Super Congress in Session - More of the Cruel Charade

[NorthCarolina]

By Michael Collins
OpEdNews

A Lose--Lose Deal for Citizens

The Super Congress committee is a lose-lose deal for citizens. If the committee produces legislation that is passed into law, that law will be based on a violation of any number of democratic processes. If the committee fails to produce legislation then watch for another round of downgrades from the credit rating agencies that brought us the real estate bubble and the economic collapse.

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The committee is stacked to protect the status quo

The status quo is quite simply the following: corporate subsidies; ongoing bailouts for Wall Street; endless war; and, the unrestrained growth of the national security state. None of this is on the table for the vaunted Super Congress.

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The committee members are ten to two in favor of bailouts and nine to three in favor of Iraq. Why should we expect anything to come out of this process other than a reaffirmation of the status quo? War and bailouts (corporate subsidies) will be left alone. It's a stacked deck. These legislators delivered before, they'll deliver again. They know who they work for. The best we can hope for is a deadlock and no action.

Here is a solution

Link: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Super-Congress-in-Session-by-Michael-Collins-110916-751.html

[soryang]

1. This oped doesn't mention raising taxes on the rich or ...

...corporations. His initial premise is wrong as well. Obama is looking for 4 trillion in cuts from this committee. 1.4 trillion is already on deck from the Budget Reform Act of 2011 which created the committee. These are known as the default "sequestration" provisions.

Clyburn is open to making "reforms" on Social Security. His understanding of old age and disability realities is superficial and wrong. There are already Social Security Disability cuts in the Budget Reform Act which are probably illegal because they violate procedural due process guarantees already in force by the Federal Courts. This is a back door method to keep disabled people off the rolls. Likewise, budget restrictions by a current Congressional session on future sessions, are if not unenforceable, voidable by Congress without any grounds because they violate the essential concept of congressional sovereignty. The sequestration cuts medicare funding by 2 percent a year, in real terms, the projected numbers are not laid out. This will reduce access to providers no matter how it is spun.

But the main thing that is wrong with the whole thrust of the so called movement to resolve the alleged "deficit crisis" is that the people in Washington are Chicago School ideologues who don't understand tax policy. Here is my solution:

It is called progressive taxation. Break up the great estates by increasing taxation. Force the corporations either to invest the money to gain the benefit of business deductions and investment credits or lose it to the government. The principle of progressive taxation is to move otherwise alientated capital, (that is capital alienated from real commerce) back into the real economy and away from the speculative financial markets. The principle has existed since the French revolution, use your financial capital in the real stream of tangible commerce or lose it to the government who will put it to use. Hoarders and speculators with untaxed lazy money, will not build factories, invent patents, purchase capital equiptment or hire people unless marginal tax rates are increased. The objective isn't for government to take the money, but for the corporate elites to employ their money constructively.

End treating income in hedge funds as "capital gains" as they are not capital gains but ordinary income. Force the great "dark pools" of capital to disgorge their funds into the real economy of tangible commerce by increasing the taxes on them. Tax computer trading that only serves to inflate commodity prices. Ban trading in derivatives by those who are non stake holders in the underlying goods or contracts. Force derivative writers to establish reasonable reserves.

Tax global corporations on foreign earnings and end the Cayman island tax avoidance boondoogle by attributing income from foreign subsidiaries to the American domiciled parent corporation. Legislate constructive rules of income attribution to the American market principal who moves the profit offshore constructively while exploiting the American market where the real money is earned while paying no income taxes. In addition, consider increased tariffs are genuine foreign exporters who place burdens on American exports.

Go to medicare for all single payer health care reducing health care costs and the dead horse of health insurance on corporations, employers, employees and entrepreneurs. Heatlh insurance costs stifle new business formation, employment, consumer expenditures, business confidence, and capital investment.

Stop the useless and wasteful wars which balloon government deficits, increase inflation, impose opportunity costs and bloat the current account deficit.

As a practical matter, because the sequestration provisions of the Budget Reform Act of 2011 are for the outyears, unenforceable and unconstitutional, I recommend people urge their representatives to vote against the super committee recommendations, no matter what they are, because they are going to be unfavorable and draconian. Perhaps then Congress could then return to business as usual and the normal legislative process.