Hoyer: Tea Party People Come From Unhappy Families

Hoyer: Tea Party People Come From Unhappy Families: "On the eve of his demotion by voters from House Majority Leader to House Minority Whip, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Hoyer offered this insight into the psychology of the Tea Party movement:

There are a whole lot of people in the Tea Party that I see in these polls who don’t want any compromise. My presumption is they have unhappy families. All of you have been in families: single-parent, two-parents, whatever. Multiple parent and a stepfather. The fact is life is about trying to reach accommodation with one another so we can move forward. That is certainly what democracy is about. So if we are going to move forward compromise is necessary.

So, there you have it. The Tea Party movement is not motivated by, as its members claim, record-high levels of spending and debt by the federal government and the possible economic consequences of that. It is not upset by the various federal bailouts of recent years. It is not riled up by a stagnant economy with 9.8% unemployment. No, they go to rallies because it is easier than going home apparently.

Now, Hoyer may have been making a joke. It wasn’t entirely clear from the way he said it, though, and no reporter in the room laughed.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

What Obama Needs to Make a Comeback: Nothing Short of Luck - TIME

What Obama Needs to Make a Comeback: Nothing Short of Luck - TIME: "A survey of the political landscape shows that many groups who were part of the 2008-09 Obama coalition have turned on him. Liberals believe he is an overcompromising wimp. (See blistering recent columns by progressive icons Paul Krugman and Frank Rich of the New York Times for a taste of what the left thinks of 'their' President now.) The business community considers Obama ignorant about markets at best, a socialist at worst (O.K., some business people entertain an even harsher assessment). The media, after aiding and abetting his ride to the White House, now see the President as incompetent and overwhelmed. The independents and Republicans who backed him for office currently feel he is too liberal and too weak to do the job. These trends are all worse in Washington and among opinion leaders than they are in the country at large, but the views of elites are clearly shaping how the President is perceived by the nation in general. (See 'Judging Obama's First Year, Issue by Issue.')

With unemployment high and promising to stay there, it is nearly impossible in the short term for Obama to shift opinion and be seen as a successful President. But he can't achieve anything in 2011 and 2012, or get re-elected, unless he can win back support from some of his core groups.

The already tiresome debate about what Obama should do to launch a comeback tells only part of the story. Yes, he needs to show people what he stands for, fight for what he believes, compromise with Republicans when it's sensible, reshape his circle of advisers and focus on job growth and deficit reduction. But those are all tall orders, and they run counter to Obama's instincts, the political realities of American politics for the last generation, or both.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Cap What?

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

 

Believe it or not, some in this country think, oh wait, let me restate that, believe the planet will be saved by cap and trade. Okay, they don’t really believe that, they believe it is a first step in the right direction.

Forget details like, cap what, trade what?

 

Like duh man, cap carbon. And then if you don’t make too much carbon, you can trade your extra carbon coupons for money. It’s about saving the planet.

Of course, if you actually intend to do anything other than sit around and get high by candlelight, you might find energy pretty essential. People like farmers might need energy to grow food, publishers  need energy to produce books, schools need energy to turn on the lights, doctors need energy to save lives, and Hollywood stars need energy to fly around in jets. 

To clarify, the notion is to tax energy use on the presumption of carbon emissions as a greenhouse gas. And there is no trading, it’s a tax. The program starts with energy allotments that will be reduced over time, they will be inadequate to production, business will be required to purchase credits (more ration cards), and business will be encouraged (forced) to buy them from third world countries. 

Whatever your opinion on global warming, there’s no getting around the fact that cap and trade is a transfer tax from the productive to the non-productive.

In the end the cap will be on production of goods, services and our standard of living. The trade will be prosperity for poverty.

 

 

Larry Henson, President

Howard Henson & Associates, Inc.

800.223.6532             

405-471-4888

 

Tax Receipts are a function of Tax Rates

As the rates rise the receipts fall. I am sure there is a correlcation.

clipped from www.forbes.com Why The Tax Rate Debate Is Irrelevant In a 1924 speech before the National Republican Club, President Calvin Coolidge observed "that when the taxation of large incomes is excessive, they tend to disappear." Coolidge found that in 1916, 206 people had incomes of $1,000,000 or more, but once a higher tax rate on million-dollar incomes was passed, the number dwindled--falling all the way to 21 in 1921. In his book, The View From No. 11, Nigel Lawson, Margaret Thatcher's former chancellor of the exchequer, answered the above riddle with great ease. The Thatcher government inherited nosebleed rates of taxation, but as Lawson quickly found, the "higher rates we inherited were frequently not paid. The well-heeled and well-advised took great pains to avoid liability through the perfectly legal use of tax shelters of one kind or another; and the tax avoidance industry flourished as never before." Translated: When politicians target income for tax purposes, incomes change.