Impeach Congress

By the People, For the People, We the People!

Archive for category Abuse of Power

Inflating Our Way to a Government-Controlled Economy

Apr 11

Posted by ImpeachCongress in Abuse of Power, Economics, Economy, Inflation, Opinion | 2 Comments

By: Lee DeCovnick

Spiraling food prices, record energy costs and federally mandated health insurance reflect this Administration’s slavish ideological devotion to the centralized planning of key sectors of the American economy. So, what are the current results of Obama’s indoctrination of America into progressive collectivism? Global food costs have risen an astonishing 29 % in the past year, and almost 4% a month between October and January of 2011. Retail prices for gasoline have doubled in the 26 months since Obama was inaugurated. And the Democratic majorities in Congress passed a mandated health insurance bill that is not only unconstitutional, but also riddled with exemptions, political payoffs while adding 159 new boards, commissions and programs.

The current quagmire of budget deficits coupled with the viral growth of the federal government continues to be carefully planned and executed. We can especially thank the silent and complicit MSM for allowing this radical Administration and Obama’s handpicked shadow government, the thirty-nine unconfirmed czars now running the Federal bureaucracies, to eviscerate trillions of dollars of earned capital. The Marxists’ natural enemy, the professional capitalists (the American “bourgeoisie” in classic Marxist terminology) are rapidly losing significant chunks of disposable income to inflation and energy prices without a formal tax increase. The first and second quartiles (the two lowest socio- economic populations) are far more more dependent on government subsidies then 26 months ago. Plus the federal government last week plummeted an additional $7.7 billion deeper into debt each day.

Honestly, the Marxists and progressive collectivists who populate the senior levels of this Administration could be popping Veuve Clicquot nightly in celebration of their wildly successful, ongoing financial dismemberment of the upper middle class of America.

Here are two photos that refute the USDA propaganda that inflation in food costs will only increase 3% to 4% in 2011.


Yes, five dollars for a loaf of bread and six dollars for a 27.5 ounce box of corn flakes plus a few tablespoons of sugar. How absurd are these prices? Yuban coffee costs 24 cents an ounce, Frosted Flakes now costs 21.8 cent an ounce, and a loaf of bread runs 20.3 cent an ounce.

The World Bank’s brief account of February 2011 maize (corn) prices reminds us that seemingly good intentions can easily subvert a great nation and its food supply.

Maize prices have increased sharply and are affected by complex linkages with other markets. In January 2011, maize prices were about 73% higher than June 2010. These increases are due to a series of downward revisions of crop forecasts, low stocks (U.S. stocks-to-use ratio for 2010/11 is projected to be 5% the lowest since 1995), the positive relationship between maize and wheat prices, and the use of corn for biofuels. Ethanol production demand for corn increases as oil prices go up, with sugar-based ethanol less competitive at current sugar prices. Recent United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates show the share of ethanol for fuel rising from 31% of U.S. corn output in 2008/9 to a projected 40% in 2010/11.

Read that stat one more time. “In January 2011, maize prices were about 73% higher than June 2010.” That is a jaw-dropping annual inflation rate of 146%, for the most basic of food commodities. Corn also feeds cattle as well as making Frosted Flakes. Also, “Recent United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates show the share of ethanol for fuel rising from 31% of U.S. corn output in 2008/9 to a projected 40% in 2010/11.” Why does anyone think that harvesting food crops for fuel is a good idea?

We can no longer waste newsprint or electrons on whether this Administration and it’s appointed political thugs are incompetent, naïve or Machiavellian. They are all of the above as it suits their purposes. Those purposes, after 26 months in office, are undeniable.

Using the silent complicity of the MSM, these progressive collectivists want an uncontested control of the six key sectors of the American economy: food, energy, healthcare, auto manufacturing, higher education and non-military government workers. Why this headlong plunge toward the centralization of planning and production? What is the end game?

From eHow.com, a very concise paragraph on economic models points the way:

The Marxist economic model is based on the economic and sociopolitical theories of 19th-century philosopher Karl Marx. Marx proposed that all human struggles could be traced back to the capitalist system and its unequal distribution of private wealth. The Marxist model of economics seeks to correct social and economic inequalities through public confiscation of private property. [the redistribution of wealth] This model supports a completely public economy, in which the state controls and manages all wealth and property for the benefit of people rather than for profit. The Marxist socialist model eventually — if implemented according to Marx’s design — gives way to a completely classless system known as communism.

