Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Tax System Explained in Beer

This came off the 'net, via a "forward" and I unfortunately do not have an attribution. I would love to know who wrote this because this person is a genius.

If one does not already understand the dangers to our freedoms, our economy, and the future of our Country by now -- 7 months post 11/04/08 -- one either truly was hoping for this or truly had an immeasurable amount of naïveté and ignorance blocking the brain.

Read and weep ... or, better yet, read and bombard your elected officials in Washington to stop this madness.
=================================================

Simplified Obamanomics

We have experienced [at least three years of bad policies,] specifically the years of the Democratic majority during President Bush’s administration. These bad policies were rushed through based on fear tactics. We have continued [since January 2009] to get the same thing.

Now, most especially, the rush is on, again, because our dedicated elected officials are rushing to get a bad bill through before they take their August vacation. This is, of course, without regard to logic, which demands that ANY THING done CORRECTLY has to be carefully planned, not rushed.

The tax system being pushed through under the guise of a much-needed “health care reform” is anything but carefully planned or thought through. The following is an explanation for the layman, the average “Joe,” who is, as always with anything planned out of Washington, overlooked completely.


The Tax System Explained in Beer

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer, and the bill for all ten comes to $100.00. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would resemble something like the following breakdown:

The first four men, the poorest, would pay nothing for his portion of the beers.

• The fifth would pay $1.00 for his portion of the beers.

• The sixth would pay $3.00 for his portion of the beers.

• The seventh would pay $7.00 for his portion of the beers.

• The eighth would pay $12.00 for his portion of the beers.

• The ninth man would pay $18.00 for his portion of the beers.

• The tenth man, the richest, would pay $59.00 for his portion of the beers.

So that is what they decided to do. This went on for many years.

The 10 men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve and offered them a “change.”

“Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.00, from $100.00 that all 10 of you pay now, to $80.00 for all 10.”

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected; they would still drink for free.

But what about the other six men, the paying customers? How could they divide the $20.00 “savings” so that everyone in the group would get their fair share?

They realized that $20.00 divided by 6, the actual number of paying customers, is $3.33. But, if they subtracted that amount from everybody’s share, then the fifth and sixth men would each end up getting paid to drink their beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each would pay. According to the “change,” explained by the owner, the new breakdown came to:

• The fifth man, like the first four, would now pay nothing: a 100% “savings.”

• The sixth man now paid $2.00 instead of $3.00: a 33% “savings.”

• The seventh man now paid $5.00 instead of $7.00: a 28% “savings.”

• The eighth man now paid $9.00 instead of $12.00: a 25% “savings.”

• The ninth man now paid $14.00 instead of $18.00: a 22% “savings.”

• The tenth man now paid $49.00 instead of $59.00: a 16% “savings.”

Each of the six was better off than before; the first four continued to drink free of charge.

After the first few days of this “change,” the men compared their “savings.” They were a bit surprised at the conclusions.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20.00,” declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man and said, “But he got $10.00!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only “saved” a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got 10 times more than I did!”

“That’s true,” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10.00 back when I only got $2.00? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all! The system exploits the poor!”

The nine men surrounded the tenth man and beat him up.

The next night, the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. When it came to pay the bill, though, they discovered something important: they did not have enough money between the 9 of them to pay even half the bill!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works.

• The people who pay the highest taxes benefit most from a tax reduction.

Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they may just not show up anymore. In fact, they may start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

Or . . . they may just shrug.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

"No, He Can't"

MCzwz Thinks:

This article is one that should have been very widely disseminated long before 11/04/08, but it is no surprise that it was not. In the atmosphere that developed in the year prior to and especially since that date, thoughts and opinions such as these are enough for the speaker to be not only ostracized, at best, but possibly persecuted, at worst, as in the retaliatory model applied to Sarah Palin.  Regardless, any who still respect courageous thinkers, true “free-thinkers” cannot help but do one’s utmost to ensure these thoughts are spread far and wide.

I but do my little part by posting Dr. Wortham’s extraordinary open letter here in the hope of bringing it to the attention of yet a few more people. My goal is to make even more people aware of the imperative need to avoid a repetition of the electoral results of 11/04/08.

The future of our country depends on it.

======================================

From: Project World Awareness


The Other Side of Racism
 -- By Dr. Anne Wortham

Anne Wortham is Associate Professor of Sociology at Illinois State University and continuing Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. She is a member of the American Sociological Association and the American Philosophical Association.

