Democrats have made a critical mistake in Massachusetts.
This needs to go viral — everyone you know needs to read this. Democrats have admitted to a scheme to ram through the Healthcare Rationing vote before Scott Brown can be sworn in as Senator, should he defeat his Democrat opponent on January 19th.
Paul Kirk, currently serving as interim Senator in Massachusetts, has declared that Brown, if he should be elected, will be delayed from any voting in Washington for as long as possible. Masssachusett’s Soros-funded Secretary of State, the corrupt William Galvin, has promised to do everything he can to stall the certification of Republican Brown “so that Democrats can pass the healthcare bill”.
Governor Deval Patrick, Senator Kirk, and Secretary Galvin fully intend to steal the will of the people and jam this Healthcare Rationing bill through the Senate, election be damned, no matter what the people of Massachusetts want.
Martha Coakley remains on vacation regarding all this, not bothering to comment on any of it. “Why should I?,” we imagine her asking, “I’ve already won this. It’s the Kennedy Seat. I get it next. Caroline Kennedy said so. Vicki Kennedy said so. Other Kennedys said so. It’s mine, and I’m going to vote the way Harry Reid tells me, and I think it’s good Deval and Paul and William intend to do everything they can to prevent Scott Brown from ever voting in the Senate. I think this is all funny. I must, or I would be out there condemning it. Remind me why I’m back from vacation talking to you again?”.
This is despicable.
It’s going to backfire on Democrats in a very big way.
It’s the kind of thing that, if this happened in Illinois, we’d actually take to the streets and riot over, screaming and yelling and demanding the government be dissolved and new elections be held for Governor and Secretary of State.
Here’s Scott Brown’s response to this madness:
“This is a stunning admission by Paul Kirk and the Beacon Hill political machine,” said Brown in a statement. “Paul Kirk appears to be suggesting that he, Deval Patrick, and (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid intend to stall the election certification until the health care bill is rammed through Congress, even if that means defying the will of the people of Massachusetts. As we’ve already seen from the backroom deals and kickbacks cut by the Democrats in Washington, they intend to do anything and everything to pass their controversial health care plan. But threatening to ignore the results of a free election and steal this Senate vote from the people of Massachusetts takes their schemes to a whole new level. Martha Coakley should immediately disavow this threat from one of her campaign’s leading supporters.”
THIS NEEDS TO GO VIRAL.
YOU HAVE TO SOUND THE ALARM.
Never have Democrats been this shameless, never have they held the voters in such contempt.
Despicable.
January 8, 2010 at 11:25 pm
you beat me to it.
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/healthcare/view/20100108scott_brown_swearing-in_would_be_stalled_so_health-care_reform_could_pass/
January 9, 2010 at 6:31 pm
The un-Democratic Party just penned and signed their suicide note.
January 8, 2010 at 11:31 pm
Democrats are playing with fire.
January 8, 2010 at 11:32 pm
Um. Wow.
I’m not one to talk about the second amendment much, though I am glad Americans have a right to bear arms.
The Washington Elites had better tread lightly. Just sayin’.
January 8, 2010 at 11:36 pm
I’m not surprised, given they way they totally ignored or changed the law after Kennedy died.
January 8, 2010 at 11:37 pm
They are sure stinking up our country..
Why don’t they just catch a boat–go find a socialistic country–oh no–they just want to take bribes and control your paycheck…
January 9, 2010 at 8:48 pm
A Great Example of Banking Policy from MyFreePress.COM
Easily Understandable Explanation of Derivative Markets
Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit . She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).
Word gets around about Heidi’s “drink now, pay later” marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi’s bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Detroit .
By providing her customers’ freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Heidi’s gross sales volume increases massively. A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi’s borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral.
At the bank’s corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then bundled and traded on international security markets. Naive investors don’t really understand that the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation’s leading brokerage houses.
One day, even though the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi’s bar. He so informs Heidi.
Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Since, Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and the eleven employees lose their jobs.
Overnight, DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS drop in price by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.
The suppliers of Heidi’s bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms’ pension funds in the various BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.
Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multi-billion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from their cronies in Government. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Heidi’s bar.
Now, do you understand?
January 8, 2010 at 11:44 pm
OUTRAGEOUS!
January 8, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Oh hell.
