10 Years Later Ground Zero & The Pentagon Hallowed Ground of Flight 93



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 September 11, 2001 was a beautiful late summer day in Texas.  The skies were blue and there was not a cloud was in the sky.  My husband and I learned of the first plane crashing into the first World Trade Center Tower as we were leaving our home. Shortly after watcing just a few snippets of the news, my husband drove me to work.  As we entered the plaza where I worked, the second commercial airliner crashed into the second World Trade Center Tower.


Neither of us even at that early moment thought for a minute that this was pilot error made by a pilot of a United States commercial Airlines.

My husband and I looked at one another and in that moment we both realized the United States was under attack, and though as yet although undeclared, we knew  that the United States was under attack and that the United States was at war.

During my work day, as I sat at my desk with my ear buds on listening to the radio, I found it hard to concentrate as I listened to  the horrifying events of the day unfold.

When I returned home and turned on my television I was shocked and jolted by the video of people leaping to their death from the World Trade Center, the devastation, in disbelief and beyond stunned as I watched the film of the two World Trade Centers collapsing to the ground.  I was deeply saddened at the loss of innocent life, and overwhelmed by the heroism of first responders at Ground Zero and at the Pentagon.

My anger boiled over as I watched the coverage of the fall of the two towers, the gaping smouldering hole in the Pentagon and the tragic news of flight 93.

And I wept. 

2,819 lost their lives in the attacks of America on 9/11, in New York City, New York, at the Pentagon in Arlington Virginia , and in Shanksville Pennsylvania.

Each year as September 11th approaches I am drawn back to those powerful emotions.

Each year I watch all the coverage, of the memorial services.

And today, 10 years later today is another beautiful September day in Texas.  I find myself drawn to watch the memorial services that are aired on my flat screen.   My mood is somber, pensive, poignant.   I am 

immediately pulled back to clearly the most significant tragic historical event of my life.

As the time has passed, my heartbreak has not diminished, and I pray for the families that lost loved ones on September 11, 2001, and for the families who have lost a husband, a wife a son, a daughter, for those who have lost a friend as a result of their service in the United States Armed forces in our War on Terror.

Yesterday I watched the Dedication of the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville Pennsylvania, and I wept at as I watched and listened to the beautiful and eloquent speeches from President George W Bush, President William Jefferson Clinton, and Vice President Biden I was struck once again by the greatness of America.

As I struggle to find words to honor the events of 9/11, I realize this is not the only blog this year that will be written by countless others.  I also acknowledge that  my efforts clearly pale in the eloquence of the the text of the following three speeches from the Flight 93 Dedication Memorial Services in Shanksville yesterday, September the 10, 2011.

May God bless America, and may God wrap his loving arms around all those who have lost a loved one in America's War on Terror.

 President George W Bush's Flight 93 Dedication Memorial Speech on September 10, 2011,

"Mr. Secretary, thank you very much. Mr. Vice President, Dr. Biden, President Clinton, Mr. Speaker, Members of Congress. My friends Tommy Franks and Tom Ridge, thank you for helping raise the money for this memorial. Members of the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation, and all those who supported this memorial — but most importantly the families of Flight 93 — Laura and I are honored to join you in dedicating this memorial to the heroes of Flight 93.

When the sun rose in the Pennsylvania sky ten years ago tomorrow, it was a peaceful September morning. By the time it set, nearly 3,000 people were gone — the most lives lost on American soil in a single day since the Battle of Antietam.

With the distance of a decade, 9/11 can feel like part of a different era. But for the families of the men and women stolen, some of whom have joined us today, that day will never feel like history. The memory of that morning is fresh, and so is the pain. America shares your grief. We pray for your comfort. And we honor your loved ones.

On September 11, 2001, innocent men and women went to work at the World Trade Center, reported for duty at the Pentagon, and boarded American Flights 11 and 77, and United Flights 93 and 175. They did nothing to provoke or deserve the deliberate act of murder that Al Qaeda carried out.

One of the lessons of 9/11 is that evil is real, and so is courage. When the planes struck the World Trade Center, firefighters and police officers charged up the stairs, into the flames. As the towers neared collapse, they continued the rescue. Ultimately, more than 400 police officers and firefighters gave their lives. Among them was the chief of the New York City Fire Department, Pete Ganci. As a colleague put it, “He would never ask anyone to do something he didn’t do himself.”

At the Pentagon, service members and civilians pulled friends and strangers from burning rubble. One Special Forces soldier recalls “reaching through a cloud of smoke” in search of the wounded. As he entered one room, he prayed to find someone alive. He discovered a severely burned woman and carried her to safety. They later met in the hospital, where she explained that she had been praying for rescue. She called him her “guardian angel.”

Then there is the extraordinary story we commemorate here. Aboard United Airlines Flight 93 were college students from California, an ironworker from New Jersey, veterans of the Korean War and World War Two, citizens of Germany and Japan, and a pilot who had rearranged his schedule so that he could take his wife on vacation to celebrate their anniversary. When the passengers and crew realized the plane had been hijacked, they reported the news calmly. When they learned that terrorists had crashed other planes into targets on the ground, they accepted greater responsibilities. In the back of the cabin, the passengers gathered to devise a strategy. At the moment America’s democracy was under attack, our citizens defied their captors by holding a vote. The choice they made would cost them their lives. And they knew it.

Many passengers called their loved ones to say goodbye, then hung up to perform their final act. One said, “They’re getting ready to break into the cockpit. I have to go. I love you.” Another said, “It’s up to us. I think we can do it.” In one of the most stirring accounts, Todd Beamer, a father of two with a pregnant wife at home in New Jersey, asked the airphone operator to join him in reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Then he helped lead the charge to the front of the plane with two words: “Let’s Roll.” With their selfless act, the men and women who stormed the cockpit lived out the words, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

And with their brave decision, they launched the first counteroffensive of the war on terror. The most likely target of the hijacked plane was the United States Capitol. We will never know how many innocent people might have been lost. But we do know this: Americans are alive today because the passengers and crew of Flight 93 chose to act, and this Nation will be forever grateful.

