Uncertainty

Let me ask you a question, are you more likely to go out and make an impulse purchase if you know that the money that you make every month is going to stay the same or possibly increase or if you are you more likely to make an impulse purchase if you feared that next month your taxes might go up?

That's a rhetorical question obviously, we all know the answer that uncertainty is dangerous and causes people to sit on their money and remain status quo.

Companies do not make future plans to grown when they fear that a president, congress and senate who is hostile towards them are threatening to tax them into oblivion.

You can't on one hand say we love you big business and then with the other hand raise their taxes, fees and regulations so that they are uncertain as to what is going to happen next.

The new republican budget plan is outstanding because it introduces some certainty into the equation, rather than adding more uncertainty with the cap & trade, healthcare and energy policy changes that threaten to bankrupt the American consumer.

Say you are a democrat is this what you voted for?  Can you tell me with absolute certainty how much you are going to pay in taxes and fees next year (assuming your salary is the same)?

The republican budget/tax plans will add the certainty that we are all looking for.

Is this the "Change" that we asked for?

In Mr. Obama's budget there is a footnote that would keep the estate (death) tax on estates larger than $3.5 million at the current level which I believe is 45%.

I know, I know....why should I care I certainly don't have an estate that large and probably never will but why are we penalizing a family for having a relative that happened to be wealthy?  Where does the 45% come from?  So the estate in whole is worth 3.5 million so the family would have to come up with 1.575 million to settle the tax bill that will be levied against the recently deceased persons estate.  How do they pay for it?  If they had the cash, great...usually this causes the sale of assets.  Maybe a family farm, maybe the deceased had lots of stock that could be sold and just maybe it's the family business that must be sold.  So the government has forced the hand of the decedents family to sell potentially a business instead of keeping the business in the family as it belongs.  Truly tragic.

I'm hearing a lot about the changes to the tax code that Mr. Obama is making simply by inserting it into his budget or by the legislatures simply inserting something in their "stimulus" bills language which the average person will never see that becomes law and dramatically impacts their daily lives.

So instead of making the tax code simpler as was promised time and time again on the campaign trail, instead of no new taxes, instead of change we can believe in.

Is this what we all had in mind?

The Obama GM Announcement Today

I'm somewhat pleased that Mr. Obama told GM that their plan isn't good enough that they and the unions need to make more concessions.  

I'm very concerned as should all Americans be that the President of the United States of America just ordered the firing of the CEO of General Motors, who by all measures is a fantastic executive which just happens to be currently piloting the Titanic after it has already hit the iceberg.

As much as everyone in this country truly wants the automakers to survive, I fear that the only true way of surviving is to file for bankruptcy so that they can get out of from under all of the ridiculous contracts that they have been writing for the last 60 years.

Let me make this clear, I'm not rooting for bankruptcy I just believe that ultimately that would be best.

I heard Hugh Hewitt today put like this "they are a benefits company that happens to make cars".  I think that sums it up pretty nicely.

The AIG Hearings

I was watching the hearings recently while working from home and felt so dirty just listening to the congressmen showing such phony outrage over bonuses that the administration new about for quite some time prior to the bonuses actually being paid.

It was sickening to actually listen to the congressmen issuing a verbal beating to Mr. Liddy (the current AIG CEO) for doing nothing more than being the CEO and showing up on capital hill.  So Mr. Liddy took the job to help clean up the giant mess that his predecessors had made and he's taking a salary of $1 per year, yet he's being abused?

Barney Frank should be ashamed of himself for demanding the names of all of the executives that received these bonuses and not even offering to keep them confidential.  What purpose does it serve for Barney Frank to have their names other than to allow him to publicly ridicule them and divert attention away from how negligent the current administration has been with this whole fiasco?

I was riding in the car with a friend the other day after Mr. Obama's non news, news conference and he was saying what a great response Mr. Obama had when he was asked the question about why he waited to express his outrage at the AIG bonuses when he new well in advance.  The response the Mr. Obama gave was that he likes to know what is talking about before releasing a statement.  What?  B.S.  I think it shows just how unprepared he is.  He can't say we made a mistake and these bonuses are going to be paid due to our mistake?  Instead he took the time to allow his handlers to come up with a response that expresses his phony outrage and shifts the focus from his mistake to oooh look it's their fault, they did it.

I'm tired already of listening to Mr. Obama speak and we are only 2 months in.

The inauguration

I tried to avoid it as much as possible, however I found myself coming back to it every now and then to see what was going on. The speech was more down to earth than most are used to and yet still incredibly unclear as to what his plans are.

I saw a cartoon yesterday on townhall that showed Obama at the podium and the press saying "now that you've been sworn in can you tell us about yourself."

Very appropriate.

My wife is a life long democrat and had a keen interest in listening to the speeches and the swearing in for no other reason that the history factor.

I'll talk more about my wife in a later post.

This about sums it up

http://tinyurl.com/7aexru

Had to share this article..I can't believe it.

http://tinyurl.com/7xztku

The first sentence in the second paragraph.
Under normal circumstances, the election of Barack Obama would have meant a lot for your wallet.

It's just so wrong that someone can write an article such as this and not be called out on the mat for it.

Yes it's a small reference to his and all Democrats "greatness" but that's the type of comment that is repeated so often that is simply accept as gospel.