Maybe I’m just old fashioned, or maybe I’m a bit stiff-necked, but I will never relent in my opposition to tax increases so long as the crowd in Washington is spending money on things that are not appropriate functions of the federal government.
But that’s just one obstacle that has to be overcome. I will also be dogmatic in my fight against higher taxes so long as there is massive waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs.
And sometimes, to really get me upset, we have massive waste, fraud, and abuse for programs that are not legitimate functions of the federal government.
Here’s an excerpt from a story in Time magazine, but don’t read it if you have high blood pressure.
The Social Security Administration made $6.5 billion in overpayments to people not entitled to receive them in 2009, including $4 billion under a supplemental income program for the very poor, a government investigator said Tuesday. In all, about 10 percent of the payments made under the agency’s Supplemental Security Income program were improper, said Patrick P. O’Carroll Jr., the Social Security inspector general. …Throughout the federal government, improper payments totaled $125 billion last year, up from $110 billion in 2009, O’Carroll said. In 2009, only two other agencies — the Departments of Health and Human Services, and Labor — had more improper payments than Social Security, he said.
[…] governments have a terrible tendency to waste money, I’m a big fan of tax […]
[…] that it’s never a good idea to give politicians more money when they’ve repeatedly shown that they squander the revenues they already have. P.S. Here are my posts about “great moments in local […]
[…] never a good idea to give politicians more money when they’ve repeatedly shown that they squander the revenues they already […]
The next time I read a weblog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I do know it was my choice to learn, but I truly thought youd have one thing fascinating to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could possibly fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.
[…] to have a hangover (this cartoon is a perfect illustration), it’s because politicians had a huge party with our money in […]
[…] Washington is a cesspool of waste, fraud, and abuse. […]
[…] Washington is a cesspool of waste, fraud, and abuse. […]
[…] being said, keep the above list in mind the next time some politicians says that we need more taxes to finance ever-bigger […]
[…] being said, keep the above list in mind the next time some politicians says that we need more taxes to finance ever-bigger […]
[…] routinely cite horrifying cases of government waste and bureaucratic stupidity and it galls me to think that American families might have to sacrifice more of their income to the gaping maw of […]
[…] routinely cite horrifying cases of government waste and bureaucratic stupidity and it galls me to think that American families might have to sacrifice more of their income to the gaping maw of […]
[…] what upsets me at a visceral level is the notion of sending more money to DC when there’s so much waste, fraud, and […]
[…] what upsets me at a visceral level is the notion of sending more money to DC when there’s so much waste, fraud, and […]
[…] so often, I get asked why I’m so rigidly opposed to tax hikes in general and so vociferously against the imposition of new taxes in […]
[…] so often, I get asked why I’m so rigidly opposed to tax hikes in general and so vociferously against the imposition of new taxes in […]
[…] it underscores what I wrote back in […]
[…] is yet another reason why there shouldn’t be any discussion of tax increases. Any government that has $400,000 to spend on a cigarette vest obviously has far too much money on […]
The writer makes no mention of the pharmaceutical corporations, which are maiming and killing children through the utilization of contraindicated vaccines. Many children, who are developing severe forms of autoimmune disease, are become severely and chronically ill in ever increasing numbers. Many educated middle to upper middle class families are being financially ruined by these non-hereditary autoimmune diseases caused by the live-virus measles vaccine and the cocktail vaccines. Who is supposed to support and provide medical care for these children through their lifetime? Americans like to complain and tend to be passive aggressive. If you don’t want to support these maimed adult children, then stop the pharmaceutical corporations along with their elected and appointed government officials from maiming and killing more children. Ever wonder why there’s so much lupus, MS, Schleroderma, and Crohn’s Disease suddenly appearing in millions upon millions of our citizens? It’s easy to complain; it’s a different story, when someone asks you to actually do something about it. Attend meetings of the support groups and get directly involved instead of complaining — and acting in a passive aggressive manner, which may in fact kill one or more of your neighbor’s children. Every society pays taxes; it’s how those taxes are utilized.
Any indiscretions connected to the SSA are bupkis compared to the tax credits (checks in the tens-of-millions to tens-of-billions of dollars from the IRS) to multi-million-dollar and multi-billion-dollar corporations. That is, the middle-class taxpayers are artificially propping up wealthy corporations like the Koch Industries, the Bank of America, and other extremely wealthy entities. These tax credits also extend to small business owners, who open and close incorporated entities to obtain these tax credits to purchase a new luxury vehicle like the latest BMW crossover SUV. Ever wonder why one of your locals has gone from rags to riches by selling crab cakes? Ever wonder how a bum without a college degree goes from being under water to purchasing a home for over $5 million within a year’s time? It’s called writing phony business plans, gaining small business loans, obtaining IRS tax credits, and utilizing the system of creating phony incorporated entities to achieve one’s wealth via malfeasance. Don’t pick on the SSA; the SSA is doing what it can on its meager budget. Without a proper budget, the SSA froze employment in 2001. The SSA has very little funds for oversight and accountability. Who should we blame? It is the job of beneficiaries, their friends, and family to report any type of fraud and misconduct. Yes, the employees are far from perfect people, so report the misconduct (esp. since the SSA lacks the funding to hire new, more adept, prudent employees).
