The latest stimulus bill that President Obama is pushing for is really just the biggest tax refund that the American people have ever received. Whatever you think about the individual items in the bill it all amounts to the same end result. The government will be giving back billions and billions of dollars to the American people. Not just to taxpayers unfortunately, but to everyone.
Think about it for a minute, or two. I know I have. At first I was completely opposed to any form of a stimulus bill. All I could see was wasteful government spending. More and more examples of the government dumping money at a problem with no real idea of what would happen. No real analysis of what the outcome would be. I mean really, how could they calculate something this complex? All of the numbers that come from the government accounting offices, management and budgeting, etc. are in estimated billions, with error factors that could satisfy the wildest dreams of the most spendthrift people. Nobody ever holds them accountable to the projections that they made. Nobody ever looks back at their predictions, (that will be the topic for another blog).
But now I am reconsidering the stimulus bill. Looking at it from another perspective. On one hand you can look at all of the government projects that are over budget, poorly managed and never completed. The other day I heard someone making a comparison between two projects. A private enterprise building project on on side of the street that went up on time an on budget. A government project on the other side that was mismanaged, never completed, filled with corruption, way over budget. They made this comparison with a critical tone, as if to say that the government project was bad and money was wasted. It sounded as if the money were burned in a furnace to hear them complain. I am quite sure that not one dollar was incinerated. It was all spent. Someone cashed every check. All the money went into the economy. I know that the money was mismanaged. Yes it was poorly dispersed, and the good that was supposed to be done with the finished product never has happened. But the money went into the economy.
This why I look at the current economic stimulus bill as a big tax refund. Lets face it everyone knows that the government has been taxing the American people, rich and poor, far too much for far too long. At this point in time I want the money back! I really don't much care how it comes back to the American people. I just want it back. Of course I know that they are just going to tax it out of us again, I am not that gullible.
Look at all the programs in the stimulus bill. Yes, they are mostly pet project for the voting districts that put the millionaires in the Senate and House. Or they are paybacks to the special interest groups that pushed for the "change we can believe in". Make no mistake this bill will pass in one form or another. The Democrats have enough votes to make it without the support of any Republicans. Why do the Dems care if the Republicans are on board? So they won't have to suffer the blame alone when it fails, of course.
See it's like I said. They are giving the biggest tax refund that the American people have ever had. They are just going to fill up the bomb bays of B52s and carpet bomb the country with money. As long as nobody burns the money it will get spent. Some on good things, some on bad. Hookers and churches and everything in between will get some of trickle down from Uncle Sugar. If that was the end of it maybe it would be good, but you know it can't stop there.
No, the next thing that will come from the Democratically controlled Congress and President will be the biggest tax increase ever seen. They have got to get the money back from somewhere, someone. Of course they will say that they are going to tax the rich, but everyone will pay. The Robin Hood complex that has possessed the current leadership of this country will ultimately turn them into the Sheriff of Nottingham and Guy of Gibsourne. Everyone is rich compared to someone else. The taxman will be as blind as the statue of Lady Justice. Armed with the laws and a tax code that will only get more extensive and invasive, the withholdings from our check with reveal the "real change we can believe in" It will be the coins in our pockets and the two cents our opinions are worth. You could spend some of your opinion change by letting your members of Congress know how you feel.
I am the foremost expert on my opinion, now you know why they should have asked me first.
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At a macro level, perhaps it works. Perhaps it works to a degree. That said, it represents a shift away from capitalism -- the foundation of our country's success -- and towards socialism.
ReplyDeleteAt a personal level, it's difficult to call it a refund when you have no control over how it's invested or consumed.
Fair enough analysis at the personal level. Don't get me wrong I am just putting a bit of a controversial spin on the topic. I was attempting to illustrate the notion that if they weren't over taxing us in the first place, and not going to over tax us as a result of the plan. We might not be in this mess to begin with.
ReplyDeleteHow much better off would we be if we had been entrusted with our money to use as we saw fit, not with them to do as they see fit?
Death of Capitalism? Certianly looks like it.