** An American Promise **
● A Balanced-Budget Amendment to the Constitution, with appropriate exceptions for times of war and recession.
● A line-item veto, to give the President a fighting chance to eliminate pork and earmarks.
● A limitation on federal spending, to 20% of GDP.-
** About We Elected You **
** Building A Million Dollar Retirement Portfolio **
Most of the millionaires in the U.S. are small business owners, and their wealth is tied up in their businesses. They drive used, American-made sedans; they live in modest homes in middle-class neighborhoods. Most of them are first-generation wealthy; they did not inherit their wealth, but earned it the hard way, through adding value in a business, or by saving diligently. Source: "The Millionaire Next Door", by Thomas Stanley and William Danko.Have Your Say!
- John Lumbard on Problems With a Balanced Budget Amendment?
- Chris Curley on Problems With a Balanced Budget Amendment?
- John Lumbard on How to Fix the Health Care Mess
- Did Government Agencies “Raid” Social Security “Coffers”? « Joejolly’s Weblog on “The Debt The Government Owes Itself For Raiding Social Security”
- John Lumbard on The Antidote
- Gen Y on The Keepers of the Flame
- Chuck Bailey on Amendment Filed. Call Your Congressman!
- Phoebe Addington on Party On!
- FaGaurlwal on Incentives Rule!
- James Schaefer on The ENTIRE Government Runs on Borrowed Money
Topics
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Tax Reform Archive
Incentives Rule!
By John Lumbard.
In December the Boston Globe ran a front-page story on the “dangerous incentives” created by a program that offers cash to the parents of children taking psychotropic drugs for ADHD and other behavioral conditions. The number of children on these drugs has predictably swelled, and a program...
Read More Don’t Throw Rocks at the Firemen
When people are in trouble they're not always willing to accept help. Whether you're talking about an alcoholic resisting intervention, a drug addict, a wife who protects her wife-beating husband, or a homeowner who refuses to leave the flanks of an erupting Mount Saint Helens, there's never been a shortage of...
Read More Three Cheers for the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility!
By John Lumbard.
The President's Commission on Fiscal Responsibility will release its findings on December 1, but recently the two chairmen--Republican Alan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles---took the extraordinary step of releasing a "draft" of the "Co-Chair's proposal". It's an end-run around the dissenting voices in the commission, and a clear statement that...
Read More Postponing the Pain
Economist Charles Wheelan writes occasionally for Yahoo Finance, and he's always terrific. In a recent article he suggests that the President extend the current graduated tax structure, with a plan to balance the budget in 3 or 4 years (when the economy is stronger) by cutting spending and adding consumption taxes...
Read More Letter To A Congressman
By John Lumbard.
Dear Congressman;
In high school we all learned that our Congress has the power of the purse. Our legislators have other powers and responsibilities, but their most basic duty is to ably manage the monies that they extract from reluctant and disillusioned taxpayers and voters. They have failed...
Read More Tax Brackets and Balanced Budgets
By John Lumbard.
Washington has abruptly backed away from a proposal to extend the Bush tax cuts for middle and low-income taxpayers, while bumping the rates for higher-income taxpayers back to the levels of the 1990s. Both parties were using the debate to score political points---they were trying to box their opponents into positions...
Read More The Freshmen 50
The Internet is a big place. Yesterday Jim Schaefer stumbled upon The Freshmen 50 , which describes itself as an independent political action committe, "unaffiliated with any political party, group, or lobby", whose sole mission is to put "50 new fiscally and legislatively responsible citizens into the House Of Representatives in 2010." The founder, Brian...
Read More Tax Reform
"A Bipartisan Plan for Tax Reform", from Senators JUDD GREGG (R - NH) and RON WYDEN (D - Oregon):
"By streamlining and modernizing the outdated tax code, our proposal would eliminate many of the specialized tax breaks that currently benefit one group of Americans over another. The changes we propose will create...
Read More Constituents Calling
"If interest rates are at 10% when the net federal debt hits $10 trillion (roughly two years from now), we will find ourselves paying $1 trillion per year in interest.”
"Interest would vault over medical care to become the largest item in the federal budget. $1 trillion is $8,547 per household,...
Read More A Pledge of Fiscal Responsibility
(To be taken by candidates for federal office)
I pledge that, if elected, I will introduce legislation to establish:
A Balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, with appropriate exceptions for times of war and recession.
A line-item veto, to give the President a fighting chance to eliminate pork and earmarks.
Term Limits, of any durations...
Read More