Rice County Republicans

Kevin Budig reported back from the 15 April 2009 Tea Party at the state capital (Minnesota) with comments and photos.

His comments are excerpted below, the photos are at his blog

http://stopblyanddahle.blogspot.com/2009/04/tea-party.html

Kevin’s Comments:

Went to a Tea Party at the capital in St Paul today. Was a good time!! Lots of people. Calm and orderly, unlike the anarchists and nutrootz that were at the RNC. No bags of urine thrown, no concrete off the over passes. Cops and security were in uniform, not riot gear, leaning against their squads, relaxed, chatting and laughing. It was a great, festive time. Speakers spoke without some dumbnuts protester shrieking shrilly about some lame cause or complaint. Plus the speakers managed without a TELEPROMPTER!!
Lots of picture taking, laughing at some good jokes and bad jokes. Cheering, applauding.
And notice all the Right Wing Extremists as defined by our very own Department of Homeland Security!! Look at them all!! Why they need to be reeducated!! Mothers, Fathers, Young, Old, Veterans, so many terrorists in one place!!

What about Tax freedom day?

Tax freedom day estimates the day each calendar year that the taxpayers are finished paying for their government and can start earning for themselves. It is a simple measure, based on total income tax, total earnings, and a 365-day year. This year tax freedom day fell on the 13th April. The Tax Foundation explains this this way

(1) the recession has reduced tax collections even faster than it has reduced income, and

(2) the stimulus package includes large temporary tax cuts for 2009 and 2010. Nevertheless, Americans will pay more in taxes than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined.
[emphasis added, editorial: boy, is temporary an overstatement or what?]

Look at the graph below (from The Tax Foundation (est. 1937) and study it well

Note that during the 1992-2000 Clinton years (yellow) taxes went up and the adjusted date went down, indicating we were making progress on one front while losing ground on another in what is always a highly correlated pair of measures. During the war years (2000-2008) the economy and spending showed some instability as the beginning of the current troubles was evident.

The most shocking is the red, where we see tax freedom day dropping to a low unvisited since 1967, but the adjusted tax freedom day shoots nearly off the charts.  Anyone want to project this forward 10 years and see when the true tax freedom day will arrive when we have added $10T in debt? I don’t think any politicians want us to think that far ahead. Lucky for us, 12 year olds (who will get to lead the way in paying this off) don’t get to vote either. Talk about your “taxation without representation!“.