Did You Feel It?

We tumbled off the fiscal cliff last night.  Finally.  I didn't feel a thing, did you? But not really fell, we're told today.  That was only to get Congress to do... something.  Please.

Your withholding will feel like it's going up.  That's because you've been paying 2% less recently.  Yep.  Social Security is bankrupt and the government's answer had been to reduce our contributions to it by 2%.  Now it's payback time unless and until our gummint heroes can reduce it again and call themselves, yes, tax cutters.  Then we can resume stealing from our children's future and call it revenue.  It's a liars game.

A bunch of taxes, some new and some not, went up this morning.  I suppose with us being in collective $16 Tril of debt, something had to happen.  Raise taxes or cut spending, those were the choices Congress told us we (they) had.  

The latest deal from the Senate raises taxes $620B and cuts spending $15B.  That will really annoy the House so don't look for complete agreement.  Heck, they couldn't even get unanimous consent to declare war in 1941.  

The Senate wants most of the new tax revenue to come from families making more than $450K.  Was $250K (those fiscal demons), now it's $450K.  Just kidding, you $250K people.  Relax.  

It's kinda hard to pin down who's a dirty capitalist kulak who has to cough up "just a little more" and who's just one of the folks.  More on kulaks soon.

Remember the Repub presidential debate when the moderator asked each job applicant if he/she (Michelle was still in it) would trade ten bucks of deficit cuts for one buck in increased spending?  10:1.  'Nope, wouldn't do that' was the unanimous answer.  Bet it wouldn't be today.  Today's Senate proposal was 41:1 ... the other way.

India has a novel idea.  Remember Eunuch Tax Collectors?  This time, why not just hand cash to poor people?  Direct deposit, actually.  You know, to the Indian poor who actually have bank accounts and aren't lucky enough to be eunuchs.  Both of them. No, really.  Billions of IndiBux.  What could go wrong?  

I was shocked -- shocked, I tell you -- to learn that India has an election coming up in 2014.  Remember when Mitt accused the Prez of trying to buy votes by increasing welfare, health care and food stamps?  Same thing.  As ever was.


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A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape it. Alexis de Toqueville

To tax the community for the advantage of a class is not protection: it is plunder. 
Benjamin Disraeli