Wisconsin House GOP keeps making taxpayers pay for their $600 a month vehicle leases!!!

Wanna talk about entitlements? Our elite class of representatives don't like it when "saving the taxpayers money" gets in the way of their own luxurious lifestyle of fancy cars. Roll Call:

LAWMAKERS’ LEASED VEHICLES: The House refused to end public funding of leased vehicles for use by members on official business. Under the amendment to HR 4487, members would be required to use their personal vehicles for official travel, with reimbursement from the legislative branch budget on the basis of miles driven. About 60 House members use leased vehicles, at an average cost of under $600 per month, while most other members use their own vehicles for official business and receive reimbursements. The Senate prohibits its members from leasing vehicles. A yes vote was to end taxpayer funding of leased vehicles for House members.

Paul Ryan sided with Democrats Gwen Moore and Mark Pocan, believe it or not. But voting yes to keep the perk...

 Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, and Ribble.

Corporate Welfare, Entitlement and Greed on Full Display in Closed "Public" Meeting with Business Whiners.

“We want to know how we can love you more.”

Sounds like a nice offer from a professional prostitute, doesn't it? Well, that’s Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, in a very private moment, in the throws of making love to business.

WSJ: “We want to know how we can love you more.” Kleefisch told the group of about 30 executives, managers, accountants and others during the 1-hour, 40-minute session … business operators argued — sometimes forcefully — for lower taxes and more financial incentives for commercial interests.

“Free market?” What free market? Companies are getting favors no single voter can get for themselves or their families.

Never before will you see business so needy, so vulnerable, and so victimized by their own government and social obligations. In the closed door meeting presented below, corporate greed didn't hold back.

Kleefisch didn’t intend for video her staff shot at the Beloit meeting to be released to the public. But the State Journal requested the footage under the state Open Records Law. Kleefisch said she doesn’t think the video is a public record, but she released it anyway to avoid further distractions.

Ending State Competition for Business: Yes, it would be extraordinary for the federal government to stop competitive bidding between states to attract businesses, but whose paying for what is easily considered corporate welfare? The American public, who has had to make up for every tax credit and grant handed out to "free market" private businesses. And it should stop now.

ABC Supply Victim Scott Bianchini:

ABC Supply Inc.’s owner is billionaire Diane Hendricks, who has been among Walker’s top campaign donors. ABC’s tax director, Scott Bianchini, said the state should stop disclosing how much residents pay in taxes, saying the information is used for “sabotage.” Contacted Thursday, he wouldn’t say if he was referring to 2012 newspaper reports indicating Hendricks paid no taxes in 2010 because of a change in her company’s structure.

How did you like the "open government" in air quotes? Guess what, it looks like Republicans hate open government, big surprise.

Walker/Republicans Serve Business, not Voters: This example of corporate "entitlement" is so extreme, how could it not result in a few less Republicans after the midterms:



ABC Supply's Scott Bianchini again, blatantly looking for a cash handout with no accountability:

Bianchini told Kleefisch that tax credits for businesses are too stingy because some can only be applied to taxes owed to the state. The state should pay the credits in cash to companies that didn’t earn enough to have tax bills, Bianchini said. “That company needs that money that year,” Bianchini said. “This is going to require Wisconsin to take a chance on the people they are asking to come into the state.”

Normally the credit can't be used until certain benchmarks are met. Bianchini's suggestion is insanely greedy, eliminating benchmarks:

Reality Defying Republicanism would devastate U.S., increase poverty!

When the more sensationalized news cycle slows, the more interesting details rise to the surface that not only highlight our problems, but showcase our successes and solutions.

But these solutions, opposed by Republicans for ideological reasons, are given short shrift by the media.  Media assumes conservative suggestions to turn the economy around are just as relevant as the real solutions, which by historical standards have already proven themselves out.

Charts Galore: I found these amazing graphs that trashes all the Republicans "solutions" to our economic woes. Even common sense Americans oppose the GOP agenda, all the while supporting and voting these goofballs into office.

"Entitlement" Programs Very Successful vs GOP Lies:

As for public's view of "entitlements," big surprise, they believe in them. Yet Republican still win elections: 

How to end the Entitlement Cuts Debate, Instantly.

I'm so tired of hearing Paul Ryan and Dumb Ron Johnson talk about entitlement cuts.

So let's end this debate once and for all: Democrats should demand an itemized list of cuts and reforms, graded by the CBO, and present them to the public. Let the public judge the plan.

Democrats should then present their plans, possible entitlement increases (taxable income for Social Security and a small Medicare increase), along with the list of cuts proposed by the Republicans, and see who wins.

End of discussion. Ryan avoided exposing his plan for years. Put up or shut up Ryan.

GOP flips flops, now supports Entitlements, Fair treatment for Everybody.

I was struck by this headline on Fox News:

GOP to White House: ObamaCare delay for businesses unfair to everyone else.

