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About Those Food Stamp “Cuts”

“REPUBLICANS” WERE FULL OF IT …  Let’s rewind the clock to January of this year … when the U.S. House of Representatives voted 251-166 in support of a “compromise” food stamp cut. How much money did this measure “save” taxpayers?  Eight hundred million dollars … out of an $80 billion…

“REPUBLICANS” WERE FULL OF IT … 

Let’s rewind the clock to January of this year … when the U.S. House of Representatives voted 251-166 in support of a “compromise” food stamp cut.

How much money did this measure “save” taxpayers?  Eight hundred million dollars … out of an $80 billion budget.

In other words “not much”… which is why we exposed this 10-year, $1 trillion boondoggle as yet another example of “Republican” hypocrisy (and GOP perpetuation of America’s dependency economy).

Well guess what … nine months later we come to find out the $800 million in annual savings was more “discussed” than, you know, actual.  According to the Associated Press, only four out of America’s fifty states are actually implementing the cuts – meaning “it’s unclear whether the law will realize the estimated $8.6 billion in savings over 10 years that the GOP had advertised.”

“Unclear?”

Color us shocked … a Washington, D.C. spending cut that wound up being nothing but smoke and mirrors?

Imagine that …

To their credit, U.S. Reps. Jeff Duncan, Trey Gowdy, Mick Mulvaney and Mark Sanford all voted against the so-called “compromise” back in January, while liberal “Republicans” Joe Wilson and Tom Rice supported it.

South Carolina spends an estimated $1.3 billion on food stamps in a given year – although this line item recently disappeared from the state budget.

Nationally food stamps cost a whopping $80 billion a year …

Viva la recovery, right?

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72 comments

The Colonel September 19, 2014 at 12:11 pm

A billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money…
It would be interesting to really look into who’s using Food Stamps as a safety net and who’s using it as a hammock. I absolutely see a need for the program but I also see the lady at the checkout counter with the IPhone 5, 4 kids and a bunch of stuff on the belt not covered by Food Stamps but purchased nonetheless.

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SC Political Digest September 19, 2014 at 12:23 pm

Do you agree w/ FITS that it’s all the fault of the GOP?

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RogueElephant September 19, 2014 at 2:49 pm

Actually it’s Bush’s fault and will continue to be for at least another hundred years.

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SCBlues September 19, 2014 at 7:30 pm

“Actually it’s Bush’s fault and will continue to be for at least another hundred years.”
Hang on now – settle down – I know he really fucked us over but I think a hundred years is stretching it a bit – give me fifty or seventy-five and I’ll go along with you.

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euwe max September 19, 2014 at 7:55 pm

If only McCain had won the election, Bush could have claimed 100 years for Iraq.

The Colonel September 19, 2014 at 8:13 pm

National Debt at the end of the President’s term:
Nixon – $0.4
Ford – $0.7
Carter – $1
Reagan – $2.8
Bush –
Clinton –
Bush –
Obama –

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SC Political Digest September 20, 2014 at 1:37 pm

First of all. I’d like to see how your numbers were produced?

And: Republican presidents (Especially Reagan and Bush II) presented economies that generated FAR, FAR more than the debt that was incurred under them. That is a BIG difference, as you try to absolved your Democrat gods of your guilt.

Not to mention Bush actually accomplished NATIONAL SECURITY for the money, after Clinton – who had the GOP lead him to fiscal responsibility – used the peace dividend provided by Bush I to buy cigars for dubious purposes…

Blind facts, in the hands of the easily led, less-than-honest and intellectually challenged, are DANGEROUS.

You’d have us voting STUPID, if we relied on your poor ability to present facts, and analyze data.

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The Colonel September 20, 2014 at 4:41 pm

Please feel free to look it up for yourself, you’ll find I’m right and in the meantime, we’ll be spared your random attacks on any fact that doesn’t support your worldview. Reagan through Clinton had pretty good deficet to GDP ratios but by the end of G.W.Bush’s term, we were approaching 90% and Obama has pinned us at 99% for nearly his entire term. The last time we were that bad off was WWII.

SC Political Digest September 20, 2014 at 4:54 pm

Bush made some mistakes, trying to work w/ backstabbing Democrats. And losing Congress in ’06 really accelerated the government waste in Bush’s second term.

