Digg Dialogg: Timothy Geithner

Here you can ask and vote on questions that will be asked to Geithner. On his part, I’m not sure this was the greatest idea. Digg claims that the most popular questions will be asked to him in an interview.

Here are the top 5, as of now:

Why has the federal reserve bank never been audited?

You failed to pay some of your federal taxes in 2001. And in 2002. And in 2003. And in 2004. Please explain.

What is your position on Ron Paul’s House Resolution 1207?

Last week you requested that Congress raise the $12.1 trillion statutory debt limit, saying that it could be breached as early as mid-October. This is in addition to the increase already approved in February this year to accommodate the added debt from the $787 Billion stimulus plan. How is this anything other than runaway government spending? What will it take for us to see US debt go the other direction?

Why is the government only supporting aging and increasingly obsolete car makers? You’ve given an extraordinary amount of money to GM, but the government has failed to encourage new, innovative, and cleaner forms of personal transportation such as produced by Tesla Motors. Why has TARP money not been invested in companies such as Tesla, and will the government support similar companies in the future?

Then, you have the less serious questions:

So what did the devil give you in return for your soul?

How do you sleep at night?

Why aren’t you in prison for tax evasion?

Do you ever feel the urge to come clean and expose the corrupt system of crony-capitalism that is stealing from regular people?

And then there is this question that will never be asked, but I would love to hear the answer:

What was discussed at the 2009 Bilderberg conference?

So I encourage you, if you have an account on http://www.digg.com, to vote on the best, toughest questions, and ask your own. You have until Thursday. 😉

Stop Global Warming: Tax Toilet Paper

In the name of climate change and slowing global warming, a bill has been introduced in Congress that would tax what we put into water like toilet paper. Yes, toilet paper. If you thought a tax on diet soda was bad, well, now we would basically be taxed for using the restroom. All in the name of saving the environment from global warming.

An article on Prison Planet reads:

The “Water Protection and Reinvestment Act,” H.R.3202, introduced last week by Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore), will be “financed broadly by small fees on such things as bottled beverages, products disposed of in wastewater, corporate profits, and the pharmaceutical industry,” according to Blumenauer’s fact sheet.

Though the taxes are “designed to be collected at the manufacturer level,” only the most naive would doubt that multinational corporations would just pass the cost on to the consumer in the form of higher prices, as is routine.

Items disposed of in wastewater, such as toothpaste, cosmetics, toilet paper and cooking oil will be subject to a 3% excise tax, while water beverages will be hit with a 4% tax, “because these products wind up in the water stream and require clean up by sewage treatment plants,” according to the bill.

As far as I know, people have been using toilet paper, toothpaste, and makeup for a while and it has been cleaned by the sewage plants with no problem. And now because of “climate change,” more money is required. I have written about global warming before here. But basically, it is a load of bull created to milk the people of more money through taxes by telling them we need money to save the environment.

The fact that the global warming feeding frenzy has now reached a level of insanity to the point where the federal government is essentially preparing to tax us to defecate and urinate shows how far down the line we really are. What’s next? A tax on breathing? After all, we humans exhale that evil life-giving poisonous gas carbon dioxide. The New York Times actually introduced the idea of the government imposing a tax on breathing in a March 2007 editorial.

So if this passes, the already high price of these items will go up even more. That 3% tax will definitely be passed on to consumers. So we’ll have to pay for that plus sales tax… Is there anything that won’t be taxed? And I doubt the media will even cover this at all.

This bill has 7 cosponsors as of now. Let’s hope no more congressmen support this horrific idea.

Obesity causes global warming, say scientists

Being overweight is bad for the environment as well as your health, according to a study released today.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that overweight people were likely to be more responsible for carbon emissions than slim people because they consume more food and fuel.

The study blamed an increased demand for livestock production for meat, believed to be responsible for 20 per cent of all greenhouse gases due to the toxic methane emitted by cows.

They added that a higher dependency on cars was also a contributing factor.

The authors, Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts, said: ‘When it comes to food consumption, moving about in a heavy body is like driving around in a gas guzzler.

‘The heavier our bodies become the harder and more unpleasant it is to move about in them and the more dependent we become on our cars.

‘Staying slim is good for health and for the environment. We need to be doing a lot more to reverse the global trend towards fatness, and recognise it as a key factor in the battle to reduce emissions and slow climate change.’

The study found that ‘slim’ nations like Vietnam consume almost 20 per cent less food and so produce fewer carbon emissions than a more overweight population, such as the US, where 40 per cent are obese, the study found.

The researchers estimated that a lean population of one billion would emit 1,000million tonnes less carbon dioxide per year than a ‘fat’ nation of the same size.

In nearly every country average body mass index (BMI) is rising.