Imagine that. Ignoring the preposterous notion that people don’t want affordable health care through the exchanges, Republicans are now whining how life is so...unfair.

Hypocrites all: It seems conservative standards are changing by the minute, depending on their scheme at the time.

Life’s not Fair!!!: Republicans seem to be forgetting their own golden rule.

GOP Entitlement Society: You are now entitled to fair treatment. 

Apparently Republicans believe in entitlements after all. Could it be made any clearer:

"We agree with you that the burden was overwhelming for employers, but we also believe American families need the same relief," House Speaker John Boehner and several other top Republicans wrote in a letter to President Obama. 

Michael Tanner, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute, penned a column that ran in the Daily Caller noting that the delay could increase the burden on individuals and taxpayers. "By postponing the employer mandate ... the administration has shifted costs from employers to workers and/or taxpayers," he wrote. "That hardly seems fair." 

There’s that “fair,” entitlement thing again.

That’s the funny thing too, because Republicans are all about giving up the employer mandate and shifting the costs to workers and taxpayers. They want people to take their insurance coverage with them, regardless of employment, which isn't a bad idea. But their plan does nothing to curb the rising cost of care, and instead, pays taxpayer premium support leaving any increases up to the individual. In other words, good luck. Hey wait that's not fair!

Real Small businesses to Republicans; "Stay away from Entitlements...I'm willing to pay more taxes!!!"

I've said it here for years; consumers are the job creators, not business. The Republican campaign to turn that simple truth around has been largely successful. It not only defangs consumer power, but it also discourages them from demanding higher wages to maintain that power.

The myth that a poor person has never hired an employee should also be dispelled. Ask any small business owner if their rich or poor. They’ll tell you they can barely afford an employee. To many owners, they’re still poor and barely making it. Yet they continue to hire so they can meet demand.

Republicans are short term thinkers, trashing the ability of consumers to create demand in the future by reducing their incomes from Social Security and raising their expenses for Medicare. Lowering the rate of yearly increases only short changes their ability to spend any extra cash.

That’s what the following story from the Washington Post is telling us, in the words of a few small business owners:

Some small employers say those tax discussions are overshadowing an even greater threat to their businesses – cuts to entitlement programs. “If I could talk to Congress, I would tell them to stay away from entitlements,” Mary Black, owner of a UPS franchise in Baton Rouge, La., said. “I’m willing to pay more taxes if that’s what’s needed to pull up the country, and my business would be okay. But cutting Medicare and Medicaid could have some really bad consequences for small businesses.”

Without government-backed insurance, Black would no longer be in business. During the summer of 2010, her 71-year-old husband fell ill … He recovered, but not before the medical bills soared to more than $130,000. “Had it not been for Medicare, my business would have gone under,” Black said, noting that her business would have likely been the first thing sold to cover the expenses. “No question, I would have had to close the doors.” … one in eight small business owners was over the age of 65, and twice that many were less than a decade away from being eligible for Medicare.

Jim Houser, owner of Hawthorne Auto Clinic in Portland, Ore., explained entitlement programs help maintain a strong base of consumers on which his and other small companies rely. “A lot of people like to retire in Oregon, and I need my customers to be able to afford my services,” said Houser, “People need to have a reliable source of income, especially after paying into those programs for so many years, in order for us to have customers.” Houser, like Black, said he would gladly accept a tax increase if it meant lawmakers left entitlement programs alone.  

Entitlements Must Go, says former Wisconsin Physician and Legislator: “Women Entitled to Babies, the Elderly Entitled to Unlimited Medical Care…Entitlement Culture finally lost Allure.” Really?

Just mentioning the word “entitlements” is like sticking a knife in the heart of a conservative, and likewise, the heart of America. The word is so vilified, that conservatives are now trying to come up with other things they could pass off as “entitlements.”

You have to read this amazing point of view by Tom Patterson, a retired physician and former state senator, to get a clear idea of why we’re rapidly taking our society. East Valley Tribune: 

Wisconsin recall may be the turning point, 'where entitlement culture finally lost its allure.'

Usually in politics, concentrated special interests, like public unions, prevail. This election was the exception. We may someday look back at Wisconsin as the turning point, the time when the entitlement culture finally lost its allure.

Since the 1930s, Americans have evolved the belief that the modern welfare state could provide almost everything for everyone. Women were entitled to have babies without consequences. The poor and the elderly were entitled to unlimited medical care. Banks and ball teams were entitled to socialize their losses but keep their gains. Government employees were entitled to above-market compensation and job security.

Read how Patterson weaves into his Dickensian screed a defense of the middle class, the very target of his hatred:

You name it. Housing, food, college loans, business subsidies – all came from the bottomless riches of government. But the string has played out. As in Europe, our national economy is cracking under the strain and the middle class – really, anybody not on the taking side of government handouts – can’t handle much more.