Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Santorum Recognizes Reality

I reserve the right to joke about President Obama in the future, if I think of something funny to say, but this post is more in line with serious thinking-call it serious random thoughts Tuesday.
I am pleased that Rick Santorum has bowed out of the race-I liked him, and could have voted for him, but he saw the reality-Romney has the nom in hand. I think Santorum did the smart thing, not throwing more money into a campaign for zero results. As he is younger than Romney (and Gingrich), he can live to campaign another election.
President Obama came out today with a startling new campaign effort: "Tax The Rich". Wow-that must have taken a lot of skull sweat!
How many decades have we heard that the solution to any economic crisis is to 'tax the rich'?
What does that even mean? Rather than inspiring individuals (a curse word for group-thinkers like liberals who only see sects) to try to become wealthy, the idea is to somehow pull down the rich to "OUR" level?
See the group-think? Class warfare from alleged 'doves'. Divide and conquer. Make the rich pay for achieving wealth...with the exception of movie stars and liberal presidents.
How about a man who controls a "Billion dollar" war chest of tax free money? Could he be considered rich?
If said man refused to share the billion with members of his own party also seeking re-election, would that be considered rude? Or just greedy?
I call it insecure. President Obama has no need for a billion dollars, but 'dollars' is one of the ways he measures success: "I have more than you so I'm winning." That is invalid. Success isn't measured by wealth.
Just for fun, I'm re-reading a few Ann Coulter books. I can't get as snarky as she does (it is a gift), but I do appreciate her writing. 
I also have the complete collection of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe-what can I say? I'm a sucker for well written prose.
I'm thinking that in the future, say ten years from now, President Obama will try to become Sec Gen of the U.N.
The only position higher than that is Antichrist-I know he has ambition, but! can! he! go! all! the! way!?
Baseball is back! Good news for the Twins! One of their players got a hit yesterday!
The Yankees also lost their first three games-competing for last place-and I continue my streak of cheering loudly for any team playing the Yanks. Okay-they are the Rich I wouldn't mind seeing taken down a peg or three. I'm human. Get over it.
I love Baseball, and enjoy seeing games in person when I can. Some of the rookies I saw come up are managing now! Life and baseball go on.








5 comments:

Doug said...

It will be an interesting election, with Romney vs President Obama.
Can President Obama win? doubtful-he has done much harm to this country, and his policies will hurt/tax the next generations of Americans-all Americans, not just Republicans. He has, in his way, declared war on most of America. I don't see him winning, but I have been wrong before.
I don't like Romney as much as some of the others who have left the field, but I don't vote by like or dislike-I detest much of what McCain does, but I voted for him. we don't always get what we want-I expect Romney to be a mediocre President, sort of like George Herbert Walker Bush. But if Republicans can hold the house and gain the Senate, they should be able to undo at least some of the harm inflicted on the country by President Obama's policies.
I look for the Angels to go all the way with Pulhols. Mike is a sharp manager, and they have other talent top to bottom.
I don't see Bobby Valentine as a good fit for Boston. He's never impressed me as a manager, and I think they could have done better.
I think we will see Varitek managing the team in five years.

Lucia said...

President Obama is calling for the rich to pay as much as the rest of us do. Warren Buffett famously pointed out that due to quirks in the tax code his secretary pays a higher rate than he does. Do you think this is fair?

Doug said...

Funny story-http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2017977948_obamatax14.html

and, Lu, as I know that you probably don't usually visit Rush Limbaugh dot com,
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/Pages/Static/Only-the-Rich-Pay-Taxes

the 'poorest' people in the country don't pay income taxes at all, but do receive benefits/medicare/welfare.
no matter how we love the idea of Robin Hood taking from the rich and giving to the poor, it isn't fair to either the rich or the poor.
It makes 'the rich' victims of theft and makes 'the poor' into beggars depending on the Robin Hoods.
Economic slavery is still slavery.

As for the Buffet/secretary 'quirk'-if he volunteered to pay more taxes, all he would have to do is write a check.
As you LOVE the Huffpo, Lu, here you go:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/29/warren-buffett-taxes-berkshire-hathaway_n_941099.html

James said...

"the 'poorest' people in the country don't pay income taxes at all"

In general, the only ones who pay no income OR payroll tax are the elderly and disabled or students.

"Congressional Budget Office data show that the poorest fifth of households paid an average of 4.0 percent of their incomes in federal taxes in 2007, the latest year for which these data are available — not an insignificant amount given how modest these households’ incomes are; the poorest fifth of households had average income of $18,400 in 2007"
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3505

They also pay sales tax on basic necessities such as clothing and fuel, though. In our state, that's almost 7% of every purchase (for gas, it's more like %20-25).

What percentage of income should someone be paying that's trying to provide for a kid on $18,400 a year? 10%? 20%? That would make little sense since it would force them to ask for assistance for food and other necessities. $18K doesn't go very far ... ANYWHERE.

Doug said...

Hello James-long time, no comment-
I followed your link to the important sounding cbpp thing-and I discount what I see there, as it is merely dressed up liberalspeak.
Did you follow my link to the Limbaugh page where it details how only the 'rich' pay the majority of taxes?
Probably not-it's only unfancy conservative speak.

"$18K doesn't go very far ...
ANYWHERE."

I've made it on much less, not that long ago,James. I could make it on $18,000 today with no problem. I live pretty simply.