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Obama Proposal a Little Good, Some Bad, a Whole Lot of Ugly

Reform is needed, but the corporate tax plan does not go far enough

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It was William John Henry Boetcker (1873–1962), an American religious leader and influential public speaker who wrote, "The Ten Cannots":

1) You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

2) You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

3) You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.

4) You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

5) You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

6) You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.

7) You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

8) You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.

9) You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.

10) And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

Boetcker also spoke of the "Seven National Crimes":

1) I don’t think.

2) I don’t know.

3) I don’t care.

4) I am too busy.

5) I leave well enough alone.

6) I have no time to read and find out.

7) I am not interested.

People have often attributed the work of Rev. Boetcker to Abe Lincoln, but the fact is, The Ten Cannots, that emphasizes freedom and responsibility of the individual on himself was originally published in 1916.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism

Harry Reasoner of MA 10:03AM February 25, 2012

Without monetary reform, all tax reforms are irrelevant to America’s economic well-being. The U.S., like most of the world’s nations, uses a reserve currency, generating 99.93% of its money supply as the principal of loans. The money supply and debt equal each other. The current debt/money in the U. S. Is about $56.7 trillion, with an overall average interest rate of about 6.8%. The annual interest payments are $3.67 trillion, the interest consuming the entire money supply every fifteen years or so.

The way out of the economic mess is simple. The U.S. is a sovereign nation with full authority and power to issue all the money it needs or wants. Congress has been designate as the branch of government to do the job: it is to ‘coin money and regulate the value thereof’ according to the constitution. The necessary laws are in place, the supreme court rulings have been made in favor of the government constitutional authority, and history has demonstrated the government issued currency works in the economy.

I offer a simple proposal to eliminate the federal budget deficit, provide adequate funding for government programs, pay down the nation debt, all without increasing taxes. Congress can pay all federal employees, including people in the military, and all federal benefit including Social security and Medicare payment in American money, issued by the treasury. This action would generate a substantial budget surplus that would be used to retire government bonds at book value.

Furthermore, issuing a nation’s currency is the exclusive prerogative of a sovereign government. Operating in the best interest of the citizens, only sovereign governments can provide all currency and banking services for nations to have stable currencies necessary to grow sustainable economies. The government therefore must replace fractional reserve lending to stabilize the nation’s currency. By increasing a bank’s reserve requirement for loans by 10% annually, the practice can be eliminated within nine or ten years.

BILL PARKS of MD 10:51PM February 24, 2012

Nice work Nick...Provided today's current loopholes and corporate tax rate, 115 out of the 500 stocks listed on the S&P 500 paid a corporate rate below 20%...by lowering the rate to 28% and closing these loopholes, isn't the effective rate essentially rising? The rate itself seems insignificant without the supplemental data that has yet to be disclosed...looking forward to more articles.

Brad of OH 4:42PM February 24, 2012