At a time when President Biden and congressional Democrats are pushing to expand the breadth of entitlements to include free preschool and subsidized child care, little attention is given to the fact that the country’s biggest existing entitlement program—Social Security—is a financial wreck. The program’s payouts have exceeded revenue since 2010, but the recent past is nowhere near as grim as the future. According to the latest annual report by Social Security’s trustees, the gap between promised benefits and future payroll tax revenue has reached a staggering $59.8 trillion. That gap...
taxes
The Government Is Coming for Your 401K
Quiet conversations are occurring in the halls of Congress, think tanks, NGOs, and academia on how to continue the enrichment of the public sector elites and their various complexes (military, education, financial, healthcare, and “non-profits”). The “wise men” know China's ability to absorb our inflationary monetary and fiscal policies is near capacity. Yes, the “undesirables” (mostly working class) are on their way out but with inflation rising the Federal Reserve cannot just keep printing money and monetizing the debt. A “wealth” tax on billionaires is not going to fly and will not...
Wall Street Is Setting a Trap For Bitcoin Buyers
So Tuesday October 19th, 2021 was supposed to be the day that changed everything for bitcoin. And it may, just not in ways anyone bullish on crypto should be comfortable with. Finally the SEC approved a Bitcoin ETF, the ProShares Bitcoin Futures ETF (BITO) began trading this week to great fanfare in the cryptocurrency community. There was much rejoicing as Bitcoin hit a new all-time high which it has since given back. On the heels of that announcement Valkyrie changed the proposed ticker symbol for its Bitcoin Strategies ETF, another futures-based product, to BTFD. Gotta love the cheek,...
Don’t Draft Women (Or Men Either)
As in many previous years, this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is chock-full of terrible legislation slyly inserted for the purposes of concealing matters from the public. Both parties have been long guilty of this, with both groups using the NDAA to pass police state legislation increasing federal spying and law enforcement powers. All of the NDAA should be considered controversial, since so much of it is devoted to perpetuating the US’s aggressive, wasteful, and counterproductive efforts at global hegemony. But the NDAA also often contains domestic innovations like...
They Never Learn: National Review Demands Marijuana Criminalization
Aron Ravin, a self-described “nudnik,” who writes for National Review thinks so and I suspect others do as well. This thinking, however, is that of an ever-shrinking minority and it is hard to imagine the pro-legalization trend being reversed. Nevertheless, let’s look at the arguments and why he claims libertarians are so wrong on this issue. Before we press on, it is important to remember that cannabis legalization is basically citizens of individual states standing up to federal authority and flipping it the bird. Ravin claims, “I do not, and do not plan to, partake in the devil’s...
News Roundup 7/12/21
US News A Utah woman was arrested and charged with a hate crime for stomping on a “back the blue” sign and smirking at a cop. [Link] 31 states have introduced ‘Defend the Guard’ legislation. [Link] The UN reported an additional 118 million people were undernourished in 2020 because of the response to the pandemic. [Link] Haiti The US is sending FBI agents and DHS officials to Haiti. Haiti also requested the US send troops to defend Haiti’s infrastructure. [Link] The Biden administration declined a request from Haiti to provide troops for security. [Link] However, the Pentagon says it is...
Biden Proposes Globally-Imposed Corporate Tax Rates
In a move that would primarily benefit the world’s largest economies and most bloated governments, the Biden administration has proposed that all the world’s countries agree to impose corporate taxes at a rate no lower than 15%. Biden also proposes punishing countries that don’t adopt the minimum, by imposing heavier taxes on U.S. subsidiaries of companies headquartered in those countries. In describing the initiative, Treasury secretary Janet Yellen made her aim all too clear: “It is important to work with other countries to end the pressures of tax competition,” she said in a speech to...
The Truth About the Biden Tax Plan
Last Thursday the New York Times reported what should be obvious, but that eludes most in our midst: the rich pay the vast majority of taxes collected. By far. This is a statement of the obvious simply because the “vital few” drive all progress in all walks of life. Think the NBA before Bird, Magic and Jordan, think the PGA before Tiger Woods, think how the rare blockbuster film pays for all manner of small movies without guns, car crashes, and explosions. Stated simply, what’s great is a consequence of the giants on whose shoulders we stand. The very talented few pull us forward....
We’re Here to Help
After a fiery year of cultural outrage against the state of policing in America, President Joe Biden's administration has announced that they have heard the pleas of the people. They will not stand by while a nefarious force maliciously targets the African American community. America needs to ban menthol cigarettes. Beyond the glaringly obvious problem of increasing the amount of dangerous police interactions, prohibition itself has a century long record of documented failure. Alcohol prohibition was short lived, the war on drugs has long been lost, and firearm involved violence is...
A Day in the Life of an American Serf
As another traditional April 15 tax day arrives, it reminds us once again of the financial burden and forced obligation the government places on our finances. So, how heavy is the yoke of taxation? We could throw around dollar amounts in the trillions, and break them down in many ways. But perhaps an even clearer picture of just how ever-present taxation is in our lives is to run down a typical day in the life of an American tax serf. (For the sake of brevity, this article won’t explore the horrific atrocities your tax dollars are used for, which has been well documented elsewhere.) Your...