Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Foreign Energy Reliance - Our Broke Government - More Taxes, Ugh.
This C-span report by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) is an interesting approach to someone's crazy idea of an energy solution!
After reviewing House Bill 909, Roadmap for America's Energy Future, which the aforementioned Congressman, and 70 others have supported, it looks positive. I found this disturbing figure on the Bill sponsor's website:
Roughly half of the U.S. trade deficit is energy related. Preventing fossils fuel development at home has made us dependent on foreign oil for 70% of our supply.
My fellow American's we cannot afford to be dependent upon foreign commodities, especially oil. If the oil magnates and regulators decide to switch to a foreign currency, going away from the ever-declining US Dollar, prices would soar. But that's not all! Prices are going to soar anyway. They have been and they will yet go heavenward...but that, my friends, would not be heaven on earth at all. The recession seems be spiraling.
I'm an optimist by nature, and I still have hope for America's future, but a depression, or at least a quasi-depression seems to be rearing its ugly head on the horizon. This is especially true given the fact that Congress and government leaders continue to spend money we don't have. Like a balloon inflated too much, if we continue on this path the explosion will make the Hindenburg disaster look like a tea party -- and I'm not talking about being Taxed Enough Already!
Speaking of taxes...my wife and I voted yesterday in a local city election. We voted "No" to another lame tax. Why did so many people vote "Yes"? Yet another burdensome tax law passed. We're already in one of the highest tax areas in the entire country! There's even talk of the state filing for bankruptcy!
I do not believe for one minute that raising taxes will help our local or state government spend less. If anyone thinks raising taxes will help us (meaning any local, state or federal government entity) get out of debt, don't believe it. If they get our money, they'll just spend more. The writing's on the wall -- government cannot manage money. That's my money, and your money. It should be sacred and used with care. More of it should be in our pockets.
There are giant US corporations now headquartered in Ireland. Why? Because Ireland has one of the lowest tax mandates in the English-speaking world, if not the lowest. There are literally billions of dollars worth or revenue going back into that country because the taxes are LOW. Why can't Congress collectively get a clue? Why must we outsource and rely on other countries for goods and consumer products? Because it's cheaper to hire foreigners in foreign lands, that's why! Yet by lowering taxes we could create more jobs for the thousands of good and wise and honest American's out of work. We could pour money into the US treasury and, especially into the American households.
My friends and fellow countrymen, it is far past time to raise a hue and a cry. We MUST become patriots for the American cause or we will one day not have or enjoy the liberties and the freedom our citizen ancestors have for the last two centuries!
Finally, I recently purchased a great book of Ronald Reagan speeches, and I found this treasure in a speech he gave in Arizona years prior to his tenure in the Whitehouse. He said,
"Here is the main battleground! We must reduce the government's supply of money and deny it the right to borrow. ...
"If your Congressman should say we must cut costs first and then reduce taxes—don't stand for it. Remind him that no government in history has ever voluntarily reduced itself in size. Governments will always find a need for the money they get." (A Time for Choosing: The Speeches of Ronald Reagan, 1961-1982 (eds. A.M. Balitzer & G.M. Bonetto; Chicago: Regnery Gateway in cooperation with Americans for the Reagan Agenda, 1983) 35, italics original, 37-38.
P.S. For a good read on politics, terrorism and the future of American economy if we continue to rely on foreign oil, see retired CIA officer Robert Baer's Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude.
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3 comments:
After working so many years out of the country, I can say with absolute certainty that your ideas are very good. We need constitutional amendments on term limits, how and under what conditions they can raise our taxes and who is entitled to be a citizen of the Nation. Children of foreign nationals and illegal aliens should not qualify!
Great article. I'm right with you man. Each of us needs to prepare our homes and families to be self-reliant and FRUGAL! We simply cannot rely on the government to take the right actions in our behalf. We'd all better read the writing on the wall and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT NOW! Action brings results.
Couple of quick questions raised by your entry:
1) What energy reserve are you relying on to replace 70% of America's consumption (assuming consumption rates do not increase).
2) With reports that G.E. and Exxon Mobile paid $0 in taxes in recent years, how do you calculate and compare the effective tax rate for large corporations in America vs. the rest of the world.
3) If Ireland is benefiting from reducing its corporate tax rate how do you explain Ireland's current economic problems and the bailout received from the E.U.?
4) What are you relying on to show that reduced government spending during a recession creates growth? Most economists seem to favor stimulus. If reducing spending is the answer, how do you explain the large increase in the federal debt during Reagan's presidency? (see http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/117xx/doc11766/2010_08_05_FederalDebt.)
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