To say Bush was at 90% and Obama at 99% is ludicrous, when Obama is spending at a rate four times Bush, w/o the productivity Bush presented in the economy. And Bush actually fought two Congress-ally-coalition wars against the No. 1 threat on the planet. Security, after it had been neglected for so long under Clinton, was not cheap (see ISIS now.)

You people spin numbers to sell you ignorance, to those dull enough to buy it. And when you finish, we end up w/ your leaders, who are most responsible for the Bull-S#!* you Dumb@$##$ sit around whining about all the time.

GET a core, and be American first, not a Liberal-Tarian. You ARE the F*#king problem until you figure that out.

The Colonel September 20, 2014 at 5:01 pm

Instead of “running off at the keyboard”, check it out for yourself. http://useconomy.about.com/od/usdebtanddeficit/a/National-Debt-by-Year.htm

I worked on Reagan’s campaign, I hold him in very high regard but he was a deficit spender. Clinton did very well with managing the budget but, he was a deficit spender, as we’re all the rest.

SC Political Digest September 19, 2014 at 12:22 pm

How could those Republicans DO THAT????…and thank you FITS (and AP) for showing us it’s the GOP’s fault for the 50 Million people added to the food stamp program since Obama took office….And I bet the millions and millions of lost jobs since 2008, are the fault of the GOP, along with Billions in extra energy prices we’re paying, and the skyrocketing cost of food and healthcare.

Without watchdogs like you, FITS, where would we be?

PS: SCPSD – in the wake of more child murders – calls out liberals and Democrats for the village they have polluted with racial hate, leniency on child murderers and perpetuating sexual filth…check it out…It’s not as vigilant as FITS and the AP, but it is 100% more accurate.

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hum_dinger September 19, 2014 at 12:26 pm

You gotta keep the bread and circus going else riots. Its the 3rd rail in politikin. Cut entitlements/benefits/handouts and Furgeson / LA Riots will seem like a picnic.
Those in power are assclowns, sure, but they also know what keeps people in their homes and not in the streets with pitchforks. And thats stampies and TeeVee.
And sure, im conservitive – but reality is, until these people have real jobs – not just parttime burger flipping, pretend jobs – REAL JOBS – the entitlements and stampies will continue…it doesnt matter who is in office.
BUT with the influx of more dirty operations moving into states (GITI Tire anyone), the best way to reduce the burden of entitlement is to kill them off with pollution, or, start a war and kill them off that way.
Government is not here to protect us….government is here to protect the super rich and the political elite.
Speaking of GITI – how many millions of government payout money is slated to go to this chinese company? 37.8$ million?
Ya – complain about the poor’s entitlements all u want. Giti’s entitlement is just as bad.

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RogueElephant September 20, 2014 at 8:39 am

I up voted you but you need a little tweaking. For starters, tire mfg. is not a dirty industry. Go to any of the tire plants in SC and you can’t even smell rubber. Second point, the money going into the acquisition of GITI will be returned many times over in the community. Spin off companies, new houses, lawn care, car care, new cars sold appliances,, home improvements, just to name a few.. There are too many people that see only the money going out the window to lure these companies to an area. They don’t look at the secondary jobs that a well paid workforce generates down the line. Not to mention the increase in property taxes and sales taxes generated from the new jobs. The long view is entirely different from the short view.

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nitrat September 20, 2014 at 10:17 am

If corporations are people, my friend, what is wrong with them paying taxes on property and income like actual individual American human beings?

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RogueElephant September 20, 2014 at 10:06 pm

Did you ever hear of a “fee in lou of taxes ?” the company takes on a project in the community instead of property taxes. It works. Corporate income tax in the U.S. is like one of the highest in the world. Why do you think Burger King wanted to move to Canada?

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FastEddy23 September 24, 2014 at 11:37 pm

Great idea, that.

Abolish the IRS and tax the banks and big corporations.

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FastEddy23 September 24, 2014 at 11:32 pm

If so, why can’t I buy white wall tires for my two year old SUV?

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FastEddy23 September 24, 2014 at 11:24 pm

Bread and circuses … I like the symbolism. Roman that, right? Perfect description of the “progressive” quandary: Do we keep giving them all of this “free stuff” or do we go ahead and lower the boom now, before the next big crash?????

(My iPad made me do it????)

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Squishy123 September 19, 2014 at 12:33 pm

Thank you Obama.

