Mission

Welcome to this blog which is dedicated to providing a forum for a civil discourse on a variety of issues to try and make our society a truly better place for all. While the views expressed are strictly my personal opinions, please feel free to join in on these conversations accepting the premises that every attempt will be made to ensure that nothing but the truth be spoken and the truth be heard.




Sunday, August 21, 2011

At Least One Fat Cat Gets It!

Watching eight of the sixteen declared Republican presidential candidates in their faux debate in Ames, Iowa last week for some reason reminded me of the children's rhyme Ten Little Indians.  You remember, "One little, two little, three little Indians, four little, five little......" with reverse counting back to only "One little Indian boy".  The telling moment came when they were all asked if they would reject any proposed compromise on new revenues even if it were a 10 for 1 deal - i.e. $1.00 in new revenue for every $10.00 in spending cuts.  True to form they all raised their hands as one would expect, but it was the way in which they did it that caught my attention.  After exchanging glances among each other to make sure this was a question they all really wanted to answer, the first to raise his hand was Rick Santorum, followed by Michele Bachmann (who dropped hers only to raise it again later), then Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman (who was more than evasive in explaining his reason for doing so, calling it a "nonsense question" on ABC's This Week program this morning), Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty and, finally, Herman Cain.  A ten for one deal is one any rational person would take in a heartbeat, but not one came forth in this extraordinary display of group think.  With that kind of intransigence, do we really think things will get better?  Well, maybe there is a possible solution to our current deadlock. 
As you might recall from my post Dysfunction in DC two weeks ago, I raised the question of where is the business community in all of this madness.  Well, one of the most powerful single voices in that community finally reiterated his long felt belief that taxes were way too low in a powerful Op-Ed piece in the August 15th issue of the New York Times entitled "Stop Coddling the Super-Rich".  In it he lays bare the notion that increased income taxes should be off the table for consideration by the congressional super committee of 12 and argues that they should in fact be raised on those making over $1 million a year including dividends and capital gains.  Why?  Because, as he further explains, most wealthy people are taxed at a much lower 15% rate (if at all) because of the way in which they earn money.  Instead of receiving a payroll check each period that is subject to automatically deducted payroll taxes, they earn it from investments which allow them to qualify for the much lower rate.  By contrast most wage earners are subject to those mandated payroll taxes which can drive their tax rates up to above 33% or, in the case of the 20 people he polled in his office, as high as 41%.  Read his entire treatise at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html?_r=1&ref=opinion.

In addition I think it is well past time for Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric, current head of President Obama's Jobs Council and his liaison to the business community, to follow Mr. Buffett's lead and start beating the drum for the business community to publicly decry all of this talk about no new taxes.  (To learn more about the Jobs Council go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/advisory-boards/jobs-council).  As head of a multi-national corporation that is hoarding billions of dollars in off-shore profits and paid zero tax in 2010 despite $14.2 billion in worldwide profits, some might argue if he is the right person to persuade other corporate executives to pay more taxes.  However, if Mr. Immelt would simply lead by example his would be the perfect voice to call upon others to do the same.  Besides paying their fair share of higher personal income taxes, as well as the corporate taxes they are sheltering abroad, these corporate heads should also start spending some of the $2.5 trillion in cash they are collectively sitting on to kick start the economy.  And, finally, in that regard Mr. Immelt needs to set another example for corporations by focusing GE's job creation efforts more in America instead of China, another area in which his duel leadership as head of the Jobs Council could be transformational.  In other words, it's time for other fat cats, as so graphically depicted on the current cover of The New Yorker to step up to the plate.    



ARTISTS - Visual and Musical
Laura Raborn at http://paintingsofhome.com and http://claygifts.com 
Jim Johnson at http://yessy.com/jimjohnson/gallery.html 
Russ Powell at http://powellphotos.com 
Linda Flake at http://lindaflake.com 
Tom Herrin at http://tommysart.blogspot.com 
Matt McLeod at http://matt@mattmcleod.com 
Artists Registry at http://www.arkansasarts.org/programs/registry/default.aspx
Sandy Hubler Fine Art at http://sandyhublerfineart.com
George Wittenberg at http://postcard-art-gallery.com  
Will Barnet at http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&expIds=17259,17315,23628,23670,24472,25834,26095,26328,26562,26637,26761,26790,26849,26992,27095,27126,27139,27147,27178&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=will+barnet&cp=9&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=xpfETMT1O4L6lwf66ugE&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CEkQsAQwAQ&biw=1350&bih=501
Barry Thomas at http://barrythomasart.com  
Sherry Williamson at http://meowbarkart.com
Julie McNair at http://juliemcnair.com  
Phoebe Lichty at http://phoebelichty.com



GALLERIES
Local Colour Gallery at http://localcolourgallery.com
Chroma Gallery at http://chromagallery.com
Cantrell Gallery at http://cantrellgallery.com
Greg Thompson Fine Art at http://gregthompsonfineart.com
Red Door Gallery at http://reddoorgalleryonline.com 
M2 Gallery at http://m2lr.com
UALR Gallery Program at http://ualr.edu/art
Gallery 26 at http://gallery26.com 
Boswell Mourot Fine Art at http://boswellmourot.com