Baby Bam Bam: Four More Years

Well, that is it. The people have spoken, and apparently they have gotten what they wanted. Obama is reelected, the Senate remains in Democrat hands, and the House remains to the Republicans, even increasing their lead there. What this LION has noticed watching Fox News last night was the difference in the supporters in the halls of the two candidates. Obama's crowd was energized, as well it should be, but more than that all of the faces were young, male and female, white, black and other, while among Romney's supporters I could only see old white men. And they were not very energized.

So the question is, What to do now? LION suggests holding two unalterable principals, and work with the Democrats on the rest.

First: Absolutely, positively no new debt. Not a single penny. No matter what! Second: the first item in the new budget (a budget that must come from the House) is one trillion dollars a year for debt amortization. After this, let Obama and the Democrats have what ever they want, and to raise whatever taxes are necessary, on whomever is necessary in order to cover whatever other spending they wish to make.

The factor here is damage control, and the heck with the economy, what will be will be. What will be will be Obama's win or lose. We will give him all of the spending that he wants, and we must demand that it paid for day by day.

ROAR

LION on Windfall Profits

LION is a financial... ah... non-entity. Him can count wildebeests but beyond that what does him know? Nothing. But that has never stopped the LION from commenting on any subject.

LION looks at the stock market, and him sees two different kinds of investors.

The first kind of investor is the one who buys stock in a company because he wants to own a piece of the company and wants to profit on his investment through the receipt of dividends. He is an owner of the company and he shares in its profits and can loose his bun if the company goes belly up. At least when a wildebeest goes belly up the LIONS and the vultures can gnaw on the carcass. Not so if you corporation goes down.

The second kind of investor has no stake in any company. He buys and sells stocks and hopes to profit on market trends.

Now the LION will look at capital gains tax, the so called windfall profits tax.

The LION postulates that the first kind of investor should not be subject to a capital gains tax. He pays taxes on his received dividends and that is that. But how can you tell the first kind from the second kind. Time. A stock held for more than four (maybe five) years is not subject to capital gains, or inheritance taxes. By stock, the LION includes individual businesses, family businesses, family farms, and corporations or stocks owned by the individual.

The LION postulates that the second kind of investor should pay capital gains and or income taxes on monies earned through stock speculations and churnings. And more to the point, while the profits are taxed, the losses are not deductible. Look you buy a coffee on the way to work, you do not deduct the cost as a business expense. If you... a hem... mark a tree with it... it is not a financial loss. If you win a million at the casino, you can not deduct your losing bets as a business loss. If you will two hundred million in the lottery, you cannot deduct your losing tickets as a business expense. Windfalls are taxed, loses are your problem.

The LION extrapolates this theory into the realm of corporate income taxes. Now the LION could very well do away with the corporate income tax since all it really is is a business expense to be passed on to you, my dear friend, the end users of corporate products. LION know that this will not fly and so him will not propose it. Still, the LION will propose a 1% tax on all corporate income.

That is of course, on the gross income, not the net income. The LION does not care what your expenses or loses are. You touched the money. You put it in your account: you pay the 1% tax. No lawyers, no accountants, no deductions, no loopholes: just a simple, straight forward 1% tax on every dollar collected. After all... who decides what expenses and loses are? The company. That is like putting a chicken in charge of the foxes den. It will not work no matter how you look at it.

ROAR

LION on Embassies

LION thinks the time for embassies and ambassadors has past. After all, international relations are no longer conducted by messengers riding on sailing ships. And the need to have a plenipotentiary officer is foreign capitals is gone. We do not need an embassy in every rat hole around the world.

Look at the LION. The LION is at peace with the wildebeests. They are in an enclosure on the east side of the zoo and the LIONS are in a beautiful, placid, palatial enclosure on the west side of the zoo. The wildebeests do not have an ambassador in our enclosure, and we do not have an ambassador in their enclosure (more is the pity.) The zookeeper does not think that we need ambassadors, and neither do the wildebeests.