Between 1994 and 2004, the average male BMI in England increased from 26 to 27.3, while the average female BMI went up from 25.8 to 26.9 (about 3kg – or half a stone – heavier).

via Daily Mail Reporter

Isn’t this perfect? A study saying obese people are worse for the environment is perfect to pave the way for more taxes! Isn’t that wonderful! No. No longer can people live how they want to live, scientists are blaming the world’s supposed (see this post) problem of global warming. First of all, there are plenty of lightweight people with big gas guzzing cars. Also, now there is ‘justification’ for a so-called fat tax on certain ‘unhealthy’ foods. More regulations added to the already un-free market is not going to help the economy. Sales will go even more down. And the truth is that increasing public health costs push taxes up for all citizens, not just the taxes of those who caused the taxes in the first place. Should everyone pay for a few people that made different decisions? I don’t think so.

US spending out of control…but Obama wants billions more

So everyone knows America is in a financial crisis. But apparently Barack Obama does not care:

U.S. President Barack Obama Monday asked Congress to back an expansion of an IMF emergency fund by $500 billion in a move designed to expand its reach to big emerging-market nations.

Obama also asked lawmakers to approve a U.S. contribution to the fund to $100 billion, as part of the plan to swell International Monetary Fund reserves agreed at this month’s Group of 20 industrial and developing nations summit in London.

What this would mean is more money out of the taxpayers pockets. And I’m sure this will be a really popular idea: just give billions (that we don’t have) to private international organizations. Not.

This blogger has some suggestions for Obama: spending less. And I agree completely. If Obama wants to donate money to a private international organization that isn’t going to help America, he should do so out of his own pocket.

Here is a video called “abolish the World Bank and IMF” in which Jim Rogers talks to Sir David about the current economic crisis and Barack Obama’s rescue package.

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Lastly, if you want to find out how the International Monetary Fund relates to the New World Order, go here.

What CNN didn’t show you

You may have seen CNN’s report on the tea parties, but here Chicago protesters give a reporter a taste of her own medicine.

What the IRS doesn’t want you to know, and other facts about taxes

Did you know that none of our collected income tax goes to run the government?

Neither did I. But here are 31 Questions and Answers about the Internal Revenue Service.

If you want to know even more about the taxes, here is some info on the history and fairness of them.

And James Madison, although he was nicknamed the ‘Father of the Constitution’, said: “The power of taxing people and their property is essential to the very existence of government.”

Here are some more quotes relating to taxes:

Laurence J. Peter

But then America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation.

Thomas Paine

What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue.

This post explains where taxes go. And as to what should be cut? Well, why do hardworking Americans have to prop up everyone and everything else with their money? Can’t people just live and keep their own money? The thing is that the people who would really need the money (although would still be taken from others if they did receive the money) don’t get anything. The income tax is only 40% of the federal budget.

But this is the big picture about how all the tax dollars are spent. Not just a pie chart that doesn’t break it down. (Click to zoom in.) And I see many things that can be cut. The ‘Global War on Terror’ for instance. 189.316 billion dollars. Or the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’. 21 billion.

Here you can read an article about what Ron Paul thinks on the situation.

A short excerpt:

Ron Paul has slammed Barack Obama’s claim that reckless government spending and taxation is the only way to alleviate the economic crisis by pointing out that the end of the great depression only came after taxes and spending were drastically cut.

Finally, if you want to know about socialism: one blogger has written about America’s march towards socialism. There are two parts: part 1 and part 2.

The Video President Obama Should Fear

I found this post on some truth Obama would not like you to hear.

From this post at One Citizen Speaking:

With all of his talk about human rights and wealth redistribution, this is the last video that Obama wants the American public to see … at least those Americans who are not already part of the entitlement victimhood created by the democrats and the far-left activists to seize political power in this country.

Watch Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as he deals with a much younger Phil Donahue, who can only be described as a “bleeding heart liberal” and supporter of the democrat party.

If you believe Obama’s pronouncements and campaign rhetoric, he wants to enlarge government and improve society for the mutual good – all the while concretely demonstrating the malevolence of his own party and politics as they engage in backroom maneuvering for political power and driving their political agenda forward.

Here is the video:

Obama advocates the opposite of minimizing government. He wants government involvement almost everywhere. And it is true: markets that are less free, fail. Taxing citizens to death does not fix anything.

Is it insanitea?

There has been a lot of criticism on the upcoming tea parties. In the New York Times, on YouTube, and by a number of bloggers. There are those who blame the republicans, but are going to a tea party to find answers, who flat out blame the republicans and look to Obama as hope, and those who think republicans are crazy, and those who are just wondering if these tea parties will ‘work’.

A post by one of the latter is pointing out some flaws and I would just like to respond.

Here’s my problem…These are Republicans

Yes, republicans are attending who don’t always support freedom, you could say hijacking the movement. But the main source for these could be classified as the Ron Paul republicans, the ones who want way lower taxes, freedom, and the Constitution.

being egged on by Fox News and various other conservative talk show hosts.

This is a problem. Neo-cons like Glenn Beck are creating their own ‘movement’ if you could even call it that. They are getting more people to attend. So this is the game plan: spread the right message to these people. If they are coming, try to help them get something out of it.

The original tea party was about taxation without representation. These people are all represented in government. So their comparison to the original tea party is totally flawed.

These people are not represented in government. If they were, taxes would be much lower. This would, in turn, help the economy.

