The economy as I see it.

Whether you consider yourself a liberal, a conservative or any other label you decide to use for yourself, I’m sure you are all aware of the fiscal mess our country is in right now. It’s seems to me we’re going the way of Marx quite rapidly. We seem to be punishing the wealthy and the achievers of this country and rewarding the sick, lame and lazy. I’m sure based on that statement many of you will automatically label me as a conservative or a right-winger and although I’d tell you otherwise, that’s your right to think this. I came to this conclusion based off of my own research, not from reading some talking points memo. And for the record I am not an accountant or a financial person by any stretch of the imagination so I'm sure there are problems with my thoughts but I doubt there as big or as many as what's going on right now.

Here are the facts as I know them:
1. The top 1% of wage earners in the U.S. pays just shy of 40% of the income taxes.
2. The top 10% pays just shy of 71% of the income taxes.
3. The bottom 50% pays 3% of the income taxes.
4. With approximately the lowest earning38% paying no taxes at all. (Just for the record: If you pay income tax and get it all back (or maybe more back than you paid) you do not pay taxes.)

Based on those facts alone I’d say the wealthy pay more than their fair share of the taxes. Another fact to keep in mind: Businesses do not pay taxes. I know you may think they do but if the government raises taxes on a business, small or large; they pass that cost on to the consumer. In addition to that most of them tack on a percentage of additional profit because they can. Consumers are the only ones that pay taxes. Period! If the government levies a tax on tobacco, sugar, gas, fat, rubber or what-have-you those companies raise their cost to cover the tax and the people who buy those products suffer the governments will. Not the corporation. This is free-market capitalism, which really is a good thing (I know, there’s that right-wing mentality again but hear me out and you’ll see why I think this way).

In New York City, San Francisco, L.A. and other large metropolitan areas people making over 250,000 dollars a year pay almost 60% +/- of their income in miscellaneous taxes, be it to the state, city, federal or county governments. I don’t care how much you make that seems rather Draconian to me. There is no reason for any person or group of people or business should surrender that much of their earned income to any government. This is a punishment and goes against a core value this country was founded on. If you work hard, you will be rewarded for your efforts. That ideal is why America has been so great. If you create something the people need you can charge what the people will tolerate for your item and you can become wealthy. That is what makes great thinkers, and great minds. Why would you poor your life’s blood into inventing/creating something if you know the government is going to prevent you from reaping your just rewards?

So many people point to Europe and the French as their model as to how well socialism works but when is the last time you saw any great leap in technology or medicine or any other industry come out of France or any other part of Europe? I know we’re in the same economic crisis as the EU right now but how we got there is what sets us apart. The people in charge of these companies did this to themselves, through greed and poor business practices, which if left alone would have fixed itself. The bad banks would have collapsed. The poorly run companies would have bankrupted. It’s how a free economy works. Would we have suffered for it? Of course we would have but we’re suffering it right now anyway. At least if we’d let it happen on its own we wouldn’t be footing the bill for the failed bailouts. In Europe they are in the same situation because their government put their countries there, still through greed and poor business practices but it will never be left alone to fix itself. Now our government has dug in and promised no one will be allowed to fail. In addition, the consumer is going to foot the bill. The danger we face here is this: Once you stop allowing the thinkers/inventors to be fiscally rewarded for their work there is no reason to share their ideas. Of course we won’t come to a standstill but progress will certainly slow to a crawl. However, once you actually start punishing the thinkers/inventors by taking what they’ve worked and strived for it will stop. Think about it this way: If I live in San Francisco and I make $250,000 a year to create whatever it is I create and between all of different applied taxes (meaning not taking into account sales, use and other taxes) I take home $100,000 while the owner of the used car lot making $249,000 takes home over $154,000. That $1,000 threshold is the difference between 60% and 40% paid in taxes. So why wouldn’t I take a lower paying job where I can take home more money, even if it means not creating the stuff society may need? This seems rather insane to me but this is really happening and the governments of California and New York can’t figure out why the wealthy are leaving their states and taking their businesses with them. So just for the record, California is not a good example to model the federal tax plan.

So, you’ve heard my complaint and no one should complain without a thought as how to fix it so here goes:
1. Abolish the income tax.
2. Don’t allow Ex-pats to own businesses.
3. Institute a federal sales tax.
4. Make in fiscally irresponsible to move a company out of the U.S.
5. Use our own oil and coal until we come up with something better.
6. Go nuclear.
7. Let the failing businesses/banks fail by allowing the market to decide what it will support.
8. Bring back the gold and silver standard.
9. Vote.
10. Trim the fat!
11. Deregulate.

