It is October 27^th.  Thanksgiving is less than a month away.  Why do I care?  We all should care, because this is the deadline for the supercommittee to submit its proposal to Congress.  The supercommittee was established over the summer when Congress could not agree on ways to cut our deficit.  Their task is to cut at least $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years from annual deficits.  If they don’t?  Then automatic cuts go into effect.  As Newt Gingrich says, it’s like telling us they are going to shoot themselves in the head and when they return with a plan that says they are only going to cut off their arm, we will be grateful that they didn’t do something nearly as stupid, but stupid nonetheless.

CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf testified at a hearing yesterday of the supercommittee that in order for legislation to be ready by November 23^rd, the committee will need to submit its proposals to be scored as early as next week.  Elmendorf also says that it is really going to take $3 trillion in deficit cuts (on top of the $800 billion already cut) in order to really stabilize our national debt. 

So how is the supercommittee coming along?  It’s hard to tell.  Their meetings are done, for the most part, in private.  On top of their charged task, Democrats are determined that the supercommittee must also come up with a “jobs plan” to “invest” in our economy.  In other words, we need to raise more money so that the government can spend it to buy votes. 

What little we know of the meetings .. we’ve heard that Democrat Senator Max Baucus presented a proposal that includes trillions of dollars in tax increases. In fact, more than 50% of the Democrat deficit reduction plan comes from tax increases.  Part of that revenue will go toward stimulus spending for the economy.

Trillions of dollars in new tax increases?  Where are they going to find that kind of cash?  There simply aren’t enough rich people and corporations to fund our current levels of spending, much less REDUCE our deficit, without some serious structural changes in SPENDING … not taxes.  You know these stats, but in the context of this supercommittee’s idea to raise taxes, they become more pertinent than ever:

If Congress imposed a 100 percent tax, taking all earnings above $250,000 per year, it would yield the princely sum of $1.4 trillion. That would keep the government running for 141 days, but there's a problem because there are 224 more days left in the year.

How about corporate profits to fill the gap? Fortune 500 companies earn nearly $400 billion in profits. Since leftists think profits are little less than theft and greed, Congress might confiscate these ill-gotten gains so that they can be returned to their rightful owners. Taking corporate profits would keep the government running for another 40 days, but that along with confiscating all income above $250,000 would only get us to the end of June (this was written in April ..). Congress must search elsewhere.

According to Forbes 400, America has 400 billionaires with a combined net worth of $1.3 trillion. Congress could confiscate their stocks and bonds, and force them to sell their businesses, yachts, airplanes, mansions and jewelry. The problem is that after fleecing the rich of their income and net worth, and the Fortune 500 corporations of their profits, it would only get us to mid-August. The fact of the matter is there are not enough rich people to come anywhere close to satisfying Congress' voracious spending appetite. They're going to have to go after the non-rich.

Newt Gingrich points out a way we can generate $362 billion in revenue by cutting taxes.  Imagine that!  Cut taxes and generate more revenue.  What tax can we cut?  The death tax.  But not just cut it; eliminate it.  And a study by the American Family Business Foundation says that this would grow our GDP by 2.26% in a decade.  Growing the size of the pie … that’s a concept Democrats find difficult to grasp.