The Role of Government in the Modern American Reality is an article written by Maria T Carrillo.
Personal Liberties seems to be the key idea in Maria’s blog and I agree that Americans are giving up their rights based off of fear. The mass media is eating every crises and every opportunity to grab their audience’s attention. The thoughts of fear are consistently repeated and instilled in our mind which in turn, gives our government an open door to do what they want. An example is The Patriot Act which was sign by congress shortly after September 11th, contained many discrepancies that threaten our personal freedoms. We gave the government power to gain access to our medical records, tax records, information about the books we buy and rent from libraries with out probable cause, allowing the government to break into our home to conduct searches without telling us, wire-tap our phone lines, and detain who they feel is a threat to national security. All of this seems to be ok by the public eye, because they fear that terrorist could be right next door and they could be subjected to a threat. The president enabled his executive powers gaining more control over our lives. Since these orders were issued during an emergency, good luck on seeing them return to the original state before they were placed.
Today’s financial crisis is another example of how our government is taking control of our lives. Again the mass media is eating up at this opportunity to gain viewers attention by providing them with the latest update of how the market it doing. The public is in fear of what they call “the great depression” part 2. The government now owns several large banks, auto industries, insurance companies and more. Isn’t it the government who lessen the restriction on banks lending procedures, allowing them to lend as much as they wanted to who ever they wanted, causing this recession to occur in the first place?
Our freedoms are being taken away, one day at a time, regardless of how you may see or what ever the government may call it. Our freedom is on a thin line. Controls are in place to protect you and the future generation, but the nation fails to realize that we are capable of taking care of ourselves and our families when crisis do arise. If we rely on the government as they want us to, then we will be subjected to new laws that will insure the governments control and order. This can be done by the discretionary power the president has when he feels there is a national emergency. Are we willing to watch our freedom disappear? Will we remain in the illusion that our government will protect us? I believe our national government has too much power right now which our founding fathers tried to prevent when they ratified the Articles of Confederation to our National Constitution. I think it is time that people need to voice their opinion and force our national government to change. A great start would be to write to your congressman. Let freedom rein!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Lets Increase the Gas Tax
As our economy is deep within a recession, with millions of people jobless, our government is wondering how they are going to pay for the ongoing projects and our countries enormous debt. Many ideals have been proposed over the course of a year, but the one I would like to focus on is “The Gas Tax.” The United States Department of Transportation has proposed a mileage gas tax which many find it to be crossing the line of our liberty and personal freedoms. Our national government wants more tax payer’s money. My thoughts are that they evaluate their yearly pay raise and cycle that income elsewhere.
In general, the gas tax is revenue for the Transportation Department to continue to make improvements on highways and roads to accommodate a growing population. According to the Transportation Department, at the end of the fiscal year 2009, our country will be lacking billions of dollars for those projects. Currently, state gasoline tax is anywhere between 8 cent/gallon to 38 cent/gallon. This does not include the 18.4 cent/gallon tax that the federal government has imposed before state taxes. For example, Texas gas tax is 20 cent/gallon plus the federal gas tax of 18.4 cent/gallon equals 38.4 cent/gallon of gas. If all 519,576 valid driver license holders owed one car and fills up with 1 gallon of gasoline, it would be $197,438.88 total revenue for 1 gallon of gas (state receives $103,915.2 and federal receives $95,601.984); based off of 2008 Valid Licensed Drivers Data. Now, if you can just imagine that all licensed drivers and commercial licensed drivers all filled up their vehicles on one given day of the week, we would be talking about $3 billion per year, according to Texas Net Revenue by Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. If this data doesn’t blow your mind, than I seriously think we have a problem. Each state collects a gas tax as well as the federal government, explicitly for Transportation. Our government is collecting more than enough money for transportation and recently the Department of Transportation received $26 billion from the stimulus package.
The Transportation Department is proposing a GPS tracking device to tally up the number of miles a vehicle is driven and charging that driver a set price per mile. That sounds real great right? Think again! We are talking about a GPS tracking device that is tracking your every move. If you have any knowledge of the bible, this would be called “the mark of the beast;” 666. The government is gaining too much control over us and our liberties are slowly being taken away. Beyond the literary aspect, having to pay per mile doesn’t sound like a good idea since they are proposing the idea to increase more revenue. If you haven’t looked at your cell phone bill lately, look closely, there’s a government tax for accessing the interstate.
