The "Stuck On Stupid" Dictionary #30

Here at the SOS Dictionary, we labor ceaselessly to keep up with new 'Stuck on Stupid' terminology. With only minimal sustenance and even less sleep (and fueled by whiskey of no less than 12 years of aging), SOS lexicographers thanklessly continue their efforts to reduce the level of obfuscation perpetrated on an unsuspecting public by both government and the mainstream media. 


Ongoing discussions continuing over increasing the Debt Ceiling of this country have made these efforts both more difficult and more critical to serious debate in this country. Those at the SOS Dictionary have therefore been called into emergency session in order to reduce the level of fog obscuring the issues. (Fog is a lot like smoke after all, and we here at Just Blowing Smoke take encroachment on our turf seriously.) 


Now for those of you who have somehow managed to miss previous postings in this area (shame on you, now go back and read all of the postings under the title of dictionary, SOS, or Stuck on Stupid), the SOS dictionary is a reference guide to terms which nominally mean something to the rest of the English speaking world, but appear to mean something entirely different to those us who have come to understand the often peculiar political vernacular of Toledo and Northwest Ohio. 


Closing Tax Loopholes:
1. Equalizing the burden of taxation, regardless of the income, relative influence, or political persuasion of those involved. 
2. Taking away special interest takes breaks with your current proposal that you gave in your previous ones. 3. One of the processes by which government attempts to pick the winners and losers in this country.


Entitlement Programs:
1. Government programs originally designed to help those most in need on a temporary basis. 
2. Government programs that did not even exist in the country for the first 150 years, but which now make up a significant part of the annual government budget. 
3. Government programs that tell some people that they are 'entitled' to money that they have neither contributed nor earned because the government says so. 
4. Code language for wealth redistribution under what is little more than a national 'Ponzi Scheme', a practice which is illegal under Federal Law. 


Fair Share:
1. An equal amount, determined by dispassionate consideration, as defined by philosopher John Rawl's 'Veil of Ignorance' where: "no one knows his place in society, his class position or social status; nor does he know his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities, his intelligence and strength, and the like ..."
2. Telling those paying the most to the government in the way of taxes that they must give even more in order that those giving nothing at all may take more. 
3. Code language for wealth redistribution. (See Revenue Enhancement) 


Revenue Enhancement:
1. Something designed to add income sources to those already used to the fund government's operation or increase the monies generated by such existing sources to the same ends. 
2. Raising taxes! (See Fair Share) 


Spending Cuts:
1. To decrease the amount of money spent on something. 
2. A reduction or elimination in the amount of spending increase (usually mandated by some arcane formula) spent by the government for a program that it runs. 
3. Something which will only be proposed by the political left under extreme conditions, usually to be redacted before actually taking effect. 
4. Something which will be compromised by the political right at the first sign of resistance, with much of the remainder to be redacted before actually taking effect. 
5. A practice that will be portrayed by its opponents in politics and the media as leading to hardship, death, destruction, and the end of democracy as we know it. (See Draconian)

(As it appears that the level of purposeful misinformation out there on this subject is taking on staggering proportions, this effort will take more than one update.)