Super Size That

Poor Michael Bloomberg, health activist and Mayor of New York City.  A judge has struck down his attempt to ban non-diet, sugary soft drink sales at NYC eateries.  Bad idea right from the start.  He would have been better off with a sin tax approach.  Bloomy was willing to exempt diet sodas,  which was another bad idea.  Let's say 25 cents on any soft drink 16 oz. or under, and 50 cents over that.

I've always wondered; If we got rid of every government funded medical program, took all the money we spend on them, add all the tobacco tax money, alcohol taxes, add a soda tax, and a surcharge on all restaurant meals, would we have enough cash to pay for single payer?  I wish I had the resources to do that math, because I bet we'd be close.

One of the great political feats of the right has been their successful campaign to get people thinking of taxes as this separate thing in their lives.  The reality is, increased taxes to pay for a true, federal health care program, would actually mean less out-of-pocket money, over the course of an average life, than we now spend as individuals.  I don't know about anyone else.  But, if my lifetime health costs went down, I wouldn't care that I was paying the government rather than an HMO.  

Did I Call It?

A few posts ago, I opined that Mitt Romney wasn't trying to hide any illegalities in refusing to release more than two years worth of tax returns.  I thought he was trying to hide the fact that he hadn't paid any taxes at all.  Well, according to Senator Harry Reid, an investor from inside Bain called up his office and told him that Mittens hadn't paid any taxes for a decade.  Now, I admit it.  Without any names, without a verifiable source, it's nothing but rumor.  But, it makes sense.  Reid also said that Romney couldn't be confirmed for a cabinet post because of his refusal to provide tax records for more than two years.

Please Sir, Some More Info

Why won't Mitt Romney release more of his tax returns?  Irregularities, financial malfeasance, deductions for strange bizarre habits,  child support for fourteen illegitimate kids, that his real first name is Willard?  I think it's because one of the richer men in America had a number of years where he paid no taxes at all.  And I'll bet he did it legally.

School Days Indoctrination

Is the charge that president Obama's speech to America's school children was nothing more than an attempt at left wing, liberal, political indoctrination valid? Let's look at the facts. Before the Howard Jarvis/Ronald Reagan tax revolt, the United Sates had what was considered one of the finest public education systems in the world. College was free in California, and I think Arizona, and most other states provided enough subsidies to keep tuition low in state institutions. After Reagan, we made cutting taxes our number one priority. At a time when every economist in the world would report that a well educated work force was essential to a modern economy, the United States defunded public education and made college prohibitively expensive. So, it's true. The idea that students should study hard, stay in school, and make something of themselves is a liberal value. Oh those sneaky liberals. Next thing you know, America's school students actually might demand a quality education, taxes be damned.

Killing Reagan

No, I'm not dealing in hyperbole. I really do think that Ronald Reagan was the worst disaster to befall the United States since the Civil War. Too, if it were possible to quantify, I'm sure that Howard Jarvis would go down in history as having killed far more Americans than Osama bin Ladin.

It isn't just the insane tax cuts, and weakening of the central government that Ronny has to answer for; the big sin of Ronald Reagan is also his greatest success; the successful campaign to rebrand government as stupid, incompetent, and evil.

Before Ronny came along, most Americans looked to government to solve problems. No, the citizenry didn't have blind faith, and we were quick to criticize when things went wrong, but by and large, there was an expectation that government was an important part of our lives, and it existed to deal with problems, and strike a balance between competing interests in our society. The dark cloud of Reaganism changed all that. What was the quote? "Government is the problem, not the solution." We still live in Reagan's America; people still believe that government can do nothing right; that it's better for business to regulate itself, because government will only screw it up. No matter that government was very successful in preventing an economic boom/bust cycle for over fifty years, from the age of Roosevelt to Ford. (And even the economic problems of the Carter administration can be viewed as a temporary hiccup caused by the bills coming due from the Vietnam war.)

For Obama to be a successful president, he will have to reestablish faith in the American government. My guess is that if Obama went to congress, right now, and asked for funds to create jobs in the quickest and most effective manner, something along the lines of the WPA or CCC, he would be attacked, mercilessly, as a big government liberal, and even a Democratic congress would deny him. Too, he has to convince the American people that enforcing anti-trust law and breaking up some of our "too big to fail" business and banking institutions is a good thing. Let's hope he starts with Goldman Sachs. (See my post, Obama's History Lesson, published 6/19/09 for more on this subject.)