Economy, deficit top voter issues ahead of Obama speech: poll

In that the fiscal Cliff Resolution,
The top marginal tax rate on income of 39.6%.
The top marginal tax rate on long-term capital gains of 20%.
Higher Income taxes tax rate is regessive, a violation of Amendment 16:
“The higher the earnings, the higher the percentage collected from them.”

Fairness requires top earners pay more.
Simply put, the federal and state tax system needs to tax the money, not the people. Poverty/subsistence margin flat rate of taxation is fairness. The upper quintile views fair as the more you make the more you take home. This meets both criteria. The Washington bureaucrats missed a big opportunity to propose a margin flat rate tax that balances the budget. Rates $0-20K 0%, money above $20K 35%; couples freely share; all income bundled and taxed in summation form, no exemptions. And provide business relief with no business taxation with provisions on ‘partnership and disregarded’ businesses to transfer funds into personal accounts as the taxable income. Ends family business inheritance taxation, except when sold for personal profit (always taxable).

The above $20K margined 35% flat rate yields the federal $3.8T expendatures (includes single pay Health and Social Security) and is a progressive effective tax rate less than th efederal income tax rate up to $250k, and it is constitutional. This proposal would require a National Level of politics that reaches amendment level approval. This would require a national constituency letter writing outcry, that which has not been seen.

Honorable Obama, Congress and Senate, this is my opinion.

I’d like to see some discussion on restoring our rights! get rid of the Patriot act. Get rid of the corporation is a person garbage. (No one but the corporations and Republicans believe it anyway) Then deal with the economy and the deficit. Star by getting rid of anyone that blocks. (Hear me republicants?) Stop growth or budgets or relief or deficit reduction and your gonna get voted out. Gun rights? Who cares!?! We have 6 guns for every American. They aren’t going away. Talk about nationalizing petroleum and start dealing with the insurance companies! Rein in the lawyers. Streamline the courts and legalize drugs. This country might have a chance after that.

So voters are concerned about jobs, the economy, and the deficit? Well, they had better get used to it. Policies resulting from this President’s underlying pro-big government, pro-big labor, anti-capitalism, anti-business ideology have made it prohibitively expensive for businesses to hire people. The President will offer us more class warfare rhetoric and populist platitudes. The private sector will hunker down and hope to survive the next four years.

“Economy, deficit top U.S. voter issues ahead of Obama speech” Too bad that wasn’t no their mind prior to the election…

My main concern is the discrepancy of trade ratios in favor of other nations, especially China, who do not play by the same rules and regulations as we do here in the states. That means Americans buy up factories overseas at much cheaper labor rates, making products impossible to compete with and then send their junk here. We need to level the playing feild, prosecute companies for their illegal activities, and cram OSHA down their throats.

@Marcuscassius” it isnt the repubs that havnt passed a budget. The Dem senate killed each one. When you put “nationalize” on anything you lose. The insurance companies are an issue, but the ACA just put them in the drivers seat…read the bill. Legalize drugs? Really? This country coun’t even handle alcohol. 20k deaths a year from drunk drivers alone and you want to make drugs legal. LOL
How about stop spending and the repubs have tried everything to lower the deficit…no go with the left.

oddly they voted for the biggest deficit spender of all time!

People concerned about the economy? Look who they voted for!. if anyone watched Pelosi on TV you would know why our country is in trouble. This woman never had to watch a penny in her life and she thinks we don’t have a spending problem? She is very good at double talk so is the President. We will hear more of the same in his speech — “we need the rich to pay more of their fair share” pretty soon we that have a job will be considered the rich. The next thing he’ll say is that we need to make all the illegal immigrants here now legal. So that they can legallly work here. In a time when there are less jobs, let’s put more people into the work force so that we can have less jobs. So on and so on. Since all the networks will carry the speech I’ll just watch the movie channel because nothing will be said that is new unless they plan to declare Marshall Law and nationalize the entire country.

@ Marcuscassius. You need a history lesson. All the things you propose have been done in the past. Take a look at Chavez’ Venezuela, Lenin’s Russia, or Mao’s China. The President is continuing to consolidate power within the Beltway, so that he and 535 of his closest friends can make all the decisions.

