See the stats here.

I firmly believe that those who build, prosper, and act responsibly to leave a nest egg for their children and grandchildren (a nest egg that they have already paid taxes on), should not be punished.   If the Death Tax is not repealed, those who feed and employ Americans, will have to pay a 55% tax on everything they leave to the next generation.  That is outrageous!

But perhaps the most egregious part of the death tax, is that it is private property redistribution.  It destroys what took a lifetime to build in many cases, because the government says so.  That must stop.   You can help…

NoDeathTax.org

Freedomworks No Death Tax Action Center

Along with the No Death Tax pledge, I am proud to have signed the No New Taxes Pledge, as well as the No Carbon Tax or No Cap and Trade Pledge.  Government must get out of the business of business and stop punishing those who play by the rules, act responsibly, and plan prudently.

From Cook Political Report (Subscription Required)
FL-12: OPEN (R) – Central: Lakeland

Likely Republican. Five-term GOP Rep. Adam Putnam’s decision to run for Florida Agriculture Commissioner rather than seek reelection took Washington by surprise and had Democrats wondering whether they can make a play for this fast-growing central Florida seat, which spans exurban and agricultural communities close to Lakeland and only narrowly voted for McCain in 2008.

Republican operatives say state Rep. Dennis Ross has the inside track for the GOP nomination, especially after state Sen. Paula Dockery declined to run. A state legislator since 2000, Ross has lined up considerable institutional backing from the likes of former GOP Gov. Jeb Bush and others.

There was some talk that an “outsider” candidate would step forward, but Ross has bolstered his conservative credentials by touting his lonely opposition to a proposed insurance reform he refers to as “Florida’s version of the public option.”

Meanwhile, Democrats are lining up behind Polk County Elections Supervisor Lori Edwards, who previously served in the state House. Edwards styles herself a Blue Dog Democrat, and released a poll in November, conducted for her campaign by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, showing her leading Ross 46 percent to 42 percent. But, at this early stage in this open seat race, it’s highly unlikely such a high percentage of voters have well-formed impressions of both candidates. And, Ross has the money to define the race. Edwards posted an anemic $60,000 on hand at the end of the year to Ross’s $273,000.

Given the mood of the year, it’s difficult to see how Edwards has an opening here unless Ross is badly damaged in the August primary. So far, no credible GOP threat to Ross has materialized. (emphasis added)

twitter.com/Mercatus

As you can see from the chart below, unemployment amongst the private sector has skyrocketed, while government unemployment has remained fairly steady.

This cannot be sustained and only real, substantive cuts in both government payroll and spending can bring about the needed readjustment in this chart.  When the private sector tightens belts, so should government.

Read an email to supporters today outlining real solutions to our budget and employment problems

Beyond the disrespect for the law comes the question of when it is time to end this program.  As with any government subsidy or bailout, the danger of perpetuity are real and in the case of the TARP, all too real.

Heritage pointed out why TARP, perhaps somewhat needed initially, should be ended here

One of the points raised by Heritage is a good one:

Strengthen Capital Standards: Congress should strengthen capital standards to discourage financial firms from reaching the point that their failure could endanger the entire financial system.

Instead of encouraging banks and others to lend to high risk clients and make a joke of fractional banking, Congress should take a lesson from our parents and grandparents are ensure that the law requires prudence.

But perhaps the biggest scam of all, one that the Administration won’t admit to, and is the dirty little secret around the country, is that banks are lending to private entities because they can get a sure rate of return by lending to the government.

How?

Banks currently borrow money FROM the government at 0% interest, and lend it back TO the government, at 3 – 4% interest.   Meanwhile, American taxpayers are hurting, unemployment rises, and small business has no access to credit.

Should anyone wonder why banks aren’t lending?  We must put a stop to free money, to a select few, who then, in turn, fleece the taxpayer.  This is not a populist rant, this is the real world.   A world in which our children and grandchildren are saddled with debt, while a select few make billions, and unemployment rises.  It is bad policy, bad governance, and it is just plain wrong.

So Bravo to Senator Gregg for exposing PART of the problem – arrogance of power.  Now if only someone had the political courage to tell the American people that pain is coming, but like resetting a bone or curing a toothache, the pain incurred now will lead to long term wellness.  Pain like foreclosures, auto plant closings, and dislocation of workers. But as long as we try to make this pain free, the only people who will be hurt are the little ones who wake up everyday expecting us to leave them a country better than we found it.

See the brand new GOP.com here.

The Republican Party is finally entering the 21st century.  A new century brings a new chance to hold ourselves accountable.  Practice what we preach, live our values, hold ourselves to account, and never forget that all 535 seats are, in the end, the PEOPLE’S SEATS!

Check out all the videos of election night here

Also, let us not forget that a vast majority of Americans are conservative or moderate. In those two groups, solutions can be found.

This Wall Street Journal piece, titled “US Shifted Party, Not Ideology” is right on point.

The reality is that Democrats were renting a lot of centrist voters in 2006 and 2008, but didn’t really own them. And now Democrats seem to be losing their grip on some of those centrist, independent-minded voters.

If the GOP is smart, it can regain the trust of Republican conservatives, and independent conservatives and moderates by offering a bold vision that is short on rhetoric and cliches, and heavy on detailed policy.

