“Going Galt” and the next Tea Party wave
My syndicated column today spotlights two related phenomenon: the Tea Party revolt on the streets and the “Going Galt” revolt with our wallets. For new readers who are just learning about the protest movement and want to join, the best organizational resources are Tax Day Tea Party (nationwide April 15 events), Twitter #teaparty, PJTV’s list of upcoming protests,
Re-TeaParty (send teabags to Washington and find July 4 events), and TCOT Report. And one more good one: New American Tea Party.
Some tinfoil-hatted kooks are still pimping their conspiracy theories about the movement. The latest: Aha! Malkin once gave a speech to Americans for Prosperity and AFP organized the Denver anti-pork protest two weeks ago before Santelli went on his Tea Party rant last week, ergo it’s all a vast plot!!!!!!
Protesters should take this nonsense as a sign of success. You haven’t really made it until you’ve aroused the paranoia of the unhinged Left.
***
“Going Galt:” America’s wealth producers vs. wealth redistributors
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2009
Enough. In a word, that is the message of disgusted taxpayers fed up with the confiscatory policies of both parties in Washington. George Bush pre-socialized the economy with billion-dollar bailouts of the financial and auto industries. Barack Obama is pouring billions more down those sinkholes. The camel’s back isn’t just broken. His neck and four legs have all snapped, too.
Enough. Last Friday, thousands of Americans turned out to protest reckless government spending in the pork-laden stimulus package, the earmark-clogged budget bill, the massive mortgage entitlement program, and taxpayer-funded corporate rescues. Contrary to false left-wing blog smears that the hastily-planned impromptu events were “Astro-turfed,” the crowds were packed with first-time grass-roots activists. They were people with families and day jobs whose usual definition of “community organizing” involves neighborhood yard sales or their kids’ soccer matches. They were members of the silent majority who decided to be silent no more.
Enough. These “Tea Party” protests spanned the sunny Santa Monica pier to the icy streets of Chicago and Cleveland to rain-drenched Atlanta, overflowing grounds of the St. Louis Gateway Arch, massive crowds in Greenville, S.C., several hundred each in New York City and Washington, D.C., and all points in between. Like those who demonstrated before them in Seattle, Denver, Mesa, Arizona, and Overland Park, Kansas two weeks ago, the Tea Party participants held homemade signs that said it all: “Your mortgage is not my problem;” “Liberty: All the stimulus we need; “No taxation without deliberation.”
The speed and scope with which they mobilized were due not to nefarious outside conspiracists, but to social networking websites Facebook and Twitter (where a burgeoning network called Top Conservatives on Twitter became the central clearinghouse for information). Planning for a new wave of demonstrations on April 15 has begun at www.taxdayteaparty.com.
Enough. While they take to the streets politically, untold numbers of America’s wealth producers are going on strike financially. Dr. Helen Smith, a Knoxville forensic pathologist and political blogger, dubbed the phenomenon “Going Galt” last fall. It’s a reference to the famed Ayn Rand novel, “Atlas Shrugged,” in which protagonist John Galt leads the entrepreneur class to cease productive activities in order to starve the government of revenue. (Not coincidentally, Rand’s novel sales are up and John Galt references punctuated many of the Tea Party demonstrations.) Dr. Smith was inundated with stories like these:
“I have frozen hiring in my firm…No investments will be made in taxable accounts (only 401k/IRAs). I am buying silver and gold instead of CD’s or stocks with non-qualified money/savings. I have stopped taking new clients (thus freezing my income). I barter more and more. Spend less. I stopped Leveraging assets (don’t borrow).”
“I have cut WAY back–I’m no longer buying retail, driving out of a 10-mile radius, spending money on eating out, and am no longer putting my money in a savings account. I am using the money to pay off all of our debt. It has made our family closer, more appreciative…”
Another blogger at Pursuing Holiness wrote: “Last year my family paid nearly a thousand dollars a month in federal taxes, and we are not by any stretch of the imagination rich. I’m going to make it my business to cut that amount in half, using every legal means possible and reducing my income so there is less to tax.”
Enough. Those business owners are not alone. This week, ABC News spotlighted upper-income earners going Galt in response to President Obama’s proposed tax hikes on families with incomes of $250,000 or more. A Lafayette, La. Attorney told the reporter she was cutting back on her business to avoid the tax threshhold: “Why kill yourself working if you’re going to give it all away to people who aren’t working as hard? Tax hikes have consequences. Incentives matter. Only self-deluded wealth redistributors living in la-la-land believe otherwise. Another business owner, Dr. Sharon Poczatek, explained:
“The motivation for a lot of people like me — dentists, entrepreneurs, lawyers — is that the more you work the more money you make,” said Poczatek. “But if I’m going to be working just to give it back to the government — it’s de-motivating and demoralizing.”
The perpetual Borrow-Spend-Panic-Repeat machine in Washington depends on the capitulation of the wealth producers. There’s only one monkey wrench that can stop the redistributionist thieves’ engine. It’s engraved with the word:
Enough.
(Photo credit: Free Colorado)
***
I’ve pulled together a video round-up of last week’s events. Enjoy!
Smart Girl Politics put together a nice video of the nationwide Feb. 27 Tea Party protests:
Find more videos like this on Smart Girl Politics
Here’s video of the Houston Tea Party via reader Morris:
And Dallas:
Ft. Worth:
D.C. from Reason TV:
Seattle:
Sacramento:
Sacramento Tea Party from bob humphrey on Vimeo.
