Doom and Gloom...

[Diane Amberg]

So you are that crazy uncle every family has? . Wasn't it the parents job to do that kind of "education?"
  How do you know they are ignoring anything? Perhaps they are just being polite to their uncle. Is there a white horse and some armor involved...or perhaps a windmill? Gloom and doom...not like we haven't seen these times  before.We made it through and I'm sure will so again...eventually.

[Ross]

So you are that crazy uncle every family has? . Wasn't it the parents job to do that kind of "education?"

You just gotta dig them fingernails in don't you! If you find me so despicable why read my posts.

Yes, I am that crazy uncle and great uncle and great-great uncle that cares about his family.

Really it is not the parent's job to do that kind of education, when these are not children I am talking about. Perhaps if teachers in school had actually taught economics, finance and world affairs and the importance of world current affairs these people would have an inkling. 

  How do you know they are ignoring anything?

I don't remember saying that they are ignoring me?
Do you know something about my kin that I don't know?
Please share.

Perhaps they are just being polite to their uncle.

Sure they are, they know I love each and everyone of them, and I know they love me as well.

Is there a white horse and some armor involved...or perhaps a windmill?

If there is a white horse involved you sure ain't riding it.

Gloom and doom...not like we haven't seen these times  before.We made it through and I'm sure will so again...eventually.

You are about as BRILLIANT as they come.

When have we made it through what is most likely about to happen.
You must be a lot older than I am, because I have never lived through such a thing,
I have never lived through the great depression.

But with all your Brilliance, I suppose there is no need to be prepared for the worst while praying for the best.

One of the greatest child development things I learned in the Boy scouts was "Be Prepared"

But any way my post was simply to Thank Warph for the post, nothing more.

Which means it was not meant to set you off with your fingernails digging and clawing.

I hope you can enjoy the rest of your Sunday. I know I am. I'm heading out to work in my garden. We have an absolutely beautiful spring day going on.

[Diane Amberg]

Leave it to you to assume I meant your relatives were ignoring YOU. If that was what I meant I would have said so. Why do you think they are ignoring the economic news, etc. that we all read as adults unless you personally teach them? You said they aren't children. Shouldn't they be living their lives and standing on their own two feet by now? ( It's bird. it's a... It's super Ross..... )
Exactly when would you like all those subjects taught? Jr. High? When did you take them? Guess what... some things are not taught in depth until college. Ya don't go, ya don't get.
I don't think you are despicable.  I just think you're a bit of a self proclaimed superman today. Or was that Mighty Mouse?
  In fact perhaps you should teach those kids' parents as well since you don't think it's still their job to "teach"their adult children any longer, especially since you say you're just a dumb hick and they don't have a clue. The blind leading the blind? Ouch!   
Haven't you yet figured out I'm just poking you for fun?  Lighten up. Ya started this yourself.
By the way ,how could you have missed all the problems in the early 70s, including gasoline rationing, and the recession in the early 80s?. It just about brought down silicon valley. There were more of course. It's always an up and down ride.The one now is nothing new, just worse than most.
People who plan and save always come out alright. Even at 10% unemployment ,90% are working and people on pensions and/or SS have that to spend to help the economy.

[Ross]

Leave it to you to assume I meant your relatives were ignoring YOU. If that was what I meant I would have said so. Why do you think they are ignoring the economic news, etc. that we all read as adults unless you personally teach them? You said they aren't children. Shouldn't they be living their lives and standing on their own two feet by now? ( It's bird. it's a... It's super Ross..... )
Exactly when would you like all those subjects taught? Jr. High? When did you take them? Guess what... some things are not taught in depth until college. Ya don't go, ya don't get.
I don't think you are despicable.  I just think you're a bit of a self proclaimed superman today. Or was that Mighty Mouse?
  In fact perhaps you should teach those kids' parents as well since you don't think it's still their job to "teach"their adult children any longer, especially since you say you're just a dumb hick and they don't have a clue. The blind leading the blind? Ouch!   
Haven't you yet figured out I'm just poking you for fun?  Lighten up. Ya started this yourself.
By the way ,how could you have missed all the problems in the early 70s, including gasoline rationing, and the recession in the early 80s?. It just about brought down silicon valley. There were more of course. It's always an up and down ride.The one now is nothing new, just worse than most.
People who plan and save always come out alright. Even at 10% unemployment ,90% are working and people on pensions and/or SS have that to spend to help the economy.

