The "Big Tent" Party. Democrats Include ... Everyone?

Even the Daily show, a bastion of the Left is rethinking the Democrat Party Platform of "Inclusion".

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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New Obama slogan has long ties to Marxism, socialism - Washington Times

New Obama slogan has long ties to Marxism, socialism - Washington Times
I don't think Obama is a REAL socialist, he's more of a Statist, kind of like how the Nazi's treated the economy. You have Government working very closely with big business, where profits are private, but losses become Public.  Very similar to Bush's "Too Big to Fail" policy with the banks.

In a way, it's almost a "Reverse Robinhood".  Robinhood stole from the wealthy tax collectors, who had "stolen" their wealth from the poor.  Robinhood gave that money BACK to the poor, and while Obama talks about taking money from the wealthy and giving it to the poor, instead he's given his biggest campaign contributors such as the CEO of Solyndra, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

In a way, I think it's an insult to "true" socialists and "true" communist to call Obama a Socialist, because indeed he is not.

How the U.S. Tax Code is destroying Manufacturing

Another Abandoned Factory Building in America

We have a Crisis here in America, and while it's something that many are talking about, the solutions that are being proposed will not help and will only exacerbate the situation and make it much, much worse.

Manufacturing in the U.S. is in STEEP decline, but not for the reasons we've been told.  The truth is that most politicians don't want to talk about the real reason, mostly because of how our media here in the U.S. will handle this kind of coverage.

According to The American Prospect, between 2001 through the end of 2009, American Manufacturing has lost over 42,400 factories.  YES that's not a typo,  Factories not jobs.  Each of these factories employed an average of around 400 employees!  While there are no good statistics between 2009 to current, a trip through places like Ohio and Michigan will tell you that the situation has only deteriorated.

Almost every article that you read on this issue will tell you that the reason manufacturers are leaving the U.S. is because labor costs are cheaper in China.  While this may be true for low cost, low tech products, the truth is that U.S. manufacturers enjoy a MASSIVE edge in efficiency that translates to lower total manufacturing costs in the U.S. vs overseas counterparts.  A look at the Steel industry confirms this.  The Chinese use over 10X the man hours to produce a ton of steel vs. the U.S. and similar comparisons can be made everywhere.  If the issue was simply labor costs being cheaper in China, you would see the Ship building industry in Norway decimated, since they have some of the highest cost of labor in the world.  Same for the Japanese and the Germans.  They are not what you would call "Low Cost Labor".  Yet their Manufacturing sectors remain extremely robust.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines provides a fantastic reference point for this.  They recently purchased 2 ships in Norway costing upwards of 1.5 Billion Dollars each.  Think about this, the average U.S. Dock worker gets a total compensation of around $80K a year, including benefits.  They are considered one of the most efficient in the world, requiring less man hours for production than almost any laborers in the world.  Why then would the ship building company not have these ships built in the U.S., considering that in Norway similar workers cost a total of around $120K per employee in total compensation and in U.S. Dollars?  It's very simple, it has to do with our expensive and extremely complicated Tax code.  Norway actually has one of the highest individual tax rates in the world.  Most middle class families pay between 40 to 60% of their income in taxes (Including SS).  However, not wanting to kill the Golden Goose, Norway keeps Corporate taxes fairly low at an average of 28%.  Additionally, capital expenditures and interest payments are fully tax deductible.  What does this mean?  Well, Let's say that there's a ship builder here in the State of NY.  Between City, Local and Federal taxes, that ship builder will have to pay around 45% in taxes.  Additionally, capital expenses must be depreciated over a 5 year period.  This means that if the manufacturer has to upgrade their facilities every year in order to stay competitive, that company STILL must pay taxes on 80% of the money used in the capital expenditure.  This is a HUGE competitive DISADVATAGE that our companies have to bear here in the U.S.  Not only are we telling our companies that they have to pay taxes on improvements to their facilities, but additionally we're going to charge them more than just about any other country in the world.

