So you still think the "middle" class was exempt from this tax "deal"?

Here's what I've been saying, someone making $30,000, their taxes will raise more proportionally than someone making between $200,000 and $500,000.

In other words, never believe what a politician says, believe only what they do.

Congressman Bill Johnson said in this statement on 1/2/13: "Now that an agreement has been reached to prevent going over the fiscal cliff and permanently cut taxes on 99 percent of the American people" 

 He's playing fast and loose with facts and using George Orwell speak to confuse us.

The real number is 80% of all taxpayers will pay more taxes, due to his vote.

In 2001 the "Bush" tax cuts went into effect.

This, so called, fiscal cliff deal merely extended or made permanent the tax cuts that took effect in 2001, with the exception of those making more the $400,000/yr.

So, his vote did not cut any taxes, it did the exact opposite.  This "deal" raised the social security payroll taxes by 2% of one's income.  So if you make $50,000 a year, you'll pay an additional $1000.

Yet, this Congressman tries to have us believe that tax bill he voted for only raised taxes on those with income above $400,000 and "cut taxes on 99% of the American people"!!!

Bottom line is Bill Johnson's vote did this:

• made permanent (as permanent as things are in Washington) the tax rates that have been in effect since 2001

• That is with the exception of those making over $400,000, their rates went up.

• Raised social security tax (on everyone) an additional 2%

• The net result of this joke of an unneeded bill and all the fake hystericals around it, is this.  One making $30k/yr ends up paying more taxes proportionally than one making 200k - 500k.

• Raised the death tax rate to 40%.  So a son who inherits his father's farming operation has to pay an additional 5% tax(this is on top of the original 35%), just to keep the farm in the family.  We've got a real joke of a government It's sickening to think of all the local government officials smirking with anticipation when they hear about a local wealthy individual on their death beds.....wondering what their cut will be.

That's a far cry from Johnson's claim he "cut taxes on 99% of the American people".  I'd try to explain away this vote if I were him, as it is exactly opposite of what he said he would do in the past!  What is it about Washington that sucks the principles right out of some people? 

Representative Bill Johnson plays George Orwell

He can try to spin (lie, wiggle, reword, rephrase, distort, etc, etc..) about his vote, but the fact is he voted to raise taxes on every working person in his district.

His words in his latest "press" release:  "permanently cut taxes on 99 percent of the American people"  Um, we just received a 2% tax increase on our payroll taxes thanks to this bill he voted for.
How does this jive with his claim that he cut taxes for 99% of Americans?  It doesn't.

Again, He claims he voted to "permanently cut taxes on 99 percent of the American people".  How can that be?  The rates stayed the same for some and went up for others and went down for no one.  How is this a tax cut?


"Bill Johnson Votes to Protect Middle Class Families"

Washington, Jan 2 -

Congressman Bill Johnson (R-Marietta) released the following statement after voting in favor of the Senate’s proposed agreement to avert the fiscal cliff.
 "Washington has a spending problem that threatens the prosperity of our children and grandchildren. Now that an agreement has been reached to prevent going over the fiscal cliff and permanently cut taxes on 99 percent of the American people, the table has been cleared to tackle the out-of-control federal spending that has amassed a $16 trillion national debt head-on."
"As we start a new year, it is critically important for the President and Senate to work together with the House on the big issues that are driving our debt and stifling job creation. We must strengthen and preserve Medicare, overhaul Medicaid and completely reform our tax code. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to solve our fiscal challenges now so that they may have the same access to the American Dream that our generation has been blessed with."

Europe starts confiscating private pension funds

How long do you think it will take the federal government to start thinking the same way here?

Washington Examiner story here

The joke of a federal worker pay freeze

As this writer points out, our incompetent mistake in chief is proposing a 2 year pay "freeze" for federal employees.

However, it's conveniently after 5 years of massive pay increases!

Link here

Comrade Wilson a sore loser?

The Vindicator seems to think so.

Link here.

My biggest beef with Comrade Wilson was his spending / voting habits. He voted to spend money when he knew we did not have it....causing us to borrow (issue T-bills) against our children's income.

Normal citizens go to jail when they write bad checks, but not Congressmen.

