9/4 - Coincidence, Reality, the Usual

Here is what we know to be true:

-          Scandals have followed Bill and Hillary Clinton since their days in the Razorback state.  Their supporters will passionately argue that the scandals are right-wing conspiracy theories to bring down the family.  The detractors would argue that the family is the living representation of corruption.

-          With the exception of turning over his Bar affiliation and paying a fine, every single scandal has resulted in no jail time, removal from office, fine or punishment.

-          More and more questionable activities are being raised ranging from the drone strike on the Wikileaks founder to the Clinton Foundation to the secret deals made with Hillary Clinton’s associates.

So what does this all mean – most would say they either believe in the adage of where there is smoke, there is fire or the adage that this is politics as usual.  I submit that both are true. 

Where There is Smoke, There is Fire

There is a fire – new and new scandals keep coming up.  It is a new week, so there will be a new scandal.  The pattern is quite predictable – new scandal comes up, blame right-wing conspirators or FoxNews, admit that nothing was done wrong, confess that it should have been handled better and wait for the story to go away.  At no point, do they ever admit they did anything wrong – they never give up the con.

The sheer volume of scandals – unprecedented in known American History (although Andrew Jackson may have had a similar number) – should disqualify Bill and Hillary Clinton from holding office again.

The Clintons do not help themselves either because they campaign on one thing and then do the opposite.  The wealthy should not have so many tax loopholes yet they themselves and their friends (Warren Buffet) take advantage of these codes.  Saying one thing and doing another…well that leads us to the other adage.

Politics as Usual

Politics as usual is a sad statement that too many people are willing to accept.  When our elected and appointed leaders do something wrong, we say politics as usual.  When they campaign on one thing and do the opposite, we say politics as usual.  And this is not just Bill and Hillary Clinton or the Democrats, Republicans do the same (Mitch McConnell, John Boehner). 

And we are now even at the point where we hear about outside influences and corporations influencing politicians, we shake our heads and say politics as usual.  Both Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz both agreed on this.

People have become frustrated.  As much as candidates say they are for people, they also see how much monies are being spent – when it was a big deal for a campaign to spend a combined $500M, it is now trending towards each party spending $1B each!  People see this and know that whatever happens, it will be politics as usual.

So what happens – a disruption occurs.  The tea parties rises with the likes of Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.  Momentum builds for people like Bernie Sanders who push a genuine people first agenda (at least that is what we thought during his campaign).  And then you get to Donald Trump.

Even though he has benefited and worked the system, he is not part of the party establishment.  And he really does not have much to gain in terms of wealth or popularity if elected President.  So people say, he may do good or he may do bad, but it will not be politics as usual.

Personal Tangent

We should start to encourage our friends, family, colleagues to run for office – people that we can trust to lead us and inspire our country to be great again.  Americans can fix the economy themselves, they can do a lot on their own, just need leaders to provide inspire us and then get out of the way.

9/3 - Donald Trump, Taxes and the New York Times

This is the first in what will be daily essays on the 2016 Presidential elections.  In transparency, I supported Senator Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina for the Presidency and often consider myself a conservative around the likes of Mark Levin, Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin. 

Background

Much has been made about Donald Trump’s taxes.  Here is what we know to be true so far:

-          Donald Trump has leveraged tax laws to fullest extent possible to minimize or possibly eliminate his tax return.  He has stated that himself.

-          Conservatives have a history of being targeted and mistreated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) which includes the releasing of taxes for conservative candidates. 

-          Hillary Clinton served in the United States Senate, representing New York from 2000 to 2008.  Prior, she served as the First Lade from 1992 to 2000 and as the Secretary of State from 2009 to 2012.

These things are not debatable.

Of the things we do not know, the following are important to note:

-          If the New York Times has seen accurate and actual tax returns from Donald Trump.

-          If the access to those materials were legally obtained by the New York Times OR by someone else and given to the New York Times.

Let us now take several scenarios based on the above.

Scenario #1: Donald Trump took a significant loss several years ago and carrying those losses forward, he has not paid US federal taxes.

Donald Trump has not violated any tax laws by doing so.  He has simply done that which our complex tax code allows.  Both parties complain about loopholes and tricks in the code – about how it is rigged to help the wealthy – but no elected official done anything. 

