Punish The Hard Worker

Obama was taped today telling a plumber in Ohio that as President, he would increase the guy's taxes. He stated, "I believe that spreading the wealth around is good for everyone." Looking at the guy's face, I don't think he felt that way. I don't think he felt having his hard work unrewarded was good for him. The only ones it is good for are those who won't go out and earn their own.

Well now - all these years the Democrats have been trying to convince us that their increasing of taxes is not a redistribution of wealth. Punitive taxes.

Here's the problem: If a farmer has to turn over more of his "seed money" to the government, he cannot grow as many crops next season. Can't feed as many people. Won't make as much money, so the government won't get as much, either. And everything spirals downward.

Every business is a farmer, of sorts. And their excess profits are their "seed money" for hiring help, buying supplies and inventory, manufacturing product and contributing to the growth and wealth of the nation. Democrats have difficulty understanding that - they do not seem able to extrapolate things out to their ultimate conclusion. They simply see they can help the poor by taxing the rich. It's a myopic view of economics.

Obama also said in that video that, "We have to consider the needs of those below you." In other words, if a person works really hard and succeeds, Obama wants to take a chunk of your success and just give it to folks who have not worked hard. In most cases, the money would go to people who refuse to work, or refuse to get an education.

I feel for the people who are at the bottom of the economic "food chain." I really do. And that is why we have charities, churches and community organizations to assist them. But it is 100% wrong to arbitrarily force people to help others, even before they are allowed to help their own families. Before you can put food on your own table, the Democrats want to take your money out of your paycheck and put food on the tables of those who do not work.

Who is Barak Obama to say how much I do or do not need? He does not know what my bills are? He does not know how many kids I have to put through college, or how many people and charities in my community I contribute to. So how can he say that just because I make "X" number of dollars, all I need is "Y" dollars, and he can take the rest?

That is unconstitutional, for one thing. Just as importantly, it is economically dangerous and morally wrong.

Let's say Obama figures that all I need for my own needs is $250,000 a year (less the current 52% in combined taxes for that bracket). He taxes me an extra $40,000 a year because I am "wealthy" in his view. I cannot afford to just lose $40,000. I have to try and recoup that. So guess what I will have to do? You guessed it - I have to lay off one or two employees.

Now multiply that by the 8.9 million small businesses in the U.S. That's a lot of folks out of work, uninsured, and collecting entitlements from the public teat. Less money going in to the Treasury, and more going out. Or, at the very least, I will not invest $40,000 into companies so they can grow and hire more of the poor, and give them health insurance. I will not spend that $40,000 on products made by those companies. (If you think the poor would, think again. A huge portion of their entitlements are used to buy alcohol, drugs or "other" services such as prositution and gambling).

But regardless of the severe damage that Obama's taxes would do, it is just plain wrong! I would ask you (and Obama): "WHY should I work hard to succeed? If I just sit back and watch soaps all day, the government will take care of me." Why work my butt off, just so Obama can take the rewards of my hard work and give them to some lazy bum?

I was manager of New Hampshire's largest homeless shelter. And 91% of the people in the shelter were there either because they were alcoholics, drug addicts or criminals. And because they were so "poor" and unemployed (by choice), every one of them collected hundreds of dollars a month in federal entitlements (food stamps, SSI etc.). And every dime would be used for alcohol or drugs, or other things the taxpayer should not be paying for, like attending strip clubs or paying prostitutes.

Then add in the thousands per month in free medical care, courtesy of taxpayers. They drink themselves into a stupor, and you and I must then pay the medical bills to get them back on their feet so they can do it again. And we must pay for those things even before we can collect our paycheck and feed our own families. And now Obama wants to give them even more money....

That is socialism. And we saw the results in the USSR. Workers had no incentive to do any more than absolutely necessary. No point in trying to invent a new product - the government would just take the profits and give them to others. No point in producing more. No point in trying. No point in thinking. No point! Because no matter what, you will have the same as everyone else, through income redistribution.

Socialism has detroyed, or is currently destroying every nation that took that road. And I must ask - what if Obama later decides the poor need even more help? So he starts taking "excess income" from everyone? You, your parents, your kids...right now, the limit is $250,000. But that figure is bound to change, especially with a bad economy, and a growing population and unrestrained illegal immigration.

And we are well on the road to being the next "union of socialist states". America will be no more. Freedoms will be but a memory. The American Dream - believing if you work hard you will get ahead - will become the Obama nightmare where working hard produces nothing for you except blisters and the contempt of others.

Great idea, Obama! Penalize the very people whose money pays salaries and healthcare. Stick a tax spigot into the very people who create all the wealth in this country so they are unable to create any more.

When I put my "excess" money into the stock market, companies use that money to grow. To hire. To pay insurance benefits. That does more good for the poor than anything else. It provides jobs, health care, security. And at the same time it makes me even more money to invest, so those companies can hire even more people.

But Obama wants to stop all that growth with punitive taxes. Instead of "allowing" me to invest in growth, he would rather take that money away from me and just give it away to people who will do nothing to contribute to growth. And at the end of the day, those people will still be poor, and we will have to do it all over again tomorrow.

Let's be perfectly clear. There is truth to the ancient adage "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." I would add the following: "If, after teaching the man to fish he chooses not to, but rather to lay around in the sun, then let him go hungry, because that is his own choice." We owe him nothing further.

Or, as the Bible so aptly put it, "The Lord helps those who help themselves." If it's good enough for the Lord, it's good enough for me. I'll give a man a hand up, but not a hand-out.

And a final point - if, instead of giving people more entitlements we should instead give much, much less, I contend a lot of those people will suddenly start working, and contributing to the growth of the country. They would have to. And I know that would be the case because the Welfare Reform Act of the Republican Congress in the 90's did just that - and people went to work.

Obama, your economic and tax plan is foolish and dangerous, and proves you have no concept of what is good for the economy or the people.

So, what is a better plan? The plan supported by sane people like Gingrich, Forbes, Huckabee, Boortz, and many others. The "Fair Tax". With the fair tax, we the People decide what we will support. Congress would no longer have control of the purse strings. They would have no control over how much goes into that purse. So, they could no longer buy votes. Lobbyists would have to go out and find real jobs. There could be no more "pork" spending. And we, the People, would benefit from lower taxes and better government. And politicians would have to actually get elected on issues.

Check out the fair tax at http://www.fairtax.org/. It is our only hope of taking back our contry, and making it strong once more.

'Nuff said.