There is a story of a pious young soldier who was occupying a foreign land. He was a gentle soul, unlike most of his companions. He did not smoke, drink or swear, but was diligent and faithful in all his duties. In time, he made friends with two children, a brother and sister about 10 and 12 years of age. He would give them things, play with them, take them to activities, and share each others’ language and culture. He loved them and treated them as if they were his own children. In return, they admired him greatly.


He even shared his religion with them explaining why he was not like the other soldiers, and did not drink, smoke or even use harsh language.
One day, they invited him to meet their grandfather, a wizened, cultured gentleman.

The grandfather greeted the foreigner warmly, and asked him to sit while they talked. In time, a traditional drink and two tiny cups were brought out to toast their new friendship. The grandfather explained that this was a special alcoholic mixture used to commemorate special occasions. The soldier thought it would be best to partake of this drink, not much more than a thimbleful, so as not to offend the gracious host, and to keep with the traditions of another land. And so he sipped, and then the whole room changed. The grandfather became cold, and the children silent. After some moments of discomfort, the soldier decided it was time to leave. Walking back to the post, the children were despondent, and wailed,
“Why, why did you take the drink? You said you never drank such things. Our grandfather said you were just like the rest, and now we can never see you again.”

President Obama, The White House, December 31 2012
“Keep in mind that just last month Republicans in Congress said they would never agree to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans. Obviously, the agreement that’s currently discussed would raise those rates, and raise them permanently.”

When you abandon your principles “for the greater good”, you leave yourself open to charges of “Thou hypocrite! Thou art no better than those who have no principles!”
Your reward is to be reviled by all, as one professing faith but lacking conviction.

Breaking News, December 29, 2012!

As one of his campaign promises, the President has called for increasing the tax rate for “the very rich”, so as not to be a burden on the lower classes. In a strong rebuke to the President, however, today the Supreme Court has called the law unconstitutional, because it fails to guarantee taxpayer equality.

Liberty! Equality! Fratenity!

That was in France. Meanwhile, in the United States, President Obama has said he will not sign any legislation that does not raise tax rates on “the rich.”
In addition, he vows to “protect the middle class” and does not want any tax increases to have an adverse affect on them.
Vice President Biden feels the same way:
“We want to let that trillion dollar tax cut expire so the middle class doesn’t have to bear the burden of all that money going to the super wealthy. That’s not a tax raise, that’s called fairness where I come from."

Although there is no Economical, Moral, or Intellectual reason to raise tax rates on “the two-percent”, the Democrats call this an issue of “fairness.” If you assume there won’t be massive tax avoidance (there will be,) the tax is estimated to raise 60 billion dollars--while the deficit for this year is about 1, 300 Billion! And the current debt is over FIFTEEN THOUSAND BILLION DOLLARS.

President Obama is undeterred however, as he expressed his ideology during the Hillary/Obama debate. When it was explained to him that lowering capital gains taxes actually Increased revenue, he was only concerned that higher tax rates were more “fair.”

What I don’t get is, when did we become a country divided by “class.” Do we live in a caste system? Are some people better than others because of their income level? At what percentage of the population is it acceptable to disparage the minority? Why do we not want to “protect” the 100 percent, instead of only the 98?
Why can’t we be more like the French?

Liberté!     Egalité!     Fraternité!

For the second year, unless current tax law is renewed, tax rates on income and other sources will increase on January 1st.  The President and most Democrats want to extend the current tax law only to those who "deserve” tax breaks, the “Middle class”, and not to “the Rich”, who are those who “don’t need tax relief, don’t deserve it, and haven’t asked for it.  The Vice-President said,

     "we’re gonna ask the wealthy to pay more ". We want to let that trillion dollar tax cut

      expire so the middle class doesn’t have to bear the burden of all that money going to the

      super wealthy. That’s not a tax raise, that’s called fairness where I come from."

I am so tired of politicians dividing this Nation over class, gender, ethnicity, employment status, nationality, ideology, race, age (generational,) and yes, even income.  This country, by now, should adhere to the principle of equal protection under the law--period.

If we are so worried about “blowing a hole” in the budget and can not “afford” allowing Americans to keep more of their money, then we shouldn’t extend the current tax rates for anyone. I don’t want a government determining winners and losers and dictating what is “fair’, whether it is the property we may own or how much money we may earn. "Fairness" is a fickle concept determined by the fad of the moment. The real issue, of course, is that we will never be able to send enough money to satisfy the lawmakers in D.C.

Less for Medicare

For months, Obama surrogates have denied that the “Affordable Care Act” cut $716 billion from Medicare. Finally on August 25th, Obama was forced to admit that indeed money was cut, which he called “reforms that will save Medicare money by getting rid of wasteful spending”. After the first Presidential debate, the “Truth Squad” at NBCNews.com claimed that

          “those trims come from limiting payments to health-care providers and insurers---NOT limiting care to seniors.”

OK, let’s say there was a Federal food benefit for a certain segment of the population.

Say the government would reimburse grocers 40 percent of the cost of the food this group took. Years later, the government announces a plan to extend the solvency of this giveaway by ten years by only reimbursing the grocers 25 percent of the cost.

Few if any “food providers” would accept these customers, just as medical providers are dropping Medicare patients or not accepting new ones.

But don’t think that will lead to a doctor shortage for seniors. Just as the Obama administration has used the tax code to force American citizens to purchase health insurance, they will surely penalize doctors who refuse to lose money on Medicare patients.