Today if the United States wants to speak to Egypt, we can pick up the telephone and speak to them. How hard is that? If Libya wants to talk to us we can give them a busy signal. That is diplomacy.
We can have friendly relationships with countries around the world without having a mansion in their capital. If they want embassies in our country, they are more than welcome to set them up, but we do not need to send an officer to their capital.

What else can an embassy do? Provide services to US citizens abroad? Yup, this service is needed. But you do not need an embassy. A consulate office operated by locals will suffice. Someone needs a new passport, they can be helped by the clerks there, and new temporary documents can be transmitted electronically.

What else can an embassy do? Provide a home for CIA spies. They would be better off establishing their own safe-houses in some obscure alley.

In countries who are solid US allies would likely enough have US naval or air force bases that might house an ambassador somewhere in the middle of the base. In major European capitals we would indeed have ambassadors and embassies, and diplomats could attend functions of state representing the United States. But we only need these in states that have intimate relations with the United States.

It may be that the last American footprints on foreign lands will be those of American Express, or even McDonalds. Let them attack McDonalds if they do not like us. We can pick up a phone and call them, or if we need to lay a note on them, we can attach it to the nose of a cruise missile.

ROAR

LION on Education

Education is the first, middle, and last hallmark of humanity. Education is the number one issue in the United States. And it is where we are failing most grievously. But while a quality education is a national issue, it most assuredly not a Federal problem. Education is foremost a local issue and needs to be addressed at the local level. That, after all is where people live.

The Federal government has muddied the waters with 'No Child Left Behind.' But the LION is not worried about the children. That is NOT where the problem is. And as far as College is concerned, Federal programs *are* the problem. It is unconscionable to let a kid graduate from college with 20, 30, 40, 60,000 dollars or more in debt. When a person least able to manage a large debt, he or she must start out with a debt as big as a small mortgage. They should be putting money into a home, or into raising a family, and they are saddled with a Federal debt that cannot even be erased through the mechanism of bankruptcy.

The LION would eliminate all Federally insured student loans. If a student wants a lone, he or she should go to their bank and get a regular loan. If the parents can afford it ( and trust the kid to make payments) they could co-sign such a loan. But I do not recommend it nor would I take out such a loan. The LION went to collage part-time, and was working full time. I do not expect all students to do this, but there is no reason why they cannot go to a community college, pay their own way and continue to live with their parents for a few more years. Education is vital, a huge debt is not.

Now, let your LION start from the beginning: Grade School. Grade School is most clearly a function of the local school district, perhaps with state assistance. LION suggests that this Grade School, consisting of grades P through 8. Yes, local pre-school for those for whom it is necessary or desirable. It is maybe better to spend these years in the home, with the parents, but this is not always possible. Sometimes day-care is necessary, sometime a more formal pre-school is necessary. Yes it should be paid for in part by those who use this service, but many need it, and also need help in paying for it. It should be made available by the local school district.

Grade School continues through grade 8. Perhaps grades K-6 should be run as most people are used to seeing it, but each locality will determine how this will work for them. Especially in grades 7 and 8, students need to learn of what their continuing education will look like for them. Testing and evaluation of students will guide them, educators, and parents on what the student's continuing education will look like.

And here is where the LION makes his major change from what is being done now. We look at grades 9 through 16, but we divide this population in half vertically. That is a bifurcation at grade 9. Some will continue through High School and College as people do now, and the other half of the population will be diverted into trade school.

Looking at the High School track, grades 9 through 12 look the same as they do now, perhaps with greater state aid than is needed in Grade School, but it will also be serving a smaller population of students that they do now. Students who cannot or will not apply themselves to academic  studies have been culled out. Teachers will no longer have to also be police officers. Classes will run more efficiently and teachers will be able to spend more time with students who are motivated, and do not need to continually spend time in remedial activities at the cost of service to others.

Moving from High School to College, many will do as they do now, and will pay their way through the university of their choice. They can get loans from their bankers if the bankers think that this particular student is a good risk for such a loan. There can be scholarships as their are now, and parents and students can pay their own way as they still do now. But there will be no Federally insured loans, and the people pushing these loans where they may not be truly advisable.

