Michele Bachmann - "Take our country back!"

"Take our country back!" Michele Bachmann had roared like a radical left-wing anti-war protester back in the 1960s. I had wondered what she had meant by that. Take our country "back" from what? "Back" from who? From the Socialists? From the Communists? From the OTHER major U.S. political party that represents working people? If she had meant "take back our country from the corporations and bankers" (and their political enablers), I might have agreed with her. But I have the feeling she wants to take this country back from the lazy poor people like me (one of the 15 million unemployed).

I would like to assure her that I have absolutely nothing to do with the present State of the Union, because I didn't vote for her; but I'm quite sure she wouldn't believe me. Besides, she's not sane enough to know that, because she's far too radical...even for someone such as myself.

But I've come to the conclusion that it's going to take something much more radical (and ignorant) than Michele Bachmann to change the way this country has been governed.

The wealthy corporate industrialists have been brilliant in manipulating the masses, funding intelligent people to run political organizations (i.e. the Tea Party) and "political think tanks" to convince the naive and ignorant "sheeple" to vote against their own self-interests. Fox News did an outstanding job of pushing their agenda. Kudos to them.

Who am I to say that the Bush tax cuts didn't create jobs, but only under-funded the federal and state budgets. And who am I to say that cutting those under-funded budgets won't create jobs either, but will only lay off more people.

The Republican and Tea Party's financial billionaire-corporate backers are winning, and it's going to take something very radical to open up people's eyes to the truth and to change the way this country has been governed. I say let the GOP have their own way on everything they want...EVERYTHING. Then they can take all the credit for everything (or all the blame).

Let them outlaw the Democratic Party; cut the entire annual budget to only $700 billion a year to be used JUST for military spending and nothing else; eliminate ALL social services completely...cut off Social Security checks immediately; lower the minimum wage to $1 an hour and put all those lazy bastards in a higher tax bracket too; lower corporate and capital gains taxes on the rich to $0; outlaw any and all labor unions; make "In God We Trust" an amendment to the Constitution; make abortion a capital offense punishable by death; make going to a Baptist church every Sunday morning mandatory by federal law; send all the Mexicans back to Mexico (even if they're legal U.S. citizens); allow fully automatic machine guns in high schools; outlaw the suing of corporations for deadly products, discrimination, and polluting the environment; reward corporations with tax bonuses for every job outsourced to China; ban all liberal and progressive media outlets; remove the theory of evolution from all school books; create a national holiday honoring all corporate CEOs; put Sarah Palin's face on the $100-bill; nominate Glenn Beck for President; and pay all the GOP politicians double what they earn today.

Then everything will be better, and we'll all have jobs...but we'll just have to patiently wait a couple of years until this once great country of ours can once again return to its prosperity, prominence, and exceptionalism.

Then, when all the ignorant "sheeple" finally wake up and begin to realize they've been living in Corporate La-La Land, we can try my very radical (but much saner) plan.

SIMPLY SAID: "The driver of the deficit is tax cuts."

Translated for ignorant thick-skinned sheeple: "We have budget shortfalls because the Republicans insisted that the rich get extended tax cuts." PERIOD. PLEASE READ THAT AGAIN.

The House Republican plan to cut about $61 billion from the federal budget in the next seven months [WITHOUT RAISING TAXES] could cost about 700,000 more jobs through 2012, according to a new report from Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi.

After signing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans into law, Congress wants to cut funding to programs that assist the working poor, help the needy heat their homes, and expand access to graduate-level education.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration just reported that Japan's radiation was found in milk samples in California and Washington...but Republicans want to cut the budgets for these two federal agencies too.

Not just federal budgets, but state budgets have been suffering as well...because of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations - all at the expense of the middle-class, teachers, factory workers, college students, small business owners, the jobless, and the local panhandler. In other words, anyone who's not wealthy, a politician, or is not on a Board of Directors.

The rising cost of government every year is only natural with a rising population base. If the population grows by 5% a year, then the cost of government should also be expected to rise at the same rate (providing the cost-of-living index remains the same and the U.S. dollar retains its value).

If a proportionate amount of people were being hired for newly created jobs every year, and corporate profits rose by a proportionate amount (year after year), then theoretically the ratio of government spending (and government budgets), along with consumer spending, should remain approximately the same as well.