I was simply Thanking Warph for a great post.
Now I'd like to invite you for a long walk on a short pier, but I don't have a pier!
Do you have one. So you comprehend, I'm speaking of a short pier.

[Warph]

Now, now, guys... be nice  

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence;
And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation;
And uphold me with Thy free Spirit.

...Psalm 51:10


Thanks, Ross.  Something I should have added that I forgot... sorry:





The state of America's economy today will impact the prosperity of future generations tomorrow. We created this data card because we want every American to have a simple and easy way to track and discuss the key economic indicators that show the true state of our nation's economy. The items featured in this card affect every American personally, whether we know it or not.  

Sources:

1.  http://www.bls.gov (monthly)

2.  http://www.bls.gov (monthly)

3.  http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000 (monthly)

4.  http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/ (weekly)

5.  http://www.usdebtclock.org/ (real time)

6.  http://www.usdebtclock.org/ (real time)

7.  http://www.census.gov/ (annual)

8.  http://www.realtor.org/research-and-statistics (monthly), http://ycharts.com/indicators/sales_price_of_existing_homes

9.   http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/ (annual)

10.  http://ehbs.kff.org/pdf/8226.pdf (annual), http://ehbs.kff.org/?page=charts&id=1&sn=6&p=1

11.  http://www.miseryindex.us/ (monthly)

[jarhead]

You win that bet Ross. No way did I think she could go this long with out the name calling and shit stirring. Coffee is on me---see ya in the Smoke Shack.

[Diane Amberg]

Ross, you missed my point entirely and yes, I know what you were doing in the" thank you," but the rest seemed so self serving and  silly,I coudn't help but laugh at it. I assume you'll be joining the bunker brigade soon since the end of our world is right around the corner?
Sorry you couldn't see the humor, but I'll apoligize if you'd feel better. As far as the plank ,sorry, the only ones available now are full of trout fishing folks since the season just opened. Leaving again since the "club' is still touchy and grouchy. Too bad.

[Ross]

You win that bet Ross. No way did I think she could go this long with out the name calling and shit stirring. Coffee is on me---see ya in the Smoke Shack.

Love ya Jarhead!
Now watch her spout something about queer, gay or some such bull. She don't quit.
I must assume she must be bored with her lifestyle.

The liver was simply delicious.

No, that's not code. LOL

[Warph]

Income Tax In America

by Mr. Doom & Mr. Gloom




100 years old and still killing us.  America was much better off before the income tax.  Did you know that the greatest period of economic growth in American history was during a time when there was absolutely no federal income tax?  Between the end of the Civil War and 1913, there was an explosion of economic activity in the United States unlike anything ever seen before or since.  Unfortunately, a federal income tax was instituted in 1913, and this year it turned 100 years old. 

But there was no fanfare, was there?  There was no celebration because the federal income tax is universally hated.  Sadly, most Americans just assume that there is no other option to an income tax.  Most Americans just assume that it has always been with us and that it will always be with us.  This year, the American people will shell out approximately $4.22 trillion in state and federal income taxes.  That amount is equivalent to approximately 29.4 percent of all income that Americans will bring in this year, and that does not even take into account the dozens of other taxes that Americans pay each year.  At this point, the U.S. tax code is about 13 miles long, and those that are honest and pay their taxes every year are being absolutely shredded by this system. 

