Here is the transcript of a speech I gave at Kanawha Plaza this afternoon regarding Boehner’s Plan B and the looming fiscal cliff.
Here is the transcript of a speech I gave at Kanawha Plaza this afternoon regarding Boehner’s Plan B and the looming fiscal cliff. I urge you all to call your senators and congressmen and give yourself voice whether you agree with me or not. Participatory democracy is a pretty rad thing. – Kevin
“My name is Kevin Wilson. I am a small business owner, husband, and father of two. I have seen first-hand the effects of the recession we have all been struggling through. Up until recently I owned two restaurants. Due, in large part, to the effects of the recession, with consumers watching every dime they spend, I had to shutter one restaurant and tell fifteen people that they were out of work. These were not fifteen nameless, faceless people. These were good, hard-working people and it was with great difficulty that I had to tell them that they would have to rely on unemployment insurance until they could find another job. Speaker Boehner’s so-called Plan B aims to gut programs like this that everyday Americans rely on to survive these difficult times. Plan B is an affront to these hard working members of our community and a boon to millionaires. Plan B hurts the under-employed and the near-poor. Plan B raises taxes on middle-income earners throughout the country. And while Plan B manages to hurt the majority of Americans, it effectively manages to give millionaires an average tax cut of $50,000. Plan B is an insidious joke and it must be rejected as such.
Furthermore, if Congress cannot reach an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff, I fear a return to economic recession. With tax rates increasing across the board on January 1st, I fear that my customers will have less money to spend in my one remaining restaurant. With the payroll tax holiday expiring, my employees, my wife, myself… everyone standing here today will have smaller paychecks next week. Trying to make ends meet is difficult as it is and House Republicans want to play politics with our livelihoods as they kowtow to the wealthiest Americans. They want to hold our future ability to provide for our families hostage in order to provide continuing tax cuts to the top 2%, the wealthiest people in this country. That is simply unacceptable.
While it is absolutely time to allow the marginal tax rate for millionaires to return to Clinton-era levels, we must also provide for some cuts in spending. The proposals put forward by Speaker Boehner and Eric Cantor cut at the very fabric that makes this country great, at the social safety net that protects us all. The Obama Administration has come more than halfway through compromise and it is time for Eric Cantor and his fellow Republicans to stop their attacks on the middle-class and working poor. They talk endlessly about jobs while they propose measures that threaten small businesses like mine, that compromise my ability to expand and employ more people. The recklessness, deceit and willful negligence of Wall Street and the wealthiest Americans that caused the great recession in 2008 need not be rewarded with continued preferential treatment and tax cuts. It is time for the top 2% to contribute their fair share in order for all Americans to prosper.”
We try not to get political but as a small business owner and good friend of Kevin Wilson, I felt this post was appropriate. I have the same concerns and hope that our elected officials can come to a compromise. A lot of people are counting on them to work it out for once. – Tony