But the LION has spoken of "Grades 9 through 16" and the LION wants states to take the lead in running community and state colleges where students can get a quality education with minimal expense to the students and their families. And with students living at home, they can get rid of most of the dorms and the problems and costs that they and food services create. It is not necessary to spend a fortune to have a proper education.

Now, the LION must address that population which did not pass through conventional High School and College. THIS IS the population that the LION most wants to address, and the population needs the most help, mostly, the LION thinks, mediated by on the Federal level. LION calls it a "Trade School" but it is much more than that. From existing trade schools the student enters the labor force on the Apprentice level. When a man or a woman leaves the LION'S program, they well be entering the labor force on the Journeyman level. They will have a minimum of FIVE YEARS "in trade" by the time they graduate, and during most of these years they will be on the payroll and earning a "student" income.

This is what the LION proposes. In the 9th grade year, the student will be in the classroom, they will be exposed to labor laws, work rules, and other skills that a person needs to survive in the workforce. They will examine many trades that may be available and will work with licensed teachers to build for themselves a program of studies and work that will lead to the results that will yield a lifetime vocation. Vocation in all sorts of building trades, construction trades, printing, transportation, the choices are only limited by the student's imagination. The student's faculty adviser will make it happen.

Students may be placed with local trades people, they may be placed with a major employer, or consortium of employers, or he may be placed with a union sponsored program. These programs will meed federal specifications. On the 10th grade level, the student will work not more than 4 hours a day, and will receive half of minimum wage (after all he is still living with his parents) and the rest of the wage goes to the employer to cover his costs and the costs of his employees who will be helping to train the student. On the 11th grade level the student will work 6 hours a day and will receive 3/4 of minimum wage. On the 12th grade level they will also work 6 hours a day and will earn a full minimum wage. The student will continue through the program working 36 hours a week , and will meet with his faculty adviser each week during the 13th and 14th grade levels, and on the 15th and 16th grade levels they will receive work 40 hours or more a week, will earn full union wage, and meet with his adviser quarterly.

The United States needs a pool of highly skilled workers, and most jobs are not in factories. These are good jobs that can never be moved overseas. This is, according to the LION, a win-win proposition, and ought to go along way provide a quality education for all.

The LION knows he did not address the underlying causes of a poor education. He only addressed education. The underlying cause of a poor education is poor family life and poor self esteem. But the LION cannot fix these broken families. He hopes that these newly educated people will be able to raise families that are not fundamentally broken.

LION on Undocumented Persons

Undocumented?
Undocumented?
What is this "Undocumented"
Even a LION has documentation!

Everybody on the planet is documented somewhere!

Ah, there is the nub of the argument. Do people who leave their country of origin and cross over into the United States suddenly become "Undocumented"? No they do not. They have, or should have their original documentation from their place of origin. And if for some reason that documentation has become lost, they should go to their nearest embassy or consulate to get it replaced. There! Now they are documented and they are no longer "undocumented". Gee, that was easy.

And they do not need an ID card or a driver's license from any state. Their foreign drivers license is valid in the United States. And they have an ID card from their own country. They need no official interaction or documentation from any state or federal agency.

Yes, yes, the LION *knows* that they are still here illegally, but at least now they are documented. The failure to produce documentation is the offense that they have committed if they do not have proper documentation. For this offense they can be held pending proper documentation. Obviously an officer having an interaction with such a person would have to have had a reason to stop and investigate this person. So a person eating an ice cream cone at the Dairy Queen, or eating a donut at Dunkin Donuts is perfectly safe from harassment. We are not, after all, a nation of harassers. But if they have committed a crime, or if they have been pulled over for a traffic infraction, then they need to have their proper documentation from wherever or be held until it is available.

Yes, yes, the LION *knows* that they are still illegal. This also means that their allegiance is still to their country of origin, and any children born of them are citizens of that country and not of this country.

US CONSTITUTION:
Amendment XIV
Section 1

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.


So, if persons who are not citizens, who are still under the jurisdiction of their country of origin, and who have demonstrated no intention of becoming US Citizens as evidenced by their illegal status, then their children born here are citizens of the parent's country of origin and are not citizens of the United States under the terms of Article 14.