But wouldn't the federal government go broke if we didn't have a federal income tax?  No, actually the truth is that the federal government did just fine before there was an income tax.  In fact, the U.S. national debt has gotten more than 5000 times larger since the federal income tax and the Federal Reserve were created by Congress back in 1913.  As I have written about previously, the Federal Reserve system was actually designed to trap the United States in a debt spiral from which it could never possibly escape, and the federal income tax was needed to greatly expand the size of the federal government and to soak the American people of the funds necessary to service that debt.  But it doesn't have to be this way.  America was once much better off before the income tax and the Federal Reserve were created, and we could easily go to such a system again.


What we desperately need to do is to teach the American people a little history lesson.  The truth is that the greatest period of economic growth in U.S. history was between the Civil War and 1913 when there was no federal income tax at all.  The following is from Wikipedia...

The Gilded Age saw the greatest period of economic growth in American history. After the short-lived panic of 1873, the economy recovered with the advent of hard money policies and industrialization. From 1869 to 1879, the US economy grew at a rate of 6.8% for real GDP and 4.5% for real GDP per capita, despite the panic of 1873.  The economy repeated this period of growth in the 1880s, in which the wealth of the nation grew at an annual rate of 3.8%, while the GDP was also doubled.

Sadly, most Americans cannot even conceive of an economy like that.  Most Americans cannot even imagine having a nation without a massively bloated federal government and without an unelected central bank centrally planning our financial system.

But you know what?

It worked.  In fact, it worked fantastically well.


The period between the Civil War and 1913 propelled the United States to greatness.  Just check out all of the good things that Wikipedia says happened for the U.S. economy during those years...

The rapid economic development following the Civil War laid the groundwork for the modern U.S. industrial economy. By 1890, the USA leaped ahead of Britain for first place in manufacturing output.

An explosion of new discoveries and inventions took place, a process called the "Second Industrial Revolution." Railroads greatly expanded the mileage and built stronger tracks and bridges that handled heavier cars and locomotives, carrying far more goods and people at lower rates. Refrigeration railroad cars came into use. The telephone, phonograph, typewriter and electric light were invented. By the dawn of the 20th century, cars had begun to replace horse-drawn carriages.

Parallel to these achievements was the development of the nation's industrial infrastructure. Coal was found in abundance in the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania south to Kentucky. Oil was discovered in western Pennsylvania; it was mainly used for lubricants and for kerosene for lamps. Large iron ore mines opened in the Lake Superior region of the upper Midwest. Steel mills thrived in places where these coal and iron ore could be brought together to produce steel. Large copper and silver mines opened, followed by lead mines and cement factories.

In 1913 Henry Ford introduced the assembly line, a step in the process that became known as mass-production.


But if we didn't have an income tax, how did we fund the government?  Well, we mostly did it with tariffs and excise taxes.  The following is from a recent article by Thomas R. Eddlem...
http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/history/item/14268-before-the-income-tax

Prior to ratification of the 16th (income tax) Amendment in February 1913, the federal government managed its few constitutional responsibilities without an income tax, except during the Civil War period. During peacetime, it did so largely — or even entirely — on import taxes called "tariffs." Congress could afford to run the federal government on tariffs alone because federal responsibilities did not include welfare programs, agricultural subsidies, or social insurance programs like Social Security or Medicare. After the Civil War, tariff revenues sometimes suffered under a protectionist policy ushered in by the Republican Party that supplemented federal income via excises on alcohol, tobacco, and inheritances. But before the war, the need for tariff revenue to finance the federal government generally kept the tariff at reasonable levels. During wartime throughout early American history, the Founding Fathers were able to raise additional revenue employing a different method of direct taxation authorized by the U.S. Constitution prior to the 16th Amendment. These alternative taxing methods gave the young American nation embarrassing peacetime budget surpluses that several times came close to paying off the national debt.


So why didn't we stick with that system?

Well, early in the 20th century the "progressives" and the social planners started to take control in Washington.

And one of the things that "progressives" and social planners love is an income tax.  In fact, the second plank of the Communist Manifesto is a "heavy progressive or graduated income tax".


