“Historically cautious and prudent, the Republican Party in recent years has become, instead, radical — doctrinally anti-tax, any tax of any sort for any reason,” columnist Tom Teepen wrote, responding to the criticisms of Joe Biden for saying that sometimes stepping up to a tax increase could be the patriotic thing to do.
“The Bush tax cuts, weighted to the wealthy, were supposed to ignite such a boom your ears would hurt. Instead, they have us again nearing record deficits, a factor in the current financial collapse and a leading complication for any effort at recovery.
“You will recall the president told us that rather than paying for war, our duty was to go shopping. We have put two wars on the cuff and now are putting a trillion dollars in buyouts there, too — dumping ourselves and our future into still deeper hock to the Chinese and the Mideast oil states.
It is difficult to see all that as patriotic.”
72 Comments
KBR was facing financial difficulties. After all, their CEO Dick Cheney wasn’t that much of a corporate leader. Then a conservative’s wet dream happened which lead to billions in contracts for KBR. While Americans and Iraqis died KBR saw it’s profits shoot through the roof. As a result they moved their corporate headquarters to Dubai, where they don’t have to worry about paying so much in taxes.
Because in a war it’s patriotic for young men and women to die, but expect the rich and corporations to stop making huge profits and paying taxes? Why, that’s just unamerican.
Combining wealth and patriotism, in this country at least, seems more like an oxymoron. Not that I have a problem with the rich, but I do have a problem with them using their money as an influence to buy congress into giving them massive tax breaks.
Obama was correct in that regard: Our 35% business tax bracket means nothing when one considers the massive tax breaks garnered by business from congress.
It’s obvious the Bush plan isn’t working. It’s time to dump it and give the average working family a break for a change.
“To whom much is given, much is expected.”
— Luke 12:48
You know, commie-pinko-liberal-leftist-Marxist-socialist crap.
Philip
Are you and Tom Teepen brain dead?
““The Bush tax cuts, weighted to the wealthy, were supposed to ignite such a boom your ears would hurt. Instead, they have us again nearing record deficits, a factor in the current financial collapse and a leading complication for any effort at recovery.”"
Look at revenue for a moment. Look were it was headed before the Bush tax cuts. Look at it after the Bush tax cuts.
It doesnt matter how much revenue you are bringing in if you spend more than you bring in.It happened under Reagan as well. Massive increase in revenue combined with more massive spending. Deficit spending. If you spend more than you make you go broke. Simple.
For those who want to pay more taxes, you do it and leave me alone. All taxing bodies never have enough money and never will. We have to live within our means and those who have the ability to tax can not do so. I have enough monkeys on my back now without taking on more of a load. I’m living the American dream now, not rich and not poor. Biden and Obama can take it and shove it with their tax increases and positions on terrorists.
Calculator shows taxes under McCain, Obama
Like a lot of Americans, you might be confused by the repeated and competing tax claims of the nation’s presidential candidates.
Now, there’s a Web site where you can figure out for yourself how the candidates’ tax plans could affect you.
The site,
http://www.electiontaxes.com
features a calculator that allows you to put in your earnings and deductions and decide whether you’d fare better under a McCain or Obama administration.
The calculator is a partnership of the University of Southern Maine and Quantix, a company that develops business modeling software, said Jeff Gramlich, the L.L. Bean professor of accounting at the university.
Gramlich said he put together the data and formulas for the calculator, while Quantix provided the computing muscle to make it accessible to ordinary taxpayers.
The idea, he said, is to help the ordinary voter cut through the fog around both candidates’ tax plans.
The calculator will estimate your taxes for the next four years under both the McCain and Obama plans.
http://www.kansas.com/224/story/543956.html
Like taxing the rich more is really going to do anything.
What happens when the rich and businesses are taxed more?
Costs go up on goods and services because the rich and the businesses are not going to lose any money to taxes, they’ll pass those along to the average worker and consumer.
So when Obama claims he’s going to tax the wealthy, he is really saying he’s going to tax you by proxy. That is, he will force the rich and wealthy to pass their costs along to the rest of us.
No thanks.
