Perspectives: December 2012

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December 2012

12/31/2012

The stranglehood of taxes

Continue reading "The stranglehood of taxes" »

Posted by WOTN Editor on 12/31/2012 at 04:39 AM in Politicians | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Ever heard about how you make more money up North? The problem is that it means big taxes, and less money for you. After taxes and costs, you get less and have less if you are the median wage earner in Massachusetts versus in Tennessee. Sure, you start out with $62,859 in Taxachusetts versus $41,693 in Tennessee, but you end up with the equivalent of $29,897 versus $37,417 in Tennessee.

Big government means big taxes and big taxes mean less money for those that actually produce things that pay the taxes. Some believe that making more money is worth having higher taxes, but the cumulative effect is that everything must cost more to pay the extra taxes. Chances are, that if you live in a high tax, "high income," state, you're living on less land, and paying a lot more for a smaller abode, with higher electric and gas bills.

There's a correlation between cost of living and taxes. The cost of living (COL) in Massachusetts is 138% of the cost in Tennessee. Tax burdens are 212% higher there. COL is 156% of TN in New York. The tax burden is 220%. COL is 152% of TN in California. The tax burden on workers is 200%.

I looked at 4 States: California, Massachusetts, Tennessee, & New York. The median income is $55.4, $62.6k, $41.7, and $57.3k a year respectively. They collect $3,157, $1,784.46, $3,350 & $3,477 in taxes per resident respectively. Unlike the other 3, the primary source of taxes in Tennesse is sales tax. There is no income tax. That means if you need to lower your tax bill in TN, all you have to do is spend less money. And with $14.1 Billion in tourism dollars spent in Tennessee annually, that lowers the taxes per resident down to $1577/resident.

Now, not every resident earns or spends income, so the actual cost to workers is different. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us that only 58.3% of the population is employed, as of August 2012. That brings the tax burden to $5,415, $5,746/worker in Massachusetts, $2,705/worker in Tennessee, & $5,964 in New York at the state level, in addition to property taxes, which is primarily a municipality/county tax. The average property tax is $1,369 in California, $5,207 in New York, $915 in Tennessee, and $2,613 in Massachusetts. This varies greatly in California, with many areas paying $6k/year in property taxes for 1500 square feet homes on postage stamps and others living in the desert. And yes, renters pay property taxes too. The landlord passes it on to you in the form of rent, because to do otherwise would mean he was losing money.

And then there's the mortgage/rental costs itself. Because everyone pays more taxes in three of those states, everything costs more, including real estate. The average home size varies in the 4 states, but 2500 square feet is not far off the average. In Tennessee the average 2500 square foot house costs $188.7k, where as in New York it costs $305.8k, in California $322.3k, and in Massachusetts $314.8k. On a 4% APR 30 year mortgage, that's $7,356 more per year in mortgage payments between a $315k home versus a $188.7k home, of the same size.

It's not just more expensive to buy a house in the high tax states, you also get less land. There's one person per 4 acres in Tennessee, one per 3 acres in California, where vast areas are uninhabitable, one per .65 in New York, and 1.3 per acre in Massachusetts.

And then there is the electricity to power your home. This too is more expensive in high tax states. The average house uses about 950 kilowatt hours/month. In Tennessee, that is $1022, in Massachusetts, $1743, in New York, $2124, and in California $1744 per year.

These aren't the only things that are more expensive because of the higher taxes, but these are some of the big items. The Cost of Living compared to the National Average is 88.9% in Tennessee, versus 135.1% in California, 125.2% in New York, and 123.3% in Massachusetts. That means it costs 138.7% more to live in Massachusetts, 140.8% more in New York, and 152% more in California, than it costs to live in Tennessee.

And just with the tax burdens and those few major expenses, homes and electricity, the take home income is less when the remainder is divided by the Cost of Living. If you have 2 dependents, your median income Federal tax is $8,537 in Massachusetts, $3,786 in Tennessee, $6,964 in New York, and $6489 in California. The remaining income is equivalent to $36,821 in Massachusetts, $41,676 in Tennessee, $29,263 in New York, and $29,240 in California.

But, how far does that money go? Sometimes, making less, with less government, means you have more to spend.

American States spend $592.3 Billion (State level only) on education alone, and yet our education ranks lower than many Nations in the world. More money doesn't mean a better education. Tennessee spends 29.75% of its budget on Education, or $1,457/resident, while California spends only 26.76%, but $2,029/resident on Education, but California has the worst ranked schools in the Nation. The tick on the back of Education spending is the Federal Department of Education, which has ZERO students, and yet sucks up $77.4 Billion in "Education" tax dollars.

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Census Bureau, Property taxes.us, Electric Choice.com

http://www.propertytaxes.us/a1statebystate.htm
http://www2.census.gov/

http://www.electricchoice.com/electricityprices-by-state.php
http://calcxml.com/calculators/federal-income-tax-calculator?skn=#calcoutput

Posted by WOTN Editor on 12/31/2012 at 04:39 AM in Politicians | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

12/23/2012

Liberty or Government Mandate: You can't have both

Liberty cannot survive where the majority can strip their neighbors of it. Liberty cannot exist where the individual is dependent on the government. Rights come with responsibilities for your own actions, and for their results.

