Dr. Carson's Tax plan

Even though Dr. Ben Carson is technically out of the race it does not mean his ideas were no good.  As such in this first of two issues we will talk about his tax plan proposal.  Let us start.  

Dr. Carson proposed a flat tax in the same manner as Ted Cruz and some of the other candidates, but his opted for a 14.9% tax on all income above 150% of poverty level.  As such under Carson's plan, you would pay taxes for each dollar after the first $36, 375 dollars you make.  Pretty nice right, not having to pay that rate save for each dollar made past the $36,375 mark.  This helps the people who are poor or are the working poor as they get to keep more of what they earn and thus reduces the need for things like welfare as their money can only grow.  However the people under the 150% of poverty level will still pay something in what Carson calls a de-minimum tax.  In this case those people making exactly $36,375 and under will still pay a tax so that they have skin in the game so to speak, but the amount will be a much smaller percentage than the 14.9% tax rate where you could potentially pay a single dollar to the IRS.  

To make this plan work though certain requirements must be met.  It will eliminate all double taxation by not taxing people on their capital gains, dividends and interest income at the personal level.  Basically if you invest money, you will not be taxed on the earnings made from those investments, but this may mean that the pretax qualities of a 401K man disappear (Carson did not make this clear).  This is designed to stimulate the economy as taxes on investments actually restrict job growth as seen by when JFK, Reagan and Clinton reduced taxes on investments which got the country out of a recession during each of their Presidencies.  As such this means more jobs and thus more money for the government.  Also the alternative minimum tax which sometimes forces people to pay higher taxes will be eliminated along with the death tax (estate tax which taxes people on inheritance). But under Carson's plan there will be no more deductions for mortgages, charitable giving or State and local taxes.  Carson's logic is that the people who benefit from these deductions are a select group of people. Therefor if I interpret what he is advocating, these are geared toward rich people these deductions and is an undue burden on the tax code.  His logic I assume is that with these deductions eliminated the government can get a larger amount of money without the need to raise the tax rate over time.  Basically more money means less taxation later on as our savings grow.  Additionally, this makes room for Carson's other idea of Health Empowerment Account's (HEA's) (more on those tomorrow) which will be untaxed when people put money in them.

Final Thought:  Carson makes no mention of the payroll tax on his site, which means the payroll tax which funds Medicare Part A and Social Security will still be in effect.  Also, his plan does not address the income taxes on businesses, so those are not touched.  My guess is either he had planned to address it later in the Campaign or when he got into the white house.  Needless to say it is a fairly good plan and I could live with it.  Sad to say Carson is (while not 100%) out of the race for President.

Post Super Tuesday

Now that the results of Super Tuesday (the day when the largest number of States have their Primaries and Caucuses at the same time) have sunk in, we see now a slimmer Republican field.   Dr. Ben Carson has stepped out of the race.  He had a good run and was an honorable man. I thank him for his efforts and hope to continue hearing from him in the future.   

Trump however is still in the lead and Cruz is in second.  However, Cruz and Kasich have called for Rubio who is in third to step down.  Apparently Rubio is behind Trump in Florida (Rubio's home State) while Kasich has the best shot of winning his home State of Ohio.  In short, Rubio appears to be losing ground while Kasich, if Rubio leaves, is set to gain most of Rubio's' former support from the Republican establishment.  Cruz of course wants Rubio out because Rubio is Cruz's only other competition save Donald Trump.  Otherwise the field has stayed the same.

With respect to Hillary Clinton versus Bernie Sanders, Hillary is in the lead due to the number of delegates, but Bernie is not giving up and still has a chance with upcoming Primaries and caucuses as the next set are winner take all with respect to the number of delegates needed to hold the nomination.

Final Thought:  We are still in the horse race of this Presidential election season.  It is really anyone's game as Trump has now just started showing  weaknesses with respect to his David Duke situation, his apparently off the record New York times interview questions (he is not giving us the whole truth) and overall his personality flaws as a whole which people are finally starting to notice (harnessing anger is a double edged sword).  Rubio can still win this and so can Kasich if Rubio leaves, but other than that, the field is the same on both the Democratic and Republican side save the presence of Dr. Carson.

What is Democratic Socialism?

I am going to use Bill O'reilly's explanation as to what Democratic socialism is as I think his explanation is the best one I have ever heard.  So here it goes.  Under a Democratic Socialist government, healthcare, banking, education, retirement/welfare and energy are all nationalized (there may be exceptions to this list or additions depending on structure of a Democratic Socialist government).  To get all this stuff free you pay taxes in excess of 25 to 75% of your income.  So it is not actually free, as you pre-pay for it essentially.  However there is another catch.  You do not have any freedom with respect to how you use these services. 