New York City:
Chicago:
St. Louis:
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
Biden: Tea Party stopped us from growing the economy
May 23, 2012 01:55 PM by Doug Powers
41 Comments
Palin officially endorses desperate, clingy Orrin Hatch; time to rally around Dan Liljenquist
May 22, 2012 11:32 PM by Michelle Malkin
79 CommentsKiss of death: Specter endorses Beltway barnacle Orrin Hatch, trashes Tea Party “cannibals”
May 14, 2012 06:15 AM by Michelle Malkin
112 Comments
Harry Reid worried ‘Tea Party zealots’ tossed out Lugar just for cooperating with Dems
May 10, 2012 09:39 PM by Doug Powers
147 Comments
Eye on Indiana and Wisconsin; Update: Lugar defeated; Barrett to face Walker
May 8, 2012 06:04 PM by Michelle Malkin
129 CommentsIndiana Senate primary poll shows Mourdock extending lead on Lugar; Santorum endorses
May 4, 2012 10:10 PM by Doug Powers
110 Comments
If you’re gonna call Tea Party activists RAAAACISTS…
May 3, 2012 12:33 AM by Michelle Malkin
162 Comments
MSM: Occupiers Anarchists arrested for bridge bomb plot
May 2, 2012 11:45 AM by Doug Powers
79 Comments
“Happy May Day, now go kill”
May 1, 2012 01:02 PM by Michelle Malkin
73 Comments
Categories: Going Galt,Tea Party
American Thinker
» Fun & Games with Mainstream Media NumbersRedstate
» Bomber Turned Left Wing Activist, Brett Kimberlin, Tries to Silence Conservative OppositionTwitchy
» Weaponized misogyny: Hustler punishes S.E. Cupp for pro-life views with explicit fake imageBetsys Page
» Cruising the WebTwitchy
» Sean Combs brags about spending millions on strippers; Photographer replies: ‘#payyourbillsdiddy’Twitchy
» Roseanne Barr: Defending S.E. Cupp is more disgusting than Photoshopping a penis in her mouth
If there is a tea party anywhere near Minneapolis, I’m there!
Michelle…some of your videos posted twice, and the titles are wrong.
Will be at a millitary school damn it!!!
Starve the beast!!! All movements start small. Awesome work keeping the fire going, Michelle!
All fixed now! Just refresh your browser…
Wonder if the message will ever get thru? There are none so blind as those who will not see, nor so deaf as those who will not hear. Witness the blind, deaf, and not so dumb(in the sense of being able to speak) hot air bags we keep sending back to “represent” us.
Great colummn. I too need to add Atlas Shrugged to my list next time Im in Borders or Barnes&Noble.
I am already operating on the over-feed the beat premise. Let the Dems run up huge debts then dump the current administration (via recall or impeachment or …) and do like the Soviet Union and reform, wiping out all debt.
BTW: Anyone see McCain get punked today. He is on stage with Obama and gets congratulated for the bipartisan no cost + on contracts (unless to Planned Parenthood or Acorn of course). Obama thanks McCain and “our own” … and names the democratic senator.
Obviously Obama hasn’t figured out that he is the US President.
happscrapper, we may have to start one up… I’ve looked everywhere and don’t see a MN one forming… not surprising, I suppose. Oh and you would be surprised how many Minnesotans that haven’t read Atlas Shrugged, because it is…. so many pages…… what morons.
My wife just asked me to get her a copy of Atlas Shrugged. Getting it today. It has been a long time since I read it. Time to read it again, though it may be more frightening this time around, since we are living it.
Dr. Poczatek has it down pat, and in it’s simplest terms – where’s the motivation?
Where’s the motivation to work hard and succeed, if the lion’s share of one’s earnings goes back to Uncle Sam? As you said, MM, enough is enough!
We are in the process of organizing a Tea Party day in the Williamsburg, Virginia area. So far it is just in the planning stages, but we are about to “fire another shot” across the bow of governmental arrogance.
We elect Presidents, and we don’t like kings.
It really is good to see something happening. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, I hope it is not too little too late but even then, at least there will never be any question what we are fighting against!
Keep up the great work everyone! You really are bringing people together and that is always a great accomplishment!
Enough!
Yeah I’ve had enough all right. And if the Pelosi-Obama-Reid axis thinks we are going to just sit back and take it, they’re going to be proven spectacularly wrong.
The sleeping giant has been awakened. Enough!
Ref. “Atlas Shrugged,” I am waiting for the movie *smile*.
I hear it is supposed to star Angelina Jolie as Dagny Taggart and Brad Pitt as John Galt; both are supposedly fans of Rand’s work.
According to wikipedia though, it isn’t supposed to come out for another 3 years.
Atlas Shrugged (paperback) is currently #40 at Amazon…
…and only the Cliff Notes for it are available at my public library – all other copies have been checked out.
I wonder if my old friend DieHippyDie was at the St Louis tea party?