I ask this question again…have you ever gotten a job from someone who made less money than you? Why is it that politicians believe they should have unfettered access to your bank account? Our money is not the product of their labor. The use our personal equity as a means of buying votes with their pork projects. When a person comes along and proposes we cut their access to our money words like “unpatriotic are used. Sen. McCain has been in the Senate long enough to to be right when he says money has corrupted Congress and be believable. This is a problem they will never solve on their own. The FBI and Justice Dept. needs to be heavily involved
To say an elected official is wrong to call for tax cuts and worse yet to suggest they are unpatriotic is way off base
It’s Patriotic for the Government to take away as much private property from The People as they can?
Orwellian dontcha think?
Freedom is giving your property to Government. Yeah, that’s Patriotic.
Oh, and how Patriotic is it to TAKE property from Government?
Say for those holding out their tin cups, how Patriotic is it for them to pay nothing in taxes, yet receive the same sized piece of Government pie?
When bad tax policy id formulated on envy bad things happen. A small business owner who lets say employees 25 people is forced out of business because he is paying taxes at the individual wage earners rate the Federal,State,City,School Dist. treasuries all loose the tax revenue of 26 people. We have 40% of our citizens paying no taxes at all the rest of us get squeezed tighter. A flat tax of say 15% makes more sense but as the govt. coffers fill who would the vote starved politicians have left to pander to.
If you are not pulling your own weight in life, then you are being unpatriotic by expecting someone else to take care of you.
Is GOP’s anti-tax dogma unpatriotic?
Of course it is. This should not surprise anyone.
The GOP (Republican party) and many, perhaps most of those who vote that way are in no way patriotic.
Oh they wave the flag well enough. But where is there love for American people? Where is their respect for our beautiful land? When will we see some concern from them for our future?
Cons care about themselves first and foremost. The rest of what they love is ALSO selfishly directed. They care very much about their gold and the accumulation of more of it. They very much want their guns so that they can defend their money and power. Lastly God presents them alternately a higher power ordaining their status as masters of the universe…
or readily to be same if they will just be pious enough to embrace that their misery is divinely assigned.
Terry_CA
Posted September 28, 2008 at 10:11 am | Permalink
A flat tax of say 15% makes more sense but as the govt. coffers fill who would the vote starved politicians have left to pander to.
———————————————
Terry nailed the REASON WHY Government Spending is out of control.
Politicians have BOUGHT a large share of The People.
And the Sheeple are happy to be bought. They care not that their Freedom ends, when the Government controls every step of their lives.
BlueJay
Posted September 28, 2008 at 10:12 am | Permalink
Oh they wave the flag well enough. But where is there love for American people? Where is their respect for our beautiful land? When will we see some concern from them for our future?
= JR, have you burned a flag again today, and in front of your son? Have you loved an American today? How exactly did you show your love, what did you give? JR, how did you respect the land today? Did you turn off your utilities and sell your car? What concern JR did you show for the future of OTHERS?
BlueJay
Posted September 28, 2008 at 10:12 am | Permalink
Cons care about themselves first and foremost.
= JR, who do you care about first?
The rest of what they love is ALSO selfishly directed. They care very much about their gold and the accumulation of more of it.
= JR, you are the one trying to get more from Government for YOURSELF!
They very much want their guns so that they can defend their money and power.
= JR, you would NOT have others stand up for Freedom. You would have others NOT defend their own property so that YOU could take it!
Lastly God presents them alternately a higher power ordaining their status as masters of the universe…
= JR attacks God, and God loving people. What gives you the right JR to take away their Freedom of Religion?
No matter how much or little one has there always seems to be someone who wants some of it.
I asked you and yours first “Max”.
Try a thoughtful response instead of yapping at me.
“What gives you the right JR to take away their Freedom of Religion?”
I have never and never would deprive other of their freedom of religion.
I DO find I must often stand up for mine and others freedom FROM religion.
BlueJay
Posted September 28, 2008 at 10:25 am | Permalink
I asked you and yours first “Max”.
Try a thoughtful response instead of yapping at me.
=======================================================
The Hypocrite can’t answer the very same questions he asks of others, because he knows damn well how selfish HIS answers would be.
