First Published 10-23-10
The Bush tax cuts, Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, are due to expire in January, 2011 which has the wealthy crying foul. These people, who have more money than you and I will ever see, are condemning the sun setting of the tax cuts as class warfare.
There is one thing we need to get straight right off the bat. The sun setting is not a tax increase. It is simply the tax code reverting to what it was prior to I-Got-A-Billion-Dollars-In-My-Bank-Account-Bush enacting temporary tax cuts for himself and his elitist cohorts. The reason he put forth at the time for the cuts was economic stimulus. The theory being if the rich paid less in taxes, the billions they would save would be invested in expanding their businesses which would create jobs. Where have I heard that before?
The fact is even when the filthy rich paid taxes they did not pay taxes. I have seen, on many occasions, brand new four wheel drives, quad runners, and snow mobiles written off as farm equipment. I have also seen Cadillacs and getaways to Caribbean Islands written off as necessary business expenses. This is actually better than no tax, as the people who build new four wheel drives, quad runners, snow mobiles, and Cadillacs get to enjoy employment and the pay checks they receive for their labor, as do the airplane pilots, the stewardesses, and the employees at the hotel.
The filthy rich, since the tax cuts, have not spent any of the billions of which they benefitted. They have instead, from the get go, stashed the monies. And now that the tax cuts are about to end, they are acting like a thief is coming to rob them. Bear in mind they get to keep all they have profited in the past nine years, and will only have to start paying the original tax again.
When Tiers 1, 2, 3, and 4 were passed, they provided minimal aid to hard working citizens who had been thrust into an impoverished situation through no fault of their own. These people were and are facing home foreclosures, delinquent car payments, delinquent personal loan payments, and those never ending utility bills. The monies they received went right back into the system. And if the truth is ever told, the unemployment monies bear more responsibility than the stimulus or bailouts for any stabilizing of the economy which has occurred.
Just before our so called representatives hit the campaign trail, they passed another $30 billion banker bailout aimed at little billionaires with little banks. As to date, I know of no one who has received any small business loan offers and the jobs board remains the same, non-existent. Guess they just rat holed the $30 billion.
The small business owners that I know, I find walking around their empty establishments as glum as morticians mumbling, “Is it ever going to end?” Had that $30 billion been used for a Tier 5 Unemployment Extension it would still be at work shoring up our failing economy.
When the politicians return to Washington, they need to be inundated with calls, emails, tweets, and faxes letting them know that we have had all that we are going to take. Without making open threats, we must convey to them the fact that desperate people tend to take desperate measures, and that we’re not going to take them on ourselves anymore. They must be made to understand that the issue of unemployment is not only pertaining to those out of work, but is day by day becoming a matter of national security which could not only effect their jobs but their well being.
Maybe then they will, as a matter of self preservation, come to the conclusion that the revenues that will be expended to finance a Tier 5 will have to be considered money well spent.