Don't Cry For Me America

From Doug Ross @ Journal

In the early 20th century, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. While Great Britain's maritime power and its far-flung empire had propelled it to a dominant position among the world's industrialized nations, only the United States challenged Argentina for the position of the world's second-most powerful economy.


It was blessed with abundant agriculture, vast swaths of rich farmland laced with navigable rivers and an accessible port system. Its level of industrialization was higher than many European countries: railroads, automobiles and telephones were commonplace.


In 1916, a new president was elected. Hipólito Irigoyen had formed a party called The Radicals under the banner of "fundamental change" with an appeal to the middle class.


Among Irigoyen's changes: mandatory pension insurance, mandatory health insurance, and support for low-income housing construction to stimulate the economy. Put simply, the state assumed economic control of a vast swath of the country's operations and began assessing new payroll taxes to fund its efforts.

With an increasing flow of funds into these entitlement programs, the government's payouts soon became overly generous. Before long its outlays surpassed the value of the taxpayers' contributions. Put simply, it quickly became under-funded, much like the United States' Social Security and Medicare programs.


The death knell for the Argentine economy, however, came with the election of Juan Perón. Perón had a fascist and corporatist upbringing; he and his charismatic wife aimed their populist rhetoric at the nation's rich.


This targeted group "swiftly expanded to cover most of the propertied middle classes, who became an enemy to be defeated and humiliated."


Under Perón, the size of government bureaucracies exploded through massive programs of social spending and by encouraging the growth of labor unions.



High taxes and economic mismanagement took their inevitable toll even after Perón had been driven from office. But his populist rhetoric and "contempt for economic realities" lived on. Argentina's federal government continued to spend far beyond its means.


Hyperinflation exploded in 1989, the final stage of a process characterized by "industrial protectionism, redistribution of income based on increased wages, and growing state intervention in the economy..."


The Argentinian government's practice of printing money to pay off its public debts had crushed the economy. Inflation hit 3000%, reminiscent of the Weimar Republic. Food riots were rampant; stores were looted; the country descended into chaos.


And by 1994, Argentina's public pensions -- the equivalent of Social Security -- had imploded. The payroll tax had increased from 5% to 26%, but it wasn't enough. In addition, Argentina had implemented a value-added tax (VAT), new income taxes, a personal tax on wealth, and additional revenues based upon the sale of public enterprises. These crushed the private sector, further damaging the economy.


A government-controlled "privatization" effort to rescue seniors' pensions was attempted. But, by 2001, those funds had also been raided by the government, the monies replaced by Argentina's defaulted government bonds.


By 2002, "...government fiscal irresponsibility... induced a national economic crisis as severe as America's Great Depression."


* * *



In 1902 Argentina was one of the world's richest countries. Little more than a hundred years later, it is poverty-stricken, struggling to meet its debt obligations amidst a drought.


We've seen this movie before. The Democrats' populist plans can't possibly work, because government bankrupts everything it touches. History teaches us that ObamaCare and unfunded entitlement programs will be utter, complete disasters.

Today's Democrats are guilty of more than stupidity; they are enslaving future generations to poverty and misery. And they will be long gone when it all implodes. They will be as cold and dead as Juan Perón when the piper must ultimately be paid.

Create US Financial Crisis, Then Implement Socialism

Today it was reported Barak Obama stated that without "Government Health Care" the U.S. would go bankrupt. This year, the President and the Democrats have added more debt than Bush did in 8 years. It is now clear the strategy the President and the Democrats have in order to implement Socialism in America for the first time in American history. That strategy is to create a major financial crisis for the United States and then to "capitalize" on that crisis to implement Socialist policies as a "solution" to that crisis. As they have stated before, a crisis is an opportunity for "change".

It is up to the American People to put the word out to stop the railroading of the future of this Democracy before it is too late. Too late for us and too late for our future generations if there is to be hope for Democracy to survive. The American people MUST wake up!

