Disqus - Latest Comments for Ashford Schwall

Re: Handouts in disguise

Ashford Schwall — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 17:36:24 -0000

What are we taxing when we tax income? We tax work. We tax prosperity. We tax upward mobility. We tax success. Many economists believe that if you tax something more, you get les of it. Do we really want less work, less prosperity, less upward mobility, less productivity and less success? SUPPORT H.R. 25 WWW.FAIRTAX.NET

Re: Reflections On Obama's Tour

Ashford Schwall — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:54:28 -0000

2010 as described in 2033

Welcome toastmasters, June 13, 2033.

Today Rick Campbell, one of our senior members at age 87, is here to reminisce a bit and give us a history lesson. He says he is so old that he learned to drive an internal combustion engine car (remember those) with a manual transmission. He once owned a typewriter. He remembers when bicycles had one speed, phones had two-party lines, and cameras had something called film. As incredible as this may seem, he says that when he was young, it was common for people to smoke in restaurants and public places. He is from a different time; almost a different world. I'm sure all of us are far too familiar with the tragic events of 2010, so Rick is going to give us a personal look back at the conditions which led up to that fateful year, in a speech titled '2010 Was Not A Good Year To Be President.

''2010 Was Not A Good Year To Be President'
Yes, 2010 was long ago and far away.
As we look back on history, it appears that some Presidents had an easy ride- times of growth and stability. Teddy Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding, Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton come to mind. Those were good years to be President.

Others were elected just when the Republic was facing terrible crises: Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, George W. Bush. They rose to the occasion, even though they were controversial and widely hated while in office. Not such good years to be President. Just a few years prior, in 2008, the country began foundering. We were in the sixth year of the Iraqi liberation, and the economy was flat. The mainstream press clearly wanted a Democrat elected.
Although we didn't know it until some years later, oil producing nations had colluded to secretly buy their own oil on the open market, driving oil prices to shocking levels above the true demand price- reaching a high of $162 a barrel in October, 2008, just before the general elections.
Their purpose was simple: to effect regime change in the United States..And of course, the U.S. economy was already in a real estate slump and also suffering the curse of stagflation! ; slow growth and high inflation.

There were a million home foreclosures. Independent truckers went under by the thousands. Airlines failed. Airlines with names now long-forgotten: United, Delta, Northwestern, American. All now merged, of course, into the one lone U..S. carrier we love so much: Southwest.

Against this backdrop of weariness of the war on terror, and economic distress, the American people were ripe for a demagogue, and they certainly got one in Barack Hussein Obama.
He and his running mate Kathlene Sibelius inspired them with vague notions of hope and change; of a world in which diplomacy settled all international problems, of free universal health care, of abundant alternative energy, of peace and love. It was a vision too good to resist. The Republican nominee, a name you probably haven't heard in years anyone? Yes, it was John McCain, an obscure Senator from Arizona had no clue how to run a national campaign, and a platform nearly as liberal as Obama's.

The selection of Condoleeza Rice as his running mate looked brilliant at first. Unfortunately, black voters viewed her as white, and women voters viewed her as one of the guys.
Even so, the McCain/Rice ticket would have won the election if it weren't for the fact that 16 percent of conservative Republicans voted for anyone remember? That's right, Bob Barr, another name that's a footnote in history.
After Obama's narrow win, thanks to recounts in Broward County, Florida, the country was positively giddy. A Democrat House, Senate, and President. At last an end to gridlock in Washington. Camelot! When Congress convened in January, 2009, the 44th President of the United States did something unique in history: he made good on his campaign promises. Certainly most Americans never really thought he was serious during the campaign. But whether because of inexperience, idealism, or simply incompetence, he followed through.