Of course they promised us that income tax rates would always remain low.  And at first they were quite low.  The following is from an article by Adam Young... http://mises.org/daily/1597

The presidential election of 1912 was contested between three advocates of an income tax. The winner, Woodrow Wilson, after the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment, called a special session of Congress in April 1913, which proceeded to pass an income tax of 1% on incomes above $3,000 and applied surcharges between 2% and 7% on income from $20,000 to $500,000.

But once the "progressives" and the social planners get their feet in the door, they always want more.

And we have seen how things have worked out.  Today, the American people are being taxed into oblivion.

There are dozens of other taxes that the American people pay each year in addition to federal and state income taxes...

#1 Building Permit Taxes

#2 Capital Gains Taxes

#3 Cigarette Taxes

#4 Court Fines (indirect taxes)

#5 Dog License Taxes

#6 Drivers License Fees (another form of taxation)

#7 Federal Unemployment Taxes

#8 Fishing License Taxes

#9 Food License Taxes

#10 Gasoline Taxes

#11 Gift Taxes

#12 Hunting License Taxes

#13 Inheritance Taxes

#14 Inventory Taxes

#15 IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)

#16 IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)

#17 Liquor Taxes

#18 Luxury Taxes

#19 Marriage License Taxes

#20 Medicare Taxes

#21 Medicare Tax Surcharge On High Earning Americans Under Obamacare

#22 Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax (if you don't buy "qualifying" health insurance under Obamacare you will have to pay an additional tax)

#23 Obamacare Surtax On Investment Income (a new 3.8% surtax on investment income that goes into effect next year)

#24 Property Taxes

#25 Recreational Vehicle Taxes

#26 Toll Booth Taxes

#27 Sales Taxes

#28 Self-Employment Taxes

#29 School Taxes

#30 Septic Permit Taxes

#31 Service Charge Taxes

#32 Social Security Taxes

#33 State Unemployment Taxes (SUTA)

#34 Tanning Tax (a new Obamacare tax on tanning services)

#35 Telephone Federal Excise Taxes

#36 Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Taxes

#37 Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Taxes

#38 Telephone State And Local Taxes

#39 Tire Taxes

#40 Tolls (another form of taxation)

#41 Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)

#42 Utility Taxes

#43 Vehicle Registration Taxes

#44 Workers Compensation Taxes

Yet even with all of these taxes, our local governments, our state governments and our federal government are all absolutely drowning in debt.

There is a number of reasons why our federal income tax system has become a complete and utter abomination that can never be fixed...

1 - The U.S. tax code is now 3.8 million words long.  If you took all of William Shakespeare's works and collected them together, the entire collection would only be about 900,000 words long.

2 - According to the National Taxpayers Union, U.S. taxpayers spend more than 7.6 billion hours complying with federal tax requirements.  Imagine what our society would look like if all that time was spent on more economically profitable activities.

3 - 75 years ago, the instructions for Form 1040 were two pages long.  Today, they are 189 pages long.

4 - There have been 4,428 changes to the tax code over the last decade.  It is incredibly costly to change tax software, tax manuals and tax instruction booklets for all of those changes.

5 - According to the National Taxpayers Union, the IRS currently has 1,999 different publications, forms, and instruction sheets that you can download from the IRS website.

6 - Our tax system has become so complicated that it is almost impossible to file your taxes correctly.  For example, back in 1998 Money Magazine had 46 different tax professionals complete a tax return for a hypothetical household.  All 46 of them came up with a different result.

7 - In 2009, PC World had five of the most popular tax preparation software websites prepare a tax return for a hypothetical household.  All five of them came up with a different result.

8 - The IRS spends $2.45 for every $100 that it collects in taxes.

9 - According to The Tax Foundation, the average American has to work until April 17th just to pay federal, state, and local taxes.  Back in 1900, "Tax Freedom Day" came on January 22nd.

10 - When the U.S. government first implemented a personal income tax back in 1913, the vast majority of the population paid a rate of just 1 percent, and the highest marginal tax rate was just 7 percent.