This Argument is from Edward Erler, Professor Emeritus, and Senior Fellow,
The Claremont Institute, California State University, San Bernardino Published in
The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, of the Heritage Foundation.


In 1898, the Supreme Court in United States v. Wong Kim Ark declared that the Fourteenth Amendment adopted the common-law definition of birthright citizenship. Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller's dissenting opinion, however, argued that birthright citizenship had been repealed by the principles of the American Revolution and rejected by the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment. Nonetheless, the decision conferred birthright citizenship on a child of legal residents of the United States. Although the language of the majority opinion in Wong Kim Ark is certainly broad enough to include the children born in the United States of illegal as well as legal immigrants, there is no case in which the Supreme Court has explicitly held that this is the unambiguous command of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Based on the intent of the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment, some believe that Congress could exercise its Section 5 powers to prevent the children of illegal aliens from automatically becoming citizens of the United States. An effort in 1997 failed in the face of intense political opposition from immigrant rights groups. Apparently, the question remains open to the determination of the political and legal processes.

But this is a side issue. We still must make decisions about what to do with and/or about persons illegally residing in this country. LION proposes that every one who works in the United States should have a US Tax Number. It need not be a social security number. Persons in the United States, with proper ID from their country of origin should be given this tax number and be allowed to work. But this also formalizes their status and removes them and their children permanently from a citizenship track. It is expected that they will return to their country of origin.

Another issue that is raised by a person's illegal status is that of health care in the United States. Well, if they go to a doctor's office, they would pay the doctor in the same manner as anybody else in the United States. If they have a job, and are earning money, all well and good, they could have also purchased health insurance. Although the LION thinks that anybody who has hired these people should provide for their health care, since these people "belong" to them after a fashion. In any event it is well known that few visitors to the United States are working here. They are just visitors. Most are legal, some are not, but all should have identification and health insurance from their country of origin, especially since so many other countries do have socialized medicine. So it is a simple matter to treat the person in need of treatment and to submit the bill to the health care system in their country of origin. And if they show up at a hospital without documentation, and they do not pay the bill when rendered, the hospital should extend to them the services of their credit department, which of course includes acquiring the proper documentation and submitting the bills to the proper payer.

Education is the same thing. The children must be educated. If the parents are living in the US, then their property taxes are paying for the education of their children. Or if they are renting, which is of course more likely to be the case, then the landlord is paying the property taxes and is presumably including that money in the rent being collected from the tenant. LION thinks that those bills are already paid.

But why do people keep coming across our borders? Is the grass really greener on the other side of the fence? And if so then we must be an exceptional people. American Exceptionalism: proven!
Well, if they are coming to make a better life for themselves, then they are here to earn money, which in turn means that there is somebody willing to hire them for money. That person becomes responsible for them as surely as a slave holder of old was responsible for his property. So the issue eventually returns to the employer and the return that he gets from the labor of the people whom he hires. Here is the person and/or company or organization upon whom responsibility devolves. An alien's tax number shows who the employers are and who are responsible for the welfare of this person while he is resident in the United States. To whom the profit also the responsibility. To this extent, LION thinks that employers, labor unions, and farm cooperatives should be allowed to issue their own "Green Cards" acknowledging their responsibility for their workers while in this country and for their return to their home country when their work here is finished.

Can a LION answer every question. No a LION cannot do this. The LION can only raise more questions, but then on this issue questions need to be raised rather than answered. The discussion and the answers and/or solutions if any need to come from the halls of Congress.

The LION suggests that you elect thoughtful conservative people to congress.

ROAR

LION on Federal Taxes

Taxes are part of living in a society. There are things that we need to do together because they cannot be done by one man (or LION) alone. We pay taxes to our society, our government, to provide these things for us.

In days of old, when knights were bold the social contract was you worked on the King's lands and the King protected you from enemies who would attack you and or the Kingdom. The King is gone, but the social contract is not. We want schools. We want roads. We want to be safe from enemies. We want to be safe from hyenas. A LION cannot have his kill and fend of hyenas as well. So LIONS will work together, share their kill with other LIONS and can keep the hyenas at bay.