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euwe max September 20, 2014 at 6:33 am

I blame bush.

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RogueElephant September 20, 2014 at 8:24 am

So dose everybody else. But he is a better man than to worry about it.

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euwe max September 20, 2014 at 10:08 am

I know, ignorance is bliss.

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Jackie Chiles September 19, 2014 at 1:51 pm

It’s always amusing to me to see Republicans harp on “cuts” to small money things like NPR or the like while ignoring major money drains like military spending and welfare.

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idcydm September 19, 2014 at 3:00 pm

One of these days we will run out of other people’s money, be it spent on NPR, military or welfare.

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Jackie Chiles September 19, 2014 at 4:05 pm

Imagine you borrowed $1000 a week from your friend or whoever to live. You’re blowing $200 a week on home security, $200 a week on your grandmother, $200 a week on food and clothing, $60 on interest payments, $130 on poor people, and 14 cents on radio. You’d think your friend was delusional if he spent his time telling you you really needed to cut that wasteful radio spending from your budget and then you wouldn’t need to borrow his money any more.

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idcydm September 19, 2014 at 4:34 pm

I’m with ya but if I could borrow $1000 a week and didn’t pay it back sooner or later people would stop lending me money. Too bad we can’t stop paying taxes to wake the government up.

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euwe max September 19, 2014 at 7:54 pm

I’m with ya but if I could borrow $1000 a week and didn’t pay it back sooner or later people would stop lending me money.

——–
Cash flow is the very backbone of business – that’s exactly what all business is doing – without the extension of credit, the system will collapse.

When you can no longer make your 120 day commitments, you sell to someone who has a bigger line of credit, or you go bankrupt.

How about we make banks quit loaning money?

idcydm September 19, 2014 at 8:47 pm

What about the pay back part? Just paying the interest will eventually make the banks mad. Borrowing money to pay interest on borrowed money is not good business.

euwe max September 19, 2014 at 8:52 pm

I guess you’ve never been in business… (that’s something I learned to say after years of debating with Republicans – I have no idea, but they say it so much, it must be a really great jab).. what goes on out there in the *real world* is you *never* pay it back… you use that first 120 days as part of your seed capital, and just keep it going into the future ad infinitum… when you’re making a big profit you just keep it out there… inventory is never really paid for.

You know, that first two weeks everyone works before they start getting paid? That doesn’t come back to you until you’re terminated. You’re always working your current pay period for free until you aren’t working any more.

The idea is “don’t pay your bills, and you’ll be rich your whole life!”

It’s a Republican idea, but it’s an idea.

idcydm September 19, 2014 at 9:07 pm

You sound like to voice of experience, don’t tell me you’re really a Republican.

euwe max September 19, 2014 at 9:14 pm

You sound like a voice of experience, don’t tell me you’re really a Republican.
—–
Look, let’s not get nasty.

But… why deny yourself the weapons of your enemy?

idcydm September 19, 2014 at 9:16 pm

Fore.

euwe max September 19, 2014 at 9:19 pm

I’ve never understood how golf and tennis survived the tea party.

Isn’t there a tractor pull or NASCAR event on Sundays where you live?

SCBlues September 20, 2014 at 3:08 pm

“Look, let’s not get nasty.”
LOL and LOL some more – hilarious!

Meh September 20, 2014 at 3:07 pm

“Cash flow is the very backbone of business – that’s exactly what all
business is doing – without the extension of credit, the system will
collapse.”

You’re confusing cash flow with credit. The two are not necessarily the same…

euwe max September 21, 2014 at 6:13 am

Are you sure, or just guessing?

Meh September 22, 2014 at 9:42 am

I’m sure.

euwe max September 22, 2014 at 9:49 am

Do you think I used the term incorrectly, or out of context – since we are talking about credit?

euwe max September 19, 2014 at 7:52 pm

Yeah, when that happens, will there still be a 1%?

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FastEddy23 September 20, 2014 at 1:47 pm

What do you mean “we”, chemo-slabbie? Oh Bummer.
Abolish the IRS and We win

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The Colonel September 19, 2014 at 4:51 pm

One of the arguments against funding NPR or PBS is the perception that it could be or should be self sustaining if properly managed. Sesame Street make $47,000,000 in merchandising each year but it actually cost about three times that to run the whole Big Bird empire. You’d never get This Old House, The Roosevelt’s or The Civil War if you had to rely on The History Channel or HGTV. I could live without most of the bovine excreta on NPR but frequently watch PBS. http://www.slate.com/articles/business/explainer/2012/01/does_sesame_street_lose_money_.html

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euwe max September 19, 2014 at 7:52 pm

NPR is where the kids get all that propaganda about “sharing” being good, and people of different colors and faiths playing “nicely” together. You have to shut down the propaganda mills brainwashing our children before you can make real progress.

