I know that this is a little late but, this has been bugging me all of the Christmas holiday so I am going to address it now. For those of you who do not know, Speaker Boehner caved in to the Senates demands that the House pass their 2 month extension of the Obama “tax cut”. Speaker Boehner had been standing strong (or so it appeared) against the 2 month extension in order to get a 1 year extension instead. This would be good for businesses because a tax that only lasts for 2 months guaranteed is hell on them when it comes to doing payroll, where as a 1 year guarantee will insure that the businesses will not have any surprises during the fiscal year to throw them off in accounting. But I get ahead of myself; let me start with telling you about this “tax cut”.
The “tax cut” that Obama and Reed (as well as the majority of the Dems) have been bitching about is not really a tax cut at all… that is unless they are now admitting that Social Security is a tax. Up until recently the Dems have always sold SS as an investment into your future for when you retire. You pay into the system then when you reach a certain age; you get the return on the money you put in. This would work fine if it were executed the way that it was originally intended to be executed, but instead of the money sitting there waiting for you to claim it, the Federal Government spends it in ways that it was not meant to be spent. The fact of the matter is; the money that we as tax paying citizens put into the system is already claimed by someone or something (other programs that are deemed important) else instead of staying put for the rightful owners (the people who are paying in.. aka us) to claim at a later date.
I, myself have said for years that this makes SS a tax as opposed to an investment and the fact that money gets given to other people rather than the ones that put it there. By this I mean the people who are currently putting the money there, I know the people who invested in the years long gone are now getting paid for what they put in, but the simple fact is, the money they are getting is our money not theirs… theirs got wasted years ago. I know it sounds cruel to talk about it like that but the simple fact is once we get to the point to where we are supposed to get our return on out SS investment, we will be the ones leeching off of the current generation that is paying in. That is if SS can last long enough for us to even see a return on our “investment”. This is one reason I supported George W. Bush’s push to allow people to invest the money that would have gone to SS in stocks instead, there would be a better chance for us to see an actual return on our money. But once again, I am getting off topic. Fact of the matter is, the only way that Obama and the Dems can claim what that the “tax cut” that they were pushing for is just that… a tax cut, is to say that SS is a tax which is something that they have vehemently denied for decades.
Now on to what this “tax cut”. What the Dems want to do is provide an extension for the current “Social Security Tax Holiday” which reduces the amount of SS that is cut from your check when taxes (and your “investment”) are taken out. The Dems did this to make it look like they could be tax cutters like the Republicans were under George W. Bush. But the reality of the situation is this… the money that they have cut from being withdrawn goes into the SS system which is already being strained because of wasteful spending and a lack of planning ahead. Because we are now putting less money in the system that means that when it comes time for us to get out return (once again to remind you… if SS is still around at that point, which would be a miracle) there will be even less money there for our twilight years because we put less in then we should have. On top of that, the people who are currently receiving our money (because their money has been wasted) have less money to pull from because of the decreased revenue, therefor the Federal Government has to borrow the remaining amount that SS is supposed to cover from other countries or the Fed (but that is a whole other topic all together).
So in light of all this information you are probably wondering why the Republicans are even wanting to push for an extension on this “tax cut” period. The answer is simple really; they don’t want to look like the party that caused people to have less take home money on their paychecks going into an election year. It would make them look like they have compromised their principles by “raising taxes” on hard working Americans. Of course this isn’t true, but we are talking about politics here, are you really surprised? So it that is the reason that they are for the extension then why are they pushing to make it last a year? Because as I mentioned before, only extending it for two months puts an unnecessary burden on employers, making them have to spend more time and money when calculating the numbers to pay their employees. At least with a one year extension, while not good for everyone as a whole, it would help the people who create jobs which would hopefully encourage them to create more jobs since they would have more money because the taxes would be simpler.
So why did Speaker Boehner cave then and give the Dems the two month extension instead of holding out for the one year extension like he said he would? I don’t know. I know that part of that deal was an agreement that they would come back in January and begin talks about a one year extension again, but if he is going to let the Dems push him around like that, then when they go to talk about them again things won’t go as he hopes. He has placed himself in the weaker position because now the Dems know that all they have to do is lean on him a little and he will fold… This isn’t this first time Boehner has demonstrated this lack of spine either which only encourages the Dems further. I am sick of the lackluster leadership that the Republican Party has had in the last few years. It is time for someone who had the guts to stand up for the good of our nation, not the good of their political career. Yes that means looking like the bad guy (or girl) from time to time, but something has got to change, otherwise we will become a reflection of Europe and I don’t know if you have paid any attention to what is going on over there at the moment, but it is not pretty. We need to remove Speaker Boehner and replace him with someone who has a spine and will stand for conservative principles. If we don’t do that, nothing will change any time soon.
