I was given an advance copy of a secret undercover investigation exposing systemic corruption in government by my friend and conservative activist James O’Keefe. If you thought what O’Keefe uncovered with ACORN was bad, you’ve got to see this one. This undercover video proves the entire U.S. government entitlement system is one big fat ACORN.

By the time this commentary is published, the video will have gone public in the national media…and no doubt it will have gone “viral” as well. What it shows is enough to make a taxpayer pop an artery in their neck. It’s enough to make taxpayers sick to their stomachs. It’s enough to shake the entire U.S. government to its core. It’s enough to cause taxpayers to revolt, and refuse to give one more dime to a corrupt, out of control, GOVERNMENT GONE WILD.

And as far as the debt ceiling- you can stuff it. All deals should now be off the table.

This is the perfect time and place to make a stand. To draw a line in the sand. To end the spending addiction today. This second. To agree to cut the spending, cut the debt, balance the budget, and protect the taxpayers. But James O’Keefe’s video should inspire the battle charge by conservatives and Libertarians. This video crystallizes everything. We either deal with the addiction now, or this country and economy will perish later.

This is the battle to cut spending and limit the size and scope of government is the battle of all battles. This is more important than even the battle against terrorism. Because our own government is defrauding and terrorizing it’s own citizens and taxpayers. This is more important than the supposed battle against Global warming. Because government debt is the real national security threat.

This is bigger than the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Because I have no idea why we are fighting there anymore, and no idea why anything that happens in those countries effects U.S. taxpayers and business owners on Main Street. But anyone can clearly see how government wasting billions, if not trillions, to purposely grow the size and power of Big Brother effects all of our lives every day. This is a war we cannot afford to lose. This undercover expose by O’Keefe is the video that crystallizes the picture.

This video proves that your tax money and mine is being wasted all over this country by our Big Brother government. Fraud is being committed every day. There is no need to raise the debt ceiling. There is only a need to cut spending, entitlements, waste and fraud. And there is a desperate need to cut government employees, millions of whom obviously sit around all day handing out taxpayer money to free-loaders, while they wait for their retirement, so they can sit around another 40 years being paid $100,000 pensions for not working, courtesy of the suckers…oops I mean taxpayers.

This video proves that government employees are either completely incompetent, completely corrupt, or involved in a purposeful conspiracy to hand out massive tax dollars to dramatically grow the size of government, making their agencies and their unions more powerful, thereby keeping their jobs safe. My educated guess is it’s all three- with government employees we’ve hit the Triple Crown- incompetence, corruption, and conspiracy to defraud.

This video only involves one department, one entitlement- a $1.2 trillion dollar business built around waste and corruption. But it represents every government department, and every entitlement. They are all the same. Go undercover against any government agency, department, or bureau and you’ll find lazy bureaucrats throwing taxpayer money out the window.

And amazingly you’ll find- as this video proves- they will throw the money at anyone, even the worst of the worst. At criminals, drug dealers, pimps, underage hookers, millionaires driving $800,000 cars. It just doesn’t matter. Government either doesn’t care because it’s not their money, or they know exactly what they’re doing. It’s all a plan to hand out the money, to grow government bigger.

Either way, this is the moment in time. Thanks to James O’Keefe for leading the cavalry charge.  We must STOP THE INSANITY. Hold the line. Not one inch. Not one more dollar from taxpayers to pay for this madness. Enough is enough. As my hero Ronald Reagan would say, “Mr. Obama TEAR DOWN YOUR DEBT CEILING.”

 

By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee

 

 

Last week I wrote a commentary entitled, “What Would Reagan Do?” My recommendation was to emulate President Ronald Reagan’s courage and chutzpah.  Do something bold, courageous, and radical to turn today’s economic Armageddon into an economic boom. That Reaganesque idea is a One-Year Income Tax Vacation — allowing every taxpayer in America to keep 100 percent of their income for one year.

 

What would they do with it? Some would spend it, creating a boom in consumer spending, stock, and real estate purchases. Many would start new businesses or expand current ones, creating millions of jobs. That bold tax plan is aimed squarely at the only group that can lead us out of this Obama Great Depression — private sector innovators, risk-takers and small business investors. It is Reagan on steroids.

 

But that is only a start. Here are nine synergistic ideas to build upon that Income Tax Vacation:

 

1.  Welcome taxpayers back from the income tax vacation with a Flat Tax, emulating the most successful economy in the world — Hong Kong (which has an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent) and a dozen former communist countries.