11 - Residents of New Jersey pay $1.64 in taxes for every $1.00 of federal spending that they get back.

12 - The United States is the only nation on the planet that tries to tax citizens on what they earn in foreign countries.

13 - According to Forbes, the 400 highest earning Americans pay an average federal income tax rate of just 18 percent.

14 - Warren Buffett had an effective tax rate of just 17.4 percent for 2010.

15 - The top 20 percent of all income earners in the United States pay approximately 86 percent of all federal income taxes.

16 - Sadly, as Bill Whittle has shown, you could take every single penny that every American earns above $250,000 and it would only fund about 38 percent of the federal budget.

17 - The United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world (35 percent).  In Ireland, the corporate tax rate is only 12.5 percent.  This is causing thousands of corporations to move operations out of the United States and into other countries.

18 - Some tax havens are doing a booming business in setting up sham headquarters for U.S. corporations.  For example, the city of Zug, Switzerland only has a population of 26,000 people but it is the headquarters for 30,000 companies.

19 - In 1950, corporate taxes accounted for about 30 percent of all federal revenue.  In 2012, corporate taxes will account for less than 7 percent of all federal revenue.

The wealthy have become absolute masters at avoiding taxes, and the poor are not able to pay much.

So who always gets squeezed?

The middle class does.

No matter what our politicians promise us, the hammer is always brought down on the middle class.


And now, according to The Huffington Post, the IRS says that it can even read our old emails without a warrant to make sure that we are paying all of the taxes that we should be...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/irs-email-warrant_n_3055988.html

The IRS apparently interprets that authority very broadly, the documents show: as long as you've stored your email in a cloud service like Google Mail, and as long as those emails haven't been deleted after a few months, the agency thinks it doesn't need a warrant to read them.

The idea of IRS agents poking through your email account might sound at the very least creepy, and maybe unconstitutional. But the IRS does have a legal leg to stand on: the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 allows government agencies to in many cases obtain emails older than 180 days without a warrant.

That's why an internal 2009 IRS document claimed that "the government may obtain the contents of electronic communication that has been in storage for more than 180 days" without a warrant.


It should be noted that the IRS is claiming that it does not use emails "to target" specific taxpayers, but notice that they are not promising not to use old emails against taxpayers once they are officially being audited or investigated...

"Contrary to some suggestions, the IRS does not use emails to target taxpayers. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong."


In any event, the truth is that we have one of the most complicated and one of the most intrusive tax systems in the history of the world.

Don't the American people deserve better?

What do you think?

Should America go back to a system where there is no income tax and no Federal Reserve?  I think so!

....Warph

[Warph]

Let's talk "ObumaCare."

One of the many reasons conservatives dislike government overreach is because government is so often wrong about so much...
Right?  And what's worse, regardless of the magnitude of the government's failures, "We the People" are stuck with the consequences of those policies... in most cases, FOREVER.

This is not a new phenomenon. Hell, this has been going on for decades.  Upon its establishment in 1965 the House Ways and Means Committee estimated that the cost of Medicare would rise to $12 billion by 1990.  Unfortunately for American taxpayers that prediction was off by a power of nine, coming in at $110 billion.  And things haven't gotten any better since then.  By 2011 Medicare costs ballooned to over $550 billion, having grown by 8.3% in a year when inflation was 3.2%.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703746604574461610985243066.html

But of course Medicare is but one example.  Medicaid had a similar experience.  The same House committee estimated that Medicaid's first-year costs would be $238 million.  Instead it came in more like $1 billion... a tad more than they thought... (typical government way of screwing the taxpayer).  It was projected to cost $9 billion by 1990 and, surprise, it came in at $67 billion.  By 2011 the federal share of the program tipped the scales at $299 billion!  That old song, "South of the Border, Down Mexico Way," comes to mind.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703746604574461610985243066.html