3 points for future posts:

1. Kill the Federal Reserve!!!
2. We need to attach our money to some sort of standard (gold, silver, basket of commodities, etc). This way, the politicians, can't print their way out of debt......causing inflation. Decreasing the value of your money (inflation) while paying off debts with the same currency is stealing.
   
3. We need a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. (this one has to be last, because it would be irrelevant if the Fed can just print more money.)

The injustice of artificially low interest rates

The Cruelest tax of all

Comrade Charlie Wilson bragging about paying people not to work

My comments in red

Dear Friends,

Earlier this week I voted to extend unemployment insurance benefits to those hit hardest by the recession. H.R. 3548, the Unemployment Compensation Act of 2009, will extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks to workers in high unemployment states (thank you Ted Strickland and Ohio's high taxes....which are used to pay for unemployment.....a little chicken and the egg thing) who are about to run out of benefits. It overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 331-83.

Ohio is currently facing a state average of 10.8% unemployment (641,000 jobless workers) (partially because we continue to pay people not to work, why look for a job?), with over 11,000 jobless workers expected to run out of unemployment at the end of September. In Ohio’s Sixth District, the unemployment rates range from 9.5-16.6% as of August 2009. This extension will ensure that these workers will be able to continue providing for their families. (it also ensures that some of them will not look for work, since they are being paid not to....)

In these tough economic times (because of your spending and Ohio's high taxes), extending unemployment benefits is one of the most efficient and fast-acting ways to stimulate our local economies. (or taking money from those that work and giving it to those that don't) According to Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com, an independent economic research firm, every $1 spent on unemployment benefits generates $1.63 in new economic demand. (this has got to be the dumbest thing I've heard even Charlie Wilson say. If paying people not to work gives a 163% return on the investment, why not ban jobs altogether and pay everyone not to work!) The families receiving these checks are going out in their communities and paying for groceries, filling their cars up with gas, and buying school supplies.

And one thing I want to note, this bill will not add to the deficit. As a Blue Dog Democrat, this is very important to me. (you've got to be kidding me! after voting for the stimulus bill? He actually claims he's against adding to the deficit?) The bill simply extends the federal unemployment tax, something that has been in place already for over 30 years. (typical talk for a democrat "the bill simply extends the federal unemployment tax" It's simply a tax, you know? By the way, extending a tax means it's a tax increase. Again, taking money from those that work and giving it to those that don't.)

I was proud (we've got the picture, comrade) to vote for this legislation--another crucial step in providing immediate relief and stability to those families struggling to make ends meet and getting our economy back on track.

Sincerely,

Charlie Wilson
Member of Congress
Ohio's Sixth District

Unintended consequenses....or not

The government's perverse desire to punish success.

Forbes.com story here.

Coach Protests Outside Space's Office

"A local football coach is sleeping outside Congressman Zack Space's Zanesville Office and says he won't leave until Space holds a public meeting."

NRCC Zach Space ad

Warning, there is a picture of Nancy Pelosi in this Ad. Take that into consideration before you view it. You might want to have the children leave the room.

You can always count of Bolshevik Charlie

While Obama is stoking the race fires, Charlie is stoking the class envy fires.

The cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for: half through making the Medicare and Medicaid program more efficient and half through a surcharge on the income of the wealthiest, those with annual family incomes above $350,000. This surcharge would affect only 1,100 households in the entire 6th district – that means 99.6% of taxpayers in the district would not see their tax rate change.

Congressman Charlie Wilson, July 24, 2009

Now here's a great letter to the editor.

'Cap and trade' will force companies to leave U.S.

June 26, the U.S. House of Representatives (with the help of our Rep. Zack Space) passed what may be the single most destructive bill in the history of our country. It is labeled "cap and trade" and also is known by the name of the co-sponsors Waxman-Markey or as the American Clean Energy and Security Act. I will refer to it as ACES.

In the midst of a very deep recession, many believe ACES will bring the single largest tax increase in the history of the United States. Many also believe it is totally unnecessary.

Our president recently deliberately lied when he said ACES will "cost the average American about the price of a postage stamp per day." Watch and hear the video of him being honest before last year's election and saying, "Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNSZ62xiD4M.