Contrary to your persuasions, it is impossible to manage this. or any, economy centrally, via a collection of politically savvy, but economically illiterate “representatives”. Just look at the states where the government is over-involved. They are over-taxed, have billions in unfunded pension liabilities, and those who can are leaving. Onward to mediocrity!

Rand says lowering taxes on the rich will help the economy. That worked out well during the bush era didn’t it ? He obviously hasn’t noticed the recovery since President Obama was reelected.
Republicans in Congress are owned by big money and if their finances and investments were looked into that would be glaringly obvious.
How can you trust anyone like that ?

I think @Marcuscassius has a very good set of mandates for the house of Representatives.

Quinnipiac is trying hard to replace Gallup as a leading poll in the eyes of Republicans. Given their success in poll data interpretation in the presidential election – seems like beating a dead horse and expecting to win the race in 2016.

The U.S. must embrace a growth agenda
By Lawrence Summers
February 11, 2013

http://blogs.reuters.com/lawrencesummers/2013/02/11/the-u-s-must-embrace-a-growth-agenda/?pending=1#comment-765

To save our economy, I suggest we implement AT LEAST the following changes immediately:

(1) SEAL OUR BORDERS and declare a TOTAL moratorium on ANY kind of immigration until we once again regain control of our own country. Anyone who is here illegally should be immediately deported (as we have in the past during the Great Depression), without regard to their personal circumstances. Since they gained entry to this country illegally, no matter how long they have been here or what they are doing presently, makes no difference. What is there about illegal you people in government do not seem to understand?

Every single person who is here illegally is taking a potential job opportunity from an American citizen.

Independent sources indicate US unemployment is really around 22%, not the government manipulated 7.9%. There is NO excuse for ANY of them to be here under our present economic circumstances.

From the Shadow Government Statistics (SGS), an independent data service published by John Williams, calculates key U.S. government statistics according to the methodology used during the years before the election of President Clinton.

“The government currently claims the unemployment rate to be at just 7.9%.

But when calculating unemployment using the pre-Clinton methodology, SGS finds it to be around 22%.

SGS does not exclude, as the government does now, all those who have left the workforce out of despair of finding a job, or those who have accepted part time jobs in lieu of full-time employment.”

Make it impossible for them to remain by severely penalizing anyone who knowingly gives aid to these illegal aliens. That includes jobs, food, shelter, health care, education, etc. Get them out now, before this economy collapses!

(2) Begin to immediately reverse ALL the free trade and banking legislation that has been passed for the last 30+ years, which is the PRIMARY reason why this nation is in severe economic trouble and on the verge of another Great Depression.

ALL this so-called “free trade” is not actually real capitalism (i.e. real free trade) as outlined by Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations (which is supposed to benefit BOTH trading partners) but what he warned specifically against, that of a growing collusion between business interests and government to form monopolies against society (i.e. the American people).

Beginning with roughly the Reagan administration, what we have instead is “neo-con free trade” which is Social Darwinism (i.e. survival of the fittest), and it is literally killing this nation.

This so-called “neo-con free trade” that benefits only the wealthy class is ALL at the expense of this nation. It is the MAJOR problem we must resolve in order to survive.

(3) Immediately return the tax structure to what it was during the Eisenhower years — e.g. top rate at 91% — and get rid of ALL the special privileges the wealthy have to hide their wealth safe from taxation.

That includes specifically the corporate ability to allow their profits to remain outside the US completely untaxed.

It also includes total elimination of wealthy “shell game” of hiding their money in tax havens offshore.

Force the IRS to begin total enforcement of ALL tax laws, instead of offering “amnesty” to wealthy people who have hidden bank accounts in places like Switzerland.

We MUST force the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes, or we will not survive as a nation.

(4) Begin to set term limits on government positions to remove the temptation of the “revolving door” between lobbying — which is nothing more than “legalized bribery” — and our government officials.

We need to make our government responsible to the people they were elected to serve, instead of the special interests they now serve.

(5) Immediately stop the “welfare program for the wealthy class” — i.e. the so-called QE programs by Bernanke — which are creating massive debts the American people will NEVER be able to pay.

