How to “win” a debate: Lie. Repeatedly.

Mitt Romney and His Magical Mystery Tax Policy (via Red Green & Blue)

(I’ve recently been writing for a blog called Red, Green and Blue, part of Important Media Network…check it out!!)

Well, it was quite a debate.   We laughed, we cried…we winced…we wondered “Did Obama really let that BS stand?”… We heard some surprising news from Mitt Romney too.  It turns out that what he’s been saying all along about his tax policy was incorrect!  Mitt Romney is going to cut everyone…

Tax Cuts for the Rich: Republican Argument Falls Apart

SHOCKING NEWS:  Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Only Help the Wealthy (via The Inspired Economist)

(I’ve recently started writing for a blog called The Inspired Economist, part of Important Media Network…check it out!!)

Yes, yes…another day, another incredibly well-executed, painstakingly researched, critically-praised study published that just flies in the face of everything Republicans blindly promote at the urge of their billionaire overlords believe in.

Ready for the big surprise?

Tax cuts for the rich don’t help the economy.   They make the rich richer and promote income inequality.

Read More…

Idaho: GOP Playground

While hiking in the foothills near Walnut Creek over the weekend, I passed a number of painfully gigantic mega-mansions with sweeping views of the Bay Area, and thought “Those poor people.  What they need is a tax break.”

Later, as I watched a man in aviator sunglasses idling his Ferrari (for 20 minutes) outside a sandwich shop while waiting for his wife, I wondered: “Why is that man’s tax burden so high?”

And when I hear a teacher complain about having to bring her own paper to school, and the mice that infest the offices, I think to myself “Why are we taxing the rich so much?”

Thankfully, the Idaho legislature agrees with me. 

The Gloves Come Off…FINALLY!

Could it be?

Is the long, dark cave-athon to the republican party over?

Its been tough, lo these last few years.  Universal Health Care?  No dice.  Tax cuts for the wealthy?  Maintained.  Stronger clean air standards?  On hold.  Debt ceiling crisis solution? 100% spending cuts.  Address to joint session of congress?  Rescheduled.

Yes, pretty painful to watch.  Compromise is great when the other side is willing to meet you halfway, but not when it means “we get everything WE want, and you get nothing.”  Where’s the 2008 Obama?  Where’s the backbone?  How about some Democratic ideals winning the day every now and then?  What, on earth, is your strategy, Mr. President?

Here it is:  math.

Warren Buffett (why aren’t more rich people like this?) once complained that his secretary paid a higher tax rate than he does.  (Buffett, whose net worth in 2007 was approximately $52 billion, paid just 17% on earnings of $46 million in 2006, his $60,000/year secretary?  30%.)  He called out his fellow richies at a recent fundraiser for Hilary Clinton:  “If you’re in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent.”  Wow…just imagine the 3rd wealthiest person in the world saying that to a room full of rich donors.

Obama has (FINALLY) seized the moment.  “Either we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share in taxes, or we’re going to have to ask seniors to pay more for Medicare,” Obama said on Monday. “We can’t afford to do both.”

Wow…

In addition to inisting…err, again…that the Bush-era tax cuts for upper-income earners be allowed to expire, he has proposed the “Buffett Rule“:  a minimum tax rate for millionaires and billionaires.  This “controversial” idea that the wealthy should pay at least the same tax rate as lower income earners isn’t going to fix everything, but  makes a powerful statement on priorities.

As expected, the republicans respond with cries of “Class Warfare” to any suggestion that the wealthy pay a little bit more of their fair share to help our country pay for what it needs.  They fail to see the irony that by creating a system that favors the welfare of the rich and large corporations at the expense of social safety nets (which they call “living within our means”), they are merely…well, there’s no point using logic here, right?  Elizabeth Warren, Democratic candidate for Senator in Massachusetts recently said “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own“.  Its time to give back.

Anyways, its exciting stuff…or it could be.   The public is on the President’s side: more than 2/3 of the country, including a majority of republicans (believe it), favor increasing taxes on incomes greater than $250,000.   If you throw in eliminating subsidies and tax breaks for oil companies (some of which goes straight to Exxon Mobil, the MOST PROFITABLE COMPANY IN THE WORLD), and closing the loophole allowing hedge fund managers to claim their income as capital gains (this would raise $4 billion a year…from just 25 people), pretty soon, you’re talking real money.

Stand strong, Mr. President.