Let us take education for example.  Your child will have to pass a series of tests to pass into each grade level or even to go to a new school.  Based on these scores though, the government determines if your child must change schools, or determines if the child may go to college or not (if the nation offers free college).  There is no school choice here as the government says what school/college your child may attend, how long a child can be in school/college and even if the child is allowed to attend school or a college in the first place.  The only true exception to this scenario is if a family can afford to pay out of pocket themselves.  In short, they typically have to be very rich for their child to go to a good college as opposed to the government saying which college if any the child may attend.

Healthcare is another classic example.  Under Democratic Socialism, you do not choose your doctor and they determine when you are allowed to see your doctor.  So if you need an MRI or even X-ray you may only get one when the government has cleared it with their budget.  You basically have to wait in an invisible line to be seen by a doctor or a specialist so that the government can accommodate your visit in the budget. 

That is right, your entire life is budgeted with respect to education, healthcare, energy, etc. If the government cannot find room for your MRI in their budget then you cannot get your MRI till they do.  If they think you will not do well in college, then you will not be allowed to attend the free government college.  Basically you have no freedom here.

Final Thought:  I elaborated on Mr. O’reilly’s explanation a little, but I tried to keep it as simple as possible so that all can understand.  The Fact is, that Democratic Socialism has government controlling your freedom of choice with respect to your education, health and other matters.  For me, a libertarian and Constitutionalist, this is scary.  I do not want to be some number on the government's budget books, though technically I already am a number in the United States due to our tax system and the entitlements, but I rather not have my choices taken away.  I do not want anyone's choices taken away.  And thus it is for these reasons why I cannot vote for Bernie Sanders or for Hillary Clinton who support this government model as their vision of America.

Donald Trump and David Duke

By now you probably heard that the former head of the KKK David Duke told all his racist ilk to vote for Donald Trump.  Basically he endorsed Donald Trump in an off handed way.  However Donald Trump has not condemned Duke or even rejected the votes of his KKK brethren and similar.  What would easily have been an open and shut case for Trump to shut down and reject racism as a motivation for electing elected officials, Trump has refused to do.  Trump even claimed that he never heard of David Duke even when he was talking about Duke back in 2000 and his membership in the KKK.  Fox showed the clip of him in the year 2000 where Trump says he would not be part of the "reform party" because someone like David Duke, a member of the KKK was in it.  And yet when interviewed by Jay Tapper of CNN, Trump says he does not even know who David Duke is.  Trump according to reporters with respect to his record is not a racist, but what the heck is going on?  That is what I would like to know.

Final Thought:  What the hell is wrong with you Trump?  You do not condemn David Duke and you even make yourself out to be a liar by claiming you don't even know of him.  Trump should have condemned Duke and his ilk by saying he does not accept any of their votes or their support.  Yet he says nothing and just prattles on like usual.  Donald, are you even in your right mind.  I would feel violated if I were in Trumps position that any of my votes are from openly racist individuals like David Duke (hell I would feel that way already knowing closet racists were voting for me).  This shows poor judgment at minimum with respect to Trump.  As far as I am concerned, he should be done.  He should lose the election right now for this stupidity and outrage with respect to the American people who are trying to eradicate racism from American culture.

Trump Versus Rubio!?

So I was watching some analysis of who has to win what on the Republican side to win the nomination.  What I saw surprised me, but was overall interesting.  The analysis comes from Glenn Beck and his crew at the Blaze and also from Fox News.  Here is the summary of what the pundits think has to happen for Trump to stand the greatest chance to win the nomination. 

Trump has to beat Rubio in Florida to kick him out of the race.  The reason is that Florida is Rubio's home State and that if he loses the support of his home State, then he will be seen as incapable of winning the election and thus lose his support.  As to why it is so important for Rubio to lose is simple.  If the nomination goes to the Republican National Convention, the delegates will choose Rubio as the de facto establishment Republican who has the greatest chance of winning the election.  You see the delegates for the Republican Party are there to act as a counter to insure the candidate chosen is not too radical.  As such when a delegate is chosen, those votes to choose a delegate to represent republican districts in Blue States like New York have a greater value.  In other words you can have a Republican Primary or Caucus vote in New York with a population of two thousand versus a heavily Conservative district in Alabama with over 200,000, but still wind up with the same number of delegates.  The logic is that Blue State Republicans are more to the center.  Needless to say, these delegates favor Rubio according to the pundits.