*sigh*
On March 4th, 2009 at 11:06 am,
David…I thought about that myself, starting one here. Unfortunately, the timing is bad for me to do anything for April 15th, and we will be in Aitkin for a class reunion over July 4th. We are going to be helping our daughter after she gives birth some time in April. They have a 2-year old and we have promised to be on-call for a few weeks. I should have more time after July and definitely plan to get more involved in a lot of things that I have been putting off. As for Atlas Shurgged, I don’t plan to buy the book. But there are a lot of exerpts posted on the web these days. Read it when I was a teenager and couldn’t put it down! Who knows, it may have helped shape my very conservative philosophy.
Who gives a crap if the tinhats think it’s some kind of conspiracy.
The Constitution says I can.
I read Atlas Shrugged years ago, and can no longer find my copy…will have to buy one today.
I’m going Galt, though I am a single mom and make about 55k a year..it’s the principle of the matter. To begin with, I’m laying out my plans for my victory garden…check out gardening by the foot on your favorite search engine..
That’s how long it takes most people to read the book! Can you imagine how long the movie will be??
File this under “careful what you wish for” -
Like most of Stephen King’s novels, Rand’s last book-to-film effort, The Fountainhead, did NOT translate well to the screen. Critics resoundingly pan it as overblown and campy, despite its terrific cast of Gary Cooper and a gorgeous Patricia Neal and having Rand herself pen the script.
I’m for quitting my job in 2010 to keep barry hussien’s adm from collecting taxes from me. Tell me where to pick up my weapon, show me where to sign up, I’m ready to march. I want barry hussein in jail before my kids graduate from public screwl.
In the old days when a majority oppressed a minority and took the work product of said minority, they were called slaves. Now in the USA they will be called “Tax Payers.”
The best place to find a real conspiracy is with the Congressional Democrats and their leftist allies who pimped the subprime loan business that triggered the world economic collapse. Let’s try looking there shall we?
Consider this: greedy or not, Wallstreeters did not all simultaneously contract Alzheimer’s and forget the rules of risk assessment and analysis. Clearly they were given back alley assurances by the Democrats that any bad paper would be covered on the QT. “So get to it! Make piles of cash and get our people into the homes they deserve!”
Little did they know that they were being gamed by the Democrats. Their greed fed the Democrat plan to destroy the economy and achieve massive and permanent centralized government domination of America. How ’bout that for a conspiracy theory that has legitimacy? Don’t expect any investigations any time soon though. Lenin was correct when he said that capitalists would sell communists the very rope used to hang them. And the sad thing is that, like a dog accustomed to abuse, most Americans will probably just shrug their shoulders and try to muddle through, little knowing that their Democrat countrymen have stolen their life savings.
Happyscrapper:
Well, certainly they plan to condense it into a manageable 2-3 hours.
I might read the book one day. In general though, I’d rather read a non-fiction work about “Objectivism” then read a work of fiction with the underlying philosophy as a main theme. Now, granted, being as how the founder of “Objectivism” wrote it, it’s probably an important read for any Objectivist.
Truth be told though, I am not an Objectivist in the strictest sense and I doubt seriously that too many people are. That is to say, I am not a pure laissez-faire capitalist and I do certainly think the government should have its hands in some things.
DBNinKY:
I think, like Stephen King’s novels, it’s a matter of getting a good director.
michelle, my parents are depression babies, and lifelong roosevelt democrats, and i recieved a e mail from my father this morning cursing this administration and passing out an email which correlated the poverty rates in democrat controlled cities. i even invited him to check out your blog and listen to rush, which 5 years ago was fighting words. even old dogs can learn new tricks if you mistreat them enough. my d senator, mccaskill voted no on the 410b bill, while my r senator bond voted for it, maybe because he was one of the top 20 earmark recipients and he isn’t running next year. keep up the good work.
USMCDavid and happyscrapper: there is at least three of us from MN on here and there is tea party plans forming up on another web site….hang in there!
God bless you! I will help in any way I can!!
zeroangel
I consider myself an Objectivist although not pure as I have a strong Roman Catholic bent. that said, I follow the Objectivist credo to the line as much as I internally can. I’ve followed the philosophy since my days in college ( having graduated in 1976)… I know of it’s precepts far more than most, but , admittedly not a disciple per se… I am 100% in agreement and implementation of a Galt’s gulch scenario for our country given the path Barry Soetoro has taken us, though.
Have Tea Bag
Will Travel
Try THIS, do a web search, visit a GUN SHOW, ask a friend. As with our Fathers at Concord/Lexington this will be a Bring Your Own. Tea bags available where ever fine Hate Filled Right Wingers gather.
And when you meet that tinfoil-hatted kook still pimping the conspiracy theories tell them: Yes, isn’t it wonderful? Drives them nuts, doesn’t it lgm?
—
Keep the change-I’ll keep my guns
The demonstrations are pointless.
- Does anybody really believe that Hope-a-Dope, Nancy & Harry and the rest of the Congressional donks give a tinker’s damn about what a few thousand conservative protesters scattered throughout the country think?
- Does anybody think for one moment that the donks are going to reconsider their “Going Weimar” spending orgy before at least 2011 — especially when it’s clear that they see the same as The Final Solution to conservatism and Capitalism?
- Does anybody have any lingering faith in the Republicans’ leadership when the RNC chairman silently nods in agreement with people who compare the Republican National Convention to a Nazi rally?
What’s past is prelude: the donks didn’t get the nation-dissolving disaster they craved after the 2006 elections, so they solved that problem by getting enough donks elected in 2008 to make it happen.
