  We’ve done everything we could. 

But we can’t solve your epidemic of out-of-wedlock births, now approaching 75%, which almost assures a life of poverty for mother and child.  Just about all your other social and economic problems stem from this alone.  Yet you are unwilling to address it.  

Maybe if you tried to fix some of your own problems we’d be more compassionate.  But as long as you blame others for all your misfortunes, we don’t see the point. 

We know black leaders want us to think about the black community and its problems every minute of every waking hour but the reality is we don’t. 

We sense that we’re somehow supposed to feel guilty about something related to the black community all the time.  Probably slavery.  Sorry, but we don’t.    

Despite what some in your community say, we don’t sit around and plot how to keep blacks down, from voting, or how to imprison as many black men as we can.

It’s pathetic so many of your community still think a sizable number of Americans do.  It’s shameful that some black leaders perpetuate these myths. 

The truth is, most of us are pretty much done caring.  Plus, we’re kind of busy trying to manage our own lives; we don’t have time for endless reruns of the same stuff.  

We don’t look down on you, nor do we look up to you.  However, it’s fair to say that you’re strangers to us who, except for living in the same country, appear to have little in common with us, by your own choosing. 

We also don’t care how you vote, for whom, or why.  You’ve proven that you’ll vote against your own self-interests, and against your own beliefs, purely on the basis of race.

Which seems to us to beg the question:  Who is the racist here? 

So can we end this discussion?  Now you know how we feel.  Get used to it.    

The party of big business and the rich

For decades Democrats have claimed to represent the little guy, the ordinary working man, and have routinely demonized business in general, and Wall Street, banks, and big business in particular. 

They’ve always painted Republicans as in the pocket of corporate America and the wealthy. 

This is just amazing.  Not that they’ve used this class warfare strategy.  But that they’ve gotten away with it so long.

Today’s Democrats are really the party of big business, Wall Street, banks and the wealthy.  They have been for years.  All you need to do is look at where the funding for the party comes from and who Democrats favor when it comes to regulation and enforcement and bail outs.

It’s simply stunning that this is so obvious.  Yet hardly a day goes by that some Democrat or another is trotting out some worthless, unnecessary bill to right some imagined wrong ostensibly to make “corporate America” do the right thing.  Oh, the media will lap it up and continue promoting the mythology that Democrats are the only party trying to rein in corporate excess and to make the wealthy and corporate executives “pay their fair share.” 

The reality is quite different.

Take the dust up over net neutrality – the Democrats on the FCC want to give big bandwidth providers the authority to charge different rates to different classes of content providers. 

Personally, I don’t have a problem with that. It’s already started. Netflix has already cut a deal with Comcast to insure faster downloads for Netflix customers. 

Now Comcast and lot of the other big broadband providers are in favor of this change from net neutrality, of course. Small businesses and startups are generally opposed, as are most Republicans, because they fear the big companies – like Comcast – will force smaller companies into a non-competitive “slow lane” unless they are willing to pay more. 

This would favor big businesses that have the resources to pay more for faster downloads, and has the potential to put some small businesses and their end users at a competitive disadvantage.  As the champions of the little guy, why would Democrats on the FCC be in favor of it?  Could it be that one of the largest fund raisers for Democrats in recent years runs Comcast? Do you think? 

Then there’s the whole immigration debate.  While most of the press has been focused on those mean old Republicans standing in the way hard working – albeit illegal – immigrants, and what they see as praise-worthy unilateral suspension of immigration rules by Holder and Obama, you have to look at who benefits from guest worker programs and the pull-back on enforcement.

Here’s a hint:  it’s not just the illegal immigrants.   

In fact, this Administration – and Democrats in general – are taking credit for “compassion” when they are really, and consciously, doing what big business wants, but hiding that from the public.

Big business wants cheap labor. Deep-pocketed tech giants and others also want vastly expanded H-1B allowances – from the current 65,000 to about 180,000 a year – something Democrats were willing to swallow in exchange for other immigration provisions with higher PR value.   

Like a path to virtual amnesty, which plays well politically to the Hispanic community. 

I’m puzzled by this paradox:  How can Democrats be so “concerned” about the loss of American jobs when at the same time they want to legalize up to 11 million people who came here illegally to take some of those jobs?  Millions of Americans remain out of work; what purpose is there then to increase the size of the potential workforce? 

Spare me the “jobs no Americans want” BS.  Look at practically any construction site – do you think all those Spanish speaking laborers are there because there are no American construction workers available?  The reason so many illegal immigrants are employed in America is because they will work for less, plain and simple. That’s why employers hire them, and often a lot of them.