We gave the underprivileged the right to participate in the American dream of home ownership and then stabbed them in the back by making them loans they couldn’t afford. Now their credit is ruined. They can’t even go to Sears and buy a washing machine The taxpayers are on the hook for maybe a trillion dollars not including a good chance of loosing their contributory pensions (401K) We should have focused on training low income people to compete for better jobs and educating them on basic economics.
The next time someone knocks on your door telling you “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you” slam the door.
Max’s answers to my first answered questions should be….entertaining.
If we ever get them.
“JR, have you burned a flag again today, and in front of your son?”
No, not today. I DID burn a flag with my son when the 2000 election was stolen by the Republican party. The flag is a symbol for higher ideal. When that ideal fails or is corrupted, burning the flag is the strongest form of protest.
Plus, that particular day, my old flag was getting to the state of needing burned. I haven’t felt like getting a new one since.
“Have you loved an American today? How exactly did you show your love,”
It isn’t much. I fight back every day against people like you Max. Aren’t you the one all the time with “Max’s plan” or “Max’s rules”?
MY take is the United States according to “Max” is a dark, scary place where I would not want to live.
“Did you turn off your utilities and sell your car?”
You’ll have to explain how that one is relevant.
“What concern JR did you show for the future of OTHERS?”
As a reformed conservative turned liberal, my first interest is always to the greater good.
Now it’s your turn “Max”.
There is a movement in Massachusetts to end the state tax. Interesting, coming from a very liberal state.
In fact, the voters in Mass approved a reduction in the state income tax a few years ago. Unfortunately, the voters were overruled by their own state legislature – who ended the annual reduction midstream.
So voters are angry (unpatriotic?). Now comes Mass State Ballot Question 1: End the State Income Tax.
Libs are worried. For a movement which had very little publicity and hardly any money: the last attempt captured 49% of voters. The Taxachusetts Legislature was shocked.
These aren’t rich people voting. They are not wealthy corporation CEO’s. Grass roots baby.
http://www.smallgovernmentact.org/
The greater good is a term I have heard all my life,and if you ask 100 different people you will get 100 different answers. What exactly is this greater good I hear so much about? The greater good for me is being able to take care of my self and my family and having enough to do a little something for charities,such as the Alzheimers Asoc. and MDA
“Cons care about themselves first and foremost.”
So could I say, “Libs care about others so much that they are willing to step on the liberties of others for personal gain?”
Can you be patriotic without infringing on freedom?
The “greater good” for ACORN, a fall left democratic organization means registering dead people to vote, being found guilty of voter fraud in six states, and having the federal government provide them billions in funding to support and further their organization.
Terry_CA
Posted September 28, 2008 at 10:34 am | Permalink
The next time someone knocks on your door telling you “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you” slam the door.
—
No, wrong response.
When will we Americans learn? Sigh.
Freebird1971 your understanding of “the greater good” is right. The population estimate of the US is almost 302 million. can you imagine what the greater good would be if every man, woman, and child gave $1 a month to charity? That’s about one beer per adult and one soda per child per month
Taxes are never loved but are needed to run any society, unless, I suppose, a government produces profits somehow.
It is not a matter of taxes being good or evil.
It is a matter of balance and fairness and meeting the peoples’ needs.
“I’m from the government and I’m here to help you” slam the door.”
You might instead invite them inside the door threshold and exercise your 2d Amendment Right.
Can someone provide a link to the spending bill that “gives billions” of dollars to ACORN.
This topic sounds like a right-wing urban legend to help pin the blame on someone other than the administration that was charged with over-seeing Fannie and Freddy.
So how exactly will ACORN be rewarded if the Democrats get their way? Very simple: behind closed doors, ACORN-friendly language was slipped into the Democratic economic rescue proposal by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA). Take a look:
TRANSFER OF A PERCENTAGE OF PROFITS.
1. DEPOSITS. Not less than 20 percent of any profit realized on the sale of each troubled asset purchased under this Act shall be deposited as provided in paragraph (2).
