Tea Pointers - to the point news & analysis
This publication is on hold as the editor works to organize the Texas Presidential Straw Poll Event on Jan 12-14, 2012 at Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros.
See www.SaddleUpTexasStrawPoll.comfor info.
Check back with this site in Feb 2012. Thanks.
Budget Litmus Test. In the looming budget battles that are certain for many years, how does one keep one’s political perspective? Keep it simple, your political representation is either spending less than in the previous year or they are spending more. Beware the charlatan who claims to spend less than some proposed budget; that’s an old trick where a much larger budget is proposed then reduced a tiny fraction to then be able to say they have made cuts. Ha. The federal budget grows every year; there is little hope for fiscal salvation unless it starts to get smaller for several consecutive years. What time is it when your elected official refuses to be a bold budget-cutter? It’s time to get a new (Tea Party) elected official.
Budget Battle Big Picture. The details of the budget fight can be distracting. If you focus on the bigger picture messages, you can see things more clearly. The Democrats do not want to cut any government spending; it’s foolish to negotiate with them, they must be soundly defeated. The election of Tea Party Candidates had a significant positive impact. They forced the establishment Republicans to fight for smaller government to some extent. The Federal Debt and the extreme levels of spending are so enormous that small tweaks to the system are not enough; massive, bold measures are needed. The take home message is that a lot more Tea Party Candidates need to be elected in the next several election cycles.
Fed-Medling. How can the stock markets hold up so well in the face of high unemployment, bad news, higher prices and global turmoil? The answer is the Federal Reserve; the wanton printing of money and their dabbling in the stock market is a very powerful force. Smart investors will tell you not to fight the fed. When the supply of money is ballooning at historic rates, it will go somewhere. This flood of cash ends up enriching the banks, pouring in to stocks and boosting commodity trading. It’s not a coincidence that gold is at all-time highs. There are consequences to these actions. At some point the dollar will be seriously devalued which will mean that everyone’s standard of living will equivalently devalued.
$1.5 trillion per year deficits. Congress has spent $1.5 trillion more than it has taken in for the last two years, roughly averaging the numbers. There appears to be no end in sight for this chronic spending problem infecting our federal leaders. What does this mean to us? This translates to a $5,000 credit card bill for every person in the country per year. If you divide it by the number of households, it is an additional $15,000 mortgage every year. If this continues for a decade, every person will be sitting on a $50,000 credit card bill or each household will have another $150,000 mortgage of government debt. This country has a spending problem and it will end one way or another. It’s time for a “zero tolerance” policy on spending.
Higher tax rates means less revenue collected. Let me try to explain this one more time using a coffee shop example. Pretend you are running a coffee shop selling coffee for $2 per cup. Thanks to Bernanke inflation, ObamaCare costs and higher rent, you must increase the shop’s revenue, that’s bringing in more money. You double the price you sell your coffee to $4 per cup and expect to rake in twice as much money to pay your increased costs. When you do your books at the end of the month, you are shocked to find that you have had less sales and less revenue with the $4 coffees. Now frantic, you raise prices again to $8 per cup. At the end of the next month, sales drop to near zero and you go out of business. A smart businessman re-opens your shop selling $1 coffees and makes money with record sales. This story describes why raising taxes reduces government revenue, drives businesses out and creates more unemployment. If you don’t understand this, you are a Democrat, Socialist or Pinko-Commie.
Tea Party influence on display. The budget battles are underway in Congress. The GOP is now driving the process but the party is not a homogeneous collective. The Tea Party influence has stepped up as the “establishment” thought they could run through a cosmetic $38 billion in cuts, not the $100 billion floated in the campaign season. Now there are representatives who are authentic Tea Party People themselves and there are those who are rightly afraid not to turn their back on the Tea Party Movement. More substantial cuts are now being pushed showing that the era of the Tea Party is certainly here.
Phony Bipartisanship. The big media talking heads are all excited about the meaningless gesture where the Democrats and Republicans will sit together for the “State of the Union” address. This “feel good” ploy is just another trick for Democrats to hide who they really are. Never forget that they are bitter “big government” partisans. Where was the bipartisanship when they rammed through the trillion dollar stimulus and Obamacare’s socialized medicine? If they want to show that they are not extreme partisans, let’s see them support cutting federal agencies by 10%, repeal Obamacare, reform Social Security, de-fund NPR, or take back all the nasty things said about Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Movement. This stuff won’t happen so don’t fall for another public relations trick from the left.
