The 10 Economic Commandments Of The Tea Party: 24/7 Wall Street
#1. Entitlements
#2. Taxes
#3. Health Care Reform
#4. Bailouts
#5. Government Spending
#6. Inflation
#7. Free Market Economy
#8. Budget Deficit & Federal Debt
#9. Energy/NO ‘Cap and Trade'
#10. Federal Reserve
Below the line: All ten with paragraphs and link back to source photo for each.
Many Tea Party candidates have called for reform of entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, both of which have begun to pay out more money than they take in. Recent Senate winners Rand Paul and Mike Lee have called for “systematic overhauls” of the politically popular programs. Other candidates, such as Pennsylvania Senator-elect Pat Toomey, advocate the partial privatization of Social Security. All of these candidates, however, say that it would be unfair to deny benefits to current retirees or those who are close to retirement.
According to Arkansas Congressman-elect Tim Griffin (pictured), “the best way to get the economy going and create jobs is to put more money in the pockets of taxpayers. Tax relief encourages sustainable economic growth, innovation and job creation.” Supporters say believe that lowering taxes is the best way to jump-start the floundering U.S. economy. They back cutting capital gains taxes, reducing corporate tax rates, maintaining the Bush tax cuts and repealing the estate tax. Some politicians, including Tea Party leader Sen. Jim DeMint, have called for a single-rate tax system.
One recent issue which seemed to draw an especially large amount of Tea Party fervor was health care reform. It is no surprise that most Tea Party candidates called for a repeal of the legislation. Furthermore, they argued that government should empower people to make decisions about health care without costly mandates. This approach is consistent with the movement’s small government focus. Some proposed steps that Tea Partiers support include making all medical expenses tax deductible, enacting tort reform and allowing citizens to buy health insurance across state lines.
According to pollster Scott Rasmussen, writer of “Mad As Hell: How the Tea Party Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System,” the primary event which triggered the Tea Party movement was the federal bailouts of private companies. Activists consider them to be unconstitutional, ineffective, and immoral since they involve the redistribution of wealth from citizens to private entities. Tea Parties are opposed to similar bailouts in the future. According to Rand Paul, “Federal bailouts reward inefficient and corrupt management, rob taxpayers, hurt smaller and more responsible private firms, exacerbate our budget problems, explode national debt, and destroy our US Dollar. Even more importantly, any bailout of private industry is in direct violation of the constitution.”
Although the Tea Party movement is often considered to be an offshoot of the Republican Party, one of its major concerns is the government spending increases which went virtually unchecked by Republicans. Tea Party activists argue that those who claim to be “fiscally conservative” have really as just as reckless at spending as other politicians. These activists argue that spending needs to be brought under control for a number of reasons. It burdens citizens with taxes, it permits further government growth if unchecked, and it increases the country’s reliance on foreign nations to buy America’s debt. As a result, almost all Tea Party-backed candidates have called for major cuts in government spending. Florida Senator-elect Marco Rubio, for example, wants to slash the budgets of the White House and Congress by 10%.
Inflation has become a growing concern among Tea Party activists due to the massive amounts of cash credits recently provided to banks by the Federal Reserve. As the monetary base expands, Tea Partiers believe inflation grows and the dollar weakens. The Tea Party, therefore, wants to pay down debt and balance the budget. The fear of inflation also grows from a distrust of government and the government-sanctioned manipulation of money.
One of the Tea Party’s main pillars is that of “free markets.” Burdensome market regulation is blamed for hampering the economic recovery. According to Michigan Congressman-elect Justin Amash, “Federal stimulus programs, combined with government efforts to manipulate the money supply, simply add to our skyrocketing debt and fuel further inflation.” Tea Partiers believe the government’s actions to salvage/reinvergerate the economy were misguided and ultimately harmed the country. Freer markets, they believe, are more efficient, and increased competition results in a healthier economy.
#8 Budget Deficit & Federal Debt
The United States’ ever-increasing budget deficits and federal debt have proven an extremely sore subject among Tea Party members. They do not want to pay the taxes required to pay off the debt, yet its existence is a clear symbol of massive government and foreign dependence. To avoid this situation, many candidates, such as Marco Rubio, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul, have proposed a constitutional amendment which would require Congress to balance the federal budget each year, as many state governments are required to do. Additionally, some Tea Party candidates, such as Lee, have vowed to fight against any attempts to increase the debt ceiling.
With regards to energy, Tea Party candidates support deregulation to create greater competition in the marketplace as a means of promoting energy innovation and the development of America’s oil reserves with the goal of ending dependence on foreign energy sources. Additionally, Tea Partiers widely oppose the “cap and trade” approach to reducing carbon emissions where companies can buy and sell carbon credits, giving them an economic incentive to cut pollution. This position is spelled out in the “Contract for America,” a set of political positions which is extremely popular among the Tea Party movement
A large theme that runs throughout the Tea Party movement is the strong distrust of the Federal Reserve. Senator-elect Rand Paul blames the institution for creating the economic boom-bust cycle which sent the country into recession. Paul, along with others such as South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, support auditing the Federal Reserve, an idea that has long been a central cause of Paul’s father, Texas Congressman Ron Paul. The quasi-public institution is perceived as being too powerful, and many believe that the Fed’s actions need to be more transparent. Some even want the central bank abolished altogether.
Comment by Robert Steele on the Ten as Posted at Huffington Post:
This is pretty fascinating. I have just published a blog here at Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-david-steele/on-the-issues-from-aborti_b_779171.html so here I will just provide short bullets for each of the ten.
#1. Entitlements. Government corruption prevents negotiating 99% of the cost away.
#2. Taxes. No brainer. End individual income taxes, put in the APT instead.
#3. Health Care Reform. Bad news for the old and crippled–you're not worth it…
#4. Bailouts. The two-party tyranny at its worst. Grounds for impeachment of all.
#5. Government Spending. Corruption on a grand global scale.
#6. Inflation. Corruption on a grand global scale. This is the last act in looting America.
#7. Free Market Economy. Koch Brothers–not fair at all.
#8. Budget Deficit & Federal Debt. Right on–stop borrowing money, end corruption among the politicans and the senior civil servants across the government agencies.
#9. Energy/NO ‘Cap and Trade.' Delusional and uninformed. End corruption in government, research and publish true costs of everything (e.g. $12 in costs per gallon externalized). Carbon trade is a fraud–Maurice Strong and Al Gore's version of sub-prime mortgage scams.
#10. Federal Reserve. Neither federal nor a reserve. A front for the Rothchilds and Goldman Sachs with Morgan and Citi piggy-backing. End it.
See the Virtual Cabinet that will do this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-david-steele/virtual-president-announc_b_745022.html
Phi Beta Iota: There are actually two Tea Parties. The original and genuine one has many chapters across the country that raised an average of under $1000 each. The more visible and fraudulent Tea Party is funded by the Koch Brothers.
