Tag Archives: free college tuition

The Democratic Platform: ‘deja vu’ all over again!

Did you have favorite television programs while growing up? I sure did. In my time, I enjoyed Bonanza and Gunsmoke as westerns. I really enjoyed The Man from Uncle and I Spy for spy shows. And, I could not get enough of the Carol Burnett Shows for comedy. Luckily, practically all of these shows are now available on networks that specialize in reruns. But here is the problem. After watching the original shows and then watching each show as a rerun two or three times, I lose interest. After all, how many times can you watch the same show over and over and over again without losing interest?

Now I need to time travel from the past to the present and as to what is happening on the political scene. Other than the negative mass media coverage of Donald Trump’s tweets, the next most media consuming event is the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. To say that there are a plethora of candidates would be an understatement. To say that there are a platoon of candidates would be more accurate. There are so many candidates, that I have lost count! I thought there were 22 or 23, but I see the upcoming debates are only for 20 candidates. Did some candidates drop out or were they hired to join the Mueller investigation posse? No doubt with Mueller’s concern about Russian influence in our last presidential election, he will now want to focus on what the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton election team had going with the Russkies! (Okay, I am dreaming. That would never happen with the team of Clintonites he had on his staff.)

Here is where I segue my last paragraph with my opening paragraph about reruns of television programs. After watching a television show three times, I would lose interest and quit watching that program. After watching part of the Democratic debates, I lost interest and quit watching. Why? Because the Democrats have not come up with an original thought and it is a rerun of the garbage they have been spewing for way too many years.!

Free health care for everyone! And with a unanimous show of hands, the candidates all agreed that that would also include ‘illegal aliens.’ Or, in the parlance of the political correct, ‘undocumented immigrants.’ (If an illegal alien can be an undocumented immigrant, does that mean a dope pusher is an undocumented pharmacist? Does that make a bank robber just performing an undocumented withdrawal?) Free college education for everyone! Free this! Free that! Free! Free! Free!

Is there a word in the English language (or press two for Spanish) that could possibly be more liberal with other people’s money than the word socialist? Just how would all of these ‘free’ entitlements be paid. Well, that is an easy question for Bernie Sanders. Because for Bernie, there are words in America that are naughtier that the four letter words we heard as kids. The word profit, is a naughty word. If you follow Bernie’s logic, which is in line with the other candidates, a corporation or business should be ashamed, and punished for making a profit! That punishment would come in the form of higher and higher taxes. And, we will need more government regulation and intervention to control those greedy profit makers! Did you notice how many times the words ‘large corporations’ came up in the debate. Oh yeah, those large corporations are what is wrong with America. Have we heard this drivel in the past?

The other source of funding, and another place to punish is the talk about the ‘upper 1%.’ Of course, this refers to the top 1% of those with wealth in our country. Hereto, these people need to ‘pay their fair share.’ Bernie goes on to attack Trump by saying that he passed tax reform that unjustly helped the top 1% over all other taxpayers and wage earners.

I am becoming comatose listening to the same reheated, rehashed garbage coming from the liberal left, just as I have lost interest in multiple reruns, because their platform is a rerun on a continuous loop. And….don’t let reality cloud a faulty accusation.

The liberals have need to take a fact check into reality and, just as important, into economics. Firstly, only a small portion of the total federal government tax revenues come for businesses and corporations. That number has fluctuated over the years, but for 2018, corporate income taxes accounted for only 6% of the federal tax income! Personal income taxes accounted for 51% of the federal tax income. Payroll taxes accounted for 35% of the federal tax income, with miscellaneous taxes accounting for the last 8%. Bernie wants to do a WWF style smack-down on those corporations that only contribute 6% of the federal taxes to support all of his socialistic programs. What would be the result of that economic taxation maneuver? Hate Trump if you want, but his economic policies have stimulated the economy to the point of experiencing the lowest unemployment rate in 50+ years! Like Ronald Reagan said, “The best welfare program is a job.” And gosh darn it, by eliminating government regulations and intervention, and by lowering the corporate tax rate, that 6% (corporations and businesses) have created many more people contributing in the form of personal taxes. If the socialist left-wing dingbat democrats have their way, this trend would reverse. Corporations would again relocate manufacturing and corporate headquarters outside of the US. Higher unemployment would follow, just like during the 10+% unemployment during the Obama years.

Another democrat mantra….”the 1% need to pay their fair share of taxes.” Really? In 2016, The top 1% of the wealthiest people in America paid 37.3% of all federal income taxes. The bottom 90% of wage earners paid just 30.5% of all federal income taxes. Another statistic? The top 50% of all wage earners paid 97% of all the taxes. So you think the IRS codes are skewed unjustly to benefit the top 1%, as asserted by the liberal left? Well, in 2016, the top 5% paid an average of 23.5% in taxes. The top 1% paid 22.9%. (Better accountants?) But the bottom 80% paid a tax rate of 15.6%. So….what part of this is unfair? Wouldn’t fairness, in this age of political correctness and equality, mean that everyone pay the same tax rate? What would those rates be if all those socialistic programs were put into effect? 40%? (If we were lucky!) 50%? (Probably not enough!) 80%? (Probably!)

