Also,
Thanks Kirk. Sometimes I think I am going crazy. The US economy has been in decline (growth wise, not outright) since late Clinton. Real steepness of decline began under Bush and has continued with O. Yet all the EXPERTS tell us this is the new reality, the new normal, all we can get. They tell us redistribution is the key. More taxes. More government. And sure, DC economy IS great!! And they tell us GOP economic theories don't work pointing to GHB. They ignore fact O has not really improved things. And I am not sure the second depression is really Bush's fault. Make a mental or physical list of your most outspoken friends and family who have argued politics with your or said you were greedy or said they don't mind paying high taxes because they like their jobs. I did and pointed out to some they were talking their book and I was paying for it.
- One was a "retired" NASA technician who was "working" part time for NASA while drawing a full pension. He lives in a modest Silicon Valley home but was able to raise three kids and send them all to college while his wife stayed at home... all on his government salary. I got him to stop shouting left wing rhetoric to us after windsurfing after I pointed out that high taxes from people like me who were still working allow him to get a lavish pension while still working for more money whereas we have to wait for Social Security when we reach age 70 and will get a smaller amount than he got retiring in his 50s.
- Another is a retired, part time teacher whose husband was a fairly high level engineer at Lookheed.
- Another is an early retired assistant DA making a huge pension
- Another is a relative who goes to a lot of SF Giants games while wining and dining clients who do large, public buildings and need insurance for the bonds. Basically, without public works projects, she'd have to pay for the fancy meals and baseball games and there would be no large fees for insuring public bonds. Nothing wrong with a job you love but it tends to influence your politics.
Again..... follow the money.
A lot of those who voted for "The Orange One" lost jobs to outsourcing and new technology. They found health care without a subsidy was beyond what they could afford to pay and taking handouts rather than considering it a tax refund to get health care didn't sit well. Of course like all entitlements, they are incentives to not do extra work as they make a HUGE incremental tax hit to go from $25K a year to $45K a year....
I think O had a lot of good ideas.... if you work hard and show up, you should get a decent salary with health care, but he went about implementing it wrong due after lobbyists got their hands into the pickle jar.... just look at the Union exemptions and how large companies could save a TON by firing their older workers with high health care costs and replacing them with younger workers. |
