Reflections From a Murky Pond

Our Educated Enemies

The womyn over at HuffPo are gushing over the continuance of the trend for Latina college graduates to decorate themselves and the caps with Hispanic-centric ornaments and messages. This is not surprising since the sorts that run HuffPo almost always side with America’s enemies, both foreign and domestic, and probably prefer America to have educated enemies – educated at our colleges and universities, often on our dime – within our borders where they can do us the most harm.

That being said, don’t make the mistake of believing that I am utterly against the trend of #latinxgradcaps or think of the Latinas engaging in this behavior as being monolithic. Many, as can be seen from the photos on HuffPo, are innocuous and objectively non-offensive. Some, however, are quite anti-American and HuffPo not only makes no distinction, they showcase them.

Imagine, if you will, what the response would have been to a Non-Hispanic White draping themselves in the American flag at a graduation ceremony. It’s beyond doubtful that they’d be allowed to participate in the ceremony. Yet, not only are these Latinas allowed to do so while draped in the colors of foreign nations, they’re celebrated for doing so.

Be sure of this: These Latinas are our nations enemies, They’re within our borders and proudly proclaiming their loyalties to foreign powers. And they’re now educated enemies with the added advantage of Affirmative Action and a plethora of non-profit lawfare organizations, e.g., the ACLU, to aid them in their endeavors against us.

Let Them Eat More Cake

I don’t have much to say about the recent French elections; it’s not my country and, hence, not my problem. What I can say about it pretty summed up by this image.

The White House last Wednesday issued President Trump’s goals and the key features for tax reform to be begun in 2017.

2017 Tax Reform for Economic Growth and American Jobs

The Biggest Individual And Business Tax Cut In American History

Top Line:

• The U.S. tax code is overcomplicated and fails to create enough jobs, or provide relief to middle class families.
  • Since 2001, the U.S. tax code has faced nearly 6,000 changes, more than one per day.
  • Taxpayers spend nearly 7 billion hours and over $250 billion annually on compliance costs.
  • The U.S. has the highest statutory tax rate in the developed world, discouraging business investment and job creation.
• President Trump is proposing the largest tax cut for individuals and businesses in U.S. history, which will make everything go up, all the insurances are going to become much more expensive which makes me worry a lot because even though I use a really affordable company for my Truck Insurance, if taxes go up everyone will be very affected.
  • It will simplify the tax code, incentivize investment and growth and create jobs.
  • It will provide historic tax relief for middle income families and small business owners.

The Need For Comprehensive Tax Reform

• An overly complex tax code is confusing and burdensome on American taxpayers.
  • The last major effort to successfully reform the U.S. tax code was over 30 years ago under President Reagan.
  • Today, according to the IRS’ National Taxpayer Advocate, the federal tax code is nearly four million words long.
  • Congress has made more than 5,900 changes to the federal tax code since 2001 alone, averaging more than one change a day.
  • The National Taxpayers Union estimates that Americans spend 6.989 billion hours at a cost of more than $262 billion on compliance and record keeping costs.
  • Instead of a single tax form, the IRS now 199 individual income tax forms and 235 business tax return forms.
  • Approximately 90% of taxpayers need help doing their taxes, they use tax preparation gilbert az , or H&R Block
• Today, with a corporate tax rate of 35%, U.S. businesses face the highest statutory tax rate in the developed world, and fourth highest effective tax rate, which discourages job creation or investment.
  • The U.S. is out of step with its competitors, having the highest corporate income tax rate
    among the 35 OECD nations and being the only nation that has increased its rate since
    1988.
  • A lower business tax rate will discourage corporate inversions and companies from moving jobs overseas.
  • The high corporate tax rate keeps trillions of business assets overseas rather than being reinvested back home.
  • Even President Obama proposed lowering the business tax rate to 28 percent to help spur economic activity.