The 40 souls who perished with the plane left a great deal behind. They left spouses, children, and grandchildren who miss them dearly. They left successful businesses, promising careers, and a lifetime of dreams that they will never have the chance to fulfill. And they left something else: a legacy of bravery and selflessness that will always inspire America. For generations, people will study the story of Flight 93. They will learn that individual choices make a difference, that love and sacrifice can triumph over evil and hate, and that what happened above this Pennsylvania field ranks among the most courageous acts in American history.

The memorial we dedicate today will ensure that our nation always remembers those lost here on 9/11 . But we have a duty beyond memory. We have a duty beyond honoring. We have a duty to live our lives in a way that upholds the ideals for which the men and women gave their lives – to build a living memorial to their courage and sacrifice.

First, we have a duty to find common purpose as a nation. In the days after 9/11, the response came like a single hand over a single heart. Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle gathered on the steps outside the Capitol and sang, “God Bless America.” Neighbors reached out to neighbors of all backgrounds and beliefs. In the past decade, our country has been tested – by natural disaster, economic turmoil, and anxieties about challenges at home and abroad. There have been spirited debates along the way. That is the essence of democracy. But Americans have never been defined by our disagreements. Whatever challenges we face today and in the future, we must never lose faith in our ability to meet them together. And we must never allow our differences to harden into divisions.

Second, we have a duty to remain engaged in the world. 9/11 proved that the conditions in a country on the other side of the world can have an impact on our own streets. It may be tempting to think that it does not matter what happens to a villager in Afghanistan or a child in Africa. But the temptation of isolation is deadly wrong. A world of oppression and anger and resentment will be a source of never-ending violence and threats. A world of dignity and liberty and hope will be safer and better for all. And the surest way to move toward that vision is for the United States of America to lead the cause of freedom.

Finally, we each have a duty to serve a cause larger than ourselves. The passengers aboard Flight 93 set an example that inspires us all. Many have followed their path of service by donating blood, mentoring a child, or volunteering in desperate corners of the Earth. Some have devoted their careers to analyzing intelligence, protecting our borders, or securing our skies. Others have made the noble choice to defend our nation in battle. For ten years, our troops have risked and given their lives to prevent our enemies from attacking America again. They have kept us safe, they have made us proud, and they have upheld the spirit of service shown by the passengers of Flight 93.

Many years ago in 1863, another President came to dedicate a memorial site in this state. He told his audience that “in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground,” for the brave souls who struggled there had “consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.” He added that “the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”


So it is with Flight 93. For as long as this memorial stands, we will remember what the men and women aboard that plane did here. We will pay tribute to the courage they showed, the sacrifice they made, and the lives they spared. And the United States of America will never forget.

May God bless you all, and may God bless our country."

President Clinton's Flight 93 Dedication Memorial Speech, on September, 10, 2011:

"Before President Bush came up to speak, I asked him if he was having a hard time. And he said I was doing fine until I looked at you, all of you. Last night, Hillary came home after spending a day in New York. And her eyes were red because 10 years ago she was the senator representing those 343 firemen and nearly 900 people from Cantor Fitzgerald who died and all the others. As we remember what happened at the -- in New York, at the Pentagon, and here, all the rest of us have to honor those who were lost, to thank those who love them for keeping their memory alive, raising their children, and finding the strength to go on with your own lives.

I think we should also thank President Bush and those who served with him, Vice President Biden, President Obama, those who served with them, for keeping us from being attacked again. I thank them for that.

Speaker Boehner, I thank you and the members of Congress who are here and who have been in the Congress for the last 10 years trying to respond to the findings of the 9/11 commission and improve our ability to secure our homeland.

But here in this place we honor something more. I was very moved as you were when President Bush calmly recounted the facts of what happened with your loved ones over this field a decade ago. There has always been a special place in the common memory for people who deliberately, knowingly, certainly laid down their lives for other people to live.

President Bush is from Texas, and I sometimes think because I grew up in Arkansas that's the more important difference between us than our partisan differences.

CLINTON: But every child I grew up with was raised on a memory of the Alamo, the defining story of Texas. Why? Because those people knew they were going to die. But the time they bought and the casualties they inflicted in the cause of freedom allowed the whole idea of Texas to survive. And those who live there now to enjoy the life they do.

The first such great story I have been able to find that reminds me of all your loved ones, however, occurred almost 2,500 years ago. When the Greek king of Sparta facing a massive, massive Persian army took 300 of his finest soldiers to a narrow pass called Thermopylae. There were thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people. They all knew they were going to die. He told them that when they went. And the enemy said we're going to fill the air with so many arrows that it will be dark. And the Spartans said, fine, we will fight in the shade. And they all died.

But the casualties they took and the time they bought saved the people they loved. This is something different. For at the Alamo and at Thermopylae, they were soldiers, they knew what they had to do. Your loved ones just happen to be on a plane.

With almost no time to decide, they gave the entire country an incalculable gift. They saved the capitol from attack. They saved God knows how many lives. They saved the terrorists from claiming the symbolic victory of smashing the center of American government. And they did it as citizens.

They allowed us to survive as a country that could fight terror and still maintain liberty and still welcome people from all over the world from every religion and race and culture as long as they shared our values, because ordinary people given no time at all to decide did the right thing. And 2,500 years from now, I hope and pray to God that people will still remember this.

So, since I am no longer in office, I can do unpopular things.

CLINTON: I told the secretary of the interior, the head of your development program, that I was aghast to find out that we still need to raise $10 million to finish this place. And Speaker Boehner and I have already volunteered to do a bipartisan event in Washington.


Let's get this show on the road. Let's roll. Thank you and God bless you."

