Tag: Nancy Pelosi

Pelosi seeks ‘windfall profits’ tax on Avengers ticket sales

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If House Democrats have their way, your favorite Marvel superheroes will be hit with a "windfall profits" tax once an arbitrarily defined level of success has been met. Republicans argue that this will result in fewer superhero movies making it to the market.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is trying to find an 11th hour solution to Marvel Studios’ The Avengers, which is primed to be one of this summer’s biggest blockbusters. Sources close to producers Avi Arad and Jon Favreau have confirmed that the California Democrat has been in touch with Marvel Studios, and that a “windfall profits” tax will be in place before Friday, May 4 if Democrats can cobble together enough votes.

The Associated Press received the following from Pelosi’s office late Monday:

“Investments.” “Risk.” “Reward.” Such is the language of the Republican Party. Extremists. The GOP would have you believe that it was a “risk” to set up an Avengers movie with a series of films based on many of the individual characters: Thor, Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America. They would have you believe that an Avengers movie was no sure bet, and that the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on these movies and their marketing campaigns by no means guaranteed success. Rubbish! It’s high time Hollywood paid its fair share. If Democrats have their way, Marvel Studios will be the first to pay a windfall profits tax on its flagship characters, in addition to their corporate taxes (which also need higher rates). Warner Bros. will then follow suit in August, when The Dark Knight Rises takes number one at the box office. Behind every Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark movie are greedy Hollywood producers; that will change starting today.

The Hollywood Reporter seems to back up the Minority Leaders predictions, at least in this isolated case, although the philosophical debate is something that will have to be settled inside the Beltway on on cable news airwaves:

Avengers also is tracking better than Lionsgate’s blockbuster The Hunger Games, which posted a record March bow of $152.5 million to score the third-best opening of all time behind Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Dark Knight, respectively.

According to first tracking, unaided awareness in Avengers is 13 percent, compared with 10 percent for Dark Knight and 11 percent for Hunger Games; first choice is 23 percent, tying with Hunger Games and higher than the 19 percent for Dark Knight.

Total awareness is 85 percent, compared with 76 percent for Dark Knight and 74 percent for Hunger Games; definite interest is 61 percent, versus 62 percent for Dark Knight and 54 percent for Hunger Games.

Asked to comment, House Majority Leader John Boehner set up a stark (pardon the pun) contrast between Republicans and Democrats:

“The windfall profits tax proposed by Democrats will go nowhere because Americans want more Marvel movies, not less—and taxing Marvel Studios will result in less movies. Let me tell you what House Republicans will do to this bill in a way that Marvel fans—and fans of The Hulk—can all understand. BOEHNER SMASH!“

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Starring The Federal Government

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Do you remember Tim Burton’s directorial debut, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure? If you do, I’m sure you remember Francis Buxton. And if you do you’ll know exactly where I’m coming from when I say the federal government is Francis Buxton.

 

Francis Buxton. Perhaps you know him by his other name: The Federal Government.

 

Francis Buxton was a big, fat, immature bully who used someone else’s money to buy things he couldn’t afford. And when he couldn’t buy what he wanted…he stole it. The federal government isn’t any different, using your hard-earned cash to buy all sorts of things it can’t afford (although I will admit that it tends to favor cars instead of bikes). And when it knows that you can’t be bought off? It does what it wants anyway.

Luckily, when the theft is egregious enough, there’s usually someone who storms the castle, crashes the pool, grabs the behemoth around the gut, and confronts the jerk. And that is exactly what the American people need to do right now, although, as the movie demonstrates, sometimes that isn’t enough to work. Perhaps Francis’ daddy (e.g., labor unions and other liberal lobbyists) shows up in the knick of time to prevent the fraud from being exposed. Perhaps any number of strange events occur that prevent justice from being done.

What then? Well, going intellectually old-school John Woo is necessary, but so is methodically laying out the evidence for the people (even if “Amazing Larry” doesn’t believe you).

If those things are done, and done well, conservatives will be okay. And when the public policy breakthrough finally comes we can ride off into the sunset like Satan’s Little Helpers on their choppers…until the next obstacle throws us over the handlebars.

Shutter Island, Liberalism, and YOU.

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I saw Shutter Island last night, and I must say it’s a great film for anyone looking to take the wind out of their Friday sails. I think the most uplifting part of my night was the Iron Man 2 trailer. After that, it was all insanity and sad stories and Nazi Germany war crime flashbacks.

With that said, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character,Teddy Daniels, asks a great question at the end of the film: “Is it better to live as a monster or die a good man.”

I promise I won’t ruin the film like someone who tells you Bruce Willis is dead at the end of Sixth Sense, but I would like to draw some parallels between this film and the federal government:

Teddy Daniels gets himself stuck in a federal penitentiary for the criminally insane. Many of the inmates don’t even know they’re locked in an insane asylum. They put up mental barriers to block any knowledge that the federal government is holding them, and often concoct rosy realities to deal with their loss of freedom.

In some ways our world is the flip side of that coin: very sane people like Peggy Joseph, who I mentioned shortly before seeing the movie, are actually trapped in a federal prison without even knowing it. And yes, they’re so deluded that they think Barack Obama will make their mortgage payments!

As I mentioned yesterday, government dependence is like a drug. It saps the will of free people, making them less likely to realize their full potential. It’s the federal government saying, “You need me,” when…you don’t.

Think back on your own life milestones. Think back to all those moments where you had to dig and scratch and claw and fight for something you weren’t sure was attainable–and the moment where you questioned whether you had the strength or the intelligence or will to go on—right before you succeeded. How did you feel afterward? If you’re like me you were shocked, heartened, and invigorated. And if you’re like me you were a little disappointed in all the times you second-guessed yourself and thought about giving in, knowing that if you had done so the success before you would never have happened.

And THAT is what a massive federal government takes away from its people. And THAT is a crime. Politicians who promise you the stars in the sky at someone else’s expense (e.g., “fat cat” businessmen, “Big Oil”, “Wallstreet”, etc.) aren’t telling you the whole truth. Sure, they’re taking money from a third party and redistributing wealth (which is also wrong), but they’re also stealing something much more important than money—from you. They’re stealing the spark that turns what’s special inside of you into an explosion of technology, art, ideas, businesses, and acts of greatness that benefit all mankind. And you should be livid. And you should be angry. And you should not drink the water.

Because when you refuse to take their little pills, they’ll be the ones who go insane.