Tea Parties

With the exception of FOX News and right-wing radio commentators, most folks figured out that those events weren't Really "Grassroots". Instead, as a lot of people have referred to it, they were "Astroturf" events - mostly created and/or sponsored by an organization called Freedomworks -a group put together by Dick Armey, former Republican house majority leader and now, of course, a lobbyist. The events were then promoted, ad nauseum by same Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, et al., and, of course, in some major cities, Fox News Headliners were present at the rallies.

Interestingly enough, the participants were there to protest both high taxes and the excessive spending (primarily the Government bailouts) that they see in the Obama administration. I wonder sometimes about our citizenry. Do they ever read? Are their memories really so short-term as to forget what occurred during the years 2001 through 2008? Or even November and December of 2008? I do realize that trying to remember what the tax rates you paid back in the 80's, during the regime of the Beloved Ronald Reagan, or his successor, George H.W. Bush (another Republican, I might add), is a chore. After all, for me, an admitted Old Fart, it is difficult to remember things that long ago. But then again, I do things like read to refresh my memory. And I use numerous sources - I don't just rely on, say, one cable news channel to get my info.

So, here's the scoop. Taxes, as a percentage of income are near historic lows. Hey - don't believe me. Read this:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/15/AR2009041503371.html?wpisrc=newsletter

The Bailout spending. Am I missing something here? Didn't this start with Dubya? Didn't incredible deficit spending really start going bonkers under Dubya? Didn't Reagan begin this type of thinking and Policy way back in the 80's? Why is it NOW a problem that these same Republican leaders, who once supported it, are going nuts about? Someone's got to 'splain it to me, cause it seems to me the real reason is the Republican Party is currently out of power.

What bothers me the most, though, is that so many "middle class" citizens are protesting about paying too many taxes under Obama, when he has given all of them - except people making over $250k a year - a tax cut. Do they still not know this? Are all those folks in attendance at the tea parties yesterday making that much money? Or have they fallen prey to what is being fed to them each and every day by Fox news, Rush, Hannity, and the like?

They are also complaining about excess spending by the government - all the while they charged more and more things to their credit cards, bought bigger homes, upgraded to gas-guzzling SUV's and Hummers, and are bitching about "entitlement programs" - which they'll continue to do until they lose their jobs and need Unemployment checks, or don't have insurance coverage anymore.

Maybe then these folks will realize the truth.

Old Fart Mike