Post by the sandman on Dec 9, 2011 12:27:06 GMT -5
I just can't maintain it anymore. The rage, I mean. Every day I see or hear another abysmally shitty thing coming out of Washington.
This morning I hear that Republicans continue to insist that a 2% surtax on incomes over $1,000,000.00 would "destroy jobs" and cause "job-creators to stop hiring," because that surcharge would hit small business owners that often report business earnings on their personal tax returns.
Ignoring the fact that the tax return issue could be easily solved by simply separating personal from business income, this entire claim is in total defiance to basic economics. Any first year business major could tell you that. When asked (and given 3 days to do it in) to produce even one single small business owner who would be affected in this way, the Republican House Majority Leader (and the entire Republican Party by extension) was unable to do so. They could not produce even one. Neither could the Small Business Association, or lobbyists for tax relief.
An open request on FB and other social media sites produced only 3 people who responded. And all 3 of them said that such a surcharge would in no way affect their hiring decisions. One patiently explained that having more money does not make you hire people. Never has and never will. Having greater DEMAND for your product or service will make you hire people. And that's the ONLY thing that will.
Additional taxes would only prevent you from hiring someone if hiring that person would produce zero additional revenue for the business. Basic economics 101 makes it clear that if hiring someone produces no net benefit for the company, you don't hire them in the first place. Elementary level economics clearly indicates that the only people this 2% surcharge would prevent from being hired are people that would have never been hired in the first place.
And the Republicans KNOW this. They aren't stupid, which means they know damn well they are telling blatant lies that they know they can't back up with anything other than vague "I believe" statements.
I had enough of policy decisions based on "belief" rather than facts with Bush, thank you very much. I do NOT need it from Congress. Not now. Not in the middle of the shit we are in.
But I just can't keep the rage going. I'm exhausted. Every day it's something new. The Republicans are opposing extending tax relief for the middle class while in the same breath championing it for the wealthy. They blockade by any means necessary the appointment of a head of the new consumer protection agency (thus utterly hamstringing its vital work regulating payday loan clip joints and non-bank mortgage lenders) because their political ideology insists that a completely unfettered and unregulated free market will fix all problems, despite the overwhelming evidence in our faces every single goddamn day that this is exactly what CAUSED the fucking problem in the first place.
And they KNOW this. They KNOW that they are cramming shovelfuls of crap down the throats of Americans in the name of political ideology. I have become convinced that the Republicans will not be happy until there is actual footage of children starving to death in the streets that they can put on Fox News while shrieking "LOOK WHAT OBAMA DID TO THESE KIDS!" in utter defiance of the fact that it is THEIR actions which are deliberately and with malice aforethought driving us further and further into economic disaster.
And all because a bad economy, hungry children, homeless families, and millions of desperate unemployed will be good for their chances of making the White House white again in 2012.
They are hurting us on purpose because it suits them politically. They are a political party that has sold its soul to the wealthy and "corporate citizens." They know that all cutting taxes for the wealthy does is widen the gap between rich and poor. They know this. It is their intention. In a nation where it is now legal precedent that money equals political power and influence, the smartest thing you can do is deny money to your opponents, thus denying them any kind of voice in government. They don't care that this means condemning vast numbers of Americans to lifelong, crushing poverty. They just. Don't. Care.
It is the definition of evil. But I just can't maintain the rage. It's been too long. It's asking too much of me. I can't do it. I'm sorry.
And the Democrats, whom I placed my trust in, have let us down as well. The change we cheered for when we voted Obama into office has, let's be honest, never come. The scraps that have been offered to us have been so watered down and perverted by the political process of cronyism and political patronage that it is damn near worse than nothing. You promised us good, nourishing food, but have delivered instead cheap, corporate microwave burritos with so many toxins in them the very social and political food we depend on to live is killing us.
Politicians....YOU are killing us. You are killing us as assuredly as a gun to the head. Only that would be quick and merciful, and your method is slow. You are killing us in the name of politics and ideology and dogma and doctrine. You are killing us with a refusal to compromise, a refusal to co-operate, a refusal to understand that you are in Washington to do a job of public trust, and you have defecated all over that trust in the name of your petty agendas and beholden interests.
You were not sent to Washington to represent BP or Bechtel, Bank of America or Alcoa, Christians or Jews, Muslims or Mormons, Democrats or Republicans, gays or straights, young or old, men or women. You were sent to represent AMERICANS. All of us. Not just the ones who look like you or sound like you or believe in the same things you believe in (I'm looking at you, Rick Perry). So put the partisan, ideological bickering away and do your motherfucking jobs. You ALL know that your bullshit political dogma is bullshit. You ALL know that both sides of the aisle are full of shit. While the Republicans are morally bankrupt, the democrats are spineless cowards, and you are BOTH ethically bereft.
Put away the childish bullshit, put on the bigboy pants, and do your goddamn jobs. Do you not realize that throughout history, every single regime that lost touch with the people and pushed their own selfish, elitist agenda ended in blood and terror? Revolutions do come, and not just in places with more sand than sense. Cable TV and food stamps will only keep the plebs placated for so long, you know. So knock off the bullshit and do your jobs for once.
Please. Someone in Washington. I know the odds of any of you ever reading this are slim, but I need help. I can't do it anymore; I need you to do it for me. Do your jobs. LEAD for Christ's sake.
