It’s all about where the money goes

If you look at the policies regarding public education there is no effort being made to cut overall spending by the state.  This isn’t really about saving.

The attacks being made are against public schools, teachers and unions – where the money goes – but not against the spending.  The cuts are enormous and devastating, but while funding for public schools is cut, the collection of taxes is not.  The idea isn’t to eliminate the revenue but to redirect it.

If you cut the funding to public schools enough then you can make the schools look bad, which reinforces what is already being said.  Yet the alternatives have nothing to do with making school funding equitable or lower or even with improving public schools.  The only alternatives offered are private and charter schools.

Vouchers are intended to fund private schools with tax dollars just as charter schools are funded with tax dollars.  That’s the redirection.  The idea is to take tax money away from public schools and public employees and funnel it into private corporations who will take over the education of America’s children.  This plan offers less accountability, lower standards and no improvement in education.  Recent studies have shown that charter schools do not perform better than public schools.

No one is talking about cutting taxes or reducing overall spending.  There are only two goals: breaking the teacher’s unions and putting tax dollars into the pockets of private corporations.

It’s about money.

It’s not about education.

Who doesn’t pay what and why

Or

lies, damn lies and statistics

There’s a specious argument being used to push for changes to the tax code so that more people – read poor people – pay more tax and it also used against calls for higher marginal tax rates.  It’s the fact that almost 50% of people in the US don’t pay federal income tax.  The problem is that too often some important facts are not mentioned.

Some of those people not paying federal income tax are rich enough that they can exploit the tax code.  For example, billionaires whose income is classified as carried interest so they pay no federal tax on it.  I don’t see any proposals to tax these people.

But most of the people who don’t pay federal income tax are too poor to reach the lowest threshold required to pay.  You know, people who don’t earn enough to make ends meet so they pay no federal income tax.  But they still pay FICA.  Since you asked, no, you don’t pay FICA on carried interest.

Then there is the really big thing that no one seems to want to talk about – when the modern income tax began ONLY THE RICH WERE SUPPOSED TO PAY FEDERAL INCOME TAX.  You might see comments about how everyone was covered and the lowest rate was 1% up to $20,000 of income.  That’s true, but it’s also true that the personal exemptions were designed so that the average person would pay no income tax at all.  In 1913 the personal deduction was $3,000 but the average income was only $800. 

When it started most people did not pay federal income tax.  Adjusted for inflation the personal exemption would be over $60,000 today.

The poor and middle class were exempt because they couldn’t afford the tax and because they drove the economy.  Keeping money in the hands of the average American meant they might not starve or be homeless and they could also buy the products that American businesses manufactured.  On the other hand, the rich could afford to pay income tax because they had a surplus of disposable income.  That hasn’t changed, and while it could be argued that more people in the middle class should be paying taxes now than there were a hundred years ago, shouldn’t there have been a better adjustment in the personal deduction, and should there be billionaires who pay nothing?

When someone tells you that half of all Americans don’t pay taxes remember the history, and be sure to take a very close look at what they think needs to be done about it.  See how much their plan asks of the poor and how much of the rich.  Then check to see how much more money will come out of your own pocket, and how much out of the pockets of millionaires.

Lots of bridges are falling down

There’s $550 billion worth of infrastructure repairs needed in this country.

The things that were built during the Depression, as part of the spending that ended the Depression, are falling apart.

It will take years to do all of the work and it will mean money spent on supplies and planning, construction workers and management.  Money that will then be spent on food and clothes and rent and cars and gas and taxes – billions pumped back into the economy and the treasury to strengthen the country and lower the deficit.

We can either let the country disintegrate, with one bridge or highway collapsing after another, or we can spend money, put people back to work and fix things to build a legacy that will last another 80 years.

Where exactly is all of this money?

There’s this crazy claim being made that President Obama is on some kind of spending spree and has increased government spending to outrageous levels never before seen or done by any President before.

The truth is that spending has slowed under this administration and the deficit has been smaller for the past two years – the only two that this president had control over.  Well, except for this year but I haven’t looked at the numbers for this year yet.  Overall there’s been an increase, but at a slower rate than any other President in at least 30 years.