People must work together too. You say that you want a road to drive on, somebody must build that for you, you did not build that yourself. So you pay your taxes, and your taxes pay for the roads that are built by your local government. But of course you (and your neighbors) *are* your local government. All well and good. And this is extended to the Federal Government as well. We pay taxes and the government provides things that we cannot provide for ourselves.

And so the LION is compelled to look at the Federal Tax codes. He does not like them. The problem is not paying taxes, or even what tax revenues are spent on. But today the LION is going to focus on FAIR TAXES.

First, the LION abolishes all existing Federal Personal Income Tax Laws, Rules and Regulations.

LION then starts writing on a clean sheet of paper. One sheet should be enough to hold the entire federal tax code as it pertains to personal income taxes. After all what is a tax code other than an number and a percentage. Everything else is social, environmental, or other manipulation. These do not belong in the tax code.

In Short:

$0.00 to $70,000  = 0% tax
$70,000 to $700,000 = 17% tax
Everything Over $700,000 = 27% tax.

In Detail:

There are no exemptions or deductions of any sort. There are no tax returns. Your employer (bankers investments etc.)  withhold the correct tax from each disbursement. There are no joint returns. If you and your wife each earn $50.000 a year, then neither of you owes any tax. If you earn $100,000, then you owe 17% tax and cannot assign half of that to your wife. The earner of the money pays the tax.

Persons who earn over $120,000 must hire a tax accountant approved by the Federal Government to oversee your correct payment of these taxes. You must pay 20% of the accountants fee (which is after all set by the federal government as part of being an approved accountant) and 80% by the Federal Government. You selected the accountant, he is your employee and works for you, and holds your confidences to the extent that your correct and proper taxes are paid.

But LION, LION... where does the Federal Government get the money to pay for this.

Silly donkey! They fire 90% of the existing IRS agents.

But LION, LION... what happens to all these people who you just fired.

Silly donkey! They get real jobs as approved tax accountants.

 And do you want to know the best part of this simple, short tax code: The donkeys can no longer say that the poor pay all of the taxes and the rich get all of the tax cuts.

The LION on Global Warming

The LION is not impressed with Global Warming.

That is “Global Warming” the political football.

“Global Warming” the physical environmental phenomenon is a different issue altogether.

If the LION were a president, he would not want to hear anything more about global warming be it the political “Global Warming” or the environmental “Global Warming.”

First the political “Global Warming” is nothing more than uninformed political partisanship. The Democrats say this, and the Republicans stick their heads in the sand and say it is not so. If you would toss all of the Democrats and all of the Republicans into a pot, the resulting rhetoric would heat up the world for the next 23 years. The Republicans will then tell you that they reduced hydrocarbon emissions, while the Democrats will tell you that you have heated the ozone layer and added more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. And the LION would remain unimpressed.

And as far as the physical environmental phenomenon of “Global Warming,” the LION has read of vanishing glaciers in Alaska, and warming permafrost in Siberia. The LION despairs over the losses to the rain forests of Brazil and of ozone holes in Antarctica. Some people therefore conclude that the planet is indeed getting warmer. But the planet has gotten alternatively warmer and colder over many millennia, and still it revolves around the sun. Some say: “But this time it was caused by man.” Oh No! The LION looks about, and yes, there is the burning of all sorts of fossil fuels, and yes these are emitting all sorts of pollution, and yes there is a smoking, cloudy haze enveloping the world. And yes, this is a bad thing. But the LION, unlike some certain Democrats of his acquaintance recognizes human kind as a natural part of the environment, just the same as trees, lakes, or yes, even LIONs.

Oh yes, human kind is clever. Human kind has discovered that fire makes heat, and that heat is comfortable. Human kind has discovered that meat can be cooked over a fire, and they say this is a good thing, though the LION has not the patience for such folderol, and would eat the meat raw before the hyenas came to pester him for the leftovers. Sated, the LION goes off to sleep in his den, while human kind must deal with its own hyenas, hyenas that would pester them over every particle of effluent that escapes his machinations. But what is a human kind to do? Stop burning fossil fuels? The LION doesn’t think so. Some human kinds say “Stop the pollution, conserve, protect.” But the LION watches with amusement, knowing that this is impossible.