 

You mean Obama doesn’t believe America can compete with Russia (13 percent flat tax), Romania (16 percent flat), Albania (10 percent flat), Lithuania (15 percent flat), Serbia (12 percent flat), or Bulgaria (10 percent flat)? Why can’t America try a tax plan that is creative, motivational, and Reaganesque? Why not a flat tax that actually rewards success and hard work?

 

Why not a Reverse Flat Tax with two simple rates that could be filled out on a postcard: A 15 percent flat tax rate for the first $250,000 of income, and 10 percent for any income above $250,000? Imagine the economic explosion this would inspire, as capitalist entrepreneurs line up to invest their money in new businesses, so they could take advantage of this Reverse Flat Tax. Contrast that reaction with Obama’s tax schemes, which merely frighten, discourage, and punish small business owners.

 

2.  Offer investors a “Small Business Start-Up Tax Credit.” More than two out of every three jobs are created by small business, almost 100 percent of which are from start-ups.  We can get small business moving again and creating jobs by giving investors dollar-for-dollar tax credits up to $100,000 for investments in IPO’s, secondary offerings, startups, and new real estate developments.

 

3.  Offer a “Get Small Business Moving Again” employment plan. Suspend all payroll taxes and minimum wage rules for any new employees hired by a small business (200 employees or less) in the next year. This suspension of taxes and minimum wages lasts for a minimum of 3 years, or until unemployment drops below eight percent. That will get America’s restaurants and other small businesses hiring youth again. There’s no “slave labor” here. If you don’t want the job with a lower wage, don’t take it. It’s your right to stay unemployed. My bet is that millions of youth will line up, scream with joy for the opportunity, and say THANK YOU!

 

 

4.  Personally, I’d recommend following the Hong Kong model of zero capital gains tax…forever. But let’s compromise and keep capital gains            taxes at 15 percent for any investments made during the next five years, enabling business owners and investors to invest with certainty, stability, and consistency.

 

 

5.  In return for that compromise, let’s agree to eliminate all capital gains taxes for Americans Age 55 and older. Why not reward, motivate and encourage those Americans with income and assets from a lifetime of hard work, to invest in small business, stocks, and real estate…thereby empowering their prosperity in retirement, and creating an economic explosion that rewards their children and grandchildren?

 

6.   Allow U.S. companies to bring their foreign earnings back to America with a very low tax or penalty (5%). Companies would rush to take advantage, thereby creating millions of new jobs from an infusion of as much as $2 trillion dollars pumped into our economy.

 

7.  Resolve the Social Security crisis, thereby ending fear and uncertainty. It can be done instantly, simply, and without raising taxes for anyone. Simply raise the retirement age in stages over the next 20 years to age 68, then 69, and finally 70. This change won’t affect anyone nearing retirement age now.

 

Combine this age raise with a partial privatization of Social Security for younger workers. This gives younger Americans ownership of their retirement accounts. They can use it, or pay for their grandchildren’s college education. Upon death, it belongs to their family.

 

8.  Cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent (currently second highest in industrialized world) to a flat 15 percent…but simultaneously eliminate all corporate welfare. We should support free market capitalism — not a crony capitalist government that awards favors, subsidies, and sweetheart deals to the biggest campaign contributors.

 

9.  End the Federal Reserve. This unaccountable quasi-government, quasi-private organization has damaged the U.S. economy for far too long. Its mandate is to protect the value of the dollar. Since the Fed’s founding in 1913, the dollar has lost 94 percent of its value. I’d call that a disaster. It’s time to implement a sound dollar policy by restoring the Gold Standard.

 

In the movie “A Few Good Men” Jack Nicholson said to Tom Cruise, “The truth? You couldn’t handle the truth!” Would Obama and his socialist cabal support letting rich people get richer if it saved the U.S. economy, created prosperity, and led to 20 million new jobs? Sadly, I fear they couldn’t handle the truth.

 

 

Wayne Allyn Root is a former libertarian vice presidential nominee. He now serves as chairman of the Libertarian NationalCongressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts.” His website: ROOTforAmerica.com

 

By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee

 

 

Why is Obama trying to ruin the lives of millions of small business owners and upper middle class American homeowners? And, why is Obama trying to do it without warning, without discussion, without hearings — hidden in debt ceiling negotiations?