Obama Dumping Illegal Alliens From Other States Into Texas - 28,000 Per year

The alliens are let out onto the middle of the Presidio Bridge by the US Federal government. They know that they could die in the Chihuahua desert. The Obama Federal Government knows that. They know these people will return into the U.S., which is exactly what the Democrats in government want.


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The Obama administration is in the process of dumping 28,000 people at the Presidio, Texas bridge and saying, either go into the Chiuahua Desert on the Mexican side, knowing they will have only one decision. To return into the US or die in that desert. The Presidio School Official notified the governors office that the US Government informed them that they must get ready for a huge influx of illegal allien children. The Democrats, in order to try to gain power and then to hold power, knew that they had to let people from other countries to come in and over ride the votes of American citizens, because the people from other countries could come in and expect treasonous politicians to literally hand over the hard earned wealth the American people built to these alliens through over taxation and resdistribution of wealth. These politicians who are now in power are working to implement the same strategy in a red state, Texas, that has proven so successful for them throughout the United States in recent years.

The Aggressive Socialization of America

Some point to the party. Others point to government officials. Many point to the media. But the real problem in my opinion is the people of America in general. They have enjoyed the great success of a Constitution, interpreted and applied as a way of life. The people have now become dependant on the institutions of the Constitution, but no longer understand the document or spirit of the document as the foundation of America's success.

Due to the success of recent Administrations such as that of Ronald Reagan, and those that followed, this generation grew up sheltered, protected, fed, and dependent on a good government. They then consider government to be all good, no longer believing that a federal Amercan government can possibly be bad. They no longer consider that the principles that the government in America has been governed by for so many years has anything to do with anything. The people feel now that the government can do no wrong, that it will always be there to benefit them, no matter who occupies the offices of the government. So the people become complacent, uneducated in world history, ignorant to what can happen to their lives when government is occupied by the wrong people. There in lies the opportunity for anyone to go in and openly promise a CHANGE. No questions asked, no serious scrutiny applied by this generation of people of America.

This generation of people clearly believe that any and all change will make things better. This generation has never known severe economic hardship, or cannot even believe it is a possibility. Those who wish to take over their lives and prosper from tyrannical control are openly given the keys to the doors of those offices in the name of CHANGE. And then comes the opening of Pandora’s box. Once there, these officials will change everything to insure that they will never have to give up those keys to power, through any means necessary. Even through changing the Constitution or abolishing it all together. They certainly will not abide by it for this Constitution is an anti-thesis to their survival. Then the lives of this generation becomes a life of suffering, and the generations that follow suffer as well. The people become the servants of the state. Protests result in nothing. Harsh sentences are handed out to dissidents. Open expression of opposing views are criminalized. A great, prosperous nation of people is gone forever. That is the path this nation is going down with this generation of the people of America at this very moment.

Texas Governor Rick Perry to Fight Socialist Health Care

Texas Governor Rick Perry suggested that he might invoke states' rights to reject any kind of mandate to be placed upon Texas.

The following is an article from the Ft Worth Star Telegram. Governor Rick Perry raises the possibility of a showdown with the White House over this issue:

Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be "disastrous" for Texas.

"I think you’ll hear states and governors standing up and saying 'no’ to this type of encroachment on the states with their healthcare," Perry said. "So my hope is that we never have to have that stand-up. But I’m certainly willing and ready for the fight if this administration continues to try to force their very expansive government philosophy down our collective throats."

This is indeed a watermark fight against establishing socialism in America.

Bogus Obama "We will help you with your Credit Card Companies"

Main Stream Media (aka "State Run Media") and the White House were recently trumpeting a meeting that Obama had with Credit Card companies, that he was going to reign in charges that the credit card companies were fostering upon credit card holders. What they did not report was how credit card companies were going to get around this. By raising the fees they charge the merchants for processing each card transaction.