There is no backlash, there is no blowback, there is no flashback, there is no blowflash, there is no nothing that these people are afraid of or that will amount to a hikll of beans. I mean really, what if Brown gets elected, the Dems stall seating him, and “health” “care” “reform” is rammed through? What? If? So we all get mad. We may even get outraged. So what?
January 8, 2010 at 11:48 pm
Pissed off has an upside. And most of us won’t forget.
January 9, 2010 at 12:01 am
I think the Dems are playing a serious, come-to-Jesus endgame. Once it’s ended, our memories will only help us recall what we’ve lost.
Bleh, sorry to be so negative. I see bad shit in this move because it says to me that Dems are now Lethal Weapons.
January 9, 2010 at 12:04 am
Woops. Did my comment get 8?
I was raving something along the lines of, I’m scared of this move because it says to me that the Dems now fear nothing. They are Lethal Weapons.
January 8, 2010 at 11:53 pm
….watching….watching…wondering what can be done…what is being done…anything happening behind the scenes to lead us in the way to stop this, from both sides of the political spectrum. I refuse to believe there are no honorable democrats working from inside…hoping to correct this mess their party has become….tick tick tick
January 8, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Is it possible to stage a Sit-In at the Senate building that would stall all Senate business until Scott Brown could be seated? In the event he wins the special election? Do the people of America have any say in this at all?
January 9, 2010 at 12:03 am
I don’t know. I like the idea of not being neutered by their crookedness thought. I’d go. Even if I froze my butt off.
January 9, 2010 at 12:05 am
… crookedness though. (that’s what I meant.) They do think crooked too.
January 9, 2010 at 12:06 am
Here’s what I envision: we all meet up at Valley Forge National Park, then caravan over to the Capitol and have our sit-in, dressed up as Revolutionary War soldiers. I’m funemployed right now. Count me in.
January 9, 2010 at 12:14 am
Are you near Valley Forge? I am.
January 9, 2010 at 12:45 am
har har, nowhere near, but what the hell, I have time on my hands and I dig a good road trip.
And yeah, my company went under, too. Now I’m working on starting my own business. We’ll see who’s got enough disposable income to buy my products and services.
January 9, 2010 at 12:50 am
Good luck with the business!
January 9, 2010 at 4:31 pm
If I may quote Cicero again “sometimes you have to pick a fight to find out how to win it!”
January 9, 2010 at 12:23 am
I’m funemployed too. Company went under. I could dress up as a Revolutionary war nurse and sit my butt at the Capitol.
January 9, 2010 at 10:58 am
Assuming that the legislation comes back to the Senate (for, I’ve also heard, it may happen that the Reid bill is simply presented unamended to the House) — if the legislation comes back to the Senate after the 19th but before (let us hope) Brown is seated, and Kirk usurps the seat in the interval, the stage would be set for Coburn and/or DeMint to insist that the bill be read aloud, which might slow things down sufficiently so that Brown, sworn in properly, could help defeat it.
If it becomes clear that there is no legal basis for Kirk staying on after the 19th, I am worried that the Democrats may do their deviousness one better and employ a novel strategem for which legal provision may or may not already exist, such that in the end with the connivance of some judge they would continue to hold the Senate seat for some span of time beyond the 19th. At this point I don’t wish to say anything more about this possibility (if it even is one, rather than just an indication that I’ve come to be beyond suspicious when the current Democratic Party is concerned), except to note that as I understand it they tried something a bit similar once in another very blue state.
January 9, 2010 at 12:00 am
Yikes! Talk about motivating the opposition! Why on earth would Kirk think this helps Martha, or the Democrats in any way? I predict lawsuits galore and we may have to send Jimmy Carter up there to oversee the election like he does in other third world countries. I also predict that Kirk will have to walk back his thoughts on this quickly and in public. If Independents, Republicans, and any disenchanted Democrats were on the fence about voting against Martha, they will now crawl through the fire he just set with that flame thrower mouth of his.
Makes me so mad, I’m sending more money to Mr. Brown.
January 9, 2010 at 12:04 am
Off topic
Senator Mary Landrieu,
Barbara Boxer maybe good for you but she is screwing California,so lay off.
January 9, 2010 at 12:07 am
DUH.
No wonder the Republicans have abandoned this guy.
WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN THIS CONGRESS????
WE THE PEOPLE, mean NOTHING to them.
These people in office will ALL see their demise!!!!