Tax Reform for Economic Growth and American Jobs: The Biggest Individual And Business Tax Cut In American History

• Goals For Tax Reform
  • Grow the economy and create millions of jobs
  • Simplify our burdensome tax code
  • Provide tax relief to American families-especially middle-income families
  • Lower the business tax rate from one of the highest in the world to one of the lowest
• Individual Reform
  • Tax relief for American families, especially middle-income families:
    • Reducing the 7 tax brackets to 3 tax brackets of 10%, 25% and 35%
    • Doubling the standard deduction
    • Providing tax relief for families with child and dependent care expenses
  • Simplification:
    • Eliminate targeted tax breaks that mainly benefit the wealthiest taxpayers
    • Protect the home ownership and charitable gift tax deductions
    • Repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax
    • Repeal the death tax
  • Repeal the 3.8% Obamacare tax that hits small businesses and investment income
  • Business Reform
    • 15% business tax rate
    • Territorial tax system to level the playing field for American companies
    • One-time tax on trillions of dollars held overseas
    • Eliminate tax breaks for special interests
  • Process
    • Throughout the month of May, the Trump Administration will hold listening sessions with stakeholders to receive their input.
    • Working with the House and Senate, the Administration will develop the details of a tax plan that provides massive tax relief, creates jobs, and makes America more competitive – and can pass both chambers

Breaking It Down

So, for individuals, President Trump wants replace the current seven tiers of marginal rates (10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, 35%, and 39.6% respectively) with just three: 10%, 25%, and 35%. The President also stayed strong on his call to repeal of the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) imposed under the auspices of Obamacare upon certain net investment income of individuals, estates and trusts that have income above the statutory threshold amounts.

The President also wants to double the standard deduction while, at the same time limiting itemized deductions to mortgage interest and charitable contributions. He also wants to eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax and estate taxes aka “The Death Tax.”

Finally, this outline also prescribes “tax relief for families with child and dependent care expenses” and for ending “tax breaks that mainly benefit the wealthiest taxpayers,” but, given the vagueness of these points, I’m writing those off as low-priority talking points that are expected to be ground-up by the Congressional “Sausage Making Process.”

For businesses, The President’s plan is to reduce to maximum statutory corporate tax rate from 35% to 15% and to enact a territorial system of corporate taxation, which generally would exclude foreign earned income from taxation. At the same time, however, the President desires there to be a “one-time tax” on corporate earnings realized and held overseas and upon which tax is being deferred due to those monies not having been “repatriated,” i.e., transferred to the US.

My Informed But Inexpert Analysis

On this document itself – Despite that it’s generally being called a tax plan and despite the lamestream enemedia’s attacks upon as being such, this is not a plan. It is, vastly unsurprisingly, a CEO’s bulleted guidance to his senior executives on the subject of US federal income tax changes and reforms. It needs to be considered and critiqued on those terms and solely within that context.

On personal income tax reforms – It would be indeed a great simplification of people’s taxes. It would also be a small reduction of the tax burden of the upper financial echelons but a much larger reduction to the tax burdens of those in middle to middle-lower tiers, especially single income couples and families.

On corporate income tax reforms – If implemented something close to as envisioned, this reform would represent a 57% reduction to the maximum statutory taxation of American companies’ income by the federal government. This, combined with the proposed one-time tax on unrepatriated funds, could easily encourage more companies to either stop “partnering” with foreign firms to avoid the US’ currently punitive tax levels or, at least, repatriate more of their overseas profits, thereby actually adding those monies to the American economy. At the same time, the switch to territorial taxation – not taxing corporation’s foreign income at all – may well encourage more international partnerships but with a reversed controlling interest dynamic.

Frankly, in my opinion, this is a solid and solidly pragmatic approach for addressing a long-running problem, that of American corporations being taxed away or, at least, using – and sometimes creating through their lobbyists – loopholes to stay in business despite the crushing burden of a %39 corporate income tax.

Less thought of but possibly of greater import is that such a dramatic reduction of federal corporate income tax stands a very good chance of creating more C-Corporations (C-Corps). This would reduce, possibly begin to reverse, the 30+ year trend of C-Corporations declining in favor of S-Corporations (S-Corps) [Note: LLCs are S-Corps for federal tax purposes].