Exactly so.

Shout This!
[Bloglines] [del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [Google] [Ma.gnolia] [MySpace] [Reddit] [Slashdot] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] [Windows Live] [Yahoo!] [Email] More »
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite PicLens

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Shut It Down!

Apr 7

Posted by ImpeachCongress in Abuse of Power, Deficit, Economy, Inflation, Opinion | No Comments

By: J.B. Williams

There should be no debate over spending in D.C. at this point. Over the last seventy years, our federal government, behaving as an unconstitutional supreme central power, has sent the most productive and prosperous nation on earth on the path toward third-world status.

Bickering over a few billion in planned deficit spending above $1.65 trillion in just the next year — when the nation is already more than $14 trillion in unsustainable debt threatening the very existence of our dollar — is the definition of insanity.

Democrats are forcing a so-called shutdown in their effort to keep spending money we don’t have. Republicans are calling for only a symbolic level of spending cuts. Nobody in Washington, D.C. seems serious about ending the fiscal insanity. Even the president’s bipartisan debt panel is recommending deficit spending for at least another twenty-five years.

I say, shut it down! The federal government has done as much to harm the union of states as it has ever done to improve freedom and liberty in America. We will be better off without a federal government, with each state able to fund and govern itself better than the Fed ever could.

Extreme threats demand extreme measures, and nothing threatens the future freedom and prosperity of the United States more than our own federal government. Enemies beyond, we can deal with. It’s the enemy within which threatens us most today. It’s time to shut it down and reset.

As we have proven in election after election, changing the players on the field from time to time does not change the game. We need a game-changer here, beginning with forcing our elected servants to live within the confines of the Constitution, existing laws, and the budget that we allow them.

Everything in this country seems backwards, upside-down, and inside-out. The people can never win a game in which they are not even a player. D.C. players make up the rules as they go, and those rules rarely benefit the people.

When Obama and the Democratic Socialists of America passed unconstitutional acts like ObamaCare; green-lighted Obama’s czars; and authorized deep intrusions into private-sector banking, manufacturing, and education — that’s when Republicans should have shut it all down.

They simply didn’t have the backbone to do what they should have done on behalf of every American citizen, including the ones not smart enough to know that they can’t survive a bankrupt nation, either.

As British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said so well,

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” We ran out of other people’s money more than $14 trillion ago.

Republicans should up the ante here. Instead of allowing Democrats to accuse them of shutting down the government over a measly $30 billion, they should force Democrats to blame them for eliminating the entire $1.65-trillion deficit proposed in Obama’s budget.

Are Republicans scared of being accused of balancing the budget? Most Americans want somebody to balance the budget and stop the insane march into the financial abyss under the unbridled command of the international socialist left now known as the Democratic Party.

Our federal budget has been balanced only once since Andrew Jackson was president. Republicans in Congress balanced one annual budget during Bill Clinton’s second term. Democrats under Obama have increased the debt of every American taxpayer by more than 40%, or $4 trillion during Obama’s first two years in office.

To put it lightly, Obama is unsustainable. Democrats are unsustainable. And only Republicans have the power to do something about it.

Shut it down, and shut it down now!

Don’t start it up again until you have a balanced budget approved and signed by the president, who makes a drunken sailor look like a penny-pincher.

At this late date, the people of this nation are on an austerity program no matter what happens in D.C. But unless they force Republicans to put the feds on an austerity program now, the people will be all alone in their austerity, and the feds will drive this nation into a financial disaster that the nation cannot survive.

It may be too late for fiscal sanity already, but here’s where we are. We can’t change the past, and our only hope of altering the future is by acting today.

The decision is easy. If we refuse to face the music today, there will soon be no decision to make.

A federal shutdown does not mean that the federal government will actually shut down. That would be nice, but it won’t actually happen.