Why Nothing Is Done

The reason why we don't see anyone doing anything with this is very simple.  Instead of talking about the real reason why manufacturing is declining in the U.S. Politicians would rather paint enemies and talk about how this person or that company is "exporting" jobs.  If anyone dares talk about reducing tax rates on Corporations, they are considered a "Shill" for the rich and the "Right Wing Extremist" and dismissed as idiots.  If we can't, as Americans face reality and realize that we're giving away the store, by keeping manufacturing tax rates so high here in the U.S.  We're going to continue losing more and more jobs to countries overseas that have much friendlier policies towards Corporations.  For those of you who say that it's still more patriotic to keep the jobs here and not to be so "Greedy", I'm sorry but in the world of manufacturing simply does not cut it.  When Sony or HTC or Samsung upgrades their product line every 6 months, the ONLY way that a U.S. company can stay competitive is to at least match the same upgrade schedule.  If Japan, China or Korea allow these companies to fully deduct those capital expenditures, yet here in the U.S. we won't, then guess what.  Zenith, Motorola and RCA end up having to shut down their U.S. Operations because they simply CANNOT compete.

A Plan like 9, 9, 9 would definitely go a long way towards fixing a lot of these issues, but with Cain out of the race, the truth is that his plan is a long shot for anyone to pick up.  Not because it's a bad plan, but because most Politicans don't want to be seen as ripping off someone else's idea.  Well, here's an idea that any politican can rip off from me and I won't say a word.  The 10, 10, 10 Plan with no national sales tax:

• 10% Flat Corporate Tax Rate
• 10% Flat Personal Income Tax
• 10% Flat Import Tax

It has all the advantages of Cain's plan, without the disadvantage of the National Sales Tax, while giving our manufacturers a slight edge over imports, while at the same time eliminating the taxation barriers they previously had to overcome.

For 600,000 Germans - Green Energy Is Just Too Expensive

Hundreds of thousands of households in Germany can not pay their electricity bills anymore and are therefore suspended from the grid. The rising prices of the energy transition have exacerbated the situation and while some get their Electricity restored, after saving their pennies, on any given day about 600,000 Germans are living without electricity.

Just to give you a comparison of how high German rates are, consider this.  At the end of this article it says that they're looking to keep rates at around 3.6 cents per KW.  This translates to roughly 4.5 cents per KWh.  Here in South Florida we pay 0.08527 per KWh for the 1st 1000KW, then it JUMPS to 0.105234 once you go over.  Now, there's also an additional $5.90 Billing fee, but either way the German rates are at least FOUR TIMES what we're paying here in the U.S.  Kind of like how Obama PROMISED that our Electricity rates would sky rocket under his policies.  Let's all thank GOD he hasn't had a chance to implement most of those policies!

Many people in Germany can not pay their electricity bills. And energy prices continue to rise unabated. The President of the Association of Social VdK, Ulrike Mascher, accuses the federal government of not properly thinking through the social dimension of it's energy policy.

"For low income households, the rising electricity costs is more than they can handle," said the head of Germany's largest social group. The board of the Consumer Rhine-Westphalia, Klaus Mueller estimates: "Ten to 15 percent of the population struggling to finance the ever-rising energy costs."

Each year, hundreds of thousands of households are disconnected from the grid, because they can't afford it any longer, and while many get their power restored, many endure weeks and even months with no power.

Renewable Energy Leaves Many Poor Germans with No Power

Here are low-income earners and pensioners even more than the recipients of Government low cost heating programs. "Previously, energy poverty was a marginal phenomenon, but now it has become for many an everyday issue," said Mueller.

According to the survey of consumer protection at the utility is locked at around 600,000 households per year due to unpaid bills of electricity.Mainly due to the strong expansion of renewable energy sources, electricity prices had increased in 2011 by around ten percent.

400 energy suppliers have raised prices

According to a survey of the price comparison portal Verivox.  The figures show that already some 400 utilities in the first half of 2012 their prices by an average of 3.5 percent, have raised or announced plans to do so. In the coming year is likely to be Verivox specification, inflation accelerated again. "For the foreseeable increase in network charges and the EEG surcharge, you can expect price increases of about 4.6 percent," said a spokesman Verivox.

According to the newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" from the federal policy would be if only the so-called EEG surcharge to subsidize the consumers with the supply of green electricity in the coming year once again clearly today 3.6 to up to 5.2 per cent kilowatt-hour increase.

