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Readers!

 

The time has come for my annual short Thanksgiving/Christmas fund drive for Behind The Black. I must do this every year in order to make sure I have earned enough money to pay my bills.

 

For this two-week campaign, I am offering a special deal to encourage donations. Donations of $200 will get a free autographed copy of the new paperback edition of Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, while donations of $250 will get a free autographed copy of the new hardback edition. If you desire a copy, make sure you provide me your address with your donation.

 

As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.

 

Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.

 

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Taxing the rich will not solve the problem

Because it is often claimed that we can solve our federal budget problems by closing loopholes and increasing taxes on the wealthy, I thought I’d share this video from Bill Whittle, dramatizing this Iowahawk essay.

We can argue all day about whether we should increase taxes on the wealthy, but that is not going to solve our debt problem. Even if we confiscated every penny of profit from every person or corporation earning more than million dollars a year, we would still not make the slightest dent in the federal deficit.

Our federal government is simply spending money it doesn’t have. We need to cut spending, and cut spending drastically, in order to gain some control over this problem.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to me the American people or Congress are yet willing to face this fact.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

5 comments

  • LINO

    Increasing taxes on the wealthy and closing loopholes on corporations is not the only answer—-just like attacking funding for Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion operations isn’t the only answer (or any answer). But if we’re going to solve this, there is going to be a lot of pain to spread around, and wealthy families and corporations should not be exempt. The solution will be a potpourri of unpopular spending cuts–and yes, tax increases to some people—that will be unpopular with lots of people all over the political spectrum. Thus, the term—-painful.

    If you want this fixed, get used to the idea of being grumpy about the solutions. You’re not supposed to be happy about it. That’s where the concept of compromise comes in. Everybody gets to be unhappy!

  • i guess it depends how you look at it . you could say we will be unhappy but maybe we would be happier to know that we are doing something about a huge problem even though we will have less money and can’t buy as much cheap imported disposable wasteful stuff in the short term . is the current status quo making actually making us happy? It might feel good . I already don’t have much money or any health coverage or land or anything so I think fixing our future will could make me happier as long as we don’t kill each other trying to do it . also I’m not convinced ending the upper end tax cuts would really significantly effect job creation . we really need tax reform the system is a mess . I really don’t care too much if federal revenue goes up or down slightly, the process itself must be simplified somehow

  • LINO

    You are right and you are right.
    My point is simply that the ultimate solutions will upset lots of people–including me. And that’s okay , if it gets us where we need to be.

  • larry

    What a self serving bs video.

    With the internet – it’s getting easier to find out where the money is going and who’s buying who’s influence.

    And the big invisible elphant in the room the Mil-Industrial Complex.

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