Kirwin’s Commentaries
By Brian Kirwin | Sunday, June 12th, 2011 | PoliticsPeople may not be saying these, or even thinking these, but mark my words, they’re all true.
As Rep. Weiner goes to “counseling,” you know darn well he was told to go. No one does an about face like that so quickly on his own.
WHRO cancels two local political programs, claiming the measly $370,000 cut to their $12,500,000 budget was the problem. No, the problem was that liberalism isn’t entertaining. Having been a veteran of WHRO’s political shows for 14 years, I still was the only conservative in a roundtable of 5 each and every time.
Of course, when it’s 4 to 1 and I’m the one, it is they who are outnumbered 
I have nothing against Sarah Palin, but anyone who thinks Paul Revere was screaming “The British are coming! The British are coming!” at the British is a certifiable loon.
Hillary – quit Secretary of State – immediately – and run – Obama’s using you, and you ain’t winning in 2016.
Do you think Tim Kaine’s campaign slogan should be “A Do-nothing Governor for the Do-nothing Senate”?
The YMCA wants $15 million out of the Chesapeake taxpayers to build a pool. If they don’t get it, they threaten to build in Virginia Beach, where they aren’t asking for any money at all…..yet.
Does the Y think we don’t see through this charade? The “if you don’t sign today, I have 3 more buyers ready to go” bluff is fine for a used car salesman, but not for the vaunted champions of wedding reception songs, the YMCA.
And no, I’m not allowing that darn song at mine.
So this waitress tells me a half-pound of shrimp has about 15 in it, but a full pound has 25. I didn’t want this math genius to calculate the bill.
It’s about a month since most cities passed their budgets, many of which amid very loud controversies. Anyone still in a panic about it? Nope.
A note to political anti’s – if you don’t make a plan to sustain a message, you’ll be forgotten. Advertising works for a reason. If people stop hearing about something, they’ll usually stop caring about it.
Less than 5 months from Election Day, and notice how few Democratic challengers are sprouting up? Either the Dems are the Party of Defense or the Party of Forfeit.
Probably both.
Who wants to bet a shiny, new nickel the General Assembly doesn’t agree on Congressional redistricting until we see who runs the Senate next year?
When will Americans demand that their public schools stop teaching as if 80% of their graduates will get middle class manufacturing jobs? The early 20th century model of education will only work if the early 20th century comes back again.
Newt Gingrich isn’t out of the Presidential race, by far, and since he was right about Medicare, he may even gain momentum. Polls show pretty strongly that Americans still respect the third rails. Newt wasn’t going to relearn the lessons of the 90s. Americans want the dumb stuff cut in government first and, believe me, there’s still a lot of that.
Historically, Obama should win a second term, but he’s doing so little about the economy, if it doesn’t rebound, he’ll have no chance against any economically-viable Republican.
America needs term limits. NOW. Anybody with 6 terms in the House who is tweeting naked pics to 20-somethings needs to get out and work for a living.
Let’s try a ZERO capital gains tax. Let’s see what happens to the economy. Try if for a year! Please!
I heard Gov. Rick Perry for the first time, and I’m still wondering what the big deal is. Bobby Mac runs circles around him.
Watching the Republican Presidential race is like being at a concert and constantly looking backstage to see if a “surprise” star is waiting to come onstage for a few songs.
The Fair Tax ain’t happening….ever. A consumption economy is never going to lump heavy taxes on consumption. I wish they’d ditch the income tax, but I just don’t see the movement with enough movement. And if your sales pitch relies on talking about “embedded taxes,” you’re going nowhere fast.
Ever see environmentalists drive small cars? Or are you like me and see them haul their protest signs in big SUVs?
That’s all for today!
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About the author
The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
Comments
33 Responses to "Kirwin’s Commentaries"
Brian, you asked:
“Ever see environmentalists drive small cars? Or are you like me and see them haul their protest signs in big SUVs?”
Over on VB Dems, Eileen Levandoski drives a VW Beetle and David Campbell drives a Toyota Yaris. I do not want to put words in David’s mouth, but in his case I believe that he would have preferred to own a Toyota Prius or something, but he had to settle for the most fuel efficient vehicle he could afford.
