About a year ago, I attended Northampton County Exec John Stoffa news conference, concerning our voting machines. Unfortunately, my post about that very serious matter was a little irreverent. I was more focused on Stoffa's superman statue and the Channel 69 reporter who kept undressing me with her eyes than I was with the very serious matter of voting machines, which is very serious.Next thing I know, Northampton County Dem Bossman Joe Long issues a edict ex cathedra, banning me from participating in any more news conferences.
What the hell is this county coming to? You legitimize Bernie O'Hare as press, at a meeting that is important to all citizens of this county. This meeting had to do with the serious issue of voting and you evidently think it is a humorous side show, by inviting a blogger who has no credibility in this county. (Check his record). I have attached a copy of his blog and comments, that had been emailed to me. I ask you to cease and desist from treating O'Hare as legitimate press. Thank you.Sink me!
Unfortunately, Long forgot to tell the DNC and Governor Ed Rendell. Thanks to both, I was invited to participate in a Rendell telephone press conference late today in Lancaster.
Chairman Joe's going to be so upset his moustache might fall off.
Tomorrow, I will give you the Governor's remarks in his own words. By way of preview, here's a little shocker. Rendell thinks Republicans are a bunch of no good liars who are misleading us about Obama's tax plan. "They need to stop misleading - stop lying - about Senator Obama's tax plan." Basically, Rendell is trying to take the wind out of McCain's sails before Obama's ship glides into Lancaster's port tomorrow.
AP: Why are you responding before he comes?
Rendell: "Well, because I'm tired that virtually every speaker lied about Obama's tax plans for America. They said he would raise taxes, not cut taxes. The truth is, for 95%, he is gonna' cut taxes."
PolitickerPA has an excellent, and brief, summary. I'll have details tomorrow.
6 comments:
If Special Ed says it, it must be true.
Is this the same fast Eddie Rendell who said in the Philly Enquirer that Election Fraud is not a crime?
It's the classic "fact" that in reality is not one. What Eddie is referring to is the federal income tax rate, which in Obama's plan will drop for 95% of Americans. What he doesn't say is that the capital gains rate (which, while not 95%, hits a large percentage of taxpayers) is going way up. Corporate tax rates (which when increased get passed on to all taxpayers through higher cost of goods) are going way up.
Bottom line - cash out of all American's pockets (through taxes and higher costs for goods) will go up under Obama's tax plan. To quote the Democratic side of the current argument (which I agree with), someone has to pay for all of this stuff. It's going to be all of us.
The Banker
Hey! If the Banker is right, and he usually seems to be about this stuff, doesn't that mean that under Obama, there's going to be more companies like Mack vamoosing from not just PA, but from America?
I'd actually appreciate it if the Banker would confirm this. Here's what I'm thinking.
Most Big Companies are corporations.
Obama wants to significantly raise the taxes corporations pay. (Democrats reading begin to cheer.)
At the same time these corporations rely on people investing in them for capital.
But Senator Obama wants to tax the people who take a risk and invest in a company -- meaning at least some fewer number of people will invest in these Big Corporations, because there is a tax disincentive to do so.
Okay, so we have a corporation hit by higher taxes under Obama that loses revenues and we have the company's capital drying up because less people are likely to invest in it under Obama's policies.
Now the other side of the coin is that not every one can work as a community organizer, so a lot of us have to work for Big Corporations. Because, you know, that's where my job is at.
Well, where it used to be at anyway. Until the company I work at, or the company you work at, either says "the hell with this," and ships its jobs overseas or else goes out of business.
So that's how Senator Obama's policy of taxing Big Bad Business is going to help you and me!
Awesome!
Anon 1059pm, you've got the gist of it. What most people who want to raise taxes don't understand is that, for every action they take in raising taxes, there is a reaction by the taxpayer to lessen or avoid those taxes, whether the taxpayer is an individual or a corporation.
For example, a few years ago New York raised its tax per pack of cigarettes in the city to a total of $3 per pack. Revenues from this source dropped dramatically, so the City then claimed that smoking was on the decline as tax revenues dropped. However, what was actually happening was that smokers were buying cigs either on the black market or at low/no tax locations like Indian reservations and websites.
Taxes are cash out of our pockets, so it's natural that we will change our behavior to lessen the impact. That includes personal behavior (like cigarettes in NY) or corporate behavior (where to locate facilities). To think otherwise is foolish.
The Banker
Rendell said: "Well, because I'm tired that virtually every speaker lied about Obama's tax plans for America. They said he would raise taxes, not cut taxes. The truth is, for 95%, he is gonna' cut taxes."
I think that most Americans understand that there is no free lunch.
Promising the world in the form of new programs and then saying that only 5% of the population will have to pay for them (while the rest get a tax cut) doesn't pass the smell test.
Remember, the income tax itself was initially passed as a tax on the wealthy. That changed pretty quickly.
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