Yes, abolish the income tax. There are too many loopholes and it’s too complicated to follow anyway. If you stop raping the wealthy, they won’t have to do things like move all of their wealth offshore. That would bring it back here and put it in our economy, not Switzerland’s. This ties directly into number 2. Don’t allow expatriates to own businesses in the U.S. It’s a dodge and we all know it so, if you’re too good to be an American than we’re too good to allow you to operate on our soil.

A federal sales tax: 10% across the board. Everyone pays his or her fair share this way. If you can afford $1,000,000 for a car, you pay $100,000 in tax. If you can only afford $10,000 for a car, you pay $1,000 in tax. This way, even those who earn illegally or under the table will pay tax. Now I know establishing a sales tax creates a black-market so we move everyone working for the IRS over to work in the organized crime units of the FBI to investigate the black-market now we haven’t even added to the unemployment.

Don’t tax the production of American goods but if a company thinks it’s beneficial to move their company offshore or to outsource jobs we should tariff their products to a point it’s not fiscally responsible to do so. This in-turn will reward companies that decide to stay here.

Stop being dependent on foreign commodities, the U.S. is one of the richest nations in the world when it comes to natural resources and we are more environmentally conscious than any other nation when it comes to harvesting those resources. That and it would put thousands of people back to work and more money into our economy.

Build nuclear power plants; if we can learn one thing from the French it’s nuclear power is safe and clean. Even when the melt down at 3-mile Island happened nothing was contaminated and there was no loss of life. The melt down in Chernobyl was because the Soviets cut corners and they lacked the technology to operate it safely or maybe it's because their government was running it (another reason to keep the government out of stuff). It’s safe and proven affordable. Quit being so scared.

Let the market decide what will and what won't make it. If GM makes big cars and no one wants, them let them fail. If the banks are poorly managed, break them up into small pieces so other banks can buy the debt they want and liquidate them. If a company makes a widget and sells it for less than another company than the other company needs to adapt or die. That is what makes America great. Not only can you succeed but also you can fail as well just let the market decide what's a fair price and who will be successful. It's not the governments place to decide these things. Why are we dumping money into things like the newspaper? It's a dying albatross and needs to go the way of the horse drawn buggy. The government didn't bailout the horse-shoers when Ford brought the car to the common man and we actually survived. Don't dump money into a failing media when it's being replaced by the internet. This is growth and economic Darwinism. Adapt or die.

Bring back the gold and silver certificates. The onset of our poor economy was Nixon eliminating the gold and silver standard. Now our money isn't worth the paper it's printed on. At least with the certificates we knew there was some value there. You can’t just print money and say the economy is fixed. That doesn’t work.

Be responsible with your vote. Everyone is complaining about the job our representatives are doing but we keep voting them in. Vote your conscience not your party line. It doesn’t matter if you're red, blue or purple. If the person in office isn't representing your views and ideals: VOTE THEM OUT! Just for the record if you didn't vote you have no right to complain. That's not up for discussion.

Our GDP is almost 13 trillion dollars and could be god-only-knows if we brought business back to America. I can't tell the future any better than any of you can but I bet that would go up exponentially if companies didn't feel they could do better elsewhere just based on the number of jobs created and the money poured into our economy. We can find a way out of this without the government jumping in the middle of it.

Trim the fat: These are program duplications I found with just a little research:
342 economic development programs;
130 programs serving the disabled;
130 programs serving at-risk youth;
90 early childhood development programs;
75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities;
72 federal programs dedicated to assuring safe water;
50 homeless assistance programs;
45 federal agencies conducting federal crimi­nal investigations;
40 separate employment and training pro­grams;
28 rural development programs;
27 teen pregnancy programs;
26 small, extraneous K–12 school grant pro­grams;
23 agencies providing aid to the former Soviet republics;
19 programs fighting substance abuse;
17 rural water and waste-water programs in eight agencies;
17 trade agencies monitoring
400 interna­tional trade agreements;
12 food safety agencies;
11 principal statistics agencies; and
4 overlapping land management agencies

Deregulate: Get the government out of business of any and all types. A free market can't work if the government won't allow it to be a free market. Insurance companies are over regulated. Gas prices and utility price minimums are set by the federal government. There is allowance for competition. That is not a free market. Bring back the dog-eat-dog.

But, what do I know? I'm no politician and since we keep putting these clowns in there they must know best. Right?