Thursday roundup: class warfare, taxes, plastic bags and more

I can't help but wonder why people don't educate themselves more. This article, "Class Warfare: American Communists of 1928 Compared to Barack Obama" on RedState.com, takes a look at the positions of the American Communists in 1928 and compares them to what our president - and many elected officials on the left as well as union leaders - are saying and advocating.

When the people who lead your organization sound exactly like the American Communist Party, you really need to think about your organization and your membership in it.

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Also on RedState.com is this post about "Green Profiteers and Plastic Bags." It looks at some of the claims being made by reusable bag manufacturers in their bid to eliminate disposable plastic bags - and shows why many of the claims are false.

Plastic bag makers sued - and won! But several towns in California have already banned the use of the plastic bags - or are imposing a tax on them as a former Toledo mayor wanted to do.

What I find so ridiculous is that we had to stop using paper bags because they were killing the trees, despite the fact that trees are actually a *renewable* resource, as we can always plant and grow more. The plastic bags, being recyclable, were supposed to be better for the environment and easier for stores to use. But then we find that, according to environmentalists, people aren't really recycling these bags (those nasty consumers!) so we need to go to reusable cloth (or other similar material) bags. And some are even saying we should go back to paper bags.

In Lancaster, PA, where my husband is working, you cannot put your newspapers in the recycling bin - you actually have to put them into a *paper* bag, or bind them with a specific type of biodegradable twine.

I just wish people (i.e. environmentalists and politicians) would actually think through the consequences of what they promote prior to promoting it and making it law.

Sadly, too many people act on emotions rather than logic.

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From NCPA.org comes a synopsis of a recent article by Steve Conover, "The Myth of Middle Class Stagnation," in the September 16, 2011, issue of The American:

Conventional wisdom says that the middle class hasn't caught a break for at least a decade and incomes have stagnated or declined. But new research corrects a misconception regarding middle-class income, and therefore should come as a pleasant surprise -- not just to members of the middle class, but also to pundits, journalists, and of course, politicians, says Steve Conover.

* In the seven years from 2001-2007 (inclusive), not only did the middle class get at least its fair share of overall income growth, the income gap between the rich and the middle class actually got smaller.
* In an apparent paradox, the same Census Bureau database that told us that median household income was essentially unchanged in 2007 versus 2000 also tells us that the middle class enjoyed a higher income growth rate than did either the overall economy or the rich -- and therefore that their income gap versus the rich had actually decreased.

The key lies in the difference between the "median household" versus the "middle class." The median household is a single theoretical household exactly in the middle of the entire income-ranked list of U.S. households. Conversely, the "middle class" has no official definition, but it is certainly tens of millions of households in size and presumably centered around the median household.

Again, if people would only educate themselves rather than just accept talking points, we'd all be much better off.

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Finally, this chart and analysis show that the way to boost 'revenue' to the government is very simple and - surprise! - it doesn't involve taxing the rich or the evil corporations.

This analysis shows that no matter what you do to tax rates, the biggest thing you can do to boost tax revenue is boost household income.

Imagine that!

All the evidence you need

I was browsing around the Internet and came across the following resolution, which sounds very much like the policies being advocated by President Barack Obama, the Democrats in Congress and even some of our local officials:

Whereas, Rapid jobs growth is central to resolving the economic crisis for working people. There can be no real economic recovery without full employment. Renewed profits on Wall Street and a rising stock market do not make a recovery;

Whereas, The jobs crisis is especially damaging to youth, women, African American, Latino, and other racially and nationally oppressed communities, who in addition to higher rates of unemployment also suffer higher rates of home foreclosures, bankruptcies, lack of medical care, homelessness and hunger; and

Whereas, Private industry is not capable of, nor has any interest in, putting people back to work at a sufficient pace to resolve the economic crisis. Economic recovery requires robust government action; therefore be it

Resolved, That we support and will join others in fighting for;

* Emergency jobs legislation that includes massive direct government investment in public works. This would include rebuilding our crumbling public infrastructures in housing, transportation, medical care, education, communications and recreation;

* Direct emergency aid to state and local governments to maintain and expand public services in all areas of people's needs;

* Unemployment compensation reform that provides unemployment for the duration of unemployment and for first time job seekers;

* Jobs legislation that will protect and promote trade union rights, protections and standards in all public works including card check union recognition on all public projects;

* Federal industrial policy that promotes and massively invests in new green energy and green production infrastructures needed to meet the needs of our people in sustainable ways;

* Public spending and investment that prioritizes help for the communities hardest hit by the economic crisis;

* Government intervention that is paid for by shifting money from wasteful and destructive military spending in Iraq and Afghanistan to rebuilding the domestic economy, and by tax policy that closes corporate loopholes, significantly raise tax rates on corporate profits and the very rich, and taxes on stock transactions and risky speculation on Wall Street.

Even in the Marcy Kaptur-Rich Iott debate the other evening, our representative said something along the lines of 'the private sector isn't creating jobs at the rate it needs to, so government had to step in.' This is very similar to the third 'whereas.'

You might be surprised to learn where this resolution came from and what group actually passed it.

But when you learn, I hope you'll realize just how far this country has strayed from the principles our Founders fought so hard to establish: liberty, individual responsibility, the ability to succeed - and fail, and freedom.

So where did I find this? On the Communist Party USA website.

Resolution adopted by the 29th National Convention of the Communist Party USA, New York, NY May 21-23, 2010.

As if that's not enough, just watch this YouTube video of 'Proud Socialists at Left-Wing Protest in DC.'

Remember in November!