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Paying for Tax Cuts: The New Propaganda

I am completely taken aback by something I heard on the radio. I should be immune to stupidity in the press, but for some reason, I just can't keep from getting mad when people say things that common sense and a first grade education should have taken care of. I was driving home from work and heard this reporter on the radio, who I cannot recall his name, talking about the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) estimates of a deficit. That did not bother me, but his next comment did. He asked how we could possibly pay for tax cuts with a deficit like this.

Excuse me! How do we pay for tax cuts? This is just the Liberal spin that has gotten us overtaxed and desensitized to it. Any tax cut is just a redistribution of what taxes are paid anyway. Even with that fact aside for now, it is quite apparent that the media, at least this particular journalist, as well as Washington, believes the money we pay in taxes is theirs. You don't have to pay for money you do not collect. If you don't get it, you can't spend it. It would be like a corporation saying, "how am I going to pay for these profits?" It is ludicrous.

Now, let us move on to the redistributing of taxes. Assume that the Federal Government is right and revenue from income taxes falls, however short sighted this idea may be, does not the increased money in the pockets of Americans cause spending to go up and therefore peripheral taxes to increase? BINGO! I hate to state the obvious my fellow Americans, but spending leads to production. All production is taxed. Arnold Schwarzenegger actually said it best when we said Americans are taxed from the moment they wake up in the morning.

Another important thing to remember is the idea of "supply side economics." This economic thought proposes that the more money we put into the hands of business, individuals, and entrepreneurs, the more money we have available to create jobs, invest in the economy and stimulate spending. It is also a common sense approach to the way the economy functions in the world today. The more money there is, the more will be spent. It makes you almost feel like the cool surfer who looks at his friend and says, "DUH!"

I realize that this is a big soap box to be on over what some might consider to be a trivial issue of semantics. However, imagine if you were in the grocery line and the manager came up and said, "I'm sorry sir, but we cannot afford to pay for your change today so you will just have to try your luck tomorrow." True, it is a very extreme example, but the logic of the two statements are the same. For giving you back your money, which they shouldn't have anyway, they make you feel like you are robbing them blind.

It is time to hold people accountable for the words they use. It is time to rise up and say, "hello, did you listen to how stupid what you just said sounded?" It is time to realize that perhaps government should live within a budget and quit picking my pocket for over one third of my income every year. Above all, it is time for people to be honest and say what is really going on. They cannot tell the truth because it sounds as awful as it is. We need to stop the insanity in government.

Learn more about this author, Ed Finn.
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