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Clearing the Browser Tabs – Reform and Raise Saturday Edition Posted: 23 Jul 2011 03:10 AM PDT I love this Power Line post by Stephen Hayward on the GOP and taxes. There is a good case to be made for tax code reform that would raise taxes slightly on the nearly half of all workers who don’t currently pay any taxes in exchange for large spending cuts that would increase those same people’s earnings (and career opportunities) though a turbo-charged economy. I firmly believe that a substantially-smaller budget (and I’m thinking about a trillion less a year until we get down to about 18.5% of GDP) would push our economy into growth rates at or above 5 percent for a couple years. Optimistic? Sure, but we could use a heavy dose of optimism right about now. Besides, I still feel that our economy is straining to burst free and we only await that one crack in the dykes that have hemmed us in. Once that crack is apparent, we can widen it more and more until the economy is flowing freely again. And perhaps tax reform of the kind Hayward envisions till be a key part of that. And now, links! Uh oh, Attorney General Holder! The Los Angeles Times has finally noticed Operation Fast and Furious. From little pebbles, mighty administration-burying avalanches grow. Man, that Chrysler bailout worked out really well. Okay, not for us taxpayers, but for Chrysler and the union bosses, it was like Christmas. Are the United States and Michael Jackson’s career arc similar? In an odd way, yes. We always knew the President liked campaigning more than he liked governing. We know this because he’s spent most of his career campaigning and almost none of it doing any real work. Joy McCann wrote a great post on renewable energy and the fracking controversy in New York. I’d add that the real problem with renewable energy is that what we have simply won’t supply our energy needs no matter how much we spend to deploy it. If we’re going to dump cash into renewables, it needs to be in R&D so that we can develop the sources that can meet our needs. Okay, I think I’m going to have to see Captain America now. I’m sorry, Pluto. Those mean IAU snobs won’t let you be a real planet again no matter how many moons you have.

The Mendacious Harry Reid Kills a Debt Ceiling Deal, Goes on Vacation Posted: 22 Jul 2011 10:00 AM PDT Senate Democrat Harry Reid, whose party controls all the scheduling for the Senate, had this to say yesterday: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday said House Republicans' pending "cut, cap and balance" proposal is among the worst pieces of legislation to appear on the floor in Senate history. … "I think this piece of legislation is about as weak and senseless as anything that has ever come on this Senate floor," said Reid. "I am not going to waste the Senate’s time day after day on this piece of legislation." This is what he did today. The Senate on Friday voted to “table,” or kill, a House Republican proposal to “cut, cap and balance” the budget that Majority Leader Harry Reid called the single worst piece of legislation ever to hit the Senate floor. The House Republican “Cut, Cap and Balance” (measure) is now over. It’s done, dead,” Reid said after the 51-46 vote. … With Friday’s vote over, senators quickly moved to vacate the floor. Cars were waiting outside to whisk members to airports to take flights home. Though the Senate was originally scheduled to be in session, Reid, D-Nev., noted that would not be the case and no votes would be taken before Monday afternoon. [Emphasis mine] So, he successfully killed a bill that enjoys the approval of an overwhelming majority of Americans, including over 60 percent of his own party, because he felt it would be a waste of the Senate’s precious time then went home for a little weekend vacation because there was nothing for the Senate to do. I know it’s been a pretty big talking point among Democrats that the Republicans, who are up 2-0 on the Dems in the game of “who has more budget plans on the table”, are “holding the country hostage” because they won’t agree to drop a trillion or two worth of tax hikes on all of us. It’s pretty clear to me, though, that they’re the ones holding the figurative gun to our heads right now. Folks, that debt problem won’t go away on its own. Harry Reid and his pal in the White House can’t get rid of it with cheap catch phrases like “shared sacrifice” and “kill Medicare”. We don’t buy the hype. If you can get to a phone, I think it’d be a fine idea to put in a few calls to your Democratic Senators’ offices. Let them know, in polite but stern terms that hypothetically could involve words like “will work like a dog to throw your padded behind out of office” and “fortunately, tar and feathers are hard to get where I live”, just how displeased you are that they ignored your desires yet again. The number to the Capitol switchboard is (202) 224-3121. Go get ‘em. UPDATE: Not only is the Senate off until Monday, Reid has nothing slated until Monday evening.

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