The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

According to a study conducted by University of Tampa professor Ryan Cragun last year, taxing churches across this country could result in as much as $71 billion in added revenue every year. While the math will be imperfect due to the increasing number of churches through the years, if we look back to when churches gained tax exempt status in 1894 (120 years ago), that would have generated as much as $8.5 trillion, which is almost exactly half of this country's debt (a little over $17 trillion). So, if politicians are really serious about this country's debt problem, how about this? 1) Tax churches ($71 billion a year) 2) Close tax loopholes on corporations ($5 billion per year) 3) Increase taxes on the wealthiest among us ($40-45 billion a year) 4) Decrease defense spending (we spend between $600-700 billion on this, so pick a number... I'll go with $100 billion) 5) Legalize marijuana and tax the heck out of it (approximately $14 billion per year) ...

Billionaire Thomas Perkins recently wrote a letter-to-the-editor in the Wall Street Journal which made me realize it is possible be both a billionaire and stupid. In this letter-to-the-editor, the venture capitalist wrote the following: "I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazy Germany to its war on its 'one percent,' namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the 'rich.' ... From the Occupy movement to the demonization of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent. There is outraged public reaction to the Google buses carrying technology workers from the city to the peninsula high-tech companies which employ them. We have outrage over the rising real-estate prices which these 'techno geeks' can pay. ... This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in ...

More and more details are emerging from a speech Mitt Romney gave at a private fundraiser in Boca Raton in the middle of May of this year. Romney said: "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. And I mean the president starts off with 48, 49... he starts off with a huge number. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. So he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean, that's what they sell every four years. And so my job is not to  worry about those people. I...

As I'm sure many have heard by now, Republican Congressman of Louisiana (Tea Party), John Fleming, made some headlines the other day when he spoke out against President Obama's plan to raise taxes on the uber-wealthy. To go along with the $174,000 Fleming makes being a Congressman, he also pulls in a whopping $6.3 million worth of investments. So, unlike most other Congresspeople, whom make a paltry $174,000 and wouldn't see tax increases, Fleming would. When asked about this on MSNBC by Chris Jansing, Fleming said the following: "That's before you pay 500 employees, you pay rent, you pay equipment and food. The actual net income of that was only a mere fraction of that amount" ($600,000). He added, "By the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 to invest in new locations, upgrade my locations, but more equipment..." So, let me get this straight. The medium income for the American family is approximately $50,000. Doing the math, Fleming...