Methinks the current state of financial affairs in this nation (not to mention the world) could be the perfect storm we need to get some genuine consideration, and hopefully passage, of the Fair Tax.

Here are a few reasons. They dovetail well with these.

1. The Fair Tax is a huge, great big, fat, enormous shift of power away from Congress (the folks who made this current mess possible and probable). Congress uses its tax power to pick winners and losers (contrary to nature). Successful people tend to be successful because they worked hard, invested some effort and sweat, beat out the competition, and got somewhere. Thus, when a successful person buys a house, they tend to buy one they can afford based upon the credit history they have established. Then, the all-seeing eye of government looks out across the landscape and says, “Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone could enjoy success like these successful people. I know, let’s make sure everyone can have a nice, big house.” Then the Congress enacts drivel like the Community Reinvestment Act and then brags about how many people are now homeowners. When Congress picks winners, they often end up losers. When the Fair Tax shifts all that power away from Congress, we’ll have less of this kind of thing to deal with (we can’t eliminate it altogether if Congress remains in session at all).
2. Putting all those withholdings back in American workers’ pockets will be a huge, authentic boost to the economy. I say authentic because the “economic stimulus” check fiasco was a bogus attempt to inject borrowed money into the economy via tax “refunds” to some persons who never paid taxes in the first place. That’s wealth redistribution. Allowing people to keep their own, hard-earned money will motivate investment and savings.
3. Making the tax and compliance system simpler and fairer encourages employment. I’d say we could use it.
4. No capital gains taxes make investing in that stock market very, very attractive. I’d say it could use it.
5. America will become the tax haven of the world. With no corporate or individual income taxes, America will attract investment from all over the world. American companies that have shifted part/all of their operations outside our borders for tax reasons will have the opportunity and motivation to bring their businesses back home, employ Americans, and inject serious capital back into the American economy.
6. Thousands (maybe millions?) will be added to the tax-paying base. Currently, the government is increasingly shifting the tax burden to a smaller and smaller group of persons; therefore, their share gets larger and larger. At some point this becomes unsustainable and Atlas will shrug. The better and fairer Fair Tax taxes what we buy new rather than what we earn, so it broadens the tax base out in a huge way. It is intrinsically more fair. Those who currently avoid their fair share of taxes by creative bookkeeping, doing cash business, and just being cheats have no way of escape — if they choose to make purchases of new retail items. Imagine, all the illegal immigrants, hookers, strippers, drug dealers, gamblers, etc., will become taxpayers. The broader we share the burden, the cheaper each person’s share gets.
7. All the lobbying that occurs to curry favors in the tax code goes away.
8. All the payback to corrupt politicians who provide favors in the tax code goes away.
9. The tax code goes away.

I could go on, but I will leave it there for tonight. All I know is that the economy is in a downturn, and Obama’s tax increases will doom us to depression. How I long for McCain to get on the stump and say that in light of the current economic turmoil in America, he and Sarah Palin have closely evaluated the Fair Tax and plan to make it their top priority (behind national security) when elected. I predict a landslide. Unfortunately, McCain isn’t yet on board, and as you can see here, the Fair Tax is phenomenally better than McCain or Obama’s plans.

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By the way, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT leave comments here that are full of the typical lies about the Fair Tax. As a general rule, if you haven’t read and understood the Fair Tax book, your opinion means very little to me.

Back on Claremore city power. Will it last? I’m not rolling up the extension cords from the generator just yet.

Well, we were back on city power, but now we’re off. Fired the generator back up. COX internet has been up and down all day, sometimes corresponding to the power, sometimes not.

As of 10:15 AM, we’re back on city power.

I was on generator overnight. Lost COX Internet around 2 AM or so. It was back on briefly around 4 AM and has been off since then (I was up to gas up the generator). Tried calling COX 5 times this morning and kept getting a busy signal after waiting in the Muzak queue forever. Wasn’t thrilled with that.

But, we’re back up and the heater is on, so I am happy!!!

Portions of Claremore are without power, and the damage is severe. I went and got the in-laws last night because their power was out, then ours went out this morning. I can’t complain, as many people are dealing with outages. However, I can complain–and will–about the City of Claremore. When we called to report the outage this morning, we were told that the city had intentionally taken us offline and that we would be back up shortly. We thought little of it, and decided to go back to bed. When we got back up, still no power. I called the city again and was told they had no updates for us. I had to go get some groceries, and while I was out, Jeane called to say she had called the city and was finally told it would be 2-4 days. At that point, it was late in the day, but I was able to get a generator from a friend, so we have some essentials back online (including the webserver). So, check back when you can, and I’ll keep issuing dispatches from the hollow mountain.

And in other, good news, I have it on good authority from John Wylie at the Oologah Lake Leader (which is also without power) that Mayes County Election Board was notified by NE Tech Center Board today that they have canceled the sneaky tax election scheduled for tomorrow, Dec. 11. No new date has been set. Recent ice storms have left many counties with no or few polling places with power. Terri Thomas, Mayes County Election Board, said there were no polling places operational in Oologah, Owasso, or Inola and few in Claremore. Additionally, some precinct voters remain unable to leave their homes due to downed branches and/or power lines. Further, several election boards–including the State Election Board–had advised NE Tech Centers that the vote, if it had passed, would likely face legal challenges and be invalidated due to the lack of proper public notice.

So, not all the news is bad!

Sometimes out prayers just have to be, “Thank God it’s not always like this.”

UPDATE: If you try to access the WynnBlog or WynnCast and cannot do so, try again a bit later. Power is still intermittent as the generator does tend to run out of gas occasionally.

Just returned from my hometown of Welch, Okla., where I picked up the in-laws and brought them to Claremore. The electricity has been out in Welch since just before noon today. The latest word from Empire District Electric Company is that it could be 3-4 days until power is restored to Welch.

Just driving around town in the dark, it looked like a combat zone. Many trees are down, and they have caused severe damage. My parents have a generator going, but Jeane’s folks had only a gas wall heater, and we thought it better to bring them here.