Personally I think that President Obama hasn’t been spending enough.  With a sluggish economy it is the role of the government to spend and with virtually negative interest rates it doesn’t make sense not to borrow the money and spend it.  Right now the federal government should be spending like crazy.  There isn’t any risk of inflation at the moment.  This country would be a lot better off if there was more spending.

But Obama hasn’t been spending that much even though people keep saying that he has been.  I guess when the facts get in the way some people just ignore them.

Motivations

In case anyone was wondering, I don’t post because of political positions; my posts are motivated by ideology.  When I complain about something I see as wrong it doesn’t matter who is responsible.  It is the action or the policy that I find offensive. Though I have to say that most of what is going on these days is coming from one particular political party.

That being said, I don’t really like the choices in November.  I don’t trust either candidate on some issues, though I lean in one direction on many things.  Whoever is elected I expect to see cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid – basically I expect cuts across the board for the social safety net programs.

And can I say one more time that Social Security has never added one dime to the deficit.

I also see bad times ahead for the rapidly dwindling middle class and the poor.  But if you’re a corporation or you’re rich, well, good times.

Once again it will be the choice of the lesser of two evils.

Anyone ever see that bumper sticker?  Why settle for the lesser evil; vote Cthulu.

Universal suffrage?

No matter what you might have been hearing to the contrary, there is virtually no voter fraud in this country.

Every investigation, and there have been a few, has shown that the claims of people voting illegally are unfounded and are typically clerical errors on the part of the poll workers.

Yet in state after state legislators and executives are doing everything they can to not only make it harder to cast a vote but to prevent eligible voters from exercising their right to vote.

The movement to enact voter ID laws, purge voter rolls, close polling places, end early voting and prohibit individuals and groups from educating people or helping them to register is nothing more than a concerted effort to infringe the right of people to vote.  It is not a coincidence that the people promoting this are of one political party and those most affected by this are members of another political party.

This is an assault on voting rights that seeks to disenfranchise voters for political gain.

It’s disgusting.

What the hell is going on in this country?

For the record I oppose this no matter who is doing it.

You know what they could be doing as an alternative?  They could be educating people and actively verifying the eligibility of every resident of the state and creating a valid voter registration for every eligible voter.  That would ensure the accuracy of the voter lists and protect the rights of the people.

Veepish behavior

There’s a VP campaign commercial on these days for Chris Christie extolling all the wonderful things he’s done for the state of New Jersey.  Apparently he’s some sort of reformer.  The commercial makes all sorts of claims about how he’s been so wonderful for the state.

Things like he balanced the budget – just like every other governor because it’s required by law.  They also fail to mention in the commercial that the state has not met all of its obligations.  In other words the budget was balanced because some of the bills weren’t paid.

The rest of the commercial is just a bunch of half-truths and lies.  Projects that would have created jobs have been cut, public school funding has been cut, public sector pensions have been hurt and overall economic performance and job creation lag well behind the neighboring states of New York and Pennsylvania. 

The commercial is nothing but bs, but I guess that’s what you do when you want to sound like a good choice for VP governor.

Fair warning

Here it comes - and I don't mean the rain.

I changed my mind

I’ve decided to hold off on all of the crappy stuff I have until after the holiday weekend.

You probably could have guessed

I haven’t been blogging lately because every time I start to write something it turns out to be political or medical and I haven’t wanted to bother anybody with all of that stuff. 

Well, I decided that if that’s what’s on my mind then that’s what I’m going to blog about.

So this is fair warning that you can expect to be inundated with that sort of stuff for a while since at this point I have a bunch of posts saved up.  I’ll post what I’ve got until I run out or until something else comes to mind.

This may be a big political season but I sure hope that something else comes to mind real soon.

Oh well.  We’ll see what happens.

Improvisation dysfunction

So there are these commercials for an ED drug that talk about being at that age when you’re old enough to know how to take care of things.  Except, apparently, getting it up and satisfying your partner which is why you need their pill.  But I digress.