In Obama's first One Hundred Days, the Congress passed his initiatives, and he signed them into law as he said he would. He repealed the Bush tax cuts, and increased capital gains taxes. He enacted a windfall profits tax, and instituted price controls on gasoline and diesel fuel. He passed universal health care, which added an additional 10 percent tax increase on all working Americans.
He signed the Immigrant Amnesty bill which created 12 million new citizens instantly, each with entitlements.
He closed the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and summarily released all the detainees. He repealed the Patriot Act, and cut funding for espionage, and eliminated all terrorist listening and wiretaps. Most important, he began the complete and immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq. He ignored the advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who wanted to retain bases in Kuwait and Qatar. Instead, he went with the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Dennis Kucinich, and ordered all troops back to U.S. soil. Viola! In One Hundred Days, by May of 2009, it was all done, and the vision was complete. He did exactly what he said he would do. And so it was in the summer of 2009 that things began to unravel for Obama. Of course, the economy needed a tax cut, not an increase, and unemployment quickly rose to 12 percent. Even attorneys and economists were put in the bread lines. Hard times. Price controls on gasoline immediately led to shortages and gas lines. The global cooling trend we have seen for the past 25 years first became obvious in 2009, exposing the CO2 global warming very expensive fraud. People were justifiably angry. Federal deficits increased massively because thousands of baby boomers, facing job loss and much higher taxes, simply gave up and took social security. Although the superb U.S. health care system was thrown into disarray, the bright spot was the creation of the Federal Department of Health care, and the immediate hiring of 250,000 administrators, inspectors and auditors, the only job growth in any economic sector in 2009.

By February 2010, the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq was complete. It was a very expensive undertaking. And then in March, the gradual Shiite insurgencies from Iran turned into a true Iraqi civil war. In May, Iranian tanks crossed the border and quickly took Baghdad. Although the exact number is not known, at least 230,000 Sunni Iraqis died as we stood by. Iran also quickly moved into undefended Kuwait. President Obama did exactly what he said he would. He sent Secretary of State Maria Cantwell to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Ahmadinejad. After two weeks of high level talks, the United States agreed to allow Iran to retain Iraq and Kuwait to create stability in the middle east, with the understanding that Israel would not be disturbed. Cantwell returned to Washington, and explained the agreement in her famous speech, in which she proudly noted that the Obama administration had finally achieved 'peace in our time' in the Middle East. So there was some surprise at the rocket attacks on Tel Aviv on August 14th. President Obama said, 'This is not the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad I knew.'
The Obama administration decided it would be de-stabilizing to take sides in the conflict, and approximately 29,000 Israeli civilians died during the summer and fall. American Jews were appalled at the inaction. Yes, in 2010 most American Jews were Democrats, but because of 2010, they are solid Republicans today.
As awkward as it was, everything might have turned out all right for the Obama administration going into the fall mid-term elections of 2010, if it hadn't been for the dirty bomb in the Port of Long Beach. The administration had cut funding for the inspection of containers, because they felt it showed a 'lack of trust' in the international trading community. It wasn't really a very big bomb, and thank goodness, not a real nuclear device, but nonetheless it contaminated some expensive real estate- Newport Beach, Palos Verdes Estates- and ultimately caused the death of 14,000 Americans. People were especially annoyed that Disneyland had to be closed for decontamination. And so, in the midterm elections, Republicans regained control of both the House and Senate, and the rest is history.
The impeachment proceedings against President Obama for 'failure to protect and defend' were swift and nearly unanimous. Vice President Sibelius resigned. Newly-elected Speaker of the House, J.C. Watts, became the 45th President of the United States.
But you know the rest of the story well. Republicans finished the war on Islamic fundamentalists, largely by aiming ICBM's at Mecca and Medina.
No Democrat has been elected President since. Republicans have held both Houses of Congress. History of Western Civilization and Economics are now taught in all public schools, and in English only. Marriage is defined as one man and one woman. And there are border fences, north and south. We old codgers remember the ancient Confucian curse: 'May you live in interesting times.'
Well, 2010 was an interesting year, but it was not a good year to be President.'

Re: First step for autoworkers: win in November

Ashford Schwall — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:29:21 -0000

Why not remove the reason that companies move production out of the country?
Do what Ireland did to attract business and jobs.
Lower the tax rate.
Ireland lowered theirs to 12% while ours is still 39%.
In fact, why not drop it to zero with the FairTax?

The FairTax removes the anchor on production and labor and places a progressive tax on consumption. The more you spend, the more you pay

www.fairtax.org

Re: People's Weekly World - Big political shifts are under way

Ashford Schwall — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:12:58 -0000

Where is Joe McCarthy when you need him?
Bring back House Committee on Un-American Activities !

