Missing the Political Mark

I love how politicians miss the mark with their solutions. Whether it is done intentionally or negligently, only they know the truth.

Take Hillary Clinton's solution to the tax inversion plan. I know, that sounds as exciting as a Ben Stein lecture on proper lawn mowing techniques, but hear me out.

Here is the story, from USAToday:

Auto parts supplier Johnson Controls has struck back at Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton's accusations that it is turning its back on America despite the auto industry bailout. 

The Milwaukee-based company has become the target of criticism over its tax-avoiding corporate inversion plan, in which the company will merge with Tyco International and shift its legal and global headquarters to Tyco's home in Cork, Ireland. 

Although the company will maintain its primary operational headquarters in Milwaukee, the deal has drawn the ire of corporate critics as the latest example in a stream of American companies capitalizing on tax loopholes by acquiring foreign companies of similar size and moving their headquarters abroad to reduce their U.S. tax liability. 

Clinton said at a debate Sunday night that Johnson Controls "got part of the bailout because they were an auto parts supplier and now they want to move headquarters to Europe." She pledged to end corporate inversions to preserve American jobs.

Hypothetically, let's say Clinton gets elected and ends tax-avoiding corporate inversion plans. Does this mean all corporations will suddenly pay the full amount of their U.S. taxes? Of course not. Corporate inversion is not the only tool in the corporate tax-avoidance tool belt.

Does this make Johnson Controls full of awful, unpatriotic people? If you say yes, then I assume when you file your taxes, you NEVER take any deductions for anything, paying the full amount you owe every year? That is what a patriot would do, right?

Let me toss you another hypothetical: What would happen if the tax code were written in such a way that Johnson Controls and every other company in the U.S. had to pay the full amount of their taxes here? Answer: They would pass along the costs to their customers. Who are the customers? YOU.

This is another classic case of "be careful what you wish for".

But let's look a little deeper at this: How does Johnson Controls, as well as many other corporations doing business in the U.S., manage to get all these tax-avoiding deductions? Easy: They have Washington in their pockets.

What is even more amazing is how they do it: With public campaign donations. You can look these up online if you like. But the most amazing aspect of it is that it is public bribery.

When a politician retires, they can't take the money directly, but they can easily backdoor their way to it. You didn't think the politicians wouldn't leave their own legal loophole, did you?

This is what you get for ignoring politics, as well as electing people based on 15-second soundbites. Mister Voter, you are a complete moron. You put these people in office, and now they tax you to pay for stuff for their rich voters and large corporations, while occasionally throwing a few crumbs at the poor voters, just to keep them fat and stupid ("I gots my Obamaphone!").

A few years ago, I read an article about the "return on investment" for corporate political campaign contributions. VERY few investments offer the kind of ROI that a campaign contribution does, and you idiots are providing it!

Consider: The Wall Street bailouts cost easily north of $1 trillion (especially the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing). If you took $1 trillion, you could send a $3,000 check to every American and still NOT spend $1 trillion. Don't try and tell me that $3,000 to every American wouldn't have boosted the economy. But you can see where the political priorities lie ("Lie" being the key word...).

(hat tip to Leftwingconspiracy.com for the pic)