January 9, 2010 at 1:01 am
Tamara,
The problem is the two Parties are in this together, closed-door buddies in fact, and equally corrupt. Both are owned by the banks and big business; both paid wages by taxpayers, yet do what their elite minders tell them to do. And I don’t know how voters are going to get off that carousel. There has to be a way short of open rebellion…
Btw, re your Thursday comment, you can Google ‘hindi vs. urdu’ for notes on that conflict.
January 9, 2010 at 1:10 am
That is what most people don’t get..They ask “why aren’t the Republicans doing anything??” Well not only that they are in short numbers..but they don’t really care either..the are all in it together…it is an illusion that they are not. It has all become a scam/sham on us people!
January 9, 2010 at 2:35 am
Michael:
The voters get off the carousel by picking them off one at a time.
January 9, 2010 at 12:10 am
Hi, How about a P.O. Box to send a check to. I prefer checks to paypal on the internet.
You guys are terrific. I, really, appreciate all the effort you put into digging out the truth of things. And – I, really, appreciate the flexibility of your truth given new and evolving information. Thanks.
January 9, 2010 at 1:03 am
Hi Jewel,
There is no PO Box at his website but the campaign headquarters is at this address, where you can send a check:
Scott Brown for U.S. Senate
200 Reservoir Street
Needham, MA 02494
January 9, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Hi,
I, already, sent a nice check to Scott. I was wanting to send a check to the Hillbuzz guys for their great work.
Jewel
January 9, 2010 at 12:12 am
The popping sound you hear is Dem House members disappearing…
January 9, 2010 at 12:17 am
This is an OUTRAGE! The POTUS needs to step in and STOP this right NOW!
Oh, wait…
January 9, 2010 at 12:19 am
OMG I just can’t believe they could be that nefarious. First Al Franken (one of the biggest scams in politics this decade) and now this. Well, I say we get Brown in there anyway, although we have our work cut out for us. I live in CT and between the union votes and the limousine liberals, NE is completely blue. Most of them have their heads so far in the sand, they can’t see anything and don’t want to. But it sure would be fun to get Brown in there and watch these pompous, righteous snobs squeal!!
January 9, 2010 at 12:25 am
Posted at
http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=14586
———————-
Dear MoveOn member,
In 11 days, we could lose progressive hero Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat—and with it, any hope for passing major progressive legislation this year.
A new poll Tuesday showed Democrat Martha Coakley’s lead in the special election to succeed Kennedy is at the edge of the margin of error, and the non-partisan Cook Political Report now says it’s very competitive.1 And today, some of the people behind the infamous Swift Boat and racist Willie Horton ads are spending $400,000 on a new attack ad. Republican Scott Brown and his extreme right-wing supporters are significantly outspending Coakley on TV.2
A Republican victory here would be a catastrophe—Democrats would lose their 60th vote in the Senate, health care could die, and the Republicans could block pretty much anything they want.
——
I am so sick of progressives referring to me as an extremist. My views line up with 76% of the people in this poll.
Gallup “Political Ideology” poll posted at
http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2467281630056011884kZnnxI
THEIRS are the ones in the 20% group. Lemme do the math … 3/4th vs. 1/5. Hmmm.
P.S., The first URL also includes BigFurHat’s rant about the email, which he is posting to expose, not agree with.
January 9, 2010 at 12:57 am
They’re tearing their hair out at Kos, too. They want Obama to go make an appearance for Martha. Heh, think he’ll stick his hand into that open flame again?
January 9, 2010 at 12:25 am
We’re regressing. “Gangs of New York” type of regressing. This is scary stuff. Oh well. Pray if inclined, and even if you’re not.
January 9, 2010 at 12:29 am
Seriously. And between this and ACORN, and, oh, the dead voters here in Chicago, we have the nerve to complain about the elections in Afghanistan. Do we have any moral standing with all these shenanigans going on? I was a young idealist once…but the events of the last year have really soured me.
January 9, 2010 at 12:41 am
We can’t lose our focus. I just sent the Boston Herald article out to 30 people – each who will send it on to 30 or more people…and so on. It will be viral by noon tomorrow.
And we can’t lose our faith either – We disenchanted voters in NJ threw out Corzine and elected Christie this past November. Who would have ever imagined that the same people who voted in Lautenberg would come out and vote for Christie. And with the president of the United States coming in 7 times to stump for Corzine. We thought it would be a nail biter but Christie won handily. It wasn’t one of those waves that the press could analyze. We didn’t talk about it much, we just went out and voted the arrogant putz out of office. I didn’t even get any robo calls. When that proverbial straw hits the camels back, we have to do something. Anger and fear are great motivators.
