What works in China? Socialism or Capitalism?
Dick Morris’s latest column exposes that even in China, socialism is a drag on their “booming” economy.
Buried amid its astonishing annual growth rate, even in the recession, is the sad story of China’s socialist sector, a huge and perennial drag on its economy. The failure of government control amid the success of private initiative is a story that President Obama would do well to study as he brings government control and management to the automobile and banking industries in the United States.
In China, 80 percent of all investment activity comes from bank loans largely controlled by the government — a harbinger of what Obama will bring to the United States as TARP-funded banks increasingly have to bow to federal regulation and pressure. And, as is to be expected when the state runs the banks, the lending goes disproportionately to state-owned enterprises (read: General Motors). These companies get 70 percent of the nation’s investment capital (and the figure is rising) but only produce between one-quarter and one-third of all output in the country.
Coming to America: The socialist 25% sales tax – Value Added Tax (VAT)
The “Value Added Tax” or VAT for short, which is common in Europe (aka socialist countries) may be coming to America soon. Remember when Obama kept saying how no one making over $250,000 would see their taxes going up? Of course, since then, cigarette taxes have been, and even though i’m not a smoker, i’d venture to say many people who buy cigs make less than $250k per year. The Value Added Tax is basically a sales tax that would be at a rate of about 25% of whatever the price is. According to Wapo advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity (aka, pay for socialized health care and the entitlement programs).
“There is a growing awareness of the need for fundamental tax reform,” Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said in an interview. “I think a VAT and a high-end income tax have got to be on the table.”
A VAT is a tax on the transfer of goods and services that ultimately is borne by the consumer. Highly visible, it would increase the cost of just about everything, from a carton of eggs to a visit with a lawyer. It is also hugely regressive, falling heavily on the poor. But VAT advocates say those negatives could be offset by using the proceeds to pay for health care for every American — a tangible benefit that would be highly valuable to low-income families.
Liberals dispute that notion. “You could pay for it regressively and have people at the bottom come out better off — maybe. Or you could pay for it progressively and they’d come out a lot better off,” said Bob McIntyre, director of the nonprofit Citizens for Tax Justice, which has a health financing plan that targets corporations and the rich.
People are finally starting to catch on. Obama not such a Messiah anymore. People are shooting steam out of their ears from porklus to income destribution.
Michelle Malkin’s syndicated column reports on the growing, grass-roots movement against porkulus/spending binges/the entitlement culture from Seattle to Denver to Mesa, Arizona and beyond. Why aren’t you hearing about it in the MSM? Because it doesn’t fit the victim mentality/government savior narrative. We don’t exist, remember? Well, more of you non-existent rebels will be gathering in Overland Park, Kansas tomorrow, Saturday, at Rep. Dennis Moore’s office (D-KS) at 10 am. You heard it here first. And it’s on. Reader Amanda Grosserode (now a commenter here – her handle is Huskergirl) got the ball rolling. Talk show host Darla Jaye is on board (more details here) and I hear Kansas Americans for Prosperity is getting involved.
Rick Santelli: President Obama, Are You Listening? Jeffrey Immelt will probably fire Rick Santelli now
Rick Santelli: President Obama, Are You Listening?
All heck is breaking loose in the financial markets this week as traders are betting that Obama’s giant welfare surprise has doomed the economy. As the values of our nation’s best companies tumbled as a result of actions in Washington, Rick Santelli spoke up on CNBC from the trading floor at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
CNBC was largely supportive of Obama’s candidacy. After only four weeks, Obama’s honeymoon period with the media has taken a nosedive.
Video and transcript are below.
Rick Santelli CNBC transcript:
Mr. Ross has nailed it. The
government is promoting bad behavior. We certainly don’t want to put stimulus pork and give people a whopping $8 or $10 in their check and think that they ought to save it.And in terms of modifications, I tell you what. I have an idea. The new administration is big on computers and technology. How about this, Mr. President and new administration. Why don’t you put up a website to have people vote on the internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the losers mortgages? Or would they like to at least buy buy cars, buy a house that is in foreclosure … give it to people who might have a chance to actually prosper down the road and reward people that can carry the water instead of drink the water?
This is America!
How many people want to pay for your neighbor’s
mortgages that has an extra bathroom and can’t pay their bills?
Raise their hand!President Obama, are you listening?
You know Cuba used to have mansions and a relatively decent economy. They moved from the individual to the collective. Now they’re driving ‘54 Chevys.
It’s time for another tea party.
What we are doing in this country will make Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin roll over in their graves.
Santelli has the credentials as a senior investment strategist, trader and manager to know what he is talking about.
The entire segment at the CME featured Jason Roney of Sharmac Capital, Wilbur Ross Jr. of WL Ross & Co., and CNBC’s Rick Santelli.
Reactions can be found here and here and here.