Vice President Joe Biden's Flight 93 Dedication Memorial Speech on September 10, 2011

"Ladies and gentlemen, my fellow Americans, I’m honored to be standing here today, standing with two former Presidents.


President Clinton, as he said, the passengers on Flight 93 knew that our common humanity is what united us most. Well, Mr. President, the same can be said of you. You spent your time as President, and the years since, deeply committed to embracing and strengthening our common humanity.  And, Mr. President, we all thank you for what you’ve done and what you continue to do.

Let me also recognize a man responsible for bringing our country together at a time when it could have been torn apart, for making it clear that America could not be brought to her knees, and helping us stand tall and strike back -- President George W. Bush. (Applause.) In the darkest hour of our generation, your voice and leadership, Mr. President, helped us find our way. And for that, you deserve our gratitude for a long, long time.

And I say now to the families that are gathered here today, I know what it’s like to receive that call out of the blue, like a bolt out of the blue. And I know this is a bittersweet moment for you. And I want to tell you, you have a lot more courage than I had. You have a lot more courage just by being here today, because I know, and many others know, how hard it is to relive these moments, because it brings everything back in stark, stark relief and stark detail.

But I also know, like your loved ones, what you probably don’t know, that you are literally an inspiration to the thousands of people across this country who right now are feeling the loss of an intense tragedy that they’re suffering. They know, looking at you, watching you on television today, that there’s hope to be found after tragedy, that there’s rebirth in the face of death. You, in a sense, are as courageous as your family members were. And we owe you all for being here today, just the act of being here.


We’re here today to remember and honor 40 men and women who gave their lives so others could live theirs -- decent, honorable women and men who never imagined 10 years ago tomorrow that when they said goodbye to their children, when they kissed their loved ones goodbye and walked through that door, that they were doing it for the very last time.


They didn’t know the horror that awaited them, but they confronted unimaginable fear and terror with a courage that has been summoned only by the truest and the rarest of American heroes -- 40 names etched on each of those panels on the wall, the Wall of Names. But, more than that, their names are going to be, as President Bush said, etched forever into American history. They join an incredibly elite list of women and men, and a long history filled with ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things -- men and women of undaunted courage, uncommon resolve, and a stubborn perseverance in the face of unfathomable challenge.

We teach our children that these are qualities ingrained into our national character as Americans. And I believe they are. They animate our national identity. And I believe they will continue to define America, because of the example of the men and women who we pay tribute today, the passengers and the crew of Flight 93.

None of them asked for what happened. They didn’t go on that plane -- they didn’t board that plane to fight a war. But when they heard the news, when they found out what happened in New York, they knew that they were going through, it was something more than a hijacking. They knew it was the opening shot in a new war.


And so, they acted. They acted as citizen patriots have acted since the beginning of our country. They stood up and they stood their ground. They thought, like Captain Parker said at Lexington, and I quote him, “If they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”

As many times as I recall, and all of you who are not family members like me, have recalled this incident time and again over the last 10 years, I never fail to be astonished, literally astonished by the courage they demonstrated.

And so, we stand where it began. We think of them. We think of our nation. We think of our history and we think of the future. And we think of it, because of them, with a confidence knowing that ordinary citizens will continue to stare down fear, overwhelm evil, and bring forth hope from what seems to be none. And although it will continue to amaze us and inspire us when it happens, it should not surprise us. For that heroism is who we are. And that courage lies deepest and beats loudest in the heart of this nation.

We know that these 40 men and women were more than ordinary Americans to all of you sitting in front of me. They were more than passengers and crews. They were already heroes. They were already heroes to you.

They were the father that tucked you in bed at night. They were the wife who knew your fears before you even expressed them. They were the brother who lifted you up. They were the daughter who made you laugh. They were the son who made you proud. They are irreplaceable. I know that. We know that.


And we know, and I know, that no memorial -- no words, no acts -- can fill the void that they left in your hearts. My prayer for you is that 10 years later, their memory is able to bring a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. And I hope you take comfort in knowing that a grateful nation understands that your loved ones gave their lives in pursuit of the noblest of earthly goals: defending their country, defending their families, sacrificing their lives so we could live ours. Those of us who were in Washington that day, without knowing it for sure at the time, now know we owe them an overwhelming special, personal debt of gratitude.


The collective spirit of your mother, your father, your brother, your husband, your wife, your sister, your best friend -- that spirit lives on not only in you, but in your country. It lives on in the Cross of Steel made from the World Trade Center beams, placed on a Pentagon-shaped platform that rests proudly outside the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department.  That Cross of Steel is an enduring symbol of the steel and the spine of this region, and the spine of this country.


And it definitely lives on in a new generation of warriors -- the 9/11 Generation, inspired by what happened here, 2.8 million young Americans since 9/11, that 9/11 generation, have joined the United States Armed Forces -- thousands giving their lives and tens of thousands being wounded to finish the war that began right here.


Maya Angelou wrote, and I quote, “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived. However, if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”

Ladies and gentlemen -- we are not here to unlive history. We are here to honor those whose courage made history and is going to inspire generations of Americans to come.


So, I say to you, even as we struggle with this tragedy, even as we grapple with the profound loss and devastating grief, we can look up at the heavens and think of these heroes and know, know with certitude that there is not a single, solitary tragedy that America cannot overcome. There is not a single moment of hardship that cannot be transformed into one of national strength. The seeds of doubt, planted by those who wish to harm us, will instead grow into flowering meadows like this one where we stand in today, for they cannot defeat the American spirit. We know this with certainty. We know it with certainty, because it’s the history of the journey of this country at every stage of our history.


As President Clinton knows, my mother used to say, “Courage lies in every heart.” And she would go on to say, “And the expectation is that, Joey, one day it will be summoned.” “Courage lies in every heart, and one day it will be summoned.” On September 11, 2001, at 9:57 a.m., it was summoned and 40 incredible men and women answered the call. They gave their lives and, in doing so, gave this country a new life.