So, dear readers, here is a summation of my observations of the Democratic presidential candidates and of the democratic platform:

  1. Like before, the democrats are fomenting the belief that in America, it is ‘us versus them.’ They foment this belief by unscrupulously advancing the belief that the 1% are entitled, and the rest of you are being screwed. Trump is responsible…so he needs to be impeached.
  2. Corporations and businesses are your enemy, especially those that have the audacity to make a profit. Never mind that they provide jobs, expand the economy and raise the standard of living for their employees. If they make a profit…Trump is responsible…so he needs to to impeached.
  3. Trump needs to be impeached. (Heard this before?) I have never heard one reason or charge that would warrant this….but Trump needs to be impeached.
  4. Trump is guilty of treason. (See number 3 above.)
  5. Have you ever heard one solution advanced by any of these candidates that would address some of the more serious problems facing America? Me neither. All I have heard so far is free this, free that…yada, yada, yada. Never mind China, illegal immigration, Iran, etc.
  6. Speaking about illegal immigration. I find it interesting that practically every Democratic candidate is a lawyer and does not know the definition of the word, ‘illegal’, as in illegal alien. How do you uphold and defend the constitution of our great country, and not know the difference between legal and illegal. Just sayin’.
  7. Another democratic mantra…’if at first you don’t succeed, begin labeling and name calling.’ Trump is a racist. Trump is a sexist. Trump is this, Trump is that, and anyone who votes for him is ‘deplorable and incorrigible.’ Enough name calling! Advance something that would be good for our country without putting our grandchildren in indebted servitude.
  8. Speaking of servitude…have you picked up that the government (meaning you and me) should pay blacks for slavery reparations? Have you met any blacks lately, or within the last 150 years that were slaves? Trolling for votes. A desperate, stupid move that divides this country further, but yet they blame Trump for dividing the country.

In an odd way, I find the liberal platform sort of creepy. It reminds me of my parents lecturing me when I was young about not taking candy from strangers. These liberals are trolling for votes by offering candy in the form of all kinds of unaffordable freebies. The question becomes, ‘are you smart enough to not take the candy?’

So like too many reruns of the same episodes of the same show, I will probably tune out most of the Democratic presidential debates until they get down to less than a platoon of candidates. It’s boring and it is certainly repetitive. Like Yogi Berra said, “it’s deja vu all over again.” That is the political correct way of saying….same crap, different day.

PS. If you would like to learn why we have a platoon of Democratic candidates, please read my blog entitled: P + P = M The New Political Formula

Common Sense Applied to Campaign Promises. Are We On the Same Planet?

In the twentieth century, campaign slogans and campaign promises were much more simple than those of today.  In the 1900 presidential election, William McKinley used the slogan, ‘Four more years of the full dinner pail.’  How many millennials would even know what a dinner pail is?

In 1916, Woodrow Wilson’s big slogan was, ‘War in the east, peace in the west, thank God for Woodrow Wilson.’  Well, this slogan is interesting for two reasons: firstly, the US got involved with WWI one year later, and secondly, who today would include God in their campaign slogan?

The most famous campaign promise/slogan was used by Herbert Hoover in his 1928 election.  His famous slogan?  ‘A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.’  Now common sense would easily indicate that the Federal Government was not going to buy everyone a chicken and a car.  The gist of that slogan was that America would be so prosperous that everyone would be able to afford food and a car. It was still an era of self-sufficiency and independence in the US.   Well, like Wilson entering WWI, Hoover got thrown for a loop because of the stock market crash of 1929, less than a year after he took the oath of office.

Hoover lost the election to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932.  FDR’s biggest campaign promise was to provide a ‘New Deal.’  FDR quickly turned on another one of his campaign promises….balancing the budget.   According to one historian, FDR issued in a government that created a ‘firm desire on the part of the American people to use the government as an agency of human welfare.’  FDR determined that balancing the federal budget was outweighed by what he termed, ‘government activism.’

Now we get to some of the more recent campaign issues and promises.

Have you seen the Hillary Clinton TV ad stating that she would tax corporations and wealthy individuals, as it is time for them to pay their fair share of taxes?  I have seen this ad too many times already.  But be that as it may, one thing has become evident, no one from her staff knows how to use a computer for research, … only for sending classified emails.  Here are the most current statistics, easily found by anyone who is familiar with using google.  The United States pays the highest federal corporate taxes of the 34 industrial nations of the world. The maximum federal corporate tax rate is 39%.  In the worldly picture, the US is tied with Puerto Rico, and only behind the United Arab Emirates (55%) and Chad (40%).  The US federal tax rate is 16 percentage points higher that the worldwide average of 22.8%.  (For my info junkies, the federal tax rate in Mexico is 30%)

But, just like the TV commercial, there is more.  There are also state corporate taxes.  Would you like to guess which state has the highest corporate tax rate?  New York?  California?  New Jersey?  All good guesses but the state with the highest corporate tax rate at 12% is……………..Iowa!  Yup, those Hawkeyes finally got to be #1 at something.  Four states levy a maximum state corporate tax rate higher than 9%.  Those states are Pennsylvania (9.99%), District of Columbia (9.4%), Minnesota (9.84%) and Alaska (9.4%)  Ohio, Texas and Washington forego state corporate taxes but instead impose gross receipt taxes on businesses.  Nevada, South Dakota and Wyoming levy neither corporate income nor gross receipts taxes.  All the other states have a maximum corporate tax rate.

