Brushfire of FreedomVoice of Adams
Guest Blog - Liberty Crossing
The economy is down to say the least and something must be done! Doom, to you, doom! Oh sorry, I flashed back to an Obama economic update. From Wall Street to Main Street, the government is bailing out people, businesses, industries, and banks. This should raise yellow and red flags to anyone with even a basic understanding of a budget. I know caution has crossed your mind at least once with all these billions of dollars being throwing here and there. It’s time to listen to that caution.
This money has to come from somewhere. Savings, budget surplus, increased tax revenues, and/or a printing press all would be possible solutions. Lets start with savings. We don’t have any. Budget surplus? Nope. How about increasing tax revenue? Raising taxes on taxpayers can do this, but is that sustainable? Does it make sense to tax a people who are already pegged in a hurting economy? Unemployment is on the rise; that means less people paying taxes so lets make up the difference by increasing taxes on those still employed. But wait, if we tax people that are still employed they will have less to spend, which means less tax revenue, which means we will have to raise taxes again to make up for . . . get the drift? Finally, there is the printing press. Do I have to explain this one?
Thankfully the good and gracious government is going to give 95% of Americans a tax cut! Sound familiar? That can only mean that the top 5%, the evil rich, are going to carry more of the burden. Oh, what a sigh of relief. I thought “I” was going to have to help pay more taxes to make up for all this spending. So the bottom 95% is paying fewer taxes, the government is spending more, and the top 5% is making up for both? I sure hope we have enough rich people to tax.
According to 2006 tax data, the top 5% line in income starts at about $150,000. That does not sound so rich to me, especially if you have a two-income household. The fact of the matter is we are all eventually going to have to chip in to foot the bill on this except, of course, those 43 million that don’t already pay taxes. The bottom third either pays zero taxes, or gets more taxes back than they paid in (look up Earned Income Credit). We might have to chip in sooner rather than later if the government keeps spending like it is or if the “rich” find more tax friendly countries to reside in. It’s not like we have been outsourcing tons of jobs or anything because of increased tax, restriction, or regulation from the government on business, right? Why would the “rich” be any different?
It is time to promote responsibility as a nation. Bailing out the failed or failing will only encourage more failure and discourage the successful from staying the course. Rather than propping up businesses and people, let them fall. The lesson learned will help not only those involved but also those watching from a distance or those in the coming generation. Just as a fire will remove the dead or dying to clear way for new growth, failure will clear space for others to step in try their hand at success.
From new businesses acquiring assets and talent from troubled companies winding down, to homebuyers investing in a foreclosed property, the space cleared by past failure leads to future prosperity.
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