Everything is great!
Well, if you are a corporation, that is and that’s all the matters in the United Corporations of America, right? I went through the State of the Union Address last night with my commentary. The Cliff Notes of the Cliff Notes are: A 25-year goal of having 80% of America’s electricity come from clean energy (another chance to short FSLR!), A proposal to “redouble” our efforts to rebuild infrastructure (zero has been approved so far, we can double that no problem!), A 25-year goal to give 80% of Americans access to high-speed rail (this will be a neat trick with Amtrack’s $2.6Bn in funding), A 5-year plan to get high-speed wireless coverage to 98% of all Americans. That one I WOULD trust to private enterprise.
Blaming lobbyists for “rigging the tax code” (it’s not the voting by Congressmen, it’s those darned lobbyists!), Obama says we can lower the Corporate Tax Rate without adding to the deficit. This is actually true, Corporations paid $182Bn in taxes last year, just 1.14% of the GDP while US taxpayers paid $2,000Bn – presumably under the same tax code as Corporations. I have long advocated a VAT tax on business sales as profits are too easy to rig, with over 75% of businesses in America paying no tax at all. It’s not complicated – add 10% to all goods and services sold and hand the government $1.5Tn – the consumers will then determine who is passing through fair market costs and capitalism triumphs and our deficit is wiped out. That’s my first day in office – anything else need looking at?
Obama says worst of recession is over (boosting Global markets) but Government still spending more than it takes in. “That is not sustainable. Every day families sacrifice to live within their means – they deserve a government that does the same.” The President calls for a 5-year spending freeze that will reduce deficit by $400Bn over next 10 years ($40Bn a year?). I love these plans – somehow a freeze saves you money because you WOULD have spent $40Bn a year more but now you won’t. This is like when Tina comes back from a 25% off sale at the store and tells me she “saved” $500 – somehow it still costs me $1,500!
The President says his military advisors have identified “tens of Billions“…
