Obama Took a Stand This Week

For the record- I don't condone the out of control spending we've seen from BOTH parties. Bush and Obama, dems and republicans share the blame. My central point is that taxes are near historic lows and rather than readjusting them to reasonable levels (e.g. Clinton levels) to make a big difference, republicans keep a straight face and propose making up for it on the backs of those struggling the most.

My

As has been pointed out in another post, each group is paying close to their fair share. What needs to be adjusted is not the nominal rates, but the actual rates. Close loopholes and move the process towards a flat tax.
The class warfare statements of liberals drive conservatives crazy and guarantee their opposition. True tax reform must be based on fairness and collecting the maximum income possible without harming the economy.

FBB, that would make sense if they actually raised taxes enough to warrant not paying a car note each month, that's a much bigger chunk than most people are talking about.

Are you saying that people won't adjust their spending habits if their taxes go up? Will they just not put as much in savings? Will they borrow more to support their lifestyle?

All of these economic problems aren't math problems, they're philosophical. "Right or left" math isn't needed; a complete paradigm shift is. All of these problems are not problems in and of themselves, they are symptoms of a disease. That disease is Fractional Reserve Banking and fiat currency. Paper is paper, money is money. I imagine some of you are tired of hearing me say this, probably roll your eyes at my posts. But I tire of people arguing over the radio station when the bus has gone over the cliff. If you don't get that, you are wasting your time by trying to fix something which never worked properly. Fiat currency. End the Fed, take your lumps and rebuild the future, not "win the future."

All the arguments on "both sides" come from a genuine concern for our families and neighbors. It just saddens me that both will be proven wrong in the end. There is no fixing this. Fiat currency doesn't gain value once it loses it. It is an inherent debt spiral like water circling the drain. Faster and faster it will move as the end comes. These aren't random esoteric comments. You can find truth in nature and simplicity.

I realize I cannot raise my arms and hold back the coming economic tsunami. What I can do is explain to the people rushing into low tide and scooping up all the "free" fish left behind, that they need to run! Yes it will take more time to play out than my tsunami analogy, but be thankful for that for when the end comes, in any form, it cometh swiftly.

None of us are going to change policy or physics. I suggest you direct some of that passion to preparing yourself and family buy storing your wealth in assets which cannot be printed, counterfeited, taxed or nationalized.

See you on the other side.

All of these economic problems aren't math problems, they're philosophical. "Right or left" math isn't needed; a complete paradigm shift is. All of these problems are not problems in and of themselves, they are symptoms of a disease. That disease is Fractional Reserve Banking and fiat currency. Paper is paper, money is money. I imagine some of you are tired of hearing me say this, probably roll your eyes at my posts. But I tire of people arguing over the radio station when the bus has gone over the cliff. If you don't get that, you are wasting your time by trying to fix something which never worked properly. Fiat currency. End the Fed, take your lumps and rebuild the future, not "win the future."

All the arguments on "both sides" come from a genuine concern for our families and neighbors. It just saddens me that both will be proven wrong in the end. There is no fixing this. Fiat currency doesn't gain value once it loses it. It is an inherent debt spiral like water circling the drain. Faster and faster it will move as the end comes. These aren't random esoteric comments. You can find truth in nature and simplicity.

I realize I cannot raise my arms and hold back the coming economic tsunami. What I can do is explain to the people rushing into low tide and scooping up all the "free" fish left behind, that they need to run! Yes it will take more time to play out than my tsunami analogy, but be thankful for that for when the end comes, in any form, it cometh swiftly.

None of us are going to change policy or physics. I suggest you direct some of that passion to preparing yourself and family buy storing your wealth in assets which cannot be printed, counterfeited, taxed or nationalized.

See you on the other side.

The current economic conditions were created over the last 100 years beginning with the income tax, the creation of the Federal Reserve and the end of the gold standard. The problems will not be fixed in one session of Congress. But we have to start somewhere and cutting spending is a decent 1st step.

Are you saying that people won't adjust their spending habits if their taxes go up? Will they just not put as much in savings? Will they borrow more to support their lifestyle?

Realistically a combination of the last two.

The ultimate issue is how most Americans vastly overestimate their own personal wealth. For instance you shiver when Obama talks about taxing the top 1% wealthiest, despite the fact that your net worth is probably less than that tax brackets primary homes value.

