Rational Nation USA

Just for the record, folks, you can't tax a corporation. You can only tax PEOPLE. And, yes, according to William Gentry's paper for the Treasury Department, it's labor (you know, actual flesh and bone workers - the people that progressives are supposed to care about) that tends to bear the biggest burden of the corporate tax. Couple that with the fact that a) the corporate tax doesn't really raise all that much money, b) it encourages firms to waste valuable resources on tax avoidance, and c) it's a major factor in lobbying and, yeah, you are kind of forced to see the clumsiness of it............................................................................................My proposal, folks (and, yes, I was glad to see that Megan McCardle of "The Atlantic" essentially has the same one), is to eliminate the corporate income tax completely BUT, in addition, eliminate also the special treatment of capital gains. Have it taxed as regular income, ...

MRC reporting. Two times in less than 24 hours, MSNBC's Chris Matthews smeared Republicans who oppose raising the debt limit as "terrorists." On Tuesday, after liberal guest Joan Walsh compared the GOP position to "hostage taking," the Hardball anchor derided, "I agree. It's terrorism." { The Rest } We will be hearing a lot more of this drivel from Matthews and others of is ilk in the coming days. It gets oh so tiring... What a putz.

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Birthplace of Independent Conservatism Liberty -vs- Tyranny Before signing off on this beautiful evening {morning on the east cost} I leave you with some good old time rock and roll.

Huge h/t to a regular Rational Nation USA subscriber. When we lose our sense of humor we lose humanity in and of itself. No?

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Birthplace of Independent Conservatism Liberty -vs- Tyranny I read a book not to long ago. I believe it was Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to the East . It intrigued me when I first read it. It scares me more than it intrigues me today. As our preeminence in the world, aka American Exceptional-ism has waned, is it not time to think outside the box? We are getting our as**s beaten by none other than China {who by the way is buying up America at an alarming rate}, as well as India and Southeast Asia. All are emerging economic powers as America sits on its laurels. Consider this: Let's face it—we are getting beaten because the U.S. government can't seem to make big improvements. Issues quickly get polarized, and then further polarized by the media, which needs extreme viewpoints to draw attention and increase audience size. The autocratic Chinese leadership gets things done fast (currently the au...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Birthplace of Independent Conservatism Liberty -vs- Tyranny As Obama continues to be clueless.... I am sure he is hoping that a $695 dollar rebate will convince you to vote in 2012 for his failed policies of the past. After all, it takes time for central government planning of the economy to take hold and be successful no? Let history and facts be your guide. From the Los Angeles Times Reporting from Washington— As White House aides search for ways to show progress on the economy, they are banking that a set of small-scale proposals may be able to win congressional approval and dent a chronically high unemployment rate considered the main threat to President Obama's reelection chances. Obama has turned to the modest measures in the absence of more ambitious tools, such as stimulus spending, which are not an option for the White House in the climate of austerity and fiscal discipline dominating Washington. Examples include more spe...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Birthplace of Independent Conservatism Liberty -vs- Tyranny As the debt ceiling/budget drams continues a conservative, and I mean a real conservative, can only applaud Senator Kent Conrad for the 800 billion cut in defense spending he is proposing over the next ten years. It is indeed time to roll back the Military Industrial Complex. Kudos Senator Conrad. More on this later. What bothers me is his plan is meant as an alternative to the necessary cuts required in entitlement spending {including SS} that is likely to come out of this weekend's budget summit. Indeed it is time for the democratic party to lay their cards squarely on the table. As it is the republicans as well. It is time to get to the "bottom line" of each party. Ultimately, IMO, the national leadership of both parties will raise the debt ceiling. Just as our founding fathers would have them do. Whether or not they effectively address the deficit, and the neces...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Birthplace of Independent Conservatism Liberty -vs- Tyranny Regardless of your present thoughts on illegal immigration and its impact on our nation, and our economy, the following is worth reading. And considering. Written by Tina Griego, a journalist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News , the statistics she uncovered may shock you. if nothing else they should give everyone pause, and as Americans we should be putting unmerciful pressure on the President and politicians of both parties to take immediate action to correct that which has been allowed to exist for far too long. I'm Tina Griego, journalist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News who wrote a column titled, "Mexican Visitor's Lament"- 10/25/07. I interviewed Mexican journalist Evangelina Hernandez while visiting Denver last week. Hernandez said, "illegal aliens pay rent, buy groceries, buy clothes. What Happens to your country's economy if 20 million peopl...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Birthplace of Independent Conservatism Liberty -vs- Tyranny Rasmussen Reports : Voters remain strongly supportive of a free market economy over one controlled by the government and still think small businesses are hurt more than big businesses when the government does get involved. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 72% of Likely U.S. Voters believe a free market economy is better than an economy managed by the government. Just 14% think a government-managed economy is better. Another 14% are not sure. Republicans and unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly prefer a free market approach. Among these segments of the electorate, the number preferring a government-managed economy is in the single digits. Among Democrats, 48% say a free market is better, but 29% think a government-managed economy is the answer. Twenty-three percent (23%) are not sure. Seventy-five percent (75%) of those who work for a private compan...

The following was written by Jeffery Small and posted on his site Small Thoughts for a Complex World . A well written article that definitely takes one outside the box of "conventional" thinking. A truly radical approach aimed at fixing, for good, our ailing fiscal and social problems. Les Carpenter Editor in Chief Rational Nation USA Excerpt: Dear Representative of the People: Based upon the current activity taking place in Washington D.C. regarding matters of regulatory reform, spending cuts, balancing the budget and reducing the deficit, it does not look like anything truly meaningful is going to be accomplished in the foreseeable future. Talk about reducing spending by trillions of dollars, whether proposed by President Obama or by Republicans such as Paul Ryan —assuming that these plans were ever to actually be put into effect—sound great until you understand that these numbers are not for next year's budget, but are unrealistically spread over a period...