I guess Democrats expect that out-of-work Americans will vote for Democrats anyway to keep their benefits going, so they’ve moved on to corner the Hispanic vote. 

So here’s another paradox:  If Democrats are so concerned about everyone having the right to a “living wage” why are they willing to allow employers to hire illegal immigrants to work for far less? 

Recently, this Administration cut the financial penalties almost by half for businesses who hire illegal immigrants.  And who are these businesses?  Mainly big businesses, like large agribusiness conglomerates, big manufacturers and the like.  When the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – the mouthpiece for the biggest businesses in America – aligns with Democrats on immigration reform, that tells you something.

Need more proof? Look at the bail outs.  GM and Chrysler.  The big banks.  Wall Street heavy hitters like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan.  Talk about the 1%.  Talk about the ultra-rich and the ultra-powerful.  And Democrats are the party of the little guy? 

Consider ObamaCare.  Sure, there were Democrat gifts to their traditional special interests.  Yet the biggest gifts of all went to the very same boogeymen Obama claimed his legislation was designed to restrain – the biggest insurance companies, hospital management groups and big pharma.  Hell, Democrats let these same groups, and other direct beneficiaries of the law like AARP, actually write parts of the Affordable Care Act. 

Far from being adversaries, they were all in cahoots together. 

Insurers positively salivated over the prospect of millions of new customers forced to buy expanded policies at higher rates and with much higher deductibles, partially subsidized by Federal dollars for many.  Plus, insurers were essentially guaranteed not to take a financial hit if things didn’t work out as planned.  What’s not to like about that? 

Hospital management groups thrilled at the possibility that more people would come in with insurance and potentially increase their overall revenue.  Kaiser Permanente got on board early and continues to trumpet the merits of ObamaCare to any and all.  If they were taking a big hit, do you think they’d still be so vocal and public in their support?    

AARP liked ObamaCare because they thought it would boost their prescription-drugs-by-mail business.  They also expected to pump up sales of their Medicare supplement plans when the law essentially forced people 65 and older off their employer-paid plans and dumped them into crappy Medicare coverage that practically requires a supplemental plan. 

Finally, big pharma got a pass. They dodged the bullet on having their prices controlled, or being subject to negotiation by the exchanges.

And who got hurt in all this? Why, honest, hardworking Americans who paid a lot more for a lot less; small businesses who saw their insurance rates skyrocket; private-sector employees who saw a bigger chunk of their paychecks taken to offset higher premiums, to name a few. Then there were all the folks 65 and older kicked off their company plans and forced into Medicare and additional costs for Medicare supplemental plans.  Let's not forget health care providers expected to handle more patients for less money. 

Just remember, this bill passed with exclusively Democrat support.

Last but not least, let’s look at the Democrat push to raise the minimum wage.  Does this hurt big businesses?  Nope – most of them are already paying well above minimum wage.  They are largely unaffected.  Who gets hurt?  Well, small businesses mainly, like restaurants, fast-food joints and other places that hire unskilled, entry-level folks.

Democrats like to chastise outfits like McDonalds and other fast-food businesses as “big” profitable companies built on the backs of low-paid employees.  What they fail to mention is that a lot of the McDonalds, Burger Kings, Pizza Huts and others they lump together are franchise operations – where the franchise owner works alongside his or her employees every day.  Trust me, unless somebody owns a bunch of Manhattan Bagel or McDonalds franchises, the owner’s not getting rich; he or she is probably working long hours behind the counter taking your order to eke out a living.

Talk to somebody who owns a single fast-food franchise sometime and see for yourself.  I have.  They aren’t living high.  Most are just breaking even at best.  Raise their employee costs and it means they can pay fewer people.  Which means they have to work even longer hours themselves.  Or shut down completely and put all their employees out of work. 

So much for helping the little guy. 

Wherever you look, the supposed party of the little guy, the protector of honest, hard-working citizens, is actually the party deep in the pockets of big business and the ultra-rich. 

There’s a very old saying about hypocritical Prohibition-era politicians who were “dry in the mouth and wet in the pocket.”

That’s what today’s Democrat party is.  They talk about helping small business. They talk about helping honest, hard-working people get ahead. They talk about helping American workers get good paying jobs.  They talk about having corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.

But it’s all bullshit.

They’ve thrown in their lot with big business and the mega rich.  Small businesses and honest, hardworking Americans be damned.  All you have to do is look at the legislation they support, the regulations they enforce and the laws they ignore.    

You’ll see the fingerprints of big business and the ultra-rich all over those.