2. USE OF DEPOSITS. Of the amount referred to in paragraph (1)
1. 65 percent shall be deposited into the Housing Trust Fund established under section 1338 of the Federal Housing Enterprises Regulatory Reform Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4568); and
2. 35 percent shall be deposited into the Capital Magnet Fund established under section 1339 of that Act (12 U.S.C. 4569).
REMAINDER DEPOSITED IN THE TREASURY. All amounts remaining after payments under paragraph (1) shall be paid into the General Fund of the Treasury for reduction of the public debt.
What does this mean? The Wall Street Journal breaks it down in an editorial published today:
“What we have here essentially are a pair of government slush funds created in July as part of the Economic Recovery Act that pump tax dollars into the coffers of low-income housing advocacy groups, such as Acorn.”
“Acorn, one of America’s most militant left-wing ‘community activist groups,’ is spending $16 million this year to register Democrats to vote in November. In the past several years, Acorn’s voter registration programs have come under investigation in Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri and Washington, while several of their employees have been convicted of voter fraud…”
That’s right. Rather than returning any profits made in the long-term from the economic rescue package, Democrats want to first reward their radical allies at ACORN for their help – often illegal help – in getting Democrats elected to office. Families, seniors, small businesses, and all American taxpayers deserve better than what Democratic leaders are attempting to jam down their throats.
The rescue package should not become a “Christmas tree” for the Democratic Majority’s far-left wing political agenda that seeks to shower taxpayer dollars upon groups like ACORN. On behalf of beleaguered taxpayers across the nation, House Republicans will continue to fight to remove the ACORN payback and any other Democratic poison pills from the economic rescue package.
CAUTION….I disagree with liberals about 99% of the time but that’s a difference in philosophy. The likes of ACORN and believe me there are many like minded organizations out there that are socialist, and some are pure anarchists. There will always be a com/lib debate but the others I speak of want an end of our country. They believe they have a right to tax dollars to accomplish their goals. There are sympathetic politicians who are eager to aid them just as a pocket of voters.
Democratic Ally Mobilizes In Housing Crunch
Acorn Leads Drive to Register Voters Likely to Back Obama; New Federal Funds
By ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON and BRODY MULLINS
July 31, 2008
The housing bill signed Wednesday by President George W. Bush will provide a stream of billions of dollars for distressed homeowners and communities and the nonprofit groups that serve them.
One of the biggest likely beneficiaries, despite Republican objections: Acorn, a housing advocacy group that also helps lead ambitious voter-registration efforts benefiting Democrats.
Acorn — made up of several legally distinct groups under that name — has become an important player in the Democrats’ effort to win the White House. Its voter mobilization arm is co-managing a $15.9 million campaign with the group Project Vote to register 1.2 million low-income Hispanics and African-Americans, who are among those most likely to vote Democratic. Technically nonpartisan, the effort is one of the largest such voter-registration drives on record.
The organization’s main advocacy group lobbied hard for passage of the housing bill, which provides nearly $5 billion for affordable housing, financial counseling and mortgage restructuring for people and neighborhoods affected by the housing meltdown. A third Acorn arm, its housing corporation, does a large share of that work on the ground.
Acorn’s multiple roles show how two fronts of activism — housing for the poor and voter mobilization — have converged closely in this election year. The fortunes of both parties will hinge in part on their plans for addressing the fall of the nation’s housing market and the painful economic slowdown. Some of the places buffeted worst by mounting foreclosures are states whose voters could swing the election. Five battleground states where Acorn has registration drives were among the top 10 states for foreclosure rates as of June: Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Michigan and Ohio.
Partly because of the role of Acorn and other housing advocacy groups, the White House and its allies in Congress resisted Democrats’ plans to include money for a new affordable-housing trust fund and $4 billion in grants to restore housing in devastated neighborhoods. In the end, the money stayed in the bill; the White House saw little choice.
What most riles Republicans about the bill is the symbiotic relationship between the Democratic Party and the housing advocacy groups, of which Acorn is among the biggest. Groups such as the National Council of La Raza and the National Urban League also lobby to secure government-funded services for their members and seek to move them to the voting booth. Acorn has been singled out for criticism because of its reach, its endorsements of Democrats, and past flaws in its bookkeeping and voter-registration efforts that its detractors in Congress have seized upon.