January 9, 2010 at 1:15 am
That’s right. As a wise guru said to his abbot disciple who wondered what to do now, as the Chinese army rolled into Tibet: ‘We’re each on our own two feet now’. Nobody is coming like the Lone Ranger and Tonto to save our sorry asses; we have to do it.
End of my rants today.
January 9, 2010 at 2:57 am
JerseyGram’s right. Time to phone-storm Kirk’s office in Boston.
(617) 565-3170
(877) 472-9014
(617) 565-3183 – fax
Say whatever you want – do the Alinsky thing. Disrupt, disrupt, disrupt.
We will not let them beat us. Something will happen to change this. They started this on Friday just to freak people out over the weekend.
It’ll be interesting to see if they deny their intentions tomorrow. There are ways to stop them – we just have to calm down and figure it out.
January 9, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I sent money and wish I could vote!
Does the GOP have representation at the precinct level to stop the usual ACORN thuggery of GOP ballots & ballot box stuffing?
dems are slimier than slugs.
January 9, 2010 at 12:42 am
I realize the Boyz and this site are stressed to the limit. This is for the commenters to digest. That stunt pertaining to Brown’s potential swearing-in is only a little taste of gov’t corruption to come. I just found and watched the Fall of the Republic video and even managed to download (free)and open it–no small feat for this computer’s operator. See review:
http://www.examiner.com/Review-Fall-of-the-Republic-an-Alex-Jones-political–economic-documentary
There is “high treason” in government; we’re where the Germans were with the Nazis in 1939; and citizens have the choice right now of awakening or enslavement to the global elite. No more ignorance or denials.
January 9, 2010 at 1:13 am
I have seen it also Michael F. you are right…if we don’t ban together and wake up..we will soon be slaves and there will be no hope! It is beyond “voting them out”! We don’t have time to wait or waste..
January 9, 2010 at 1:17 am
I found the video @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebOTc-7shU
I can’t watch it right now. It’s too long, and I’m losing tons of sleep over this crap already. I will watch it tomorrow and forward the url though. From what I saw, this needs to be viewed by anyone and everyone. It says over a million have viewed it, but that’s not enough. I wish there was a way to convince people of what is really going on. Some are waking up; but many are asleep still or too naive or too lazy.
Maybe this is why Sarah Palin is looking to the Tea Parties. (Joan of Arc anyone?) We need more just like her. I guess if we step up we’re part of the solution.
I certainly hope so. And this could be why congress seems to so willingly cave in with a little pressure applied from the WH. Piss!
January 9, 2010 at 12:55 am
Ha ha! Looks like the ignoramuses over at Moron.org (aka MoveOn) are catchin’ a chill up their spines….(don’t worry you will NOT be taken to MoveOn by going to the below link, just a commentary piece…)
http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=14586
snip
“Dear MoveOn member,
In 11 days, we could lose progressive hero Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat—and with it, any hope for passing major progressive legislation this year.
A new poll Tuesday showed Democrat Martha Coakley’s lead in the special election to succeed Kennedy is at the edge of the margin of error, and the non-partisan Cook Political Report now says it’s very competitive.1 And today, some of the people behind the infamous Swift Boat and racist Willie Horton ads are spending $400,000 on a new attack ad. Republican Scott Brown and his extreme right-wing supporters are significantly outspending Coakley on TV.2
A Republican victory here would be a catastrophe—Democrats would lose their 60th vote in the Senate, health care could die, and the Republicans could block pretty much anything they want.”
January 9, 2010 at 1:10 am
Evening all. Just a thought, why not contact Senator Burris for help on this? He’s not running for re-election and perhaps he would like to go out fighting on a point of honor and integrity trying to stop this attempt to usurp the democratic will of the voters of Mass. This would sure help rehabilitate his reputation among people and I suspect his own sense of dignity.
January 9, 2010 at 1:14 am
band together
January 9, 2010 at 1:22 am
Knew what you meant. And I forgot to say thanks. So, “Thank you for the video info.!”