Today in Dallas, TX I saw petitions at the check out counters of merchants asking the general public to sign those petitions that are to be sent to Washington DC asking for representatives to act stop the increases in the Merchant Fees. Good luck with that. Congressional representatives no longer represent the general public. They are nothing more than mindless Obama-bots who simply rubber stamp anything he wants.

Did Obama know of how the credit card companies were going to make up for reducing fees upon the card holders? Very, very likely. Obama and his administration are very deceptive. If they can come up with a plan that works for the credit card companies that they think will give them political points with the public but at the same time allows for under the table adjustments by the card companies such as the increase in fees upon the Merchants, then that is fine with them. However, those fee will be passed on to the consumer.

What Obama did anticipate was the public response by these activities by the merchants.

IRS Tax Revenue Plunges 34% - National Sales Tax Proposed

As the Democrats and Obama continue to fail at everything they do, the United States Federal Government takes another major leap towards poverty. Recall the Democrats - Impeach Obama.

IRS tax revenue falls along with taxpayers' income

By John Waggoner, USA TODAY

Federal tax revenue plunged $138 billion, or 34%, in April vs. a year ago — the biggest April drop since 1981, a study released Tuesday by the American Institute for Economic Research says.
When the economy slumps, so does tax revenue, and this recession has been no different, says Kerry Lynch, senior fellow at the AIER and author of the study. "It illustrates how severe the recession has been."

For example, 6 million people lost jobs in the 12 months ended in April — and that means far fewer dollars from income taxes. Income tax revenue dropped 44% from a year ago.

"These are staggering numbers," Lynch says.

Big revenue losses mean that the U.S. budget deficit may be larger than predicted this year and in future years.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Baby Boomer | Moody's
"It's one of the drivers of the ongoing expansion of the federal budget deficit," says John Lonski, chief economist for Moody's Investors Service. The Congressional Budget Office projects a $1.7 trillion budget deficit for fiscal year 2009.

The other deficit driver is government spending, which, the AIER's report says, is the main culprit for the federal budget deficit.

The White House thinks that tax revenue will increase in 2011, thanks in part to the stimulus package, says the report from AIER, an independent economic research institute. But it warns, "Even if that does happen, the administration also projects that government spending will be so much higher each year that large deficits will continue, and the national debt held by the public will double over the next 10 years."

The government may have a hard time trimming spending to reduce the deficit when the recession ends. The 77 million Baby Boomers— those born in 1946 through 1964 — will start tapping their federal retirement benefits soon, which means increased government outlays for Social Security and Medicare.

"It will be doubly difficult for federal government to reduce expenditures and narrow the deficit as rapidly as they did following previous recessions," Lonski says. At the end of the last major recession, in 1981, Boomers were in their 30s. Their incomes were expanding, as was their appetite for goods and services.

The Boomers now are in their 50s and 60s and unlikely to keep increasing incomes for long, which means that revenue from income taxes could flatten in the next few years. Also, Lonski says, they are more likely to save for retirement than spend — and consumer spending is a big driver of the economy.

"The American consumer led us out of previous recessions with some semblance of gusto," Lonski says. "They're too old to do it now."

Once Considered Unthinkable, U.S. Sales Tax Gets Fresh Look
Levy Viewed as Way to Reduce Deficits, Fund Health Reform

By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 M

With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look at a money-making idea long considered politically taboo: a national sales tax.

Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax -- called a value-added tax, or VAT -- has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity.

At a White House conference earlier this year on the government's budget problems, a roomful of tax experts pleaded with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to consider a VAT. A recent flurry of books and papers on the subject is attracting genuine, if furtive, interest in Congress. And last month, after wrestling with the White House over the massive deficits projected under Obama's policies, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee declared that a VAT should be part of the debate.

"There is a growing awareness of the need for fundamental tax reform," Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said in an interview. "I think a VAT and a high-end income tax have got to be on the table."