From taxes, to spending, to health care, to education, and beyond, I will not stand for the status quo and the GOP cannot either.

But MOST importantly, when given the opportunity to stand….to vote….to DO rather than just SAY, we must act.  I will act, and I know many in Congress will.

Tonight is a great kickoff.  Now let’s move the ball.

If you would like us to mail you some petitions, please email:
info@electdennisross.com – subject line: Petitions
Tell us your name and address, and we will mail you as many as you would like.

When you get petitions signed, please mail them to:

Friends of Dennis Ross
PO Box 7310
Lakeland, FL 33807

Thank you to everyone who has signed one and put us ahead of the pack.  Please see the pictures below .  We could not have done this without YOU!

Today, at RealClearPolitics.com, Larry Kudlow, former Economic Advisor to President Ronald Reagan, writes perhaps the best article I have read in a long time dealing with exactly how we put America back to work.

You can read it here.

One of the opening lines sums things up. “It’s like business is on hold as it waits for the next Washington shoe to fall.”

It seems axiomatic to many small business owners, like myself, that as long as the government threatens to increase corporate, marginal, payroll, health care, estate, and capital gains taxes, due to the uncertainty in forecasting or planning ahead, I will refrain from hiring new workers until I receive more certainty. It also follows that after all of these regulatory and tax burdens are foisted upon me, I may also find it impossible to proceed with my current payroll, and be forced to lay off workers or reduce capital expenditures and thus, stop investing in my own future.

This line of reasoning has been true since the first taxes were assessed and the first governments began operating. This line of reasoning applies, not only to business owners, but to families as well. If you know your taxes will go up, and your health care costs will go up, and your job is not secure, will you buy a new TV? Will you put more money into your IRA? Will you invest in your children’s 527?

As if the President’s job killing policies were not bad enough, the “remedy” the propose, is akin to Dr. Benjamin Rush’s “Thunderbolt” in the 17th and 18th century.

(Rush’s Thunderbolt described here)

For example, as Larry Kudlow points out,

Check this out. On Friday, the day of the sub-par jobs release, President Obama comes out with a new green-jobs program that will cost taxpayers $2.3 billion. He predicts targeted tax credits for all of his faddish “energy savers” — presumably determined by hoards of EPA bureaucrats — will create 17,000 new jobs. This is out of a total workforce of 153 million.

And wait, it gets better. The average cost of these alleged new green jobs will be $135,000 per job. It’s sorta like the $780 billion stimulus plan, half of which has supposedly saved 1 million jobs at roughly $200,000 per job.

And on the subject of energy-related jobs, the EPA is now going to penalize manufacturing America — or what’s left of it — with tougher standards to reduce smog. Of course, smog has already fallen 25 percent in the last three decades. And the EPA’s projected smog savings are so miniscule compared to the new costs for business that the National Association of Manufacturers, the petrochemical makers and others are screaming bloody murder.

This little EPA beauty could cost up to $90 billion annually. All of this with a 10 percent unemployment rate, mind you. It’s another triumph for left-wing social policy over economic-growth policy.

And get this. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar recently announced that he is closing down federal lands for oil and gas drilling. This with the price of oil hovering around $83 a barrel and retail gas at the pump moving in the direction of $3 per gallon. Huh? Does anybody in Washington have any common sense at all?

Steve Moore of The Wall Street Journal just wrote a good column about tax chaos in the new year, with small-business write-offs for capital purchases expiring, the alternative minimum tax (AMT) un-indexed for inflation and no fix in place for the estate tax, which is set to rocket from zero back to 55 percent.

And let’s not forget, as Harvard economist Greg Mankiw reminds us on his excellent blog, that the $780 billion stimulus plan was supposed to generate a peak of only 8 percent unemployment. Not happening — at least not yet.

I have no doubt that President Obama’s intentions are to grow the economy. I do not say his intentions are good because I also believe he firmly intends to establish government as the end all and be all of our daily lives and that, regardless of intent, is never good. But I also want Americans to go back to work and if it means millions go back on this President’s watch, so be it. The one comfort we conservatives have is that, in order to truly grow the economy, the President will have to do the exact opposite of what he is doing now. If a President cuts taxes, eliminates Capital Gains taxes, estate taxes, and reduces government spending…I don’t care if he has an R, a D, or an I next to his name.

I cannot emphasize enough – It isn’t about scoring political points at the expense of a child going hungry or a mom and dad awake all night worrying how they will pay their bills.

But the President, who seems to always put politics before proper policy, should know this from folks, like me, who speaks to American taxpayers every day…

“There’s a populist wave coming, but it’s from the right, not the left. Free-market populism emanating from the tea-party movement wants government out of our businesses and out of our pockets. These folks are right.”

Yes they are.

You can read the Press Release sent out this morning here

I want to thank each and every person who has signed a petition.  It is support I do not take for granted, nor do I take it lightly.  I realize that support comes with expectations.  Expectations to serve with honor, with principle, and with the knowledge that I serve FOR you and not against you. 

Thank you and as we are now so close to the 4,500 we need to qualify, if you or anyone you know has not signed a petition, you can still download, print, and mail it back to.

Download the Petition Here

Mail it to:

Friends of Dennis Ross, PO Box 7310, Lakeland, FL 33807