According to this article, to stabilize the debt, deficits need to be reduced to no more than about 3 percent of GDP. A combination of reasonable savings in discretionary programs, some tax loophole closures, and various entitlement reforms that can be enacted now (for example, in farm subsidies and some other programs, along with some relatively modest additional savings in Medicare that can be taken now) — in conjunction with letting the Bush tax cuts expire after 2012 — would succeed in stabilizing the debt and achieving primary budget balance in the decade ahead.

My Radical (but Much Saner) Plan for Taking Our Country Back

Today from the Huff Po: "If we don't come to understand the underlying reasons for the current crisis and enact real reform of Wall Street and the banks and get big corporate money out of our elections we face a future that is truly frightening."

What I propose:

1) - Lower the corporate tax rate to that of China's (25%), but have the federal treasury take the full 25% of all corporate gross earnings, both on domestic and foreign sales. This would eliminate outsourcing jobs because corporations would not want to pay corporate taxes in both China and the U.S. - and there would be NO deductions, depreciations, subsidies, write-offs, or other tax loopholes.... A FLAT 25% corporate tax on ALL GROSS EARNINGS (the way real people are taxed). Of the 25%, 5% should go to the state budget where the corporation primarily operates (not necessarily where the corporate office is located). No other state, city, or local taxes can be imposed on the business, eliminating the "tax bargains" that corporations always trade for when threatening to relocate from state to state to avoid paying taxes and having local officials beholden to corporate officers. End this blackmail.

2) - Tax all capital gains taxes at 20% (at the rate it used to be before Bush, during Clinton's time in office). Corporate officers usually receive a large bulk of their company-paid salaries as stock-options in employee compensation packages, paying less in taxes than regular payroll taxes. Of the 20%, 2.5% should go to Social Security and 2.5% should go to Medicare. Presently, no part of capital gains taxes goes to these funds.

3) - Employees should be free to join a union for collective bargaining, allowing employees to sign authorization cards stating they want a union. The cards are then submitted to the NLRB and if more than 50% of the employees submit cards, the NLRB requires the employer to recognize the union. The NLRA election process is an additional step with the NLRB conducting a secret ballot election after authorization cards are submitted. In both cases the employer never sees the authorization cards or any information that would disclose how individual employees voted. The union status for each company can be voted on and renewed every 4 years.

4) - Outlaw all corporate (and union) donations to political campaigns* so that elected officials aren't beholden to corporate (or union) interests, but vote in the interests of the people who actually voted them into office. A $1,000 individual limit should be imposed for every registered voter. Political campaign promises should be verbal contracts and should be legally binding, unless undue or unforeseen forces prevents them for keeping said promises to the people. Campaign smears (if knowingly untrue) should be outlawed and banned as well.

     * I would propose an equal allowance for all candidates and equal air time on TV and radio for political ads.

5) - All congressional and local legislation should be voted on UP and DOWN...no amendments, riders, or earmarks can be added. All bills should be written in plain English and be made available to the general public on their official websites and in the Sunday editions of their local newspapers at least two weeks before a vote is taken - except if it's "emergency" legislation.

6) - Nationalize all the banks in the U.S. into THE PEOPLE'S BANK of AMERICA giving low interest loans to the people and businesses - with revenues being paid to the U.S. Treasury, instead of into the pockets of Wall Street bankers.

7) - Nationalize the gas, coal, nuclear, and oil industry. Energy and the country's natural resources should belong to the people, not profited upon by a few individuals. This would keep costs down for the people and business. Revenues over cost would be reinvested into exploration, green technology, stockpiles, and additional refineries.

8) - Lower the age for FULL retirement to 55 and have everyone qualify for full medical and Social Security benefits once all of the above have been enacted and in place for 10 years. If someone has more than $5 million in assets at the time of their retirement, they will not qualify for any government social services (Medicare, SS, UI, etc).

9) - If any corporation outsources more than 50% of their employee-base, then all corporate officers (the CEO and board of directors) must relinquish their U.S. citizenships. Major shareholders who collectively own more than 50% of company stocks will be subject to same. (As American patriots, could we expect any less from our corporate leaders?)

10) - Only Congress (and not a sitting President) can appoint one judge at a time to the Supreme Court, vetted by a rotating party affiliation, to keep from politically stacking the our highest court in life-time positions that favor one party over another.

Michele Bachmann radically screamed, "Take our country back!", but she and others in Congress already RULE our country now, so who are we taking the country back from...her? If so, I'll agree with that.

(Poor bastard...never in HIS lifetime!)

Related : The Republicans Lack the Seriousness to Govern