We live now in a Nation where many parrot slogans paradoxical to themselves. The same people that proclaim a right to "choose" seek to deny the rights of others to choose whether or not to pay for the choice of strangers. The same organized syndicates that proclaim themselves the defender of the worker, violently oppose the right of a worker to be employed without their union. The same politicians that work behind the security blanket of armed guards claim it would send the wrong message to protect children in our schools with the same. The same partisans that blamed W for an attack barely 8 months after he took office was still blaming him for the economy 4 years after he left.

And the same groups that cast criminals as hapless victims of society, call for all society to be disarmed as a result of the crimes those criminals commit. An ancient notion of objects having good or evil inherent in their character has been revived in the party of "critical thinkers." "Critical thinking" itself is used in a manner anything but what the sum of its words mean. It is most often used to defend the blind acceptance of the thoughts others tell them to believe.

The calls for a safety net for everything from businesses too big to fail to able bodied men too lazy to work fail to realize safety nets already existed before the government monopoly began nationalizing the scene. It's called insurance and it has always worked best when it was regulated by the laws of supply and demand. And the more the government taxes the worker to pay the non-worker's grocery and prescription bills, the less incentive the worker has to work instead of take the handouts he's paying for. The problem is that as the percentage of working to to non-working Americans continues to shrink, the less there is available in taxes to pay the non-worker's bills.

The more the government taxes, the less money there is for workers, and the less competitive American factories are against the child laborers of Communist China. And when factories are no longer competitive in America, the corporations have to decide to either go bankrupt, or build factories where they can be competitive. That means fewer Americans have work.

The cost of American labor, through greater regulations, higher taxes, and excessive hidden costs are not the only reason it's now difficult to find anything "Made in America." The American consumer has bought into buying cheap products made in China, rather than paying a little more for quality products made here, by their neighbors. But, cost is a factor. It is now cheaper to ship American cowhides to the other side of the world, to Pakistan, to be tanned into leather and sewn into coats, than to ship it down the street for the same process.

When an American consumer chooses the cheap foreign product over a quality American product, he is contributing to the unemployment rate, he is contributing to his own difficulties in finding work. He can make an excuse that its the corporation's greed, but it was his decision to buy cheap instead of buying American. It is his responsibility that he made those foreign made products profitable, and the American made products unprofitable.

If you want the right to do on your property as you wish, then you must surrender your desire to tell others what they can do on theirs.

Only 4 countries in the world spend more money than the Federal government borrows to spend, and no government in the world collects more in taxes, or spends more than the US Federal government. In fact, only one government spends more money in total than the Federal Government spends on "Social Benefits" alone.

With every new piece of legislation, your liberty is eroded a little more. With every benefit you get from the government, a little more of your right to choose is taken. With every new tax, your income is eroded a little more, as is your chance to find employment. With every liberty you ask to be taken from someone else, a little more of your liberty is lost.

Posted by WOTN Editor on 12/23/2012 at 10:25 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

12/22/2012

Policing for Profit: Highway Robbery on a 'suspicion'

In the practice of special counter-drug patrols, cars and semi-trucks are pulled over on excuses of small infractions. The targets have out of state license plates. They are then "asked" if they will allow a search of their vehicle. (Just say NO!) The police are looking for cash. The cash is then seized on the suspicion that it is drug profits. The driver is pushed to deny ownership to make the legal proceedings simpler. The cash is then kept by the law enforcement agencies involved in seizing it. If the Citizen wants his money back, the prosecutor's office requires them to fight for it, with lawyers, sometimes for years, at considerable cost.

While it was Tennessee's journalists that uncovered it here, these shakedowns are not just happening here. News Channel 5, WSMV, Nashville has been investigating the illegal seizures of property for two years, since the Institute for Justice came out with their report. What they found was an abuse of power, greed, and corruption. It is clear from the words of those in power, those stealing from The People, that it is a breach of the Constitution. The people of Tennessee are outraged over it, even though the police are targeting guests of our great state.

The Institute of Justice points out that this practice is happening elsewhere. It includes Michigan, Texas, and Georgia in its reports as being worse than Tennessee, and more than half the Nation gets graded at least as bad. It found that in 2008, more than $1 Billion had been seized from individual Citizens and was being held by the Department of Justice's Assets Forfeiture Fund. Download Inst for Justice - Policing for Profit

NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather

I encourage you to watch the video series. The defense of the practice by prosecutors and police officers should enrage you. When a police officer says "he didn't prove it wasn't drug money," it demonstrates a practice of "guilty until proven innocent."

"It is illegal to have proceeds." [of criminal activity], District Attorney General Kim Helper. The "fact that no one ever claimed the money proves it was illegal."

"The doctrine of in rem forfeiture arose from Medieval ideas, rooted in the ancient law of “deodand.” Kings, for instance, could seize an instrument that caused the death of another in order to finance the deceased’s funeral mass. The idea arose from a superstitious belief that objects acted independently to cause death." Policing for Profit, Institute of Justice

NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather

There is nothing illegal about using and/or having cash. I understand that in today's world few people use cash, but short of gold and silver, paper currency is still the closest thing to real money.

Constitutionally, it is the burden of the prosecutor and police to prove guilt in a crime, not the accused to prove innocence. This fundamental premise must be upheld in law, in legislation, and in practice.