Likewise, when their initial two, or three, or four trillion dollars of “investment spending” just disappear into the fiscal Event Horizon, the donks won’t change who they are, or their approach: they’ll simply take that to mean they’ll need to double, triple or quadruple-down to “redeem” the situation.
The only thing that’ll stop the donks is to be put back into the minority. But even if that’s possible anymore, given the pitiful condition of the Republican party leadership, by the time it happens it’ll be too late to undo the damage.
There’s not going to be any rescue for what we once understood as “The United States of America.” The donks have already seen to that. What’s going to be necessary in the future is a salvage operation.
Interesting is the “going Galt” phenomenon. While one can certainly sympathize, its net effect will serve to hasten the decline of the American economy into third-world status — as the last modern-day Kulaks (i.e., the American entrepreneurial class) desperately try to hide their money before being rooted out and eliminated.
One wonders what form the Second American Revolution will take.
- Constitutional Convention?
- Or armed rebellion, culminating in an overthrow?
- Or another version of sweeping away the Articles of Confederation with something entirely new?
Your children and grandchildren will have to come up with the answer…
MNUSMCDavid:
Would you say that laws against monopolies should be repealed? Should the Federal Reserve System, federal backing of banks be done away with?
This is what I mean when not being a pure “Objectivist.”
I think, like all extreme philosophies, it isn’t grounded in reality.
For example, I am very much a small-government fiscal conservative, but I don’t advocate market anarchy.
As far as protesting, it’s a worthy cause and I support you all. Personally, I don’t have the time or the inclination. Call me when (if ever) an actual armed insurrection occurs.
Regulus
pointless or not, in your mind…. let them continue…. every great movement in history started small and pointless… I, for one, am not going to complain about a plan…… I’ll just implement it and fight.
I too graduated in ’76
zeroangel… yep, I’m one of the few who never had a problem with monopolies. If an entity produces one product and does it better than anyone.. why reinvent the wheel. Of course, free enterprise would allow anyone to try to do it better.
I’ll go one farther…. you know all the oil development in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere? Why shouldn’t we have taken them over? Did we not develop them, man them, build them, finance them?
MNUSMCDavid:
How about the aforementioned drug laws from the previous “Galt” post? Should essentially all drugs be legalized?
As far as monopolies I certainly think there are historically good reasons for some rules against them. They have the potential to abuse and undermine the system. They can actually stifle free enterprise. There is also good reason for things like child labor laws and OSHA.
As far as “taking over” Saudi Arabia, I think that is more about a foreign policy philosophy then laissez-faire capitalism.
Compsting for Beginners
Victory Garden Seeds
Heirloom Seed Company
Try to buy things from local people (or barter). Keeps what you do spend in state. (For instance, I shop at a local gardening supply place owned by someone who runs it – as opposed to HomeDepot or Lowes.)
Make more food at home:
AllRecipes.com has great bread and soup recipes.
Lucky for me, our combined income is only about $110k.
Unfortunately, Obama is targetting my boss who started his own oil company 10 years ago with his own money and now has a company worth almost ten million dollars (almost double that before the price collapse), who had never heard of John Gault or Ayn Rand but expressed the idea that with the likely end of a top end limit on Social Security plus the income tax hikes, paying almost 60% to the Feds off the top might mean calling it quits.
Not to mention Obama is changing the tax code so oil companies that produce oil in this country will be taxed on their revenue, not their revenue less expenses.
Once other people like me, “safely” below $250k start losing their jobs, maybe people will wake up.
As people go semi-Gault, drop their income under $250k, either Obama will lower the definition of rich or he’ll continue intentionally inflationary practices like trillion dollar deficits to bracket creep people now making well under $250k up into the ‘rich’ bracket.
I am not sure if Dr. Sharon Poczatek is aware…but, through the miracle of the concept of marginal tax rates, the more you work, the more you do in fact make. Even if the top tax bracket is 99.999999%.
MM, I’ll be curious to see if this column is chosen for publication by my local paper, the Reading (PA) Eagle. They choose one of your columns a week for the Saturday edition.
Obama’s new name:
Robbin’ da Hood.
He steals from the rich, and gives to his Democrat pals.
What a merry band of Chicago thugs!
You know, I never read Rand. But, after reading some on Objectivism, I have to say that, even though I cannot, for reasons of faith, be a strict Objectivist, I do seem to toe the line as far as social (and therefore legal) and economic matters. She had much of value to say. Fascinating.
chap, you flaming idiot, why would anyone want to work just to hand over well over half to the government to subsidize the half of the country that pays no taxes.
I’m not a big flat tax kind of guy, I can live with the progressive income tax, but when you get to the point we’re already at pre-Obama, where the top 5% pay over 60% of the taxes, and almost half the country pays no taxes, it has gotten way out of line.
BTW, I’m sure you’ve never heard of something in my business called risk adjusted net present value. It is basically an advanced way to compare the risk of something (the price of a commodity changing, an oil well being a dry hole, an oil well not being a dry hole but making a lot less oil than expected, etc.) to the reward. It isn’t just in the oil field. It could apply to opening a restaurant, (a business where success is not guaranteed) where so much money has to be invested. If you lower after tax profits with punitive tax rates, a lot of new ventures of all types will never even be attempted, new workers will never be hired, new wealth never created, because the reward has been shifted down to the point where it no longer justifies the risk.
