VANITY: The best way to keep America a sovereign free nation is to keep the Democrats out of power!

Free Republic

[PRND21]

I find it tasteless and ineffectual.

Overall or tonight? Tonight seemed special and I don't include it in my judgement.
Anyways, it seems he got his wish again.

Cheers

[dixiechick2000]

Did you know there are 726 replies so far? I can't imagine how many there will be by the morning. I'll have my work cut out for me. ;o)

"Doesn't make a lick of sense to me to allow the America hating, freedom hating Democrats back into power now that we've kicked them out."

Amen! We have worked so hard, for so many years, why the heck should we let them take over, again? That would be nuts! I hope that, eventually, the rest of the country will have a "Southern" type transformation, politically speaking.

I can't wait to read the rest of the thread.

Thank you all for the pings!

Prayers for Charlie...

[Ophiucus]

It is the responsibility of the president to represent ALL the people, not just you.

*wicked grin* Constitutional rebuttal - the President doesn't represent anybody. He is the executive of the government of the Union and as such, is elected by the States, not the people.

hee hee...just being a little s***.

[Torie]

When the guy is not on the sauce, which seems to be his problem, he has sharp elbows (and that is not my style either, except in a veiled and dry way), he is not over the line, and can be interesting and provocative, even while not being particularly persuasive or effective. Real persuasion takes a lot of work, and the first rule, is not to embarrass or demean the opponent, and more applicable to other readers, the second rule is not to make oneself the issue, and the third rule is to try to leaven the argument with some real analysis and/or facts, preferably documented facts.

[Howlin]

I know you knew what I meant.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

You forgot one.

Will President Bush continue to stand up for our Military by refusing to allow our Military to be judged by a WORLD COURT? YOU BET HE WILL!!!

[Howlin]

Oh, good. Now Fred and the Toad will have something else to copy and paste tonight!

[Kryptonite]

the second rule is not to make oneself the issue

You think Jim Rob shouldn't put himself on the line, eh?

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Where did the 38% figure come from? My research suggests more like 30%. The 14% regarding regulation, is impossible to come up with, absent the most tendentious assumptions. And counting the costs levied on those that impose negative externalities is equally tendentious. Some might characterize that as just trying to internalize costs into the price system. Tossing around stats requires back up and explanation around here, at least for me.

The 38% figure is a compilation of Federal (approaching 24%) and State (approaching 14%) Taxation Burden.

And the 14% Regulatory Burden is certainly NOT impossible to quantify. The compliance cost in man-hours alone approaches $900 Billion. Not to mention the cost of HR Block.

Bear in mind that virtually the entire cost of the USA Accounting Industry could be eliminated with a Flat Tax or a National Retail Tax.

Hundreds of Billions of Dollars which are being lost to the US Economy every year by virtue millions of man-hours of shuffling paperwork.

I suppose that next you are going to sob Tears of Mourning over all those poor, destitute Accountants who will be put outta work if we rationalized the Tax System.

Oh, fer the love of Mercy -- Cry me a River, Torie. My favorite accountant also runs a nice little Italian Food Shop on the side -- He's Cuban, so he knows how to cook; it's good Pizza, and it's a Cash Business he doesn't report to the IRS.

I'm willing to venture that, in providing Pizza and Lasagna and Fettucini for all those middle-class entrepreneurs who work an extra two hours after 5pm and want to come home to a hot meal, he does more definitive Economic Good off of that Pizza Shop than he does shuffling Tax Paperwork all day.

He's really a good Cook, you know. And he's a very good Accountant.

But what need have we for Accountants... if we could eliminate the Income Tax in favor of a basic 30% Retail Tax?? (and I am alone among my Retail Tax compatriots, in that I believe that House Purchases should also be taxed -- let Property-Owners pay our way, I say!! Including the $2 Trillion Dollar Housing Market into the Retail Tax could reduce the overall Tax from 30% down to 20%, fair across the board.)

The entire multi-hundred-billion-Dollar Accounting Industry is a creation of Government Fiscal Insanity. Rationalize the Tax System, and let the Accountants find their own place within the Capitalist System.

Schumpeterian Creative Destruction, Baby -- Efficiency Uber Alles. If it does not Profit Thy Fellow Man... Let it die on the vine.

Best, OP

[Jim Robinson]

Well, I'm hoping. I know that conservatives are making plenty enough noise to be heard and it appears the Congress is listening, and they're the ones who make the laws and control the purse strings. It's a balancing act at the moment because of the elections and no one wants to upset the general populace too much. Bush is holding the middle ground and his proposal basically puts off any immediate action until next term, and the Democrats have been forced way off the scale to the far left. The left is now proposing immediate amnesty and full citizenship to all illegals. I doubt that's gonna fly with the voters or with the congress. I think this is just one more reason why the Democrats are gonna go down in flames, and it'll also give the Republican congress a bit of breathing room to get the job done right.

[Torie]

I think I typed "over the line." In context, "over" and "on" next to the word "line" have quite different meanings.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Yeah...I knew he was colorful, but man, he was in rare form tonight. LOL

I hope he signs up at LP. That'd be a blast to watch. : )

[Kryptonite]

Fred? Todd? What a wicked web you weave....

I understand the sarcasm.

[Jim Robinson]

Good point. Thanks very much!

[PRND21]

Real persuasion takes a lot of work...

How much real persuasion happens at FR? Has the internet ruined political activism?
I heard Saber and Arne are Mary Matalin and Carville, but who knows.

[Torie]

Where do your stats come from? Not tonight, but soon, I will sic my 30% figure on you with a link from the OMB, or some equally authoritative source. And the 30% figure has not gone up much in decades. Maybe part of the problem with the big deficit at present is to differentiate revenues from spending. I think my figure is based on spending, but maybe it is based on the revenues. Oh the horror.

I still think the regulatory figure (whereever you got it from) is largely misleading and tendentious. But that is a can of worms in and of itself, and we would have to spend hours defining our terms, and our sources, and what we mean, and how much of it is a justified internalization of costs into the price system, and how much of it is just taxation by another name. And so it goes.

[Howlin]

It's not sarcasm. It's the dang truth.

[Fawnn]

Thank you for saying (so well!) what the majority of us here believe!

[Torie]

A fair amount I suspect, but of course only at the margins typically, between those largely in agreement as to their values and the weights they place on competing considerations, once defined and known, about an issue. Persuasion works best among "friends."

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Thank you for an excellent post. I'm a horrible writer, (but I do try) and you always do it so well, so succinct.

FRegards, VH&W