Fair Tax Rally in Jacksonville, Florida

This past Saturday April 11th another Fair Tax rally took place thanks to the dedication of radio personality Neil Boortz and Congressman John Linder. Both these fine decent citizens have donated countless hours for this effort. I would like to thank them and all those who put together these efforts to create a fair tax system for all Americans. Everyone involved is truly a patriot.

And now the not so obvious observations from the mischievous mind of a libertarian and economics ranting and raving type of guy.

The first thing I noticed was everyone seemed to be up on the fact that the 16th Amendment would have to be repealed but no one seemed to realize that all other federal taxes would have to be abolished as well. This would include tariffs. Why? Congress would take that 23% sales tax revenue and combine it with tariffs (imports and exports make up approximately 24% of the GDP), user fees, airport taxes, gas taxes and whatever else they could think of to gain control over America just as they do today. Trust me in a decade or two it would be business as usual for the slackers in Washington. A constitutional amendment repealing the 16th amendment would also have to contain provisions repealing all other federal taxes except in war time.
The second observation was all the speakers except the Talk Master Neal Boortz insisted that this was a Democrat, Republican, Independent and Libertarian effort. And in a way they are right. Make no mistake about it the Fair Tax is a frontal assault by the Libertarian Party and members to wrest power from Washington and return it to the people. If this Fair Tax thing ever does pass it will be a Libertarian Party victory for the people. Damn sure didn’t come from the other side of the isle.

The third thing no one seems to understand is that if the Fair Tax is passed there will be massive dislocation of work force and an increase in personal wealth. Everyone is for it but if personal wealth increases 50% as one speaker claimed well guess what? The Federal Reserve better be on it’s A game watching for inflation. There could be massive inflation and economic dislocation of resources which in the long run would be beneficial but chaos in the short run. In fact the diabolical part of my mind envisions Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke working with the fascist elements of our government using the Fair Tax as a Trojan horse to create hyperinflation making the political climate more conducive to consolidate and centralize more power in the hands of the federal government. Pass the Fair Tax; pump up the monetary base at the same time and whoa! Hyper inflation, another crisis and “we tried the capitalist approach and look where it got us!” The final coup de grace to freedom and liberty. After seeing Alan Greenspan sabotage Bush I wouldn’t put it past Bernanke to pull that stunt.

If the Fair Tax is passed the Federal Reserve will have to be dedicated to defending the currency and doing whatever it takes as the economy transitions from spending to savings. I would not want Alan Greenspan or Ben Bernanke running the Fed when such a transition occurs. Don’t trust either one of them as far as I can spit.

As CATO Senior Fellow Dan Mitchell points out a flat tax would accomplish much the same thing without the constitutional amendment. Yes the Fair Tax is better but the flat tax is easier. At this point in time anything is better. Cutting corporate and capital gains, anything but the suicidal insanity that has gripped our leaders.

Finally the secessionists are out and about. A gentleman was passing out the Free Magnolia pushing for southern independence once again. Everyone dismisses these succession folks but if we in America do see hyper inflation (sometimes defined as 50% annually or 10% monthly but there is no absolute definition at this time) succession will look awfully good for much of the country not sympathetic with the current political elite. Starvation and unemployment will drive even the best of folks to extremes.

Again thank you to the Talk Master Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder. I wish I was half the man these two are. God bless both of them.

Mark Thompson

The guy in the black UCF shirt who was sweating like a pig.