On Obamacare …
The President’s health care disaster is the biggest tax hike and the largest power grab in the history of the Federal Government. It is costing jobs here in Louisville already and it has not even fully taken effect yet. It has to go. I believe that Obamacare should be overturned by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. And if they do not act, the I will make repeal my first priority as a congressman. The law is and will continue to be a colossal burden on Americans, one that increases in scope the longer it lasts.
Contrary to what its supporters will try to tell you, this law will ultimately produce more uninsured Americans, not fewer. As large numbers of companies discontinue providing a healthcare benefit to their employees because of this law, more people will face a world without proper coverage. Lacking options, folks will resort to getting healthcare where they can find it: emergency rooms or on some form of Medicaid. Either choice further bankrupts the country as a whole and not just those who do not have coverage now.
Freer, more open, market-driven solutions where consumers participate in the buying decision have skin in the game and greater availability of product choice will provide better solutions for everyone.
Elect me to Congress and I will make it my mission to end this disastrous legislation. We must act now, before it’s too late.
On Taxes …
We need to address tax reform now. But increasing the rates Americans pay is not the answer. Rather, we need to reform and simplify the current code and broaden the tax base so that everyone pays tax on the same income and enjoys the same deductions. We hear quite a lot about fairness in the tax code. I cannot see how the code can be made any fairer than to have everyone pay on the same income and enjoy the same deductions. The code currently has far too many preferential deductions and income exclusions, making the entire process of remitting our “fair share” of taxes far too complex.
A big aid to this problem is reforming the code for corporate taxes. The United States now levies one of the highest tax rates in the world, thereby putting U.S.-based companies at a competitive disadvantage with companies based elsewhere around the world. Reducing the corporate tax rate will bring us on par with our largest competitors, like China. We also need to allow companies based in the U.S. to bring overseas earnings home with little to no tax burden, particularly when those profits have already been taxed elsewhere. Letting corporations deduct the dividends they pay to their investors will eliminate the double taxation of corporate earnings.
These two steps will inject trillions of dollars in to the private sector by encouraging corporations to pay out more of their earnings as dividends, which also lowers their global tax rate. This would swell 401 (K) account balances and investment portfolios, placing real money in the hands of real people. It will likewise inject cash into the private sector, raising GDP and increase tax revenues, all without raising anyone’s tax rate.
Let’s take real steps to reform the broken tax system. Everyone will benefit.
On Spending …
February 17, 2012 marked the end of the 3rd year of stimulus spending and the third anniversary of the signing of the original stimulus bill. We have now had some $2.4 trillion of stimulus spending, virtually none of which has stimulated anything.
Most Americans remember when Congress passed and President Obama signed the bill to spend nearly $800 billion of emergency stimulus spending. Most, however, do not realize that we have continued to spend that $800 billion every year since and will continue to do so unless we pass a budget taking us back to 2008’s level of spending. That amounts to $1.8 trillion so far that our children and grandchildren will have to pay back because every bit of it has been deficit spending. You see, all of that stimulus money is now part of what the politicos like to call “the base line:” in other words, the starting point for spending each year. President Obama has now called for a budget that not only will spend the stimulus again, but will actually increase that spending yet again.
It is time to put some fiscal sanity back into Washington before our politicians spend away the future of our great, great, great grandchildren.
Of course, the 3rd District’s Democrat incumbent has rubber-stamped all of this, and will certainly do so again with President Obama’s current budget plan. Now he has even proposed billions of additional spending that is not even the president’s new budget request, including spending taxpayer money to fund all congressional and senate races as well as the presidential race. He also wants the government to provide direct funding for underwater mortgages, estimated to be in excess of $700 billion dollars. All of that money to is to come from the taxpayers. Rep. Yarmuth says he wants to take money out of politics. But let’s be honest, he’s fine with it so long as it’s taxpayers’ money.
I say it is time to turn off the money spigot to Washington. I say that we can make better use of your money and that we need to stop spending our grandchildren’s money. It is time to tell Mr. Yarmuth and his buddies to get their hands out of our pockets and to leave the future of our children alone. Let them figure out how to spend their money and we’ll do the same.
On the Role of Government …
The federal government has a role, but it’s immeasurably smaller than what it is today. We should slash unnecessary programs and create a lean, more efficient government at all levels.
On Debt …
As a financial advisor, I understand deeply the mechanisms involved to eliminate our national debt. We can’t continue to borrow money. Let’s bring spending under control and aggressively tackle the problem of runaway debt.
On Guns …
I am an avid hunter, gun owner and a staunch believer in the Second Amendment.
On Life …
I am firmly pro-life and have always been so.