Republicans critical of Acorn’s roles say any money that it gets for housing makes it easier for the group to put money into voter drives. “These are taxpayer funds, in an indirect method, being used to subsidize political activism,” says Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Texas Republican and chairman of the conservative House Republican Study Committee. “I’m sure they’re not going out and registering any Republicans.”
Democrats say Republicans are simply opposed to housing aid and voter registration for the poor. Acorn also has a political arm that has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign…
“We’re trying to empower people in our communities to improve their lives,” says Acorn spokesman Charles Jackson. “That is through voter registration and helping them to save their homes.” He dismisses the idea that housing aid helps voter efforts: “The funds don’t intermingle,” he says. “There are clear walls with Acorn.” …
Acorn’s Mr. Jackson says that when the group registers voters, it also “aims to educate them on issues facing their communities” and tells them about its services. Other groups also recruit voters and members at the same time; laws for tax-exempt groups only prohibit them from promoting specific political parties.
Sen. Obama is especially reliant on registration drives, such as Acorn’s with Project Vote, to help him win the White House. The Illinois Democrat draws his strongest support from blacks, Hispanics and young people, groups that are among the least likely to be registered. After law school, Sen. Obama was the director of Project Vote in Chicago. The Obama campaign, noting that interest groups routinely register voters and endorse candidates through separate efforts, emphasizes that it accepts no donations from the groups’ political action committees.
Democrats on Capitol Hill have helped to steer millions of dollars in housing and other grants from the federal government toward Acorn and groups like it. The groups must qualify and compete for the money, which is typically doled out from the federal government to states and municipalities. The housing package includes a new, permanent source of affordable-housing money that congressional Democrats and grass-roots groups have sought for years. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund will be funded by a tax on mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage titans.
That tax eventually will channel upwards of $600 million annually in grants for developing and restoring housing, mostly as low-income rentals, available to Acorn and other groups. Democrats on Capitol Hill and housing groups say the housing-assistance money is vital to helping Americans hit hardest by what some call the largest drop in home values since the Great Depression. But they acknowledge the perception of political conflict in giving federal funds to an organization that does political work.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/27/politics/politico/thecrypt/main4483168.shtml
ACORN
It’s a good place to start. CBS is no cheerleader of Republican politics.
ACORN has been convicted on several counts of voter fraud
RoaCH
Posted September 28, 2008 at 11:14 am | Permalink
“I’m from the government and I’m here to help you” slam the door.”
You might instead invite them inside the door threshold and exercise your 2d Amendment Right.
—
This is the problem, this attitude right here.
The answer isn’t to shut government out of the room, or shoot it, or drag it to the bathtub and drown it.
What we’ve got to re-discover in this country is how to work with government. We have to figure out a way to work WITH government, not AGAINST government.
This has nothing to do with socialism or any other -ism, either, so don’t even start.
Government is legitimate. We need things like universities and an army. We as a nation function best when we’ve all enjoyed a free education, too. Government does have a legitimate and valid place in our lives.
The trick is to recognize it. Then we need to work to change government so that it works FOR us, not against us.
http://www.kmbc.com/politics/10214492/detail.html
There are to many sites to past Google ACORN+voter fraud and decide for yourself
The simple fact is the neocons have sold the implicit idea that government can do whatever they want it to do whether or not they have the money to pay for it, and have borrowed trillions of dollars to maintain this facade (and to buy the votes of stupid people in the process).
It’s a simple-minded “good and evil” morality play, wherein they are God and the Dems/liberals/whoever are Satan.
They (God) do the good stuff, only engaging in “patriotic” unnecessary wars, no-bid contracts, corporate subsidies and whatnot, all whilst cutting taxes mostly for rich folks (but selling it a populist “we’re on your side” way).
On the other hand, Satan (Dems/liberals/whoever) gets the bad stuff: the usual combination of voodoo chants against any perceived liberal boogabooga (studying the DNA of bears? anyone care why?), and predictably blame the Dems for any tax increases, since they’re the only ones trying to balance the budget.
One pretty much has to go back to the 1970s to see any real examples of excessive liberal government largesse. But that line has allowed Republicans to win many elections for the past 28 years–it’s understandable that they would be loath to let it go.
