Another Oldie but Goodie: Jealousy (A Liberal State of Mind pt.3 from 03-16-09)

Today on my Republican blog: Jealousy. It seems to be a strong liberal trait these days. For all of you libs that don’t own dictionaries (I know most of you obviously don’t), allow me to define it for you:

1. Jealous resentment against a rival, a person enjoying success or advantage, etc., or against another’s success or advantage itself.

2. Mental uneasiness from suspicion or fear of rivalry, unfaithfulness, etc., as in love or aims.

3. Vigilance in maintaining or guarding something.

4. A jealous feeling, disposition, state, or mood.

Sound familiar? I’ve noticed a lot of that sentiment in the democratic party lately. And what’s so confusing to me is the fact that you guys are actually in control right now. Is the Obama honeymoon period over? Are you starting to realize that in 2010 you may not fare well? Are you now feeling the pinch of the new tax hikes, let alone whatever new tax raises this administration has planned for the next four years that no one even knows about yet? Are you scared that in 2012 the new Republican Party will take back our government? Is it because you can see and hear us gearing up to destroy you? Well, whatever the reason, stop with all the jealousy- it’s a weak emotion. Talk sh*t about how Rush Limbaugh runs our party all you want, try to pretend like Michael Steele doesn’t exist all you want, pretend like higher taxes are a good thing all you want; but you know what’s going to happen in a few years. We’re building a newer, younger GOP and we’re coming to get you. Enjoy your moment in the sun, but just know we see the green in your eyes. So to all my Republican political blogs and bloggers, to all my Libertarian political blogs and bloggers, and to all my Democrat political blogs and bloggers (your ship is slowly sinking): Let your voice be heard. GOP in 2012! See you later.

Rewind! Don’t Argue with (Liberal Democrat) Fools: A Republican State of Mind pt.2

Today on my Republican blog: A wise man once told me not to argue with fools; because from a distance, no one can tell who is who. This is entirely directed at my liberal friends (my Republican friends already know this concept), so libs pay attention. When you liberal democrats try to debate your trite and vapid points, have you ever noticed that you consistently exhibit the same behaviorisms and tactics when you come to the realization that you’ve lost? Allow me to show you the fallacies of logic and rhetoric. Does any of this sound familiar?

Common fallacies of logic and rhetoric:
• Ad hominem – attacking the arguer and not the argument.
• Argument from “authority”.
• Argument from adverse consequences (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an “unfavourable” decision).
• Appeal to ignorance (absence of evidence is not evidence of absence).
• Special pleading (typically referring to god’s will).
• Begging the question (assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased).
• Observational selection (counting the hits and forgetting the misses).
• Statistics of small numbers (such as drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes).
• Misunderstanding the nature of statistics (President Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence!)
• Inconsistency (e.g. military expenditures based on worst case scenarios but scientific projections on environmental dangers thriftily ignored because they are not “proved”).
• Non sequitur – “it does not follow” – the logic falls down.
• Post hoc, ergo propter hoc – “it happened after so it was caused by” – confusion of cause and effect.
• Meaningless question (“what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?).
• Excluded middle -considering only the two extremes in a range of possibilities (making the “other side” look worse than it really is).
• Short-term v. long-term – a subset of excluded middle (“why pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?”).
• Slippery slope – a subset of excluded middle -unwarranted extrapolation of the effects (give an inch and they will take a mile).
• Confusion of correlation and causation.
• Straw man – caricaturing (or stereotyping) a position to make it easier to attack.
• Suppressed evidence or half-truths.
• Weasel words – for example, use of euphemisms for war such as “police action” to get around limitations on Presidential powers. “An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public”.

