Kaltbaum: The Sting
Gary Kaltbaum is an investment adviser with over 18 years experience, and a Fox News Channel Business Contributor. Gary is the author of The Investors Edge. Mr. Kaltbaum is also the host of the nationally syndicated radio show “Investors Edge” on over 50 radio stations. Gary is also editor and publisher of “Gary Kaltbaum’s Trendwatch”… a weekly and monthly technical analysis research report for the institutional investor. If you would like a free trial to Gary’s Daily Market Alerts click here or call 888.484.8220 ext. 1.
Do you remember the movie “The Sting”? It’s one of my favorites. If you haven’t, it is a must watch. Without going too much in-depth, the story is about con men who set up an elaborate plan — a “long con” — to swindle an enormous sum of money so neatly that the mark won’t even realize he’s been conned.
I believe Americans are the marks today. Congress just voted on mostly party lines, something called a health care bill. I have debated many times during my Fox News and Fox Business appearances why “the bill” is a job killer. I have argued that there has never been a government program that has not been in the red and that there has never been a government program that did not cost a zillion times more than the original estimates. I can tell you that this bill adds more than 100 new bureaucracies.
I can tell you that this bill puts the highest federal tax rate up to 45%. I can tell you there is the threat of jail. I can tell you that there are fines, fees, mandates and all that stuff for everyone, including the middle class. I can tell you this bill puts more onerous and cumbersome mandates on small business at the worst possible time. I can tell you the bill will lead to rationing of health care and decisions being made by bureaucrats in Washington DC. I can go on and on because I have actually read a lot of the bill unlike the Congressmen and Congresswomen that did not. But I have news for you. The health care bill is not the con. It is just the vehicle for the con. To have a great con, you must divert people away from what is really going on…just like in “The Sting!”
All cons have to do with one thing and one thing only. MONEY! Not just any money. Your money! In America, when you work hard and follow the rule of law, you get to keep your money minus your taxes. I could list all the taxes we pay right now but that would have filled up TOO MANY pages. There are those who believe when you earn your money, it is yours. There are those who believe when you earn your money, it is theirs. Those people cannot just take it from you. So what do they do? They con you.
The people that are now in power and just voted on this legislation told us:
that the highest tax rate will go only as high as the Clinton era…being just over 39%.
that they are not wealth redistributors.
that they will not raise taxes on the middle class.
that they will be the most transparent government in history.
that they care about deficits. After all, they did give George W. a colonoscopy on a daily basis about his deficits.
they had no interest in dictating to business or running business.
Well, you all get to decide on whether they have kept their word. Maybe the recent elections in NJ and Virginia are a tell tale sign. My point is onefold…in letting you know there has been only one goal all along that these people wanted to attain…IT IS NOT HEALTH CARE REFORM…it is DOLLARS REFORM and that is to con the American people out of their money and into their own coffers in order to seal their power for a long time to come. And it is not just this bill. It is the con called global warming. Does anyone care that the one man who is the loudest voice is making hundreds of millions of dollars off of global warming hysteria…and has no problem flying in private jets? The same people worried about warming were screaming about global cooling two decades ago. What do they come up with to fix global warming? You got it…a cap and trade bill that also does nothing more than redistribute billions of dollars from business into…guess where? Washington and their cronies.
So all these people who whined about Bush and cronyism only knew about cronyism because they wrote the book on it. Ambassadorships are going to donors left and right. Earmarks are plentiful. Payoffs continue. Ethics violations are thrown under the rug. Washington has become nothing more than a money losing hedge fund …funded by hard working Americans…which in turn will put a huge headwind in the potential for this economy. Hard working small businessmen and women who make $1 million are told they have to work into June to pay their taxes and have another 50k out of their pocket every year. I have news for you. That is not just 50k. That is a decision to NOT hire one or two people because the money is being sent into the black hole called Washington.
The con is almost complete. The con is to tell Americans that if nothing is done, the world will end…so we must pass this legislation NOW. Are you listening Bush and Paulson? But something is amiss. No one is asking why if the legislation is a must to be passed NOW…why does this legislation not go into effect until 2013…snuggly and comfortably after the next major election? Do the con-artists know something they are not telling us? And if this does not go into effect until 2013, why do taxes go up immediately? Who are these people who have caused trillions in deficits, almost blew up the financial system and for most, never worked a business in their life, to tell us how we should run our lives? Where did these people come from?
The con is simple…take away your money…take away your decision-making power and put it into the hands of a few. But too much money and too much power in too few hands never works. It has been tried in Cuba…in Soviet Russia…oops…how dare you say that Gary? Well…just remember, I am the guy who at the outset said that these people were going to do this because it is their way of thinking…that they would take your money at the rate we haven’t seen in 40 years. I wasn’t sure they would get away with it until I realized that most of the media were spending more time on Jon and Kate than doing their job…and that is to be the watchdog of power. Instead, like little puppy dogs, they sit on their hind legs with their paws up, their tail wagging and their tongues flapping waiting for the people in power to smile at them and say what a good job they have done by reporting nothing that matters. I hope they choke on the biscuit.
Next up, onto the senate. Mark my words…in our next episode, if he continues to be a “no” vote, the Palinization of Joe Lieberman. The puppy dogs cannot help themselves.
357 days to the next election! I say take them all out. We have these deficits because of the decisions of these 535 people…Republican and Democrat. It is a quarter billion people versus just 535. We can do something about it!
Had to get this off my chest. Will have a market report in the next day or so.
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