Constitutionally, you and your property cannot be searched without proof of cause. It cannot be seized without Warrant.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall NOT be violated.." 4th Amendment, Bill of Rights, US Constitution

".. nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." 5th Amendment, Bill of Rights, US Constitution

If you are pulled over and asked to forfeit your Rights, i.e., "Can we look in your vehicle?" Just say NO! It may be the practice, but it is un-Constitutional, for the government to presume you are guilty because you retain your rights.

What should happen now? The Governor and Legislature of Tennessee should act to remove the excuse for unlawful search and seizure. The Judges should clamp down on the practice and protect the Constitution they swore to uphold. And beginning with the DAG Kim Helper, and including every official uncovered in Channel 5's investigation, demonstrating the corrupt and un-Constitutional "justification" for these roadside shakedowns should be fired, and stripped of any chance of ever being in a position of authority again. Ms. Helper should be disbarred.

And Citizens of other States should press for their governments to do the same. I'm all for seizing the finances of criminal organizations, but that money is not guilty of anything. The owner of the money must be proven to have gained it through criminal activity, before it can be seized.

Posted by WOTN Editor on 12/22/2012 at 07:57 PM in MSM, Piracy, Politicians, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

12/17/2012

Lost Learning of History and Hubris of Modern Man

Archeologists today are regularly finding evidence of technologies of the ancient world that match or exceed those of today. Wonders remain that have not yet been explained by today's crop of scientists, archeologists, and historians. Legends of old are being proven to be less myth and more history, that civilizations of 2,000 and 4,000 years ago weren't as primitive as modern man often thinks, that battles of old did occur, along with the fact that Heroes that fought them did exist.

Many of these new discoveries of old lack the details to understand the mechanics. And often, things that can't be explained are chalked up as extra-terrestrial interference. Yet, we know that even modern technological results can be achieved by various means. Flight today can be achieved by propeller, rotary, blimps, or glider aircraft. Physics may allow for other means of flight as yet undiscovered, or even lost in history.

The motivations and machinations of modern man are not much changed from those of ancient man. Why did Egyptians and Mayans strive to build bigger and better pyramids? Why do modern Asians and Americans strive to produce ever taller buildings and longer bridges? To put their mark on the world around them. To be the -est; the biggest, the brightest, the tallest, even if only for a moment in time.

We know that science and education has been learned and lost. We know for example that the current cycle of learning produced indoor plumbing in the 16th and 18th Centuries, but that the Romans also had it in 1st Century, and the Minoans had hot and cold running water, as well as sewage systems in 1700 BC. We know therefore that simple plumbing has been learned and lost at least twice in Western Civilization alone. Where would we be today if the technology of the Romans had not been lost to the invasions of the Muslim Caliphate in the 7th Century, had we not been plunged into the Dark Ages by "mini-Ice Age" and invading marauders?

Today's science and knowledge is expanding and advancing at paces unknown in human history, in large part due to concentrations and sharing of the same, in places like libraries and universities. In times past, there were parallels, and others there were perpendiculars, where inventors more closely horded their knowledge, but no man can maintain the whole world's body of knowledge in his own brain.

Today, archeologists are finding evidence that ancient man moved or formed buildings of stones greater than modern man can move or make, that ancient man may have understood aerodynamics and flight to some extent, that he knew astronomy as well as 21st Century scientists. The Mayan calendar, for example, takes into account astronomical events that occur only once in 5000 years.

We even know that we already losing the ability to read from technologies that were new in the 1980's, such as the 5 1/4" floppy disks and VHS tapes. We don't know how soon the internet or USB ports will be lost to history, or that the CD will go the way of the 8 track tape. How would future archeologists and scientists interpret the discovery of a collection of CD's, particularly if electricity and CD players were to be lost technologies, and unrediscovered?

Instead of admitting the most likely possibility, that invading Armies destroyed the records of how the feats of ancient man were accomplished, as were the technologies of the Romans and Greeks, many look to the stars, to say that aliens helped, or ordered the construction.

That is not to say that life does not exist in other places of the universe. It most likely does, and while some of the religious world might call that blasphemy, the Bible and other texts don't claim that life exists only on this world. In fact Genesis refers to many things it does not say were created or done. It does not tell us how Cain's wife came to be for example. It elaborates only of generations of a single son, for the most part, through Noah, yet tells of many wives and cities of people. A lack of detail in the Bible does not imply that anything did not exist or did not occur. A lack of understanding of how something occurs in the modern world does not mean that there isn't an underlying law of physics.

And in the possibility of extraterrestrial life, both scientists and clerics can be blinded by what they know. Scientists look for oxygen breathing, water drinking, carbon based life forms, instead of considering that life elsewhere might breath carbon dioxide (or some other gas) and drink oil (or not at all). Some clerics look to their texts and see that it only mentions life on Earth, and hence must exclude other worlds. What we do not know we don't know can be as limiting as the things we know we can't yet explain.

Ancient Incan miniature sculptures in gold present us with what could be a model of an airplane. Ancient Greek texts tell us of a chariot that flew inside a building for the entertainment of visitors. Biblical and other texts of the Middle East speak of other means of flight. And let us not forget the "Flight of Icarius" and the drawings of Michelangelo, which predate modern flight by hundreds or thousands of years. Not only is it possible that ancient man figured out the principles of lift, it is also possible that he knew other means of defying gravity. It is not impossible that Egyptians studied the flight of birds and built their own versions of planes, or it could be they simply carved out a miniature sculpture of what they saw in flight.