These are all rules that we learned as children (on the right) of how to detect when you’ve won a debate or an argument against a liberal. So yes, if we (on the right) come off as a little bit arrogant or dismissive, it’s only because we know that your point and premise are both invalid and not even worth discussing. Why would we continue have a discourse with you? It’s pointless! Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Somehow people on the left always seem to reverse that actuality. Sorry for this post being so short, but I just had to bring you liberal democrats back to reality and remind my Republican friends of why it’s so frustrating talking to anyone on the left. In closing, I’d like to give a special thanks to the RNC, the Missouri Republican Party, the Illinois Republican Party, the College Republican National Committee, the National Black Republican Association, the Wall Street Journal, KSDK Channel 5, and KTVI Fox 2 News. To all of my Republican Blogs and Bloggers, my Libertarian blogs and bloggers, my Democrat blogs and bloggers (stop it already), and to all Political blogs and bloggers: Let your voice be heard. GOP in 2012! If you’re not on the right, you’re wrong.

Don’t Argue with (Liberal Democrat) Fools: A Republican State of Mind pt.2

Today on my Republican blog: A wise man once told me not to argue with fools; because from a distance, no one can tell who is who. This is entirely directed at my liberal friends (my Republican friends already know this concept), so libs pay attention. When you liberal democrats try to debate your trite and vapid points, have you ever noticed that you consistently exhibit the same behaviorisms and tactics when you come to the realization that you’ve lost? Allow me to show you the fallacies of logic and rhetoric. Does any of this sound familiar?

Common fallacies of logic and rhetoric:
• Ad hominem – attacking the arguer and not the argument.
• Argument from “authority”.
• Argument from adverse consequences (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an “unfavourable” decision).
• Appeal to ignorance (absence of evidence is not evidence of absence).
• Special pleading (typically referring to god’s will).
• Begging the question (assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased).
• Observational selection (counting the hits and forgetting the misses).
• Statistics of small numbers (such as drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes).
• Misunderstanding the nature of statistics (President Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence!)
• Inconsistency (e.g. military expenditures based on worst case scenarios but scientific projections on environmental dangers thriftily ignored because they are not “proved”).
• Non sequitur – “it does not follow” – the logic falls down.
• Post hoc, ergo propter hoc – “it happened after so it was caused by” – confusion of cause and effect.
• Meaningless question (“what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?).
• Excluded middle -considering only the two extremes in a range of possibilities (making the “other side” look worse than it really is).
• Short-term v. long-term – a subset of excluded middle (“why pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?”).
• Slippery slope – a subset of excluded middle -unwarranted extrapolation of the effects (give an inch and they will take a mile).
• Confusion of correlation and causation.
• Straw man – caricaturing (or stereotyping) a position to make it easier to attack.
• Suppressed evidence or half-truths.
• Weasel words – for example, use of euphemisms for war such as “police action” to get around limitations on Presidential powers. “An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public”.

These are all rules that we learned as children (on the right) of how to detect when you’ve won a debate or an argument against a liberal. So yes, if we (on the right) come off as a little bit arrogant or dismissive, it’s only because we know that your point and premise are both invalid and not even worth discussing. Why would we continue have a discourse with you? It’s pointless! Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Somehow people on the left always seem to reverse that actuality. Sorry for this post being so short, but I just had to bring you liberal democrats back to reality and remind my Republican friends of why it’s so frustrating talking to anyone on the left. In closing, I’d like to give a special thanks to the RNC, the Missouri Republican Party, the Illinois Republican Party, the College Republican National Committee, the National Black Republican Association, the Wall Street Journal, KSDK Channel 5, and KTVI Fox 2 News. To all of my Republican Blogs and Bloggers, my Libertarian blogs and bloggers, my Democrat blogs and bloggers (stop it already), and to all Political blogs and bloggers: Let your voice be heard. GOP in 2012! If you’re not on the right, you’re wrong.

An Oldie but Goodie: Teldar Paper- Why Greed Is Good (Attack of the Republican Blogs from 03/03/09)

Today on my Republican blog: Teldar Paper. I already know that those of you born after 1985 might not get the reference of this post, but it comes from the best movie ever made- Wall Street. So today I present to you the great words of the fictional character Gordon Gekko (based on the real life “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap). “The point is ladies and gentlemen… is that greed, for the lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of it’s forms: greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind, and greed; you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.” I hope I just gave you liberals a little motivation. So to all my Republican blogs and bloggers, my Libertarian blogs and bloggers, and to all of my Democrat blogs and bloggers (rent the movie): let your voice be heard! And GOP 2012!

