Recently I have been thinking ahead to retirement, getting up when I want, staying up till whenever, freedom. My wife had pointed out a bit of soffit on our house that needed repair inferring that I might want to take care of this since I wasn't doing anything all day anyway. I am smart enough to know better than to say anything to that so off I went to the lumberyard to collect up the needed supplies. What I saw there was very enlightening and I don't mean that in a good way. My soffit repair requires 1/4 inch plywood about 2 feet by 3 feet and some dimensional lumber to frame it in. I figured I would get enough plywood, 3 sheets 4 feet by 8 feet and replace the entire section at one time so that it would appear nice and new after I had painted it. The last time I had any exposure to the price of plywood sheets like the ones I was after they were priced at about $11 each. Today's price was a hair over $40 each. I wisely chose to cut my own dimensional lumber from 2 x 4's since the price on those had risen from $1.90 to almost $7.50 each. I had naively assumed that this honey-do would set me back about $60 paint and all. Wood alone was right at $150, I was too afraid to price paint.
So, what had happened? How had a simple if annoying household maintenance project turned into what felt like felony armed robbery? Around one hundred years ago, while trying to make their fellow Americans choke to death from coal smoke the captains of industry in our country decided to maximize profits in their respective industries by taxing the crap out of every single competitor they had or could imagine, both foreign and domestic. This started out innocuously enough as an anti-competitive piece of pro-American, business legislation called the Antidumping Act of 1916, ostensibly created to protect profits of certain American businesses from the introduction of cheap, foreign products that would unfairly compete with American firms. The Antidumping Act of 1921 extended the protections extended to these companies to include American companies as well. You might be wondering what 100 year old legislation has to do with the price of plywood well here it is, once enacted laws are on the books forever.
Once it passes both houses of Congress, a bill becomes a law and is stuck to us like one of those boils on the Dr. Popper youTube videos, it continues to grow until it looks like a second head and has to be removed using scalpels, lasers, metal scoops, etc. to remove the gobs and gobs of hideous growth. It could be that, as told to me by a sitting congressman, 'we just won't fund it', but that is just ignoring the growth, it remains intact, waiting. So, who pays for this? The tariffs, taxes and penalties levied on foreign companies is paid for indirectly by foreign aid payments made by the American taxpayer and again directly by the American consumer, so you pay for this, and pay and pay. By now you are thinking that ignoring the problem is sounding like a better and better idea. Listen up.
The price at the pump is one thing. So building supplies are going up, so what? When you see a news report about hurricanes and tropical storms, what is the first shot that any weather related story has to have? People nailing up sheets of plywood. Now think about this, the last time you saw some sorry dude fighting wind and rain to put plywood over the windows of his home and business to fend off natures fury, those sheets cost about 20 dollars. Well, they would have cost that but there is a tendency to price gouge in front of tragedy but think about this, the 20 dollar sheet probably cost 100 bucks the day of the storm but if the plywood was 75 bucks to begin with, imagine the markup. This is the point of the spear, now lets look at what happens next.
Joe Blow, no pun intended, has storm damage, he calls his insurance company and they send out an adjuster. Adjuster makes assessments of the damage and lo and behold, material costs have gone up 500%. The insurance company does some math and immediately jacks up the premiums of every contract that they write to cover the increase in claims, because that's what they do. Joe Blow doesn't care, his insurance coverage is paid for by the United States government. Surprised? We are just getting started.
Joe's house cost him $100,000 when he bought it. His yearly property tax is $4000 based on the value of his lot and improvements. After the storm, he has repaired all of the damage, the county now assesses the value of his property at $500,000 based on replacement costs. Now that he has to pay an additional $16,000 in taxes, that ocean view is starting to look more and more like dead fish and medical waste. The same general scenario exists if you get roof damage from hail or a drunk driver decides that your front room would be a great location for a drive through.
