When Tax Reform Isn’t-What Congress Giveth It Taketh Away-Podcast 676

They call it Tax Reform. A Jobs Bill. That’s what it must be, right? Journalists and commentators are playing the same old game. Argue a proposed piece of legislation on its merits. Time to reset the boundaries in When Tax Reform Isn’t-What Congress Giveth It Taketh Away-Podcast 676.

Freedom Of Choice

While listeners to The Bob Davis Podcasts always have the freedom to choose what they think is right, I want to introduce the concept of marginal improvement. Legislators on both sides of the political spectrum talk big about ‘reform’. Usually though they make what really are marginal changes. This is especially relevant when we’re talking about the tax code.

The Real Football Game Is Congress

Team Red moves the ball back to the Blue thirty yard line. It’s hailed as a great victory. Team Blue moves the ball back to the Red twenty yard line a few years later. These are what both sides call marginal improvements. Meanwhile, as economist Milton Friedman famously suggested, they keep getting elected by making the tax code more complicated.

Budget Neutrality Isn’t A Thing

Enter a legislative concept called Budget Neutrality. The idea every expenditure must be ‘paid for’ with tax increases, or budget cuts. You think Tax Reform means lower taxes. What they’re really doing is taking away tax deductions and loop holes, and increasing our overall tax. The sad part is, it’s not their money, it’s our money. In When Tax Reform Isn’t-What Congress Giveth It Taketh Away-Podcast 676.

What Is Real Reform?

If you want real reform. The end to this kind of corruption? Then the power of the federal government to tax our incomes and our property must be permanently eliminated. Should corporations be taxed at all? Do you have property rights if you pay property taxes? How does government pay for the wonderful things both sides wants it to provide? We talk about it in When Tax Reform Isn’t-What Congress Giveth It Taketh Away-Podcast 676.

Already Socialists

So called conservatives like to argue the merits of capitalism versus socialism. It seems like I’d be on pretty safe ground if I suggested the United States has been collectivist for decades. Our economic system is not so much capitalist as it is a controlled market economy. Our elected Kings and their privy courts control our behavior and our futures with regulation and a tax code so complex, were it to be proposed as a single law in its present form, it would cause a revolution.

(Editor’s Note: While the first actual income tax in the United States was levied during the Civil War, it was later repealed as ‘unconstitutional’. Several attempts were made to establish an income tax through the late 1800’s which were unsuccessful, until the 16th amendment, ratified in 1913.)

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When Tax Reform Isn’t-What Congress Giveth It Taketh Away-Podcast 676

Trump’s Trojan Horse Democrat Embrace Confuses GOP-Podcast 662

A republican president who campaigned against profligate spending has made a deal with democrats in order to spend more. President Trump wants billions for disaster relief in the wake of two hurricanes. In Trump’s Trojan Horse Democrat Embrace Confuses GOP-Podcast 662.

Drowning In The Swamp

The Man who was going to drain the swamp has joined the swamp rats. Conventional rank and file republicans are at a loss to explain. Trump’s a political genius who knows how to work it, is one explanation. Trump’s a Trojan Horse. A closet democrat. He tricked us from the beginning, is another explanation.

What is a Republican?

Truth is Republicans do not know what they are about. What are republicans for? What are they against? The so called conservative movement lost its way a long time ago. Trump is a symptom rather than a transformational leader. In Trump’s Trojan Horse Democrat Embrace Confuses GOP-Podcast 662.

Red Tie Socialism

The President’s budget calls for spending increases. The US is sending more troops to Afghanistan. Elements of the Tax Reform bill actually cap mortgage tex deductions, eliminate corporate tax deductions, seek to tax 401K and other tax deferred savings accounts. It all adds up to tax increases, not tax cuts. Moreover a republican president and congress that campaigned on repealing The Affordable Care Act, did not repeal it.

Permanent Slumber

When will republicans wake up to the fact that the Grand Old Party, the Party of Reagan, is just as interested in taxing and spending as their nemesis, the democratic party? Where is the great conservative movement we keep hearing about? Where are the people to do the hard political work of building a movement? They don’t exist. They deserve a wolf in sheep’s clothing and now they have it. In Trump’s Trojan Horse Democrat Embrace Confuses GOP-Podcast 662. (Editor’s Note: In listening to this podcast I just noticed I refer to the HBO Hit Series ‘WestWorld‘ as ‘West-WOOD’, which of course is the same of a radio network. Old habits die hard.)

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Trump’s Trojan Horse Democrat Embrace Confuses GOP-Podcast 662

 

Has United States Been Socialist For A Long Time? Podcast 625

We hear a lot of words used to describe various political factions in the US. Most will say the US economic system is capitalist but is this just an illusion? Are we socialist? Have we been socialist for a long time? It seems to me, we have. In Has United States Been Socialist For A Long Time? Podcast 625.

Socialism Is Everywhere

Just because a country’s economic system is socialist, does not mean it’s a tyranny. Denmark and Canada aren’t dictatorships. Singapore is a Socialist Market Economy. Places where ‘the people’ own or control the means of production. Most socialist countries these days enjoy democratic political systems.

Government and Non Profits Dominate State Economies

Americans think of themselves as capitalists. The thing is, the top three employers in my state are public institutions. Americans depend on social security, medicare, or medicaid ‘entitlements’. Home buyers get tax subsidies. We enjoy many tax deferred investment options. Farmers get subsidies. Public workers get pensions. All kinds of grants for education exist. Then there are the business subsidies and government contracts. Some popular business personalities receive billions in subsidies from the government. We’ll talk about it in Has United States Been Socialist For A Long Time? Podcast 625.

Both Parties Support Socialism

Democrats complain about light rail projects running through their backyards, but support government programs because ‘It’s the right thing to do’. Republicans complain about big government unless it’s the military, support for their businesses, home mortgage tax credit, social security and 401K programs.

The Right Thing To Do

It’s true that many of these programs date back to the depression in the 1930’s. Also true that creation of these programs came with the best intentions. Whether we like it or not, government is deeply involved in our lives. Of course, what the government giveth, the government takeaway. We’ll talk about it in Has United States Been Socialist For A Long Time? Podcast 625.

Classic Liberalism Is Forgotten

Republicans and Democrats argue the same side of the coin. Both are collectivists. Neither adhere to Classic Liberalism, a philosophy of limited government with the sole purpose of securing a maximum amount of individual liberty, property rights and free markets. While no political scientist would argue the US is Socialist maybe we should consider the possibility we are and have been for some time.

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Has United States Been Socialist For A Long Time? Podcast 625