Morning Briefing
For March 20, 2013
1. Led by Sen. Mike Enzi, Republicans Will Vote to Raise Taxes & Tax iTunes Downloads
Congressional Republicans led by Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, are about to raise Americans’ taxes and set in place the foundation for states to be able to tax downloads from the internet, including from places like iTunes. Senators Durbin and Enzi are inserting an internet tax as an amendment to the Senate budget bill.
The tax sounds innocuous enough. The tax is hiding under legislation called the Marketplace Fairness Act. The Act purportedly just harmonizes state laws so internet sales are also taxed. After all, it is not fair that Amazon does not charge all its customers sales taxes. It puts them at a competitive advantage over mom and pop shops. Sounds good until you realize what's actually going on with this latest scheme to peddle "fairness."
One day I will have a scorecard for conservatives. And those Republicans who vote for the Marketplace Fairness Act in any form will be blackballed from that scorecard. Until then, I hope groups like Club for Growth and Heritage Action will score against it. It is a damnable piece of legislation whose backers are a whose who of major corporations.
The staggering irony of the Marketplace Fairness Act is that it is written by states craving more money and massive corporations like Wal-Mart who want to hurt small businesses that have become successfully competitive against big retailers online. And in selling the Marketplace Fairness Act, these big businesses and governments have hired lobbyists to claim the law actually benefits small businesses. But the backers are a whose who of major corporations who have a history of using their connections in government to hurt small businesses that have figured out how to successfully compete against big businesses.
Even more shameful, these big businesses and state governments have been pouring money into conservative outfits and right-of-center lobbying outfits to try to convince conservatives that tapping a massive new revenue stream for states to balance budgets is somehow a conservative milestone.
Some of those supporting the Marketplace Fairness Act are good people with good intentions who believe the law is noble in purpose and buy the spin. But many are bought and paid for by the major corporations who have for too long rigged the system to their advantage by shutting out entrepreneurial competitors through the tax code and other laws.
Republicans who vote for the Marketplace Fairness Act, including Mike Enzi, should be, metaphorically speaking because it’d otherwise be illegal, flogged. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
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2. The Republican Autopsy
The Republican National Committee has released its 100 page autopsy of 2012, with 97 pages of fun filled reading. Reince Preibus, chairman of the RNC, ordered up the autopsy to try to find a way forward for the GOP without repeating many of the mistakes made in Campaign 2012. It’s authors were Henry Barbour, Ari Fleischer, Sally Bradshow, Zori Fonalledas, and Glenn McCall.
What the autopsy misses out of the gate is that some times there is nothing that can be done. Bad election years are bad election years. Candidates like Josh Mandel were model candidates for the GOP who ran great races, but still lost. Some times it just happens.
There are, however, some fundamental problems with the Republican Party and the autopsy does make some effort at examining those. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
3. Harry Reid concurs with Ted Cruz: Dianne Feinstein is a blithering idiot.
I am, of course, inferring that from context. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
4. The Associated Press Reads More Into Rand Paul’s Speech Than is There
Erica Werner of the Associated Press gives us a textbook example of why talking about immigration in the United States is so hard. She reads into statements things that are not there.
The headline of her article is “Rand Paul endorses immigrant path to citizenship.” Giving her the benefit of the doubt that someone else wrote the headline, her first paragraph reads thusly:
"Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is telling a Hispanic business group that illegal immigrants should be allowed to become U.S. taxpayers and ultimately get a shot at citizenship."
I have read the entirety of Rand Paul’s speech. I have spoken directly to the Senator.
No where in his speech does he use the word “citizenship.” . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
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