 

Obama uses words like “the rich” and “fairness,” but it’s important to understand that his goal of taking away the mortgage interest tax deduction won’t hurt his super-rich, jet-set contributors, like Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of G.E. His company made over $12 billion last year and paid zero U.S. taxes. Zero. But that doesn’t bother Obama. Obama’s plan to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction is aimed squarely at upper middle class American homeowners, small business owners, and retirees whose entire lifetime of hard work is tied to their home. Those groups will be devastated.

 

Obama is trying to play bait and switch. Obama’s policies support the ultra-rich (who contribute to him), while destroying small business competitors. Obama’s plan helps to wipe out his upper middle class political opposition, that is, those who pay their taxes, pay their mortgage, raise their families and love their country. Those are the people who support fiscally conservative candidates and causes. So Obama demonizes and punishes them, calls them “rich,” and gets to starve his political opposition.

 

Drive through any upper middle class suburban neighborhood. These people are not rich. They are not private jet or yacht owners. They are not CEO’s of billion dollar public companies. They are independent contractors, professionals, or small business owners, who started with nothing, risked their own money on their ideas, and now work fourteen-hour days. Even with all that hard work, they can only hold onto their homes, businesses and dreams because of the mortgage interest deduction. Take that away, their lives become unglued, and they lose everything.

 

An income of $150,000 to $500,000 sounds nice. But the reality is all it does is pay for a life well lived. It pays a mortgage, two cars, groceries, perhaps a country club membership, private school, and in my case — a daughter at an Ivy League university. I work fourteen hours a day to survive and pay the bills. I like to call it “being poor, but at a higher level.”

 

Like all of my small business friends, I worry about my bills every month. These aren’t the spoiled-brat, lucky-sperm-club kids that Obama and I attended Columbia University with…who now happen to be his biggest campaign contributors. The people Obama is trying to hurt are the “Heart of America.”

 

They are also the economic engine of America. All the small business owners and independent contractors living on their $150K to $500K incomes are buying most of America’s homes, cars, stocks, and consumer goods. They are creating most of America’s jobs. Without this upper middle class there is no U.S. economy.

 

Obama’s bleeding heart leftist campaign contributors and golf buddies live very different lives — they own homes they bought for cash with inheritances or stock options. The rest of the country is living in homes that are financially underwater and unsellable for years to come. We survive and hold onto our homes and businesses in this Obamageddon economy because of our mortgage deduction. Without that tax break, we don’t make it to tomorrow.

 

For most upper middle class families that Obama loves to demonize as ‘the rich’, their home is their biggest asset. Without the deduction, their home value plummets, and there’s no longer a reason to continue paying a bloated mortgage. Say goodnight to real estate for decades to come. “The rich” would become poor overnight.

 

 

Most of the small business owners I know are mortgaged to the hilt. They took on that debt because of the mortgage deduction. It was dangled in front of us as the last legal tax shelter. The double crush of losing 35% of the value in their homes overnight, plus paying much higher taxes, while their mortgage stays the same, would devastate and bankrupt most of the upper middle class. Only a “community organizer” who has never run a business or created jobs would even consider such a draconian proposal. Unless, of course, it’s all part of a purposeful plan to create crisis, overwhelm the system, and starve the political opposition.

 

If Obama and the Democrats succeed in taking away the mortgage deduction, millions of upper middle class Americans will walk away from their homes and mortgages. And if you think banks are insolvent now, can you say bankruptcy squared? B of A would have to change its name to B of No A (for Bank of No Assets).

 

Who gets crippled? Banks, developers, realtors, plumbers, electricians, landscapers…all out of business. Consumer spending will come to a halt. On and on it trickles down. Tax revenues will plummet, the debt will skyrocket. Is that how a “community organizer” thinks you create jobs?

 

If you think the economy is bad now, wait until Obama gets his way. We’ll all be “community organizers.” It will be the only job left.

 

The real question is, is Obama simply ignorant, or is this part of a purposeful plan to punish and weaken the people who contribute to conservative candidates and causes?

 

 

 

 

Wayne Allyn Root is a former libertarian vice presidential nominee. He now serves as chairman of the Libertarian NationalCongressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts.” His website: ROOTforAmerica.com

 

 

By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee

 

 

If my income is cut, or I lose my job, how will I react? Most people would dramatically slow down their shopping and spending. What is the result of that decreased spending? It clearly hurts the economy- retailers, supermarkets, department stores, and anywhere else you’d normally spend your money is damaged. What happens to the people who work for those companies? Millions of jobs are lost and the economy crumbles.