And while Science at one time insisted on the "fact" that the Earth was flat and the Universe revolved around it, modern Scientists may be insisting, and likely are, that "facts" and theories today are just as wrong. Since the first child ask his father, "Why is the sky blue?" man has attempted to speak in absolutes of knowledge he may or may not have. And just as many of those fathers gave an absolute reason of utter nonsense, so too do some today tell tales of absolutes they do not know, some of which may even make sense. Too often humans do not wish to admit to those that believe them smart, that they don't have an answer.

Science is not sacrireligious, nor does modernly known laws of science preclude intervention of a Supreme Being; the existence of God. While we have Theories of how the Universe and Life on Earth was formed, even if someday they are proven, it does not mean that it wasn't the machinations of a Supreme Being. Confined to Earth, man and Scientists cannot prove that anything does not exist. While we have only recently learned to send probes to other rocks in the Solar System, as far as we currently know, we've only sent life to the moon.

We haven't even planted a seed on Mars, or figured out how to get a camera to the next Solar System in our lifetimes. And we have only theories of what is actually in the center of the Earth or below the Marianna Trench. We know that magnetism works, and have harnessed its energies in many ways, but we do not know necessarily how or why, or all of its uses.

In every theory of the Universe, something was always there, timeless. While timeless is a concept we cannot fathom, Scientists and Clerics alike admit there must be something immune from time, from the cycle of life and death. Proponents of the Big Bang Theory believe the Universe was once compressed and exploded, while Christians believe it was God that caused the creation of Heaven (space) and Earth. While atheists point to the laws of physics as precluding the notion that God exists, there is nothing to say that God didn't author those laws as Congress authors the tax code.

Even today, technologies are being lost as other technologies are being invented. When I grew up, my father and I often worked on the cars we owned, adjusting the timing, changing spark plugs & alternators, occasionally even attempting to rebuild carburetors and transmissions. He wasn't a mechanic nor am I. Then, paying someone else to change an air filter or the oil was unheard of, except for "the rich" who also paid others to clean their house and pool. Today, many couldn't even find the oil plug bolt on their car, and don't consider that they could change the oil in less time than it takes to drive to the shop to have someone else do it.

Today, people will wait hours on the side of the road, waiting for someone else to come and to take off 5 lug nuts, and change their flat tire, while others can change 4 tires in 14 seconds. Ask a modern carpenter to build a shed without electricity, and you'll get an interesting look of puzzlement, but only a hundred years ago, there was no other way. He knows it can be done, but he likely has no idea of how to turn trees into a house. It doesn't necessarily take a laser to create precise structures and a modern crane is not the only way to lift a multi-ton stone. Even in the last few hundred years, a single man of small stature was able to build a multi-ton structure, without cranes, by himself. The means by which he built the structures, in Florida, remain unknown and bewildering to modern engineers.

What we think we know can be as limiting as what we don't know we don't know. We know that diamond can cut just about anything, but it is not the only thing that can cut rock, and just because we don't know how the Mayans built such precisely cut stone structures high in the mountains doesn't mean there's not a better way to cut and move rock than we know today. And just because we no longer have that technology doesn't mean that only aliens could have done so. In the 11th Century, hot water wasn't available to a king in his castle, though it was 28 centuries earlier.

Just because light travels faster than anything I know, does not mean there isn't something faster. Just because it is accepted that diamond is the hardest substance on Earth, doesn't mean there isn't something harder, or more brilliant. Just because we haven't found a reason to disprove the Theories of the Big Bang, or Evolution, does not mean they are fact. Just because modern flight was invented by the Wright Brothers does not mean the Mayans had not figured out the same or better ways thousands of years ago.

Just because we don't understand how the Egyptians or the Mayans came to the knowledge they had, or the technology to build the things they did, does not mean they had extraterrestrial help. They could have easily discovered the same laws of physics and aerodynamics, as have modern scientists, just as the English invented modern plumbing, despite the Roman systems of plumbing being lost to Invasion of the Caliphate. It's possible and even likely that they knew other sciences and had other technologies that we haven't re-discovered. It's possible that those technologies are even simpler than today's, like the abacus to the calculator, like magnetism to aerodynamic flight.

Just because we cannot explain something, does not mean it's unexplainable.

Still, in a world where Scientists note that the Earth has gone through numerous cycles of worldwide tropical environments and Ice Ages, that they can only theorize about causes, it is surprising that they alternately predict a man-made Ice Age (1970's) and Global Warming (1990's) based on so little empirical data (100 to 200 years), while simultaneously ignoring their own research of a 1000 year warming since the last "mini-Ice Age."

There is nothing wrong with developing theories in attempt to explain and discover the Truth, or in the belief in Aliens, God, or Atheism, but there is something profoundly wrong with teaching that theory as Fact, as we should have learned from the history of Science in proclaiming the Earth as Flat. There are things which can be believed only by Faith, including many tenets of Science.

