Do I hear a "Whooohoo Obama" from y'all? Didn't think so.

Dear R -- you & the family are looking to relocate to guam? too expensive to travel from there... and you'll still have to pay income taxes & capital gains taxes since it's a U.S. territory... you might look at Rota (Spain) or Aviano (Italy) -- large American military presence and access to NEX/PX

we're considering Rota, Spain... although we're afraid Obama will contract our military bases overseas and that Rota (Spain) and Aviano (Italy) as well as our German and Asian bases will all be targeted for closure (a big socialistic "bring ALL the troops home" move) -- because neither Obama nor any of his advisors understand STRATEGIC placement and forward standing (which of course would leave us WIDE OPEN for attack...) scary scary scary.

______ (a 23 yr old wounded Iraqi war veteran) is considering moving to Canada (his birth father was born in Canada to American parents who were living & working there in the early 50's, so he could apply for his Canadian citizenship; while the US doesn't recognize dual citizenship, Canada does, so he w/n have to give up his US citizenship to live in Canada...) but when his mom told him it won't be economically bad for him -- he told her that but he can't bear to watch Obama declare defeat in Iraq and to know that all his friends (12 in all) died for nothing... and he doesn't want to live in a country that has a President he couldn't in good conscience defend or take orders from?? how sad is that?

the family has been discussing a bunch of scenarios (including moving offshore, buying additional guns, our spending, saving & investment strategies, the long-term effect of Obama policies (it may take him 4 or 8 to do the damage -- but it would take DECADES to undo them) and especially liberal appointments to the Supreme Court -- and when you look at how many crucial SC votes were just 5-4 THAT is one of the scariest things for us -- the complete erosion of individual rights and the complete pussification of America is before us!!!)

as I explained to our kids: there are 3 sources of income for the US Gov't and it is a finite amount. if you lower taxes in just a part of one area (only SOME people benefit from Obama's new & improved personal income taxes) then you MUST raise the money elsewhere... or cut how much you need to spend. In Obama's case, he wants to spend LOTS MORE and -- since he never once said he will eliminate pork spending (it's how you BUY legislators to do your bidding), the money will then have to come from one or more of the 3 income sources: business tax, capital gains tax, pers. income tax.

now, if you raise the corporate (business) taxes, they must raise the price of their products because that is the ONLY source of revenue (to pay bills) for a corporation -- large or small. Let's take a look at a loaf of bread (substitute any product here: milk, shoes, clothing, meat...): extra tax on the farmer (he's a business you know), extra tax on the wheat mill, extra tax on the baker, extra tax on the shipper, and an extra tax on the grocery store. Do you think each of these business can or will absorb this tax (which comes from their profits), or do you think EACH will pass it on to the price of the bread? A five cent increase for each business adds twenty-five cents to the price of the bread -- which now also increases the amount of sales tax you pay on the bread (it's a vicious cycle don't ya know!!)

Now, each of these businesses can cut expenses to make up for the extra tax, and the quickest way to do that is to eliminate employees -- less salary, less benefits, less taxes to pay... and they will still make the same amount of loaves because even if they have to pay overtime wages, it is still only 1/2 of another FT employee wages & taxes (but no additional benefit costs.) Now, if they decide to keep the staff they have, they simply pass on the increased costs (i.e., taxes -- and that includes increased payroll taxes, social security, medicare, etc. -- they don't get paid out of thin air, ya know!) to the consumer. If the taxes get high enough and the bread too expensive, they sell less bread. Less bread means the need for less workers, so they lay off workers. Not rocket science, but you need to be smarter than a 5th grader. Do I hear a "Whooohoo Obama" from y'all? Didn't think so.

Same with this "punish the rich" theory of taxation: the highest taxes are on the highest producing individuals in a society. Let's take a physician. he/she pays 34% fed. income tax + 6.2% soc. sec. (to $109K in '09) + 1.45% medicare (no income limit) + 9.7% average state. inc. tax... on a salary of say $500,000, the doc has "disposable" income of about $267,500 or 53.5% (and in addition to all the expenses you and I pay from "disposable income" like mortgages, utilities, autos, etc., doctors pay all or some of their medical malpractice insurance premiums -- many tens of thousand of dollars -- continuing educational requirements, not to mention about $250,000 in educational loans, etc.)