Since the mileage gas tax will take nearly 10 years to come up with a full scale innovation release plan, to place a GPS system in every vehicle tracking how many miles you drive, congress is proposing a 5 year federal gas tax increase. The plan is to increase federal gas tax 5 to 8 cents a year until it reaches 40 cents a gallon. That means that your grocery bill will increase along with this tax. So we are all going to be hurting.
Transportation taxes can be subdued if congress would stop giving themselves a pay raise every term. Since congress is being paid by our tax dollars and our economy is in recession, how about they cut their pay, not just freeze their pay until 2010? That extra money can be rerouted back into the economy and to the Department of Transportation, if they truly do need it. What happened to the ideal of “for the greater common good?” Right now it seems there is some wasteful spending going on and our check and balance system isn’t keeping the checks and balances even.
2008 Valid Licensed Drivers Data
Texas Net Revenue by Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
House Freezes Pay Raise for 2010
2004 Congress Pay Raise
Transportation Chief Considers Taxing Miles Driven
Tax Rates by State
In general, the gas tax is revenue for the Transportation Department to continue to make improvements on highways and roads to accommodate a growing population. According to the Transportation Department, at the end of the fiscal year 2009, our country will be lacking billions of dollars for those projects. Currently, state gasoline tax is anywhere between 8 cent/gallon to 38 cent/gallon. This does not include the 18.4 cent/gallon tax that the federal government has imposed before state taxes. For example, Texas gas tax is 20 cent/gallon plus the federal gas tax of 18.4 cent/gallon equals 38.4 cent/gallon of gas. If all 519,576 valid driver license holders owed one car and fills up with 1 gallon of gasoline, it would be $197,438.88 total revenue for 1 gallon of gas (state receives $103,915.2 and federal receives $95,601.984); based off of 2008 Valid Licensed Drivers Data. Now, if you can just imagine that all licensed drivers and commercial licensed drivers all filled up their vehicles on one given day of the week, we would be talking about $3 billion per year, according to Texas Net Revenue by Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. If this data doesn’t blow your mind, than I seriously think we have a problem. Each state collects a gas tax as well as the federal government, explicitly for Transportation. Our government is collecting more than enough money for transportation and recently the Department of Transportation received $26 billion from the stimulus package.
The Transportation Department is proposing a GPS tracking device to tally up the number of miles a vehicle is driven and charging that driver a set price per mile. That sounds real great right? Think again! We are talking about a GPS tracking device that is tracking your every move. If you have any knowledge of the bible, this would be called “the mark of the beast;” 666. The government is gaining too much control over us and our liberties are slowly being taken away. Beyond the literary aspect, having to pay per mile doesn’t sound like a good idea since they are proposing the idea to increase more revenue. If you haven’t looked at your cell phone bill lately, look closely, there’s a government tax for accessing the interstate.
Since the mileage gas tax will take nearly 10 years to come up with a full scale innovation release plan, to place a GPS system in every vehicle tracking how many miles you drive, congress is proposing a 5 year federal gas tax increase. The plan is to increase federal gas tax 5 to 8 cents a year until it reaches 40 cents a gallon. That means that your grocery bill will increase along with this tax. So we are all going to be hurting.
Transportation taxes can be subdued if congress would stop giving themselves a pay raise every term. Since congress is being paid by our tax dollars and our economy is in recession, how about they cut their pay, not just freeze their pay until 2010? That extra money can be rerouted back into the economy and to the Department of Transportation, if they truly do need it. What happened to the ideal of “for the greater common good?” Right now it seems there is some wasteful spending going on and our check and balance system isn’t keeping the checks and balances even.
2008 Valid Licensed Drivers Data
Texas Net Revenue by Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
House Freezes Pay Raise for 2010
2004 Congress Pay Raise
Transportation Chief Considers Taxing Miles Driven
Tax Rates by State
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Medicaid in Need
Investing in Medicaid Funding Now Can Save Tax Dollars Later
Long Term Care is the topic of Tim Graves article on “Investing in Medicaid funding now can save tax dollars later,” a local contributor to the Austin Statesman editorial column. Graves is president/CEO of the Texas Health Care Association in Austin Texas. His article focuses on reforming the current Medicaid program funding which he says will reduce the future cost of Long Term Care for the elderly.