But, as we’ve seen repeatedly, those politicians who scream the loudest about government spending and waste take a much different attitude when they’re put in charge of it. They just prefer to borrow the money, and engage in economic shell games.
And now the “house of cards” (W.’s own words) is tumbling down.
Right now 100% of the voting public wants more government, by the way.
It’s just that for the past 60 years or so the Left has been willing to sacrifice the freedom of all in order to redistribute wealth. The Right has been willing to sacrifice the freedom of all in order to bring more order, more law and order, to the US.
Make no mistake though: both sides see freedom as zero sum. More government means less freedom, no matter how you look at it. The Left is happy to give up some freedom if it means we all become more equal, while the Right is happy to give up more freedom if it means we have more law and order.
The Right opened up a new front in this battle a generation ago, known as the Culture War. Using culture as leverage to gain more order (at the cost of freedom, of course) has resulted in a badly fractured body politic, probably irrevocably broken, with little or nothing gained.
Then we need to work to change government so that it works FOR us, not against us.
Exactly, Pedant. When you send people to Washington who “government is the problem,” is like, say, handing the reins of Microsoft over to someone who says “software is the problem.”
It’s a contradiction. And when you hand power to people like that, then you inevitably end up with people in cabinet posts who are actively opposed to what the department is supposed to do (e.g. numerous Reagan and W. appointees), or are simply incompetent (Brownie, anyone?).
It’s just dumb.
This is why I had such high hopes for Friedman’s article the other day, but that went down the crapper fast (who will tell us what we need to hear?).
Right Americans talk right by Left Americans, and vice versa, with little or no acknowledgment that we’re ALL Americans, every one of us.
We need to work to get more of us all on the same page.
One thing I’d like to hear from the Left is this. What is the real value of egalitarianism? How much are you personally willing to pay for it (in dollars)?
One thing I’d like to hear from the Right is this. What is the real value of maintaining the Department of Defense? How much are you personally willing to pay for it (in dollars)?
It’s just that for the past 60 years or so the Left has been willing to sacrifice the freedom of all in order to redistribute wealth.
Wrong. I don’t know who this “left” is, but there has never been any real scheme for “redistrution of wealth” in America. That simply has no basis in fact.
What happens instead is, capitalism being what it is, wealth tends to concentrate at the top every now and then, and since wealth wields power, this distorts the political system and harms democracy.
Eventually, the tendency of those who eare wealthy, greedy and stupid to choose temporary profit over sustainability catches up with them, and it is only natural that the lower classes turn to those who have benefited most (indeed, usually the only ones who have benefited) to pay for cleaning up the mess. We saw it with the Gilded Age of 1890s, the stock market crash and Great Depression, and the farm failures and S&L bailout of the late 80s. Concentrations of power occurred when no one was saying “no,” and such concentrations had little to do with our common interests.
Even the most radical New Deal programs did not involve redistribution of wealth per se. It’s just that, to those who found themselves giving the lion’s share of their income to the government, it felt that way. And not everyone who was wealthy was responsible for the mess, of course–they just had to pay for the excesses of their peers.
What we need is a sense of the common good, and that means understanding a basic concept: even if you don’t care what happens to your neighbor, his pain can hurt you too and, on the macro scale, will hurt you.
We’re all in this together.
God, I pray this holy day, that you’ll come and put us out of our misery.
Are any of these taxes in the Constitu…fuch it, nevermind.
It’s just a G-d piece of paper.
I give in.
Sieg Heil. /
Point taken.
I can live with this instead:
It’s just that for the past 60 years or so the Left has been willing to sacrifice the freedom of all in order to make the US more egalitarian.
I agree that we’re all in this together, btw. We’re all part of the problem, and in the end we ARE all the solution.
Good enough. My libertarian friends no doubt think I’m an irredeemable apostate, but I recognize that government, however employed, tends to be a blunt instrument.
For any given social, financial etc. problem in this country, I believe one looking to the private sector should always be considered first. The problem, of course, is there is no organized “private sector”–when they do organize it tends to be based on narrow short-term interests.
