Questions for the Republican budget slashers in Congress and the Minnesota State House and Senate. First, to the state of Minnesota Republican representatives and senators: Tell us voters how your proposed policies will affect you and your family members personally. Better yet, how will they affect the communities you claim to represent here in greater Minnesota? Also in your answer, tell us who will benefit and who will not from your proposals. Especially important, be specific so we can understand your rationales for making the drastic cuts that the media say will make you look like the good guys and gals who do not raise state taxes, but others say your actions will, in fact, require the raising of local taxes and fees (or whatever you want to call them). If that is not true, let’s have your answers! You talk about creating jobs, but your actions appear to be slashing them. Explain!
Also important for voters to understand is why the very wealthy among us should not pay their fair (progressive) share? In addition, is there a reason why their second mansions on the lakes should not be taxed more? There must be a good reasons for that — let’s have your rationales. So, federal House and Senate elected officials, please let us voters in this district also know the specifics of your slashes. Do you have the courage to give full explanations to all the questions?
M. Fritz Bertelt
Brainerd
Comments (23)
Add commentExplanations requested from Fritz
Do you have the courage to give full explanations as to why you are only including the GOP?
In case you haven't noticed
In case you haven't noticed the GOP controls both houses of the legislature. Another way you can tell is how the bills coming out of the legislature put the burden on the middle and lower classes.
Only in bizarro world do you
Only in bizarro world do you spend more money than the year before and have people talk about how the budget is being slashed.
on the dole
for someone who has spent their whole life on taxpayers money it amazes me they want the working stiff to pay more! the bennies a retired college employee gets early is too much. it has always amazed me that people who work hard and have no health insurance pay taxes so public employees have excellent coverage!
Realistically,
I don't believe that we can make up the budget shortfall without a tax increase. The State of MN has a budget of about $31 billion for this year so to make up the $ 6.2 billion decifit it would require the budget to be decreased by 20% in one year. That just isn't going to happen with either party, so I believe that they will be forced to raise taxes. I can't answer the questions Fritz asks but if I had to make the call I would propose an across the board cut to all departments in state government with a modest increase in the tax rate for everyone in the State. However, I would cap that rate and sunset it in two years. My opinion only!
A few thoughts
Tax us all as long as they thin the pork, which they wont.
Start taxing welfare recipients as well. They tax teachers, police officers, fire fighters and all public workers and they receive the same money as welfare recipients, our private sector tax dollars, so taxing their income is very logical despite what the left will say.
Tax cigarettes more since smokers are a tax burden. Drop a few entitlement programs since everyone needs to cut back.
But I know my thinking is off, no way will they ever think of doing anything the entitlement receivers or cutting pork out of the budget. I guess I was in mamby pamby land.
oh the king has spoken, lmao
However it gets fixed, once
However it gets fixed, once it is fixed, it needs to STAY fixed. No more overspending !
Wall Street
Can Mr Bertelt explain to me why all the 'rich' Wall Street brokers walked away absconding billions of dollars from the working class citizens...and the Obama administration has not prosecuted anyone? (don't bite the hand that feeds you) There are more wealthy liberal households than conservative. The difference is core values, not financial. Liberals do not believe in supporting social programs out of their own pocket, that's what the gov't is for. VP Biden listed less than $5000 charitable donations on his tax returns.
i list more than that
I have more charitable contributions than Biden, that is sad
Wolf,
Absolutely, I should have added that to my piece.
Getta clue Wop
"There are more wealthy liberal households than conservative."
"Liberals do not believe in supporting social programs out of their own pocket..."
Getta clue Wop... that's why 'liberals' support taxes, especially on the uber-rich who have all ways of avoiding them.
fair share
Can anyone tell me who gets to decide what a "fair share" of taxes represents?
How about
the 'upper income' people pay the same rate as the middle class.
Cheyenne43
So Cheyenne43 should get to decide what a "fair share" is?
I'm not asking what a "fair share" would be, I'm asking who gets to decide what a "fair share" is?