Medicaid was established in 1965 for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources. This program is a state ran program, with an over site by the federal government. According to the author, Texas is ranked 49th nationally towards the funding of Medicaid for its state. With the proper and adequate funding to Medicaid, the author states “can help reduce the number and frequency of hospital admissions by improving resident health, and increasing the capability of skilled nursing facilities themselves to successfully treat more complex medical conditions and incidents – at lower cost to taxpayers.”
Long Term Care needs, is what is being addressed in this article. Long Term Care is for the elderly that are no longer capable of taking care of themselves and those with chronic issues which they are in need of a 24/7, 365 day nursing assistance. As many as 60 nursing homes have closed in Texas due to lack of funding which the residents and nurses where sent else where. This is making it very difficult for the elderly who depend of their care locally.
The author is focusing on Texas Residents for their support of increasing Medicaid, but the primary audience would be Texas Political leaders, since they are the approving authority in passing the new program proposal which is specified at http://www.ahca.org. I agree that Medicaid funding should be increased for support of our local elderly. The author says we are paying about $106 compared to other states that are paying about $160 by the tax payers. I think it would be a good idea to increase Medicaid to $130 and keep it as a flat rate. This could reduce the cost of those hospital visits which are costing tax payers a lot of money, regardless if an individual tax payer see’s it affecting them or not.
Long Term Care is the topic of Tim Graves article on “Investing in Medicaid funding now can save tax dollars later,” a local contributor to the Austin Statesman editorial column. Graves is president/CEO of the Texas Health Care Association in Austin Texas. His article focuses on reforming the current Medicaid program funding which he says will reduce the future cost of Long Term Care for the elderly.
Medicaid was established in 1965 for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources. This program is a state ran program, with an over site by the federal government. According to the author, Texas is ranked 49th nationally towards the funding of Medicaid for its state. With the proper and adequate funding to Medicaid, the author states “can help reduce the number and frequency of hospital admissions by improving resident health, and increasing the capability of skilled nursing facilities themselves to successfully treat more complex medical conditions and incidents – at lower cost to taxpayers.”
Long Term Care needs, is what is being addressed in this article. Long Term Care is for the elderly that are no longer capable of taking care of themselves and those with chronic issues which they are in need of a 24/7, 365 day nursing assistance. As many as 60 nursing homes have closed in Texas due to lack of funding which the residents and nurses where sent else where. This is making it very difficult for the elderly who depend of their care locally.
The author is focusing on Texas Residents for their support of increasing Medicaid, but the primary audience would be Texas Political leaders, since they are the approving authority in passing the new program proposal which is specified at http://www.ahca.org. I agree that Medicaid funding should be increased for support of our local elderly. The author says we are paying about $106 compared to other states that are paying about $160 by the tax payers. I think it would be a good idea to increase Medicaid to $130 and keep it as a flat rate. This could reduce the cost of those hospital visits which are costing tax payers a lot of money, regardless if an individual tax payer see’s it affecting them or not.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Republican Party Down Fall
GOP Should Ask Why U.S. is on the Wrong Track is a commentary written by Ron Paul, a 10-term hardcore Republican congressman from Texas and two time presidential candidate who is described as a conservative, a constitutionalist, and a libertarian. In this article, the author speaks out against his own party and how they have been derailed from its core values. The current change in government dominance, a strong majority democratic politicians’, must have sparked the author to write this commentary. The question he asks “Where is our country heading?” centralizes the purpose of this article and his argument which he intends to express personal thoughts on this matter.
The author intended audience is mainly directed to the Republican Party but it is also to influence people to stand up strong for the Republican values and take charge. He states that Americans are in search of a change and that the opposing party chose there words wisely, giving that party the winning ticket. He expresses their change as “…that the change offered was no change at all, only a change in the engineer of a runaway train.” Republican core beliefs and promise to in shrink the size of government, limiting its power, sound money, and strict enforcement of the Constitutional laws, is what most Republicans endorsed in order to win at the polls for the past 2 terms. These core values soon faded once the party took office in 2000.
The only thing Americans saw from the Republican Party was more spending, more debt, economic down fall, an attack on civil liberties such as the Patriot Act, and unconstitutional wars. The author points out that American people have lost there trust in the Republican Party. Their credibility needs to be regained and the author says the solution is for his party to reaccess their core beliefs and stick to them through thick and thin. He believes that the Republicans must “…show how the country (not the party) that it can be put back on the right track.
