The choice we have is described very well by an American born and raised in England journalist. Her description raises an obvious question if we truly mean what we say when we talk about doing good for our fellow citizens. Why are we not maximizing [Collected Tax Revenue] by optimizing the tax rate using the concept of the Laffer Curve and creating a business climate giving a higher probability of being able to sustain the programs which we create or already have. Where is she wrong?
Janet Daley, in The Telegraph – 9:00PM BST 01 Sep 2012
points out the main issue in this election in her article, “The myth of a democratic socialist society funded by capitalism is finished” summarized by her paragraph, “What is being challenged is nothing less than the most basic premise of the politics of the centre ground: that you can have free market economics and a democratic socialist welfare system at the same time. The magic formula in which the wealth produced by the market economy is redistributed by the state – from those who produce it to those whom the government believes deserve it – has gone bust. The crash of 2008 exposed a devastating truth that went much deeper than the discovery of a generation of delinquent bankers, or a transitory property bubble. It has become apparent to anyone with a grip on economic reality that free markets simply cannot produce enough wealth to support the sort of universal entitlement programmes which the populations of democratic countries have been led to expect. The fantasy may be sustained for a while by the relentless production of phoney money to fund benefits and job-creation projects, until the economy is turned into a meaningless internal recycling mechanism in the style of the old Soviet Union.”
Look at the results of a Collective – Redistributive form of government:
Amount spent per [household in poverty] for 2011 was $60,000.00 *1 This is several times the threshold per the Census Bureau *2
Large government guarantees or federal funds given to companies which failed at taxpayer expense rather than venture capital risking investor money to create jobs and grow the economy *3
Stockholders, pension plan bond investors, dealerships and non-union Delphi employees were put second in General Motors bankrupty. Both General Motors and Chrysler received federal funds “to prevent them having to go bankrupt”, were put into an unconventional bankruptcy with the bond holders intimidated into not asserting their legal priority to the benefit of the UAW. The effect of this series of events warns investors that America is no longer a rule of law country where you can depend upon contracts and make long range forecasts to plan expansion.
The above are but 3 examples of the validity of, “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong” Dr. Thomas Sowell
Do the intentions matter if they result in a loss of the free enterprise system with equal opportunity that allowed America to be exceptional? “The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal—well-meaning but without understanding.” – Author: Louis D. Brandeis
Why more people come to America than the number of people who leave it. Edwin Durgy, Forbes Staff wrote about someone who fled Communism and made took the opportunity offered in America. On October 10th Interactive Brokers Group founder and CEO Thomas Peterffy posted a video to his eponymous YouTube account titled “Freedom To Succeed.” In the minute long spot the Hungarian-born billionaire briefly shares his personal history before guiding the viewer through a lesson in basic economics. If production is disincentivized to the point where rational economic agents begin to curtail their output, he asserts, economic depression and widespread poverty are inevitable. http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwindurgy/2012/10/15/billionaire-thomas-peterffy-publishes-anti-socialism-political-advertisement/
*1 “According to the Census’s American Community Survey, the number of households with incomes below the poverty line in 2011 was 16,807,795,” the Senate Budget Committee notes. “If you divide total federal and state spending by the number of households with incomes below the poverty line, the average spending per household in poverty was $61,194 in 2011.” http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/over-60000-welfare-spentper-household-poverty_657889.html
The chart below begs the question, “Is it moral to justify feel good programs today at the expense of those who will inherit the bill and must pay for them in the future?” Pelosi and Reid controlled Congress 1/20/2007 to 1/20/2011 and budgets were not a priority.
*2 U.S. Department of Commerce – Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/threshld/thresh11.xls
*3 List Of Failed Green Energy Jobs & Companies – By Obama per Divided States 10/15/2012 article
Update: 7/19/12: http://www.dividedstates.com/list-of-failed-obama-green-energy-solar-companies/
ELECTRIC CAR BATTERY MAKER A123 SYSTEMS HAS FILED FOR Chap 11 BANKRUPTCY AFTER $249 MILLION IN TAXPAYER SUPPORT
The Amonix Solar: FAIL! – manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, subsidized by more than $20 million in federal tax credits and grants given by Obama Administration, has closed its 214,000 square foot facility a year after it opened.
- Solar Trust of America: FAIL! - Filed Bankruptcy in Oakland, CA, April 3, 2012
- Bright Source: FAIL! - Bright Source warned Obama’s Energy Department officials in March 2011 that delays in approving a $1.6 billion U.S. loan guarantee would embarrass the White House and force the solar-energy company to close. Bright Source lost billions of dollars but is getting more money to keep trying. Can you say, “This isn’t working Mr. President?”
- Solyndra: FAIL! - Obama gave $500,000,000 (that’s a HALF BILLION!) in taxpayer money to Solyndra who shut its doors and laid off 1100 workers in August 2011 after billions in losses due to failure to make a solar product that works! Barack Obama was not vetted before being elected President and neither was Solyndra before Mr. Obama threw that taxpayer money down the drain of unproven technology.
- LSP Energy: FAIL! - LSPEnergy LP filed bankruptcy protection and a sale of its assets in Feb 2012
- Energy Conversion Devices: FAIL! – On February 14, 2012 Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. and its subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy
- Abound Solar: FAIL! - Abound Solar received a $400 million loan guarantee from Barack Obama then announced in June, 2012 that it would file for bankruptcy. Many of these failed corporations, such as Abound, donated MILLIONS and continue to donate to Barack Obama’s campaign. Can you say, “Democrat Slush Fund”? Yes this is illegal. But Democrats are being protected from being prosecuted, for now.
- SunPower: FAIL! - SunPower stopped producing solar cells in 2011 at near bankruptcy then restructured with the help of, get this, oil giant TOTAL, Inc. who owns 60% stake in SunPower. Irony? The company is still struggling.
- Beacon Power: FAIL! – Beacon Power Corp filed for bankruptcy protection in October, 2011 just a year after Obama approved a $43 million Government loan guarantee. They remain barely in business, still struggling to make energy that makes sense or that works at all.
- Ecotality: FAIL! - ECOtality, a San Francisco green-tech company that never earned any money and remains on the verge of bankruptcy after receiving roughly $115 million in two loan guarantees from President Obama, who wants to do some more of this kind of Democrat Slush Fund Guarantees after he is elected to a 2nd term.
- A123 Solar: FAIL! - A123 Solar received $279 million from taxpayers thanks to President Obama’s Department of Energy loan guarantees even after the Solyndra bankruptcy and is getting another $500M from Obama after a loss of $400M.
- UniSolar: FAIL! - Uni-Solar filed for Ch 11 bankruptcy in June 20, 2012 after laying off hundreds of workers. UniSolar received even more Obama money after showing now progress, no profits and is still failing… yet they still remain in business with Obama’s help.
- Azure Dynamics: FAIL! - Azure Dynamics filed for bankruptcy in June , 2012 wasting millions in Obama “Stimulus” money and received abatement on taxes owed and and several tax credits. Azure Dynamics LLC filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the US. Azure laid off 120 of its 160 employees in Oak Park; Boston; Vancouver, British Columbia; and the UK.
- Evergreen Solar: FAIL! - Evergreen Solar received $527 Million in Taxpayer money from Obama and filed bankruptcy in late 2011. Evergreen, which closed its taxpayer-supported Devens factory in March, 2011 cut more than 1800 jobs. Evergreen’s $450 million factory, turned out to be a colossal “waste” of taxpayer money.
- Ener1: FAIL! Ener1 Inc. received a $118 million U.S. Energy Department grant from President Obama to make electric-car batteries but filed for bankruptcy protection January 2012 after defaulting on bond debt.