Brian- Great list, even though you took at least 3 of the ideas that I was planning to write about….
Kirwin… on a path to become the “Will Rogers” of our time. By the way, our politics hasn’t changed. Here are a couple of quips by Will Rogers which are as relevant today as when he made them:
“All I know is just what I read in the newspapers, and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.”
“Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing. Nobody listens. Then everybody disagrees.”
“An old, long-whiskered man once said to Teddy Roosevelt: ‘I am a Democrat, my father was a Democrat, my grandfather was a Democrat.’
Roosevelt then said:’Then if your father had been a horse thief and your grandfather had been a horse thief, you would be a horse thief?’”
I wish it wasn’t necessary, but yes we need term limits.
Will Rogers on Term Limits:
“On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.”
On Campaigning:
“Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.”
Will Rogers on which party he was a member of:
“I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.”
Will Rogers would be very ashamed of the Democratic party today.
OK Valentinus, then let me quote Will Rogers again:
“The 1928 Republican Convention opened with a prayer. If the Lord can see His way clear to bless the Republican Party the way it’s been carrying on, then the rest of us ought to get it without even asking.”
But he also said: “If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out?”
LD,
I said nothing about the Republican party.
Let me repeat. Will Rogers would be very ashamed of the Democratic party today.
And I note that you did not dispute it. That speaks well of you.
I can’t make this stuff up.. The VBDEMS Beetle is one of the worst polluting VW’s in Va Beach.. Again I cannot make this stuff up.. Drove behind it recently and the raw unburnt fuel smell was awful.. Not picking on Eileen but I was quite surprised by it.
Brian: On Zero capital gains tax. I’d rather see us try a zero corporate tax rate and then just tax capital gains (except from the sale of a primary residence) as normal income. Doesn’t seem to make much sense to me to give preference to income derived from capital over income derived from labor in the tax code. But our corporate tax rate is a job-killer as it incentivizes mutli-nationals to move profits off shore.
Valentinus,
I do not believe Will Rogers was a liberal, but I would like to think if he were alive today, he’d be a Blue Dog Democrat.
Steve Vaughn,
I kind of like the ideas you are expressing, however I think there might be some complications. How would profits by foreign investors be taxed? Would there be any allowance for profits from multinationals where a portion of the profits had already been taxed by foreign countries?
LD- It’s my understanding, but I’m not a tax guru, that companies pay taxes in the country where they report the profits. Our relatively high corporate income tax causes companies to report those profits, and thus site their plants, in countries with lower corporate income taxes. If we eliminate the corporate income tax, it really won’t matter if some other country has already taxed a portion of the profits.
LD, Will Rogers on Democrats: “Democrats never agree on anything, that’s why they’re Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans.”
On Taxes:
“The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.”
OK, I’m invested in Toyota. Some of the dividends I receive are taxed by I guess Japan. I receive a credit on my US taxes for foreign taxes already paid.
Under your plan, would foreign investors be allowed to take profits out of the United States completely tax free? In other words, earn the profits here but pay the taxes on the profits over there?
LD-Yes. That would incentivize them to build their plants and report their profits here. And yeah, I guess it would make some sense to give investors credit for taxes paid overseas when taxing their capital gains here…especially as we’d be taxing them as normal income.
SV,
Your thinking seems to follow some of my own thoughts. But I have often fretted that I might be labeled a Fascist for entertaining such ideas.
I don’t know how this is fascist. It encourages creating jobs here and recognizes taht there’s no real reason to treat income derived from capital differently than income derived from labor for tax purposes. It also makes sense because businesses don’t really pay taxes. To the extent they can — which varies with the price elasticity of what they’re selling — they just pass the cost of their taxes on to the consumer.
I tried to find a simple definition of fascism to explain where my fears come from. I was unsuccessful. Let me just state that many people think the words corporatism and fascism are synonymous.
I don’t even think this is corporatism. I think you’d actually tax a greater percentage of the wealth created by those corporations my way than what we’re doing know. The corporations taxes, to the extent the pay any, are in large part paid by their consumers. So, in that way, the corporate income tax is really an additional indirect tax on consumer. The actual wealth created is in the form of dividends and capital gains to the corporation’s investors. I’m proposing to tax those at the same rate we tax wages.