The LION has spent some time (about 23 minutes to be precise) looking at and considering data on hominid population trends. In the year 1750 of the current epoch world population was under one billion persons (795,000,000 according to this data) and today (well in 2002 according to this data) it was over six billion persons (6,215,000,000 again according to this data). The LION sees that this is concurrent with the advent of the industrial revolution. What is also interesting to the LION is that births have declined over this period from 50 per 1000 to only 23 per 1000. The LION also notes that world population has doubled between the years 1950 and the year 2000.

So the birth rate has declined and the population has doubled, and there are still some people who believe that the use of hydrocarbons, fossil fuels, and the production of pollutants will or can be made to decrease. The LION does not know what school they went to, or if they ever passed a class on arithmetic, but the LION does not understand their reasoning. More people = more fuel = more pollution = more warming. LIONs use simple arithmetic.

Now the LION, as you may well understand, is all in favor of the planet, and of the things that live and grow on said planet. The LION loves the woods, the water, the plains, the animals. The LION even likes people (they taste like chicken), but as much as the LION loves these things, there is no way that people can reduce pollution and environmental impact by any significant margin.

The LION laughs at people who make “Global Warming” an issue:

1) It does not matter if it is true or not true, but let us assume it is.

2) It does not matter if it is “natural” or “man-made”, but let us assume it is man-made.

3) Conservation in the face of population expansion is miniscule to the point of irrelevance.

4) The issue and its attendant debate detracts from any possibility of action.

And it is this fourth point that the LION wishes to address. If you say “Global Warming” then that word, that concept provides a point of attack for those who would say “Not So.” And the issue devolves down to your rhetoric, providing volumes of debate, and no action. The very words “Global Warming” are a lightening rod to discussion, rhetoric, debate, and inaction.

On NO! You have an SUV! Shame on you and your political party too! But the truth is that if all of the SUVs were gone tomorrow, there would still be just as many cars on the road. The difference in fuel usage at this point is miniscule. More significant would be to get all of the older cars off of the road. Just think, if all of the older cars were replaced with SUVs, that in and of itself would be a net improvement (or so the LION guesses). But even taking all of the cars off of the road would be little improvement. The LION can make this outrageous statement, true or not, because of the patent impossibility of the proposition. But the increase of commuter rail and subway services could eliminate the need for so much automobile mileage as to make a significant dent not so much in fuel consumption, but more so in road and highway construction, in urban congestion, and would move a long way to return cities to a human scale, rather than being designed for automobiles. People might have a “town car” that is fully electric, and a bigger one for trips. Cities might be built with parking lots on the outside, and street cars or moving sidewalks on the inside. Cities should be for people, not for cars. Indeed, even 1000 years ago, they knew enough to park the horses outside of the castle.

And the LION knows, even if politicians do not, that oil is a finite substance and will soon enough be exhausted. The LION does not regret the disappearance of the automobile, and electricity can be made by nuclear power plants, but can you begin to imagine the impact that the loss of hydrocarbons, of plastics would mean to the world. No of course you do not, for you have never even given it any thought. When the LION was a little cub, he remembers how people would complain about how cheap plastics were, and how things were no longer made of metal. Well upon reflection, the loss of plastics would put an end to the world as you hominids know and understand it.

But energy, and energy consumption, be it hydrocarbon-fossil fuel or even nuclear will make a continuing impact and change on our planet. And the LION discounts solar and wind schemes as just so much hot air and mirrors, a drop in the basket of energy needs and sources. The planet will continue to change, not always for the better be you felid or hominid, but there is really nothing that can be done regarding this issue vis a vis energy consumption and usage, if only because the hominid population will continue in its expansion, and thus will have a growing need for said energies.

And the LION is as he has said, a friend of the planet, of the trees and of the water, of the sky and of the animals. The LION thinks (to the extent that LIONs do think) that conservation is a good thing. That environmental protection is a good thing. That protection of species is a very good thing. But the LION also thinks that we should be doing these things for their own intrinsically good reasons and not because of “Global Warming” and certainly not because some factions find political fodder in the findings.