Today’s episode of Lt Scrounge Speaks Out, on Blogtalkradio was about the negative impact of increasing tax rates on the Gross Domestic Product and how government spending doesn’t REALLY stimulate the economy .It is roughly akin to taking $20 out of your wallet, buying a cup of cappucino and putting $15 into your pocket and saying your income has been stimulated because you have $15 in your pocket. The cappucino might give you this warm feeling inside , but you still have less money than you had before, it’s just in a different location.  While there were technical problems with the Blogtalkradio servers that were incredibly distracting, including one banner that told me I was on but not streaming, another that said they were waiting for me to call in, and a third displaying which number I was calling from, I did manage to make a few coherent points.  Those points were that increased tax rates hurt the economy by discouraging productivity, and lead to lower revenues as a result. I also illustrated how our elected “representatives” are engaged in defrauding the taxpayers for outrageous benefits packages for things they should be paying for themselves. I’m still trying to understand why  a congressman being paid in excess of $13,500 a month needs to have the taxpayers pick up the tab for the lease, fuel and insurance of a luxury car for him/her. One is driving around in a top end Lexus SUV.  The lease payment is almost $1000 a MONTH. WHY are the taxpayers paying a thousand dollar a month lease on a vehicle for a congressman?  And Yes, it is a member of the very same Democrat  party that pushed the cap and tax bill through the House last month. Of course he doesn’t care how high gas or car insurance prices are, he’s not paying for it. WE ARE.