WAYS TO FIX THE TAX CODE THAT DON'T RAPE YOU, YOUR KIDS OR GRANDMA.

It is very disheartening to watch both sides of the political aisle fumble carelessly the most basic principles of economics and science. To be fair, the Republicans have been a torch bearer for years in mindless nonsense that bears no resemblance to anything in the real world. Witness the full on melt down of every conservative pundit who was forced to eat crow live as Obama won handily, a fact most of us knew months in advance. It wasn't being psychic or being a wizard that helped, but good old fashioned logic, math and an understanding of demographics and voting tendencies. The right was so far off in their polls due to their insistence that all the polls skewed to Obama when, in reality, the opposite was true. The reason for this is people who take landline phone polls are usually older, white and Republican. As a result, the rights' polls were off at least six points, a fact confirmed by how the vote actually went. And people like Dick Morris and Karl Rove proved their worthlessness, but more importantly, actually believed they were going to win. That is some world class denial from people who are not stupid, albeit in this case, they were.

However, the democrats have fared little better in doing things that could raise capital, improve living standards, and save the country from ruin. They are slaves to the same corporate overlords as the rest of the politicians are and their largely absent bills to fix anything prove it. With the current bill passed by Congress, I found it to be a pretty good start. The rich need to pay more. Period. And for all that talk of job creation, billionaires had a FANTASTIC year in 2012, yet hiring barely budged. Demand makes people hire others and the only way to do that is to start giving the middle class a much needed raise after stagnant wages over the last forty years, or most of my life. People born since 1965 have had almost no chance of getting ahead due to right to work laws, falling wages, outsourcing, and the death of unions. The democrats had done nothing to fix any of that.

So what can we do? Here are some ways that we can increase revenue without breaking anyone's bank, even the ultra rich. First, enact a Wall Street transaction tax of .25%, which let's face it, isn't that high of a tax, but one which will ultimately lead to a $1.8 trillion revenue stream over a ten year period. I don't know about you, but the fucking banks can cough up a little loot considering how much we've bailed out their idiocy over the years. Next, we eliminate corporate tax loopholes and subsidies of oil companies, which corporate America will scream bloody murder over, but considering they are pulling in record profits while firing everyone they can at the same time, it's time for them to start paying their fair share of taxes because right now nothing is too low. This will raise another $1.24 trillion over a ten years. Look at that, two laws, over $3 trillion in revenue.

But wait, there's more. Let's raise rates for those making between $1 million and up to 40-49% tax bracket, raising another $872 billion. If you are making a billion dollars a year, giving away half is not quite the sacrifice you think it is. We can further cut the military budget by $500 billion and still be the most powerful fighting force on the planet. Eliminating projects like the awful F-22 is a good start. It doesn't work, it has never worked, and I am tired of throwing good money after bad.

As I have stated many, many times on this site, getting rid of the salary cap on Social Security will keep it solvent for decades. Even if we raise the cap to $170,000, this will bring in $457 billion to SS coffers and help offset the baby boomers retiring en masse for at least forty years.

Two things in the current plan are good ways to raise money, both which the so called fiscal hawks in the Senate fought tooth and nail against. One, raising the rates for top earners to 39% will now raise around $500 billion. Two, raising the estate tax both raises over $300 billion but also helps protect farmers from outrageous taxes in land appraisals after they die and pass the estate on to their heirs.

Finally, we need to negotiate drug prices with Big Pharma for Medicare like every other country on earth does. That's right, we alone say, rape us Big Pharma, all the while the government stands by and does nothing. Hell, they even encourage it. This will save taxpayers $220 billion. We can close 20% of our military bases which are no longer needed and save another $200 billion. Lastly, we close loopholes in the capital gains taxes and raise another $174 billion.

All together, that is a grand total of $6 trillion dollars saved over the next ten years. Republicans, instead, want to do thing like the chained CPI which would drastically reduce the standard of living for everyone not rich and raise Medicare to 67, putting further strain on a damaged system. These policies would do almost nothing to fix the debt, would create austerity for Greece-like conditions, and give even more money to people who don't need it. Which plan sounds better and why is no one anywhere talking about it?