Everyone will now have their hand out, painters, exterminators, salesmen of every stripe, there is no place to hide. How do we make it go away? There is only one way to do it right, vote. Elect representatives that have you interests in mind. Tell them what you want, and make sure they do it. Make them accountable. You made the mess, now you are responsible for cleaning it up. Mandate that your representatives remove all traces of useless, toxic legislation and any ancillary departments, committees or governance that acts in it's stead or under it's agency. It will also be necessary to repair relations and no small amount of hurt feelings between governments but that will have to wait for another day if we wish to move forward rather than be mired in minutia.
We need to act quickly, before the wave hits us full in the face and we find ourselves priced into the streets. Do the hard things online, use your phone or a public computer at a library to organize online at various social media sites, wherever you can. Keep the goal in mind, there are many labours that must be completed before we may rest. Firstly, we must scour our numbers to find good men and women who will give of themselves to the benefit of the common good. The chosen should be ready to adhere strictly to the agenda that we set before them and that only.
That agenda is this:
1. Set aside all pending legislation to clear the way for the job ahead.
This will clear the debris from the old, toxic system.
2. Make all congressional seats one term only.
This eliminates the good old boy network, cronyism and lobbyists. It lifts the burden of reelection fund-raising and associated demands on the congressman's time.
3. Require that all new legislation be enacted only as written. Only congress members may write legislation. No amendments of any kind may be attached to bills before congress.
Removes the lobbyist from the halls of congress. Keeps the process above board and completely transparent.
4. Eliminate foreign aid and forgive foreign debt.
Turn off the tap and shoo away those looking for hand outs. This would also void all treaties with peoples foreign and domestic.
5. Completely overhaul the IRS, payroll taxes are rescinded completely. Individuals with a net worth in excess of $10 million will pay 5% of their net worth in taxes yearly. All domestic corporations that do business in the United States will pay 10% of their net income in taxes yearly. Foreign corporations that do business in the US will pay 10% of the net revenue derived from doing business in the US in taxes. All stock trades on American exchanges will be taxed 2% buyers and sellers. Derivatives will be taxed 2% of the value of the underlying securities, both buyers and sellers will be taxed.
Any citizen with $10 million dollars will have no problem making back $500,000 in a single year, if not, they can live on $9.5 million tax-free for life. Corporations should make a profit, if they can't well, too bad. The stock market is a casino, the people are owed the houses cut, we are the house after all.
6. Overhaul the military. All military operations overseas are terminated, all members are to return home immediately. All military property is to be sent back to this country. New military members are to be sent to a basic training facility, then to a military specialty school and upon graduation and assignment to a permanent party cadre they will begin a four year college/degree program or trades apprenticeship program of their choice. Reenlistment will be determined by needs of the military and educational progress. Enlistees may continue education as long as they remain in service. All contracts involving military spending are suspended. Going forward all military contractors will supply goods and services at cost, in return they will operate tax free. No business entity that does business within the borders of the United States will supply any goods to be used for military purposes to any foreign country or entity.
No military members are at risk, all members will be paid, contractors will be paid fairly, end of cost overruns. Military members will separate with well paid skills that will benefit them for life.
7. Eliminate the Department of Commerce and any and all toxic legislation related to it.
Removes unnecessary costs to consumer products, the price of plywood will return to sensible levels.
8. Remove the 'Too Big to Fail' concept.
Any business that needs a 'bailout' should be forced to fail. All outstanding assets can be seized and used to pay the business' debt in an upside-down pyramid fashion, smallest debtors first, largest last.
To accomplish this we must come together and perform the following:
1. Identify and recruit people of good character that will serve our ends faithfully.
Make sure that the people we choose understand what is needed of them.
2. Using legal means appropriate to our particular location, file for and vote to remove all of the current congressmen and women. Elect the people that we have chosen to replace them.
This will ensure that our choices know that as we have removed those that came before them, they too can be removed just as easily.
3. Be vigilant and make sure that the people we elect serve us as we have asked them to.
Be attentive and supportive of our choices. At all times think in terms of the best interests of the United States of America. We can be as great as we choose to be, we can and should reach for the stars. By following these small steps the national debt can and will be wiped out completely.
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