BTW, would you join the Chicago Tea Party? You can vote in the I guess “official” CNBC poll. At the time of this post. 92% of the 82,000 voters would!
Umm.. Uhh.. Ummm. On Friday Feb 20th, White House spokesman Gibbs to Santelli: You don’t know what you’re talking about
The road to socialism shifts into another gear – Obama’s massive mortgage entitlement program
The White House just released the dirty details of Obama’s massive mortgage entitlement program.
Refinancing for Up to 4 to 5 Million Responsible Homeowners to Make Their Mortgages More Affordable
A $75 Billion Homeowner Stability Initiative to Reach Up to 3 to 4 Million At-Risk Homeowners
Supporting Low Mortgage Rates By Strengthening Confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
In addition, there will be forced mortgage modifications (bad idea when GOP pitched it, bad idea now) and unprecedented new meddling in private loan contracts, including a $10 billion “insurance fund,” $100 billion more for Freddie and Fannie (rewarding failures again), and a provision to “Allow Judicial Modifications of Home Mortgages During Bankruptcy for
Borrowers Who Have Run Out of Options” (pushed by Dodd and the Dems for more than a year now).
“Pay for Success” Incentives to Servicers: Servicers will receive an up-front fee of $1,000 for each eligible modification meeting guidelines established under this initiative. They will also receive “pay for success” fees – awarded monthly as long as the borrower stays current on the loan – of up to $1,000 each year for three years.
Incentives to Help Borrowers Stay Current: To provide an extra incentive for borrowers to keep paying on time, the initiative will provide a monthly balance reduction payment that goes straight towards reducing the principal balance of the mortgage loan. As long as a borrower stays current on his or her loan, he or she can get up to $1,000 each year for five years.
Reaching Borrowers Early: To keep lenders focused on reaching borrowers who are trying their best to stay current on their mortgages, an incentive payment of $500 will be paid to servicers, and an incentive payment of $1,500 will be paid to mortgage holders, if they modify at-risk loans before the borrower falls behind.Home Price Decline Reserve Payments: To encourage lenders to modify more mortgages and enable more families to keep their homes, the Administration — together with the FDIC — has developed an innovative partial guarantee initiative. The insurance fund – to be created by the Treasury Department at a size of up to $10 billion – will be designed to discourage lenders from opting to foreclose on mortgages that could be viable now out of fear that home prices will fall even further later on. Holders of mortgages modified under the program would be provided with an additional insurance payment on each modified loan, linked to declines in the home price index.
Lindsey Graham turning socialist
It’s fitting that Maxine “Let’s nationalize the oil industry” Waters is there for the occasion. “We’ve come a long way” indeed.
Here’s the Roubini op-ed to which Stephanopoulos refers at the beginning. Quote:
Basically, we’re all Swedes now. We have used all our bullets, and the boogeyman is still coming. Let’s pull out the bazooka and be done with it.
Exit question: How’s Michael Steele going to explain to Glenn Beck six months from now why the Senate GOP voted for socialism?
More info on Henrietta Hughes – the same Henrietta Hughes who begged and got a free house from Obama in Fort Myers
Before making a nationwide media splash with her savior President Barack Obama at the Ft. Myers revival rally, Henrietta Hughes had garnered public attention before. In 2004, she was living with her unemployed son in Rochester, NY. Good-hearted private citizens offered them help then, too, to supplement the government checks:
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY) – Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Author: DC, Cynthia Benjamin, Staff
Doctors and other medical staff volunteer time to treat patients
BY STAFF WRITER
CYNTHIA BENJAMINCorey Hughes ‘ thyroid gland was bothering him – again. He needed medical attention, but had no money to get it. Hughes , 33, a computer programmer who lives in Rochester, has no steady job, no health insurance, no doctor.
So, when Dr. Carolyn Mok examined him June 2 at Mercy Outreach Center on Webster Avenue, not only did Hughes get necessary treatment for his thyroid condition, he also took comfort in something else: the service was free.
Mok, 51, a medical doctor who has a practice at 175 Lyell Ave., is among hundreds of medical professionals in Monroe County – no exact number is available – who give their expertise, pro bono, to people such as Hughes – people whom physicians commonly call the underserved, the working poor, the uninsured.
In all, medical professionals – physicians, dentists, radiologists, nurses and others – devote thousands of volunteer hours each year, treating people in need, charging nothing because the patients have little or nothing to pay.
In their volunteer work, medical professionals treat everything from toothaches to heart disease.
Some volunteer on the staffs at places that serve people in need, such as St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center, 417 South Ave., run by Sister Christine Wagner of the Sisters of St. Joseph.Others see patients in their offices at no cost or at a reduced fee.
Art Streeter of the Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency says about one in 10 people in Monroe County does not have medical insurance, so volunteer medical professionals are vital.
“Most of the physicians look at this (volunteering) as part of what being a physician is,’’ says Nancy Adams, executive director of the Monroe County Medical Society, a group of more than 1,700 doctors from Monroe and six other counties.