Why Do Black Folks Join Conservatives? Once Again…Attack of the Republican Blogs

Today on my Republican blog: “Why don’t black folks join conservatives?” This is in response to a blog that posed this very question (verbatim) earlier today. I’m going to keep this post very succinct, since I’m coming to realize that a liberal state of mind overrides all facts and logic. But anyway, why do African-Americans join the Republican Party? One word: Dixiecrats. Start there and work backwards. As I’ve said before, feel free to get a library card or go to a bookstore and do your history. As a matter of fact, since said libs have their own blogs, I’m quite certain they must have some form of computer access- use it. Google will help you out a lot. And by the way, Martin Luther King jr. was a Republican. Do your research African-American Democrats! And also visit the National Black Republican Association at http://www.nbra.info. So while it’s not a surprise that a liberal state of mind is still prevalent, hopefully you democrats will eventually move to the right. You’re really Republicans…you just don’t know it yet. With that said, I’d like to give a special thanks to the RNC, the Missouri Republican Party, the Illinois Republican Party, the College Republican National Committee, the National Black Republican Association, the Wall Street Journal, KSDK Channel 5, and KTVI Fox 2 News. To all of my Republican Blogs and Bloggers, my Libertarian blogs and bloggers, my Democrat blogs and bloggers (stop it already), and to all Political blogs and bloggers: Let your voice be heard. GOP in 2012! And read more books people!

The Genius of Leo Strauss: A Republican State of Mind (Attack of the Republican Blogs) Happy Tax Day!

Today on my Republican blog: The genius of Leo Strauss. This is a very special treat for all of my Republicans. I know most of you are already well versed in the works of Leo Strauss and politics, so I decided to post this for all of the confused liberals who either misrepresent Leo Strauss’s teachings on purpose or just out of sheer ignorance. It’s an article from the June 7, 2003 edition of the New York Times. And guess who wrote it? Jenny Strauss Clay. I would think she would know her father a little better than anyone else. Just a bit of advice to my left leaning friends: go to Borders or get a library card and read one of Strauss’s books. I suggest you start with Natural Right and History. I know almost all of it’s going to go over your head at first, but don’t be discouraged. Read it again. And then read it again and again and again until it starts to make sense to you. And once you come to the realization that everything you’ve always believed in is false…that’s when the healing starts. At that point, the Republican Party won’t look so bad to you anymore. In closing, I’d like to give a special thanks to the RNC, the Missouri Republican Party, the Illinois Republican Party, the College Republican National Committee, the Wall Street Journal, KSDK Channel 5 and KTVI Fox 2 News. To all of my Republicans and Republican blogs and bloggers, my Libertarians and Libertarian blogs and bloggers, my Democrats and Democratic blogs and bloggers (come to the light), and to all Political blogs and bloggers: Let your voice be heard. GOP in 2012! Enjoy

