Posted on 12/06/2010 4:18:51 PM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
Well, they do outnumber us for income taxes, with only about 50% of workers paying any taxes at all.
They DO pay social security taxes though — which is probably why there’s a social security tax cut in the bill. Which is another STUPID idea. It’s another of Obama’s “slow pay” ideas like his change in withholding last year, which nobody notices so they don’t spend the money, but it costs just as much, and in this case makes Social Security LESS solvent.
I’m still finding very little to like about this bill. In its BEST features it only extends what we already have. In SOME it makes us pay marginally more in taxes, and it has the disastrous unemployment extension, NOT PAID FOR.
We lost the messaging war when we argued that “you can’t raise taxes IN A RECESSION”. We shouldn’t raise taxes AT ALL, but now we will do this all again in 2 years when supposedly we’ll NOT be in a recession, and nobody will think twice about soaking the rich. The rich just don’t have a large voting block.
If the rich had gotten soaked NOW, we’d have two years of horrible growth numbers that would prove how bad the idea was, and we’d win the white house easily. Now Obama gets the benefit of not raising those taxes, and can raise them after his re-election when he doesn’t care about the economy anymore. If we DON’T win the white house, he’ll VETO and attempt to make those tax cuts permanent.
And we got stuck with a TEMPORARY change to the death tax. The appeasers are saying how great that is, but so far as I can tell, we could have had the 33% on 5 million deal, PERMANENTLY, 4 years ago if we had wanted it.
I know some “good conservatives” who have been laid off... and lulled into a stupor by the ease of obtaining benefits. It really annoys me. Some of these folks could get *a job* but refuse because they think they job they COULD get is beneath them.
Necessity is the mother of invention. Anyone can fall on hard times, but if you subsidize their unemployment too long, they start to really believe that they DESERVE to work in a position similar to the one they held. Truth is, some architects will end up flipping burgers at McDonalds. If it was me, though, I’d be *managing* that McDonalds within 6 months.
Want inspiration? Look at the immigrants from Asia who come over here, work the 7-11 convenience store, live as an extended family, scrip and save, and - the next thing you know - they OWN the 7-11.
A bad economy can be a setback, for sure. But too many people simply REFUSE to let it set them back. They expect to pick back up right where they left off. Screw that. Take the setback, build yourself back up, and reinvent success for yourself. Suckling at the government teat is NOT the answer.
I fully understand that the newly elected republicans do not take office until next month. Even so, tactically, we still hold all the cards, unless you assume that Obama will veto the Bush tax extension. In which case he would do it in the lame duck or the new congress.
It’s called the Big Bluff. Obviously, you’ve never played cards. What did the republicans gain by dealing now? The republicans folded because they want to get tax cuts, jobless benefits, and raising the debt ceiling done now rather than facing those issues with the new tea party congress.
Google this search term:
“mississippi disposable income minimum wage”
...and start looking at the articles starting with the 3rd one down.
Some of the analysis is slightly flawed. It doesn’t take into account that the 60k/yr person probably has some sort of health benefit from their employer. If you take that into account, I think it swings to something like +9k in favor of the 60k person. Still - a little ridiculous that the 60k person only makes +9k in disposable income over the 14.5k person. Also, if you are like my parents (innkeepers) and have to by insurance for yourself, then you don’t get that health benefit. So it’s accurate for them.
You said it.
You know the left is making such a big deal about the rich getting a tax cut. At any time in the past 2 years the democrats could have raised the tax on the rich to the stratospheres. They could have taken the rich back to the 90% tax percentile again. But they didn’t.
They would rather have a political issue.
Just about all you and I are are concerned about is rooted in the lack of consistency and freedom. I have been able to deliver consistent performance and improvements in operations by simply freezing the rules and applying a steady hand to the tiller. It works every time because it allows people to focus and problem solve the exceptional instead of the routine. Level the playing field, get inconsistency out of the way, make routine things unimportant, free people to create and reward good behavior.
People, projects and countries should not be manipulated like marionettes on strings. Instead, they should have doors opened, they should keep their winnings and be allowed to amaze us with their accomplishments. We have allowed ourselves to become puppets and don’t know how to cut the strings that are in the hands of politicians. Politicians who don’t know anything but politics and who are doing a magnificent job of manipulating us. We have become slaves to politicians.
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