I think that, just as in the days of the Articles of Cofederation, a national government exists to do things on a scale that cannot otherwise be done, or done well. That has its own dangers, of course, but we’ve seen too well the dangers of letting power concentrate elsewhere as well.
MonkeyHawk,
Your ability to completely pull Bible verses out of context continues to amaze me.
This is ALL of Luke 12:48
but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
You can clearly see that verse 48 is a continuation of 47 as well.
So lets get the whole picture of what is being said here (you know, that context stuff…)
Luke 12:41-48
Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?”
42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time?
43 “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.
44 “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
45 “But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk;
46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
47 “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes,
48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
This entire passage really begins at verse 35 and is talking about being ready.
And here you are trying to pull out that incomplete sentence, out of context, to try to make a point in relation to this subject that the verse was not talking about.
545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations.
The House of Representatives does.
You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gal of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.
If the Marines are in IRAQ, it’s because they want them in IRAQ .
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
Paying less taxes is never unpatriotic so long as it is coupled with lessened to lowered government spending.
What is unpatriotic are all the deadbeats with the mouths crying “gimmee” with their hands stretched out full of “nothing”.
Corporate and individual.
Quit sucking off society and make due with what you have or work to make your own self-improvements.
The true greedy bastards are those wanting to steal the riches of others.
“as it is coupled with lessened to lowered government spending.”
I’m with ya, but like that is ever going to happen?
It will take a financial depression and the collapse of the government (trough) before that realization takes place.
Neither party has been successful at spending cuts. Small gains in improvements to business practises and some innovation efficiencies. But no drastic cuts. Going to be very difficult considering the portion of the government dedicated to “entitlement” programs.
The Department of Defense cannot continue to be the holy grail of republicans. You cannot tell me that with a budget of half a trillion dollars
cuts cannot be made. You cannot keep scaring us that the defense of the nation is at stake.
Hell, the defense of the nation is at stake BECAUSE of the huge DoD budget.
Repubs like to whine we have the second highest corporate tax rate in the world, overlooking that 2/3 of our corporations pay no taxes.
From what I’ve read, the bill will not allow for helping individuals stave off foreclosure, it’ll all go to big bus. thanks to the house repubs.
“thanks to the house repubs.”
Phantom if I HAD to vote for a bill, I’d throw out what is proposed. They have it Bass Ackward!
Instead of paying off the croonies of congress (both from the left and right) I’d just refinance the loans of all those failing. Hell, even paying a portion of them off would be cheaper than the bailout with strings attached.
Why do you narrow your disapproval to republicans? Afterall, whatever bill makes it out of congress – will REQUIRE the approval of the majority party. Don’t you think sometimes your party of choice uses the other to make it appear your guys are the good guys?
When in reality they are all in collusion. The list of party donors has been posted a half dozen times. Both parties are in the pockets of the big businesses. Bush more so with the CEO protection. But they are all in this fiasco together.
Good point, Phantom.
McLiar also said that in Ireland, they only pay 11 percent in corporate taxes.
But he neglected to point out that Ireland like other European countries has a VAT (value added tax). That’s a huge difference.
The VAT is paid by consumers who purchase the goods or services.
What’s the huge difference for corporations?
Is GOP’s anti-tax dogma unpatriotic?
—————-
Um… no. Opinions on the appropriate tax rates arise from economic and financial philosophy. It has nothing to do with patriotism, one way or the other.
CapnAmerica
Posted September 28, 2008 at 6:27 pm | Permalink
But he neglected to point out that Ireland like other European countries has a VAT (value added tax). That’s a huge difference.
American_Way
Posted September 28, 2008 at 6:39 pm | Permalink
The VAT is paid by consumers who purchase the goods or services.
What’s the huge difference for corporations?
How is that any difference from consumers in America paying sales tax? Other than being an additional tax on consumers – how does that make a huge difference for corporations?
Capn: What’s the huge diff?
Well it’s been a couple of hours. Capn has had plenty of time to bone dig to find out about the VAT tax. You’d think he’d have posted some BS by now, since he doesn’t seem to KNOW the answer.