As we approach the Christmas Holidays, the most dogmatic of Atheists seem ever more intent in preaching a religion of no God, though they cannot disprove God, and simultaneously must confess that something (matter) has eternally existed. The human need to convert others to one's own belief propel them to attempt to convert others to "non-belief," while some hubristically believe that only supreme beings of other planets could have helped ancient man in his feats, while others believe themselves the supreme beings of the Universe. While Science proves ever vastness of the Universe or Multiverse, and ever more microscopic elements, few seem to consider that the Universe itself may be a part of a being greater than our own comprehension, as incomprehensible to us, as we would be to a living being on a photon.

Just as man is the world upon which microorganisms live, and can transport knowing or unknowingly across vast distances in its lifetimes, which would take the equivalent of billions of lightyears to us, for the species to move, so too might we be the microorganisms as yet undiscovered by beings so vast that a solar system is an atom.

There are some things we each believe to be true, but we cannot prove as fact. Every belief you hold is probably contradicted by the belief of someone else, who holds its truth to be just as indisputable. Hence, it is important that we be honest with ourselves in what is fact, and what is belief, what is proven, and what must be accepted on Faith.

Posted by WOTN Editor on 12/17/2012 at 12:48 AM in Education, History, Religion | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

12/12/2012

The "Fiscal Cliff," Taxation, and the Economy

As we race towards the "Financial Cliff," there is a lot of tough talk, and while the word "compromise" is thrown around a lot, there is little compromise in the talk. While "negotiation" is used, those discussing how to do it seem inept at the principals of negotiation.

Compromise does not mean that you get everything you want, or that you give the other side everything they want. It means that the result is equally uncomfortable and equally agreeable to both sides in the end. It means you have to give up something you want to get some you want.

Negotiations do not begin by giving away your cards before you start in hopes that the other side will give them back to you when you have nothing they value, later. If the House of Representatives gives up their negotiating points in December in hopes they'll be approved in July, they'll get nothing in July, in 2013, or in 2014.

If the POTUS were as strong in negotiations with foreign enemies, if he were as demanding in "diplomacy" with non-allies, as he is with the Representatives the American People elected to Congress, and the allies who have stood by us throughout the centuries, the Administration would not be calling this "the end of the American Century." Instead, his political appointees in the Defense Department are noticing that China will outspend us militarily in a few years, as the Administration continues to call for spending cuts on Defense. It notes that China, India, and others will become greater economic powers than the US, and rather than doing something to stop this, accepts it.

"Elections have consequences," is a true statement, but it isn't so easy to say why people pulled the lever for one or another person or party. The people re-elected pretty much everyone, including the House of Representatives, which Constitutionally controls the purse-strings, i.e. Budgets, Taxes, and Spending, as well as the "debt limit." There are many people who voted for the POTUS because his challenger was considered boring, just as there were people who voted for Boehner because he has demonstrated his "sensitive side."

While the Administration heralds its own stubborness in the drawdown of "all combat Troops" from Afghanistan by 2014, it looks at having 14,000 Troops in Afghanistan post 2014 "to prevent Al-Qaeda" from returning.

But, back to the precipice of the "Financial Cliff." The Administration has complained that it needs to spend more to get the economy rejuvenated. It complains that factories and office jobs are being outsourced overseas, while it encourages the companies (GE) that are doing it, and selling American corporations (Chrysler) it took over to Foreign companies (Italy's Fiat).

Nancy Pelosi has gone out front for the Administration to say that cutting (certain) spending does not "add revenue," while calling for adding taxes which she calls "revenue." This is the same politician that earmarked $7 Million dollars for 7 monkeys to live in a pagoda in California and whose personal wealth has grown exponentially since elected to tens of millions of dollars in single years.

If the government were a business, it would have filed for bankruptcy decades ago. It is NOT a business. It does not have customers. Its services are not superior to those businesses provide. It should not be discussing "revenue increases."

The government collects taxes, which are an additional cost to businesses and a diminishment of the wages that workers earn. It decreases what they can use to buy the things they need and want. Every dollar the government collects means that a dollar less that businesses have to expand their operations, to build new factories, and to hire new workers. Every dollar it collects means that workers have a dollar less to buy the products that those factories make, and to spend on the services they provide.

While those consumers may not be making the decisions in the way I prefer, or the way the Administration wants, it is the money the taxpayer earned, and his to spend. It is the money that drives the US Economy, and excessive taxation is sucking it dry. And in the end, the dollar the consumer spends does a lot more to rejuvenate the economy than does the dollar the politicians tax away. And the combined tax collections of State and Federal government exceed 75% per worker of per capita Gross Domestic Product.

While the Chinese annual tax burden per individual is $1,225.40, the Federal tax burden alone on Americans is $10,524.22, in addition to state taxes (average tax burden per individual including State and Federal is $15,851.19 per person or $35,407.71 per worker) which are equal or greater to that in states like New York and California. While GDP growth was 1.8% in 2011, 157th in the world, inflation was 3.1%, in large part due to "Quantitative Easing," or the magical means by which Bernanke has proclaimed more American Dollars to exist, diminishing the value of each dollar that did exist. Economists believe that only Quantitative Easing "One" has hit the inflation rate, while Bernanke is already considering QE4.