June 7, 2003
The Real Leo Strauss
By Jenny Strauss Clay
Recent news articles have portrayed my father, Leo Strauss, as the mastermind behind the neoconservative ideologues who control United States foreign policy. He reaches out from his 30-year-old grave, we are told, to direct a ”cabal” (a word with distinct anti-Semitic overtones) of Bush administration figures hoping to subject the American people to rule by a ruthless elite. I do not recognize the Leo Strauss presented in these articles.
My father was not a politician. He taught political theory, primarily at the University of Chicago. He was a conservative insofar as he did not think that change is necessarily change for the better.
Leo Strauss believed in the intrinsic dignity of the political. He believed in and defended liberal democracy; although he was not blind to its flaws, he felt it was the best form of government that could be realized, ”the last best hope.” He was an enemy of any regime that aspired to global domination. He despised utopianism — in our time, Nazism and Communism — which is predicated on the denial of a fundamental and even noble feature of human nature: love of one’s own. His heroes were Churchill and Lincoln. He was not an observant Jew, but he loved the Jewish people and he saw the establishment of Israel as essential to their survival.
To me, what characterized him above all else was his total lack of vanity and self-importance. As a result, he had no interest in honors within the academy, and was completely unsuited to political ambition. His own earliest passion, he confessed, was to spend his life raising rabbits (Flemish Giants) and reading Plato.
He was first and foremost a teacher. He did not seek to mold people in his own image. Rather, he was devoted to helping young people see the world as it is, in all its misery and splendor. The objects of his teaching were the Great Books, those works generally recognized as the foundation of a liberal education. But that alone was not a sufficient reason for reading them.
He began where good teachers should begin, from his students’ received opinions, in order to scrutinize their foundation. At that time, as is still true today, academia leaned to the left; hence such questioning required an examination of the left’s tenets. Had the prevailing beliefs been different, they too would have been subject to his skeptical inquiry.
Among the received opinions of the time was an unquestioned faith in progress and science combined with a queasiness regarding any kind of moral judgment, or ”relativism.” Many young people were confused, without a compass, with nothing substantial to admire. My father’s turning them to the Great Books was thus motivated not merely by aesthetic or antiquarian interest, but by a search for an understanding of mankind’s present predicament: what were its sources and what, if any, were the alternatives? The latter he found in the writings of the ancient Greeks.
Furthermore, he insistently confronted his students with the question of the ”good life.” For him, the choice boiled down to the life in accordance with Revelation or the life according to Reason — Jerusalem versus Athens. The vitality of Western tradition, he felt, lay in the invigorating tension between the two.
My father saw reading not as a passive exercise but as taking part in an active dialogue with the great minds of the past. One had to read with great care, great respect, and try, as he always said, to ”understand the author as he understood himself.” Today this task, admittedly difficult and demanding, is dismissed in fashionable academia as impossible. Rather, we are told, each reader inevitably constructs his own text over which the author has no control, and the writer’s intentions are irrelevant.
The fact is that Leo Strauss also recognized a multiplicity of readers, but he had enough faith in his authors to assume that they, too, recognized that they would have a diverse readership. Some of their readers, the ancients realized, would want only to find their own views and prejudices confirmed; others might be willing to open themselves to new, perhaps unconventional or unpopular, ideas. I personally think my father’s rediscovery of the art of writing for different kinds of readers will be his most lasting legacy.
Although I was never a student of my father’s, I sat in on a class of his in the 1960′s; I think it was on Xenophon’s ”Cyropaedia.” He was a small, unprepossessing and, truth be told, ugly man (daughters are their parents’ worst critics), with none of the charisma that one associates with ”great teachers.” And yet there was something utterly charming. One of the students would read little chunks of the text, and my father would comment and call for discussion. What marked this class was a combination of an engagement with questions of the highest seriousness (in this case, what is the best form of government) with the laughter of intellectual play.
It was magic. If only the truth had the power to make the misrepresentations of his achievement vanish like smoke and dust.

Once again people…Lets Take A Ride! (Standard and Poor’s drops the hammer on GM and Chrysler) Attack of the Republican Blogs

