Ron Paul, U.S. Representative from Texas had this to say about the 90% tax imposed on AIG bonus monies this afternoon…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKiJh-BOLd0&feature=player_embedded

Can someone remind me why my money was given to AIG? Oh. Too big to fail, huh? Interesting. Whatever happened to, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall?”

Concerning why the tax was set to 90%, one congressman had to say, (in loose wording)

We figured the local and state taxes would take care of the other ten percent.

Which brings up a very interesting question. What happens when taxes add up to over 100%?

And where is this tea coming from?

Rick Santelli is a reporter for CNBC, and an expert in things financial. He was reporting from the floor of Chicago’s CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) sometime today and apparently got everyone a little rowled up. See the video here. He is expressing his… let’s call it ‘lack of gratitude’… for Obama’s latest “bailout” policy, in which it’s become clear that people who bought homes that they could never afford will be allowed to keep their homes at the expense of tax payers. In passing, he mentioned the possibility of a new Boston-like “Tea Party,” in which we would all throw mortgage-backed security papers into lake Michigan. I’ve gotta admit, I’m feeling his sentiment. I’m not too thrilled with the idea that I’ll be held partially responsible for mortgages that my neighbors can’t afford.

I found the video to be a bit inspiring, personally. Mostly because I’m starting to think I’m the only person who knows that you can’t spend your way out of debt and financial difficulty. Sure, Reagan spent our way to victory over the Red Soviet Union in a somewhat similar financial situation, but he (at least partially) paid for it with tax cuts. Yeah, it does still sound crazy to liberals, but it doesn’t make it any less a part of reality. I suppose that the vast majority of conservatives feel that we are greatly to the right of the peak of the Laffer curve, while liberals don’t believe there’s a curve at all (and instead see a direct and positive relationship of revenue to tax rate). I would actually be ok with more spending if it included massive tax cuts, but I’d never be ok with spending on what we are spending on today.

So, after reading a bit more on the subject of this “tea party,” I found a poll at CNBC, asking if you would join the party. In a time where it seems like 50 % of everyone that ever responds to any poll will disagree with the remainder of the pollees, I found the results a bit surprising. Head over to the CNBC poll and see for yourself.