A VAT is a tax on the transfer of goods and services that ultimately is borne by the consumer. Highly visible, it would increase the cost of just about everything, from a carton of eggs to a visit with a lawyer. It is also hugely regressive, falling heavily on the poor. But VAT advocates say those negatives could be offset by using the proceeds to pay for health care for every American -- a tangible benefit that would be highly valuable to low-income families.

Liberals dispute that notion. "You could pay for it regressively and have people at the bottom come out better off -- maybe. Or you could pay for it progressively and they'd come out a lot better off," said Bob McIntyre, director of the nonprofit Citizens for Tax Justice, which has a health financing plan that targets corporations and the rich.

A White House official said a VAT is "unlikely to be in the mix" as a means to pay for health-care reform. "While we do not want to rule any credible idea in or out as we discuss the way forward with Congress, the VAT tax, in particular, is popular with academics but highly controversial with policymakers," said Kenneth Baer, a spokesman for White House Budget Director Peter Orszag.

Still, Orszag has hired a prominent VAT advocate to advise him on health care: Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and author of the 2008 book "Health Care, Guaranteed." Meanwhile, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker, chairman of a task force Obama assigned to study the tax system, has expressed at least tentative support for a VAT.

"Everybody who understands our long-term budget problems understands we're going to need a new source of revenue, and a VAT is an obvious candidate," said Leonard Burman, co-director of the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, who testified on Capitol Hill this month about his own VAT plan. "It's common to the rest of the world, and we don't have it."

Seeking New Revenue

The surge of interest in a VAT is testament to the extraordinary depth of the nation's money troubles. While some conservatives have long argued that a consumption tax would provide a simpler and more efficient alternative to the byzantine U.S. income tax code, this time it's all about the money.

The federal budget deficit is projected to approach $1.3 trillion next year, the highest ever except for this year, when the deficit is forecast to exceed $1.8 trillion. The Treasury is borrowing 46 cents of every dollar it spends, largely from China and other foreign creditors, who are growing increasingly uneasy about the security of their investments. Unless Congress comes up with some serious cash, expanding the nation's health-care system will only add to the problem.

Obama wants to raise income taxes for high earners and impose new levies on business, but those moves would not generate enough cash to cover the cost of health care, much less balance the budget, and they have not been fully embraced by Congress. Obama's plan to tax greenhouse-gas emissions could raise trillions of dollars, but again, Congress is balking.

Key lawmakers are considering other ways to pay for health reform, including new taxes on sugary soda, alcohol and employer-provided health insurance. The last proposal could raise a lot of money -- nearly $1 trillion over the next five years, according to White House budget documents. But options on the table would raise a fraction of that sum. And while it might pay for health care, it would barely dent deficits projected to total nearly $4 trillion over the next five years and to grow rapidly in the future, as baby boomers draw on Social Security and Medicare.

Enter the VAT, one of the world's most popular taxes, in use in more than 130 countries. Among industrialized nations, rates range from 5 percent in Japan to 25 percent in Hungary and in parts of Scandinavia. A 21 percent VAT has permitted Ireland to attract investment by lowering its corporate tax rate.

The VAT has advantages: Because producers, wholesalers and retailers are each required to record their transactions and pay a portion of the VAT, the tax is hard to dodge. It punishes spending rather than savings, which the administration hopes to encourage. And the threat of a VAT could pull the country out of recession, some economists argue, by hurrying consumers to the mall before the tax hits.

A VAT's Bottom Line

What would it cost? Emanuel argues in his book that a 10 percent VAT would pay for every American not entitled to Medicare or Medicaid to enroll in a health plan with no deductibles and minimal copayments. In his 2008 book, "100 Million Unnecessary Returns," Yale law professor Michael J. Graetz estimates that a VAT of 10 to 14 percent would raise enough money to exempt families earning less than $100,000 -- about 90 percent of households -- from the income tax and would lower rates for everyone else.