Re: MsUnderestimated » Blog Archive » The Fair Tax Rally, Pre-Debate, in SC (VIDEO)

Ashford Schwall — Tue, 22 May 2007 12:40:03 -0000

Pops, You said “All this Fair Tax Tax talk is of pipe dreams, of a loud-mouth, popinjay, high school graduate, who won’t debate anyone of a number of knowledgeable persons, on neutral grounds, with a neutral moderator”

I will admit the FairTax is hard to understand. And why not? We have been taxed on income for what seems forever. . I got into the FairTax and was so skeptical, I have now read more econ papers than when I was in college. (The scary thing is I understand it now.)

So for the moment forget Boortz and refer to University econ professors such as Dale W. Jorgenson Professor at Harvard University. or Laurence J. Kotlikoff Professor of Economics Boston University or …. Over 70 others. The research is out there, Boortz just tried to make it easy
Here are a couple of papers to read:
The National Sales Tax: Who Bears the Burden?
by Gilbert E. Metcalf
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-289.html
Gilbert E. Metcalf is an associate professor of economics at Tufts University and an economist with the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Taxing Sales under the FairTax –
What Rate Works?
http://people.bu.edu/kotlikof/BHI-LK%20Taxing%2...
by
Paul Bachman
Director of Research, Beacon Hill Institute, Suffolk University
Jonathan Haughton
Associate Professor of Economics
Senior Economist, Beacon Hill Institute

Re: MsUnderestimated » Blog Archive » The Fair Tax Rally, Pre-Debate, in SC (VIDEO)

Ashford Schwall — Tue, 22 May 2007 12:54:50 -0000

Troy, thanks for going to the rally. I really wanted to but could not get away. I have been a supporter ever since it was called the NRST supports by CATS.

I noticed you said “As for “corporate taxes”. Corporations don’t pay taxes” This is true and not true. We as supporters will get the issue back in faces every time. So to clarify, corporations do indeed pay taxes or have a tax “incidence” AND they pass on the “burden” to us in the price of a product. When we have a property tax, we bear the tax incidence and the burden.. I hope this helps and if you get into any hard core arguments refer people to. Tax Incidence, Tax Burden, and Tax Shifting: Who Really Pays the Tax? http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/cda04-12...
by Stephen J. Entin

Re: MsUnderestimated » Blog Archive » The Fair Tax Rally, Pre-Debate, in SC (VIDEO)

Ashford Schwall — Tue, 22 May 2007 20:50:10 -0000

LTCPMax
Thanks for your comments.
The V.A.T. or value added tax does spread the tax incidence out over many payers but still the tax burden rests with the end consumer. We have a form of hidden VAT now.
Look at a loaf of bread. Who did you get it? The farmer buried his taxes into the price of his wheat. The miller buried his tax into the price of his service. The baker buried his tax into the cost of his service. The packager, the wholesaler, the retailer, you get the picture. The VAT retains complexity and compliance costs.
One advantage of the FairTax is simplicity. One single tax at the end sale is all you pay.
Compliance costs are reduced to a minimum.
Further, let’s look at a simplified production function. Production or output = (Labor X Capital). Tax labor and or capital and you reduce production. “Un-tax” both and you increase production. You set it free!
The current income tax, a flat income, or a V.A.T. acts an anchor. Only the FairTax sets labor and capital free. This is truly the best advantage of the FairTax and the hardest to explain.
There are over an estimated $11 trillion dollars in offshore accounts and there just to escape the tax code. There is no reason for that money not to come home under the FairTax. Ask yourself what would happen to our banking system if it had just half of $11 trillion in new deposits?

Re: MsUnderestimated » Blog Archive » The Fair Tax Rally, Pre-Debate, in SC (VIDEO)

Ashford Schwall — Tue, 29 May 2007 15:35:37 -0000

Troy
Yes troy it is sematics. I am not trying to argue with you at all but those are the terms used by economists. Businesses will never bear the burden of income taxes, they will always pass it on.

Cpl Frank

”Who or what non governmental agency is going to be responsible for issuing hundred of millions of checks, each and every month,on time ,with the right amounts due,to anyyone who buys anything in this Country,from bubble gum to Jet Airliners and beyond?” Can you answer that for me?"

What is left of the IRS or the SS amdinistration should have no trouble doing this. Remember, a citizen head of houshold must apply for it.

