And Now It Starts

Today they realized that income tax revenue is down 34% from last year, but we’re still stimulating the economy by spending money we don’t have. They also realized today that back in October when we should have let GM go into a structured bankruptcy, we threw tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money into that company, the result of which did nothing but put us now, right back to where we were in October, as GM will now be going into bankruptcy. The only thing we have to show for it is that we now own 72% of a bankrupt company, which flushed away billions of dollars. Hell of a deal. They also today are saying that the only alternative we may have to pay for the almost two trillion dollar debt we currently are facing is to enact at least a 25 % Federal VAT, just like they have in Europe - which euphemistically stands for Value Added Tax - and which, in reality, is really a TOE (Tax On Everything), or simply a federal sales tax on literally everything you buy. This, by the way, will be in addition to what you pay in state and federal income tax, not to mention your local and state sales tax too. Of course, a VAT is nothing more than a regressive tax, and while it affects everyone, it will actually hurt the poorest among us the most, which will be even more reason for our dear leader to dig even deeper into our pockets to redistribute more of our ever dwindling income to those who are “most in need.” I guess the logic (and irony) of enacting a regressive tax, which will do nothing but force people to spend less - during a recession mind you - is lost on those who think there is some kind of logic to the plan of trying to spend their way to prosperity. So, what’s next? Well, when the tax revenues go down even further, because people will be losing even more jobs due to people spending less on items produced, because they are taxed at every turn on income, sales, property, capital gains, VAT and on, and on, the only alternative the government will have left will be to start monetizing the debt; that’s a fancy term for printing more money to cover their losses, which, by the way has already started. The result of that is inflation; however in this case, it will almost certainly mean hyper-inflation. Folks, please believe me; I’m no economist, nor am I some kind of financial genius. If *I* can see this, why can’t these uber-smart intellectual and financial wunderkind types in Washington see this?