And in a paper published last month in the Virginia Tax Review, Burman suggests that a 25 percent VAT could do it all: Pay for health-care reform, balance the federal budget and exempt millions of families from the income tax while slashing the top rate to 25 percent. A gallon of milk would jump from $3.69 to $4.61, and a $5,000 bathroom renovation would suddenly cost $6,250, but the nation's debt would stabilize and everybody could see a doctor.

Sales Tax Gains Momentum

Burman, who helped House Democrats craft an unsuccessful 2007 plan to repeal the alternative minimum tax, said he's received a number of phone calls from lawmakers interested in his idea, though "they can't quite imagine how to make it happen politically." Burman said the 25 percent rate has caused some sticker shock, and he's trying to figure out how to bring it down.

Graetz's proposal drew an endorsement from Volcker, who last year called it "a sensible plan for reform." (Volcker did not respond to a request for comment.) It also has piqued the interest of Conrad, the Senate Budget Committee chairman who argues that it could be modified to accommodate Obama's pledge not to raise taxes on families who make less than $200,000 a year.

"I think interest is quietly picking up," Graetz said. "People are beginning to recognize that the mathematics of the current system are just unsustainable. You have to do something. And a VAT has got to be on the table if you want to do something big and serious."

Still, the Senate Finance Committee declined to include a VAT among the options it is considering to pay for health reform. And even VAT supporters doubt the tax will find a place among the tax-reform proposals the Volcker panel has been asked to produce by Dec. 4.

Though the nation's fiscal outlook is grim, Burman said "the situation will have to get more desperate" before lawmakers are likely to consider a new levy aimed directly at the pocketbooks of every one of their constituents.

Most lawmakers are still looking for "a painless source of revenue" to overhaul the health-care system and dig the nation out of debt, Burman said. "Who knows?" he added. "Maybe the tooth fairy will bring that to them."

Texas Governor Rick Perry Says Texas Can Leave the Union

Rather than our children being forced to pay for massive liberal spending, Rick Perry offered Texans a solid choice. Secede from a bankrupt Union.

Perry fires up anti-tax crowd
By KELLEY SHANNON

Associated Press Writer


AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax "tea party" Wednesday with his stance against the federal government and for states' rights as some in his U.S. flag-waving audience shouted, "Secede!"

An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall — one of three tea parties he was attending across the state — that officials in Washington have abandoned the country's founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and debt.

Perry repeated his running theme that Texas' economy is in relatively good shape compared with other states and with the "federal budget mess." Many in the crowd held signs deriding President Barack Obama and the $786 billion federal economic stimulus package.

Later, answering news reporters' questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that.

"There's a lot of different scenarios," Perry said. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."

Perry is running for re-election against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a fellow Republican. His anti-Washington remarks have become more strident the past few weeks as that 2010 race gets going and since Perry rejected $550 million in federal economic stimulus money slated to help Texas' unemployment trust fund.

Perry said the stimulus money would come with strings attached that would leave Texas paying the bill once the federal money ran out.

He said he believes he could be at the center of a national movement that is coordinated and focused in its opposition to the actions of the federal government.

"It's a very organic thing," he said. "It is a very powerful moment, I think, in American history."

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, also Republicans, have been outspoken against the federal economic stimulus spending and were supportive of tea parties in their states.

The protests, organized throughout the country by conservative groups and talk show hosts, were held on the federal income tax deadline day to imitate the original Boston Tea Party of American revolutionary times.

Conservative syndicated talk show host Glenn Beck broadcast live in San Antonio from outside the Alamo, a legendary symbol of Texas independence, with crowds packing the small plaza. Many waved signs or carried little yellow flags that read, "Don't tread on me." A local barbecue chain gave away free cups of iced tea.

Mike Smart, a 51-year-old oil field worker from West Texas, held up a white handwritten sign that said, "I'll keep my freedom, my $ and my guns. You keep the change."

"I just want the government to stay out of my way. I won't get in their way if they don't get in mine," said Smart, who described himself as conservative but not a Republican.