 

Let’s get more specific. What if I, and millions like me, cut out our restaurant visits each week? What if we cut out a vacation?  What happens if we put off buying a new car or furniture? No big deal, right? Wrong. Millions of waiters, busboys, bellmen, hotel maids, hotel security, flight attendants, airplane mechanics, executives, secretaries, salesmen, and even janitors lose their jobs. And when those people lose their jobs, what happens to their spending and those whose jobs are dependent on it?

 

Even education suffers. Today my younger children are home tutored. They also take swimming, ballet, Kung Fu and lacrosse lessons. What if I decided to cut back on all that spending because I had less money coming in? What would happen to those tutors and sports coaches? What would all these people that depend on me do without the income? Jobs are lost. Businesses close.

 

Does anyone disagree with this scenario? If people have less money to spend or invest, the economy suffers. Right?

 

So here is the million dollar question for progressives and assorted socialist FOOLS (Friends of Obama & Obama Lovers)…

When you raise taxes, doesn’t it have the exact same effect?

 

You’re taking money away from people. You are leaving them with smaller paychecks. You are damaging their quality of living. You are making it impossible to spend, or shop, or invest like they did when they had a bigger paycheck.

 

So how exactly is raising taxes any different than a person taking a pay cut, or losing their job, or a business owner losing a portion of his or her income? The answer, of course, is that it isn’t different.

 

Obama’s mantra is “Tax the rich, they can afford it.” Really? Well, if you take an extra $5,000, or $10,000, or $25,000 away from me, I can’t afford it. I’ll stop hiring those tutors and coaches- and they pay the price. I’ll cancel my vacation, or my order of new furniture, or stop eating out. I’ll stop buying clothes, and slow down my dry cleaning. And, so will over 30 million American small business owners. Take away people’s money and jobs are lost. Period. The economy spirals downward.

 

So please explain to me…How does raising taxes help the economy? How does it end a depression? I want FOOLS (Friends of Obama and Obama Lovers) to explain to me how taking money away from consumers and business owners creates prosperity?

 

Here’s the dirty little secret. Raising taxes kills jobs, kills the economy, and deepens a recession into a Great Depression.

 

Taxes aren’t the lowest they’ve ever been. Obama and his friends (the FOOLS) are lying to you. Taxes are the highest in history when you add up federal income taxes, state, local, property, sales taxes, social security and medicare taxes, taxes disguised as fees, and the loss of deductions. The tax burden on small business owners has never been higher. And Obama threatens to make it far higher- perhaps an unimaginable ten times higher by taking away the home mortgage deduction and removing the cap on Social Security taxes.

 

This is all causing fear, loathing, depression and panic among the job creators. This is causing millions of Americans to consider leaving the U.S.A for places where business owners are appreciated and rewarded, not demonized and punished. That means they will take with them millions of jobs- gone forever.

 

Here’s a simple lesson in this scenario. The New York Post reported recently that toll prices (ie taxes) at bridges throughout New York had increased dramatically. The result? Traffic has dropped dramatically at those bridges. Taxes ruin everything they touch.

 

That’s the same reason over $1 trillion dollars of wealth has transferred from New York to Texas in the past decade. Taxes ruin business. Taxes force people to either spend less or re-locate to places with lower taxes. It’s the same reason that NY, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan and California are bleeding- losing jobs, losing taxpayers, increasing debt by the billions. These high-tax and spend states lead the nation in debt and moving vans moving out of their state. Taxes kill whatever they touch.

 

Let’s compare how different Presidents handled the issue of taxes.

 

When Reagan cut our taxes from 70% to 28% everyone had jobs, restaurants were booming, real estate was exploding, stocks were soaring, furniture was moving, auto sales were flying, it was one big party. It was morning in America.

 

Under tax and spend liberals like Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama the country literally came to a grinding halt. The economy stood still. Commerce just…stopped. Jobs just…disappeared. All hope…vanished.

 

The lesson in all this is that “Trickle Down Economics” really does exist. Unfortunately Obama is proving it works in BOTH directions. Opportunity and prosperity can trickle down. So can depression, debt and despair.

 

 

Wayne Allyn Root is a former libertarian vice presidential nominee. He now serves as chairman of the Libertarian NationalCongressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts.” His website: ROOTforAmerica.com

 

 

By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee

 

 

Where is Ronald Reagan in today’s GOP? A lot of Republicans evoke Ronald Reagan, but none have his courage, boldness, or chutzpah. Reagan was a Western gunslinger as well as a politician. He was Sheriff Wyatt Earp daring the bad guys to draw. Reagan was not afraid to ruffle feathers and put dramatic, even radical plans on the table. That is how he created the Reagan Revolution that revitalized America.