We owe them. We owe you a debt we can never repay. Thank you all. Thank you, family members. And may God bless you. And may God protect our troops.

Jobs~How To Re-Industrialize America

      Manufacturing Creates Jobs

In the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, it was not The United States Government that fueled the engine of the American Economy, but men with big dreams.

Visionaries like Thomas Alva Edison, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell and Eastman and 100's of others began tinkering with notions to make life better and easier.  And the end result of all this tinkering by these inventive men led to more than a Century of American Economic dominence.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s American Ingenuity was not constrained by high taxes, mountains of regulations, agricultural subsidies, unions, or bad trade agreements. Those who immigrated to America assimilated, adopted our language, and embraced our culture.  The result was stunning.  Capitalism thrived, the free market prevailed, and America was jettisoned to greatness.  From sea to shining sea private development grew cities along rivers, in the prairies and mountains and on the coastlines of America.

Dump the 71,684 Page Tax Code

We must invite our manufacturing base home with an offer they cannot refuse.  If we make it attractive enough perhaps we can reclaim the 5.7 million manufacturing jobs we have lost in the last decade.

It is time for our Federal Government to live within the revenue it receives and not the revenue it has created in a 71,684 page tax code, licensing, regulatory fees, highway taxes, and an assortment of other taxes on usage and services in daily American life. 

America has the highest Corporate Tax rates in the world.  This must end, and the sooner the better.  We must embrace eliminating taxes on American job producers. In return for this tax free environment corporations must hire American workers and make products in America. We must not be the nation that is holding manufacturing back with a tax system that rewards sending jobs offshore.  We must not be the nation that kills our Agricultural Community with punishing Death Taxes when the head of the family farm dies.

We need to eliminate Price Controls and and make America a Right to Work Nation.

We must not be the nation that Assembles in America, We must be the nation that proudly stamps on our products MADE IN AMERICA.

We must be determined to free up capital and encourage investment in American factories and American Production by ending for once and all capital gains taxes, and taxes on profits.  Profit is not a dirty word or an immoral ideal.  Breaking even and bankruptcy has never created a single productive job. (Except for Bankruptcy lawyers and bill collectors).

It is past time to embrace the Ryan Budget plan and to address the train wreck of Entitlements this nation faces in the near future and to be bold and do what is necessary to fix them.  It is also time to stop co-mingling and the embezzlement of funds taken from American workers payroll checks, that are used for uses other than Social Security and the other deductions for which they are taken.  This is called stealing and those funds have been taken from individuals who had no choice in the deduction.

I am not an isolationist, but we must insist that our trading partners cease and desist in the trading practices that leave us with giant trade deficits.  If they will not level the playing field then it is time that we as a nation stop making the economies of other nations thrive at the expense of our own. 
 
In reality we are not only a nanny state to a wide percentage of the American population but also a nanny state to the world.  American consumption has created more than it's share of other nation's successes for more than 5 decades. It is time to review all of our Trade Agreements, and to confront our partners and insist they cease or greatly moderate thier tariff practices.  It is also time to review our defense alliances, and to move to change our free and unappreciated protection of our allies.  If  our  allies want the protection of our bases they should be contributing in dollars for the massive cost to the US tax payer spent for that protection.

A Fat Free Government

Our federal government is bloated.  In March of 2010 the Government Accounting Office issued a limited report identifying duplications of services for many programs across many agencies.  The problem begins with a budget process with an annual 7% automatic increase for spending.   This must stop.  We have not had a budget in over 800 days.  One continuing resolution after another prevents the judicious and sound review of government spending.

Not only is there a duplication of services in many programs, but under the Obama Administration many agencies and bureaus have been re-purposed or have directives under their Cabinet Secretary that take their daily activities far from their founding guidelines.

Why is the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department  part of a DOJ raid on Gibson Guitar?  How is it that the Department of Interior and the EPA can devastate farmers by starving their land of water to save a 2 inch fish in the San Joaquin Valley?

Bill after bill from the Obama Administration and even some GW Bush have increasingly intruded into the lives of everyday American citizens.

Why are we wasting billions on the TSA to scan innocent Americans when a saner policy would be to profile for those who match the demographic of one after another terror attack on 9/11?

We waste millions of dollars in foreign aid to buy friends. We even have foreign aid programs for China and Russia, we pay to have mosques restored in foreign nations where we are engaged in combat operations.  We pay to protect our allies (at no charge) to house bases on their soil.

And it is time to greatly reduce our contribution to the United Nations.  It has never met it's founding ambitions and is a social gathering place for thugs, despots and nations who do not share our values and rarely support the United States.

Since the founding of the Department of Education our country has become more illiterate and the Department of energy has not created any energy.  The only commerce the Commerce Department seems to be engaged in is intereference with the free market.

The Department of Interior should become the Department of National Parks, all BLM lands should be returned to the private sector and National Forest returned to their respective States.

Obamacare and the Dodd Frank Bill and Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac and the hostile takeover of Chrysler and GM show that our Federal Government should leave business to the private sector. 

Any plan that does not eliminate agencies that have outlived their usefulness, or who have now been repurposed from their original founding ideals need to be privatized or closed.

Not only should we embrace Ryan's Budget, but also the Connie Mack One Cent Solution. 

Our world is filled with turmoil.  Iran is seeking hegemony ine the Middle East we should all have deep concern over new alliances that are in bloom, the fact that China and Russia are one again beefing up thier capability, now is not the time to make deep cuts in this nations defenses, or to walk away from the space program.  The nations defense is the federal governments first priority.  Before defense is cut eliminating or privatizing federal agencies not identified in the constituition as a pracitce of the federal government should be our goal.

This nation needs a Balanced Budget. We must get our spending under control, we need more than a budget, we need sound fiscal policies that produce budget surpluses.  If a family should save for a rainy day so should our Federal Government. Any surpluses we acquire as a result of economic health should first be applied to the deficit to pay the 37 plus foreign nations we owe an astounding 14 trillion dollars.  Once we have achieved this goal all surpluses should be in a Federal Government Savings Account that will cover two years of Federal Government expense.  Once that goal has been achieved, we should reduce taxes again.  A debtor nation can never be a world leading power.

