Senator Johnson responded to my email with a generic form letter that merely restated the GOP talking points, blah, blah, blah.
So I sent him another:
Mr. Johnson,
I have written you before about the budget, and your staff merely responded with a form letter that you send everyone regarding the budget.
You and your party seem intractable in your demands that any debt or deficit reduction be accomplished solely through cuts in spending. I find this approach reprehensible and at least in the case of the GOP Congressional members, duplicitous.
Earlier this year, Speaker Beohner released a report on his own website. In it numerous economists concluded that the most successful recovery programs were a consolidation of spending cuts and revenue increase. The average ratio that best accomplishes that is 85% cuts and 15% revenue increase.
Please don't send me the usual GOP talking points. Just answer this. What is wrong with that ratio? What is wrong with going along with what your own party has posted as a legitimate solution? The CBO has pointed out that simply letting the 2001 tax cuts expire will reduce the problem by over 4 trillion dollars. Those tax cuts have contributed to the problem greatly. That cannot be denied.
Those cuts have not created jobs as the GOP is so fond of claiming. Those cuts have caused jobs to be shipped overseas. Those tax cuts have caused the overall wealth of the top 10 percent of income earners to increase while 90 percent of wage earners saw their overall wealth decline.
Fifty percent of the country earns less than 30000 dollars a year. That is simply unjustifiable, yet I sincerely blame you and your party for the dire straits in which a large number of Americans find themselves.
So exactly why don't you agree with your own economists?
Some solutions are indeed possible:
Let the Bush era tax cuts expire. Eliminate the FICA contribution cap of 106000. Eliminate business tax loopholes.
Do you have the guts and courage to do this?
Again, don't send me a form letter. Respond to this one.
Sincerely,
Tim Mocarski
Racine, WI
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Open letter to my Senator
Senator Johnson,
Yesterday, NFL players and owners agreed to a ten year contract. Over and over during the broadcasts of the agreement one word was constantly repeated. That word was compromise. More and more it is apparent to me that your party, the GOP, has been unwilling to do that in regard to numerous bills and proposals from Democrats. Never has that been more apparent than in the recent budget discussions and the debt limit.
As a voter and taxpayer, I implore you as my Senator to bear in mind that you work for the American people, and the vast majority in every poll agree that the way to balance our budget is through a combination of cuts in spending and an increase in revenue. Through Speaker Boehner's own public release earlier this year, an overwhelming number of economists agree that the most feasible ratio to do this would be an 85 percent decrease in spending and a 15 percent increase in revenues.
During the Biden budget talks, the Democrats suggested an 83/17 percent ratio. It seems to me that it should be easy to split the difference between what your party released as an appropriate ratio and what the Democrats offered. So exactly what is the problem?
In short, Senator Johnson, compromise.
Some things that can and should be done:
--Close corporate tax loop holes.
--Eliminate the 106,000 cap on FICA contributions. This would fund the programs and sustain them almost indefinitely.
--Let the Bush tax cuts expire. According to the CBO, those tax cuts are a main cause of the current deficit problems.
One constantly heard mantra is that government has to live within its means just as the average American family does. When the American family is in trouble, they do indeed decide on what is essential and what isn't. They also, if necessary, take a second or third job. In short, they find a combination of cuts and revenue increases to make ends me. You and your fellow Senators and Congressmen need to do the same. Compromise is what made our country work to begin with. It still can.
Sincerely,
Tim Mocarski
Racine, WI
Yesterday, NFL players and owners agreed to a ten year contract. Over and over during the broadcasts of the agreement one word was constantly repeated. That word was compromise. More and more it is apparent to me that your party, the GOP, has been unwilling to do that in regard to numerous bills and proposals from Democrats. Never has that been more apparent than in the recent budget discussions and the debt limit.
As a voter and taxpayer, I implore you as my Senator to bear in mind that you work for the American people, and the vast majority in every poll agree that the way to balance our budget is through a combination of cuts in spending and an increase in revenue. Through Speaker Boehner's own public release earlier this year, an overwhelming number of economists agree that the most feasible ratio to do this would be an 85 percent decrease in spending and a 15 percent increase in revenues.
During the Biden budget talks, the Democrats suggested an 83/17 percent ratio. It seems to me that it should be easy to split the difference between what your party released as an appropriate ratio and what the Democrats offered. So exactly what is the problem?
In short, Senator Johnson, compromise.
Some things that can and should be done:
--Close corporate tax loop holes.
--Eliminate the 106,000 cap on FICA contributions. This would fund the programs and sustain them almost indefinitely.
--Let the Bush tax cuts expire. According to the CBO, those tax cuts are a main cause of the current deficit problems.
One constantly heard mantra is that government has to live within its means just as the average American family does. When the American family is in trouble, they do indeed decide on what is essential and what isn't. They also, if necessary, take a second or third job. In short, they find a combination of cuts and revenue increases to make ends me. You and your fellow Senators and Congressmen need to do the same. Compromise is what made our country work to begin with. It still can.
Sincerely,
Tim Mocarski
Racine, WI
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