The first one I saw had this guy driving through the desert in an old muscle car and it starts to overheat.  So he pulls into a service station – remember those? – walks past the guy standing in front of the garage and waves.  Then he walks inside, buys a bottle of cold water from the fridge in the store, drinks some and pours the rest into his car.

I guess he knew enough to manage to get the radiator cap off without getting scalded, but somehow he was too stupid to ask the mechanic for a hose so he could top off his radiator with warm water – which would almost certainly be free.  Instead he buys cold water to put in his overheated car.

I’m not sure what this guy has learned in his life but how to take of a car wasn’t part of it.

Another one shows a guy on a sailboat and the clamp for a pulley on the boom breaks.  So on a boat full of ropes and lines and various things for tying things down, this guy takes the strap from his life jacket to reattach the pulley.  Now there’s real genius for you.

I’m not sure what point these commercials are trying to make, but I think they better start selling a pill to improve common sense because these guys are morons.  Maybe all the blood rushed from their brains.

Round 2

I had the second dentist visit for my root canal yesterday.  He couldn’t finish it the first time because the canal wasn’t dry and it needs to be so he can fill it.

This time wasn’t quite as bad because there was less done.  I asked him to just put a temporary filling on, like he did the last time, rather than start the crown work with a base and a temporary crown.  The only reason for that was financial.  I can’t really afford the work I just had done but my tooth broke so I didn’t have much choice.

Even with dental insurance I just can’t afford a crown right now, and based on my x-rays I need more than one.  My dentist is a good guy.  He knows this stuff isn’t cheap, he’ll discuss alternatives even if he doesn’t really recommend them (like pulling teeth instead of fixing them) and he always talks about arranging things both in the best way treatment wise and also to spread the cost out.  He doesn’t lower his prices, but they haven’t gone up much over the years and the biggest part of the cost is the independent lab that makes the crown.

My dentist has worked with me in the past to spread out payments and he’ll do his best to keep my teeth from falling apart – and keep me healthy – with the lowest cost possible.

This may sound weird but I actually like my dentist.  He has a great chair-side manner and makes sure that you aren’t in too much pain.

There is a lot to be said about dental care in this country and I had a really depressing post written about this involving my own health and situation and the state of this country, but you really don’t want to read that.  I don’t really want to post that, either.

I’ll let you know when I get the work finished because I know that everyone is hanging on every word I write about my teeth.  This is absolutely riveting.

Deliberate malevolence

People who want to destroy public education are evil.

I really can’t think of another word for it.

Questions

Do the people who want unregulated markets leave their cars and homes unlocked, their money lying around the house and not want police to protect our lives and property?

If some people can’t be trusted not to steal a few dollars why can we trust these financial geniuses not to steal billions? Somehow they’re the ones who are moral and upstanding and eminently trustworthy? That’s how we save the economy, by letting people do whatever they want?

I’m supposed to take these ideas seriously?

More pain, less gain

When people talk about broadening the tax base they mean making poor people pay more.

Who thinks that’s a good thing?

Do as I say, on second thought …

Having taken my own advice, last night I turned off the TV, shut down my PC and picked up a book – and proceeded to read until an hour after I had intended to go to bed.

Oh well, it’s a start.

Don’t touch that dial

Does anyone even know what that means anymore?

If you are prone to insomnia and find yourself awake late at night and are tempted to flip channels just to see what is on, I would suggest that you resist the urge.

I intended to get to bed early last night, which would challenge my body’s tendency to keep me awake into the wee hours of the morning, but I live in hope. Between the cat lying on me and a certain lethargy brought on by little sleep the night before and a long day, I was too tired to get out the chair and drag myself to bed. So I kept the TV on and just looked to see what was on and found a local channel that showed old TV.

I got sucked in by Peter Gunn, watched an episode of Mission: Impossible and then watched the end of Double Indemnity. Yes, it was a foolish thing to do, but let it serve as a warning to you. When you think it might be a good idea to watch just one more thing, don’t. Turn off the TV. Just grab the remote and turn the TV off.

You should be reading instead anyway. So should I.

And no, it does not escape my notice that I am posting this late at night.