Right now, the Fed’s balance sheet is roughly $3 TRILLION in debt due SOLELY to the continuing programs of “welfare for the wealthy class”.

Yet the wealthy class demands everyone else must do without social programs — so-called “entitlements” programs, such as Social Security, Mediare and Medicaid, which used to be a good thing, but has been twisted and perverted by those who would see everyone else in this country denied even the basics of food and shelter.

Force the government to remove Social Security from the General Fund, where it has been since the Johnson administration in order to cover up the massive over-spending of each administration since then.

The Social Security Trust Fund was created during the Great Depression as a form of social insurance when the American people had no social net whatsover. It was created to be a SEPARATE, SELF-FUNDED program, but the government has been manipulating to make the economy seem better.

Social Security has been misused as a “slush fund” for overspending on all kinds of programs, both social and military. That misuse of funds MUST be stopped.

THAT is where this nation has been, and was just prior the Great Depression (which was caused by rampant speculation during the 1920s).

THAT is what they want everyone else to go back to, just so they can relive their golden era again.

THIS is a MASSIVE swindle being perpetrated on the American people by a small class of extremely wealthy people who have managed to seize control of our government for their own purposes.

(6) Force the government to begin revealing the truth as to how bad the US economy really is at the moment. The govenment lies perpetutate myths that serve only the wealthy class and at the expense of everyone else.

For example, begin by reading “Investing in a World of Make Believe” by John Browne, February 08, 2013.

http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/gue stcommentaryview?art_id=10759

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Literally EVERYTHING the US government tells you about this economy is a total lie, all twisted so that you do not become alarmed at how precarious our economy really is at this point.

What you need to understand is that the wealthy class has crashed this economy MANY times before, and they are about to do it again. They will not suffer, but we will be forced to live in the aftermath of the biggest speculative bubble in history — Great Depression II.

What you need to do is to stop the wealthy class from destroying our country, if not for yourselves, then for your children who right now will be denied ANY future at all, entirely because of the unmitigated greed of a small number of wealthy people.

So is this what ” they” voted for? Must be as it is
what they got. Didn’t consider his first term?
Oh, that’s right , it was ” Bush’e fault.”

This is EXACTLY why immigration reform and gay rights are so important right now…..

….oh…I forgot the thing about taking guns away from the non-crazy. That’s more important too. (My bad)

Obama wants another round of tax and spend. When it didn’t work last time he blamed Bush. I guess this time he will blame the Republican congress. No such thing as the buck stops here.

And ALL Obama is going to talk about is “investments” (more government spending) and a “balanced approach” (more tax increases on the middle class and small business).

@pseudoturtle

Stop drinking the Kool-Aid, it’s bad for you bro…look toward independent though, perhaps some meditation and yoga, free your mind and your ass will follow…

“Bad boys
Whatcha want, watcha want
Whatcha gonna do
When sheriff John Brown come for you
Tell me
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna dooo
Yeaheah”

Obama and his Democrats have not produced a budget in four years and you are trying to tell me the voters trust Obama? There is no hope for America this being the case.

@ DrFrankNFurter –

You may be interested in this exchange of comments between myself and another commentor today who had given up commenting because it just made him angrier and served no purpose other than that.

========================

@ PseudoTurtle –

Commenting makes me angrier and angrier..

You might be stronger than me mentally, then good luck though..

Posted by trevorh

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@ trevorh –

I understand. Writing comments that no one wants to hear can be a bit taxing at times. But we each have our own reasons for posting comments on these websites.

Unfortunately, most of these articles are little more than those we chuckle at when checking out groceries.

I may take your advice at some point, since I had considered some time ago the potential for adverse effects on myself in attempting to tell the truth to those who do not want to hear it.

You do reach a point when the abject, entrenched stupidity of people becomes a bit much to deal with.

Posted by PseudoTurtle

=====================

Your comment certainly illustrates his point and especially my reply about the abject, entrenched supidity of people making commenting pointless.

Washington is too crooked to help now. If they could just find a way to give amnesty to the ILLEGAL immigrants and the pigs that Illegally hire them? Oh yeah its racist to apply our laws now! No real people working in DC is our problem. The people there are buffoons that only represent their own interest.