Instead, Democrats will aim the shutdown where their voters will feel it the most. They will keep business as usual, except for targeting their voters’ benefits in order to motivate those voters into a revolt in the streets, just as they did in Wisconsin over the state budget battle.

Democrats will try to make even a partial shutdown as painful as possible for the voters in this country who are trained government dependents. They are already out telling their voters to hold Republicans responsible for the big “shutdown,” which in reality will impact only government dependents.

Since social spending now exceeds 60% of the entire federal budget, there is no way to rein in the federal government without reining in social spending.

Yes, it will be painful — but not as painful as driving the nation and every state into bankruptcy and then cutting off all aid to those truly in need.

Republicans simply must summon their fortitude and do the work they were elected to do. Cutting Obama’s spending spree by a lousy $30 billion is merely symbolic, an effort to demonstrate to their voters that they did something, even though it amounts to nothing.

The cuts need to be fifty-five times that number: $1.65 trillion. Even then, the interest alone on past spending will still add to the current debt level. But at least we will have stopped the bleeding and set a new course for fiscal sanity.

If the voters throw Republicans out for doing that in 2012, then the voters deserve national bankruptcy.

Go ahead — shut it down, and don’t open for business again without a total fiscal restructuring that demonstrates a willingness in government to be much better stewards of the people’s resources.

Go ahead — shut it down now! It’s the only hope for freedom and liberty to survive!

Shout This!
[Bloglines] [del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [Google] [Ma.gnolia] [MySpace] [Reddit] [Slashdot] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] [Windows Live] [Yahoo!] [Email] More »
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite PicLens

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

When Government Turns Predator

Apr 5

Posted by ImpeachCongress in Abuse of Power, Legal Actions, Opinion | No Comments

The following article covers an area of gross government tyranny. Offshore banking. The overreach of the government and particularly their nazi force, the IRS, has become so egregious that simply opening a bank account overseas is viewed as a crime. Monty points out precisely that this bankrupt and broken government will stop at nothing to steal the wealth of its productive citizens. It is disgraceful. –impeachcongress

By: Monty Pelerin

Honest US citizens are being turned into prey by the IRS, the victims of a hunt for tax evaders. It is the natural, if lamentable, product of the urge to power our Founders warned us against.

More than two centuries ago, George Washington stated:

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

Over the years, General Washington’s prescience has been demonstrated as government usurped and abused power. The myth that government serves the people should be shattered by now. Increasingly, government behaves as the master, not as the intended servant.

Oppression abounds, but nowhere is the raw abuse of power and coercion more possible and evident than in the Internal Revenue Service. They are the most dangerous member of the government gang. Now they have another tool to bully and expropriate wealth from innocents — US citizens living abroad.

Early in his presidency, Barack Obama pledged to add 800 new IRS agents to punish tax evaders with overseas accounts. In an effort, presumably designed to curtail and punish tax evasion on the part of wealthy Americans, legislation aimed at criminals now threatens the income and savings of the law-abiding.

Background

The Bank Secrecy Act became law in 1970 and implemented the Foreign Bank Accounts Report (FBAR) to monitor money laundering. The FBAR law required that US persons owning or having signing authority over foreign bank accounts report this information to the US Treasury Department. It was not much enforced for the obvious reason that a criminal does not willingly divulge incriminating information. During the first three decades of FBAR, there was widespread ignorance and disregard for the law.

In 2003, the Treasury Department handed over enforcement to the IRS. In 2004 non-willful non-compliance increased to a $10,000 fine per account per annum. Willful non-compliance allows criminal charges, a prison sentence, and fines of $100,000 or 50% of bank account’s contents, whichever is more (see Shepherd, p. 10).

The IRS has implemented two Voluntary Disclosure Programs I (2009) and II (2011), in which they waive criminal charges provided that all back taxes and penalties have been paid, along with an FBAR penalty of 20% (in 2009) or 25% (in 2011) of the account’s highest balance over the last six years. The penalty is lower (12.5%) for balances under $75,000. Persons who were unknowingly US citizens face a 5% penalty (see FAQ 52).

In 2010, Congress passed FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) which forces foreign banks to report on American clients, even if doing so would violate the banking and privacy laws of their country. Implementation of FACTA will be coerced by withholding 30% of US income from banks not in compliance.