Today on my Republican blog: Let’s take a ride. Today, I heard a very interesting story on the news this afternoon. It seems that even after being bailed out by the government (with taxpayer money); General Motors and Chrysler had several of their ratings cut by credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s. Apparently, they have their own predictions about both companies’ future performances in the automotive market and the prospect of their future plans to file for bankruptcy. They also took it a step further, stating that creditors for both companies can expect to take losses if and when they both default. Nice. Chrysler, who’s expected to merge with Italian automaker Fiat, is purportedly expected to be the worse of the two automakers. S&P analyst Gregory Maddock recently said “We believe that if they (Chrysler) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, many of its assets and operations would be sold in discrete transactions over time, while other segments may be closed”. Nice. Now, let’s talk about General Motors a little bit. GM faces a government imposed deadline of June 1st to get concessions from its stakeholders, unions and other sources. Today is April 10th people! Unless we get a miracle this Easter; I don’t see that happening. Chrysler’s deadline is even tighter, being due on May 1st, to seal the deal with Fiat. The S&P doesn’t have much faith in them either; noted by the prediction that Chrysler will be filing for bankruptcy by “the end of April or thereafter”. Once again…nice. As anyone who owns any stock in those companies can attest too: the last thing you want to hear is that your shares have been downgraded to “junk bond” status (Charter Communications anyone?). But to all my investors: hold out hope. It’s always darkest before the dawn. Be patient and invest smart; we’ve all seen what Citigroup has done in the past three weeks. In closing, I’d like to give a special thanks to the RNC, the Missouri Republican Party, the Illinois Republican Party, the College Republican National Committee, the National Black Republican Association, the Wall Street Journal, KSDK Channel 5, KTVI Fox 2 News, and Andrea. (I can’t say sorry enough). To all of my Republican Blogs and Bloggers, my Libertarian blogs and bloggers, my Democrat blogs and bloggers (invest in your future and not your fantasies), and to all Political blogs and bloggers: Let your voice be heard. GOP in 2012! And also to Comcast: I’ve been noticing the commercials you’ve been running in the St. Louis market, even though none of us can get Comcast in the area. Please hurry up and take over Charter! I’m taking a bath on those shares! Help my portfolio! See you all later.

Lets Take A Ride! (Standard and Poor’s drops the hammer on GM and Chrysler) Attack of the Republican Blogs

Today on my Republican blog: Let’s take a ride. Today, I heard a very interesting story on the news this afternoon. It seems that even after being bailed out by the government (with taxpayer money); General Motors and Chrysler had several of their ratings cut by credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s. Apparently, they have their own predictions about both companies’ future performances in the automotive market and the prospect of their future plans to file for bankruptcy. They also took it a step further, stating that creditors for both companies can expect to take losses if and when they both default. Nice. Chrysler, who’s expected to merge with Italian automaker Fiat, is purportedly expected to be the worse of the two automakers. S&P analyst Gregory Maddock recently said “We believe that if they (Chrysler) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, many of its assets and operations would be sold in discrete transactions over time, while other segments may be closed”. Nice. Now, let’s talk about General Motors a little bit. GM faces a government imposed deadline of June 1st to get concessions from its stakeholders, unions and other sources. Today is April 10th people! Unless we get a miracle this Easter; I don’t see that happening. Chrysler’s deadline is even tighter, being due on May 1st, to seal the deal with Fiat. The S&P doesn’t have much faith in them either; noted by the prediction that Chrysler will be filing for bankruptcy by “the end of April or thereafter”. Once again…nice. As anyone who owns any stock in those companies can attest too: the last thing you want to hear is that your shares have been downgraded to “junk bond” status (Charter Communications anyone?). But to all my investors: hold out hope. It’s always darkest before the dawn. Be patient and invest smart; we’ve all seen what Citigroup has done in the past three weeks. In closing, I’d like to give a special thanks to the RNC, the Missouri Republican Party, the Illinois Republican Party, the College Republican National Committee, the National Black Republican Association, the Wall Street Journal, KSDK Channel 5, KTVI Fox 2 News, and Andrea. (I can’t say sorry enough). To all of my Republican Blogs and Bloggers, my Libertarian blogs and bloggers, my Democrat blogs and bloggers (invest in your future and not your fantasies), and to all Political blogs and bloggers: Let your voice be heard. GOP in 2012! And also to Comcast: I’ve been noticing the commercials you’ve been running in the St. Louis market, even though none of us can get Comcast in the area. Please hurry up and take over Charter! I’m taking a bath on those shares! Help my portfolio! See you all later.