It's not that hard.
You do it by example.
This morning I hear that Republicans continue to insist that a 2% surtax on incomes over $1,000,000.00 would "destroy jobs" and cause "job-creators to stop hiring," because that surcharge would hit small business owners that often report business earnings on their personal tax returns.
Ignoring the fact that the tax return issue could be easily solved by simply separating personal from business income, this entire claim is in total defiance to basic economics. Any first year business major could tell you that. When asked (and given 3 days to do it in) to produce even one single small business owner who would be affected in this way, the Republican House Majority Leader (and the entire Republican Party by extension) was unable to do so. They could not produce even one. Neither could the Small Business Association, or lobbyists for tax relief.
An open request on FB and other social media sites produced only 3 people who responded. And all 3 of them said that such a surcharge would in no way affect their hiring decisions. One patiently explained that having more money does not make you hire people. Never has and never will. Having greater DEMAND for your product or service will make you hire people. And that's the ONLY thing that will.
Additional taxes would only prevent you from hiring someone if hiring that person would produce zero additional revenue for the business. Basic economics 101 makes it clear that if hiring someone produces no net benefit for the company, you don't hire them in the first place. Elementary level economics clearly indicates that the only people this 2% surcharge would prevent from being hired are people that would have never been hired in the first place.
And the Republicans KNOW this. They aren't stupid, which means they know damn well they are telling blatant lies that they know they can't back up with anything other than vague "I believe" statements.
I had enough of policy decisions based on "belief" rather than facts with Bush, thank you very much. I do NOT need it from Congress. Not now. Not in the middle of the shit we are in.
But I just can't keep the rage going. I'm exhausted. Every day it's something new. The Republicans are opposing extending tax relief for the middle class while in the same breath championing it for the wealthy. They blockade by any means necessary the appointment of a head of the new consumer protection agency (thus utterly hamstringing its vital work regulating payday loan clip joints and non-bank mortgage lenders) because their political ideology insists that a completely unfettered and unregulated free market will fix all problems, despite the overwhelming evidence in our faces every single goddamn day that this is exactly what CAUSED the fucking problem in the first place.
And they KNOW this. They KNOW that they are cramming shovelfuls of crap down the throats of Americans in the name of political ideology. I have become convinced that the Republicans will not be happy until there is actual footage of children starving to death in the streets that they can put on Fox News while shrieking "LOOK WHAT OBAMA DID TO THESE KIDS!" in utter defiance of the fact that it is THEIR actions which are deliberately and with malice aforethought driving us further and further into economic disaster.
And all because a bad economy, hungry children, homeless families, and millions of desperate unemployed will be good for their chances of making the White House white again in 2012.
They are hurting us on purpose because it suits them politically. They are a political party that has sold its soul to the wealthy and "corporate citizens." They know that all cutting taxes for the wealthy does is widen the gap between rich and poor. They know this. It is their intention. In a nation where it is now legal precedent that money equals political power and influence, the smartest thing you can do is deny money to your opponents, thus denying them any kind of voice in government. They don't care that this means condemning vast numbers of Americans to lifelong, crushing poverty. They just. Don't. Care.
It is the definition of evil. But I just can't maintain the rage. It's been too long. It's asking too much of me. I can't do it. I'm sorry.
And the Democrats, whom I placed my trust in, have let us down as well. The change we cheered for when we voted Obama into office has, let's be honest, never come. The scraps that have been offered to us have been so watered down and perverted by the political process of cronyism and political patronage that it is damn near worse than nothing. You promised us good, nourishing food, but have delivered instead cheap, corporate microwave burritos with so many toxins in them the very social and political food we depend on to live is killing us.
Politicians....YOU are killing us. You are killing us as assuredly as a gun to the head. Only that would be quick and merciful, and your method is slow. You are killing us in the name of politics and ideology and dogma and doctrine. You are killing us with a refusal to compromise, a refusal to co-operate, a refusal to understand that you are in Washington to do a job of public trust, and you have defecated all over that trust in the name of your petty agendas and beholden interests.
You were not sent to Washington to represent BP or Bechtel, Bank of America or Alcoa, Christians or Jews, Muslims or Mormons, Democrats or Republicans, gays or straights, young or old, men or women. You were sent to represent AMERICANS. All of us. Not just the ones who look like you or sound like you or believe in the same things you believe in (I'm looking at you, Rick Perry). So put the partisan, ideological bickering away and do your motherfucking jobs. You ALL know that your bullshit political dogma is bullshit. You ALL know that both sides of the aisle are full of shit. While the Republicans are morally bankrupt, the democrats are spineless cowards, and you are BOTH ethically bereft.
Put away the childish bullshit, put on the bigboy pants, and do your goddamn jobs. Do you not realize that throughout history, every single regime that lost touch with the people and pushed their own selfish, elitist agenda ended in blood and terror? Revolutions do come, and not just in places with more sand than sense. Cable TV and food stamps will only keep the plebs placated for so long, you know. So knock off the bullshit and do your jobs for once.
Please. Someone in Washington. I know the odds of any of you ever reading this are slim, but I need help. I can't do it anymore; I need you to do it for me. Do your jobs. LEAD for Christ's sake.
It's not that hard.
You do it by example.