One size government does not fit all of America and it is long overdue for the the 50 Sovereign States to reclaim their sovereignty.

Drill Baby, Drill

It has been 43 years since the first oil embargo by OPEC.  43 years later we still do not have a sound energy policy to protect our economy, or drive this nations electrical, or transportation needs.  It has been decades since this nation has built any new Nuclear facilities, Dams, or Refineries.  Coal fired electric generation and nuclear electric generation are under continual attack.  Mining and drilling licenses and EPA studies present huge capital outlays before the ground is even broken for facilities and any resources recaptured.  

It is time to open drilling in ANWR and other known oil fields in the lower 48 states, and it is time to let leases for natural gas.  It is time to let leases for offshore drilling, and to license refineries to drive down the cost of gasoline. Opening up these natural resources would create over 1 million jobs. 

The Obama Administration loaned 2 billion dollars to Brazil for offshore drilling.

We have squandered a fortune equal to our national debt buying foreign oil from nations whose politics are very far from our founding principle.  We are held hostage to their demands.  Should at any time one of our major suppliers decide to stop delivering oil to the United States, our economy would be crippled.  With the resources this great naiton has we should never be in a position for that threat to be even a remote possibility. If you do not believe me look at the damage the OPEC embargo caused to the United States in 1973.

Windmill farms and solar panels will never generate the electricity necessary to fuel a 21st Century society. In the future in regions where there is plenty of sun it may be practical to fit homes with solar panels, but this should never be a federal government program, it should be an choice that an individual homeowner makes.  Our nation is blessed with an abundance of resources, coal, huge oil and natural gas reserves, hydro electric and thermal electric, sludge producing electric opportunities. We should make use of all of them.  It is time for the United States to become an energy omnivore.

Tear Up Throw Out Regulation

 

Regulatory costs exceeded all US 2008 corporate pretax profits of $1.463 trillion. 

If we really want to increase American Job production it is time to greatly reduce the regulatory burden placed on America's Private sector.  Our Private sector has been regulated to near death, our GDP in 2011 is hovering in the 1 percentile and below.  In the last week of August 2011 this nation did not produce a single job.  There are over 81,000 rules listed in the Federal Registry.

The EPA under Obama and 14 other agencies have signed onto an EJ MOU.  While Obama has placed a hold on the EPA's portion of regulations, 14 other agencies are still piling on to the pile of red and green tape that are production stealing, profit stealing business suffocating regulations.

In 2009, On Christmas Eve Obama Care was passed, and Kathleen Sibelius is busy writing regulations that if not stopped will impact every private citizen in America and have a negative impact on 1/6th of our National Economy.

The Dodd Frank bill passed in 2010 has hit a snag as Warren has departed to run for the Senate in Massachusetts and once those regulations have been penciled in by yet another beaurocrat they will likewise impact individual citizens.

34 Czars out side of legislative overview are busy writing policy and rules we all must follow.

If we addressed what sent our manufactures off shore, and for once and all tackled the Tax Code and Entitlements, made our government smaller and leaner, reigned in government spending, produced our own energy and greatly reduced the regulatory burden we could easily produce between 7 and 10 million jobs.

Enough jobs to return to full employment. 

And we would save this Great Wonderful Republic for future generations. 

Our founders took a solemn oath and we have a moral obligation to leave this nation strong and healthy for future generations.

God bless America and God bless the patriots who are willing to make the tough choices we must to make America home of the 'Shining City on the Hill'

 





71,684 Pages of Favors 3.7 Million Words~Reason For Reform

      The United States Tax Code



..."taxes are frequently so much more burdensome to
the people than they are beneficial to the sovereign."
  Sam Adams

 
71,684 pages of Tax Code.

3.7 Million words long.  This source says,

"According to my office’s analysis of IRS data, U.S. taxpayers and businesses spend about 7.6 billion hours a year complying with the filing requirements of the Internal Revenue Code.

- If tax compliance were an industry, it would be one of the largest in the United States. To consume 7.6 billion hours, such a “tax compliance industry” would require the equivalent of 3.8 million full-time workers.


- Compliance costs are huge both in absolute terms and relative to the amount of tax revenue collected. Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data on the hourly cost of an employee, my office estimates that the costs of complying with individual and corporate income tax requirements in 2006 amounted to $193 billion — or a staggering 14% of aggregate income tax receipts.

- More than 80% of individual taxpayers find the process of filing tax returns so overwhelming that they pay for help. About 60% of taxpayers pay preparers to do the job, and another 22% purchase tax software to help them perform the calculations themselves.

If you were to publish a book that was 500 pages long and each page was printed on both sides, the book would have 1,000 pages of reading material.  This would be equal in the thickness of a ream of paper.

If you had to print the Tax code you would need a set of 71 books to simply print the code, and atleast 2 completely separate books as a table of Contents.

Our Crony tax system awards huge corporations like General Electric Corporation which earned $14 billion dollars, which had 5 billion dollars worth of profits to pay no taxes.  From this interview, on the O'Reilly Factor Lou Dobbs says, "...And by the way, corporate America, Bill, buys, with $4 billion a year, representation that you and me and our fellow citizens can't buy in Washington. And the result is a tax system that permits GE to book its profits and leave them offshore and not, what's called repatriate, bring them back to the United States no matter where the profits are made. And that's what's happening here. They bought the loophole. They are using the loophole, and they're going to continue to do just that."

There is an old Wyoming riddle, "What do you call a horse built by committee?"  Answer, A Horse.
The US Tax code was introduced in 1913, and was roughly around 400 pages long.  In 98 years our elected officials have been busy modeling one moose after another, and we are left with 71,684 pages with 3.7 million words of loopholes and tax breaks in a mire of crony arrangements that I am certain would horrify the founders of this great nation.

