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Roskam and the Debt Ceiling
Jul. 28th, 2011 01:54 pmMy Congressman, Peter Roskam (R-Il), holds "telephone town halls." These are events where the voter is called and invited to join a conference call, during which one has the opportunity to ask a question. He held one last night about the debt ceiling vote.
First off, and I've seen this with other telephone town halls, it seems at least part of Roskam's efforts are to persuade voters that he's right. This was no exception - Roskam was pushing Boehner's debt ceiling bill and various Republican nostrums. Alas for Mr. Roskam, the voters weren't buying. Of the seven callers I heard, five (5!) told him to "cut a deal" and "raise taxes to reduce the deficit." Two of them made a point to say that they were long-time Republicans.
Roskam didn't really like the "raise taxes" idea, and told the story of a tool-and-die plant in Carol Stream where the owner was a Subchapter S corporation. Per the story, the plant owner said "I could put a million dollars into building a new line, but if I have to pay higher taxes I can't afford to." What I wanted to say (but was unable to) was that, if true, the plant owner was stupid! Investing the million dollars would be a cost, and reduce his taxes!
At least one of the other callers took issue with Roskam's story as well, so the point was made. Now, two of the callers were flakes - one called going off of the gold standard a "partial default" and the other seemed upset that Obama got to use Air Force One. Still, five of seven is a hopeful sign.
First off, and I've seen this with other telephone town halls, it seems at least part of Roskam's efforts are to persuade voters that he's right. This was no exception - Roskam was pushing Boehner's debt ceiling bill and various Republican nostrums. Alas for Mr. Roskam, the voters weren't buying. Of the seven callers I heard, five (5!) told him to "cut a deal" and "raise taxes to reduce the deficit." Two of them made a point to say that they were long-time Republicans.
Roskam didn't really like the "raise taxes" idea, and told the story of a tool-and-die plant in Carol Stream where the owner was a Subchapter S corporation. Per the story, the plant owner said "I could put a million dollars into building a new line, but if I have to pay higher taxes I can't afford to." What I wanted to say (but was unable to) was that, if true, the plant owner was stupid! Investing the million dollars would be a cost, and reduce his taxes!
At least one of the other callers took issue with Roskam's story as well, so the point was made. Now, two of the callers were flakes - one called going off of the gold standard a "partial default" and the other seemed upset that Obama got to use Air Force One. Still, five of seven is a hopeful sign.
