Hurts our country

Today we heard the president say he was going to help the middle class, at the expense of the very few people able to earn more than $250,000 per year. No details of course, but more coming "later."

Today I tried to figure out how the U.S. can fund such a thing; since it appears that like me, the government is broke. Of course, no way to prove if the government is broke, but many sources claim to know this.

My own finance is a function of how close it is to my payday for a government retired person, which is the first of a month. I get $300 plus what I bought for the family over the past month, usually $50. The TV commercials are new car dealers. It looks attractive until I remember that I have no money! And I am happy with my all-steel 1998 Dodge Durango. I have been hit in the rear three times by new cars. The cars have major work needed, but all I do is brush off the glass and dirt from my car.

I am now 77 years old and do not expect to live much longer. So all of the current problems are not my problem. Ever try to get a job when you're 77 years old? But I am a middle class person. Why does the president do what he does? He is really hurting our country!

He has, and continues to do things that are terrible. I might, if 35 years old, give thought or actions toward leaving this country.


Las Cruces

Football dangers

The Tuesday issue of the Sun-News carried a picture of the 5th grade Knights football champions.


Those splendid, darling boys are headed for a future with concussions, brain-stem injuries, broken bones, etc. Parents, are you mad? Such young kids should not be playing organized football, with all the baggage that goes with it. I am well aware that my opinion is going against the tide.


Las Cruces

Raising revenue

I thought to look at recent suggestions for raising revenue to balance the federal budget. From Jim Harbison came the Flat and Fair tax. On their face, these ideas seem simple. However, the reality is that lower- and middle-income folks pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than the upper class.

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center analyzed the Flat Tax and discovered, as an example, that a family of four earning $50,000 a year would pay $4,000 more in taxes while a similar family earning $500,000 to $1 million would save around $60,000. The reality of a Flat Tax is that income/wealth disparity is increased.

In another Sun-News column, Whitney Tilson and Anthony Scarmucci suggested removing the cap on Social Security contributions, raising the 15 percent rate on capital gains to 20-25 percent, taxing carried interest as regular income, and capping tax deductions at $35,000. The Social Security Administration reports that removing the cap on contributions would cover roughly 90 percent of the projected shortfall for 75 years.

When the Bush tax cuts expire, capital gains will return to 20 percent with a 3.8 percent surcharge for the Affordable Care Act, estate taxes will return to 55 percent after an exemption for the first $1 million.

Carried interest should be taxed as regular income. We should return to the Clinton tax rate of 39.6 percent, for taxable income over $250,000. Tilson and Scarmucci would not raise income taxes, but actually income taxes are progressive taxes because they grow from low to high.

The largest redistribution of wealth in history occurred in the last four decades. It is time to reverse the flow. We can use the money to end this recession and balance the budget.



Social Security debt

On ABC's This Week, Dick Durbin (D) Ill., stated, "Social Security does not add one penny to our debt, not a penny." Jay Carney, the president's press secretary, said as much, "We should address the drivers of the deficit, and Social Security is not currently a driver of the deficit - that is an economic fact."

This is not just fuzzy math on their part, it is a bold-faced lie. How many times does it have to be repeated that the Social Security trust fund has no real money in it. Whatever money has been accumulated each year is spent by Congress in the regular budget and an IOU is written to the Treasury. And since the Treasury is broke by $16 trillion, it then becomes an IOU to China, which is called debt.

Furthermore, according to the Office of Management and Budget, the amount coming in via premiums starting in 2010 is less than what is paid out. In 2010, it fell short by $36.8 billion, and because the baby-boomers are retiring, it is projected to fall short by $86.6 billion in the year 2015. There is no Social Security lockbox with money in it; it is a cookie jar which Congress empties each year. And now the amount in the jar does not pay for what is used each year. Short term and long term, Social Security is adding to our debt.


Las Cruces