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Taxes - The Heritage FoundationTaxes - The Heritage Foundation A powerful lesson of recent months is that gimmickry makes good bumper stickers but lousy economic stimulus. View Article - Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:42:00 -0400 Proponents of raising taxes have offered many straw man arguments and myths to support their case. View Article - Tue, 07 Sep 2010 01:00:00 -0400 As we celebrate Labor Day, let’s remember what makes this holiday possible in the first place: American workers. For the most part that means small business. View Article - Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 The CEO of Intel has joined the ranks of those labeling big government as the cause of our economic slump, not the solution. View Article - Sat, 28 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 President Obama has called for a huge tax increase to take effect on January 1, 2011. Instead of reducing spending, he proposes to raise taxes on a wide swath of taxpayers—including small businesses—despite the weak economic recovery. Congressional Democrats stand poised (immediately following the November elections) to endorse the President’s request and threaten to go much further. Proponents of letting the tax cuts expire—which would indeed be a tax hike—have offered a wide array of justifications for this wrongheaded policy. Heritage Foundation fiscal policy expert J. D. Foster wades through the myths and straw arguments to set the record straight. View Article - Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:29:00 -0400 Curtis Dubay discusses the merits of extending the Bush tax cuts, including cuts for the middle class. View Article - Wed, 25 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 Bill Beach discusses whether a national tax holiday would encourage more lending. View Article - Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 The Economic Freedom Act, proposed by Representative Jim Jordan, would terminate the ineffective Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), and substitute a proven way to stimulate the economy: tax relief—from permanent repeal of the capital gains and death taxes to significant reductions in payroll taxes and the top corporate tax rate. Analysts at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis (CDA) conducted static and dynamic analyses of the act (H.R. 5029), finding that over the long term, dynamic economic effects would offset much of the cost of the tax relief. In the short term, the act would increase the deficit if it was not coupled with reductions in spending. This means a specific plan for spending cuts is imperative. The CDA analysts detail the economic and fiscal effects of the Economic Freedom Act’s spending and tax cuts. View Article - Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:30:00 -0400 Bill Beach discusses the possible outcomes of a flat tax. View Article - Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 In many respects, Dan L. Duncan was the embodiment of the American dream, the self-made man incarnate. He transformed $10,000 and two propane trucks into a natural gas empire and a personal net worth of $9 billion—making him the richest person in Houston, and the 74th wealthiest individual in the world. View Article - Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 J D Foster discusses the possibility of an American VAT. View Article - Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 Imagine you are one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s top political strategists. The polls show your party needs a game-changer, something that will transform what looks like a losing political hand into a winner. “I know,” you shout, “let’s push for a large tax increase on the ‘fortunate few’ — the 2 or 3 percent of the population with so much money they won’t even miss a few thousand bucks. The other 97 or 98 percent will feel no pain, and we’ll be able to call ourselves deficit hawks when all those billions start rolling in.” View Article - Tue, 10 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 President Obama wants to drastically raise taxes in January View Article - Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:57:00 -0400 The CBPP's critique is based on faulty economic analysis and fundamental misrepresentations. View Article - Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:00:00 -0400 Liberals in Congress have a plan to raise your taxes after the elections this fall, something they must do to continue feeding the Obama Administration’s spending addiction. Watch for them to act after the midterm elections under the cover of the report from the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. View Article - Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 Curtis Dubay returns to The Ed Show to discuss jobs and extending the Bush tax cuts. View Article - Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:00:00 -0400 Curtis Dubay discusses renewing the Bush tax cuts to support economic growth. View Article - Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:00:00 -0400 The death tax: What does it kill? Who does it affect? It affects hundreds of thousands of small-business owners across the country—as well as their employees and community residents who benefit from the senior and day care centers, playgrounds, charities, and learning centers that are built or supported by small-business owners. Like water and sunlight in an ecosystem, small businesses provide sustenance essential to building and preserving communities. So high is the death tax that a large portion of heirs to small companies cannot afford to pay it after the business founder dies, and see themselves forced to sell to giant corporations—which have no personal ties to the communities of their new acquisitions, and thus no incentive to commit to local institutions. What does the death tax kill? The best of American life and civil society itself. The death tax is simply antithetical to the core of the American dream. View Article - Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:53:00 -0400 Millions of Americans face potential financial ruin because they bought homes they couldn't afford. Often, these homeowners were lured by initially low interest rates that provided the illusion of affordability. After a few years, these "teaser" rates reset upward, creating unaffordably high mortgage payments. View Article - Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:00:00 -0400 Senator Jim DeMint cites Heritage research in his speech on preventing the renewal of the death tax. View Article - Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:00:00 -0400
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Looking for more great sites?
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May I suggest the following....
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Czar-mania
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By Brian Miller
Friday, June 12, 2009
www.meatandpotatoes.org
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Has anyone else noticed that about every other week, President Obama announces a new “Czar”? It makes for great press, but what IS a Czar?
| Czar [ zahr ] |
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–noun
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1.an emperor or king.
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| 2.(often initial capital letter) the former emperor of Russia. |
| 3.an autocratic ruler or leader. |
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4.any person exercising great authority or power in a particular field: a czar of industry.
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I do hope we are talking about the fourth definition. I’m sure if I look at Article 2 Section I, there will be something about this position in the Constitution right? Well, not exactly. Section II clearly gives the President the authority to create and appoint Cabinet positions “with the Advice and Consent of the Senate”, but a Czar is appointed without a single hearing, nor is a Czar accountable to the Congress. So the position is clearly not constitutional in nature.