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FastEddy23 September 20, 2014 at 1:45 pm

Absolutely Correct, Jackie. Guess what the latest g’ment spend and borrow hose-up is? The military re-arm for the war against ISIS. Oh Bummer.

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aikencounty September 19, 2014 at 3:03 pm

The “Cut” saved exactly the amount the agricultural lobby agreed to.

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euwe max September 19, 2014 at 5:01 pm

Why don’t we make food stamps smaller?

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Yep! September 20, 2014 at 3:19 pm

Yet another argument to digitize money(even if it’s tertiary), ugh. Gotta hate that for freedom’s sake.

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euwe max September 21, 2014 at 6:02 am

Yeah, because *paper* is forever! :)

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Yep! September 22, 2014 at 9:44 am

Ha! Good one.

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euwe max September 22, 2014 at 11:11 am

Now that I’ve had more time to think about this, it occurs to me that digitized money would suit your world view the best… the *value* of “money” is in the mind of man, not in the molecules of matter, or the product of his work.

With a digital currency, the value of things can be as fluid as the imagination of man, while not becoming a concrete entity to imprison our minds with an artificial definition of “value”.

You can’t steal something that is made of light.

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euwe max September 19, 2014 at 8:02 pm

How about making them WORK?

Most food stamp recipients do. In fact, in 2012 more than 47.8 percent of families receiving food stamps were working (the highest ever), and only 13.2 percent were welfare recipients with no working adults, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

The USDA reported that, “76% of SNAP households included a child, an elderly person, or a disabled person. These vulnerable households receive 83% of all SNAP benefits.”

Not exactly the “able-bodied” folks our legislators talk about. Here are some other statistics that debunk the welfare queen stereotype. In 2009, 32.2 percent of food stamp recipients were white, versus 22.5 percent of African-American households, and 15.5 percent Hispanics.

How about white people proving they are the “master race” by getting ALL the white people off Welfare FIRST?

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The Colonel September 20, 2014 at 12:46 am

My home includes three children, should I be eligible for SNAP? My parent’s home includes a disabled person, he worked for IBM in the 60s and 70s. He took a significant portion of his salary in stock, should he be eligible for SNAP. The fact that 83% of SNAP recipients homes include a child or disabled person is a canard.

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euwe max September 20, 2014 at 2:12 am

Let’s see.. you have a computer… check.. You have a considerable education provided by IBM… check .. an officer and a gentleman, who no doubt put himself, and his family by extension, in harm’s way to stand against the evil in man’s heart so that we here at home would not have to face that grisly ungodly hell ourselves… check… a strong back and the discipline instilled by an unbroken chain of ancestors whose opportunities weren’t compromised by the Iron Maiden of Law… check.

so yes, I think you should be eligible for every program we have made available for those our finest sons threw themselves into the gap for – those who have selflessly served our country with their blood, their sweat, and their first-born.

There is no limit of generosity and love in my heart for them, or for you.

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The Colonel September 20, 2014 at 7:56 am

In other words, no, we shouldn’t be eligible.

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euwe max September 20, 2014 at 10:09 am

actually, I meant every word.

You should be more than simply eligible… and not because you wouldn’t accept a dime of it, either.

Yep! September 20, 2014 at 3:15 pm

I might be naive here, but I think he meant it.

The Colonel September 20, 2014 at 4:48 pm

Euwe’s sarcasm approaches the sublime most of the time, some of the time it simply exceeds credulity. I think we have the latter here, maybe not, but if bet on it.

Yep! September 20, 2014 at 3:14 pm

I would have never guessed in a million years that you are a patriot at heart.

Because I don’t want to offend you right now, I congratulate you.

