Why does work always get in the way of fun??

Apologies, apologies .... been so busy teaching and prepping my new American History class (not to mention my revamped Government class) the blog has suffered ... tragic to few and welcome to many I know. I'm back today hitting on as many topics as I can as quickly as I can. After many comparisons on Bow Tie Tuesday to Mills Lane ... Let's get it on!! (not to be confused with Marvin Gaye's "Let's get it on!")



***Editorial note: If you'd like to skip the political banter, please skip to the next four paragraphs***

The Presidential Debates begin tonight in Denver and here is something you won't hear either candidate say: "We need to raise taxes and reduce spending if we want to reduce or eliminate the deficit and begin to pay off our national debt." Instead you will hear something more along these lines: "We need to stick our head deeper into the sand (or bull manure - since it is the main ingredient in all politicians words) and - Barack Obama voice - raise taxes on the wealthy or - Mitt Romney voice - it would take me too long to go through all the math but trust me it will work ... to reduce the deficit." (In an effort of full disclosure, the aforementioned quote attributed to Mitt Romney was actually the words of his VP candidate Paul Ryan when asked to explain the Romney/Ryan Budget on Meet the Press Sunday morning. Great ... a budget which takes too long to go through the math ... don't we already have a budget like that?) The fact of the matter is the current federal financial picture is ugly ... like Lyle Lovett/Steve Buscemi ugly. This fiscal year, the federal government will spend $1.1 trillion to $1.3 trillion more than the federal government takes in revenue. Republicans will point to Obama, ignoring the fact the Republican-controlled House had to approve the budget before it could move to the Senate. Obama & the Democrats will point to George Bush and the financial/economic mess he inherited four years ago. Both treat mirrors like Medusa did and refuse to look at their reflection, fearful of the ugly reflection of blame looking back at Democrats and Republicans alike. The only way to reduce our deficit/debt is to increase the revenue the federal government receives and decrease the amount of money our government spends.

I'll deal with revenue first, and people can 'read my lips' to understand new revenue streams are needed for the federal government period. But simply raising taxes to reduce the deficit doesn't do anything to combat our national debt. Heck .. maybe we should start with getting the IRS to collect all the income tax they are currently supposed to collect!! It's estimated (by the IRS no less!) American's underpaid their income tax to the tune of $345 billion in 2011 .. or almost 20% of the $1.1 trillion of income tax collected in 2011!! Those uncollected income taxes would decrease the deficit by 31%!! Maybe the IRS should do its job correctly .. you know .. hold a government agency accountable the same way the government wants to hold me accountable as a teacher. An 80% percent is what grade in school?? C??

Those uncollected $345 billion dollars won't close the deficit alone. The federal income tax rates need to be raised, heresy to many people reading. I too would prefer to keep Uncle Sam's hands off my money, but years of overspending (and tacit approval by the American voters of overspending by the repeated election of deficit spenders to office in Washington, D.C.) means all American's now have to chip in to pay the piper. I can hear the groans and screams of many of my right-wing friends now ... "Raising taxes causes job losses and cripples the economy!!" ... even if historical data doesn't support such a statement. The non-partisan Congressional Research Service said last week, "Past increases in tax rates have had no negative effect on economic growth." The CRS then backed up their statement with the following stats: when the tax rate on the highest tax bracket was 84.8% (from 1950 to 1970) the economy grew on average 3.86%. Guess those job-creators didn't mind too much?? What's that you say?? Too long ago for relevance in 2012?? Fine .. let's look at more recent stats. From 1987-1992 (Reagan-Bush 41 years), the highest tax rate was 33.3% and economic growth averaged 2.3% .. Reaganomics at its best!! From 1993-2002 (Slick Willy in the house!!), economic growth averaged 3.68% which shows the economy doesn't care what you do with cigars and interns in the Oval Office. From 2003-2007 (Bush 43 to the economic meltdown), tax rates in the highest bracket were lowered to 35% and economic growth was 2.29%. The last four years have seen the economy crash (2008 and 2009) and begin to rebound (2010 and 2011 - although 2010's rebound was due more to massive government spending than private sector recovery). The Bush 43 Era tax cuts cost the federal government $500 billion in revenue a year currently and when added to the $345 uncollected would cut the deficit by 75% each year!!! Not to mention returning the Social Security tax rate to 6.2% (from it's current 4.2%) which would add additional monies to the federal treasury. Reversing the Bush 43 Era tax cuts to capital gains and dividend income would further reduce the deficit to the point where meaningful spending cuts make a difference.