Tellingly, before government set its claws into healthcare it tracked very close to overall inflation. Since 1965 however, healthcare costs have increased by 2.3 times the rate of general inflation. To put that in perspective, inflation would have made something that cost $100 dollars in 1965 cost $718 dollars in 2012. That's a pretty big jump, but if that $100 dollar item had increased at the rate of healthcare inflation since government got involved it would cost 2.3 times as much, or $1,651. At the same time, healthcare costs went from 5.1% of GDP in 1960 to approximately 18% today.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703746604574461610985243066.html

This record of financial incompetence (nevermind operational incompetence and malfeasance... that will ALWAYS be around) could never survive for five decades in the private sector.  But in government, no problem, and it's not just healthcare.  Hell, think of Solyndra... of General Motors.... ethanol mandates...  school lunches.  The fact of the matter is, bureaucrats sitting on there fat ass in the otherworldly universe of Washington have a long history of making decisions about which they are totally and  unequivocally unqualified and ill-informed, and more importantly, sooooo disconnected from the consequences of those decisions.

Millions of jobs will be lost, one small company at a time...  people will have a difficult time finding a full time job....  Healthcare premiums will be going up....  there will be a doctor shortage.... big-time doctor shotage...  Obamacare will become a regulatory anvil around the neck of American prosperity.  Luckily though the Obama administration is on the job seeking to ensure that it doesn't become a "third world experience."  Which, it's looking like it just might become.  And to put a cherry on top, with our practically no existent GDP growth, apparently we can look forward to China overtaking the United States by 2016.  What can I say... it's happening.

As bad as those things are, it actually gets worse. Sorry.  Your individual liberty is simply going to disappear.  Many employees are now going to have to begin reveling to employers their weight, body fat measures, cholesterol levels and more.  Pharmacy giant CVS states that all its employees will now have to either quit smoking or enroll in an addiction program by 2014.  That is of course because smokers generally have higher healthcare costs than do nonsmokers, and since CVS is paying for that healthcare, they get to make the rules.  Don't like it?  Then quit.

But then it's not only smokers who cost more.  Fat people generally cost more than thin people.  Does that mean that a company can dictate that employees must be Oreo or Doritos or Coke free by the end of the year or enroll in an addiction program?  How about motorcycle riders?  They are 5 times more likely to be involved in a traffic accident than are car drivers.  Does that mean that companies can tell you what you what kind of vehicle you can drive?  How about unmarried women having sex out of wedlock, particularly minority women, where 77% of black births and 53% of Hispanic births are to unwed mothers?  Given that sick children inflict an increased financial & healthcare burden on unwed mothers than they do on married mothers, can a company demand that unmarried female employees purchase and utilize birth control?  (If so, how would they ensure compliance with usage?)  Sure, all of this sounds farfetched, but so too once did the idea of schools telling moms what they can put in their children's lunchboxes, cities banning Happy Meals and soft drinks and companies actually firing employees for being smokers.

At the end of the day, Obamacare may very well be the last stake in the coffin of individual liberty and American prosperity.  Think of it this way... through the tax code the government already exercises a tremendous amount of influence on your life by deciding how much of your money you can keep... right?  It's pretty personal, but it's largely financial, even if it impacts much of the rest of your life.  Through the EPA the government influences your life, although thankfully for most of us it's at an arm's length, via regulation of the companies one works for and the firms we buy from.  With Obamacare that scant remaining barrier between government and individual choice will disappear.  Government is indirectly harnessing employers to expand its power over every aspect of your life, including the most intimate parts of it.  And you can be sure it will stay indirect for only so long.  Once government mandates can decide what you can eat, how much you have to exercise, the kind of transportation you choose and how you have sex... what is left of liberty?  Not much.... Add to that the evisceration of the greatest economic engine the world has ever known and you wonder how long before it all comes crumbling down.  Now where does one go to get insurance to protect against that?  But... what the hell.  I'll probably be wearing diapers and forgeting to zip my fly in another couple of years from now, anyway.


....Warph