This chart, shows the inequality of our current tax system, according to this chart "307,868,280 Americans compose 151,285,000 tax units, 49.% of which have ZERO federal tax liability in 2009.  That leaves 80,438,545to pay over one trillion collected."

Currently two different popular models are being discussed as change to America's Tax Policy.

1.  A Flat Tax  This site from Freedomworks, touts tax reform under these "4 Basic Principals"
All Americans should be equal before the law—including the tax code. We are not. We need to Scrap the Code! And replace it with one that is simple, low, flat, fair, and honest.

• Supporters of fundamental tax reform have agreed on four basic principles:
• Lowering and flattening marginal rates 
• Moving towards full expensing of business investment 
• Reducing or eliminating the double taxation of dividends and capital gains International tax reform

From the home page of this site, ..."The code is so complex because of the proliferation of deductions, credits, and other special preferences in the tax law. Because of these loopholes, taxpayers with similar incomes can pay vastly different amounts in taxes. This uneven treatment of taxpayers is fundamentally unfair and is at odds with the American value of equality under the law.

The current tax code does more than complicate people’s lives during tax season and reduce living standards. It also pollutes Washington’s political culture. As special-interest provisions have been added to the tax code, Washington’s lobbying industry has flourished.

It reduces incomes through punitive taxes on saving, work, and entrepreneurship. It places multiple layers of taxation on saving, thus reducing investments in new machines and technology that make American workers more efficient and competitive. High marginal tax rates (that is, the tax rate on the last dollar earned) discourage work, saving, and entrepreneurial activity, which leads to a smaller and less productive economy. By favoring certain economic activities over others, the tax code distorts financial decisions and reduces economic efficiency."

2. The Fair Tax  This site from FairTax.org wants to entirely abolish the Federal income tax system and move to a national sales tax.  "The FairTax proposal is a comprehensive plan to replace federal income and payroll taxes, including personal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security/Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes. The FairTax proposal integrates such features as a progressive national retail sales tax, dollar-for-dollar revenue replacement, and a rebate to ensure that no American pays such federal taxes up to the poverty level. Included in the FairTax Plan is the repeal of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. The FairTax allows Americans to keep 100 percent of their paychecks (minus any state income taxes), ends corporate taxes and compliance costs hidden in the retail cost of goods and services, and fully funds the federal government while fulfilling the promise of Social Security and Medicare."

The FairTax Basics

The FairTax has been called the most thoroughly researched tax reform plan in recent history. This section offers a quick introduction to the FairTax and tax reform.

Scholarly research tells us that . . . 

• The FairTax rate of 23 percent on a total taxable consumption base of $11.244 trillion will generate $2.586 trillion dollars $358 billion more than the taxes it replaces. [1]
• The FairTax has the broadest base and the lowest rate of any single-rate tax reform plan. [2]
• Real wages are 10.3 percent, 9.5 percent, and 9.2 percent higher in years 1, 10, and 25, respectively than would otherwise be the case. [3]
• Disposable personal income is higher than if the current tax system remains in place: 1.7 percent in year 1, 8.7 percent in year 5, and 11.8 percent in year 10. [4]
• The economy as measured by GDP is 2.4 percent higher in the first year and 11.3 percent higher by the 10th year than it would otherwise be. [4]
• Consumption increases by 2.4 percent more in the first year, which grows to 11.7 percent more by the tenth year than it would be if the current system were to remain in place. [4] 
• The increase in consumption is fueled by the 1.7 percent increase in disposable (after-tax) personal income that accompanies the rise in incomes from capital and labor once the FairTax is enacted. [4]
• By the 10th year, consumption increases by 11.7 percent over what it would be if the current tax system remained in place, and disposable income is up by 11.8 percent. [4]
• Over time, the FairTax benefits all income groups. Of 42 household types (classified by income, marital status, age), all have lower average remaining lifetime tax rates under the FairTax than they would experience under the current tax system. [5]
• Implementing the FairTax at a 23 percent rate gives the poorest members of the generation born in 1990 a 13.5 percent improvement in economic well-being; their middle class and rich contemporaries experience a 5 percent and 2 percent improvement, respectively. [6]
• Based on standard measures of tax burden, the FairTax is more progressive than the individual income tax, payroll tax, and the corporate income tax. [7]
• Charitable giving increases by $2.1 billion (about 1 percent) in the first year over what it would be if the current system remained in place, by 2.4 percent in year 10, and by 5 percent in year 20. [8]
• On average, states could cut their sales tax rates by more than half, or 3.2 percentage points from 5.4 to 2.2 percent, if they conformed their state sales tax bases to the FairTax base. [9]
• The FairTax provides the equivalent of a supercharged mortgage interest deduction, reducing the true cost of buying a home by 19 percent. [10]

This site has an overview of the  pros and cons of the Fair vs Flat Tax Debate.

The idea behind the fair tax is to eliminate the federal income tax and replace it with a national sales tax. There are some strong opinions on both sides of the fair tax issue so I thought I’d share a few of the pros and cons. It is not a flat tax, though I think that would be more fair than our current system as well.

1. Pro: The fair tax is much easier to understand than the current convoluted tax income tax system. When an entire industry (tax accountants) has been created to understand paying taxes, there is a problem. The picture below is Representative John Linder holding the 132 page Fair Tax Act in contrast to over 60,000 pages of U.S. tax code.

2. Con: That industry would be completely destroyed, and many jobs in the IRS would be lost. There would still be jobs to work on taking in the money, but many less than what is needed currently.


3. Pro: Transparency. Transparency in government is always a good thing. With over 60,000 pages in the current tax code, most people have no idea what is in it. What happens is the people who have more money pay accountants to find loop holes that get them out of paying taxes. Poorer people can’t afford the accountant so they just end up paying the base rate. With the fair tax it is easy to see that everyone pays the same rate on the things they buy.