I’m not going to dive into details but suffice it to say that there would be many benefits from switching back to having many C-Corps vs. many S-Corps any these benefits would accrue to the nation as a whole, the government, and the companies’ employees as much or more so than they’d accrue to the owners and shareholders.

Motivation can matter as much as action in the longer run. Hence, a good act can be a great evil.

Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain: Temptation shall not come in this kind again.
The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason.

— T.S. Eliot
Murder in the Cathedral

Never in my experience has this moral and societal fact been more poignantly exemplified than by the recently reported actions of a 10 year-old girl from Thornton, CO, Tatum Gonzales. She did a deed that was ever so right, but did so for reasons that were so very wrong.

Tatum Gonzales called the whole family together on her 10th birthday but not for the reason you might think.

“Make a change to the world,” she said as she stood in her mom’s Thornton kitchen, making a turkey and cheese sandwich.

Tatum’s only wish on her 10th birthday was to help feed the homeless.

“I don’t think it’s right that all of us get to eat and they don’t,” she said. “They might be starving so I just thought of this idea for my birthday.”

Family and friends filled the kitchen, put on plastic gloves and pitched in to make 100 sack lunches. They even decorated each of the bags.

I cannot see young Ms. Gonzales act as anything other than a beautiful act of kindness and charity. There’s no doubt in my mind that she did the right thing. And yet, her own words, “I don’t think it’s right that all of us get to eat and they don’t,” show that she did it for the wrong – indeed, one of the worst – reasons imaginable.

Her belief that is not right that her and her family have their basic needs met – by her parents’ efforts and labors in all likelihood – so long as others do not enjoy these things is horrific to me – as it should be horrific to, not just every American, but every freeborn man or woman on this world. This, the belief of child that they don’t deserves and have no right to what their parents have earned, is the epitome of evils that Liberals, Progressives, and SJWs commit each and every day.

Charity, largess, munificence, beneficence – call it what you will – are great things, laudable in nigh on every case, even those which are poorly thought out and/or mis-aimed. To see it in a young child should be a thing of joy; a thing that restores some measure of hope for Man. And that is what is so evil and so horrifying about this. This is the ultimate corruption of the virtue of generosity. This is the greatest treason.

Not, of course, is this to say that this is her treason. No, she is one who has been betrayed. She has been tempted beyond her means as a young child by others, most likely the (mis)education system and the media. She is one of far too many victims of the Liberals’ and Progressives systematic abuse and corruption of our nation’s children.

Yes, of all the temptations that the devils of Socialism – these hellborn demons of “Social Justice” – try our resolve with is the greatest treason of doing what we think is right for the wrong, evil reasons.

The Irony Of Antifa

Perhaps Antifa and Black Bloc – assuming that there’s enough difference in their respective members to make a distinction between the two terrorist organizations – are suffering from the mental disorder known as Hipsterism. Their whole existence, manifestos, and courses of actions are certainly steeped in a level of irony that is usually reserved only for hipsters.

The irony, of course, being that these supposed anti-fascists are the only fascistlike group(s) in evidence.

Antifa behaves almost exactly as the Post-World War I Freikorps behaved and, like them, Antifa has significant number of members who are students. Again, like the Freikorps that they mimic, Antifa is made up of the sorts who are violently angry at their sudden, apparently inexplicable defeat, a defeat that they blame on Dolchstoss – feeling that they didn’t lose the 2016 elections but were instead stabbed in the back by the American people, the #BernOuts, the electoral college, and “The System” in general.

Indeed, the resemblance between Antifa and the ruffians and bullies of the Freikorps is so uncanny that one has to entertain the concern that, if a strong leader arose to focus them, they could “mature” into a modern version of the Sturmabteilung, just being Schwarzekapuzen instead of Braunhemden. Certainly Antifa’s Hochschulcampus Putsch has been more lastingly effective than their predecessor’s Kapp Putsch.

Yes, the irony is that the supposed Anti-Fascists are the only Fascists in evidence within America’s borders today.