ran 2.4 miles
Today ends week forty-five of running against Obama. I ran 21.6 miles this week, averaging 3.09 miles per day.
August 2 will be here soon and a decision on raising the debt ceiling or defaulting on our debt will have to be made. Defaulting on our debt is something America has never done and it is highly unlikely that it will happen now. Such a decision would have a global impact and America’s economy, which appears underwhelming and stands slouched, would be ground zero of the damage. It would be similar to you claiming bankruptcy and your creditors losing all trust and interest in you for a significant amount of time. More importantly, it would lead to other competitive nations advancing exponentially beyond America as we slowly pick up the pieces of what we once were.
Defaulting seems unrealistic, but the compromises Republicans and Democrats are attempting to strike with one another in Congress are leading to nowhere. Republicans want to slash spending with absolutely no consideration for tax hikes and Democrats want to perform an intricate surgery on spending with much gravity on increasing taxes.
Here are a couple of interesting facts that add more dimension to the picture of what is really going on. For one thing, Barack Obama is currently trying to raise taxes, exactly what he thought was a bad idea in December of 2010, shortly after the mid-term elections. He continued the Bush tax cuts, not just for certain classes but across the board, after campaigning on ending them. Why is it a good idea now to raise taxes if it was not a good idea then? What has changed in the past seven months that makes tax hikes justifiable now? Nothing has changed. Our economy and jobs numbers are the same, if not incrementally worse.
“…Insisting on really big tax increases as a condition to do anything on the spending side, we believe the president was right back in December when he signed the two-year extension of the current tax rates that raising taxes in the middle of this economic situation we're in is a terrible idea. Let me just look at the unemployment figures last Friday. All the arguments the president used in December are still here today. There's an additional issue to unemployment at work here and that is what kind of government do you want to have?
And if you look back at the last two and a half years, you see the government running banks, insurance companies, car companies, national housing loan business, taken over healthcare, trying to take over the Internet, increasing spending, discretionary spending 24 percent, increasing debt 35 percent. What -- how big a government do we want? And we don't want to use this opportunity presented by the president's request of us to raise the debt ceiling to kind of freeze the perpetuity of this much government. I don't think the American people want it. I don't think it's good for the economy.”
Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that 235 Republican members of the House and 40 Republicans in the Senate took a pledge to not raise taxes, as demanded by their constituents, in the form of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. It was proven as a result of the mid-term elections of November 2010 that it is very easy to get fired if members of Congress do not abide by the demands of the people. The Republicans who signed that pledge to not raise taxes stand to lose their jobs if they give in to what Democrats are demanding.
It is a win-win situation for the left because taxation has no end for the policies they adhere to and if they can get Republicans to cave and raise taxes, which makes zero sense at an economic time like this, then they will have achieved stirring the disappointment and anger of those constituencies that are represented by the 275 Republican seats of Congress who signed a document swearing to not raise taxes. Politically, it is a brilliant way to jostle the chances of reelection for these seemingly ardent, hard-nosed conservative members of congress. And they are between a rock and a hard place because if the ceiling does end up making contact with the floor then blame is going to be projected in every direction. Again, brilliant political strategy.
Let no tragedy go unused, that’s how they think, and if you stand to be a one-term president, which really is sort of humiliating as far as history books go, shake things up at any costs, create some chaos, broaden your odds at any cost.
This is the world of politics. It’s about you and me only so long as these pompous, arrogant, entitled children get their ways. They find far more virtue and honor in being a career politician than they do in serving our interests.
With all of the circular talk we have been hearing about the debt ceiling, here is a shot of pure logic from Senator Marco Rubio:
“Let’s stop talking about new taxes and start talking about new taxpayers, which means jobs. This debt is the No. 1 issue on everyone’s minds and rightfully so. It is a major issue, but everywhere else, in the real world, the No. 1 issue on people’s minds is jobs. And I tell you, every other problem facing America — a mortgage crisis, a home foreclosure crisis, this debt problem — all of these issues get easier to deal with if people are gainfully employed across America. And the impact that unemployment is having across this country is devastating. …
Our job here [in Congress] is to do everything we can to make it easier for them to find a job, not harder. And I think that’s what we have to do when it comes to ‘a balanced approach’ and when we talk about revenue. We don’t need new taxes, we need new taxpayers, people who are gainfully employed, making money, paying into the tax system and then we need a government that has the discipline to take that additional revenue and use it to pay down the debt and never grow it again. …
So you look at all these taxes that are being proposed and here’s what I say: I say we should analyze every single one of them through the lens of job creation, issue No. 1 in America. I want to know which one of these taxes they’re proposing will create jobs. I want to know how many jobs will be created by the planes tax. I want to know how many jobs will be created by the oil company tax that I’ve heard so much about. How many jobs are created by going after the millionaires and billionaires that the president talks about? I want to know! How many jobs do they create? …
I traveled the state of Florida for two years campaigning. I have never met a job creator who told me that they were waiting for the next tax increase before they started growing their business. I’ve never met a single job creator who has ever said to me I can’t wait ’til government raises taxes again so I can go out and create a job. I’m curious to know if they say that in New Hampshire because they don’t say that in Florida. So my view on all that is, I want to know how many of these tax increases the president proposes will create jobs because if they’re not creating jobs and they’re not creating new taxpayers, they’re not solving the problem.”
1,145.4 miles to go.