Government unions ate my state. Soon the end of the government employee unions and pensions will come to pass, one way or another. Oversized state governments with an overpopulation of government employees cannot properly be supported by their state. Furthermore, many unions have negotiated pension plans that are unsustainable. Will California or Illinois collapse first? Government unions use their dues money and people to get their allies elected. These elected allies pay off the unions with job security, increased pay and fat pensions that do not exist in the comparable private sector. This institutionalized corruption is now accelerating the downfall of most states financially. End government pensions for all current employees not currently vested as a start. Stop all collective bargaining for government jobs. Extend these ideas to the federal system. Failure to change will be a sad disaster.
Compromising with big government zealots. Big government zealots never stop proposing impractical, government-enlarging schemes. They will never stop, they will never rest. They create an unyielding political force that has grown the government and our national debt to absurd proportions. Compromise with these zealots ensures that we continue moving in their direction, just not quite as fast as they wish. Big government zealots must be defeated, not haggled with. To illustrate, what if a liberal Democrat comes to you and asks for your two kidneys to keep an aged Senator alive. You respond that you prefer to keep you organs. However, if you buckle under constant pressure and compromise, all you will get is one of your kidneys ripped from your body.
Snappy responses to liberal attacks
When a liberal says that the debt ceiling must be raised to prevent government default, you say...
…if we need to borrow money to pay our debt, we are already broke. Stop spending now, shrink the size of government.
…it only means the US can’t borrow, the gov’t has a steady stream of revenue and could cut lower priority expenditures and keep going while cutting waste and frills.
…so the US have to raise the limit on our credit card in order to keep paying the mortgage?!? It's a spending problem.
…why don’t we get serious about cutting the budget now before the world lenders do it for us?
…anyone who is still supporting this country spending itself to ruination should not be trusted with another nickel.
When a liberal tells you that the financial world will collapse if the debt ceiling is not raised….
…..you tell them that our runaway federal debt is collapsing our economy already.
…..you say, “not so”. Dollars roll in continually, the government can pay off debt but won’t be able to spend unrestrained; cuts will have to be made.
…..you say that the bond market and global investors are about to stop lending us money at low rates at our current spending levels (see Standard and Poor’s warning on the US credit rating).
…..you say that it is really an instantaneous balanced budget amendment
…..you remind them that there are hundreds of billions of unspent TARP and Stimulus dollars left unspent, why not spend that first.
When a liberal says that budget-cutting will eliminate cops, fireman and teachers, you say……..
…..that old trick of cutting essentials to protect the non-essentials won’t work any more
…..there are plenty of unneeded bureaucrats and useless programs that can go
…..we have spent ourselves to the point of bankruptcy, everything should be reviewed, prioritized and the lowest valued stuff cut.
When a liberal say that you can’t cut thousands of government jobs in a recession, you say……
…..we can’t afford not to, there are opportunities lost when supporting a bloated government
…..you would prefer to deny resources to value-creating private sector jobs to hang on to low value government jobs
…..the government has a spending problem and we can’t afford carry on as usual
When a liberal tells you Obama is moving to the center, you say……..
……talk is cheap because he can count on Harry Reid to block all conservative moves in the Senate.
……then why is his administration still blocking all off-shore drilling permits and new petrochemical building permits
……historically moving to the center meant that Republicans caved in and contributed to an ever growing government, let’s try the other way for a while
……..he is so far left that a move to the center will be a very long trip
When a liberal calls you angry, hateful, furious, violent, etc………
……..you tell them to stop being a sore loser; more people every day have you all figured out.
……..it’s as sad as it is pathetic that all you have is name-calling and personal attacks.
……..we get your drift; liberals-good, conservatives-bad but you are the biased extremist
……..if you want to see an unbalanced hate-monger, look in the mirror
When a liberal belittles the Constitution........
…....you say that the Constitution is an impediment to an all-powerful centralized federal authority and you have a problem with it
…....you say that freedoms such as speech, religion, assembly, press, to bear arms and unlawful search/seizures are embodied in the Constitution. What’s the problem?
When a liberal tells you that Nancy Pelosi was mindful of the budget with a “pay as you go” rule......
……you say that there are $5 Trillion dollars of debt that speak otherwise.
…...you say that the 111th Congress ran up more debt than all those preceding it, combined.
When a liberal tells you not to “play chicken” with the debt ceiling……
……you say the root cause is a federal spending problem, spending ourselves to bankruptcy is not the answer because it’s a spending problem.
……you say when the country runs out of money, stop automatically assuming that more money must be borrowed, cut something out of the gigantic government expenditures when needed.
……you say that the hundreds of billions in unspent stimulus could be used.
……you say stop playing chicken with the treasury and spending us into bankruptcy.
If a liberal says that bipartisanship is needed now,
you say……..
……..I agree that it is time for both parties to start shrinking government, not growing it as usual.
…….There was bipartisan resistance to Obamacare as well as overwhelming public unpopularity but the Democrats rammed it through anyway. Now you want bipartisanship?
……compromising with big government types only creates bigger government, it’s time for a sound defeat of big government.