If Rubio loses Florida then it means that Trump has to only take on Ted Cruz for the nomination as they are the top two non-establishment candidates with the greatest chances of winning. As such, outside of Kasich, there will be no more establishment candidates left.  It is important to note that if Cruz loses his home State of Texas then he would also be out, but he is not as important at the moment with respect to who Donald Trump has to defeat in the near term.  The analysis from the Blaze and Fox News says that if Rubio bows out after losing Florida, then the delegates will favor Trump over Cruz.  As such, Trump has an easier time versus Cruz so long as he keeps up his popularity with the establishment and the voters.

Final Thought:  So this is what I heard.  I am repeating this like a parrot, except that I condensed it to make it less boring.  Anyway, this also highlights how undemocratic the nomination process has become with respect to parties nominating their candidates.  It is kind of sad, but if Trump or Cruz gets the nod, then the system will change again with the party attempting to adjust to prevent candidates like Trump and Cruz from gaining power ever again.  Needless to say, I am favor of Cruz, but a vote for either means sticking it to the establishment.  Rebel my fellow Conservatives, Libertarians and Constitutionalists.  Rebel by voting for Trump or my guy Cruz.

Guantanamo Bay!?

So apparently the Guantanamo Bay prison complex is still open.  And I think this is a good thing.  While I understand people's view that it has become a symbol with respect to the waterboarding happening there I would like to keep it open.  For those who do not know, people considered waterboarding, which simulates drowning, a form of torture.  Now we could put the people housed there in mainland U.S. prisons as we already house domestic and international terrorists in both State and Federal prisons in the United States, but these individuals are prisoners of a form of warfare which has yet in my opinion to be truly understood.  We exist in a world today where small terror groups can actually topple nations, and it is just those type of people who are being held in Guantanamo Bay Cuba (the part we own).  It functions as a prison for these enemy combatants that have been apprehended on the battlefield or are under suspicion of being collaborators or terrorists themselves.  Some are U.S. citizens and others are foreign nationals.  Truth be told, while I want transparency with respect to what goes on there, I think a facility like this is needed.  Not to mention the fact that if not this facility another one will be made somewhere else out of the public eye where worse things than waterboarding can possible occur.  As such, by keeping it open and monitored by the public we can ensure no torture actually takes place, or if it does take place that it is warranted beyond a reasonable doubt. 

Final Thought:  I had nearly forgotten about Guantanamo bay.  Reason being was that the incident was so long ago and no other such incidents have occurred since to my knowledge.  So the CIA/Military have been on their best behavior, or should I say the real truth, they are following orders.  They followed orders when they performed the act of waterboarding and now they follow the order saying that it is not allowed.  Basically they follow orders, and it is the government's fault when our military is made to look bad with respect to the issue of torture.  People are forgetful save the people who have a passion for something like getting this prison shut down.  But, with lives of terrorists so finite, and the world's attention span so short, it is not a symbol of torture, but a symbol of what happens when government goes too far to protect us.  Don't shut it down, for it is the embodiment of a lesson that needed to be learned by my country, The United States.

Reaction to Democratic Town Hall.

So I was watching the Democratic town hall and here is my reaction.  Bernie Sanders was excellent with respect to his responses.  He knew what he had to say and said it.  He addressed a number of issues which primarily seemed to revolve around his economics principles.  What is key about Sander's though is that his economic and social views are intertwined.  As such, the reason he wants free college is because he believes people should support each other.  That we do not live in a vacuum and what affects one person affects everyone else.  So if a negative thing happens to a person, it affects their families negatively, their friends, and then ripples out.  Therefore providing healthcare, raising the minimum wage, free education, etc. all contribute to saving people from being broken down by the negatives of debt, inadequate health care, and not being able to afford a higher quality of life.  If it was not for the fact that his solutions scare the heck out of me due to how he would tax us all more and that our freedom of choice would be limited, then I would probably have voted for him.

Hillary on the other hand seemed to meander through some of her answers.  Her questions focused mostly on social issues like the white black divide with "Black Lives Matter", Social Security reform and women's issues.  All her answers though had no specifics and took on a shotgun approach in their attempts to give a satisfactory response.  I think this was due to two things.  The first is that there is no easy answer to solve these issues and thus trying to solve issues with white on black crime and bringing up women are almost impossible to give a quick answer too.  It would need something like an interview to answer.  However, the short answers that give no specifics give Hillary an advantage as she need not be beholden to any specific solution and that giving a specific answer can be political suicide.  Imagine if she answers with specifics, but the American people or worse "her backers" for her campaign don't like it.  She would be out of the race.

Final Thought:  This was one of the few times I was able to watch a Democratic town hall, and I was pleased.  Bernie shows why he is popular as he is the outlier that people want because he is completely away from the establishment and represents what the people in the Democratic Party want.  Hillary could have answered more concisely as she seemed to lose me at points with how she meandered through each question.  Needless to say she tried and lost none of her supporters to say the least.  Overall a good town hall.