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) was announced but not in the past year, the cost burden on consumers by the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) should "not exceed permanently" 3.6 cents per kilowatt hour.

Künast makes the government responsible

The President of the Greens, Renate Künast gives the federal government to blame for the increase in energy poverty. "Black and Yellow has energy-intensive firms in the network charges a massive relief - this loss of revenue drives up costs for consumers and SMEs in the air," said Künast. "This social imbalances are consciously organized."

The FDP's top candidate for the upcoming state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Christian Lindner, accuses the CDU to belittle the problem of rising energy prices. This power remains affordable, it need new coal-and gas-fired power plants and a permanent monitoring of the impact of the Renewable Energy Act.

"If necessary, must be adjusted again here," says Lindner. "In fact, rising energy prices, the economy take the pliers because they increase the one hand, the production cost and limit the other hand, the massive purchasing power of consumers." This is a vicious circle.

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I've tried to clean up the Google Translation, but didn't know where to go with it so I left some part of this article a bit murky.  You can see the original German article here.

http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article106236425/Strom-ist-fuer-viele-Deutsche-unbezahlbar-geworden.html

Greece: A Precursor For Things To Come?

I'm always looking for good stories and came across this one by Rich Hoffman.  The accompanying video is a bit long... Sorry guys, not a 30 second sound bite, but well worth the view.  Is this what we have to look forward to in America?

To those who wonder why I personally spend so much time writing about the evils of socialism and the general degradation of the human race the world over, I would like to direct your attention to the clip below. The video I have in mind is at the 4 minute mark, but the whole bit by Glenn Beck on his GBTV show sums up quite wonderfully what drives me.

I remember very well when Beck over a year ago on his Fox Television show predicted much of what is now going on in Greece and Egypt. Many in the industry wanted his head for his wild speculations about socialists and Nazis in Europe working their way into American politics. The clip above shows just how real the situation is.

It is not my fault that most people cannot add up the facts of what they see. Even worse, many people have a hard time even seeing the facts for their true worth. Glenn Beck obviously does not have this handicap which is a relief. I have never had it, and have spent much of my life spotting problems well before anyone else even thought there was a problem. Make no mistake, communism is here in America. It’s in our businesses, our schools, and our government. Socialism was brought to America by naive politicians after World War II as presidents like FDR experimented with socialism and over a long period of time people gradually accepted it. But the end game is what we can see in that video. That is what tomorrow brings if it is not stopped right now. It is to avoid that future shown in the above video that I put forth so much effort, because understanding it now will alleviate a lot of violence later. There is no denying that the world is fracturing even though most people chose not to see it. For those who do refuse, or are so tainted by ignorance that they cannot see, send this story to them so they can learn, and understand what the cost of compliance is. Refusing to act when decisions are required is the same as taking aggressive action in favor of turmoil when surrendering decisions lead to the perpetuation of tyranny among free people.

Obama nearly loses to an inmate?

No, this is NOT a joke.  The President was on the Ballot in West Virginia for the DEMOCRAT Ticket, and an INMATE was able to garner 40% of the vote!  An INMATE.

I just have to repeat this part, because this is the most shocking part about this.  There were no Republicans involved in this.  This was the DEMOCRAT ticket.  It just goes to show you how badly things must be in West Virginia, with the President's war on Coal, for the people over there to nearly choose an incarcerated inmate over the POTUS.

Obama nearly loses to Inmate #11593-051

Top 10 Most Polluted ... Socialist Bodies of Water

Environmentalist love to talk about how the Western World, and particularly the United States is causing such mass destruction of the planet, yet when one looks around the world what we find is that everywhere you see Socialism, you see an environment under assault.  If anything the Free Market ideals that have made the U.S.A. the most advanced and prosperous country in the world, also makes it one of the cleanest.  Why?  Our political system wouldn't allow for someone who allows the destruction of their ecosystem to stay in power, as they so easily do in Socialist countries.

Let's just take a look at the top 10 most polluted bodies of water in the world, and every time, it's Socialism that has allowed the destruction of that body of water.