4. Con: The sales tax would have to be pretty high to stay revenue neutral, i.e. bring in the same revenue for government as the current system. The bill that is currently in Congress is at 30% and independent groups have said the number is probably closer to 34%. This is a pretty large amount of money added to each thing we buy. This is especially true when you think of big ticket items. A $20,000 car suddenly cost $26,000. For somebody who has been saving under the current tax code, this would be a hard hit.


5. Pro: With a national sales tax, there would no longer be a tax on investments. This would obviously be really great for the stock market. There would be a lot of money that would come in from the sidelines and help turn the markets around. It would also encourage venture capital to invest in entrepreneurs to help fuel the American dream. Many jobs could be created with this new influx of capital.


6: Con: Along the same lines as number 4, the large sales tax would discourage people from buying things. Our economy is very heavily dependent on consumers, and a large sales tax would probably make some people spend less on things, save more, and pay off debt. Now, personally I would take almost all of that as a pro. In the long term it would be a benefit, with more people out of debt they could really stimulate the economy as opposed to spending money they don’t have which got us into the current mess. However, in the short term reducing consumer spending could have some impact, and this is an argument anyone against the fair tax will probably give.


7: Pro: The fair tax would hopefully increase productivity in our country. Currently, we have an income tax that gets progressively more burdensome the more money you make. This reduces the incentive to work harder and be productive the higher you move up the ladder. Taxing consumption makes a lot more sense than taxing production.


8: Con: The fair tax increases entitlements. From Wikipedia:

Under the FairTax, family households of lawful U.S. residents would receive a “Family Consumption Allowance” (FCA) based on family size (regardless of income) that is equal to the estimated total FairTax paid on poverty level spending according to the poverty guidelines published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services … Opponents of the plan criticize this tax rebate due to its costs. Economists at the Beacon Hill Institute estimated the overall rebate cost to be $489 billion (assuming 100 percent participation). In addition, economist Bruce Bartlett has argued that the rebate would create a large opportunity for fraud, treats children disparately, and would constitute a welfare payment regardless of need.


9. Pro: A huge pro of the fair tax is it would significantly broaden the tax base. Illegal activity (such as selling drugs) that creates large amounts of income would now get taxed. Under the current system we just get lots of rich drug dealers. Under this system they now get taxed every time they buy something. Along the same lines, this would also tax illegal immigrants. This would go a long way towards solving the illegal immigration problem.


10. Pro: Opponents of the fair tax claim it could create an underground economy of people trying to evade taxes. Under a sales tax, intermediate goods that are a part of production would not be taxed. This creates potential for businesses to claim something is an intermediate good when really it is the end product that should be taxed. This would however constitute evasion and the bookkeeping that would be mandated for businesses should prevent most of this.

Overall I think the pros significantly outweigh the cons for the fair tax. I think the idea of taxing consumption instead of production makes a lot of sense, and taxing illegal activities and illegal immigrants sounds great to me. However, nothing here can solve the real problem that we have. The thing that needs changed is the out of control spending habits of our government. Until that is curbed, how we pay taxes isn’t the big issue.

What is most troubling to me is currently those who pay no taxes, and the unfair burden the top 50% of of wage earners who pay 96.3% of the taxes.  I believe that even the poorest should pay a 1% tax.  No one appreciates or values what is free.

My concern with regards to the Fair Tax (unless I am missing the minutia) is murkiness of the breaks those who are truly at the poverty level would have to pay, when money for food and lodging is sparse.  What I do like about the Fair Tax is that it entirely eliminates the IRS.

In full disclosure I am more in favor of a flat tax.

This site from Heritage (and yes the link is 10 years old) raises issues that are as valid today as when the article was originally written. ..."The current tax code of the United States is irreversibly broken and should be repealed. The tax laws undermine the country's prosperity by imposing needlessly harsh penalties on work, savings, and investment. Although many taxpayers face confiscatory tax rates and often are forced to pay more than one layer of tax on their income, the politically well-connected can take advantage of special deductions, credits, preferences, shelters, and loopholes to minimize their own tax liability. The result of this double standard is a tax system that not only penalizes productive behavior, but also violates the fundamental constitutional principle of equal treatment under the law."

Either system would be a vast improvement over our current Tax codes. 

Our Big Fat Government

      It's Time For A Federal Diet

Our federal government has grown too big for it's britches.

This summer, our national debt reached the tipping point, placing the United States on the road not unlike that of Greece, Ireland, Spain and Italy. We are now a debtor nation.

"Debt as of July 31 totaled $14.342 trillion. That was made up of $9.756 trillion held by the public and $4.587 trillion the U.S. government owes itself (intergovernmental borrowing, largely from the Social Security and Medicare trust funds to the general fund). GDP—the value of all of the goods and services produced in the United States—in 2010 was $14.5265 trillion. With the Treasury’s additional borrowings of $238 billion so far in August, the total of all debt outstanding has now increased to $14.5807. That’s $54.2 billion more than average 2010 U.S. GDP, the last year for which we have final estimates on GDP from the U.S. Department of Commerce."

As I write this our national debt is $14,685,462, 200,507. The debt per US Citizen is $47,408, and the debt per American Tax Payer is $131,055. And it is growing exponentially as I write this blog. Our government spends a staggering $3,000,000 a minute. "When Barack Obama took the oath of office twice on Jan. 20, 2009, CBS' amazing number cruncher Mark Knoller reports, the national debt was $10,626,000,000,000."

To place our debt in perspective from the same link, ..."Numbers with that many digits are hard to grasp, even for a Harvard head. So, let's put it another way:

One billion seconds ago Bill Clinton was nearing the end of his two terms and George W. Bush's baseball collection was still on the shelves in the Austin governor's office.

The nation's debt increased $4.9 trillion under President Bush too, btw. But it took him 2,648 days to do it. Obama will surpass that sum during this term.

Now, how to portray a trillion, or 1,000 billions. One trillion seconds ago much of North America was still covered by ice sheets hundreds of feet thick..."