Please notice I said make spending cuts!!! Our government spends way too much on all programs - social and military - and all programs need to be cut. Want an example?? Read here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/03/us-intel-citizens-terrorists/1609919/ ... of course they can't even tell you how much federal money was spent, with estimates ranging from $300 million to $1.4 billion. All to turn up no meaning evidence of terrorist activity ... thanks Batman ... I feel safer now!! Or you could look at the algae filled reflecting pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial to see $34 million of your tax dollars at work ... except they didn't work and the pool must now be repaired at further cost to the federal government. The first reflecting pool, built 90 years ago with far less advanced engineering and machines, worked much better and cost much less .. about $5 million in today's dollars. Or the $12 million to fix two escalators in the Washington, D.C. subway. Or the $6.8 billion to extend the D.C. subway. And that's before I start to get into military examples, like spending $66.7 billion to design the F22 Raptor fighter which has been grounded several times and has a faulty oxygen valve (which the designers were aware of during the design/building phase) which causes hypoxia in pilots under certain conditions, leading to several crashes and deaths. While it's easy to pick on people who receive government assistance - the infamous 47% apparently!! - our government has provided for the poor, the unemployed, the disabled and the elderly for over 100 years and neither party has shown any inclination to stop those benefits.

The Reds will discover tonight who they play in the first round of baseball's playoffs. I know I have villified cussed insulted questioned Dusty Baker's managerial skills this season, but there is no doubt he has the respect of the clubhouse and the players inside. I still don't understand Stubbs as an automatic selection in centerfield, Smokin' Todd Frazier, ROY, as a bench player or two wristbands and a toothpick. What I do know is how enjoyable this season has been to watch the Reds pretty much be dominant in their division (Thank you Lastros and sCrUBS!!). Can the Reds wake the echos of Chris Sabo & Eric Davis and make this a Red October? I would say undoubtedly if Bud Selig hadn't changed horses mid-stream and decided the higher seed would play on the road for the first two games of the Divisional Series. Selig's decision ranks right up there with Gary Bettman's choice to lock out the NHL players - raise your hand if you follow the NHL or even knew it existed - but isn't surprising when you look back at his track record (a tie in the All-Star game?!?!). Forcing the higher seeded team to play the first two games on the road makes about as much sense as batting Drew Stubbs in the lead-off spot ... oh wait ... that happened! The Reds will most likely head to San Francisco to play the Giants and hope they can split the two games before returning to Cincinnati. Just like 2010, the Reds could return home down 2-0 in the best of five series ... how did that series end??? NG!!! Johnny's gotta be good in game one and Mr. Arroyo needs to keep Dr. Bronson locked away for a night ... and the Reds hop a red-eye back to Cincinnati with a 2-0 lead!!! Pessimistic Scott has been abducted!!! Let's go RedLegs!!!

The Arsenal Gunners are back on the pitch around 2:45 today taking on Olympiakos in the Champions League. The Gunners are struggling to find goals despite playing some of the slickest passing football I have seen from them in years. I think it's the uniforms ... seriously!! Since changing the teams uniform crest the Gunners have won ........ nothing! Change the uniform, change stadium, lose all your winning karma. A win today would go a long way toward getting out of the group stages of the Champions competition and into the knock-out stages so I'm hoping for the best.

Okay .. heading to a meeting .. editing and responses later .. watch the debates tonight and report back .. yes I give homework!!!