More though, our country (and indeed global economic community) is in a severe recession/depression. The tea partiers are not offereing solutions… they’re just complaining. I’m sorry, lowering taxes is not going to solve our problem. Government programs are helping people out in a LOT of ways right now. Especially around here where unemployment has ballooned to 9.8 percent. If you cut taxes, you have to cut those programs. That means those of us not making much money are going to be hurt even more.

Yes, our country is having major economic difficulties. That is a fact. And these tea parties may not be directly offering a solution. But they are trying to provoke change. And lowering taxes would definitely help solve the problem. Especially for businesses: if they have lower taxes, they can hire more workers. People are getting help from the government, but not the people who really need it. And to ‘help’ these people, they are taking it away from the people who earned the money. Additionally, it is not the responsibility of the government to support those in need. The government was originally just there to support “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Plus, stopping stimulus actions means the US auto industry totally collapses and disappears. The banking industry collapses and credit is gone.

That collapse is just something we would have to deal with. America can’t be spending trillions it doesn’t have and expect to survive. It would be hard, but debt is hard, too.

That means people are out of jobs and businesses that depend on loans for day-to-day operations are forced to lay people off. The already high unemployment rate would sky-rocket. Something simply HAS to be done. We can’t just sit back and NOT take action. It’s not that simple.

It is that simple. Free markets regulate themselves. ‘Taking action’ by regulating everything is what got us into this mess and it won’t get us out.

Then there’s the glaring hypocrisy of the Republican party these days. For years all we heard was the notion that criticising the President was akin to treason… Now, as soon as Obama takes office, the Republican party can’t say anyting but negative things about him.

First of all, democrats only had negative things to say about Bush. Was he a good president? No. But now you expect us to start praising Obama for ruining America? And I do have to say, the Republican party is very hypocritical these days. But the actual people don’t really have a say anymore. The party is spiraling out of control. Not to mention the politicians that don’t have a clue about politics, like Sarah Palin.

The presumptive party leader (Rush) is openly campaigning for him to fail.

For who to fail? For Obama to fail? Because he already is. (No offense.)

Congressional Republicans have become the party of “no.”

Is that such a bad thing? Saying no to spending money we won’t have? Ron Paul has been nicknamed ‘Dr. No’ but he is a strict constitutionalist.

There are no fresh ideas coming out of the Republican party these days.

There is no change coming out of the Democratic party, either. And the Republican movement is about conservatism.

They’ve suddenly forgotten that Bush raised taxes and increased government spending and size at an unbelievable rate of the last 8 years. Now, when Obama is trying to undo all the damage Bush did, the Republicans are being sore losers.

Obama is not undoing any damage. He is keeping many of Bush’s policies. And he is also increasing spending at an alarming rate. Is this undoing any damage?

I know a lot of Republicans read my blog… I’m happy to listen to ideas for solving our current problems. If they make sense to me, I’ll say so. I will say up front though, saying “lower taxes” is not going to win my vote. The country has tried that route and it didn’t work. I’m looking for NEW ideas. And they’ve got to take into account the current economic conditions.

Here is an idea: make America’s market a free market. And when has America ever really tried the strategy of lowering taxes? Maybe if we audited, or even ended the federal reserve, we might not be in this mess. The federal reserve is a private bank that answers to no one, just does as it pleases. We should stop the spending, get out of NATO (which is costing us a bunch, but not giving us anything), and get rid of the unnecessary departments of government (e.g. Department of Homeland Security).

Were my comments thorough enough for you? These were my ideas, what do you think will work?

Libertea is Brewing

Why tea parties? The trillion dollar question:

If you want more reasons on why to attend a tea party, go here and read the informative and inspiring blog post.

What is so bad about taxes, you ask? Read this series of articles.

If you go to this blog post you can find a great list of 101 tea party slogan and sign ideas (one I didn’t see: ‘USSA, No Way’, also nothing specifically about HR 1207), some related sites to find out more, and the following video on how to make a picket sign. This has a lot of great information.

And finally, some claim these tea party protests are anti-Obama protests. But they are not, they are just rallies to demand change.

Where is your nearest tea party? Find out here.

Obama’s Tax Rap

This is a rap and music video about what Barack Obama loves to do: tax and spend.

Patriotic for the rich to pay more taxes?

So I just found the video below. It has lots of facts about paying taxes. But the thing that really hits me hard: Joe Biden, our vice-president, thinks it is patriotic for the people who make more money to pay more taxes? He says, “It’s time for them to be patriotic.”

Here you go:

Taxpayer Political Cartoon

Have you heard of Kevin Tuma? Well, if you haven’t, he makes political cartoons. Great ones, in fact.

Here is his latest one.

I do think this points out the main thing about taxpayers: they just accept that they must pay the taxes. They don’t know what their money will pay for: welfare, war, the CIA’s (undisclosed) budget, salaries, or countless other items. They just give up their money because it is the law. They don’t question the government. They don’t work for change. As former Chief Justice, John Marshall said, “The power to tax involves the power to destroy.” And this taxation is causing destruction: to the economy and to taxpayers.