“In the old days, it was just common practice (for physicians) to give back. That philosophy didn’t just go away because there are programs available to patients,’’ such as Medicaid and Family Health Plus insurance plans, Adams said.
Making ends meet
Hughes , who has not had a steady job for two years, recently took on temporary work for Superior Staffing Services, 26 Corporate Woods.
It’s tough, says the Monroe Community College graduate.
“I can’t even get a job at Wendy’s (after applying more than once),’’ he says, but “I feel good. I’m thankful to God.’’
Though Hughes wouldn’t reveal his salary, he says he doesn’t earn enough money in his temporary job to pay a doctor.
He helps take care of his mother, a breast cancer survivor who says even with Medicaid, she hasn’t seen a doctor in more than a year because she can’t afford to pay any percentage not covered by her insurance plan. Having Medicaid disqualifies her from pro bono services.
Yet she was thankful that Mok examined her son, who otherwise would not have received treatment.
“There isn’t many doctors that will see you if you don’t have insurance,’’ says Henrietta Hughes , 56. “There’s doctors, just out of the compassion and goodness of his heart, that will give his service or her service, and I’m very grateful to God.’’CORRECTION Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY) – Wednesday, June 16, 2004 Author: DC, Cynthia Benjamin, Staff
Henrietta Hughes , 56, of Rochester has Medicare insurance. A story on Page 1F in the Our Towns section Wednesday described her health coverage inaccurately.
Why am I and others complaining about Henrietta? Because the White House and the press are holding up this woman and her son as symbols of how the economic downturn has rendered people homeless and jobless. Mrs. Hughes and her son have been jobless and receiving government assistance since at least 2004.
Yes, there is now a Henrietta Hughes website.
Via Dan Riehl, some more information:
Corey Hughes, who left his job in New York in early 2008, said he had been trying to take care of his mom. Both have searched for jobs and have come up empty, as have so many other Southwest Floridians. Henrietta said the family came here due to the expensive living costs in New York.
“So, I borrowed quite a bit of money to come down to Florida,” she explained.
Julio Osegueda – from burger flipper to new job thanks to B. Hussein Obama!
Oh Gracious! Julio Osegueda, B. Hussein Obama is to gift that keeps on giving if you are some minority who wants something for nothing! Welcome to socialism in 21st century America. Yestersday it was Henrietta Hughes who stood up to decry the mortgage crisis and ask Obama for his personal help. Choking back tears, she implored: “I have an urgent need…We need a home, our own kitchen, our own bathroom.” who ended up being told “to talk to Obama’s staff” after the townhall. And what happens? BAM! She gets a free house. Then where was the screaming burger flipper Julio Osequeda complaining about “benefits” from flipping burgers at McDonalds. And so what happens? Today he gets a new job too!
The savior-based economy comes through again. Obama cult worshiper Julio — the McDonald’s worker in Ft. Myers who complained about his benefits yesterday at the president’s revival meeting — has a new gig.
“I have never felt this good except maybe when I got my Playstation3 for Christmas.”
Then came his interviews with CNN, other networks and local TV stations.“I couldn’t believe it,” his mother, Sarah, said. “He worked really hard at that. He is like that, he doesn’t plan, he just does it.”
He also picked up another job — if just for a day — as the color announcer for the Fort Myers Miracle baseball team’s radio broadcast for its home opener April 10. The one-day gig typically pays $25, but the Miracle said the salary is negotiable.
“I’ll be ready,” he said about his debut.
After all, Osegueda is studying to be a broadcaster or disc jockey.
Obama Joker Poster
Random Idiots
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Tax Day Tea Parties
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Posters
Newsbusters- Bad Headline: 'Homeowner Holds Burglar Hostage'
- NYT Environmental Writer Confirms Probable Authenticity of Hacked Climate Change Messages
- CNN's Phillips: Kids Who Bully Pledge Spurner Are 'Wads, Dork Wads'
- CNBC’s Regan Worries 'Freshman Congressmen from Timbuktu' to Have Too Much Policy Influence if Fed Audit Bill Passed
- Oops! Frequent Maddow Guest Cox Undercuts Nicolle Wallace's Catty Claims About Palin
Resources
Crooked Liberals
Obama’s Corrupt Cabinet
Tim Geither - Tax Cheat
Tom Daschle - Tax Cheat
Kathleen Sebelius - Tax Cheat
Hillary Clinton - Overseas conflicts of interests
Bill Richardson - Pay to Play
Judd Gregg - Obama steals GOP senate seat
Eric Holder - Pardons terrorists and Marc Rich
Barney Frank - Banking Queen
Nancy Pelosi - War Criminal/Liar!
Charlie Rangel - Tax cheat
Chris Dodd - Mortgage Fraud / AIG
Bill Richardson - Pay to Play
Chuck Schumer - Porky
