Over 1000 members on TCU

The Conservative Underground's new website now has over 1000 members. We just opened up a little over a week ago and people are pouring in.

Come over and join the social network for conservatives.

http://www.TCUnation.com

TCU Grand Opening Jan 20

What are you doing Jan 20?

Join us on Jan 20 for the Grand Opening of The Conservative Underground - social network for conservatives.

Througout the day we will host activities and chances to win prizes.

http://www.TCUnation.com

see you there!

New Conservative Underground website

We opened the new TCU website tonite. The website is a social network for conservatives.

Join us at http://www.TCUnation.com

We will have a grand opening on Jan 20 with prizes throughout the day.

Capital Gains taxes - do they matter?

Capital gains are taxes placed on profit from the sale of capital assets. The most common example would be stocks, bonds or certain real estate that do not fall under the exclusion of IRS Code Section 121.

Presently, the long term capital gains rate is 15% for taxpayers in the 25% marginal tax rate on up (the rate is 0 for the 10% and 15% marginal income brackets) and is set to expire in 2010, returning to 20%. President-elect Obama seems comfortable with the 20% rate but has hinted at possibly a 28% rate on long term gains. Short term gains, less than a year, are taxed at the seller's income rate.

What does all this mean? Given the fact the market has taken a nosedive there probably will not be too many 'gains' to tax. If sold, I suspect many will have losses, or investors may simply choose to hold their investments, hoping to recoup their losses. Take note losses can carry forward to the next year.

So why does the rate matter? Well there are several theories out on capital gains. Obviously if you raise the tax rate the government will raise more revenue per profitable sell. However, this doesn't necessarily lead to more total revenue.

If investors are taxed more on their investments they may simply choose to hold on to them longer or simply not invest at all. This will lead to less buying and selling and less revenue for Uncle Sam.

Lower capital gains rates may net less money per sell but will increase total tax revenue because there will be more buying and selling in the market.

An article on the National Center for Policy Analysis states:

Over the past 30 years a consistent pattern has emerged: every time the capital gains tax has been cut, capital gains tax revenues have risen. Every time the capital gains tax has been raised, capital gains tax revenues have fallen (1)

The new administration should take a look at history and realize that higher capital gains don't necessarily mean more revenue for Uncle Sam.

1. - NCPA.ORG - "The Bush Capital Gains Tax Cut after Four Years: More Growth, More Investment, More Revenues" <http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st/st307/st307f.html >

Why Obama as President can be a good thing

I cannot think of anyone who likes to lose, especially a hard fought Presidential election. The GOP in 2008 lost more seats in Congress as well as the Presidency.

Though this seems like a tough blow for conservatives, there may be a bright side to Obama winning the election.

Many conservatives do not regard Sen. John McCain as a "true conservative". Yes, he is a great American war hero and has served his country a long time in public office but on occasion gone against conservative values.

I am not in a position to debate McCain's conservative values but the obvious questioning by some, leaves the conservative base less unified.

If the GOP is going unify and stick to conservative principles the base must all agree their candidate is a true conservative. So how does Obama winning the Presidency help?

Well one way to prove someone wrong is to let them prove themselves wrong. Obama ran a campaign on big promises that sound good in speeches, but in practice do not work.

So what should the GOP do? Wait. Let Obama put his policies into play. If he follows the Democrat hard left agenda people may realize that this was not the change they were promised.

This does not mean the GOP should let the Democrats run over them. Issues like the fairness doctrine, which aims to silence conservative talk radio, should be met with strong resistance.

In the meantime, the GOP should reorganize, simplify the conservative message, and be ready for 2010 and 2012. Hard core Democrats are going to vote Democrat, but Independents and moderate Democrats might be ready for another "change" in two and four years.

 

The GOP shouldn't look at the 2008 election as a loss but a perfect time to rebuild and reorganize.

Some major wisdom....

Hey guys. Again, thanks for joining. Thought I would pop in and leave some thoughts. I've seen these 10 Cannot's all over the place but I've never really given them much thought. In light of the election, they are incredibly profound.

• You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
• You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
• You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
• You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
• You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
• You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
• You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
• You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
• You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
• You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

Okay, now go back and read all of those again. I'm amazed by the simple logic here. These are some of the core principles of conservatism. So wise, yet so logical. These are the tenants we need to promote as we begin to revitalize the conservative base. Principles of hard work, personal responsibility, and fiscal accountability. This is what the new president-elect's policies are missing.

In case you were wondering, these pearls of wisdom were written by a man who saw them in action before our time. William J. H. Boetcker was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1873. He is well-known as one of the first motivational speakers, regarded as a forerunner for Tony Robbins. He was also a Presbyterian minister, and regularly used his morals and values as solid frameworks for his political ideas. He gained a reputation as a conservative speaker when he published the above "10 Cannot's" in 1916. You may recognize them from Reagan's 1992 Republican Convention speech.

Goal #1 reached 1000 members

We started the group late Nov 4...after the news.

In less than 24hrs we have over 1,100 members join. Wow!

Let's keep the momentum going. Next goal 5,000

Welcome to The Conservative Underground

Welcome to The Conservative Underground. This will serve as the temporary blog for our group. 

We'll post news,updates, some humor :-) and more about our fast growing movement. 

We want this to be an active group with everyone participating. So please have some patience as we grow.

Join our Facebook Group Here:

http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=33394060889