#1.  Lake Karachay.
The most polluted place on earth - Russia

Lake Karachay in Russia looks FANTASTIC from this photo, yet it's the most polluted place on earth.  While Russia is no longer part of the U.S.S.R, truth is that the United Soviet Socialist Republic not only gave us Chernobyl, they also gave us many, many, many of the most polluted places in the world, this Lake at the top of them.  The Soviet Union used this lake as a dumping spot for all of the nuclear waste from their largest nuclear production facilities called Mayak.

In 1968, following a drought in the region, the wind carried radioactive dust away from the dried area of the lake, irradiating half a million people.  Love that socialist Utopia!

#2.  Matanza-Riachuelo River
Translates into "Slaughter Creek"
Buenos Aires Argentina

Socialism for foes and Capitalism for Friends is practically the National Anthem in Argentina.  The victim here is Matanza-Riachuelo River in Buenos Aires.  Pictured here on the left, the "flows" of garbage is just one example of the type of "water" that feeds into this disgusting river.  3.5 million people live in its contaminated basin. Something like this would NEVER be allowed to stand in the U.S.  What's worse is that according to Argentine newspaper, Página/12, $250,000,000 was set aside for a cleanup project in 1993, but only $1,000,000 was actually used to improve the conditions of the water. The rest was "misappropriated."  In other words, STOLEN by the Socialist Scumbags that run the country.  While every country has it's share of cronyism, backstabbing, skimming and outright bribery, only the corruption of a socialist lets you have 99.6% of the money for a project easily stolen by the Political Elites and have them simply get away with it.  Were are the rapid Corporate Raiders demanding "Social Justice" from those who stole this money and left this slimy mess they call a River?

#3.  Citarum River
West Java, Indonesia

While Indonesia is no longer considered a Socialist Republic since the old rulers literally drove the country off a cliff and destroying their currency, direct elections were only recently held for the first time in 2004, so they haven't yet had time to deal with all the corruption the Socialist legacy has left them with.  Let's face it, rapid population growth over the last 20 years is no excuse for letting the  Citarum River get into the shape that it's in, which threatens the health of everyone who comes in contact with the waters of the River.

#4.  Buriganga River
 Dhaka, Bangladesh

If you were to look at an article by "Socialism Today", you would think  that the reason there is such poverty in The People's Republic of Bangladesh is because of a failed "Capitalist Experiment".  Yet in their own article they speak of how when they won independence, the first thing they did was to nationalize most major industries.  Does that sound Capitalist to you?

The picture on the left shows you the yet another way that Nationalization and Socialism have taken yet another country down the road of destruction.  Not only financially, but environmentally.
All they can do is talk about excuses, there are never any results where they can point to a socialist system and say, "See those people over there, they are living better because of Socialism".

#5.  Ganges River
 Allahabad, India

India, a constitutional Socialist Republic, where the practice of taking from the poor and giving to the rich is practically legendary.  Slums that have been in place for decades are torn down and the lands given to the rich to redevelop.  While some of the former slum tenants are given free apartments in the new developments, many others are turned away to look for residence in other slums.  The vast majority of the lands are owned by the Government and generally the only real beneficiaries, just as in any other Socialist State are those who are well connected.

For the next 5 most polluted bodies of water, we have to go to China, the worlds biggest Socialist country, then back to India, then back to China, then to Israel.  What?  Oh, I'm sorry, did you think Israel was a western style Capitalistic country?  Practically the entire country is on the Dole! No, the Labor Party over there is firmly in control, even if they're not in control of the Government.  Kind of like here in the U.S.  Even if we have some leaders on the right, the Establishment that makes all the REAL policies is ALWAYS on the left.
Finally there's the Mississippi River in the U.S.A.  WHAT?!?  We're talking Socialism here?  YES, it's true.  The Socialist Policies of the U.S. when it comes to subsidizing Corn and Ethanol is what gave rise to the MASSIVE level of pollution in the Mississippi, and especially the dreaded "Dead Zones" in the Gulf.  Ending these Socialist policies would go a LONG way towards cleaning up this mess.  Remember it's not Capitalism that brought you these messes, it's Socialism.  So the next time some Enviro-Wacko tells you that we need to end Capitalism to save the planet, you remind of of Chernobyl.