Currently, 15.5% of all US Gross Domestic Product is sucked out of the US economy in Federal taxes alone. Including Social Security and Medicare taxes, brings this brings Federal taxation to 22%. In 2011, 8.7% of Gross Domestic Product was borrowed by the Federal government annually in new Federal borrowing, decreasing the amount of money available for consumers and companies to borrow. As of 2011, the government owes 67.8% (up by 5% from the year before) of annual US production in debt. Including government debt "to itself" brings this to 100% of GDP. If Americans and Corporations donated all of their labor and profits, keeping NOTHING for themselves, not even a morsel of bread, it would take a full year to pay off the Federal debt. Of course, the American people would die without food and water nearly 12 months before that.

Only 37 countries (only 13 when we include intra-government debt) owe a greater percentage of their GDP in debt, including Libya, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Spain, Italy and Greece, but State government debt is not included in the US percentage. Source: CIA World Fact Book. China owes only 43.3% of its growing GDP and Russia owes only 8.3% of its own.

Government is a monopoly and exhibits all of the largesse and irresponsibility that monopolies do. Whereas a person normally has at least the ability to decide against buying from a monopolistic business, or to limit what it buys from a monopoly, taxpayers have no option to stop buying from the government. Employers are required to collect taxes on the wages workers earn, whether he likes it or not. Stores are required to collect sales tax on the goods consumers buy, whether the taxpayer likes it or not. Companies are required to charge more for the goods they produce, whether the individual sees it or not.

Monopolies are bullies, and the government monopoly is the biggest bully of all. Even the taxpayer that decides not to file a tax return pays taxes. Not even an illegal alien working off the books can get away from paying taxes, even as he escapes many such as income taxes and FICA.

Hence, the Founding Fathers created the smallest possible government that it could. They got it wrong the first time, and made it too small, so they went back to the drafting table and created the US Constitution. The beauty of the new form of government was that it created competitive government: sovereign State governments allied in foreign affairs, that competed on a level field for workers, employers, and votes. They re-created the concept of Citizenship, removing the then norm of subjects of monarchs, which had not been a reality since the early days of the Roman Empire, and the Greek city-states from which it had derived.

Today, the US Federal government is the biggest government, in the world, and growing faster than the economy it sucks off of can endure.

The Founding Fathers prominently stated that government derived its authority from the Citizens that created it, that while government would assuredly attempt to overstretch that power, the Citizenry had a God-given right to dismantle that government. They noted that while Citizens would endure the small abuses of government and politicians, the People had a responsibility to overcome that government that took the abuses beyond what they could endure. Excessive taxation was among the enumerated abuses that caused the Founding Fathers to risk their lives and fortunes to throw off the chains of an abusive monarch.

Countries having more than $1 Trillion in taxes and/or spending include (as of 2011, CIA World Fact Book):
China: Revenue $1.646 Trillion, Expenditures: $1.729 Trillion
France: Taxes $1.415 Trillion, Spending: $1.559 Trillion
Germany: Taxes $1.598 Trillion, Spending: $1.633 Trillion
Italy: Taxes $1.025 Trillion, Spending: $1.111 Trillion
Japan: Taxes $1.956 Trillion, Spendig: $2.514 Trillion
United Kingdom: $984.8 Billion, Spending: $1.183 Trillion
United States: $2.303 Trillion, Spending: $3.599 Trillion, plus $1 Trillion in taxes and $2.3 Trillion in "social benefits" spending, plus State & Municipality taxes & spending.

While some imply that US taxation has decreased, the fact is that it has increased, substantially. In 1996 $1.45 Trillion was collected, growing to $1.82 Trillion in 1999, and $2.67 Billion in 2008. These tax collections increased, despite the dot.com bubble, despite the recession of 2000, despite the 9/11 attacks, and despite other downturns, during tax rate cuts. The problem is that spending by the Federal government has outpaced increased tax collection.

Worldwide, governments collect $20.37 Trillion dollars in taxes, and spend $23.25 Trillion annually, as of 2011. The United States Federal government collects 11.3% of ALL taxes worldwide and spends 15.4% of all government money WORLDWIDE. This, despite the fact that we have only 4.5% of the world's population (2012). And when we include Medicare & Social Security taxes and expenditures, the US Federal government collects 16.2% of all taxes worldwide and spends 25.3% of worldwide government money every year. It adds 10% of all national debt to the accumulated worldwide government debt every year.

The combined State Governments collected an additional $1.67 Trillion in taxes, according to the US Census Bureau, which exceeds the tax collections of all other nations in the world, except Japan, in addition to Federal tax collections, and means that the United States collects more than twice the taxes of any other Nation in the world. States, had a combined debt of $1.13 Trillion, made up significantly by the top 5 debtor States: California ($149.7 Billion), New York ($134.9 Billion), Massachusetts ($74.3 Billion), Illinois ($64.8 Billion), and New Jersey ($64 Billion). These are also members of the highest taxed states.

This brings a combined Federal and State tax collection total to $4.97 Trillion dollars (after $593.7 Billion in "intergovernment revenue" was subtracted), or an average (before municipality taxes) to $15,851.19 per person and $35,407.71 per employed person (Sep 2011, Bureau of Labor Statistics). It means that there is very little left for the worker, after the taxes are collected, already. Not all of these taxes are readily visible. These include corporate taxes, FCC taxes, oil taxes, property taxes, license fees, as well as sales tax, employment tax, and gasoline tax.