She has been a John M. Olin Foundation Faculty Fellow, and honored as a Distinguished Alumni of the Year by the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.

In fall 1988 she was one of a select group of intellectuals who were featured in Bill Moyers’ television series, “A World of Ideas.” The transcript of her conversation with Moyers has been published in his book, A World of Ideas.

Dr. Wortham is author of “The Other Side of Racism: A Philosophical Study of Black Race Consciousness” which analyzes how race consciousness is transformed into political strategies and policy issues.

She has published numerous articles on the implications of individual rights for civil rights policy, and is currently writing a book on theories of social and cultural marginality.

Recently, she has published articles on the significance of multiculturalism and Afrocentricism in education, the politics of victimization and the social and political impact of political correctness. Shortly after an interview in 2004, she was awarded tenure.


No He Can't
~~ By Anne Wortham

Fellow Americans,

Please know: I am Black; I grew up in the segregated South. I did not vote for Barack Obama; I wrote in Ron Paul’s name as my choice for president. Most importantly, I am not race conscious. I do not require a Black president to know that I am a person of worth, and that life is worth living. I do not require a Black president to love the ideal of America.

I cannot join you in your celebration. I feel no elation. There is no smile on my face. I am not jumping with joy. There are no tears of triumph in my eyes. For such emotions and behavior to come from me, I would have to deny all that I know about the requirements of human flourishing and survival – all that I know about the history of the United States of America , all that I know about American race relations, and all that I know about Barack Obama as a politician. I would have to deny the nature of the “change” that Obama asserts has come to America.

Most importantly, I would have to abnegate my certain understanding that you have chosen to sprint down the road to serfdom that we have been on for over a century. I would have to pretend that individual liberty has no value for the success of a human life. I would have to evade your rejection of the slender reed of capitalism on which your success and mine depend. I would have to think it somehow rational that 94 percent of the 12 million Blacks in this country voted for a man because he looks like them (that Blacks are permitted to play the race card), and that they were joined by self-declared “progressive” whites who voted for him because he doesn’t look like them.

I would have to wipe my mind clean of all that I know about the kind of people who have advised and taught Barack Obama and will fill posts in his administration – political intellectuals like my former colleagues at the Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

I would have to believe that “fairness” is equivalent of justice. I would have to believe that a man who asks me to “go forward in a new spirit of service, in a new service of sacrifice” is speaking in my interest. I would have to accept the premise of a man that economic prosperity comes from the “bottom up,” and who arrogantly believes that he can will it into existence by the use of government force. I would have to admire a man who thinks the standard of living of the masses can be improved by destroying the most productive and the generators of wealth.

Finally, Americans, I would have to erase from my consciousness the scene of 125,000 screaming, crying, cheering people in Grant Park, Chicago irrationally chanting “Yes We Can!” Finally, I would have to wipe all memory of all the times I have heard politicians, pundits, journalists, editorialists, bloggers and intellectuals declare that capitalism is dead- and no one including, especially Alan Greenspan, objected to their assumption that the particular version of the anti-capitalistic mentality that they want to replace with their own version of anti-capitalism is anything remotely equivalent to capitalism.

So you have made history, Americans. You and your children have elected a Black man to the office of the president of the United States, the wounded giant of the world. The battle between John Wayne and Jane Fonda is over – and Fonda won. Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern must be very happy men. Jimmie Carter, too. And the Kennedys have at last gotten their Kennedy look-a-like. The self-righteous welfare statists in the suburbs can feel warm moments of satisfaction for having elected a Black person.

So, toast yourselves: 60s countercultural radicals, 80s yuppies and 90s bourgeois bohemians. Toast yourselves, Black America. Shout your glee Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Duke, Stanford, and Berkeley. You have elected not an individual who is qualified to be president, but a Black man who, like the pragmatist Franklin Roosevelt, promises to – Do Something! You now have someone who has picked up the baton of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. But you have also foolishly traded your freedom and mine – what little there is left – for the chance to feel good.

There is nothing in me that can share your happy obliviousness.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

A New Age Fairy Tale of "Change" . . . or An Accurate Warning . . .

A Truly Cautionary Tale

And it came to pass in the Age of Insanity that the people of the land called America, having lost their morals, their initiative, and their will to defend their liberties, chose as their Supreme Leader that person known as "The One."

He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He hypnotized the people telling them, "I am sent to save you. My lack of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, and my association with evil doers are of no consequence. For I shall save you with Hope and Change.

