Douglas C. Lyons – Senior Editorial Writer The Sun-Sentinel

December 4, 2010

Douglas C. Lyons – Senior Editorial Writer
The Sun-Sentinel
200 E. Las Olas Blvd.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301

RE: “Do Legislators Feel Your Pain” – Some comments on your article in today’s Sun-Sentinel in which you bemoan and bewail those rascally rich Republicans in Tallahassee and why Joe the Plumber – OOOPs! – Joe the Carpenter is in for a rough ride.

Mr. Lyons,

If rich Republicans in the Florida legislature make you think that life is really unfair and drive you into modern American Liberal hissy fits I suggest you shield your eyes from another “inconvenient truth”.

The top 6 wealthiest members of the United States have at least one thing in common. They are all Democrats.

They have an average net worth of not quite $120,000,000.

Of the 6 one got it by starting a company in a garage. He and his partners made it grow by force of their wills. They created an industry where none had existed. The company is a world wide leader in what is now an indispensable part of the modern world wide economy.

Of the other 5 three got there by being members emeritus of the Lucky Sperm Club. The other two got it there the other old fashioned way. They said “I do”. More precisely, they got somebody else to say “I do”. One of them did it twice. He married up both times.

You point out, in an intellectually dishonest way, and in a factually and morally incorrect manner, a made up fact – We can’t call it a lie, can we? – about the supposed coming tax cuts for millionaires.

President Bush proposed and the Congress voted approval of his tax plan. That made it the law of the land. The law was “sunsetted” for 12/31/10.

If Congress renews it the tax cuts for millionaires will not take place at the Rose Bowl. By an affirmative vote they will not be taken away. The way the law reads the millionaires – 6 of whom are Democratic Senators – will keep their tax cuts.

Buckle up. It’s going to be bumpy ride.







Only mush brained moronic modern American Liberals, and if there are any other kind they are certainly keeping to themselves, could believe that tax cuts have to pay for themselves. Incidentally, taxes are never cut. What has been cut is the tax rate. That is a very important distinction lost on people who believe that umbrellas cause rain.

Interest paid on mortgages is deductible from Federal income taxes. How is that paid for? Local real estate taxes are deductible from Federal income tax. How is that paid for? Interest paid on municipal bonds is not even reported on Federal income tax returns. How is that paid for? Wages paid when on sick leave are not subject to Federal taxes. How is that paid for? Cash contributions to qualified charitable or non-profit institutions, institutions like the ACLU or the NRA, are deductible from Federal income taxes. How are they paid for?

If History is a guide we know that cutting tax rates increases tax revenues. We have 20 centuries of empirical data.

There is no evidence anywhere, anytime of a society or country taxing itself into prosperity

Let me add that the great Lord Keynes, a man more quoted than read, if he were here, would have been standing on top of the Capitol dome demanding, pleading that not only should the existing rates be kept but they should be reduced further. His way out of a depression was to stimulate demand by all means possible.

What the Tea Party members knew instinctively and by experience in a percentage much, much higher than the top 6 Democratic millionaires is that the economic woes in this country are not caused by being undertaxed. They are caused by overspending.

What to cut?

Crop prices are at all time high. Close the Department of Agriculture. Stop buying oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Start selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Why is NATO still around? Why do we have troops in Europe? Keep some as Honor Guards at military cemeteries. Bring the rest home. After 46 years of fighting most valiantly the War on Poverty it’s time to say the truth. We lost. Surrender. We have had a Department of Education since the glorious reign of Jimmy Carter. Johnny still can’t read. Shut that down.




As bad as the periodic African genocide can be we have a much worse example of it here. African Americans make up not quite 12% of the population. Since men can’t have abortions we can say that 6% of the population has 35% of the abortions. Since Roe v Wade the number of abortions in this country is ca 45,000,000. Do the math. Darfur and Rwanda are chump change compared to that butcher’s bill.

You say that the rascally rich Republicans in Tallahassee have never had to “hock the dinette set to keep a roof over their heads”. That can be taken in a number of different ways. One thing is certain. None of the Democrats in the Senate has either.

If you think that you need to pay more Federal taxes I suggest that you go back to 2002 and recalculate your tax bill. There is the rate you paid and there is the rate you would have paid had Federal taxes not been cut.

Pay the higher rate.

If you still feel guilty pay some more.

Keep paying until it hurts. Keep paying until you feel your pain. Keep paying until the legislatures, both state and Federal, feel your pain.


Kevin Smith