Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Aggressive accounting practices, Debt Ceiling and the Republican Recalcitrance: how the rich continue to cheat the middle class and the poor?


Keywords or terms: Debt Ceiling; Stalemate; Tax Payers and Cheats; Rich and Poor; Josh Voorhees; Robert Murdoch; Conservative; Liberal; Internal Revenue Service; Aggressive Accounting practices; Supply-side Economics; Congressional Lawmakers; The Presidency

It is time to tell it as it is. It is time to disseminate the truth about America’s budget deficit. It is time to call a spade a spade. It is time to remind the Republicans, most of whom are fat cats, that they have been raiding the coffers of the nation and raping the hell out of the finances of this country. It is time to remind Republicans and Democrats that unless there is actual tax reform, where the rich are made to pay just as much as they should and the poor and middle class are treated like fair tax payers, this ongoing debt ceiling stalemate, whether it is out of Republicans grand standing or the Presidency’s right to hold its grounds against assault on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Students loans and more, is hardly impressing many of us; and if things are not appropriately handled by our lawmakers, we may be reaching a threshold of class war in the country. As a matter of conscience, if President Obama has not held his ground on his party’s position of raising the debt ceiling with increased revenue, he would have failed in his duty as the President of this nation. The Republican recalcitrance at this time, is hardly impressive, as a matter of fact, they, the Republican leadership in congress, have lost credibility.

For those who say, I am an alarmist and should temper my assessment with some civility, here are five good examples of why I finally said enough is enough:

1)   Under President G. W. Bush, the nation’s debt ceiling was raised nineteen times, most of the time the money was going to fight wars that no one in government can actually tell Americans with a straight face, is in our national interest;
2)   Many rich corporations continue to use deceptive accounting practices, sometimes referred to as aggressive accounting, to escape taxation and actually reap profit from government coffers to the tune of billions, without anyone in government, including Internal Revenue Services, blinking an eye-lid, simply because it is within the provisions of the tax code;
3)   If Josh Voorhees is to be believed, Robert Murdoch, an Australian American, whose aboard is in Australia, an American only in name because of his investments, has over the past four years, received a tax return from the IRS (the US government) to the tune of about $4.8 billion, when in fact, his media conglomerate should have paid corporate taxes at the rate of 35 percent for a value of $3.6 billion, then someone has to help me understand the grounds of the Tea Party faction in the Republican Party asking their leaders to soldier on against the Presidency on tax revenue;
4)   President Obama’s deal of cutting $4 trillion over ten years, including a swap of increased tax revenue for cuts to entitlement programs for middle class, the poor and the elderly, which are clothed in the name of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Student loan’s payout, at a glance, must be very heart rendering, considering that the rich are already carting away the whole house, through quote and unquote, aggressive accounting practices;
5)   Since an agreement has not being reached between congress and the Whitehouse regarding the lifting of the debt ceiling, Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell has proposed a fall-back plan that tears up the United States Constitution by asking the US President to usurp what is rightly the rights and power of the congress in order to satisfy Republican's narrow interest of protecting the rich, including corporations as the News Corp, at all cost.

Again, the stalemate in increasing the debt ceiling has raised some very disappointing proposal from Republican leaders in both chambers of congress. Contrarily, we have heard from lucid minded Republicans, who have often shown some steel in their protection of Republican ideology, that voting against raising the debt ceiling, threatens the fiscal solvency of America. Further, we learned from the conservative Republican Columnist George Will, early in January of this year on the ABC’s This Week  that, there is hardly a developed nation that has a debt ceiling and the thought of voting against raising the debt ceiling, is not only troubling for America’s sovereign debts and the market, but may be considered politically suicidal. Despite all these affirmation, it seems as of tonight, nothing has moved the needle from where we were about two weeks ago on raising the debt ceiling, with Republican lawmakers holding the nation to a ransome.