Re: MsUnderestimated » Blog Archive » Mike Huckabee on Fox News Sunday (VIDEO)

Ashford Schwall — Tue, 29 May 2007 16:01:50 -0000

Huckabee is sopt on ! The FairTax Act would cause production to boom. I wish more peopple were knew basic economics.
Production = (Labor x Capital) Remove the tax drag on labor and capital and production takes off, Just like removing the emergency brake.
So far, of the people I have talked to about the FairTax , the only people who hate it are career politicians, lobbyists, tax lawyers, tax accountants, the non working rich, IRS agents, and illegal aliens. Only those who have something to lose from the removal of the income tax hate it.

Re: MsUnderestimated » Blog Archive » Mike Huckabee on Fox News Sunday (VIDEO)

Ashford Schwall — Tue, 29 May 2007 16:09:18 -0000

Roberto
"The Fair Tax will never get passed."

They once said women will never vote, black will never vote, man will never fly.

So far, of the people I have talked to about the FairTax , the only people who hate it are career politicians, lobbyists, tax lawyers, tax accountants, the non working rich, IRS agents, and illegal aliens. Only those who have something to lose from the removal of the income tax hate it.

Most economist i have read are all for the FairTax, in fact it was their idea in the first place.

An Open Letter to the President, the Congress, and the American people Concerning Reform of the Federal Tax Code... signed by

Donald L. Alexander
Professor of Economics
Western Michigan University
Wayne Angell
Angell Economics
Jim Araji
Professor of Agricultural
Economics
University of Idaho
Ray Ball
Graduate School of Business
University of Chicago
Roger J. Beck
Professor Emeritus
Southern Illinois University,
Carbondale
John J. Bethune
Kennedy Chair of Free
Enterprise
Barton College
David M. Brasington
Louisiana State University
Jack A. Chambless
Professor of Economics
Valencia College
Christopher K. Coombs
Louisiana State University
William J. Corcoran, Ph.D.
University of Nebraska at
Omaha
Eleanor D. Craig
Economics Department
University of Delaware
Susan Dadres, Ph.D.
Department of Economics
Southern Methodist University
Henry Demmert
Santa Clara University
Arthur De Vany
Professor Emeritus
Economics and Mathematical
Behavioral Sciences
University of California, Irvine
Pradeep Dubey
Leading Professor
Center for Game Theory
Dept. of Economics
SUNY at Stony Brook
Demissew Diro Ejara
William Paterson University of
New Jersey
Patricia J. Euzent
Department of Economics
University of Central Florida
John A. Flanders
Professor of Business and
Economics
Central Methodist University
Richard H. Fosberg, Ph.D.
William Paterson University
Gary L. French, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President
Nathan Associates Inc.
Professor James Frew
Economics Department
Willamette University
K. K. Fung
University of Memphis
Satya J. Gabriel, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics and
Finance
Mount Holyoke College
Dave Garthoff
Summit College
The University of Akron
Ronald D. Gilbert
Associate Professor of
Economics
Texas Tech University
Philip E. Graves
Department of Economics
University of Colorado
Bettina Bien Greaves, Retired
Foundation for Economic
Education
John Greenhut, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Finance & Business Economics
School of Global Management
and Leadership
Arizona State University
Darrin V. Gulla
Dept. of Economics
University of Georgia
Jon Halvorson
Assistant Professor of
Economics
Indiana University of
Pennsylvania
Reza G. Hamzaee, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics &
Applied Decision Sciences
Department of Economics
Missouri Western State College
James M. Hvidding
Professor of Economics
Kutztown University
F. Jerry Ingram, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics and
Finance
The University of Louisiana-
Monroe
Drew Johnson
Fellow
Davenport Institute for Public
Policy
Pepperdine University
Steven J. Jordan
Visiting Assistant Professor
Virginia Tech
Department of Economics
Richard E. Just
University of Maryland
Dr. Michael S. Kaylen
Associate Professor
University of Missouri
David L. Kendall
Professor of Economics and
Finance
University of Virginia's College
at Wise
Peter M. Kerr
Professor of Economics
Southeast Missouri State
University
Miles Spencer Kimball
Professor of Economics
University of Michigan
James V. Koch
Department of Economics
Old Dominion University
Laurence J. Kotlikoff
Professor of Economics
Boston University
Edward J. López
Assistant Professor
University of North Texas
Franklin Lopez
Tulane University
Salvador Lopez
University of West Georgia
Yuri N. Maltsev, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
Carthage College
Glenn MacDonald
John M. Olin Distinguished
Professor of Economics and
Strategy
Washington University in St.
Louis
Dr. John Merrifield,
Professor of Economics
University of Texas-San
Antonio
Dr. Matt Metzgar
Mount Union College
Carlisle Moody
Department of Economics
College of William and Mary
Andrew P. Morriss
Galen J. Roush Professor of
Business Law & Regulation
Case Western Reserve
University School of Law
Timothy Perri
Department of Economics
Appalachian State University
Mark J. Perry
School of Management and
Department of Economics
University of Michigan-Flint
Timothy Peterson
Assistant Professor
Economics and Management
Department
Gustavus Adolphus College
Ben Pierce
Central Missouri State
University
Michael K. Pippenger, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of
Economics
University of Alaska
Robert Piron
Professor of Economics
Oberlin College
Mattias Polborn
Department of Economics
University of Illinois
Joseph S. Pomykala, Ph.D.
Department of Economics
Towson University
Barry Popkin
University of North Carolina-
Chapel Hill
Steven W. Rick
Lecturer, University of
Wisconsin
Senior Economist, Credit Union
National Association
Paul H. Rubin
Samuel Candler Dobbs
Professor of Economics & Law
Department of Economics
Emory Univeristy
John Ruggiero
University of Dayton
Michael K. Salemi
Bowman and Gordon Gray
Professor of Economics
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
Dr. Carole E. Scott
Richards College of Business
State University of West
Georgia
Carlos Seiglie
Dept. of Economics
Rutgers University
John Semmens
Economist
Phoenix College
Arizona
Alan C. Shapiro
Ivadelle and Theodore Johnson
Professor of Banking and
Finance
Marshall School of Business
University of Southern
California
Dr. Stephen Shmanske
Professor of Economics
California State University,
Hayward
James F. Smith
University of North Carolina-
Chapel Hill
Vernon L. Smith
Economist
W. James Smith
Dean of Liberal Arts and
Sciences and Professor of
Economics
University of Colorado at
Denver
John C. Soper
Boler School of Business
John Carroll University
Roger Spencer
Professor of Economics
Trinity University
Daniel A. Sumner, Director,
University of California
Agricultural Issues Center
and the Frank H. Buck, Jr.,
Chair Professor,
Department of Agricultural and
Resource Economics,
University of California, Davis
Curtis R. Taylor
Professor of Economics and
Business
Duke University
Robert Vigil
Analysis Group, Inc.
John H. Wicks, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Department of Economics
University of Montana
F. Scott Wilson, Ph.D.
Canisius College
Mokhlis Y. Zaki
Professor of Economics
Emeritus
Northern Michigan University

