No. Do you want the the lobbyist to say: "If you don't do what I want I will get my corporation to spend millions to get you out of office."?
Lol could i just point out as a fellow member (rather than contributing), you can't actually give out reputation. Hong Kong has one aspect that you, in fact, I'm willing to bet ALL Americans, detest, and will denounce as socialist. The Hong Kong government owns all land in Hong Kong. Oh yeah, and there is no universal suffrage in Hong Kong. It's true we are one of the freest economies in the world. And in terms of regulations we are very strict on them, which is helped when HK is just a small city where news doesn't have to travel far about politicians or various scandals. But HK (until very recently) didn't have a minimum wage, incomes for certain groups do not follow inflation, and there is a significant income inequality here.
If you want to come talk to me about your issues, that's fine. If you want to talk to me and make a "contribution", that's not fine. Politicians should be up there doing the right thing, not making laws and adding pork spending projects because X gave me cash - and took me to a fabulous lunch.
I'm all for getting corporate interests out of government. I still don't understand what the legislation your suggesting would look like. 'If a company owner comes and speaks with a politician he then can't donate to his campaign ever.' ; is that what you are suggesting? There is no piece of legislation that would prevent corporations from influencing government.
I "might" let someone contribute $100...max...1 month before reelection time...i.e. what he/she can contribute won't matter in my vote for or against it. If you need to raise money, then you do it with people voluntarily donating and that you didn't talk to or help personally. Caught with your hand in the cookie jar or skirting the law...immediate termination and no pension...and possible prision time. Vote what you believe or what your constituents want.
If people are going to bring up Hong Kong, the following should be mentioned--- Hong Kong has a socialized health care system based largely on the British NHS model. There are 50 public hospitals---in comparison to 12 private hospitals. FREE MARKETS---socialism in disguise!
arrests in Downtown LA for unlawful assembly peaceful protest and civil disobedience happening, police are carefully arresting those blocking traffic their chants: "New York, LA, Occupy, This is Our Day"
Note that at no time have any of the OWS people asked for handouts, they are asking for JOBS. Only Fox "News" and their parrots are saying that OWS is asking for handouts.
Two dozen “patriotic millionaires” traveled to the national’s capital on Wednesday to demand that Congress raise taxes on wealthy Americans. The Daily Caller attended their press conference with an iPad, which displayed the Treasury Department’s donation page, to find out if any of the “patriotic millionaires” were willing to put their money where their mouth is. Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/11/17/p...-but-unwilling-to-pay-up-video/#ixzz1dzGkcQP4 <object classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="ooyalaPlayer_3i2un_goq1q86s" width="640" height="360" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab"><param name="movie" value="http://player.ooyala.com/player.swf?embedCode=9qcG4wMzqAYp0d-USgHvosm1FKEyxk0t&version=2" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="flashvars" value="embedType=noscriptObjectTag&embedCode=9qcG4wMzqAYp0d-USgHvosm1FKEyxk0t" /><embed src="http://player.ooyala.com/player.swf?embedCode=9qcG4wMzqAYp0d-USgHvosm1FKEyxk0t&version=2" bgcolor="#000000" width="640" height="360" name="ooyalaPlayer_3i2un_goq1q86s" align="middle" play="true" loop="false" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="&embedCode=9qcG4wMzqAYp0d-USgHvosm1FKEyxk0t" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object>
Wow that's so interesting. Did anyone else notice how tallanvor seems unnerved that him and ArtV might agree? lol
what a stupid test to do. First of all there is no reason they should donate for that. It would have to be proven they were among the wealthiest income earners to qualify what they are protesting against. Secondly that's like saying those that want to reform Social Security opt out of it, or those that want to reduce medicare, start paying for their parents and grandparents medical bills and give the money back to the federal govt. It's an idiotic thing to monitor or at least to monitor and pretend like it has any relevance or that people would be hypocrites for not donating to the govt.
No, it is idiotic. Raising taxes will aggregate FAR more money than two dozen contributions would. A big part of the point is that there are a LOT of people out there who will fight tooth and nail to avoid paying taxes, no matter how low those taxes are. We need to raise taxes in order to reduce the deficit and eliminate the debt, two dozen contributions, even from very wealthy individuals, will not accomplish this goal, but raising taxes will.
As is anyone who wants to reform entitlement spending on Social Security, and Medicare who doesn't start paying for elderly relatives medical bills and sending the money from medicare back to the government, or send back their SS checks.
Will it take violence for you to contribute to this community, or can I assume that you'll put your mouth where your money is, and become a Contributing Member?
A question for the tax attorneys and CPA's here but if you voluntarily wanted to pay more taxes and on your 1040 and put down a figure that was more than you owed would the IRS accept that? Would they just credit that to next year's taxes or just issue a refund?