January 9, 2010 at 3:06 am
Well, I am not surprised, though disgusted, as usual. Today, it struck me how sad it is that I have become so angry and that every day, I say something like, “Can you believe this shit”. Or worse. I was explaining to my DD about the terrorists, trials, diaper bomber, etc., and I called Holder a MFer! To my 19 yr. old daughter!
I HATE THEM FOR THAT!
Then, tonight,after watching MORE OF THE SAME *and getting really pissed off about it) I suddenly realized that I have simply run out of words to describe what “they” are doing to OUR COUNTRY and it’s citizens. To Me.
How sad, that a decent, loving, proud, intelligent(?), law abiding citizen, such as myself :), has reached such a level of disdain for “the process” and it’s processors that I have RUN OUT OF WORDS to describe them!
January 9, 2010 at 3:10 am
Oh and am I the only one that recalls the total RUSH JOB “they” did when “they” confirmed that cheater in the NY 23rd who beat Hoffman? He was CONfirmed in opposite order, probably illegally, so he could hurry up and join the forces to vote for that stench AKA House Bill.
Memba?
January 9, 2010 at 3:14 am
Good point, JB.
A blogger named RightKlik made a hopeful comment on my blog about this topic.
“They are trying to take the steam out of our effort. If Brown is elected, ObamaCare is dead, no questions asked. It would be an earth shaking event that could not be ignored. Even if he makes it a close race, I don’t know if Democrats would still have enough momentum to pass ObamaCare.
And I think the Dems will need quite a bit of time to work out remaining issues. They can stall to try to thwart the will of Massachusetts voters, but they can’t stall indefinitely.
The fact that they’re putting out this message just shows you how frightened they are that Brown will win.”
January 10, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Opus, I clicked on your name and what did I see? That BEAUTIFUL PICTURE of the million Patriots, which gets me choked up each time I stumble across it. I was there, were you? I bought a poster from Freedom Works of that picture. Framed it immediately…
I will remember that day forever with pure fondness and pride.
January 9, 2010 at 4:19 am
I just sent that link to Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Tammy Bruce, Lars Larson, and Karl Rove. (Dunno what Rove would/could do about it, but when I followed him on Twitter he followed me too, so why the heck not?) My voice is negligible. Theirs are not.
Oh, I could post it on Palin’s FB page too…
January 9, 2010 at 4:35 am
I tossed the link to biggovernment.com too.
January 9, 2010 at 7:56 am
Do they think we will EVER forget this *hit that they are doing??
I have protested agn Bush, and Darth Vader, I phone banked for Gore, for Kerry, for Hillary. I was a staunch loyal democrat since I registered to vote.
I will NEVER forget this, EVER. If they block Scott Brown from being sworn in, I WILL NEVER EVER vote for another totalarian nazi-like dimocrat again in my life. Not at the local level, not at the state level, not at the Federal level.
January 9, 2010 at 10:18 am
Please ,let’s not forget that part of the deal that changed the law so they could seat Kirk was that he WOULD NOT endorse any candidate when his time was up.Well,golly gee,guess what he did yesterday?Yes,he did endorse Martha.What liars and hacks.
January 9, 2010 at 10:25 am
0bama has brought an our-ends-justifies-any-means, third-world-dictatorship ruling mentality to Washington (I know that you guys in Illinois have had that for some years). This kind of end-run is coming straight from 0bama and his puppetmasters – Mass. is just the stadium for it.
Americans love our freedom too much for this to work on a national level. Across America there are too many of us “rubes” that won’t turn our heads to this.
One of 2 things will be the result:
1 – Any “Health Care Reform” that passes due to this non-sense will be the #1 campaign issue in November and bring easy majorities for its overturn.
2 – “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.” Thomas Jefferson
At this point, I don’t really care which of these 2 takes place so long as ‘We the People’ remain FREE …
January 9, 2010 at 11:15 am
Well, guys, I just posted your entire “hottie” post to my little puny blog — word for word (please forgive any copyright infringement.) Don’t know who I’ll reach — not sure if I have a reader in Massachusetts — but it sure is a nice thing to do — and lo, you are the first, the very first — to have a (Albeit unwitting) guest post on my blogette. Cheers, guys. Keep up the good works.
January 9, 2010 at 11:29 am
[...] 2: Hillbuzz is with me on this but then again he doesn’t live here. Possibly related posts: [...]
January 9, 2010 at 12:33 pm
[...] Democrats playing with dangerous fire: admit to plan to not seat Senator Brown until after Healthcar… (HillBuzz.org) [...]