The arrogance and brutality of the legislation is apparent. The penalties are severe and disproportionate. Economic blackmail of foreign banks is disgraceful. All of these actions will have repercussions, probably not intended.

US Citizens Abroad

US citizens living abroad must open a foreign bank account because commerce is done in the local currency. All who do are potentially in violation of the FBAR law. Most were unaware of the FBAR requirements; but now that the IRS has rattled its FBAR saber, taxpayers abroad are in a quandary.

Wealthier citizens spend thousands of dollars on accountants and tax lawyers to try to put themselves into compliance with the least financial damage. The average citizen not in compliance has limited options. His choices include:

  1. Do Nothing The IRS doesn’t know about you, so continuing to keep a low profile and ignore the law might be the best route. This option may become impossible once FACTA comes into force.
  2. File FBAR Forms IRS FAQ 17 of the 2011 Voluntary Disclosure Program states that filers who have complied with all taxes and filing requirements except FBAR should not enter the program but simply file the delinquent forms by August 31, 2011 with a letter of explanation. They promise that no penalties will apply to such persons. But given the severe threats of punishment issued to anyone failing to comply, many wonder whether the IRS will accept the excuse of ignorance of the FBAR requirement.
  3. Enter 2011 Voluntary Disclosure Program: Some US citizens who entered the 2009 Voluntary Disclosure Program and were otherwise in compliance with US tax laws, found that the IRS intended to apply to them the full 20% penalty (see, e.g., here and here).
  4. Renounce Citizenship Many US citizens living overseas have lives fully integrated into their new country. They comply with the local tax laws and often possess dual citizenship. Compliance with US tax laws and FBAR are a nuisance and liability that they may be able to live without.

Renunciation of citizenship is not riskless. Such a decision will set citizens free from future liability, but may subject them to IRS penalties for prior non-compliance. In addition, for covered expatriates, those having two million in assets or $145,000 in average annual tax liability over the last five years, an exit tax is also required.

To appreciate the uncertainty and duress faced by US citizens living abroad, a couple of hypothetical situations are useful. International tax lawyer Phil Hodgen partly inspired the following hypothetical cases:

Hypothetical Case 1: Jim lives in a foreign country and has dutifully filed a US income tax return each year, but was unaware of FBAR filing retirements. Jim operates eight accounts: four retirement accounts (which he reported on his annual tax returns), two trading accounts, a checking account and a high interest savings account. The highest balance in these accounts is $1,000,000 over the last six years. His current balance is $800,000 after the market dip.

Jim doesn’t know what to do. After great worry, he enters the Voluntary Disclosure Program. The IRS assesses Jim a $250,000 FBAR penalty. In order to pay the penalty, Jim must withdraw funds from his retirement accounts forcing an additional tax liability of $100,000 on the income. Jim is no longer able to retire because his $800,000 has been reduced to $450,000, solely as a result of IRS capriciousness.

Hypothetical case 2: Nancy is a teacher and mother of three, married to a citizen of the foreign country where she has lived for fifteen years. She dutifully filed her taxes in the US, but never knew about FBAR. A friend entered the Voluntary Disclosure Program and was assessed $14,000. She contemplates the renunciation of American citizenship, because her foreign husband owns a successful business and Nancy is a signer on business accounts. She fears exposing her husband’s business to the IRS and also fears that upon her death, the IRS will seek its pound of flesh from her estate. She renounces citizenship, though it breaks her heart.

Abuse Of the Law

FBAR was initially a harmless and little known embarrassment for the United States. It began as an ineffective attempt to stop money laundering. Like so many other laws (RICO, Homeland Security, etc.), it began with what some believed noble purposes, only to morph into a tyranny imposed upon law-abiding citizens. It is now a tool capable of arbitrary and oppressive expropriation the wealth of millions of US citizens living abroad.

An insolvent government is a dangerous government. It is akin to a wounded and cornered animal. When conditions become really difficult, it is likely to do anything to survive. Arbitrariness in the interpretation of any law is dangerous to freedom, but especially so when government’s primary concern is survival rather than justice.

There are many reasons to be critical of FBAR. The following two will illustrate: