Congress Ulterior Motives

Another Hurdle for U.S. Business?

By James A. Porter

I know that this doesn't seem to relate to gold, but just please read on and see...

The so-called "National Health Care Legislation" bill passed recently by Congress, had buried deep within the 2,400+ pages a rider which mandates the reporting to the IRS purchases of "goods and services" which amount to $600 or more. The superficial effect of this bill is to gain revenue from sellers profits previously not readily available to the IRS, and also to track the wealth/accumulation of U.S. citizens who invest in commodities such as gold, silver and platinum. This measure proposes to increase potential government revenue in the form of future taxation of profits from buyers who subsequently sell these assets. Investors have traditionally used precious metals as a hedge against inflation and as a source for retirement annuities and have been relatively immune to paying taxes on profits from the sale of these assets when they grow in "value". This bill is due to be implemented in 2011. Even the U.S. Government (Mint) grabs a piece of the action in sales of bullion coins, so I suppose that even they are going to have to send out a ton of 1099-K's.

The arbitrary $600 limit stated in the bill doesn't mean that sellers will be required to report only individual purchases over this amount, but must report to the IRS on a special new and improved 1099-K form ANY ACCUMULATED PURCHASES WITHIN A CALENDAR YEAR THAT EQUAL $600 OR MORE! The controversy and resistance to this bill's potential resulting calamity stems from it's requirement of small and large businesses to keep track of each of their customers' TOTAL purchases within a calendar year and then report such total expenditures to the IRS on the new 1099-K's. For some medium to large businesses, this will mean many thousands, to perhaps trillions of 1099-K forms, and the associated tracking of this information in databases and on hardcopy printouts. Is this GREEN? I thought that our Government was supposed to support "paperwork reduction", what happened? Multiply the millions of potential new 1099-K forms to be sent out in triplicate by the hundreds of thousands of small to large businesses and you have QUADRILLIONS OF PIECES OF NEEDLESS PAPERWORK that we have managed to get along without so far to run things here in the U.S.! I am afraid that the unwitting result of this legislation, if enacted, will have the opposite effect than that which was intended. I feel that domestic consumers of gold, silver, platinum will simply go to FOREIGN PROVIDERS of these commodities, who require no such reporting of their financial transactions to the U.S. Government.

Many will choose foreign providers to avoid the auditing of their purchases for future taxation by our government and the IRS. This is yet another instance of "outsourcing" of goods and services from U.S. providers to more attractive foreign countries, some who are actively engaged in terrorism, war and drug traffic, which are destroying our way of life as we have known it! Has Congress considered this possibility? Most have not read past the first couple hundred pages of the 2,400+ page "Health Care Bill", and who can blame them? Lengthy bills and measures squeak past in Congress often for this reason, they are just too long to read in their entirety, and the "aides" employed to read them for busy representatives sometimes have their own hidden agenda to slant or hide the facts when they summarize the contents of these longwinded propositions for their Congressional employers.

After World War II, Japan had the unfortunate reputation of making shoddy and substandard quality consumer goods, and America was "on top of the heap" when it came to almost everything manufactured; My, how things have changed! American manufacturers are now struggling with bankruptcy, and depend on foreign-owned businesses (especially Chinese and Japanese) to employ many out-of-work people here in the United States. Of course there are the exceptions, such as Ford Motor Company, but because of Ford's and many other troubled U.S. companies' indebtedness to the banks who bailed them out of their financial troubles, one has to ask; "Who really owns the company?"

Congressman Dan Lungren, representing California's 3rd District, introduced opposition to the hidden agenda of the "National Health Care Legislation" in the form of H.R. 5141, and quickly gained the support of some 80 members of Congress; THANK GOD for the few with his sense!

Yes our country may be broke, yes we print trillions of dollars in "fiat" currency each year that has no real value, yes foreign interests and Communist Governments own Amerika, yes you are merely an unimportant proletariot supporting the funny hats and costume parties of our elected officials who get to their parties in their own personal 757's at taxpayer expense, yes lobbyists run politicians who run our government, yes the President we elected cannot live up to the promises made, yes brave men and women are dying in countries so far from America defending our freedoms, but why worry? We can stil watch the game with a beer in hand on Sunday.

If you have never written a letter to your Congressman or Congresswoman, now is the time to do a little online research and express yourself. The voice of the people is what always made America great in our past, why let us now become known as the "apathetic generation".

"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence -- it is a force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." Does this sound reactionary or revolutionary? It should because it was said by a well-known revolutionary of his time, George Washington.

Thomas Jefferson,was essentially the architect our Constitution. One of Jefferson's closest friends, Benjamin Franklin, had amazing foresight when he said, "Our Constitution is in actual operation. Everything appears to promise that it will last. But in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." I feel he would be spinning in his grave if he knew how far out of control our government has become in regard to irresponsible taxation.

No other Government has honored their National Debt except the good old gullible United States. Now that we are indebted to those same countries who owed us so much after World War II and had their debts dismissed, I think it is time for us to consider becoming slackers like them! What thanks do we get for everything we did to help them in the past? Will they "dismiss" our debts? Not likely!