I see this as a BLESSING……..
My wife will now home school our girl’s,
we will use the underground economy (“Black market” if I can still that?)
grow some veggie’s, try some fishing &
hunting……Spend more time with our
girls………
It isn’t like we can’t continue to have a functioning economy – we simply do not make a profit and therefore will put growth on hold for a while. The only LOSER in that is the GOVERNMENT! We’ll be fine and the elitists in DC will starve. As long as they don’t rob the military budget there is no harm in starving them out.
Obama himself is attacking profit .. the CORNERSTONE OF CAPITALISM. So let’s show him what happens when there is no profit!
I may be a flaming idiot, but I understand the concept of a marginal tax rate. And what that woman was arguing is flat out wrong. She clearly thinks that she will make more money being right under the new marginal threshold.
Please note before you spout anything else out that I am not arguing as to what an optimal top marginal rate should be.
Thank you, Ms. Malkin, for the hard work you do and for posting these videos of all the tea parties. I’m ignoring those who say these protests are pointless. I was in the Air Force on active duty when the Vietnam protestors started small, but forcefully–and they changed the course of history (not for the better I’m afraid). So, I have a huge bag of teabags, and am ready to march. Those who sit by and say and do nothing are willing to put up with massive elected official corruption and do not love their country IMO.
Oprah, with her usual shilling for Obama said that we should THANK Obama that unemployed men can now stay home more and get to known their children; THANK Obama that we can stay home and cook dinner instead of going out; thank Obama for the ‘benefits’ of having LESS!
Yes comrade Oprah! AND WE WILL LIKE IT!!!
Zero…I am respectfully begging you! Please do not go there on this thread. Totally off topic and a bit boring. Thanks!
Wow. Could it be that the nasty ole “Right Wing Conspiracy” is rearing it’s head again. Boy, the libs are really gonna be mad about this. I can hear the teeth-knashing and hand-wrenching already.
Then, when the money runs out, and there’s no food to cook, think of all the weight loss. No one’s overweight in the New America!
They already are robbing the military budget!! They want to gut it. They won’t be “starved out” for a very long time.
It isn’t about them-it is about us-starting the actions necessary to light the fire as it were. No these demonstrations alone will not change policy; supporting Conservative candidates alone will note change policy; working the neighborhood and talking to you neighbors alone will not change policy.
Getting our butts in gear and doing something alone will not change policy but it WILL get us moving into the direction to change policy, dump the RINOs and take back our country for our children and grandchildren.
When George Washington and the Continental Army escaped from Brooklyn they did not win the war. When that same army beat the Hessians at Trenton they did not win the war. But being the hard men they were they eventually did-one foot in front of the other-for we Infantry types.
Despair and depression are traps we must avoid-I try to keep it down to 2 or 3 times a day.
****
Yes lgm we know YOUR George Washington was part of the White Racist Patriarchy- just thought I would save you a post
—
Keep the change-I’ll keep my guns
Chap, what kind of law do you practice?
Just curious, not a lawyer, although in the last few years have taken to reading legal opinions on cases I’m interested in, and, of course, can Ask.com the US Constitution pretty quickly and find relevant sections.
But before my current job, I worked as a consultant, billing by the hour. I assume you work the same way. True enough, at any rate under 100%, you will keep some more money working longer and harder, but why work any harder than needed to just get by if you’re going to subsidize the non-productive.
BTW, could be wrong, but I’m guessing something like personal injury law. The ones around here are now advertising for Ike insurance claims, along with the standard injury claims. Trail lawyers are the top donors, surpassing even Hollywood, to the Dems as I recall.
Or maybe you do civil rights work. That would be cool, I used to admire Morris Dees and the way he battled the Klan. But now that there really aren’t that many legitimate civil rights cases, he seems to have branched out into branding private property owners on the Mexican border as being a new class of ‘hate group’.
I am curious.
Yes, and the media is still claiming we’re becoming an “irrelevant” party.
OK, we’ll see how “irrelevant” we are come the 2010 elections.
We too are cutting back on our income but not because we want to. The commercial construction business is going down hill fast. All you hear about is the “housing” construction being down–well, commercial follows that and will be a much bigger effect on the economy because there are millions of dollars in each project that won’t get done.
We will be lucky if we make the minimum maximum to stay under the tax rates to support the useless and illegals.
If you think that these “tea” parties are NOT having an effect check out the latest “news” on the Blue Dog Democrats starting their own “revolution” and NOT supporting the messiahs “mo money” $410 Billion omnibus bill.
Another site to check out:
http://www.resistnet.com/
The Patriotic Resistance has organizations in almost every state–if not its easy to start one (in Minn).
Check it out.
Happyscrapper:
Respectfully, it is on topic as I am exploring what aspects of Rand’s philosophy are worthwhile and which are unrealistic. I value the input of what anyone else has to say on the matter.
If you think my posts on the matter are boring, kindly skip over whenever you see my nick.
They’re on to us – it IS all a plot. I, for one, am glad they finally brought it out in the open, because the secrecy has been slowly killing me.
But for once, I can now proudly stand tall and admit “I AM THE VAST RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY!”