ACES also, once again, makes a liar of Obama, who said there would be absolutely no tax increase on any American who makes less than $250,000 per year (later $200,000). He, of course, also promised a "middle-class tax cut." ACES will be a tax increase on every single American. And, it is not just energy, it's everything it takes energy to produce.

This is a regressive tax that hurts the middle class and poor more than the wealthy! A provision in the ACES bill recognizes this and provides direct cash deposits into accounts of people who are within 150 percent of the federal poverty level to help offset the increasing cost of everything. Great, the middle class not only has much higher costs to pay, but the government will be taking even more of our money to support the poor!

Under another provision, when Americans want to sell their homes, energy Nazis will come in and do an "energy audit." Now your home will be subjected to a new energy rating assessment and energy labeling program that will penalize you for older windows, not enough insulation, not having super-efficient furnaces and air conditioning and owning dated appliances. So ACES would bring down the value of most homes!

OK, that's older homes, but what about new homes? All new homes in the United States will have to conform to California's extensive and very expensive building codes. Great, let's have a bankrupt state show us the way! Now we all can be bankrupt!

How did these and other horrible provisions get in ACES? Well, for one, no person who voted on the bill ever has read it. The original bill had some 1,300 pages and was not available to be read. Thursday night, before the Friday vote, 354 more pages of amendments were slipped in. Even co-sponsor Rep. Waxman admitted he had not read the bill, but said there were "good people writing it."

Why cap and trade? The two main reasons are to limit carbon dioxide emissions and to drastically raise our conventional energy prices enough to make currently non-competitive energy sources such as wind, sun and geothermal more attractive. This is completely unnecessary.

The theory of man-made global warming is a huge scam. More and more competent scientists are saying that. You don't believe me? Just Google "scientists against global warming" and start reading some of the hits you get.

ACES will force even more companies to move out of the United States and go overseas where the business climate is friendlier. You can be certain many countries will not raise their cost of doing business and sign on to this insanity.

We already are getting fed up with many of our politicians. If ACES passes, the American people eventually will wake up to the huge cost and remember who voted for and who voted against this legislation in the House. Rep. Space, I and many others will be actively campaigning against you. Please wake up and learn about this sort of thing. If you value the future of the country, contact your senators and demand they completely stop ACES before it is too late.

Jerry Phillips, CFP

Network Financial Services Inc.

Chillicothe

Cleveland Plain Dealer story on Stickland's conversion on gambling

Plain Dealer column here.

"I don't know whether the governor uses numbers books as he sets about running the state. But his approach to governing seems as ragged and helter-skelter as a degenerate lottery player clutching a dream book."

I do disagree with one comment Phillip Morris says: "When he reversed his principled -- but wrong -- stance on casinos in mid-June and announced that he has suddenly become a proponent and wants to place slot machines at Ohio's seven major race tracks, it became clear that our governor is an impulsive problem gambler."

Ted Strickland was not wrong to oppose gambling in the past. His problem is he didn't keep his word. He said he was against gambling, up to earlier this month, for crying out loud. Now he's all for it. It's unbelievable the changes in a supposed principled leader when faced when cutting spending.

HR 1207, Audit the Federal Reserve

This has 224 co-sponsors as of today.



As far as I know, our Congressman Charlie Wilson has not signed on as a co-sponsor. This does not surprise me. I'm curious however, of how one can be against auditing the Federal Reserve. Probably the most important factor in our economy, and surely, with it's artificially low interest rates, the cause of our current recession.

Charlie Wilson is too busy using the Fed's funny money to buy votes than to actually support of an audit of the same.

Now he's even bragging about some sort of a new government ponzi scheme:

"Today the U.S. Treasury Department announced that $45,477,000 in bond authority will be immediately available for local governments in Ohio’s Sixth Congressional District under the Recovery Zone Bonds program. Recovery Zone Bonds, created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, are targeted to areas particularly affected by significant job loss and will help county governments obtain capital for much needed economic development projects.

These bonds will help in so many ways. The program will make it easier for counties and private businesses to borrow money at a better rate. The counties and businesses that make up my district can then use that money to improve infrastructure, increase job training and help families struggling with this tough economy."