Once again people…Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em! (The Tobacco Tax Increase) A Liberal State of Mind pt. 6: Attack of the Republican blogs

Today on my Republican blog: Liberal lunacy. I have to admit that I’m a smoker. So you can understand why I have a very special reason to be upset today. The new tax hike on tobacco is utterly ridiculous. If we’re going to start raising taxes on items that people enjoy but may be unhealthy for them…I’m going to go ahead and nominate fast food, soft drinks, butter, salt, candy, all forms of meat, snack foods, tanning salons, computer screens (It’ll damage your vision), computer keyboards (carpal tunnel syndrome anyone?) This list could go on forever. When does it stop? What happens when your party raises taxes on something you enjoy dems? Hopefully you’ll move to the right. Allow me to present a few articles that all true Republicans and Libertarians will find very upsetting and may also make a few Democrats think a little bit about their party’s values. But before I do that, let me give a special thanks to the RNC, the Missouri Republican Party, the Illinois Republican Party, the College Republican National Committee, and the National Black Republican Association. So to all my Republican blogs and bloggers, my Libertarian blogs and bloggers, my Democrat blogs and bloggers (really?), and to all political blogs and bloggers: let your voice be heard. GOP in 2012! Vote April 7th metro east residents! Enjoy:

Federal Tax on Cigarettes Goes Up 155% Wednesday
By George Sells

March 31, 2009

WEST ALTON, MO – (KTVI-FOX2now.com)

Smokers are just hours away from the largest single tax increase on cigarettes in American history. Many smokers spent Tuesday rushing around St. Louis looking to stock up before the prices goes up. The Federal excise tax on cigarettes goes up 155% Wednesday from 39 cents to a dollar and a penny. How much might the price jump tomorrow? It could be a little or a lot. The big tobacco companies won’t tell the stores.

At the Dirt Cheap Cigarette location in West Alton, it’s clear something is going on. Upon entering, you find nearly a dozen people in line, several of whom are carrying five or ten cartons of cigarettes. People are clearly stocking up. David Allen sums up many peoples’ feelings here.

“It feels like they’re picking on the smokers a little bit.”

The smokers are about to see the largest single tax increase on cigarettes in U.S. history. The 155% jump in excise tax will add 62 cents on to the price of every pack of cigarettes beginning April 1st. That’s Wednesday. The federal government says the money will be used to provide health care for poor children.

Standing in line, holding ten cartons, is Mary Schaefer. She says this will be the end of the smoking line for her and her husband.

“For me this is my last month to smoke. Between the economy and my husband losing, about to lose his job, we’ve got to do something, so we’re gonna quit. ” She says she has her children to think of.

“The kids have gotta eat before I’ve gotta smoke.”

How much the price will jump Wednesday remains unclear. Dirt Cheap’s owner tells FOX 2 that the big tobacco companies have been inching prices up for several week, potentially building in the price hike in advance. There will be no way to know for certain how much they’ll hit smokers Wednesday until they publish the day’s prices some time late Tuesday night.

In the interim, smokers are buying up cigarettes in droves, hoping to keep the government’s hand out of their pockets a little bit longer.

Doug Dorner says he can only take so much

“I only bring in so much and they keep raising the taxes on this stuff. I don’t know why.”

He says he’ll soon be priced out of his smoking habit. Of course, many in anti smoking circles will tell you, that’s the idea.

Copyright © 2009, KTVI-TV

Smokers are gasping at higher cigarette and cigar prices as the largest federal tobacco tax increase in history takes effect.

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

Smokers are gasping at higher cigarette and cigar prices as the largest federal tobacco tax increase in history takes effect.

“Oh my gosh,” Bernardo Torres said Tuesday when a clerk at a CVS Pharmacy in Falls Church, Va., told him the new price, which went up in anticipation of the tax increase. Torres wanted to buy his aunt two cartons of cigarette-size cigars, but he walked away empty-handed after hearing the new price: $134. The tax on little cigars went from 4 cents to $1.01 a pack.

“I don’t know what to do. This is going to hit her hard,” Torres said of his disabled aunt, 64, a heavy smoker who won’t quit.

“I’m going to quit,” said Will Hues, 27, smoking a cigarette outside the store. He said prices have gone up so much that “you’re out of your mind to pay it.”