I think this is a legitimate issue. I do not think this is what all these 249′ers are thinking. I also don’t think that the small increase in the marginal rate that will occur even begins to approach the level by which logical people would call it quits. It seemed to me that those marginal rates did okay for the economy under Clinton.
the fdic is going broke already, and the value of a dollar is sinking. let’s not worry about new laws, let’s enforce the old ones. we used to have a law about fraud that said when you sold stock in the empire state bldg, you went to jail, now you become an administration expert.
Zero…respectfully…couldn’t you just refer people who are interested in that topic to the other Galt thread? It was argued in great depth there. How many threads do you plan to “hi-jack” with that subject? I am not trying to be rude, but the subject of legalizing drugs is fodder for its own thread, not this one. And your suggestion that I skip your posts is a good one. Will do! Thanks.
Oh, and Zero…the topic of this thread is “going galt and the next tea party wave”, not the issue of legalizing drugs. Just so you know.
You realize Obama has made noise about lifting the ceiling on what is taxable for social security?
And is reducing the amount of the home mortgage deduction for most of these people.
And forgetting the higher income workers, cap and trade will be an effective tax on all workers, in the form of sharply higher utility and gasoline bills.
I don’t recall CNBC’s Jim Cramer as a big Obama critic back in the Fall, but he now criticizes Obama’s program of wealth destruction.
Me, personally, I could go either way, as far as motivation, Obama could indeed be ‘The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers’, a dedicated Marxist bent on completely destroying the free market and replacing it with complete state control of the economy.
And we all know how well central planning worked everywhere it has been tried. But Obama will somehow do it better than Mao, and Stalin, and Pol Pot, and Kim, because he is the Anointed One, and can do no wrong.
I assume you are talking about the Dr in Knoxville when you said;
If, by “cleary thinks” you mean she never once in her article mentioned she would be making more, then yea, guess you have a point.
But what she actually said in her blog post was;
It’s not about making more money. It is about not giving as much money to a bloated, corrupt bunch of socialist thugs.
Chapoutier:
What you say is true. To me though, the $250,000 just seems somewhat “unfair.”
$250,000 a year is not “rich” by any stretch of the imagination and, in the not too distant future, when my wife and I do reach a combined income of $250,000, I’ll be a bit pissed to hand over more than my “fair share.”
As it should be apparent, I am completely open to the idea of some sort of healthy balance between laissez-faire capitalism and out and out Communism. Just where that balance lies is open to debate. As I said though, the general feeling that $250,000 is rich is, in my mind, every bit as absurd as the idea that Mr. $800,000 house deserves some kind of bailout any more than I do.
I think we generally agree on these points though.
Happyscrapper:
Hi-jack? Well, I guess so far it would be two threads. In any case, as I said, it is relevant to the point that Rand’s philosophy just might be a wee bit too idealistic and not entirely rational. This idea can be carried over to make the point that her ideas about laissez-faire capitalism might not be wholly rational as well.
You might not be trying to be rude but to date you have accused me of being boring, “full of myself,” a thread “hi-jacker,” and so on. On the other hand, I have been nothing but as polite as I can possibly be and still be honest about my viewpoints. In any case, I expect that you aren’t reading this so I am thinking I won’t get a response. Have a nice day!
I will not defend my philosophy based on Rand’s objectivism… I am what I am and need not explain myself to anyone. Suffice to say this thread piqued my values and I support the theme of this thread… anyone who wishes to understand Objectivism, simply study it and adapt it to your own values.. Happyscrapper, I’ve contacted some friends of mine about a Tea Party and they are all for it… they have schedule issues as we all do but, I’ll let you know what I find. MN has GOT to get a dog in this fight.
Sorry, should have mentioned in the above post I was addressing that to Chap.
That may be true, but you are completely negating the Law of Diminishing Returns.
The tangible assets may increase, but its the intangibles (e.g. happiness, satisfaction, quality of life, DGAF [dont giva ...]) that rule.
The question becomes ‘When is enough, enough?’ and it looks to be that the answer is becoming ’249,999.99′
WE will have our signs ready in Cincinnati!!
MNUSMCDavid:
No one is asking you to. I was just wondering to what extent you call yourself an “Objectivist” and where you draw the lines.
I am thinking we probably agree on the most basic issues and the idea that strict “Objectivism” is a bit “over-the-top.”
Because of inflation, $250K under Clinton is equivalent to about $166K today. The bite comes in a lot lower and a lot harder.
Actually, I mean vice versa. $250K today is like $166K under Clinton.
Oh I agree that LoDR is an issue and had in fact referred to that in the first draft of my post. But again, her words indicated she was thinking something else.
But whatever…I am not going to belabor this relatively small point. She’s unhappy her marginal rate will go up. I get it.
Why should we participate in this obamascam? I can take care of my own family and expect others to do the same. Why should my family go without so that my hard earned money can go to those that do not want to help themselves? The one thing I will thank Obama for is reigniting my independent, fighting spirit!
Yup. Soon, if you are making $250k per year, you will be the rich.
That is the point. It’s not that I don’t mind paying my taxes, it’s just why should I earn more and pay more to fund someone else’s welfare? Especially when there are provisions in the bills that allow for illegals to sponge off my tax dollars, and no incentives for someone to get OFF welfare and actually get a job (and a life while they’re at it).