Does he not remember or is it that he doesn't care, that borrowing and increasing debt due to artificially low interest rates is what got us into this mess to begin with?

Charlie Wilson needs to sign as a co-sponsor of HR 1207. If the Fed has nothing to hide, great. However it's Charlie Wilson's job to ensure our money is sound* and the Federal Reserve has some oversight from the people.

Of course, our money will never be sound until it is based on something.

Oxymoron, a paid "volunteer"

An Incentive to Volunteer: WTAP.com story.

Paying people to volunteer sounds strange. It's more like paying people to do government approved odd jobs.

We'd be much better off if our government would quit spending us into a debt hole and lower our taxes. We can create our own jobs when the government does not take the incentives away.

Of course, Charlie Wilson wants to give incentives to grow government, not private enterprise.

Ohio's jobless rate tops 10 percent for first time in quarter-century

Dispatch story here

Does it surprise you that the media refuses to lay this mess at Strickland's feet, where it belongs?

We need to cut taxes and spur economic development in Ohio.....of course it's difficult for the dems to play the class warfare card if all their voters have jobs.

Previous post on Ohio's high taxes.

Another Strickland mistake

Tax debts bring down state official; Interim development chief confronts $158,000 in liens

This is the type of individual that Gov. Ted Strickland appoints to our Department of Development? And he can't pay his own taxes?

This guy makes $128,356 per year and he can't pay his own taxes? Obama should hire him to assist our other tax cheat, now in charge of the IRS, no less.....Treasury Secretary Geitner.

"The governor was not personally told until this week, Wurst said."

Not (allegedly) knowing is not an excuse. Strickland should have known, that's part of his job.

This tells us one of two things about Ted Strickland:

1. He pays no attention to character when he makes appointments to run the peoples' business.
2. He has such low esteem of the Department of Development that he thinks someone that can't take care of their own business can take care of the DOD's business.

If it's number 2, Mr. Strickland, would you now support eliminating this department and giving the tax savings back to the taxpayers?

14%

"According to unofficial results of the Meigs County Board of Elections, only 14 percent of Pomeroy’s registered voters — 164 — visited the polls Tuesday. As of Monday, only eight cast ballots during the early voting period of 30 days prior to the election."

Pomeroy Daily Sentinel story.

Only 14% voted? And there was an income tax proposal on the ballot? Unbelievable.

The income tax did fail. Which proves that it's very important for conservatives to vote all the time, not just during presidential elections.

The gas aggregation program passed by 2 votes, 83-81. I'm not sure I'd trust government to get me a better price on natural gas than I could individually.

Which budget do you think Congressman Charlie Wilson will vote for?

The Obama Budget: Spending, Taxes, and Doubling the National Debt?

or the only conservative alternative:

The House Republican Budget that would Confront Hard Choices and Rein in Budget Deficits.

Charlie Wilson has voted for all of Obama's deficit spending and debt increasing bills. He has a real alternative this time. I'll bet he follows the strange logic of voting to borrow ourselves out of debt again.

I noticed that Charlie Wilson's website no longer has the "debt clock" on it. I'd have taken it off if I were him also, as he had a lot to do with why it's climbing about $1,000,000 per minute!

I did notice a link to the "blue dog conservative democrat" website on his site. (If Charlie Wilson is a conservative, Ronald Reagan was a Marxist) On their site they still have the debt clock. Be sure and look at it adding up all the time and remember that Charlie Wilson voted for every deficit spending bill President Obama has proposed yet.

There's no reason to believe he'll vote against this massive spending bill either.

Debt clock on Charlie Wilson's website

I found it hard to believe that he would have this on his home page, when he had (and continues to have) such a huge hand in causing our debt to increase.

He voted for the financial bailout bill, the "stimulus" bill, and the pork laden budget bill. All three deficit spending bills.

What he needs is a clock showing how much debt he created personally by voting for these bills.

Unbridled borrowing got us into this mess and Charlie Wilson thinks that unbridled borrowing will get us out of it.


The other thing I'll comment on that is on his website....among other places....is his request of President Obama to create a National office of Rural Policy.

Well, after seeing the results of 40 years of "helping" our inner cities, I'd rather the federal government not do the same thing to our rural areas. Please keep your "help", we don't want it!