My (fake) Debate vs. Buerkle

Hello to all, this will be a post where I pretend debate with my Congresswoman, Ann Marie Buerkle. I had the pleasure misfortune of hearing her speak today. I’m writing this while in a rage, during my lunch. I’m not proofreading it immediately (because of lack of time).  Entire words might be skipped, just bear with me. You’ll get the general idea. Part IV of the GOP Preview will now appear Monday. Sorry, for the change-up, but she really pissed me off and I needed to vent. I got to ask a couple of questions, but I’ll basically deconstruct the talking points she threw at us.

Talking point 1: We have to lower taxes on businesses and get government out-of-the-way.

My rebuttal: See the “Live Blog” posting where I link to an article saying that 68% of corporations don’t pay taxes anyway. I think Buerkle would like to lower the rate to a negative number.

Talking point 2: We have to allow drilling in the Gulf to create jobs and help us become energy independent.

My rebuttal: When oil is found off US shores, it is not then taken to your local Exxon. It is then sent to the world markets for general sale. And, we don’t have enough on our shores to affect global prices anyway. Try again.
Follow up thought: I didn’t even mention the safety aspect of Gulf drilling, see my comments in Part III about BP blowing up the Gulf 18 months ago.

Talking point 3: We can’t have a financial transaction tax on companies like Bank of America because they will pass the costs to us.

My rebuttal: It’s not a law that we have to be Bank of America customers, we could avoid their costs by going to a credit union. And, the financial transaction tax would create 177 billion dollars per year.

Talking point 4: Businesses need tax certainty to hire people.
My rebuttal: The Bush/Obama tax rates have been in place for about 12 years and our job creation has barely kept up with population growth. Try again.

Talking point 5: We need a long-term infrastructure plan (at least 5 years), to create jobs.

My rebuttal: Then do it, you guys have massive majority in the House of Representatives. The American Society of Civil Engineers say we need 2.2 trillion dollars in investments over 5 years. This is not for improvements, this is just to make sure bridges don’t collapse and stuff. The full report is here. That sounds long-term to me.

Talking point 6: We have to focus on waste, like OSHA, United Nation dues, and programs for the poor.
My rebuttal: Why not focus on the 2 biggest cost/deficit drivers: our wars and the Bush/Obama tax cuts. The economic downturn (people being out of work, not paying taxes, etc) is 3rd. Please see my comments on the 5 yr infrastructure program, if you wondered what to do about putting people back to work. Not to mention green energy production would be a massive boost.

Talking Point 7 (just remembered this):  Washington DC has been bickering since Congress began over 200 years ago. (audience asked about DC gridlock)

My rebuttal: You’re right they bickered, but the GOP set a record for filibusters in the last Congress. Simply speaking,  filibusters force a 60 vote majority to allow any votes to come forward on bills. Dems had 59 Senate votes in Congress’s last session, so the GOP used this tactic over 140 times to hold up bills that passed the House of Representatives. Being fair, Buerkle was not in Congress for this session. But, you can’t make it sound this is everyday bickering, it was record-setting bickering.

Talking point 8: Let’s support the troops! Buerkle’s inner thoughts: “Holy shit, I didn’t think I’d field anything but softball questions today. Let me try to get them on my side again. “
I think that will do it, please send it to anyone that was buying her nonsense.

See you next time,
James