We’re sending a clear message. We are not going to work harder, make more, only to see our money go to people who don’t want to work, or worse, to illegals. I’ve already been doing that here in the state of CA…free healthcare, foodstamps, education to illegals. I’ve had it. And yeah, that’s why I’m leaving CA. Sooner rather than later, hopefully.
Tax brackets are always adjusted to account for inflation. In 2000, you didn’t hit the highest bracket until $288K. Now its $373K, I believe.
Big-time dittos, ED!
I think it’s another of nbc’s brilliant marketing decisions: have CNBC employ a new-found economic conservatism to balance out PMSNBC’s overt social liberalism.
Actually, I googled “objectionism” and plan to figure out where I am in that philosophy (if anywhere). I’m sure I agree with some of her premises. But, no one should follow something like that completely and unquestioningly. We don’t even follow the Bible without soul searching and questions. There are some folks who are so hung up on Ayn Rand that they live and breathe it. I don’t plan to get that involved in any “philosphy” that is put forth by a mere mortal, as my core beliefs are Christian. I do closely identify with Conservatism. It is interesting to read about other leanings, however. Except liberalism, of course! I have had quite enough of their gibberish, thank you!
I eagerly await any news about Minnesota happenings! Sounds like we could actually get something going!
That’s getting a bit lost in the middle of a long post and really deserves an entry of it’s own.
Chap, I can’t speak for others on here and will not call you names. For me it is the principle of letting those in power know there is a line- and they have crossed it.
Here is a plan for those who can afford to: Go back to college. You are tax exempt as a college student (full time of course) and you can attempt to reverse the indoctrination of the far-left through well-reasoned debate. As a bonus you can irritate the hell out the liberal professors by telling them how the real world works when you are not hiding out in academia. For the trolls and academics who are really conservatives, don’t waste your time with hate mail- I know the category is not all encompassing and- I really don’t care what you think of my comment.
Zero…I did read your post. Couldn’t resist! You probably knew I would. I just want to say that I DO think you are “full of yourself”. However, that isn’t always a BAD thing. I’m just saying…Rush Limbaugh is also “full of himself”, and I adore him.
As for accusing you of being boring. No, I just said that subject had been covered fully and completely on another thread and is boring. YOU, on the other hand, can be very interesting.
But having said that, don’t get too “full of yourself” because I gave you a compliment. You still have plenty of faults. And if you want, I would be happy to point them out to you. Just let me know.
Respectfully, Happyscrapper.
Always?
Where did the term bracket creep come from, then?
Happyscrapper:
Fair enough, I still will not restrict my comments to anyone who wants to indulge my points about Rand’s philosophy on drugs, maybe not everyone thinks it a boring topic. I won’t belabor the issue though since my point is already made.
*evil grin* I’ll pass for now, but I’ll be happy to extent the same courtesy to you if you are so inclined.
HOW TO START EACH DAY WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK
1. Open a new file in your computer.
2. Name it ‘Barack Obama’.
3. Send it to the Recycle Bin.
4. Empty the Recycle Bin.
5. Your PC will ask you: ‘Do you really want to get rid of ‘Barack Obama?’
6. Firmly Click ‘Yes.’
7. Feel better?
GOOD – Tomorrow we’ll do Nancy Pelosi
Sign away. We also need to remind people that our industry is the second largest revenue stream for the U.S. Treasury currently.
——————————————————————————–
From: LOGA NEWS [mailto:news@loga.la]
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 11:46 AM
To: XXX@XXXXX.net
Subject: Petition: Oppose Obama’s $30 Billion Tax Increase on Oil & Gas Industry
The Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, has just completed an online petition urging Congress to defeat the Presidents plan to increase taxes on our industry. We will be sending this out to our membership and all associations that we can. We need to respond strongly as an industry and this is our opportunity.
Please take the time to sign the petition, and pass this along to everyone you know. This plan will not only attack our industry but will raises energy costs for all Americans and will threaten our Nations energy security.
For more information on the issue, please read our press release below.
To Sign the Petition, please follow this link: http://www.loga.la/obama-budget.html
When President Barack Obama announced his FY2010 budget request last week, he also unveiled a tax increase of over $30 billion for US natural gas and oil production investment, which is the most devastating tax proposal in the history of Americas oil and natural gas industry. Already the second largest revenue stream for the U.S. Treasury, the oil and gas industry is a large employer, tax payer, and revenue stream for Federal, State and Local Governments.
I am greatly disturbed by this most recent attack on our Industry, LOGA President Don Briggs said today. The oil crash in the mid eighties was a cakewalk compared to what this could be, Briggs also said. The eighties crash was due to a crash in oil prices. Today, we are experiencing a crash in oil prices, natural gas prices, world recession, tight investment capital and now a proposal to rescind all economic incentives of the oil and gas industry.
Natural gas and oil provide 65 percent of Americas energy. Americas independent natural gas and oil producers develop 90 percent of US wells, produce 82 percent of US natural gas and produce 68 percent of US oil. Independent producers reinvest over 100 percent of American oil and natural gas cash flow back into new American production. Lower natural gas and oil prices and the tight credit market are limiting investment capital; drilling activity is down over 25 percent since a year ago. (Source: Independent Petroleum Association of America)
For Louisiana, which prides itself in being THE Energy State, a slow down in drilling activity translates into fewer jobs, less investment in community, and less state and local revenue from producing companies.