If you would like to take a look at your specific government cost, there is a calculator found here, and you can calculate your portiom of future federal spending, your estimated share of future federal taxes, and what they could have been worth.

This site is an amazing interactive government spending site and has statistics on Federal Spending data with statistics beginning in 1792. This is a tool that every person interested in what we spend and details should bookmark.

While compiling links for this blog, I spent countless hours searching for an official site that would list exactly how many government offices and agencies you and I pay to staff. Countless searches, I thought surely there should be a simple list provided by the US Government, the only official one that I found was an A-Z listing of all government agencies, with Municipal, County, State and Federal Government offices all listed together. However one very ambitious blogger has accumulated a more than exhaustive detailed list of Federal Government Agencies and it can be found here.

This CATO Institute Study is a Department by Department and reviews cost savings and ways to downsize the Federal Government.

This study by CATO Institute reviews the cost of federal employees, and the disparity between federal employment salaries wages and benefits and those of the private sector. "...With projections of huge federal deficits for years to come, policymakers should scour the budget looking for places to cut spending. One area to find savings is the generous compensation paid to the federal government's 2.1 million civilian workers1 Total wages and benefits paid to executive branch civilians amounted to $230 billion in 2010, indicating that compensation is a major federal expense that can be trimmed.2


During the last decade, compensation of federal employees rose much faster than compensation of private-sector employees. As a consequence, the average federal civilian worker now earns twice as much in wages and benefits as the average worker in the U.S. private sector.3 A recent job-to-job comparison found that federal workers earned higher wages than did private-sector workers in four-fifths of the occupations examined.4..."

Our nations credit has been downgraded by Standard and Poors as a result of unprecedented spending by the 110th and 111th Congresses due to the lack of our federal government having a balanced budget, or a budget at all. Standard and Poors stated “...political brinkmanship” in the debate over the debt had made the U.S. government’s ability to manage its finances “less stable, less effective and less predictable.” It said the bipartisan agreement reached this week to find at least $2.1 trillion in budget savings “fell short” of what was necessary to tame the nation’s debt over time and predicted that leaders would not be likely to achieve more savings in the future."

The budget presented to the Senate by President Obama failed in the US Senate by a vote of 97-0 Both Paul Ryan's budget, (which failed in the Senate 47-50) and Connie Mack's One Cent Solution would have prevented our nation suffering a down grade.

In March of 2010 the GAO (General Accounting Office) published a limited study of reviewing duplication of services programs and subsidies of the Federal Government, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

In this overview from the Wall Street Journal, Damien Paletta has pointed out the duplication of subsidies and programs:

1. Food safety: 15 agencies are involved in implementing numerous federal laws.


2. Defense: Numerous redundancies in the purchasing of tactical wheeled vehicles, procurement, and medical costs.


3. Economic development: 80 different programs spread across numerous agencies, often with similar goals.


4. Surface transportation: More than 100 programs run by five divisions within the Department of Transportation deal with surface transportation.


5. Energy: Eliminating duplicative federal efforts to increase ethanol production could save $5.7 billion each year.


6. Government information technology: 24 federal agencies deal with information technology.


7. Health: The Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs could work together – instead of separately – to modernize their electronic health records systems.


8. Homelessness: More than 20 federal programs deal with homelessness.


9. Transportation Security Administration: Assessments of commercial trucking overlap with another federal agency.


10. Teachers: 82 programs that deal with teacher quality, spread across multiple agencies.


11. Financial literacy: 56 programs dealing with financial literacy.


12. Job training: 44 employment and training programs.

This link from National Review Online says, ''...in Economic Policy Journal, economists Yann Algan, Pierre Cahuc, and Andre Zylberberg looked at the impact of public employment on overall labor-market performance. The authors use data for a sample of OECD countries from 1960 to 2000, and they find that, on average, the creation of 100 public jobs eliminated about 150 private-sector jobs, decreased overall labor-market participation slightly, and increased by about 33 the number of unemployed workers..."

Here is the link, from the introduction to the abstract (all that you can see without paying, or special access to the site, and the introduction to the study: "We explore the consequences of public employment for labour market performance. Theory suggests that public employment may not only crowd out private employment, but also increase overall unemployment if, by offering attractive working conditions, it draws additional individuals into the labour force. Empirical evidence from a sample of OECD countries in the 1960-2000 period suggests that, on average, creation of 100 public jobs may have eliminated about 150 private sector jobs, slightly decreased labour market participation, and increased by about 33 the number of unemployed workers. Theoretical considerations and empirical evidence, however, suggest that the crowding out effect of public jobs on private jobs is only significant in countries where public production is highly substitutable to private activities and the public sector offers more attractive wages and/or other benefits than the private labour market."

The Federal Government employs whose wages and benefits exceed those of the private sector,
and few if any are ever terminated. ..."Death — rather than poor performance, misconduct or layoffs — is the primary threat to job security at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of Management and Budget and a dozen other federal operations.


The federal government fired 0.55% of its workers in the budget year that ended Sept. 30 — 11,668 employees in its 2.1 million workforce. Research shows that the private sector fires about 3% of workers annually for poor performance, says John Palguta, former research chief at the federal Merit Systems Protection Board, which handles federal firing disputes..."

It is obvious we are not going to begin to fix this nation's fiscal nightmare until we address the size and scope of our Federal Government. It is well past time to make our Federal Government smaller and leaner.All efforts to address the necessary elimination of government agencies that have outlived their original mandate, elimination of programs will produce a deafening roar from the left, and much kicking and screaming.

It is doubtful that the Super Committee will have the courage to address the issues.

Until our leadership seriously addresses entitlements, and making the Federal Government smaller and start privatizing and eliminate huge government bureaucracies, force agencies to write a budget like private industry and produce a balance budget, nothing will change.

It is time for the government to live within it's means. We must hold our government fiscally accountable and it is 235 years past the time for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.