When a liberal says that unemployment will never go down to 5% again......
....tell them to finish their sentence; unemployment will never be low again as long as big government liberals are running things (including the big Wall Street firms, GE, etc.)
When a liberal says that you must raise the tax rate for the rich to fix the deficit........
....you say that you could seize all the rich peoples' money and we would still be going broke, it's a spending problem.
.......that if you want more revenue to the treasury, lower the tax rate which will grow the economy to cause more total tax dollars to be collected. It has worked in the past, multiple times. And it's a spending problem.
.....that the rich start a lot of companies by investing their money, take more away and you will have fewer new companies and jobs. And it's a spending problem.
When a liberal says that Bill Clinton raised taxes and the ecomony grew and the budget was balanced.......
.......you say that oil dropped to $10/barrel and we had a peace dividend due to winning the cold war, and those two events were the same as a massive tax cut.
.......the economy didn't take off until the Republicans took over Congress then capped spending and reformed welfare.
When a liberal says that taxes must be raised to fix the deficit......
......you say that the government has a spending problem and we will never be able raise enough for this system and the same spendaholics in Washington.
.....been there, done that. The more money that Washington can get its hands on, the more it spends.
.....the federal government is too large and has ignored Constitutional constraints, now would be a good time to shrink it and save a lot of money.
When a liberal says that the Tea Party movement is crazy….
….since when did belief in our founding documents become crazy.
….the Ivy League elitists who are spending the country to bankruptcy are smart beyond question?
When a liberal says that the Tea Party is just a bunch of extremists……
….we want less government, lower taxes, more freedom; those opposing us want more government, higher taxes and less freedom but we are supposed to be the extremist. I think not.
….we are defending the Constitution, the founding documents for the country while our opposition supports omnipresent central authority.
….we are nothing more than your average American who has had enough of the political elites and their actions that are bankrupting and damaging the country
….we practice the first amendment and vote for those who will reduce the size and scope of the federal government
When a liberal says that the Tea Party wants to eliminate Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare…..
….we are all for helping the truly needed but are not for a giant government agency that only helps to create an all-powerful, omnipresent central government under the guise of helping the needy.
….we need changes to save it. Right now the system is not sustainable and will be lost for all while dragging down the country.
….we’ve heard a lot of talk about the waste, fraud and abuse but little action. Perhaps the tea party can elect politicians of such action
….Social Security is a national pension program that has become partially socialized over the years. We need to change it by stripping out the socialized aspects and making them part of something else. The pension-portion should be privatized as much as possible.
….Medicare is socialized medicine for the elderly. It is poorly conceived and run. The private sector and market forces are needed. People need to pay into the system to some private sector system at a younger age before retirement.
….being dependent upon your employer for your medical insurance is a concept that is no longer valid in this day and age. Very few work forty-five years for the same company, retire and die within 5 years like when the system was started fifty years ago.
…if we need to borrow money to pay our debt, we are already broke. Stop spending now, shrink the size of government.
…it only means the US can’t borrow, the gov’t has a steady stream of revenue and could cut lower priority expenditures and keep going while cutting waste and frills.
…so the US have to raise the limit on our credit card in order to keep paying the mortgage?!? It's a spending problem.
…why don’t we get serious about cutting the budget now before the world lenders do it for us?
…anyone who is still supporting this country spending itself to ruination should not be trusted with another nickel.
When a liberal tells you that the financial world will collapse if the debt ceiling is not raised….
…..you tell them that our runaway federal debt is collapsing our economy already.
…..you say, “not so”. Dollars roll in continually, the government can pay off debt but won’t be able to spend unrestrained; cuts will have to be made.
…..you say that the bond market and global investors are about to stop lending us money at low rates at our current spending levels (see Standard and Poor’s warning on the US credit rating).
…..you say that it is really an instantaneous balanced budget amendment
…..you remind them that there are hundreds of billions of unspent TARP and Stimulus dollars left unspent, why not spend that first.
When a liberal says that budget-cutting will eliminate cops, fireman and teachers, you say……..
…..that old trick of cutting essentials to protect the non-essentials won’t work any more
…..there are plenty of unneeded bureaucrats and useless programs that can go
…..we have spent ourselves to the point of bankruptcy, everything should be reviewed, prioritized and the lowest valued stuff cut.
When a liberal say that you can’t cut thousands of government jobs in a recession, you say……
…..we can’t afford not to, there are opportunities lost when supporting a bloated government
…..you would prefer to deny resources to value-creating private sector jobs to hang on to low value government jobs
…..the government has a spending problem and we can’t afford carry on as usual
When a liberal tells you Obama is moving to the center, you say……..
……talk is cheap because he can count on Harry Reid to block all conservative moves in the Senate.