Government spending, going back multiple administrations, has reached a boiling point with the latest rounds of stimulus spending, he said. While the Bush administration spent heavily before he left office, the Obama administration has fast-tracked big spending, he said.

"Ol' George was going to the same destination. He just didn't want to tell anyone," said Smart.

Another protester, 38-year-old Melva Fried, said the forced ouster of General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner was the last straw for her — a symbol the federal government was moving toward socialism.

"When a president can fire the head of a company, that's too much," she said, holding a sign that read "Stop Rewarding Failure."

The sales associate, who considers herself a disaffected Republican, said she doesn't believe the government should bail anyone out, including banks and individual homeowners.

The crowd at the Austin tea party appeared decidedly anti-Democrat. Many of the speakers were Republicans and Libertarians.

One placard said, "Stop Obama's Socialism." Another read, "Some Pirates Are in America," and it showed photographs of Obama, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wearing pirate hats.

Rebecca Knowlton, 45, of Smithville, said she took the day off of home-schooling her three children and brought them to the rally to teach them about civic duty. She felt camaraderie at the demonstration.

"The movement is growing stronger," she said. "You're not alone."

___

Associated Press Writer Michelle Roberts contributed to this report from San Antonio.

President Barak Obama Orders Urgent Funding of Gaza, Controlled by Hamas

Presidential Determination No. 2009-15 of January 27, 2009

Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related To Gaza

Memorandum for the Secretary of State

By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 2(c)(1) of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 (the ``Act''), as amended (22 U.S.C. 2601), I hereby determine, pursuant to section 2(c)(1) of the Act, that it is important to the national interest to furnish assistance under the Act in an amount not to exceed $20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs, including by contributions to international, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations and payment of administrative expenses of Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the Department of State, related to humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza.

You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

(Presidential Sig.)

THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, January 27, 2009

On January 27, Israel had already pulled back from its invasion of Gaza after being attacked for months via Qassam missiles from Gaza.

However, Hamas and the Palestinians had again begun attacking Israel on January 27, the day that President Barak Obama issued the order above to bank roll Gaza which is controlled by Hamas. Just as the Holy Land Foundation was tried and convicted of funding HAMAS, a terrorist organization, I am demanding the Barack Obama also be tried and convicted for immediately abusing his power as President of the United States to fund the terrorist organization HAMAS.

Supporting Hamas in Gaza also is in keeping with the support of HAMAS by Barack Obama's "former" pastor, Jeremiah Wright. During the Presidential elections, Barack Obama supposedly distanced himself from the pastor and the pastor's stand on HAMAS. However, based on Barack Obamas order above, Barack Hussein Obama clearly lied to the American people.

MSM (Marxist Socialist Media) And Barack Obama

Five days after the inauguration I am calling for the impeachment of Barack Obama. Barack Obama, the President of the United States of America attacked free speech. Barack Obama, the President of the United States of America attacked Rush Limbaugh. During his campaign Barack Obama attacked Shawn Hannity and other individuals that voiced opposition to his policies. He now has renewed his attack on Americans who oppose his policies and is demanding that all people listen to HIM and no one else. This is sinister.

It is also clear that the current Main Stream Media must be brought down. They failed in thier responsibility of providing fair and balanced journalism during this election. Instead, they chose to trumpet nothing but support for Marxist, Socialist candidates.

The Republican Party in Congress in both houses must be stripped of their responsibilities. The response of the members of the Republicans in the meetings in which the President was criticizing the first amendment rights of certain individuals in America was apologetic and supportive of the Marxist, Socialist Barack Obama, the Chosen One of Americas New MSM (Marxist Socialist Media).

Is this a call for a revolution? Technically no. It is a call for Americans to defend the rights that Americans have been constitutionally guaranteed against those who have declared a revolution against us. MSM, Barack Obama, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party. All of these institutions must feel the rath of indignation that the at the very least 1/2 of the American people feel about the current state of those in power who voted against Barack Obama, before he begins marginalizing 1/2 of America.