If the tax rates go up 5% federal (as Obama proposes), and the income cap comes off soc. sec. (as Obama has suggested), medicare ins. rates double (also a waggle from Obama), and state taxes rise 2.5% (to cover the federally mandated programs and reductions in federal funds available)... that's $197,000 in disposable income. But the doctor's personal expenses are the same (or more as other expenses rise) and he needs to make up the additional $70,500 in income taxes. How do you think he does that? Yes,!! Of course!! He/she raises the cost of their services!! So now the "middle class" can either pay the bigger fees when they need medical service, pay increased insurance rates because the insurance companies have to pay more (and higher business taxes, I might add), or you can skip medical care. Do I hear a "Whooohoo Obama" from y'all? Didn't think so.

And how Obama's proposal for health insurance will fix this problem is a mystery -- unless of course we're going fully into socialism and your income is capped and you can make no more than some amount (set I suppose the same way Obama defines "rich" and "unrich"... whatever number he likes on any given day...)

now let's look at investments. When we save for retirement, we put money in our 401k plans -- tax free but when we take money OUT we will get taxed on it -- so if the income tax rate goes up, we won't be taking money from these retirement funds unless we absolutely have to... instead, we'll spend less and won't make any unnecessary or large purchases. That hurts in 2 ways: businesses suffer AND state & local governments (which rely on sales taxes for THEIR revenue) make less. Of course the local governments still need the same amount of money and their other source of income is PROPERTY TAXES. We're hit again. Do I hear a "Whooohoo Obama" from y'all? Didn't think so.

Then there's capital gains taxes. In addition to our investments in our IRAs, like good responsible citizens, we saved money and invested it in stocks, bonds & mutual funds. We were taxed on the money we invested because it came from our income. Every year if our investments pay dividends and interest, we pay tax on that as well. If we need money for a purchase -- a car, a vacation -- whatever -- we sell a stock or two or a mutual fund... and we get taxed on any profit we made on the sale (if you take a loss, your losses are limited and it may take years of carrying the loss from one tax year to another to recover your money -- there is no limit on the profit that can be taxed in a year -- funny thing.) Right now we pay 15% tax on our capital gains (the max. is 28%) -- for investments you have had at least two years. Lots of retired people actually live on the income from their investments or the sale of the investments. Obama proposes to increase these tax rates until the highest rate is 38%.

Keeping in mind that money invested in stocks & bonds are investments in American companies -- which they use to build and expand factories, invest in new equipment... and if you increase expenses of those businesses, they have less money to return to shareholders and if you're going to take about 40% of the profit every time and investor sells a stock , bond or mutual fund AND these companies are paying smaller dividends anyway (the higher the dividend = the more investors you attract!) why should anyone bother investing in these? I'd just as soon put my money in cash -- at least I'd only be taxed on the income and I could take my money out any time I wanted without being punished for having the smarts to save it in the first place!!! Imagine what happens when companies can no longer attract money? They DON'T expand or they look for FOREIGN investment and foreign ownership. Do I hear a "Whooohoo Obama" from y'all? Didn't think so.

Now let us move on to energy. Obama proposes to add taxes to our CURRENT sources of energy to fund NEW sources of energy. So, if the taxes on the oil -- and gasoline, deisel, kerosene and heating oil, natural gas, and electric are raised (or on the comapnies that produce these products -- and whether it is an increased tax rate, a new tax or a "loop hole" that's closed... whatever -- the result is the same) ... who do you think will get to PAY those increased taxes (and don't forget the new business taxes!) Yup -- smarter than a 5th grader -- WE DO!! Higher electric prices, gasoline & heating costs! And don't forget -- these higher costs for energy ALSO hit businesses (like our loaf of bread, gallon of milk, school shoes...) AND YOU'RE GOING TO GET TO PAY FOR THOSE AS WELL!!! Do I hear a "Whooohoo Obama" from y'all? Didn't think so.

Let's not even begin to discuss Obama's stated desires to dismantle the military and its funding... abandon Iraq and Israel, capitulate to Iran, Russia, Syria... make nice with Cuba and Hugo Chavez... Can I get a "Whoohoo Obama" from y'all? No, didn't think so.

Nothing that the government does can be done for free. If the gov't is going to rely on taxes for its programs... and adding programs only adds government jobs -- it does not create opportunity and it does not create wealth... and this country will go broke paying for it all.... well, except for those who pay no taxes and are expecting to get something for nothing). Can I get a "Whoohoo Obama" from y'all? Yeah, I thought so.

the whole being careful of what you wish for -- sometimes you get what you deserve keeps ringing in my ears.

I saw this written on a car this morning already: Dear Obama: now we will HOPE you're as good as you say you are AND that you will represent ALL Americans and not just some.

And as I said to a friend this morning, this man represents nothing that I believe in or stand for... I cannot imagine at any time in my life that I will ever consider this man "my president". I am sure there are worse things in the world right now, I just cannot think of even one today. I think it was all hYpe -- and there is no hOpe.