This results in people who are never (even including the possibility of winning the lottery) ever going to be affected by these tax increases.

I'm not advocating raping the rich, but when you are in an economic crisis why do the Republicans insist on heaping the burden on what's left of the middle class while lowering that 1% taxes?

Yes, spending is out of control, and cutting is the right thing to do. However at the same time it's pointless if you're just going to reduce your intake by more. Same problem slightly smaller size.

Texas University Takes Cue From Kyle Bass to Hold $1 Billion in Gold Bars - Bloomberg

The University of Texas Investment Management Co., the second-largest U.S. academic endowment, took delivery of almost $1 billion in gold bullion as the metal reaches a record, according to the fund’s board.
The fund, whose $19.9 billion in assets ranked it behind Harvard University’s endowment as of August, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers, last year added about $500 million in gold investments to an existing stake, said Bruce Zimmerman, the endowment’s chief executive officer. The holdings reached about $987 million yesterday, as Comex futures closed at $1,486 an ounce.
The decision to turn the fund’s investment into gold bars was influenced by Kyle Bass, a Dallas hedge fund manager and member of the endowment’s board, Zimmerman said yesterday at its annual meeting. Bass made $500 million on the U.S. subprime- mortgage collapse.
“Central banks are printing more money than they ever have, so what’s the value of money in terms of purchases of goods and services,” Bass said today in a telephone interview. “I look at gold as just another currency that they can’t print any more of.”

I worked very hard all my life...I saved my money, I worked sometimes two different jobs so my kids could go to college. I did without...I didn't expect the government to take care of my family...I also paid taxes on the money I made...and it always disturbed me how my taxes were being used, or rather wasted,....don't tell me to grow up, Sonny...I am grown up...I live on a limited budget, I get along on my savings and my SS, and I am still paying taxes on my money...and as long as I pay taxes...I should have the right to express how I wish my taxes to be used. I also have earned the right to complain about higher taxes. I don't think I should be tax poor because I worked hard and saved my money. Our president hasn't shown any sign of slowing down because of our economy, he is still cranking up that big plane of his and making numerous trips that use up fuel, and lots of my tax money...I've cut back, most Americans have cut back...when can we expect our President to cut back? I am waiting, in fact almost breathless in anticipation, to see how much taxes the Obamas paid this year.

A Flat Tax would be great. No more tricks, loop holes, everyone, no matter what bracket you are in gets taxed and it is fair across the board.

I have to ask, is a flat tax fair? If so, why? Show me the math. Convince a skeptic. Why should it be linear and not exponential or some polynomial function or whatever. Do you really think somebody making $10K a year should pay any taxes at all? I say no. How can you get the rent from them if they can't afford to pay you?

45% of households in the US didn't pay taxes. Tell me how you think that's fair?

45% of households in the US didn't pay taxes. Tell me how you think that's fair?

They paid taxes just not not federal income taxes and fair or not they are using the same tax code everyone else is using. Also nearly 5 million households in the group you are talking about make somewhere between $50,000 and more than $1 million.

Temporary tax policies, such as the Bush-era tax cuts and the tax breaks passed under President Obama, have also increased the ranks of the non-payers.
If most tax breaks were removed, the Tax Policy Center estimates, the percentage of households with no federal income tax liability woulddrop to 27% from 45%.

The president’s proposal isn’t perfect, by a long shot. My own view is that while the spending controls on Medicare he proposed are exactly the right way to go, he’s probably expecting too much payoff in the near term. And over the longer run, I believe that we’ll need modestly higher taxes on the middle class as well as the rich to pay for the kind of society we want. But the vision was right, and the numbers were far more credible than anything in the Ryan sales pitch.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/opinion/15krugman.html

That's why they constantly fight back. Progressives 'have a dream', a dream that scares the bajeezus out of the rest of us.

As long as that person is living in the United States, is an American citizen, and benefits from the government services that taxes cover.....YES! I don't care if it is only 50 cents...they should have to pay some tax....if you receive the benefits...then you should pay some tax...

As long as that person is living in the United States, is an American citizen, and benefits from the government services that taxes cover.....YES! I don't care if it is only 50 cents...they should have to pay some tax....if you receive the benefits...then you should pay some tax...

Your argument is dogmatic and pointless.