We should all want more rich people...
We all will probably work for a rich person-- we need MORE rich people.
Rand Paul said this out loud today in an economic forum in southeastern Kentucky. I know this because I was there. This statement was made in the first ten minutes, and what became evident to me over the course of the event is this fact:
RAND PAUL LIVES IN A DIFFERENT WORD THAN MOST OF THE RESIDENTS OF KENTUCKY-THE COMMONWEALTH HE PURPORTS TO REPRESENT...
In Rand Paul's World:
Raising revenue is not something the US government should be concerned with- in fact, those words never came out of his mouth. Everything right with the world comes from lowering taxes-- that is the fix for everything.
Infrastructure sounds nice, but it takes money to do that (you have to pay people to dig ditches-- that really was his example!). We have to decide if the infrastructure project is worth borrowing for- and not much is. (Because you know, we can't raise revenue.)
John F. Kennedy is to be praised for lowering the top tax rate during his administration (about that 70% rate he lowered it to--Senator Paul had nothing to say about that).
Businesses (specifically independent pharmacies) should have the right to form collectives in order to bargain with insurance companies. Other companies should be able to do this in order to deal with monopolies (Mastercard and Visa were specifically named).
(Collectives? That was his word! I happen to agree that independent pharmacies should be able to collectively bargain. I wonder if Mr. Paul feels the same way about unions...hmm?)
ALL regulation is just red tape and inspectors are all that is standing in the way of progress in energy policy-Environmentalists are ruining everything.
47% of the United States citizenry pay no taxes (yeah, I know that has been debunked- apparently Senator Paul missed that clarification).
No Child Left Behind is bad law (ok- agreed!), and Kentucky should be able to design their own testing and standards (um, they have been- as has every other state- that's why they are all different.).
The entire Department of Education should be dismantled- it is an overreach of constitutional authority by the federal government. When asked about some specific programs (Pell Grants, Upward Bound, Student Support Services, etc.) he acknowledged that doing away with all of the DOE's programs would not be practical. He believes that students are eligible for limitless Pell Grants for 10 straight years (SO UNTRUE). He believes that student loans should all be done locally (has he been to banks in Clay and Hazard County?) and he had no idea what any of the TRiO programs were that he wishes to cut. Maybe when he finds out that 21,000 students in Kentucky alone will lose the services that make college possible if TRiO goes away, he'll do a little research. I personally think that our students-- who are our future -- are worth a little investment.
Occupy Wall Street is only about "forgiving all debt forever" (that got a huge laugh), and since the government has no role in (re)distribution of wealth, what's to stop the people from just taking it. (I wonder this too-- honoring the social contract might be a good start.)
Am I being unfair to my senator? Or is Bowling Green that different from the rest of the state? Or is Rand Paul living in a completely different world?
For more on Rand Paul's views on issues, check here...