Here is an example of why US corporations are moving their headquarters and facilities out of the US.  Medtronic is located in Minnesota.  They make sophisticated medical devices.  Let us imagine that Medtronic makes $100 million profit in a year.  According to our present taxing structure, they would pay $39 million to the federal government and almost $10 to the state of Minnesota.  In round numbers, they pay $49 million in taxes and get to keep $51 million of their profit.  But wait….Medtronic is moving their entire operation to Ireland.  Why?  The new corporate tax rate is going to be 18%, with no state corporate taxes.  Under this scenario, they pay $18 million in taxes to Ireland and get to keep $82 million of their $100 million profit.

And Hillary Clinton wants to tax corporations more?

Let us take this one step further.  Do you know what percentage of federal tax receipts are attributable to corporations and what percentage are attributable to individual income taxes?  Here is a simplified breakdown of where the federal government gets its money:  Social insurance (payroll) taxes are 33.9%, excise taxes are 3.1%, Miscellaneous taxes account for 6.3%, corporate income taxes account for 10.6%, and individual income taxes account for a whooping 46.2% of federal tax revenue.   Would it be common sense to lower corporate tax rates to keep more companies within the United States, thereby creating more jobs?  If we would cut the corporate tax rate in half, would we not create more jobs?  Jobs that would provide more federal income to make up and exceed the difference in lost corporate taxes?

But wait, what are we going to do with all those high income tax payers that are not paying their fair share of taxes?  Well, here again, all those computers at Hillary’s campaign headquarters must be on the blink.  Did you know that the top 1% of the top wage earners in the United States, those people having an adjusted gross income (AGI) higher than $428,713, contribute 37.8% of the personal income taxes paid to the federal government.  The top 5%, those with an AGI greater than $179,760, pay 58.55% of the personal income taxes paid to the federal government.  The top 50% of the US wage earners, with an AGI greater than $36,841 contribute 97.22% of all federal personal income taxes.  Those 50% that are below $36,841 contribute 2.78% to federal personal income taxes. That’s right, 50% of the US population only pays 2.78% of the total federal income tax revenues.  So who pays their fair share of taxes????  There may be tax loopholes that need to be addressed, but if Hillary wants the higher wage earners to contribute more is she advocating a flat tax for everyone?  I doubt that.  That would be too much common sense for today’s political climate. (Remember Mitt Romney being castigated by mentioning that 47% of the population does not pay taxes?  All true.)

How about that campaign promise of free college for everyone.  OK all you college bound students, who will ultimately pay for your education?  That would be all of us, even though there are other ways to pay for school.  I know this is out of vogue, but you could begin working part-time jobs and start saving money.  I had one year of college paid for before I started.  There are scholarships and grants.  There are, heaven forbid, jobs to do while in college.  I did that as well and graduated without a college debt.  You could go into the military and gain use of the GI bill.  Viet Nam prompted my generation to make early life decisions, but until you know what you exactly want to do, why waste your money and flounder in college.  A little maturity goes a long way when it comes to life decisions.

In 2013, the average cost of tuition and fees in private colleges was $32,405.  In state resident public schools, tuition and fees averaged $9,410.  For out of state residents attending a public college, the tuition and fees averaged $23,893.  None of these costs include living expenses.  This year, there will be 21 million students attending college.  If the government were to pick up the tab at an average of $20,000 per student, that would cost, if my math is correct, $420 billion a year.  That would be almost 15% of our $3 trillion annual budget.  It would match our defense budget.   Oh, don’t forget, our federal deficit is almost $20 trillion and we are expecting a $600 billion shortfall for the 2016 budget.  So, do you members of the ‘give me a trophy for participating’ generation and the ‘I can’t work, I’m going on spring break’ generation really think the government should pay for your school?

We will build a wall.  How many times have we heard that recently?  I am neither a proponent or an opponent of this particular campaign promise.  But, having said that I would like to ask a question, “Would you get on an airplane without seeing everyone going through security?”   Not in today’s environment.  The same procedures apply if you want to board a cruise ship.  Your bags are taken and examined as well as your carry-on baggage.  So if we would not board a plane or a ship without going through stringent security, why would we oppose stopping illegal aliens and drugs from entering this country.  I have no problem with work permits or temporary visas, but everyone needs to be vetted.  I would hope some smart people could come up with a quick efficient way of granting work permits and temporary visas.

There are many more campaign promises and slogans circulating during this election year.  I just selected some of the juicier ones for review in this blog.  The next time a candidate comes up with something that smells a little fishy, all in the hopes of buying votes, do a little research.  I am sure your computers work just fine.