Schooling the Uninformed on Taxes, Deficits, Debt and Spending

Ignorance and stupidity, while often misapplied as though they were synonymous, are not the same! Ignorance is a changeable state of the lack of knowledge. Being uninformed does not make one stupid. Stupidity, on the other hand, is an immutable state characterized by a lack of capability to understand or learn. Galactic Stupidity is the willful refusal to try to learn or understand, despite possessing the capability to do so - and this, too, is often an immutable state. These people are known in the book of Proverbs as "fools."

There is no point in addressing my commentary to the stupid. However there are many people who are ignorant on the topic of economics and taxes... as there are very few sources of true and accurate information with which to educate them. For this reason, I have taken it upon myself to write several recent pieces addressing these issues.

The purpose of this particular article is to serve as a letter directly to those who are ignorant of, but willing to learn, the facts and the truth about taxes, deficits, debt and spending. If you can assimilate the following five facts, you will have a greater understanding than the vast majority of people who are spoon-fed the Marxist Pabulum of the Progressive Media Machine. You will then understand why conservatives are passionate on the subject, and you may even become motivated to share this information with others!

1)      We did not just pass tax cuts. We retained tax rates that have been in place most of the last decade. We prevented an automatic tax hike.

2)      The left complains that tax cuts have to be paid for. As mentioned, we haven't cut taxes; we kept them the same... but that fact notwithstanding, this premise is faulty. Tax cuts don't have to be "paid for." Tax rates are not directly related to tax revenues! Tax cuts have INCREASED revenues every time they've been tried. Kennedy, Reagan, & Bush all proved this. Reagan's tax cuts doubled revenues. (This is because reducing taxes unshackles the engine of the economy - spurring growth, investment and risk taking - and this leads to job creation and revenue producing enterprise.)

3)      Deficits are not a factor of revenues. They are a factor of spending. When Reagan doubled tax revenues, Congress spent $1.84 for every new $1 in revenues... and the deficits climbed despite a doubling of revenue. We're not under-taxed. Congress over-spends.

4)      Our current deficit is over a trillion dollars a year and has been since Obama took office. Bush's worst deficit was in 2003, after 9/11 and the commitment to 2 wars. It was under $420 Billion. After the 2003 tax cuts, the deficit was cut in half in 2004, and was 1/3 of the 2003 deficit in 2005. We were headed back to a balanced budget. Then we elected the 111th Pelosi/Reid Congress. In 2007 they tripled the 2005 deficit to around $480 Billion. This was their BEST deficit, and it was 60 Billion more than Bush's WORST. Then Obama was elected in 2008. The Deficit blossomed to over a trillion dollars... which tripled the previous worst deficit in history, which occurred under Pelosi/Reid... the year before!

5)      Our current debt (as opposed to the annual deficit) is $14+ Trillion. When Obama took office, it was "only" $9 Trillion. In 2 years he managed to increase the national debt by more than 50%! When Pelosi/Reid took the majority in Congress the Debt was only $6 Trillion. In their 4 years, they managed to increase by 2.5 TIMES, the debt that it took the previous 230 years and 44 Presidents to amass. President Bush was vilified for taking our debt from 4 Trillion to 6 Trillion in 6 years. The Dems took it from 6 Trillion to 14 Trillion in 4 years.)

Our problem is not and never has been a matter of under-taxing anyone. It has always been a matter of irrational spending of money they don’t have.