#6.  Yellow River – Lanzhou, China

#7.  Yamuna River – New Delhi, India

#8.  Chaohu Lake – Anhui Province, China

Jordan River – Israel

#10.  Mississippi River, United States of America

Big Business Using Big Government to Bulldoze The Little Guy Out

California Truckers are taking the EPA to court over new trucking regulations.  Let's see if Occupy Wall Street picks up on this one.  As is typical of big business coziness with Federal Regulators to winnow the field for them, the ATA is fully on board, since most of their dues are paid for by the big national operators who have the most to gain from these rules.  These new rules will be devastating to most smaller operators, since they will be forced to upgrade their fleets.  Many of these smaller operators already reeling from higher fuel costs that have been difficult to pass on in this tough economy.

The EPA claims that they're trying to get the trucking industry to lower their "Carbon Footprint", even though this whole Global Warming fiasco has been shown to be little more than a MASSIVE Hoax, created to line the pockets of the very people pushing the agenda.

As the Government continues to push an agenda that benefits big business while hurting small business, it's no wonder that there are so few businesses willing to invest in this economy.  It seems more and more clear as the days go on, that unless you're somehow "connected", you Goose is cooked and others are ready and waiting to eat your lunch.

Until we the people choose to roll back the size and scope of this Government, we will see more and more examples of our businesses, our neighborhoods and our homes being sacrificed to the alter of the "Connected Partners" in Government.  Those who are "in" will always have the advantage over us, and nothing will change.  Always vote for the smallest government guy you can find when choosing elected officials and let's get rid of all these guys who think they can micromanage our lives and our businesses.  I'm an adult, I don't need "Big Brother" looking out for me.

How to "Fix" the Real Estate Market

It's simple, you tax an activity that you want LESS, and then you'll get more of that activity.  It's one of the reasons people delay marriage these days, you get more government goodies by staying single, especially single mothers... But that's a discussion for another time.

Let's take a look at the past, since there are many lessons to be learned.  When Reagan became President, the Economy was in a full blown tail spin.  We had record unemployment, record inflation, housing was practically worthless and the morale of the U.S. was an an all time low.  One of the effects of the Recovery Act of 1981 was not only to lower the top marginal rates from 75% to 50%, but it also created a MAJOR loophole to where income derived from Real Estate Investments were not taxable as long as the profits were reinvested in Real Estate.

The problem wasn't that it didn't work, the Reagan Revolution created over 2 MILLION Jobs a Year!  Compare that to these days' anemic job numbers, such as last August where there was effectively Zero job growth for the entire month and at best we've seen no more than 100,000 jobs created per month (with a THIRD higher level of population!).  The real problem was that there was so much jealousy created towards the few people who didn't pay taxes that they destroyed the whole system, along with an entire banking sector, just to make sure that a small minority of people were paying their "Fair Share" of taxes, instead of putting that money into the evil pockets of their employees, construction workers, delivery men, bankers, the Furniture guys and anyone else who profited from the massive construction boom under way.  The 1981 Tax Act was responsible for DOUBLING Federal Revenues by the end of Reagan's term, yet was considered a failure because a few people didn't pay taxes.  Incredible.

The same is happening today, where even Obama famously said in response to a question on Capital Gains taxes, that even if the economy was negatively affected by higher taxes he would still increase those taxes because it was the FAIR thing to do.

If we can put these types of idiotic reasoning's behind us and pass a tax reform act that makes investments in Real Estate and Manufacturing a tax free enterprise, we would put MILLIONS of people back to work.  Let's face it, manufacturing and real estate is where the real money is.  Both of these industries are dying anyway and so you can't sit there and say that we would "Miss Out" on taxing these guys, because the truth is that the government would be better off collecting taxes from all the employees, than giving them unemployment benefits as they're doing now.  Let's take the handcuffs off, forget about the fact that YES, there will be some people that won't be paying taxes, but who cares, those same people will be putting their capital to good use and employing millions.  To me getting more people OUT of unemployment is the FAIR thing to do.  So let's DO it!