If Hillary Clinton believes this to be such a horrible act, then why did she not introduce a bill to change that?  I did a search and could not find a single bill introduced by Hillary Clinton in her years in the Senate to reverse and close these policies.  She cannot simply complain about being the junior senator from New York as a reason – her replacement has an introduced and cosponsored legislation on a number of different issues (most of which I disagree with).

Let us give her the benefit of the doubt (which is very hard to do) and assume that she did not want to change this.  This leads us to evaluate is there merit in this idea and policy around being able to carry losses forward.  The merit may be in the fact that often times, losses on paper do not impact cash flows until months or even years later.  So perhaps allowing losses to be carried forward reduce bankruptcy occurrences and costly tax-payer bailouts in the future.  (I admit that this is a very simplistic model and I could fill pages and pages digging deeper.)  So maybe this policy should continue.

So here are the outcomes of this scenario:

-          Donald Trump did not break any laws.  Should we punish him for doing that – perhaps, but then the same criticism should be applied to Hillary Clinton.

-          Hillary Clinton who had 8 years in the Senate did not believe this to be a major issue enough to introduce changes to current tax laws.

-          There may be some merit in the tax law itself.

Scenario #2: The tax returns are not accurate, partial or misleading.  Donald may have been paying taxes (nothing wrong with) or not paying taxes (see Scenario #1).

In this scenario, we see the bias of and the lack of responsible reporting by the New York Times.  I would submit that the outcome should be the end of the New York Times – similar to Dan Rather’s career after the forged Bush memo – and/or the removal of their status as “press”.  They should not be granted the freedoms or access guaranteed and promised under the 1^st Amendment.

This also leads to the beyond-realistic, continuous occurrences of right-wing individuals being targeted for taxes.  This includes the IRS not granting tax-exempt status to tea party organizations and the release of tax returns for conservative candidates.  This started in 2010 with Christine O’Donnell, 2010 Senate candidate from Delaware, and continuing through the last Presidential cycle of Harry Reid saying he has seen Mitt Romney’s tax returns on the floor of the US Senate. 

The IRS is a federal agency and under the direction of the White House.  Even the most liberal of liberals must admit that IRS and tax treatment of conservatives is peculiar and needs to have an independent investigation look into it.

So here are the outcomes of this scenario:

-          New York Times should no longer be classified as the “press”.

-          Another conservative attacked around taxes should trigger an independent investigator into the IRS.

Conclusion

Liberals will often claim that there is nothing wrong with not paying taxes, as Mark Levin reminded us of the 2012 47% comment by Mitt Romney.  They would submit our free market, government regulation and capital systems causes these people to not have the opportunities to be able to pay taxes.  Well, the same systems are what allowed Donald Trump to not pay taxes.

Liberals will also claim that government and legislators are responsible for not passing laws to protect victims of gun violence or consumer fraud.   So we should actually hold Hillary Clinton and other people in the Congress and Senate at-fault for Donald Trump not paying taxes.

Personal Tangent

Our tax system is broken – it hurts those Americans earning middle-class incomes while favoring those who earn high or low incomes.  We need to fundamentally reform our tax codes to close loop-holes and to have people pay their fair share in the high and low income brackets.  The middle class is tired of financing our government’s failed attempts to protect and empower the citizens of our country. 

Bear Mountain Compact - Institutionalizing Corruption and Immoral Behavior

As the New York Post reported on April 17, 2016, New York State leaders have a long-established "pact": 

The longstanding pact dictates that downstate lawmakers never reveal the illicit, illegal or immoral activities that colleagues engage in north of the Bear Mountain Bridge, which spans the Hudson River between Orange and Westchester counties.

I don't even know where to begin with why this is wrong.  Illicit, illegal, immoral.  These are things that we should not have to worry about our elected officials, including those in Albany.  However, the truth is far from that, perhaps beyond Bear Mountain and farther than decency.  Not only are leaders in Albany engaging in these things, but it is so common and so widespread that the lawmakers themselves have created a pact about it.

The people that live downstate deserve politicians that are not down-right rotten.  They deserve people who will act morally and legally - people who carry their representative responsibilities with great dedication and respect.  Across the river, we frequently laugh at the continuous corruption in New Jersey but we need to look upstate to find institutionalize corruption.

Perhaps it is our acceptance of politicians like those in Albany that allow the majority of New Yorkers to support Secretary Hillary Clinton and Mr. Donald Trump - two of the most corrupt individuals ever to run for the White House.

#nypost #bearmountaincompact #corruptalbany #newyorkvalues