Whenever a politician asks for more taxes, there are at least 3 unspoken premises baked into the cake, First, that government is underfunded. Second, that they are already spending every dollar well. And, third, that it’s the taxpayers fault, ie, that the taxpayer is not paying enough. All three premises are patently absurd on their face, especially the third. Every single politician literally spent months and tens of thousands (or millions) of dollars literally begging the citizens to elect them because they were smart enough to make the tough decisions. For them to get into office and announce that government is underfunded, we are already spending each dollar wisely, so we must raise taxes is an insult to everyone’s intelligence and a failure of leadership and to accept the responsibility they sought. Roger Austin, Gainesville, Florida
[…] I’ll re-ask the question I posed last year: Why should we ever agree to more taxes when politicians and bureaucrats do such a rotten job with […]
[…] stories like this every time ones of these reprehensible politicians claim that spending has been cut to the bone and taxes have to be raised. Rate this: Share […]
[…] to have a hangover (this cartoon is a perfect illustration), it’s because politicians had a huge party with our money in […]
[…] have a corrupt and dysfunctional political class in America, and the last thing we should do is encourage their venal actions by giving them more money to waste. GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); […]
[…] I’ve made the same argument, so it’s no surprise that I like this […]
[…] to have a hangover (this cartoon is a perfect illustration), it’s because politicians had a huge party with our money in […]
[…] to have a hangover (this cartoon is a perfect illustration), it’s because politicians had a huge party with our money in […]
[…] to have a hangover (this cartoon is a perfect illustration), it’s because politicians had a huge party with our money in […]
[…] These stories aren’t even the tip of the iceberg. They are a few tiny crystals in one snowflake sitting on the top of the tip of the iceberg. The politicians want more revenue so they can maintain this corrupt scam. […]
Why on Earth Should We Consider Tax Increases When Politicians and Bureaucrats Allow Multi-Billion Dollar Losses of Taxpayer Money Because of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse?
Simple answer,
Because most taxes are paid by people who are a minority. So when we go to the polls we vote to take money from the most productive minority. We make sure that the group of people that pays the taxes is small enough to remain a minority, so that we can always outvote them come election time. Now with this money that we from the minority we get to buy:
a) The time, energy and oratory services of politicians who will, of course, serve us by going to great lengths to make us feel good about the redistribution what we are engaging in and thus by morally justifying it in various ways.
b) We get Government goodies, which, though inefficient, are still goodies nonetheless – for which we don’t have to work.
But see things have been getting out of hand lately. The beast we created seems to now finally have grown too big, so we are now at a tipping point. The inefficient spending, waste and abuse has gotten to a level that it just cannot all be be simply financed exclusively by the above minority of most productive people – lest they start going Laffer in significant numbers.
Already, the fact that productive people, subject to all the burdens we have already put on them, have started turning a bit towards indolence has already started a vicious cycle of sub-par economic growth. The more we decline, the more we redistribute at the polls, the more productive people go Laffer, Galt, whatever you want to call it – they are deciding to take it a little easier in any case.
So now our politicians are desperate. They realize that in order to keep this level of spending – which spending is ultimately their source of importance and power as redistributors and central planners – the tax net would have to be cast much wider into the middle and lower class, thus making the above minority of taxed people into a majority. Therefore, our politicians are naturally and desperately gravitating towards revenue collection methods that will hide the new taxes (VAT, indirect taxes on employment etc.) so that they do not have to deal with a majority which finally realizes that, in the end, the inefficient government goodies will have to be financed by the middle class itself, except now with the state acting as the inefficient pimp intermediary. In their efforts they are borrowing heavily from European rhetoric where this movie has already been played many times and the machine of tax concealment, acquiescence to heavy direct taxation, subordination to the lowest common denominator – and decline – is all well oiled.
Except that this is now even worse than the 70’s where the situation was reversible. Now the permanent decline is imminent.
These days, three billion people in the developing world, after decades, if not centuries, of heavy oppression and stagnation are now finally taking advantage of their newly acquired economic freedom. They are a tremendous ascending economic power and have neither the time nor the desire to wait for a mere 0.3 billion Americans to complete their experiment with socialism.
Americans have only two choices: Either
…reestablish all the core American incentives of individualism, self reliance, independence and, of course, resultant productivity which brought America its current prosperity in the first place, and resume growing at a rate comparable to the world average (4-5%) or
…just fade away into economic marginalization being just an average 0.3 billion in a humming world of 6 billion.
The sheer intimidation and despondence the first proposal triggers in most people, tells me that it is too late for America. Her fate of decline has been cast. 2008 was the last fork on the road to serfdom and Americans took it – in spades. A Tea Party garnering 20% voter support represents little more than the expected screams of a society headed for economic marginalization and decline.
not only NO! but NO MORE TAX INCREASES OR BORROWING before our elected officials get better control!