Guess I’ll check back to see what the huge difference is in Ireland having a VAT tax and why that relates to their corporate tax rate.
The Liar AmWay is proof of the recent academic studies that prove that stupid people don’t know they are stupid.
Go bury some more ammunition and keep digging that backyard bunker.
Loser.
I guess the latest version says the govt. can renogiate the interest and terms, but not the bankruptcy court. At least it’s something.
I guess when Capn America can’t support his posts he again turns to name-calling and posting negatives.
Can I help it if I challenge him on his posts? All I ask him to do is support his position.
I guess no one is supposed to question his posts.
Back to the topic: Capn cannot explain. (but given another two hours he will eventually post some made up BS.)
A VAT or a sales tax at the rate of the European Commonwealth would have a very similar effect to a corporate tax.
The net effect on corporate profit is the same as a direct tax because consumers buy less since some of their buying power is re-directed to taxes.
And speaking of not explaining, The Liar AmWay still hasn’t given a shred of evidence–except his “word” hahahaha!–that I posted under another nic when I claimed to be boycotting the WEBlog.
And instead of admitting he was wrong, like a man would, he just tries to change the subject.
Yup, he’s a CON. A lying CON.
What would the effect on car sales be if gov’t passed a 20 percent sales tax on cars?
See . . .
Mein Gott, are these people dumb!
I guess that’s why they’re CONservatives . . .
The Value-Added Tax is administered in many ways.
It’s not just a national sales tax imposed on consumers.
In most countries the VAT is applied at every step of the sales process. You dig ore out of the ground, the smelter that refines it pays a VAT. The people who buy the refined ore to turn it into steel pay a VAT. They sell it to Mercedes or BMW or whomever and the buyers pay a VAT. The stuff gets stamped into a fender and put on a car and the consumer pays a vat.
Same thing with hops and barley and yeast producers when they sell to a brewery.
Now unlike you, “American_Way,” I’m not current with the arcane details of the tax code of Ireland.
Perhaps you can fill us all in on the details.
I bet most Alaskans are mortified, seeing their gov. become the laughinstock of the U.S.! Palin’s toast, both here and abroad (Alaska).
Don’t bother The Liar AmWay with facts, Monkey Hawk.
He’s out in the barn burying silver coins and muttering to himself about “city people.”
knewit,
I see you’ve missed a few sessions with your psychiatrist and gone off your meds again. Take your pills and give him a call; it’ll be all better before long.
I didn’t see where the VAT tax was paid by anyone other than the consumers buying the products. It’s an additional sales tax. The burden is on the consumer, who purchases the goods or services.
I looked the VAT up on the Ireland government pages, but I did not see anything to support the VAT tax being paid by corporations.
The corporations pay taxes at the corporate rate that McClame stated.
Sheesh!
The corporations don’t pay the taxes directly but they pay them nonetheless.
Imagine the impact of a sales tax of 20 percent on cars, for instance.
What would that do to the sales of cars?
You act as if automobile makers would love this sales tax idea because they wouldn’t be directly taxed.
But of course they would be. It doesn’t matter WHERE you take the tax, on profits or on sales, it’s still going to come out of the company’s hide.
I’m guessing that corps. would like taxes on profits more than on sales because “profits” are easier to jigger depending on how the corp. defines them.
Capn you are now doing a good job of tap dancing.
Here is your original post:
CapnAmerica
Posted September 28, 2008 at 6:27 pm | Permalink
Good point, Phantom.
McLiar also said that in Ireland, they only pay 11 percent in corporate taxes.
But he neglected to point out that Ireland like other European countries has a VAT (value added tax). That’s a huge difference.”
You still have not shown the “huge difference” which compensates or makes McCain’s comment on corporations only paying 11 percent less than honest.
Corporations do not pay the VAT tax. Consumers do.
In fact the Corporate Tax rate is lower in Ireland.
The VAT Tax is not paid by the Corporations so it cannot be added or tied to the Corporate Tax Rate.
Your little dance above, does not change these facts. You are now trying to make a case, which was not in the original discussion and will not justify your initial remarks.
Can you do the triple time step with a shuffle, or how about a little paddle and roll shim-sham shimmy?