Listening tonight to President Obama’s interview with Scot Pelley on CBS evening news, accepting the fact that not only social security checks that wouldn’t be going out come August 3, 2011, if an agreement is not reached on the impasse, but that veterans and men in uniforms may not receive their checks, make one wonder, what nation do Republican Leaders consider the United State: a place where a lawmaker can refuse to work in the interest of many at the expense of a few rich, 5% of the few holding down on 80% of the wealth of the nation. Now, you see why many Americans are hardly thrilled about the impasses on the issue of raising the debt ceiling and my assessment that we may end up in a class war? How about listening to the fact that due to many loop holes in the tax laws, the rich corporations and people have just been raping the nation through evasion of taxes? How about the notion of rich corporations powering through the lapses in our laws as they move jobs overseas and keep many Americans at the mercy of a free-market system that ends up bailing the rich out under the pretext that their corporations are too big to fail? Do you want me to continue my lamentation over off-shore banking, where many corporate losses are redirected to America, while their profits are moved elsewhere to buy new foreign corporations and investments, while America’s tax payers pick up the tab over poor business decisions of the rich?

The rich can make a positive impact on the nation’s deficit, if they pay taxes at the ratio of pre-1970 level. They can make an impact on the reduction of our budget deficits, if they stop being tax cheats and actually pay commensurate taxes just like the middle and poor classes. A mind set shift is required among the Republican Party members, that the trickle down theology of the Reagan’s years, tagged Supply-Side Economics, is an absolute failure and aberration of psychological behavior of the rich. The Tea Party members among Republicans ought to come to the debate table with sincere inquiries on why there is so much loss of jobs during Republican years in administration of the White House. There are many opportunities for conversations over why America goes into foreign wars that costs a million dollar a second, while fifteen million Americans are out of work and about four million are set to loose roofs over their heads in the coming months. If Republican leaders can help the Tea Party group among them tone down the negativity in their opinions that easily shuts down debates over how we can better our economy, improve government revenue base and take care of our health and grand parents, maybe we will be on the way to truce and not anarchy? If we can help Republicans appreciate that people complain about what they care about, perhaps they will listen a bit deeper and a bit longer over why it is insanity to let the nation go into default on its debts.

The most important thing any lawmaker can do right now is to help America understand what is going on in our congress, why it seems, we can never be in agreement over issues that affect all of us. Whining and hauling, making inflammatory statements like: 1) Obama administration are relying on budget gimmicks to give the appearance of serious belt-tightening; 2) After  years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office, solution is unattainable; are hardly statesman like nor encouraging to the nation. Americans want to understand their lawmakers, want to know the essence of the impasses over raising the debt ceiling and will be more prepared to deal with the short-coming of a recession, if issues that affect national finances and jobs creation are dealt with transparently by both chambers of congress.

With the right mindset, opening up debates to the whole nation, including what must be done to close the tax loop holes that allow many corporations and people to evade taxes, Americans who are mostly at the receiving end of infighting among lawmakers in congress will be able to breathe easier, stay mellow and overcome the challenges of long waits for placement in a job. The whining you see among many in America today comes out of frustration with congress, why it is not making the right choices to create opportunities for Americans in America and why the conversations regarding issues that affect them are often trivialized on the bases of ideology. A retired old man or woman is hardly interested in ideology fights, but in their sustenance; knowing that their fixed social security income will be able to carry them over to the next check; knowing that if they fall sick, they will be able to see their doctor; and, knowing that the nation still cares about them, after giving all their productive years to serve the nation and the budding youths; most of whom are now in positions of authority and clamoring to cut the old people’s benefit programs, because they happen to be in the position of lawmaking in congress.

I am not treating this discussion with levity. This isn’t what this blog is known for. Republican and Democratic lawmakers must realize that the nation is in dire straits and there is hardly any room for ideological fights or derogation whining from senior members of congress, who should know better. Lawmakers, Republicans or Democrats, who feel they are bored or unsatisfied with the work of lawmaking should retire and let people willing to do the work of the people, move into congress. After all, none of the lawmakers were born with the gavel in their hand. It is important that lawmakers show that they are genuinely interested in serving the people by addressing issues that impact their welfare as urgently as possible, rather than increasing the stress and tension in the nation. The more lawmakers increase their sense of commitment to the people’s interest, especially those who are most vulnerable among us, the children, women and the elderly, the more people will be interested in what comments comes out of their mouths in a press conference. Good Night!

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