The increases, which raise the federal cigarette tax from 39 cents a pack to $1.01, applies to all tobacco products. It comes as more than two dozen states, desperate for revenue in a sunken economy, consider boosting their own tobacco taxes this year.

“This is very historic,” said Matthew McKenna, director of the Office of Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Before the tax hike, cigarette prices averaged about $5 a pack. Now, tobacco companies are raising prices by different amounts. Some are absorbing part of the increase; others are raising prices more.

In the past, a 10% price increase reduced cigarette consumption about 4%, McKenna said. He expects the federal tax hike to prompt at least 1 million of the 45 million adult smokers to kick the habit.

“We expect this to accelerate the decline” in cigarette consumption, said Bill Phelps, spokesman for Philip Morris USA, the nation’s largest tobacco company. He said consumption has been dropping 3% annually for a decade. “Some people may quit smoking,” he said. “Others may cut back.”

Nik Modi, a tobacco industry analyst at UBS, expects cigarette consumption to drop by about 9% annually. Tobacco companies won’t be badly hurt, he said, because they’ve prepared for the increase.

Last month, companies began raising prices to cover the tax increase. Marlboro maker Philip Morris raised prices by at least 71 cents a pack. R.J. Reynolds, maker of Camel, did so by at least 42 cents.

Congress passed legislation last year raising the tax to fund the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, but former president George W. Bush vetoed it. In February, President Obama, who has struggled to quit smoking, signed a new version.

Even tobacco-growing states such as North Carolina are considering increases. Two states, Arkansas and Kentucky, doubled their taxes this year.

The federal increase “will fall on those who can least afford it,” said Frank Lester, spokesman for Reynolds American. He said one in four smokers live at or below the poverty line.

“More lower-income people than higher-income people will quit” because they cannot afford the tax hike, said Eric Lindblom of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

USA TODAY

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em! (The Tobacco Tax Increase) A Liberal State of Mind pt. 6: Attack of the Republican blogs

Today on my Republican blog: Liberal lunacy. I have to admit that I’m a smoker. So you can understand why I have a very special reason to be upset today. The new tax hike on tobacco is utterly ridiculous. If we’re going to start raising taxes on items that people enjoy but may be unhealthy for them…I’m going to go ahead and nominate fast food, soft drinks, butter, salt, candy, all forms of meat, snack foods, tanning salons, computer screens (It’ll damage your vision), computer keyboards (carpal tunnel syndrome anyone?) This list could go on forever. When does it stop? What happens when your party raises taxes on something you enjoy dems? Hopefully you’ll move to the right. Allow me to present a few articles that all true Republicans and Libertarians will find very upsetting and may also make a few Democrats think a little bit about their party’s values. But before I do that, let me give a special thanks to the RNC, the Missouri Republican Party, the Illinois Republican Party, the College Republican National Committee, and the National Black Republican Association. So to all my Republican blogs and bloggers, my Libertarian blogs and bloggers, my Democrat blogs and bloggers (really?), and to all political blogs and bloggers: let your voice be heard. GOP in 2012! Vote April 7th metro east residents! Enjoy:

Federal Tax on Cigarettes Goes Up 155% Wednesday
By George Sells

March 31, 2009

WEST ALTON, MO – (KTVI-FOX2now.com)

Smokers are just hours away from the largest single tax increase on cigarettes in American history. Many smokers spent Tuesday rushing around St. Louis looking to stock up before the prices goes up. The Federal excise tax on cigarettes goes up 155% Wednesday from 39 cents to a dollar and a penny. How much might the price jump tomorrow? It could be a little or a lot. The big tobacco companies won’t tell the stores.

At the Dirt Cheap Cigarette location in West Alton, it’s clear something is going on. Upon entering, you find nearly a dozen people in line, several of whom are carrying five or ten cartons of cigarettes. People are clearly stocking up. David Allen sums up many peoples’ feelings here.

“It feels like they’re picking on the smokers a little bit.”