The federal government paid $432 Billion in interest on that debt in 2012 versus $454 Billion in 2008, despite having 50% more debt in 2012 versus 2008. This is due to artificially low interest rates. And when interest rates return to "normal," the interest rates alone will soak up nearly all of the taxes the government collects on worker production.

The US Federal debt has reached critical mass and must be dealt with. Taxes are not the problem. Americans already pay more than 24.4% of all taxes collected world wide, with only 4.47% of its population. There is a reason why the US Economy is stalling, why the Administration has prounounced the death of the American Century. There is a reason why China, India, and others will overtake the US as the world's leading economy, but it is not because we aren't taxed enough, or that the government doesn't spend enough. As tax collections, government spending, and government debt have increased, the US Economy has slowed.

Sources of figures in this article include: The US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US Census Bureau, the CIA World Factbook, and the left wing "non-profit" Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Posted by WOTN Editor on 12/12/2012 at 11:49 PM in Current Affairs, Politicians | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

12/11/2012

A tale of two videographers

In 2012, two videos achieved notoriety. One demonstrated the atrocities of Islamists in Egypt against Christians and spotlighted the precedents of the "prophet's" behavior in child molestation, and murder of civilians, war crimes, tyranny, and terrorism, as written in their holy book. The other was of an Asian in a dance he "created" which mimics the actions of a cowboy riding a horse.

One of the artistic creators was invited to perform for President Obama. The other was jailed by agents of the President.

But these men have a history. One is a refugee of Islamist abuses in Egypt while the other called for the torture of those following the orders of a previous President, following the orders of the American People. These are the 2004 words of one of the artists:

“Kill those f–ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives.”
“Kill those f–ing Yankees who ordered them to torture.”
“Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers”
“Kill them all slowly and painfully.” Psy

One was accused of hate crimes and of inspiring violence around the world. The other was given photo-ops with the Royal, er, First Family. One has lived under threat to life and family and the other espoused that the families and children of others be tortured. One has been threatened with death and the other has called for the death of innocents. Both have American citizenship. Both have attained the attention of the Emperor, er President.

You know what, I don't give a dayum about an apology 8 years after the fact from the rapper. He has a 'right' to say what he does and I have a right to invite him to move to North Korea where his anti-American antics will get him celebrity status in a kingdom where subjects must express gratitude for every grain of rice they receive, from their Communist god-king.

But since the POTUS is so good and experienced with apologies, I do call on him to apologize for his actions, for his rewarding of and embracing a man who called for the rape, torture, and murder of Americans, and their children. He can't claim ignorance. It was well known who and what it was before he met with him. And he can't claim lack of authority. He has used the power of the office to uninvite others to functions he has attended, as well as having the symbols of Christianity covered in his presence.

It would be nice for him to apologize for his own misdeeds for a change, instead of for the successes of America, and for the hard road American Troops have taken to free the people of foreign lands of tyrants.

His apology doesn't mean I'll forget his actions, nor that I'll forgive him for embracing the one that called for torture and jailing the one that complained of oppression, but it is the right thing, for him to do.

I'm not alone in my disgust with the actions of the POTUS in this. Fellow Veterans reported the story first, over at This Ain't Hell.

Posted by WOTN Editor on 12/11/2012 at 08:40 PM in Politicians, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

12/10/2012

Citizenship & Constitution: Your Freedoms and My "Right" to Restrict it

How can the American people not see what their politicians are doing? How can they continue to elect politicians that are eroding their Freedoms? How can they fall for the same old tricks?

Americans today are more educated than they ever have been. Americans are an intelligent people. Historically, we are a hard-working and hardy people, that can overcome any enemy and any hardship. We have a tradition of seeing through the BS and making the right decision.

But, in today's world, many people are parroting the talking points of political parties without thought. Partisans are more concerned with which political party will be hurt more by sending us over "the financial cliff," than with how it will effect Americans. They are more concerned with pushing through partisan programmes than with the Constitutionality of those plans.

In one of the most classic of "a lie repeated often enough.." many Americans will often cite "a separation of church and state" as being a part of the Constitution, while that phrase is found no where in the Constitution, but rather is a part of the Communist Manifesto. And the courts and protestors continue to act on the misquote, while ignoring the actual words of the Constitution, of the 2nd Amendment that prohibit laws preventing "the free exercise thereof," of religion.

How can Americans not comprehend the importance of the US Constitution? Because their attention has been diverted to Hollywood. They have been entertained by the movies, by the antics of Hollywierdos, by starlets and harlots, to the point that Hollywood ran out of ideas and told Americans to entertain themselves with video games. Meanwhile, the mudslinging of political campaigns has become so repetitive and deceitful that its entertainment value is nil and its disgust value is maxed out. We've fallen prey to advertising slogans while failing to look below the surface of what the commercials claim the ruling class is doing.

"A wise Hebrew prophet once said 'No man liveth unto himself alone.' " Henry Noble Sherwood. Preface, Civics and Citizenship, Bobbs-Merrill: Indianpolis, 1934, a school textbook

Part IV of the textbook discusses government, including the US Constitution, its Amendments, as well as state and local governments. Chapter IX discusses "The Unfortunate Members" of Society, including the deaf or blind, the impoverished, and the mentally infirm, and civic responsibilities, through charity and community, at the local level, to help them. It goes on to define idiots, imbeciles, and morons. The point is that kids used to learn about the Constitution, as well as their responsibilities as a Citizen, in school. By law (PL 108-447, section 111, 2004), every educational institution that receives federal funding must teach the Constitution on the 17th of September, along with every Federal Agency, but both ignore the law.