January 9, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Refusing to seat an elected member is tantamount to a coup. I would then recommend taking up arms and take our country back. We are racing to the point where patriots are obligated to defend our country from the enemy within. Things are quickly spinning out of control over the hatred for GWB. At what point do we say “It’s time to defend our country” and forcefully take it back?
January 9, 2010 at 8:16 pm
The New Year Brings Tax Chaos
Happy New Year. Your tax bill just went way up.With the coruption of Obama and his buddies in congress
When the clock hit midnight on Jan. 1, some 70 new taxes on the middle class and small businesses went into effect, thanks to Congress’s failure to prevent the expiration of popular and economically vital tax breaks on time. So some 25 million middle class Americans are now slated to get hit with the alternative minimum tax (AMT) this year. Remember: This is the tax that was originally supposed to only hit the richest 100 Americans.
This year, the alternative minimum tax will gather $63 billion from American families with an income of as little as $75,000, according to the Senate Finance Committee. The AMT may now hit tax filers who are school teachers, construction workers and bus drivers. Call them the new rich.
The middle class will get soaked other ways, too. The new homebuyer tax credit goes away. That will hit working families with a $10.8 billion tab. The tax deduction for state and local taxes also disappears, so shoppers of all incomes will cough up $1.85 billion more.
Got a kid in college? The federal tax deduction for college tuition and fees has disappeared. That’s another $1.5 billion tax hike on the nonrich.
The nation’s employers are none too happy either with Congress’s failure to extend these tax cuts before the New Year. The research tax credit, which businesses depend on for new innovation and R&D, has been suspended. This will raise R&D costs by more than $7 billion in 2010.
The 50% write-off for small businesses for capital purchases—such as expanding their facilities, purchasing new equipment or machinery, or building a new plant—has vanished. Without those tax incentives, small businesses are likely to put any plans to expand their operations on hold. That means less jobs and fewer pay raises. A study by the National Center for Policy Analysis found that about 90% of the benefits from capital investment goes to workers in the form of higher wages due to increased productivity.
But the biggest debacle is the estate tax. On Jan. 1 it fell to zero for the year, and then in 2011 it goes back up to 55%. Estate tax attorneys are full of stories of wealthy heirs with living wills that ask their dependents to take account of the estate tax when determining when to pull the plug on the life support system. Don’t be surprised if death rates of wealthy Americans rises substantially this year.
Sen. Max Baucus has vowed to raise the estate tax back to between 35% and 55% this year, and to make that change retroactive to Jan. 1. But this will be of questionable constitutionality. Can Congress impose a new estate tax, say in April, on someone who was already dead and buried in February? Let’s hope not.
Sometime within the next few months Congress promises that it will enact a new tax law to reinstate many of the tax breaks that have expired. It’s highly doubtful that in an election year this Congress is going to hit 25 million Americans with a surprise AMT bill. But where is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi going to find the $63 billion in revenues to “pay for” that tax cut is anyone’s guess.
What no one in Congress seems to understand is that there is a very real economic cost to constantly tinkering with the tax laws. Uncertainty is the enemy of investment. Do businesses want to make major investment decisions based on congressional promises of a future tax break? Likely not. So right now millions of businesses and tens of millions of individual tax filers are stranded in a tax purgatory.
All of this only makes the case stronger for a simple flat-rate income tax with a low rate below 20%, no deductions and no double taxation (i.e. the termination of the death tax forever). The tax rules should be simple, nonintrusive, pro-growth, and set in stone.
Congress’s failure to settle the tax laws for 2010 is an unforgivable dereliction of duty. The federal government isn’t so understanding when American citizens are late paying their taxes: The IRS imposes strict civil fines and even criminal penalties. We should hold Congress to the same standards.
January 10, 2010 at 9:50 am
[...] Sprd teh Wrd Hello Cowboys, Hans here. I’m sure you’re all aware of the fight for Ted ‘Chappaquiddick’ Kennedy’s senate seat. [...]
January 10, 2010 at 8:31 pm
[...] HillBuzz calls the Democrats despicable, more than once. Never have Democrats been this shameless, never have they held the voters in such contempt. [...]
January 11, 2010 at 7:49 am
[...] Democrats playing with dangerous fire: admit to plan to not seat Senator Brown until after Healthcar… – I really hope he wins Ted Kennedy’s seat. [...]