I was hoping to see a thread on yesterday's Tea Parties...but nothing. Its as if there is the thought to ignore them and they have no significance.

Well let me start the ball rolling.
There is a lot of anger in middle America--anger that the People y are not being represented by their governments. Unresponsive government does lead eventually to revolution. This protest was an attempt to get attention, and redress short of revolutkion. The recent bail outs were, IMO, a major stimulus to the tea parties--Email and phone calls to all levels of government to advise representatives to not support the bailouts were entirely ignored. This country "Of the people" has responded.

The democrat spin is that this is a republican effort to get back into power. This is a lie. Some republicans jumped on the bandwagon in the last 2 weeks, but this was a true grass roots effort that came from the bowles of the country. In all of the tea parties I heard about, the mix was almost evenly split between republicans, democrats and independents. Of course the dem spin machine will ignore this entirely.
The tea parties were not to support any political party, but to express citizens' anger at being ignorted by their governments.
To be sure, the real measure of their success will come in the next election. Will people vote out the incumbants, or will it be business as usual?
Time will tell.
Tea Parties are definitely better than armed rebellion.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

So they don't think they are being unfairly taxed without representation? What tax increase has happened?

I would've gone had I not been working. There was a turn-out of several hundred here locally, according to the newspaper. Just looking at the photo I'd say white men & women, 40+ and a lot of retirees.

These are two groups of people. The younger is approaching their maximum earning years and probably is at their max debt load. They make a lot of money but most of it is obligated. The older group is well-off retirees. Maybe concerning for their kids' and grndkids' future is their motivator?

Hartford had about 3000 show up according to the police. My father (very much a social moderate and not what I would consider a fiscal conservative) went up for awhile and was surprised to see some of the people he ran into, people that are definitely not the right wing extremists these Tea Parties are portrayed to be comprised of. Obviously there were some of those stereotypical ones present.

I think more and more people are realizing how much they pay in taxes, especially now that their budgets have been tightened. Ever since the advent of the "witholding" there is a significant part of the population that only ever saw the "Net" number in their paycheck and didn't give two thoughts to the rest. Now as they are falling short at the end of the month they actually look at those other numbers in all those boxes and want to know where their money is going. If people had to write a check for the full amount due every Apri 15th you'd have a lot more people concerned about how the govt is spending their money and how inefficient it is.

Until recently there was not a single employee in my warehouse that knew how much they paid in taxes every year. All they knew is that H&R Block got 400, 500, 700 back. More and more of them are making comments to me about their (expletive of choice) taxes.

I think it's just more of an awareness issue than anything else.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

I hope you're right.

The politicians have done a fine job of obfuscation concerning taxes. A bit here, a bit there, and voila' 40% of income goes to taxation at all levels.

I would like to see a tax proponent provide a compelling argument as to what I get for that forced expenditure.

B

Do you think it is simply an accident that tax day is about as far from election day as possible?

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Point is to stop them before they do increase taxes. Obama campained and still campains on raising taxes. We hear this coming right from his mouth frequently so we know his intentions.

The problem is that only 50% of Americans are paying a Federal income tax; the other 50% are supporting those. The purpose of the tea parties is to create an awareness, a voice, from those who are getting sick of supporting this country while politicians keep yelling that the "rich" need to pay their fair share - we are paying our fair share, it's the other 50% who needs to pay their fair share.

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- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600

You just got a high 5!

Here in Maryland, the state legislature added fuel to the tea party movement.
Our ( 100+ yearr) democrat-controlled government has given us the largest tax increase in our state's history. When the federal gov stepped in with some aid, our boy Governor was relieved that he didn't have to actually cut any money from the budget. In this recession we still had a 4% budget increase. He managed to just kick the can further down the road to the next Governor, as he seeks ever higher political office.
They also allowed speed cameras--not as a safety item, but a revenue stream. People are beginning to realize that all government money eventually comes from the citizens--at least at the state level.
The incompetence is amazing!! We have been debating state-run slots parlors for years. It is generally recognized that slots are a cash cow for Maryland. However, the nincompoops in Annapolis managed to screw up the details so bad that they only got bids for about half of the machinces they expected. To make it worse, they had already appropriated the money from the eanticipated number of machines which now, they don't have. The speed cameras were an answer for the short-fall.
We can't even get Driver licenses rigth--the only stae east of the Rockies not in compliance with federal regs. We are allowing illegal immigrants with no proof of legal resident status to contionue to obtain a MD driver's license form another 6 years. And we are told this is a great thing.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Wow, can you say 'oversimplification' my friends!! Come on, all together now!!

These 'tea parties' are a complete gimmick thought up by the GOP and spoon fed by "The right wing talking heads fomenting violence"

The tax rate for working class people is not scheduled to rise, it's the tax rate for the uber wealthy that is getting raised. How many of those people were at the 'tea parties'? Which one of you has a problem for the upper tax bracket going back to levels set by the allmighty Ronald Reagan?
Huh? how many? Wasn't Ronny Ray-gun your ideal president? Where were the tea parties then?

Start thinking for yourselves, don't let your party think for you.

oh yeah, raising taxes on people with no money to begin with isn't going to help. Complaining that some people don't contribute, should make you wonder how are they supposed to contribute if they have nothing. They still pay sales taxes, and would pay property taxes if they could afford to buy housing. Be glad you are in the top instead of the bottom. There will always be greater and lesser persons than yourself. And be glad no one is talking about returning to tax rates under Eisenhower.

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

5% true: Obama campaigned for raising (or not renewing the Bush cuts) the top 5% increase and 95% get no change or lower rates.

Look at the top tax rates in the past and the 40% Obama or 35% Bush top rates both look low.

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cult plus time equals religion

"no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase."

Thetaxing of investment income at the same rate as payroll income is at the heart of the revisions. I am not saying that Obama has perfected tax code, but it's time to reverse some of W's tax changes. Taxing income made by wealth equally with income made by work is a step in the right direction.

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

Thetaxing of investment income at the same rate as payroll income is at the heart of the revisions. I am not saying that Obama has perfected tax code, but it's time to reverse some of W's tax changes. Taxing income made by wealth equally with income made by work is a step in the right direction.

__________________
On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

I see a "win-win" situation here! Why not combine the slot machine industry with the voting machines? Seems like the voting machines are a "crap shoot" device anyway according to the people we elect!

Heck, you might get lucky on election day. Vote for someone, win a million bucks and be able to move away from the mis-fit you elect! Serendipity!