Tax and Spend is not Change

I warned you, Obama wants to spend like a drunken sailor and tax like crazy.

First, the $787 billion "Stimulus" package, and now the Democrats want to spend another $401 billion, with Obama wanting taxpayers to bail out everything from mice to McMansion-owning bus drivers.

How does he and the Congress propose to pay for this massive redistribution scheme? The simple answer since Karl Marx is to tax "the rich." While there is great speculation as to who "the rich" really are, I will stick with some basic facts.

Anybody who is currently in the 36% federal income tax bracket will now be taxed at 39.6% at the expiration of the "Bush" tax cut. Maybe that's too broad of a group so let's look at a more discrete set of folks.

According to the Wall Street Journal (really read this article, its worth it),

Roughly 3.8 million filers had adjusted gross incomes above $200,000 in 2006. (That's about 7% of all returns; the data aren't broken down at the $250,000 point.) These people paid about $522 billion in income taxes, or roughly 62% of all federal individual income receipts. The richest 1% -- about 1.65 million filers making above $388,806 -- paid some $408 billion, or 39.9% of all income tax revenues, while earning about 22% of all reported U.S. income.

Did you get that? The top 2% pay 62% of ALL federal individual income tax. I think that is more than their fair share, especially since they don't get additional services. Further, the top 50% pay over 96% of individual income tax. So, according to John Edwards, we really do have two Americas, those who pay income tax, and those who consume it through government benefits.

Just in case you didn't think you were paying enough, Obama wants to nationalize health care. Haven't we learned enough from the United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada that government health care is not only an atrocious waste of money, but also leads to poorer care??

Citizens and taxpayers of the United States, now is the time to contact your representatives in Congress and demand they stop wasting your money. These massive, and I mean more massive than we have ever seen, deficits spell hyperinflation. That is bad for everybody. Also demand that as a taxpayer, you don't want your taxes funding the 9000 earmarks in the Democrats new budget. In case you support these things, and are in the top 50% of taxpayers, get used to socialism and a declining standard of living, as that is what is happening.

Wake up America! Its happening right in front of your eyes!!

Gee, Ya' Think?

While not specifically questioning green technology, today's post is about oil prices and the crystal clear example of economic efficiency/supply and demand.

The AP, via Yahoo!, posted a story titled "Oil prices tumble again on US surprise supply jump." As you may or may not know, the price of a barrel of oil has fallen approximately $10 in the last two days. As you also may or may not know, oil is sold on the world market in US dollars. While the discussion of using oil as a hedge against a weakening dollar and inflation is legitimate, the story highlights the real cause, people just aren't consuming!

From the article:

"The Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. crude oil supplies rose by 3 million barrels, or 1 percent, last week. That is the opposite of the 3 million barrel draw analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts expected. Gasoline supplies also leapt unexpectedly."

So, there you have it. People and businesses are just consuming less. Whether it is gas at $4.08 a gallon, or crude at $146, people and businesses have reached the point where they will no longer bear the price, and thus supply is increasing. Provided that consumption remains flat or continues to decrease (globally), prices will continue to fall.

And guess what, the US government and states still collect about $.26 a gallon. However, they are concerned that reduced consumption will cut into their revenue stream.