Signs the Congress has gone mad

One indication that Washington has gone mad is when you have two ridiculously stupid proposals coming from both Democrats and Republicans alike… the same day. Let’s begin with the Republican.

Republican Senator Grassley today came up with an utterly brilliant idea of how to save jobs in America: fire foreign workers first. I take offense not because I am part of that group of internationals seeking to find work here in the US. Instead, I am against this because if you want the US to remain competitive, what she needs to do is hire the best people- regardless of their nationality. In case he doesn’t know, the reason why some companies are hiring more internationals than Americans is not just because of cost (if at all it is an issue), but because the best and the brightest just are not found here in the US. What is the point of hiring your own people if they are less productive than those being hired, whether it be Chinese, Indians or what-non-US citizen?! Voting against this H1B issue is not so much a case against US unemployment as it is a case against growth, productivity and competitiveness. I’m ashamed to be hearing this from a Republican.

The more ridiculous proposal came from Democratic Congressman Defazio who suggested that trading of stocks, options and other financial instruments be taxed at 0.25%. Has he seriously gone mad? Oh wait, no. It is typical of Democrats to be taxing their deficits away. 0.25% might not sound like a lot but if you look at how much trading happens every day, and how much is involved, 0.25 or 0.20 or 0.15 is no simple thing. It’s only ridiculous to us who understand the implications of this ridiculous taxation. Okay, so capital gains tax are already being raised. The Bush tax cuts will no longer be renewed. Income taxes for those making more than $250,000 will be following a rate of 39% vs. the current 36%. And now we have this. Passed or not, this tells me that seemingly the only solution in the minds of Democrats is taxation. I wonder what’s next? Taxes on paying your bills? Or hiring people?

These are indeed extraordinary times… These are the times when we see the Congress going bonkers. And it’s not just the liberals.