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euwe max September 21, 2014 at 6:03 am

I don’t want to offend you right now
——–
Don’t let that come between us. :)

come now maxy September 20, 2014 at 10:33 am

Max, you are a very intelligent person, why use the chicanery of saying 32%/of recipients for whites, but then switch over to the percentage of the race getting the benefit for your other numbers an important distinction you either missed or glibly passed on for the purpose of misleading. Frankly I find either possibilty very unlikely. And couldn’t give a shit about the race of people getting benefits, and am glad when the government or whomever can help out those in need. However, only a fool, which doesn’t include you, could think between SSSI, ssi, snap/ebt, and other disability programs this country’s finances are not foundering badly. 2 out of 7/Americans get snap assistance. That does not include the other programs I mentioned or medical progames I’d add mention like medicare medicaid SCHIP et cetera. Soon we will probably have to borrow hundreds of millions per day from China just to pay for it and service our debt to them. Check that, tweleve years ago we’ll have to start that. Petty any bull shit about which superior race bankrupted this country will be great fat to chew when the bread lines don’t even exist anymore, but for now who gives shit…

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euwe max September 19, 2014 at 9:18 pm

Someday I’m going to explain to you Hayekian bullshitters how the (powerful families, banks and interlocking directorates go here) make money be worth whatever they want it to..

maybe I should put up a pay pal link.

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RogueElephant September 20, 2014 at 8:52 am

When I was in my twenties and thirties (and really didn’t give a shit ) my mother, who studied this stuff would tell me , adnausium about how 16 people controlled the entire monetary system in the world. It might be an interesting read now that I’m an old geezer.

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euwe max September 20, 2014 at 10:07 am

it’s not 16, but it sure as hell ain’t a million.

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aikencounty September 20, 2014 at 1:46 pm

I suppose this was tied to the Illumanati?

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Yep! September 20, 2014 at 3:18 pm

Hell, the NYT’s just published an article in regard to the Scottish vote that directly linked it to the possibility of the fall of the ruling elite…so the “conspiracy theories” are becoming a little more mainstream every day.

Even if you are of “Mike at the Beach” mentality, where every one reading such things are tin foil hatters, it’s good to apprise yourself of the ideas…just in case they might be true.

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nitrat September 20, 2014 at 9:32 am

I don’t much either one of them, but do you think Joe Wilson and Tom Rice voted the way they did on the Farm Bill is because their districts probably have more working farms than those other guys’? I bet they also have lots of grocery store corporation owners/managers who tell them the devastation to their profits and employees that would happen if Food Stamps were seriously cut.
You know, you dim Libertarian – is there any other kind? – Food Stamps, like many thin

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Native Ink September 20, 2014 at 12:05 pm

Good point. Food stamps support thousands of local mom-and-pop businesses here in South Carolina and many national corporations such as Wal-Mart. The problem with Republicans is that they want to cut direct benefits to the poor which usually spend their money locally but are fine with benefits to corporations who have no problem taking that money and using it to build factories in China.

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FastEddy23 September 20, 2014 at 1:42 pm

Only way the food stamp program will ever be cut:

Abolish the IRS … That’s where all of the HHS/D. of Ag. money comes from = personal income tax revenue. Oh Bummer.

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Pineapple Twist March 30, 2015 at 12:34 pm

I voted for Ross Perot because I liked his flat tax plan. I cannot imagine a more complicated way to collect taxes than the IRS. I personally like a hybrid of flat and consumption tax, but can’t quite seem to get on board with fair tax, it doesn’t seem so fair to seniors on a fixed income, even with the prebates.

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FastEddy23 March 30, 2015 at 1:08 pm

Complicated? The US income tax codes are so complicated even IRS employees don’t understand them … and thus the new hires, mostly Occupiers and ACORNs, have a learning curve that is decades long.

Ultimately, if one does not contribute to the “progressives”, one will be singled out for “the touch”, whether justified or not, legal or not, in the codes or not …

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Pineapple Twist March 30, 2015 at 1:13 pm

And yet, they expect us to understand? Since Enron, even CPAs don’t want to take responsibility. My tax packet is pages upon pages of questions. Which, I have to submit any day now – can’t wait to get the bill.

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FastEddy23 March 30, 2015 at 1:19 pm

You could join us in a taxpayer revolt. There is plenty of historical precedent for a tax revolt in this country. It used to happen all the time. Consider the Whiskey Rebellion which did not end until Thomas Jefferson vetoed all whiskey taxes.

Pineapple Twist March 30, 2015 at 1:29 pm

Yes, massive outcry! Add my name to the list :>)

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