The REAL VIEW, by Mike Thayer
William Duffy is a local liberal-minded brickhead who frequently comments on the Iowa City DePressed Citizen story boards. Much more often than not, he is ignorant of the issues/topics he's responding to, as in, he doesn't care to properly inform himself. He is quick to make excuses for Obama and pretty much anything liberal. I find him to be intellectually lazy, he doesn't care to think things through and his arguments are usually void of logic. When challenged, he defaults to using liberal talking points. When his misinformation is corrected, he refuses to acknowledge his mistake let alone use the opportunity as a learning experience. Duffy is a right brain *thinker*, emotionally based.
I'm singling this guy out because he votes. He is a typical liberal-minded voter and it's that kind of *thinking* that puts people like Obama, Tom Harkin, Dave Loebsack and Rod Sullivan in office.
His latest nonsense is a response he made to me on a DePressed Citizen Editorial Board piece claiming the country has a revenue problem. The title of the DePressed Citizen piece was, Our View: Nation has both a spending and a revenue problem
Here's how I responded to that piece: Once again, the PC couldn't be more wrong. This country does NOT have a revenue problem! As a nation we live far beyond our means, all you liberals whine about rich people and their supposed excess, and you completely overlook Washington's excessive spending! Liberal-minded people are so inconsistent in argument. Oh, and here's a novel idea, if the President would actually work at developing a better environment for job creation instead of campaigning non-stop, IRS tax receipts would go up because more people would be working. DOH!
Here's how the liberal-minded William Duffy responded to me: So Mike you first say that we don't have a revenue problem but then say we would have more revenue with more employment. This would imply that there is a revenue problem. The three years that President Obama has been in office are the three years with the lowest percentage of tax revenues per GDP. They are in the low 15% range. No year has had tax receipts at a lower percentage of GDP since 1942. Yes, we have a revenue problem because of the massive recession brought on by poor fiscal policy of the latest Bush. It's all fact.The spending also increased in thelast three years because of the massive recession brought on by poor fiscal policy of the latest Bush. Big recession results in Big unemployment which results in more unemployment spending and other government subsidies. It is automatic. It's the fact.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=200
First off, if IRS tax receipts go up as a result of more people working, it indicates we have a growing economy, period. It does NOT mean we have a revenue problem. Duffy's claim of "you first say that we don't have a revenue problem but then say we would have more revenue with more employment. This would imply that there is a revenue problem," makes absolutely no sense at all.
Secondly, claiming we have a revenue problem is not a fact. Duffy pretends his claim is fact, but it simply isn't.
Third, Duffy providing readers a reference to IRS tax receipts gives us all some data to look at, but it does nothing to address let alone substantively support an argument that we have a revenue problem. Excessive spending is excessive spending and the IRS data Duffy referenced doesn't show excessive government expenditures such as bypasses for sea turtles, bridges to nowhere, giving billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to German banks, the study of ants in India or flopping $500 million on solar companies about to go bankrupt.
Reasonable people know that this country without question has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
According to the IRS numbers Duffy referenced, more than Two Trillion taxpayer dollars has been going to Washington annually since 2005.
An intellectually honest person will acknowledge that amount is MORE than enough to provide the basic functions of federal government. No, it’s not enough to cover pork barrel spending and that’s the problem! Deficit spending. It’s GOT to stop. And yet, what is the liberal-minded answer to continue the damaging annual deficit spending?
Raise taxes!
That’s liberal stupidity and lazy thinking. A growing economy leads to a growth in IRS tax receipts, there is NO NEED to raise taxes. It’s all spelled out in the history books if people like Duffy care to see it. Combined with sensible spending cuts, budget surpluses can be had. That too, is spelled out in the history books, spending cuts and a growing economy = budget surplus. It’s a formula that works. Tax hikes are not necessary.
If you want an example just take a look at the state of Virginia, they had a $129 million surplus for fiscal year 2011. How did they get into a surplus situation? Not with a flawed liberal mindset of raising taxes, but by combinations of spending cuts and job creation, concepts Obama and liberal-minded folks like Duffy can’t grasp. By the way, Virginia has a GOP governor.
Other states with GOP governors and budget surpluses for fiscal year 2011:
- Indiana: $1.2 billion
- Idaho: $85 million
- Maine: $50 million
- Iowa: $480 million
- Alaska: $260 million
- North Dakota: $1 billion (look at what some oil jobs has done for that state!)
Heck, even the Democrat governor of West Virginia sees the light. He lead their state to a budget surplus of $87 million, which by the way included a drop in the corporate tax rate and they’re on track to repeal the sales tax on groceries.
And gosh, is it a coincidence that the unemployment rate for these states is below the national average? Oh and another gosh, the aforementioned states are building their rainy day funds as a direct result of a blueprint that works: Job creation leads to a growth in tax receipts. Spending cuts + growing tax receipts = budget surplus. That's revenue positive, no tax hike necessary.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm asking for your help. We need to educate reasoned people, independents about things like this, so they can make a truly informed vote on election day. They need to be aware of people like Duffy and the liberal talking point misinformation he offers. Independents and people that are well-reasoned but aren't really into politics until about three months before election day deserve to know the real deal when it comes to the issues that matter and the candidates seeking office. Challenge liberal thought, it's really, really flawed and truly does hurt this country.
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