Tax Rebates
I have not written much about the stimulus package. My views on rebates are well known from living in New Jersey; rebates are inefficient. The cost of providing rebates causes slippage. It is far more efficient to cut taxes than it is to return tax dollars already collected.
Yet, the federal government is about to return $146 billion. It will borrow money from China in order to do this. Sure, that’s a smart move.
And in an effort to ensure that this decision is as absolutely wrong as it could possibly be, today it is leaked that unless Congress scrambles, the bill that passed the House and is up in the Senate contains language that would provide rebates to some illegal aliens.
Splendid!
Bull Moose rips into Republicans who are balking at supporting John McCain. He states:
I hardly think turning over the country to a Democratic congress with no check other than a dyed-in-the-wool socialist like Hillary, or a left mystery like Obama is the move that Republicans want to make just because John McCain has been on the wrong side of some issues. I think Rush Limbaugh and his ilk are going to (or do) realize that and are going to look awfully silly in the late summer when they do a 180 and start singing John McCain’s praises.
I think the issue, however, is that folks are just tired of supporting “the party” just because it’s the party. The GOP has moved significantly from its core principles in recent years. Politically, perhaps it needed to. But for many, including me, compromising core principles is not acceptable. I left the Republican Party because I felt I was no longer being represented by Republicans. Sure, Republicans come closer to my politics than Democrats. No candidate will ever match my politics 100%, I know. That is not enough to get me to support John McCain for president. He is too wrong on too many issues. Immigration. Campaign Finance. Taxes. He is unacceptable to me.
McCain represents all that is wrong with this rebate. Illegal aliens are tolerated, we borrow money we don’t have, give it to those who do not pay taxes and/or are here illegally, and then tax me to more to pay for it all.
That isn’t worth my vote. Just because he’s a Republican no longer cuts it for me. I expect better representation.
Also blogged on this date . . .
- I Have a Dream . . . Sort Of - 2008
- On "Not A Train" - 2008
- Touché - 2007
- County Leadership - 2007
- Super Bowl XVII - 1983
Tags: immigration, McCain, Politics, rebate, Republican, slippage, tax
By Bull Moose on Jan 30, 2008
I understand not being happy with McCain as the nominee, but are you really going to let Hillary or Obama gain a net vote by not voting for him in the general? Really?
OK, it might not matter for you, since New Jersey will be blue no matter who the Republican nominee is, but in Washington - which might be in play if McCain is the nominee and had a gubernatorial election which was decided by less than 200 votes a few years ago - I’d have to mark the ballot for McCain.
I understand where that comes from, but I have to ask myself, do I want to not vote for McCain because I’m worried he will nominate a Supreme Court Justice like Kennedy and end up with Hillary or Obama who will nominate a Supreme Court Justice like Ginsburg.
I’ll take my chances with McCain.
By Bob on Jan 31, 2008
As I have tried to explain to some here in NJ, accepting McCain means that the GOP moves too far left for my liking. This is not not liking a candidate’s position on an issue. McCain is wrong on too many things that matter.
He is emblematic of the GOP at large. The party has caved on its principles. Did conservative judges pass Congress during the last eight years? The Gang of 14 included whom?
I do not see McCain as a conservative. I am a conservative.
By Bob on Jan 31, 2008
I am not a party stooge. I would not vote for the GOP state senate candidate in my district this past election either. He was unacceptable to me.
Someone just told me the party belongs to the people, not an ideology. I suppose I rather not compromise my principles to accommodate “the people”.
By Bull Moose on Jan 31, 2008
“Did conservative judges pass Congress during the last eight years?”
Well, Alito and Roberts alone were reason enough to vote for Bush rather than Kerry. And frankly Bush isn’t that much more conservative than McCain.
Assuming McCain is the nominee, this will be a lesser of two evils election. (Again.)
I’ll take McCain’s 82.3 American Conservative Union rating over Hillary’s 9.0 or Obama’s 8.0 rating. On every issue that I think McCain is bad on, Hillary/Obama is worse.
If I didn’t have kids to think about, I might be of the mindset to weather the Hillary/Obama storm to teach the Republicans a lesson. But risking another Jimmy Carter on the off chance that it will produce another Reagan seems too much like cutting off my nose to spite my face.
By Bull Moose on Jan 31, 2008
One last thing to add: If the Democrats were going to nominate someone not quite so objectionable as the two that they have, I might not vote for McCain either.
If, say, Bill Richardson or someone like him was the nominee, I’d think about skipping the President blank on the ballot. I can’t turn the Oval Office over to moveon.org and the DailyKos crowd, though.
By Bob on Jan 31, 2008
BM, you have a perfectly valid point. Most times I argue that position myself (although Richardson, while not corrupt, is clueless). This time, however, I feel that this candidate is too wrong on too many issues. It’s not like I want the other side to win. If the election were held today, I would probably abstain from voting for either candidate.
The thing is that the GOP needs to back conservatives. It has not and that is a huge issue.