I would like to know
how much money was spent on entitlement programs, union crap, bail outs etc that our wonderful liberals have added to the deficit compared to "Bush's wars". I mean even going back before Bush.
Hold on, I will do a little research and see if I can come up with some numbers of my own instead of waiting for a liberal to "mock up" their own figures.
Was the deficit was caused by
Was the deficit was caused by Bush’s tax cuts?
NOPE. For over four decades, 1960 through 2000, federal revenues averaged 18.2% of Gross Domestic Product and the trend was virtually flat. The final Bush tax rates became effective in 2003. In 2006 and 2007, well after the new tax rates were in effect, federal revenues were 18.2% and 18.5% of GDP, above historical levels. The federal government collected over half a trillion dollars more in 2007 than it did in 2000.
Was it the Republicans spending like drunken sailors?
NOPE. Federal spending from 1960 through 2000 averaged 20.3% of GDP, with a slightly upward trend. The average over all Bush years, 2001 through 2008, was 19.6% of GDP – below the historical average. The 2001-2008 average deficit was also below the 1960-2000 average.
Was it the Republicans that exploded the federal debt?
NOPE. Per the US Constitution, “all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.” Democrats controlled the House from 1955 through 1994, leaving the federal debt held by the public at 49.2% of GDP. Republicans then controlled the House from 1995 through 2006 and left it at 36.5% of GDP — below the level left by Democrat Congresses.
At the end of Bush’s presidency the debt was 40.2% of GDP. Now, two years post-Bush and four years of a Democrat Congress, the debt is 64% of GDP, the highest it’s been since Harry Truman was paying off World War II.
But its Bush's fault
the 2200 Marines reported to be on their way to Libya...
The 2,200 Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit are engaged in support operations based aboard the USS Kearsarge at sea, and have so far included air strikes and one rescue operation.
The Unit has also conducted numerous successful airstrikes against Qadhafi forces as part of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn supporting the international response to protect civilians in Libya under threat of attack by Qadhafi military forces. The 26th MEU has also conducted a successful Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel mission in support of two U.S. Air Force F-15 pilots after their airplane crashed east of Benghazi, Libya, Mar. 21.
All of these missions were launched from the USS Kearsarge more than 100 nautical miles from the coast. Other than the small TRAP force sent to locate the Air Force pilots, no U.S. Marines from the 26th MEU have landed ashore.
"The ability to launch these and other missions directly from naval vessels illustrates the unique and valuable capacity of the Navy/Marine Corps team called 'sea-basing'", said Captain Timothy Patrick, spokesman for II Marine Expeditionary Force. "Having these forces embarked aboard amphibious ships means that at any time we can execute a variety of tactical missions with little or no footprint on foreign territory."
Liberals hate to see this...
http://reason.com/archives/2006/12/19/the-giving-gap
Mission,Some folks forget
Mission,
Some folks forget that the Marine Corps, is the Navy's Army.
All Navy ships have Marines onboard. But many ships are what we used to call "gator freighters" and are especially useful in humanitarian missions, like this is supposed to be.
Gator freighters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibious_warfare_ships
"no U.S. Marines from the 26th MEU have landed ashore. "
I for one hopes it stays that way!!
Barnet69
You say Obama lies, and lies, etc. Why don't you check the facts about issues? One very good place is Snopes.com. And, just one more thing. You are such a negative person it is funny. I get a kick out of your tearing down people and issues you know very little about.
said by Barnsy: What burden
said by Barnsy: What burden can match the 14 trillion your savior has saddled us with?"
Well, for one, Obama finally put Bush's Wars on the giant credit card. For 2, he took a play from FDR and REAGAN and had the feds tryb to stimulate the economy (FDR has lots of gov't sponsored programs to spur employment; Old Dutch, the guru of 'conservatism', allowed the bailout of Chysler and allowed the Savings and Loan debacle to be paid off)
And lets not forget that Bush was President when the $700B bailout was passed - at his insistence.