The Civic duties of learning, knowing, and understanding the US Constitution have been removed from the educational system, replaced by political correctness, embedding the morals of the state, and preaching the tenets of environmentalism.

Politicians and parties will openly propagandize that "the Constitution is an outdated 200 year old document," while ignoring the Supreme Law of the Land. Their opposition will deny that it is "a living document," because the living concept of it, the Constitutional means of Amendment to it, is being ignored by those that are subverting it. And though the lie is oft repeated by party and partisan, rarely can any of the propagandists point to any clause that is outdated, or impertinent, because they don't know or don't care what it actually says. The Constitution is not a "living document" in that it can be overridden by politicians and legislative judges, but because it has the means built in to amend it, if the world changes around it.

It is only through ignorance of the importance and supremacy of the US Constitution, through ignorance of what is written in it, through ignorance of why the Founding Fathers wrote what they did, that voters allow partisan politics to ignore and erode the Rights and Freedoms of the People, from which all governing authority derives.

The Constitution is the law of how the US Government functions, and for what reason. It limits the scope of authority. The Bill of Rights further restricts that government, preserving the God-given Rights of Citizens in the face of that government. Those Rights are derived of "a higher power" than government, and hence not within the authority of government to remove, but they are guaranteed by the Constitution, specifically by the Amendments, known as the Bill of Rights.

The Supreme Court is set to rule soon on the "Constitutionality" of Constitutional Amendments to State Constitutions, in what is clearly a state government authority: definitions of marriage. There is only one possible Constitutional ruling: an amendment to a state Constitution is Constitutional unless the US Constitution spells it out as a federal authority, i.e. each state has jurisdiction over marital law. That is why it would take an amendment to the US Constitution in order for the Federal government to enter the legislative process of defining marriage. Neither Congress, nor the President, nor the Supreme Court, has any authority to create a law defining who can or can't "get married."

Congress does have the Constitutional authority, as an employer, to determine how and to whom it pays employee benefits, but not how the States define marriage. The Supreme Court does have authority to rule on whether or not those State Constitutional amendments are reflected legally in state laws, but not to overturn State Constitutions in regards to contract law, i.e. marital contract law, based on the US Constitution, because the US Constitution gives the federal government no authority on the matter.

The Federal Government does have the authority to levy an income tax, because of Constitutional Amendment, but it does not have the authority to tell a property owner to do or not do anything on his land, nor the authority to compel Individuals to purchase anything.

The supremacy of State Government in matters of domestic affairs is an implicit division of power within the US Constitution. This is as important for the subjects of Massachusetts and California, that want state run health insurance, as it is for the Citizens of Texas and Tennessee that don't. It means that both groups can get what they want, and the US Constitution bars the federal government and Congress and the President from legislating that Texans pay for Californian's health care, or preventing New Yorkers from voting in state run health care.

It means that businesses and people are free to "vote with their feet" and move from those states that strangle their financial success and upward mobility, to those states that fertilize it.

The benefits of small government are such that citizens are setting up private small government at the lowest levels. I'm referring to "Home Owner Associations," which are not unlike the roles of city governments, but as governed by mutual consent and more restrictive/invasive than municipal government. It is by mutual contract that the residents of an HOA has authority. By mutual contract, the property owner gives up rights of ownership of his own property, in order to control the activities of his neighbor.

And it is by mutual contract that the Citizens of the Individual States gives authority to the Federal government. But that mutual contract is the US Constitution, and it gives no authority to the Federal government, or its politicians to domestic governance. It gives no authority for treaties with the UN or Communist China to remove the authority of State Governments in domestic affairs, as the US Constitution retains all governance not given the federal government to the State Government, and it holds the US Constitution as supreme over all treaties.

But for every time that you insist or approve of a removal of the rights of your neighbor, you are also removing your own rights. And for everytime that you support the erosion of the US Constitution by your politicians, or fail to oppose it, you also support the erosion of your own Rights, as given by God, and guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. And while it may be things you think good being compelled on others in the moment, it may be things your ideological opponents consider good pushed on you later.

If your politicians compel me to buy health insurance I don't want today, my politicians may compel you to buy a modern firearm for defense of the Nation tomorrow. If your politicians insist that I maintain a proper exercise and diet routine today, my politicians have as much, if not more authority, to insist on you maintaining a proper marksmanship program at the firing range tomorrow. If there is a compulsion for me to get a vaccination to extend an umbrella of "protection" to those around me, then there is an equally valid argument that you maintain firearms, ammunition, and training to extend an umbrella of protection for your neighbors from criminals, terrorists, and foreign invasion.

It is your duty, as a Citizen, to know what the US Constitution says, and to understand why, to hold your politicians accountable, to defend my Rights, even when you don't like what I say, just as it is my duty to defend your Rights, even when I don't like what you're saying. It is your Responsibility to do so, before you exercise your right to vote, so that you can vote without ignorance.