……then why is his administration still blocking all off-shore drilling permits and new petrochemical building permits
……historically moving to the center meant that Republicans caved in and contributed to an ever growing government, let’s try the other way for a while
……..he is so far left that a move to the center will be a very long trip
When a liberal calls you angry, hateful, furious, violent, etc………
……..you tell them to stop being a sore loser; more people every day have you all figured out.
……..it’s as sad as it is pathetic that all you have is name-calling and personal attacks.
……..we get your drift; liberals-good, conservatives-bad but you are the biased extremist
……..if you want to see an unbalanced hate-monger, look in the mirror
When a liberal belittles the Constitution........
…....you say that the Constitution is an impediment to an all-powerful centralized federal authority and you have a problem with it
…....you say that freedoms such as speech, religion, assembly, press, to bear arms and unlawful search/seizures are embodied in the Constitution. What’s the problem?
When a liberal tells you that Nancy Pelosi was mindful of the budget with a “pay as you go” rule......
……you say that there are $5 Trillion dollars of debt that speak otherwise.
…...you say that the 111th Congress ran up more debt than all those preceding it, combined.
When a liberal tells you not to “play chicken” with the debt ceiling……
……you say the root cause is a federal spending problem, spending ourselves to bankruptcy is not the answer because it’s a spending problem.
……you say when the country runs out of money, stop automatically assuming that more money must be borrowed, cut something out of the gigantic government expenditures when needed.
……you say that the hundreds of billions in unspent stimulus could be used.
……you say stop playing chicken with the treasury and spending us into bankruptcy.
If a liberal says that bipartisanship is needed now,
you say……..
……..I agree that it is time for both parties to start shrinking government, not growing it as usual.
…….There was bipartisan resistance to Obamacare as well as overwhelming public unpopularity but the Democrats rammed it through anyway. Now you want bipartisanship?
……compromising with big government types only creates bigger government, it’s time for a sound defeat of big government.
When a liberal says that unemployment will never go down to 5% again......
....tell them to finish their sentence; unemployment will never be low again as long as big government liberals are running things (including the big Wall Street firms, GE, etc.)
When a liberal says that you must raise the tax rate for the rich to fix the deficit........
....you say that you could seize all the rich peoples' money and we would still be going broke, it's a spending problem.
.......that if you want more revenue to the treasury, lower the tax rate which will grow the economy to cause more total tax dollars to be collected. It has worked in the past, multiple times. And it's a spending problem.
.....that the rich start a lot of companies by investing their money, take more away and you will have fewer new companies and jobs. And it's a spending problem.
When a liberal says that Bill Clinton raised taxes and the ecomony grew and the budget was balanced.......
.......you say that oil dropped to $10/barrel and we had a peace dividend due to winning the cold war, and those two events were the same as a massive tax cut.
.......the economy didn't take off until the Republicans took over Congress then capped spending and reformed welfare.
When a liberal says that taxes must be raised to fix the deficit......
......you say that the government has a spending problem and we will never be able raise enough for this system and the same spendaholics in Washington.
.....been there, done that. The more money that Washington can get its hands on, the more it spends.
.....the federal government is too large and has ignored Constitutional constraints, now would be a good time to shrink it and save a lot of money.
When a liberal says that the Tea Party movement is crazy….
….since when did belief in our founding documents become crazy.
….the Ivy League elitists who are spending the country to bankruptcy are smart beyond question?
When a liberal says that the Tea Party is just a bunch of extremists……
….we want less government, lower taxes, more freedom; those opposing us want more government, higher taxes and less freedom but we are supposed to be the extremist. I think not.
….we are defending the Constitution, the founding documents for the country while our opposition supports omnipresent central authority.
….we are nothing more than your average American who has had enough of the political elites and their actions that are bankrupting and damaging the country
….we practice the first amendment and vote for those who will reduce the size and scope of the federal government
When a liberal says that the Tea Party wants to eliminate Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare…..
….we are all for helping the truly needed but are not for a giant government agency that only helps to create an all-powerful, omnipresent central government under the guise of helping the needy.
….we need changes to save it. Right now the system is not sustainable and will be lost for all while dragging down the country.
….we’ve heard a lot of talk about the waste, fraud and abuse but little action. Perhaps the tea party can elect politicians of such action
….Social Security is a national pension program that has become partially socialized over the years. We need to change it by stripping out the socialized aspects and making them part of something else. The pension-portion should be privatized as much as possible.
….Medicare is socialized medicine for the elderly. It is poorly conceived and run. The private sector and market forces are needed. People need to pay into the system to some private sector system at a younger age before retirement.
….being dependent upon your employer for your medical insurance is a concept that is no longer valid in this day and age. Very few work forty-five years for the same company, retire and die within 5 years like when the system was started fifty years ago.