President Franklin D Roosevelt was the first to assign a Czar in the form of a "War Production Czar” in the 1940’s, followed by a "Economic Czar" a "Manpower Czar" a "Food Czar" and even a "Rubber Czar". These were all established in a time of national crisis known as World War II, and as such little attention was paid to the constitutionality of the act. Like all things in the Progressive Movement, a national emergency was an opportunity not to be wasted, and before we knew what hit us, precedence had been set.
Many other presidents have used this Roosevelt era loop hole, usually for good purpose. After all the idea is to “Cut through government red tape, to get things done”. Presidents such as Eisenhower, Nixon, both Bushes’ even Ronald Reagan had each had 1 or 2 in their administrations.
These Czars serve at the pleasure of the President, and report directly to him. They are not appointed and confirmed by Congress, nor are they accountable to them. The applications are specialized, and fill in the gaps in the presidential cabinet, and in several cases cabinet positions grew out of them.
Fast forward to today.....
By my count, there are over 26 Czars in the Obama administration. I've compiled a list of what I've found so far:
- Afghanistan Czar - ?
- Car Czar - Steve Rattner
- Climate Czar - Ann DeParle
- Copyright Czar - John Conyers
 Cyber Security Czar - TBA - Drug Czar - Gil Kerlikowske
- Economic Czar - Paul Krugman
- Education Czar - Arne Duncan
- Energy Czar - Carol Browner
- Executive Pay Czar - Kenneth Feinberg
- Faith-based Czar- Joshua DuBois
- Great Lakes Czar -Cameron Davis
- Guantanamo Closure Czar - Daniel Fried
- Health Care Czar - Ann DeParle
- Housing Czar - Noli ‘Kabayan’ de Castro
- Iran Czar - ?
- Middle East Czar - ?
- Mortgage Czar - Mike Allen
- Pakistan Czar - ?
- Regulatory Czar - Cass Sunstein
- Stimulus Accountability Czar - Earl Devaney
- TARP Czar - Herb Allison
- Terrorism Czar - John Brennan
- U.S. Border Czar - Alan Bersin
- Urban Czar - Adolfo Carrion
- WMD Czar - Gary Samore
Most of these Czars are overseeing aspects of our country already overseen by huge government bureaucracies. Bureaucracies, mind you, that have congressional oversight and accountability!
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Overseen by Congress
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Unchecked Power
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The Environmental Protection Agency
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Great Lakes Czar
Climate Czar |
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| The Department of Education |
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Education Czar |
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| The State Department |
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Afganistan Czar
Iraq Czar
Middle East Czar
Pakistan Czar |
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| Department of Defense |
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WMD Czar |
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| U.S. Border Patrol |
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U.S. Boerder Czar |
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This is not simply an overlapping of juristiction. Something that never happens in government (** Wink wink...say no more ** ). But rather a group of individuals with the "Full Weight of the White House" at their disposal, who can step right around these agencies and declare actions and policies.
Chrysler could never have been intimidated by Congress or the President to accept the dirty deal it got last week. But the Car Czar, with a blank check book that congress never had to approve, with the “Full Power of the White House” at his back was able to swiftly twist arms to make a deal happen to the Presidents liking.
Numerous banks were forced to take TARP money, then were micro-managed by the administration via the Bailout Czar. When the banks tried to return the funds to the government, they were met by the Economic Czar who ordered the Treasury subject each bank to newly concocted and subjective stress test, which were then published in the press to make the public at large loose faith in them as punishment. Now, another Czar, the new Pay Czar is stepping up to the plate to tell the banks how much they can pay their executives and managers.
A quick search on Google for "Obama Administration Czar" yields over 1,050,000 results. Most are stories announcing a new Czar or quoting a Czar's directive or statement!
Here is a report by Fox News Commentator Glenn Beck laying out the exact structure of our national government, and where the Czars fit in on a white board:
As for the rest of the national media, why aren't they questioning this tsunami of unchecked dictorial power? NBC (owned by GE), ABC, CBS, CNN and other Pravda-esque media outlets are marganilizing the Czars and their actions as just another mundane policy move, while spotlighting who said what on the View and who's wearing what on American Idol.
We need to be marching in the streets over this! Our Senator's and Congressmen's phones need to be ringing off the hooks. The USPS needs to be delivering semi truck loads of irate letters from us. And their mail servers need to be crashing from the overwhelming influx of WTF emails!
Wake up! Wake Up! WAKE UP!
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| 1 - There is no liberal bias in the media |
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| 2 - Separation of Church and State |
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| 3 - Banning partial birth abortions is an assault on a woman's right to choose |
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| 4 - The Outsourcing of American Jobs |
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| 5 - The Creation of Green Jobs |
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| 6 - Same Sex Marriage |
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| 7 - Rasing Taxes Equals more government funds |
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| 8 - The Supreme Court should keep International Courts in mind |
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| 9 - America must be humble to the international community |
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| 10 - Government Knows Best |
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We are an independent group of thinkers, who are neither Democrats nor Republicans, but believe in right and wrong. It’s time to clear all the crazy stuff from our lives, and get down to just the Meat and Potatoes of today’s issues. Join us, and invite your friends to sit down at your table and discuss with us. Site Map | |
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