Watch the focus be on gun control more than the economy. More laws to restrict gun ownership, a whole new set of criteria to be imposed that will include mental health checks, registration. The economy and jobs will not be the focus,just as it has not been for the past five years. More restrictive rules all the while he expands the inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood inside our government and downplaying the results of his agenda on jobs and the economy.

wow… what a bunch.

Wow.

Look at what some of these folks wrote….

Some folks don’t believe ANYTHING is true….if that’s the case, how would you be able to differentiate between reality and fantasy ??

Yep…you are right….you can’t.

I now know WHY Rupert Murdoch is soooo successful at leading the electorate in to a “created” fantasy land and teaching the blind to see only a world THEY CREATE.

It appears that some of these gullible folks got elected to office.

with the recovery being so fragile, an austerity budget would drive the economy into a Second Great Recession, thereby worsening the debt/deficit problem (Great Britain is a good example)

President Obama has made it crystal clear that the debt and deficit is of no concern to him as long as he keeps his power. This man cares nothing about the calamity he is creating for this nation, and his followers just don’t get it.

That’s tomorrow night?? Oh, dang . . . I’m already committed to watching the Westminister Dog Show.

soulice wrote:
“Too bad that wasn’t no their mind prior to the election…”

I am sure it was, which is exactly why the majority backed Obama. He fixed the Republican Recession, delivered continuous economic growth since June 2009 despite Republican obstructionism, and reduced unemployment.

On the other hand, the majority sensibly rejected GOP voodoo economics which is basically “Do all the stuff we did that wrecked the US economy, and hope we get a different result…”

Bubba311 wrote:
“The private sector will hunker down and hope to survive the next four years.”

Out here in the real world, the private sector is making record-breaking profits.

“Corporate profits hit record as wages get squeezed

[...]

Profits accounted for 11.1% of the U.S. economy last quarter, compared with an average of 8% during the previous economic expansion. They fell as low as 4.6% of GDP during the recession.”

“Apple posts record-breaking profits at Q1 2013 earnings call”

“American businesses earned profits at an annual rate of $1.659 trillion in the third quarter, according to a Commerce Department report released Tuesday. That is the highest figure recorded since the government began keeping track over 60 years ago”

“Caterpillar Reports Record Quarterly Profit (USA)

First-quarter 2012 sales and revenues of $15.981 billion were up 23 percent from $12.949 billion in the first quarter of 2011. Profit was a record $1.586 billion in the quarter, an increase of 29 percent from $1.225 billion in the first quarter of 2011.”

“Corporate profit margins just hit an all-time high. Companies are making more per dollar of sales than they ever have before. (And some people are still saying that companies are suffering from “too much regulation” and “too many taxes.”)”

“The nation’s major health insurers are barreling into a third year of record profits [...] Yet the companies continue to press for higher premiums, even though their reserve coffers are flush with profits and shareholders have been rewarded with new dividends.”

It is really funny, the way right-wingers think that record breaking profits is ‘anti-business’, and these business making the record breaking profits have to ‘hunker down and hope to survive’, as though they are just waiting for the good old days of pro-business recession that Republicans gave them.

It is just as funny the way, when oil companies make record breaking profits but still charge more for oil and push up the price of fuel… Republican sheep blame Obama. When health insurers make record breaking profits but still increase premiums… Republican sheep blame Obama. When businesses all over make record breaking profits but don’t hire… Republican sheep blame Obama.

LOL, if deficits and the economy are the top two issues then why in the world did we re-elect Obama?

@abulafish said: “Out here in the real world, the private sector is making record-breaking profits.”

Yea, and they’re holding much of it in cash, not deploying it; as you have so complained about previously. Those record breaking profits have come from laying off workers, outsourcing, and streamlining their businesses in the face of a dismal economic outlook.

@abulafish said: “It is really funny, the way right-wingers think that record breaking profits is ‘anti-business’”

Profits aren’t anti-business; increased taxes, regulation and fiscal uncertainty are.

@abulafish said: “ When health insurers make record breaking profits but still increase premiums… Republican sheep blame Obama.”

Yes, because Obamacare was meant to help the people, not corporations, right?
We’re paying record-breaking premiums while they rake record-breaking profits….thank you Obama.