XPost: alt.fan.states.kentucky, alt.animals.dog, alt.government.abuse   
   XPost: alt.forsale.grandjunction   
   From: mistake@barackobama.com   
      
   Recent news-making events demonstrate that the rot infesting the   
   cesspool that is Washington, D.C., can no longer be contained.   
   The rot is noxious, pervasive, knows no political party and   
   infests all it touches.   
      
   The recent events include the scandalous excesses of the General   
   Services Administration junkets — on which even the bureaucrats’   
   spouses traveled, partied, wined and dined on the taxpayers’   
   dimes — and the Secret Service’s drunken whoring with Colombian   
   prostitutes.   
      
   These events contain a common thread: Federal government   
   employees who understand that in the United States, money does   
   indeed grow on trees (or at least in Federal Reserve computers).   
   They view the American taxpayer as a bottomless pit. They have   
   come to think of themselves as a privileged class and believe   
   rules of decorum and normal conduct do not apply to them.   
      
   This is not a new thing; it has been occurring — at the GSA at   
   least — for about 40 years. As lawmakers grilled GSA officials   
   last week, they learned that GSA employees have repeatedly taken   
   financial kickbacks, engaged in insider dealing and suffered   
   from general incompetence. It’s a pattern that dates back to the   
   1970s.   
      
   It’s also increasingly apparent that the rot is not confined to   
   the Federal government. More than 100 workers in the city   
   government of Washington, D.C., received jobless benefits   
   totaling at least $800,000 while still working for the city.   
   Ninety-two workers implicated in the scheme were suspended (61   
   of those were subsequently fired), and 40 more workers who left   
   the city’s employment before the scandal broke have been   
   identified. Another 100 workers are being investigated.   
      
   Federal bureaucrats and elected elites owe $1 billion in back   
   taxes for 2010. Some of them are people who set or enforce tax   
   policy on the rest of us.   
      
   Remember that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner did not pay taxes   
   for the years 2001-2004 until the issue came up as he was being   
   vetted for Senate confirmation. Obviously, Senators did not care.   
      
   Nor did Congress care that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-   
   Calif.) flew home and back on weekends at a cost of $120,000 per   
   trip. That’s almost four times as much as Defense Secretary Leon   
   Panetta spends to go home to Carmel Valley nearly every weekend.   
   They are not the only ones who have done this or are doing it.   
   At least Panetta says he regrets the cost (not that he’s   
   stopping the practice).   
      
   Neither the criminal political class in Congress   
   (criminalongress?) nor President Barack Obama, the   
   Redistributionist-In-Chief (RIC), speak of making any meaningful   
   cuts in government spending. Under Obama’s recently introduced   
   budget, Federal spending would increase by 55 percent from 2012   
   to 2021, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Under   
   Congressman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget, Federal spending will   
   increase 34 percent.   
      
   In other words, when members of the political class speak of   
   “cuts” what they’re talking about is reducing the amount of year-   
   to-year increases. They never cut anything.   
      
   Yet bearing down on America like a Category 5 hurricane is   
   taxmagedon. It will make landfall on Dec. 31 unless a lame duck   
   Congress and President (whether Obama is re-elected or defeated   
   will not matter) can reach some kind of agreement.   
      
   What is taxmagedon? It’s a combination of expiring George W.   
   Bush-era tax cuts and the implementation of new Obamacare taxes.   
   The marriage penalty for joint filers will return, the child   
   credit will drop in half and the rate everyone pays on the first   
   $8,700 of wages jumps from 10 percent to 15 percent. The Social   
   Security payroll tax will go from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent.   
   Obamacare-mandated Medicare taxes will also rise.   
      
   There is little comfort to be found in the knowledge that the   
   criminalongress and RIC will tackle the tax issue in a lame duck   
   session following the November election. They will be unfettered   
   by political considerations: Obama because regardless of   
   November’s outcome he will never again be seeking election, and   
   members of criminalongress because elections will be more than   
   two years away for those who won. They will count on voters’   
   short memories.   
      
   Those who lost will be attempting to win favor with the   
   corporatocracy: those large fascist corporations that snatch up   
   former lawmakers and pay them exorbitant salaries to lobby their   
   former peers for special favors, tax breaks and government   
   contracts.   
      
   Meanwhile, criminalongress will engage in political theater   
   sleight of hand in an attempt to distract you from their own   
   corruption. Criminalongress engages in insider trading, earmarks   
   bills to benefit favored constituencies, takes kickbacks in the   
   form of campaign contributions from companies it supposedly   
   oversees and regulates, cedes its authority to faceless and   
   unelected bureaucrats at dozens of unConstitutional alphabet   
   soup agencies, and dishonors the oath to “support and defend”   
   the Constitution by allowing the Imperial President to wage   
   unConstitutional war and set spending policy without   
   Congressional approval.   
      
   Obama’s Assault On Seniors And Investors   
      
   The 2013 budget Obama presented in February contains a proposal   
   to triple the dividend tax rate.   
      
   The current tax rate for dividend payments is 15 percent, which   
   makes sense because corporations pay a tax on their profits   
   before the money can be used to pay dividends to shareholders.   
   Under Obama’s proposal, the rate individuals pay on dividends   
   would increase to 44.8 percent in 2013.   
      
   Taxing dividends again at the personal level is double taxation.   
   According to The Wall Street Journal, almost three of four   
   dividend payments go to those over the age of 55, and more than   
   half go to those over age 65.   
      
   The U.S. tax rate on corporations is already 35 percent — the   
   highest in the world (although many U.S. multinational   
   corporations are able to avoid paying any U.S. taxes). The 35   
   percent corporate rate combined with the 44.8 percent dividend   
   tax would bring the effective tax rate on corporate earnings to   
   64.1 percent.   
      
   Already, seniors are seeing their savings and investments eroded   
   by the inflationary policies of the Fed. There are more than 100   
   million shareholders in the United States because 51 percent of   
   adults own stock either directly or through mutual funds, and   
   tens of millions more own stock through their pension programs.   
      
   Obama’s assault on seniors and investors could well be a death   
   blow to the already staggering middle class.   
      
   Don’t be deceived by the coming rhetoric during the campaign or   
   in the ensuing discussions over tax policy. The Federal debt is   
   an illusion. There can be no debt when money can be printed to   
   infinity.   
      
   Income taxes do not pay for government. Tax policy is simply a   
   means of redistributing wealth from the people to the privileged   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)