The smokers are about to see the largest single tax increase on cigarettes in U.S. history. The 155% jump in excise tax will add 62 cents on to the price of every pack of cigarettes beginning April 1st. That’s Wednesday. The federal government says the money will be used to provide health care for poor children.

Standing in line, holding ten cartons, is Mary Schaefer. She says this will be the end of the smoking line for her and her husband.

“For me this is my last month to smoke. Between the economy and my husband losing, about to lose his job, we’ve got to do something, so we’re gonna quit. ” She says she has her children to think of.

“The kids have gotta eat before I’ve gotta smoke.”

How much the price will jump Wednesday remains unclear. Dirt Cheap’s owner tells FOX 2 that the big tobacco companies have been inching prices up for several week, potentially building in the price hike in advance. There will be no way to know for certain how much they’ll hit smokers Wednesday until they publish the day’s prices some time late Tuesday night.

In the interim, smokers are buying up cigarettes in droves, hoping to keep the government’s hand out of their pockets a little bit longer.

Doug Dorner says he can only take so much

“I only bring in so much and they keep raising the taxes on this stuff. I don’t know why.”

He says he’ll soon be priced out of his smoking habit. Of course, many in anti smoking circles will tell you, that’s the idea.

Copyright © 2009, KTVI-TV

Smokers are gasping at higher cigarette and cigar prices as the largest federal tobacco tax increase in history takes effect.

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

Smokers are gasping at higher cigarette and cigar prices as the largest federal tobacco tax increase in history takes effect.

“Oh my gosh,” Bernardo Torres said Tuesday when a clerk at a CVS Pharmacy in Falls Church, Va., told him the new price, which went up in anticipation of the tax increase. Torres wanted to buy his aunt two cartons of cigarette-size cigars, but he walked away empty-handed after hearing the new price: $134. The tax on little cigars went from 4 cents to $1.01 a pack.

“I don’t know what to do. This is going to hit her hard,” Torres said of his disabled aunt, 64, a heavy smoker who won’t quit.

“I’m going to quit,” said Will Hues, 27, smoking a cigarette outside the store. He said prices have gone up so much that “you’re out of your mind to pay it.”

The increases, which raise the federal cigarette tax from 39 cents a pack to $1.01, applies to all tobacco products. It comes as more than two dozen states, desperate for revenue in a sunken economy, consider boosting their own tobacco taxes this year.

“This is very historic,” said Matthew McKenna, director of the Office of Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Before the tax hike, cigarette prices averaged about $5 a pack. Now, tobacco companies are raising prices by different amounts. Some are absorbing part of the increase; others are raising prices more.

In the past, a 10% price increase reduced cigarette consumption about 4%, McKenna said. He expects the federal tax hike to prompt at least 1 million of the 45 million adult smokers to kick the habit.

“We expect this to accelerate the decline” in cigarette consumption, said Bill Phelps, spokesman for Philip Morris USA, the nation’s largest tobacco company. He said consumption has been dropping 3% annually for a decade. “Some people may quit smoking,” he said. “Others may cut back.”

Nik Modi, a tobacco industry analyst at UBS, expects cigarette consumption to drop by about 9% annually. Tobacco companies won’t be badly hurt, he said, because they’ve prepared for the increase.

Last month, companies began raising prices to cover the tax increase. Marlboro maker Philip Morris raised prices by at least 71 cents a pack. R.J. Reynolds, maker of Camel, did so by at least 42 cents.

Congress passed legislation last year raising the tax to fund the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, but former president George W. Bush vetoed it. In February, President Obama, who has struggled to quit smoking, signed a new version.

Even tobacco-growing states such as North Carolina are considering increases. Two states, Arkansas and Kentucky, doubled their taxes this year.

The federal increase “will fall on those who can least afford it,” said Frank Lester, spokesman for Reynolds American. He said one in four smokers live at or below the poverty line.

“More lower-income people than higher-income people will quit” because they cannot afford the tax hike, said Eric Lindblom of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

USA TODAY