Today ends week forty-five of running against Obama. I ran 21.6 miles this week, averaging 3.09 miles per day.
August 2 will be here soon and a decision on raising the debt ceiling or defaulting on our debt will have to be made. Defaulting on our debt is something America has never done and it is highly unlikely that it will happen now. Such a decision would have a global impact and America’s economy, which appears underwhelming and stands slouched, would be ground zero of the damage. It would be similar to you claiming bankruptcy and your creditors losing all trust and interest in you for a significant amount of time. More importantly, it would lead to other competitive nations advancing exponentially beyond America as we slowly pick up the pieces of what we once were.
Defaulting seems unrealistic, but the compromises Republicans and Democrats are attempting to strike with one another in Congress are leading to nowhere. Republicans want to slash spending with absolutely no consideration for tax hikes and Democrats want to perform an intricate surgery on spending with much gravity on increasing taxes.
Here are a couple of interesting facts that add more dimension to the picture of what is really going on. For one thing, Barack Obama is currently trying to raise taxes, exactly what he thought was a bad idea in December of 2010, shortly after the mid-term elections. He continued the Bush tax cuts, not just for certain classes but across the board, after campaigning on ending them. Why is it a good idea now to raise taxes if it was not a good idea then? What has changed in the past seven months that makes tax hikes justifiable now? Nothing has changed. Our economy and jobs numbers are the same, if not incrementally worse.
“…Insisting on really big tax increases as a condition to do anything on the spending side, we believe the president was right back in December when he signed the two-year extension of the current tax rates that raising taxes in the middle of this economic situation we're in is a terrible idea. Let me just look at the unemployment figures last Friday. All the arguments the president used in December are still here today. There's an additional issue to unemployment at work here and that is what kind of government do you want to have?
And if you look back at the last two and a half years, you see the government running banks, insurance companies, car companies, national housing loan business, taken over healthcare, trying to take over the Internet, increasing spending, discretionary spending 24 percent, increasing debt 35 percent. What -- how big a government do we want? And we don't want to use this opportunity presented by the president's request of us to raise the debt ceiling to kind of freeze the perpetuity of this much government. I don't think the American people want it. I don't think it's good for the economy.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY
Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that 235 Republican members of the House and 40 Republicans in the Senate took a pledge to not raise taxes, as demanded by their constituents, in the form of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. It was proven as a result of the mid-term elections of November 2010 that it is very easy to get fired if members of Congress do not abide by the demands of the people. The Republicans who signed that pledge to not raise taxes stand to lose their jobs if they give in to what Democrats are demanding.
It is a win-win situation for the left because taxation has no end for the policies they adhere to and if they can get Republicans to cave and raise taxes, which makes zero sense at an economic time like this, then they will have achieved stirring the disappointment and anger of those constituencies that are represented by the 275 Republican seats of Congress who signed a document swearing to not raise taxes. Politically, it is a brilliant way to jostle the chances of reelection for these seemingly ardent, hard-nosed conservative members of congress. And they are between a rock and a hard place because if the ceiling does end up making contact with the floor then blame is going to be projected in every direction. Again, brilliant political strategy.
Let no tragedy go unused, that’s how they think, and if you stand to be a one-term president, which really is sort of humiliating as far as history books go, shake things up at any costs, create some chaos, broaden your odds at any cost.
This is the world of politics. It’s about you and me only so long as these pompous, arrogant, entitled children get their ways. They find far more virtue and honor in being a career politician than they do in serving our interests.
With all of the circular talk we have been hearing about the debt ceiling, here is a shot of pure logic from Senator Marco Rubio:
“Let’s stop talking about new taxes and start talking about new taxpayers, which means jobs. This debt is the No. 1 issue on everyone’s minds and rightfully so. It is a major issue, but everywhere else, in the real world, the No. 1 issue on people’s minds is jobs. And I tell you, every other problem facing America — a mortgage crisis, a home foreclosure crisis, this debt problem — all of these issues get easier to deal with if people are gainfully employed across America. And the impact that unemployment is having across this country is devastating. …
Our job here [in Congress] is to do everything we can to make it easier for them to find a job, not harder. And I think that’s what we have to do when it comes to ‘a balanced approach’ and when we talk about revenue. We don’t need new taxes, we need new taxpayers, people who are gainfully employed, making money, paying into the tax system and then we need a government that has the discipline to take that additional revenue and use it to pay down the debt and never grow it again. …
So you look at all these taxes that are being proposed and here’s what I say: I say we should analyze every single one of them through the lens of job creation, issue No. 1 in America. I want to know which one of these taxes they’re proposing will create jobs. I want to know how many jobs will be created by the planes tax. I want to know how many jobs will be created by the oil company tax that I’ve heard so much about. How many jobs are created by going after the millionaires and billionaires that the president talks about? I want to know! How many jobs do they create? …
I traveled the state of Florida for two years campaigning. I have never met a job creator who told me that they were waiting for the next tax increase before they started growing their business. I’ve never met a single job creator who has ever said to me I can’t wait ’til government raises taxes again so I can go out and create a job. I’m curious to know if they say that in New Hampshire because they don’t say that in Florida. So my view on all that is, I want to know how many of these tax increases the president proposes will create jobs because if they’re not creating jobs and they’re not creating new taxpayers, they’re not solving the problem.”
1,145.4 miles to go.