If the party does not regain their credibility the author believes that his party will only be mimicking the Democrats with more spending, more debt, and more inflation with no future of slowing down the economic crisis. With that said, issues will remain a one-sided victory for the Democrats which are leading our country toward a “dictatorial powerful state.”
I believe that the Republican Party needs to regain their foot hold in the government and to get back on track, to the core values that established the party in the first place. The author opinions in his article are logical. Having two parties of equal representation allows for the checks and balances of government power to keep the most honored job, an honest job. This article has given me a sense of urgency and that I should demand a change to the Republican party and expect them to stand by its original beliefs.
The author intended audience is mainly directed to the Republican Party but it is also to influence people to stand up strong for the Republican values and take charge. He states that Americans are in search of a change and that the opposing party chose there words wisely, giving that party the winning ticket. He expresses their change as “…that the change offered was no change at all, only a change in the engineer of a runaway train.” Republican core beliefs and promise to in shrink the size of government, limiting its power, sound money, and strict enforcement of the Constitutional laws, is what most Republicans endorsed in order to win at the polls for the past 2 terms. These core values soon faded once the party took office in 2000.
The only thing Americans saw from the Republican Party was more spending, more debt, economic down fall, an attack on civil liberties such as the Patriot Act, and unconstitutional wars. The author points out that American people have lost there trust in the Republican Party. Their credibility needs to be regained and the author says the solution is for his party to reaccess their core beliefs and stick to them through thick and thin. He believes that the Republicans must “…show how the country (not the party) that it can be put back on the right track.
If the party does not regain their credibility the author believes that his party will only be mimicking the Democrats with more spending, more debt, and more inflation with no future of slowing down the economic crisis. With that said, issues will remain a one-sided victory for the Democrats which are leading our country toward a “dictatorial powerful state.”
I believe that the Republican Party needs to regain their foot hold in the government and to get back on track, to the core values that established the party in the first place. The author opinions in his article are logical. Having two parties of equal representation allows for the checks and balances of government power to keep the most honored job, an honest job. This article has given me a sense of urgency and that I should demand a change to the Republican party and expect them to stand by its original beliefs.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Another Bank Bailout Plan
Bailout Plan: $2.5 Trillion and a Strong U.S. Hand, an article written by Edmund L. Andrews and Stephen Labaton of the New York Times, about the Treasuries plan to rescue banks. An unsuccessful proposal of $2.5 Trillion Rescue Plan presented by the new Treasury Secretary proves to be a tough bid. Timothy F. Geirthner presenting what has not been seen by the government since the 1930’s, a plan to flood the market place with money to help banks begin lending again. In doing so, the government will be more involved in the markets, regulating how the banks will lend money, and forcing the banks to become more transparent.
The Senate disapproves of this plan on the bases that the plan is not specific enough in the details. Three major parts of the plan have the least amount of details describing how this money will be put to use, the details of how it will regain credit and how it will turn the market around. Paraphrasing the President, “Wall Street is looking for an easy way out from this downward spiral, but with all the damaged made to the national and world markets; it will not be an easy road to recover from.”
This article puts the bailout into perspective. A good way to see where this economy is heading, knowing the mind set of the new head of the Treasury Department and his administrations planning scheme. The Senate is being careful of what they approve. With all that has gone wrong with the banks, it’s in their best interest to insure that any plan that comes to them, better have some strict binding regulations with a clear objective. If you care about how our tax dollars are being utilized, this is a good article to read.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/business/economy/11bailout.html?_r=1&ref=politics
The Senate disapproves of this plan on the bases that the plan is not specific enough in the details. Three major parts of the plan have the least amount of details describing how this money will be put to use, the details of how it will regain credit and how it will turn the market around. Paraphrasing the President, “Wall Street is looking for an easy way out from this downward spiral, but with all the damaged made to the national and world markets; it will not be an easy road to recover from.”
This article puts the bailout into perspective. A good way to see where this economy is heading, knowing the mind set of the new head of the Treasury Department and his administrations planning scheme. The Senate is being careful of what they approve. With all that has gone wrong with the banks, it’s in their best interest to insure that any plan that comes to them, better have some strict binding regulations with a clear objective. If you care about how our tax dollars are being utilized, this is a good article to read.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/business/economy/11bailout.html?_r=1&ref=politics
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