Clearing Things Up

I certainly do not advocate a refusal to raise the debt ceiling, and do not think Congress should even screw around with it. It would absolutely create chaos, and I do agree that it would instantly raise interest rates, including on the federal debt as we roll over existing loans which come due. I just don't like all of the exaggerated rhetoric used by both sides. There are valid reasons for needing to take this action, why heap the fear mongering lies on top of it? Liberals have become just about as bad as conservatives at engaging in this sort of "mushroom cloud" tactic.

I am opposed to the "tax the rich" rhetoric, and Obama's tax policy, but not because it is actually class warfare, although I will admit I have used that term. I oppose it because it preserves and promotes the whole meme of "let some other dude pay for it" which so pervades this nation today. I regard the concept of wanting to to have things provided by government and being unwilling to be taxed to pay for them as seriously unhealthy, and that attitude is promoted at all levels of government and media. It is even promoted by our education system, as exemplified by teachers urging their students to protest against budget cuts for schools.

I am opposed to Ryan's budget plan in its entirety, but I don't much like what the Democrats have shown so far either. We need to make real cuts in "national security" spending, we need real health care reform, and we need to raise taxes more broadly and in a more truly progressive manner. Going back to the Clinton rates would be a good start, but I would lower the bottom rate a bit, and I would add a couple of new brackets at the top.

I like Obama a lot, and I am absolutely certain he was born in Hawaii. He annoys the hell out of me, though when he insults my intelligence with politically motivated scapegoating, such as "investigating to uncover price manipulation in oil markets" to try and distract from his own role in the price of gasoline. His role in lowering the global value of the dollar to historic lows with endless "quantitative easing," otherwise known as "printing money," is by far the greatest cause of the rise in the price of oil in dollars on the global market, and the consequent rise in the price of gasoline.

It's like a great Shakespearean actor engaging in cheap theatric melodrama. He's starting wars, passing multi-$trillion legislation, engaging the world in foreign policy, and he's engaging in cheap tricks to avoid blame for the price of gasoline.