"Go, therefore, and proclaim throughout the land that he who preceded me is evil, that he has defiled the nation, and that all he has built must be destroyed."

And the people rejoiced, for even though they knew not what "The One" would do, he had promised that it was good; and they believed.

And "The One" said "We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change everything about it!"

And the people said, "Hallelujah! Change is good!"

Then He said, "We are going to tax the rich fat-cats." And the people said "Sock it to them!  And redistribute their wealth." 

And the people said, "Show us the money!"

And then He said, "Redistribution of wealth is good for everybody"

And Joe the plumber asked, "Are you kidding me? You're going to steal my money and give it to the
deadbeats??"  And "The One" ridiculed and taunted him, and Joe's personal records were hacked and publicized. ...

One lone reporter asked, "Isn't that Marxist policy?" And she was banished from the kingdom!

Then a citizen asked, "With no foreign relations experience and having zero military experience or knowledge, how will you deal with radical terrorists?"

And "The One" said, "Simple. I shall sit with them and talk with them and show them how nice we really are; and they will forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!"

And the people said, "Hallelujah!! We are safe at last, and we can beat our weapons into free cars for the people!"

Then "The One" said, "I shall give 95% of you lower taxes."

And one, lone voice said, "But 40% of us don't pay ANY taxes."
So "The One" said, "Then I shall give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!"

And the people said, "Hallelujah!! Show us the money!"

Then "The One" said, "I shall tax your Capital Gains when you sell your homes!"

And the people yawned and the slumping housing market collapsed.

And He said, "I shall mandate employer-funded health care for EVERY worker and raise the minimum wage.  And I shall give every person unlimited health care and medicine and transportation to the clinics."

And the people said, "Give me some of that!"

Then he said, "I shall penalize employers who ship jobs overseas."

And the people said, "Where's my rebate check?"

Then "The One" said, "I shall bankrupt the coal industry and electricity rates will skyrocket!"

And the people said, "Coal is dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don't care for that part about higher electric rates."

So "The One" said, "Not to worry. If your rebate isn't enough to cover your expenses, we shall bail you out. Just sign up with ACORN and your troubles are over!"

Then He said, "Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let's grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches, free medical care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed housing..."

And the people said, "Hallelujah!!" And they made him King!

And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers. Others simply gave up and went out of business and the economy sank like unto a rock dropped from a cliff. The banking industry was destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a crawl. And more of the people were without a means of support.

Then "The One" said, "I am the "The One" - The Messiah - and I'm here to save you! We shall just print more money so everyone will have enough!"

But our foreign trading partners said unto Him, "Wait a minute. Your dollar is not worth a pile of camel dung! You will have to pay more..."

And the people said, "Wait a minute. That is unfair!!"

And the world said, "Neither are these other idiotic programs you have embraced. Lo, you have become a Socialist state and a second-rate power. Now you shall play by our rules!"

And the people cried out, "Alas, alas!! What have we done?"

But yea verily, it was too late. The people set upon "The One" and spat upon him and stoned him, and his name was dung. And the once mighty nation was no more; and the once proud people were without sustenance or shelter or hope. And the Change "The One" had given them was as like unto a poison that had destroyed them and like a whirlwind that consumed all that they had built.

And the people beat their chests in despair and cried out in anguish, "Give us back our nation and our pride and our hope!!"  But it was too late, and their homeland was no more.
 
 
Posted Jul 6, 2009 on Sodahead.com by BLAH blah (http://www.sodahead.com/user/profile/1209586/blah-blah/)

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Independence Day

Patriotism has become more of a "dirty word" in recent years than the actual words with horrid, unsavory connotations ever were.

To be "patriotic" and to "love one's country" and to be "proud of one's country" are considered, by those who supposedly know, to be old-fashioned, at best, or sins, at worst, in many circles.

On any 4th of July, however, it is good to find the words on which this country was created and grew to be the country many, many, Americans still cherish today.  It is good to see and read these words and hope that some out there will be reminded of the hope our country represented -- and most certainly still represents -- to the entire world,  in spite of the many native-born who revile her.

When We the People who are proud of our country on a daily basis hear others revile and denigrate her, let us remember these words from those who created her and improved her throughout her history and let us all say, with great feeling, respect, and love:  "God Bless America!"

****************************************************

July 3, 1776 letter from John Adams


The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm.


Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" July 5, 1852

I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation's destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.


Martin Luther King, "I Have A Dream," August 28, 1963
When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. . . . I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."