 

Today’s GOP is neither radical nor revolutionary. It is boring and pedestrian. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes. What is the GOP answer? “Let’s keep taxes where they are.” How pathetic is that?

 

Today’s GOP is filled with funeral directors re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. In the face of massive deficit and debt, economic collapse, chronic unemployment, and a Misery Index rivaling the Great Depression, the GOP’s answer is to recommend either status quo, or tax and spending cuts so small it takes a microscope to find them.

 

The boldest plan of the bunch comes from Tim Pawlenty, who has proposed a flat tax that isn’t flat and doesn’t cut taxes. The media calls it “bold.” You mean “revenue neutral” is bold? Try winning an election with this slogan: “A Tax Plan That is Revenue Neutral!”

 

Here’s the problem: Obama is a socialist who wants to raise taxes and punish business owners, while the alternative is the GOP, which wants to keep things where they are, or nibble around the edges at best. Neither is the right answer. That puts America in a lose-lose scenario.

 

We need a contrarian new vision. We need a modern day Reagan with a bold plan. We need a capitalist evangelist whose is not afraid to state his goal- to dramatically and radically cut taxes to encourage entrepreneurship, and spark an economic boom.

 

With America facing economic Armageddon, leaving taxes where they are just isn’t enough. “Revenue neutral” is not going to excite anyone and it’s not going to reverse the economic slide both parties have put us in.

 

As a true fiscal conservative, a Reagan Libertarian, let me outline a game-changing, conversation-changing tax plan.

 

Reagan boldly cut top tax rates from the 70% range to 28%, driving the Reagan Revolution that created 20 million jobs and turned Jimmy Carter’s bust into a boom, creating the greatest economic expansion in world history.

 

The current Obama Great Depression is even worse than the Jimmy Carter malaise. It requires even bolder action. It requires political leaders who are not afraid of their own shadow. I hope the GOP is taking notes. Here is Reagan on steroids.

 

CREATE A ONE-YEAR NATIONAL INCOME TAX VACATION.

That’s right- an income tax vacation. For one year you keep 100% of what you earn. Your money belongs to YOU.

Of course, liberals will scream that Obama already gave America a giant “tax cut.” But Obama only rewarded his voters- those who pay little income tax in the first place. That’s not a tax cut, it’s a welfare check. The group he left out just happens to be the economic engine of the U.S. economy- private sector taxpayers and business owners.

This plan aims the tax cut at the innovators and entrepreneurs. Certainly, Obama’s socialist cabal will find it audacious to give tax cuts to people who actually pay the taxes. Perhaps that’s why we have 1.9 million fewer Americans working today than when Obama’s stimulus started. This plan incentivizes the financial risk-takers, investors, producers and job creators. This plan doesn’t just refill their fuel tanks; it puts racing fuel into a turbo-charger. It’s Reagan on steroids.

Stand back and watch the economic explosion when taxpayers and small business owners capitalize on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They will do what all smart entrepreneurs do with money- spend it, invest it, and risk it to start up new businesses, or expand old ones.

Obama and his socialist cabal will scream, “How can we run government without taxes?” That question never bothered Obama when he spent almost $1 trillion dollars on his stimulus plan. The cost of this plan is about $1.2 trillion (the total of annual personal income taxes). Give or take a few dollars, it’s the same amount Obama wasted on his stimulus plan to nowhere. The difference is that Obama’s trillion dollars created nothing, inspired no one, and added $1 trillion in debt for our children to pay.

Desperate times call for out of the box thinking. Allowing people to keep 100% of their income for one year is the jump start the economy desperately needs. Simply put, taxpayers will be so excited, they will begin an investing spree that will create millions of jobs, and ultimately increase tax revenues. If critics are worried about the cost, then find corresponding spending cuts.

Note to the GOP. That is how you change the conversation. That is how you use boldness and courage to turn a historic bust into a boom. That is how you inspire voters. Reagan gave us the greatest tax cut in history to save us from Carter. Today we need to cut taxes to zero to save America from Obama.

An income tax vacation is the start of a revolution to save capitalism and take back our country.

I can feel Reagan looking down from above and smiling. And I can hear his words, “Let’s get this revolution started.”

Wayne Allyn Root is a former libertarian vice presidential nominee. He now serves as chairman of the Libertarian NationalCongressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts.” His website: ROOTforAmerica.com