Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Debate Frustrations



            Sitting here watching the second Presidential debate for the 2012 election, actually the November 2011 election, is really disappointing.  So far all I’ve heard, both in this debate and the first debate, is the same rhetoric coming from different angles.  At the moment they are talking about tax cuts, lowering the taxes on all incomes but keeping some deductions, making the upper income, over $250,000, pay more.  In reality they are both way off the mark, neither of their plans are going to grow the economy.  Let’s look at deductions, why do we have them?

            Has anyone ever thought about the fact that because they may decide to get married and have children and send them to public schools they are getting their children’s education paid for by those that decided not to have children and they are getting to keep more of their money simply because they decided to get married?  Let’s look at the mortgage deduction, you decide to buy a house and now all of a sudden you get to keep more of your income?  Why should anyone get to deduct a mortgage?  Is this saying that the person that does not take out a mortgage to buy a home but instead decides to work hard and save to buy a home outright should be penalized?  So the truth is the IRS and the Federal Government wants you to stay in debt, they encourage you to not pay off your home because you will lose that mortgage deduction, you will actually have less disposable income if you are fiscally responsible and do not go into debt.  That is a form of slavery.

            On the subject of the economy let’s look at the issues about education, specifically college education.  Both of the candidates are touting maintaining Pell Grants and other Government sponsored loan programs to promote college education.  How much Federal money goes to Colleges?  I honestly do not know the answer to that but I’ll bet it would be an interesting trail to follow.  Who provides the money that is paid out in these Government grant programs, it is not the Federal Government, it is the tax payer, you and me and anyone else that is out here working and paying taxes, college education or not.  It is interesting that during that conversation the President stated that he wanted to increase manufacturing jobs, last time I checked most of the jobs in manufacturing do not require a college education, at least not to perform the job.  I am not knocking a college education, what I am knocking is the total disregard for the fact that more jobs in this country do not require a college education, we can put more people back to work by the Government getting out of the way.  Most of the regulations in this country, both at Federal and State levels are not to ensure safe operations or fair trade; they are to get in the way of growth.

            Another thing that I keep hearing in the debates is the issue of the bail out the auto industry.  The President keeps hammering Governor Romney about wanting to allow the auto industry to go into bankruptcy.  The President states that the Governor plan would have lost millions of jobs, but no one wants to connect the dots and look at what the President has said about the energy industry in these United States, specifically the coal industry.  The President has stated in plain words that you can start a coal fired plant but we will bankrupt you.  How many jobs will that kill?  How many coal miners that know only one way of life, how many truck drivers that haul the coal will no longer have a job, how many companies that load the coal on barges and move them up rivers from the mines to the coal fired electrical generation plants will lose their jobs?  It’s not about maintaining jobs, it’s about who is politically connected, the auto unions, and it’s about personal agendas.

            Immigration is another favorite subject in these debates.  Neither candidate will come right out and state that the problem is not with immigration, it is with illegal immigration.  Once again most of this problem has been caused by Government intervention.  The immigration laws are so convoluted that it takes a entire team of lawyers to figure out all the paperwork that needs to be filled out and the hoops that have to be jumped through in order to enter this country legally.  The Constitution is fairly straight forward about the Federal Governments role in immigration; the Federal Government will make the laws for naturalization, not immigration.  The Federal Government is not following their own laws, look up the Federal Naturalization Laws; once you do you will wonder why we have so many bi-lingual signs in these United States.  Immigration and the protection of borders should be a State issue until the flow of illegal immigrants is deemed to be an invasion; at that point the Federal Government should step in to protect the States.  Immigration and alien worker programs are good for these United States, as long as they all enter legally.  Some of the best workers you will find in these United States are workers that are coming across our Southern borders to try and better their lives.  The problem is that our Federal Government wants to turn a blind eye to persons crossing our border illegally, just because they are good workers and they are trying to better themselves.  If I was to rob a bank to better myself I would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of what type of worker I was or how many people I was supporting.  The law is the law, breaking a law no matter the reason is wrong, why are we willing to turn a blind eye to people that are illegally trespassing into our States, not to mention the fact the our Federal Government will sue a State because they are trying to enforce the law.

            Both candidates are being very evasive about the assault weapons issue.  This is really a simple issue, it is not the weapons, it is what is done with them by a small portion of the population.  Speeding and reckless driving is against the law, we have not made it against the law to sell performance engines or parts, we have enforce the laws on speeding and reckless driving, the same should be true with assault weapons, it can be cool to shoot an assault weapon, you use it illegally you will be punished to the full extent of the law.

            The issue of shipping jobs overseas came up and all I kept hearing was that we need to either hold Chinas feet to the fire for manipulating their currency or we need to promote high wage, high education jobs.  Not all Americans are suited to go to College.  As for the China issue, it is their currency; they can do what they want with it.  If America would worry about America and stop trying to make everyone else like us or make everyone else play by our rules we would be better off.

            Whoever becomes the next President of these United States needs to work at getting out of the way.  He needs to pull that archaic document called the Constitution of the United States and read it then steer the Federal Government back to that document.  One of the first things the next President should do is to have a meeting with all the Governors of the States and reiterate that the States are sovereign and that it is up to them to have or not have all the entitlement programs, the programs that are not authorized by the Constitution.  Unfortunately that is not going to happen, we are going to be faced with the same type of Presidency that we have seen for the last several decades, more Government intervention, more regulation, more spending, more taxes and more importantly, less freedom for the citizens.  This is not a Republican or Democrat issue, this is a power issue, both sides want the power and both sides will abuse the power.
           
Steve Avery
10/16/2012

No comments:

Post a Comment