In a time of global insecurity, it is imperative that the United States become independent from foreign oil sources, to ensure our Nations security. The oil and gas industry supports the development of alternative fuels as an important part of our future. However, as we encourage that growth, we cannot ignore the vital role this industry plays in our present. Removing natural gas and oil from the equation of a varied, comprehensive energy structure for the United States is not practical or feasible.
President Obamas proposed tax increase, aimed at increasing revenue from the oil and natural gas industry, flies in the face of the goal of creating the comprehensive energy proposal that utilizes all sources of energy.
FY2010 Budget Proposals Include:
Repeal Expensing of Intangible Drilling Costs
Repeal of Percentage Depletion
Repeal Marginal Well Tax Credit
Repeal Enhanced Oil Recovery Credit
Increases Geological and Geophysical Amortization Costs
Excise Tax on Gulf of Mexico Production
Repeal of Manufacturing Tax Deduction
Implement a $4/acre fee on Gulf leases designated as non-producing
My bad, I seem to have missed your rough draft that you turned in to me for approval. It must be somewhere under this stack of sales requests that I have here on my desk.
When did you say you turned it in again?
—-
Its amazing, my industry hasnt even felt the recession and I am backlogged by several days. Unfortunately (or unfortunately depending on how we look at it), my industry will be a major benefactor under one particular item of the “stimulus” bill that I do not agree with. So Im going to be even busier in the next few months.
If I were an CPA or a tax accountant, I think I would love the position I was in right now too.
But hey, I’ve got 7 weeks of vacation on the books and Im already planning 1 international and 2-3 national vacations this summer. I think I’ll head over to the hot tub for a while before my next conference call starts. Im stressed.
If you want to double your pleasure and fun – send them both!
It is becoming increasingly clear
that our sovereignty is being sabotaged,
our Constitution is being undermined,
and that in order to stop it in time we must stop the one party rulers asap!
These tea parties give us the opportunity to organize locally against this takeover insurgency of the liberals!
I sent that graphic to my daughter and she wrote back…”NO!! Sending them to the recycle bin means we will continue to get them over and over and over!” I replied that we also have the option of deleting our entire recycle bin! Yes!
No, I do not believe always.
I remember when the inflation adjustment was instituted.
Since the early 1980s, tax brackets have been adjusted for inflation…but, as far as I am aware, they had not been before then.
Form a table in one of the links, the 35% rate for tax year 2008 kicks in at $357,700.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/22663.html
http://www.heritage.org/research/taxes/wm327.cfm
Disclaimer: “Preview” has decided not to work on this particular thread.
In a way “Going Galt” is a cool idea, but I would rather work hard and make more money so I can give it to those groups/candidates that will kick these people out!
Happyscrapper, Oh I understand not accepting Objectivism in it’s entirety. I haven’t, either. My Catholic faith tells me to help others and have faith in a power stronger than me. This is anathema to Rand, but I felt so what?…. I still find her words expressed in John Galt’s soliloquy accurate for the most part. I choose who I will assist and help and I expect the same from others. I won’t have a government taking my money from me( defense and infrastructure repairs and protection excluded) for entitlement programs or telling me where and what to contribute. This is the essence of what all this about Galt’s Gulch on this and other threads is for me.It resonates perfectly.
Alinsky’s (modified) rule for Conservative Radicals: Pick your target income; Freeze your production to remain at or below it; Personalize a lifestyle to accommodate it; and Polarize the authorities who want to tax it.
I’m afraid that I’m going to agree with you. While many Conservatives feel that by demonstrating they’re doing something, anything, to show Washington that their policies stink, it won’t have any effect. Sorry, but the only thing they care about is the next election where they’ll butter up their constituents into voting for their sorry asses again.
Only a few are listening in Washington and they aren’t the ones in power. The Dems, including Obummer, think that my money (or my tax money anyway) is their money. They are beholden to no one. If these weasels cared in the slightest, they wouldn’t be putting in earmarks and handing out money to Citi like it’s candy.
Then there is the electorate. The ones who are truly to blame on all sides. The “proud” citizens who feel they’re nothing in this world without some phoney baloney politician kissing up to them and promising that voting for them means enhanced riches for their district.
It’s all just a game. Same old politicians (including Obummer) beholden to no one and same old, lazy, clueless citizenry who vote away their rights so that Big Daddy Government can take care of them.
Protest away…. I believe that there will be a net effect when the people who voted for Obummer give a damn and are out there protesting just as loudly and vehemently.
We get the government we deserve. I don’t think I deserve it but I still get it. I am only one vote and it wasn’t for any of these people in power.
Fellow citizens, I beseech thee. Pay attention not taxes.
I haven’t read Atlas Shrugged but will immediately
I guesss I was “going Galt” about a year ago.
I have a nice little 3 acres in the middle of nowhere,Pa. 2 acres tillable
I have my dad’s Farmall Cub with all the attachments and digging a lot of dirt.
Never had a taste for sheep or goat, but I guess I could acquire it.
be ordering chickens in about a month.
I’m really into reducing my footprint.
Thanks Michelle for posting this compilation of the growing discontent of the American taxpayer. It is great for morale to know we have friends and allies all over this country that still believe in the founding principles of this nation. Give me liberty or give me death!
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE (mo-lone lah-veh) Translation: Come and take them!