Re: MsUnderestimated » Blog Archive » The Fair Tax Rally, Pre-Debate, in SC (VIDEO)

Ashford Schwall — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:46:09 -0000

Cpl. Frank,
Sorry I meant:
What is left of the IRS AND SS administration should have “NO TROUBLE” doing this.
In other words, the SS admin is used to sending out checks. AND with help from un-needed IRS workers, they would be fine.
Ashford Schwall aschwall@comcast.net

Re: MsUnderestimated » Blog Archive » The Fair Tax Rally, Pre-Debate, in SC (VIDEO)

Ashford Schwall — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 21:26:16 -0000

Fred,
"Ashford Schwall,
What’s going to happen to the S.S. Administration?
Are you implying that the S S Administration is also going to be disbanded, along with the IRS, if the Fair Tax is made the Law of the Land?"
No not at all. I am implying that the SS admin knows how to send out monthly checks. The FairTax would boost the overall intake of SS.

Re: Beck on the Apollo Alliance: "Talk Me Out of the Crazy Tree"

Ashford Schwall — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:38:08 -0000

Beck has the crazies pegged to a tee. The carbon fraud must be stopped.

Re: Beck on the Apollo Alliance: \"Talk Me Out of the Crazy Tree\"

Ashford Schwall — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:38:08 -0000

Beck has the crazies pegged to a tee. The carbon fraud must be stopped.