OK, but then think of the problems I roil over with such a plan.
Chinese citizens make major investments in production facilities over here in the US. The average American worker is OK with it because as long as he can achieve middle class income, he does not care who gets filthy rich as a result.
The corporate profits are not taxed here in the United States, they are taxed in China. China has a wonderful new revenue stream to spend on her military and the balance of military power shifts.
It would be wonderful if we had a peaceful world where we never had to worry about threats of war. However as we look back at the history of our planet, peace does not predominate.
I suspect the Chinese, who I don’t greatly fear have any territorial amibitions..except maybe for Taiwan …because they have more people than they can govern effectively now …would probably do better by just continuing to finance our government in return for interest on the loans and a free market for the substandard crap they produce there.
There certainly is a reason for income derived from capital to be taxed lower than income from labor. Investments are optional. Rich folks don’t have to invest it in job-creating business ventures. We want them to. The higher the disincentives are to do so, the worse the economy gets.
Lower taxes on capital and our economy roars. Happens every time.
Brian,
Brilliant. I guess you think slavery is a good idea too?
Before anyone accuses me of going over the top please analyze the first sentence in Brian’s comment.
There are a reason for revolutions, and fortunately for us here in America, the framers of the constitution enabled us to revolt at the ballot box.
Brian: Rich people want to get more rich. To do that they have to get some return for their wealth in the marketplace, so they sell use of their capital for the chance to make more in the form of dividends, capital gains or interest income. Similary, workers sell their labor for capital. Two market transaction, rating the same level of taxation. Yes, there’s risk involved in investment. But we’ve largely made the risks public — you can deduct your losses (and of course if you’re “too big to fail” the government will bail you out entirely, unlike workers) — but the gains private, your capital gains and dividends are taxed at a far lower rate than wages. If we did away with the favorable tax treatement of capital gains and dividend income, we’d be able to reduce the top marginal rate while still creating more revenue and stimulating more job creation through the elimination of the corporate income tax.
David, I question your sanity.
Steve, I question your intelligence. If you think rich people invest their money regardless of the tax implications, you aren’t talking to enough rich people.
Brian,
While tax policy does impact investment and economic growth, you overstate the case. One of the lowest tax burdens in the world is in Mexico, hardly a roaring economic tiger.
“Lower taxes on capital and our economy roars.”
And so does the national debt.
Actually, Jeremy, overall revenues soar too. Congressional overspending causes debt.
Actually, Brian, I end up talking to rather more rich people than I’d care to. But, y’know, whenever I hear that “I don’t want to make any more money because I’d just have to pay more taxes” line, that’s inevitably said by someone who is NOT rich. Or smart.
“Actually, Jeremy, overall revenues soar too. Congressional overspending causes debt.”
Odd, according to the CBO, of the $11.2 trillion increase in the debt since 2001, a little more than half came from declining revenues, and less than half from spending increases. And a little less than half of those declining revenues were from tax cuts.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12187/ChangesBaselineProjections.pdf
Yes, overspending causes debt. So does taking action that results in diminished income. There’s two sides to the debt coin, so why do most conservatives seem to profess it’s a double-headed coin, with spending on both sides?
Let me explain my objections.
Due to my top marginal tax rate, any profits I have from my investments in the stock market that qualify for being treated as long term capital gains are taxed at zero percent.
Now how about the level of income tax I pay from my own profits and salary I pay myself from my S-corp? Well, 15% marginal tax rate plus 15.24% self employment tax equals more then 30%. That is the taxes I pay on the net after I have deducted all of the other than income taxes my business pays from the gross (thousands of dollars).
Why should someone who is fortunate (perhaps a snot nosed rich kid who received an inheritance) pay zero taxes because the profits came without sweat while my income which largely does come from sweat be taxed at up to over 30%? Is it because their investment in General Electric, Boeing or Microsoft is less risky then my own investment in Little David Transport? I do not think so.
So is it right to question my sanity when I object to the uneven playing field?
(I wish to disclose that my business is structured in accordance with the complexities of our tax system so that I can legally avoid never paying over 30% on any of my income. However I can not escape paying at least some taxes on my profits like I can on profits realized from the stock market.)
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