Biden is soooooo generous

I am still trying to not bash the current administration but it is getting more and more difficult. After all, according to DHS I may be viewed as a rightwing extremist because I oppose illegal immigration, oppose abortion, believe in states rights as outlined in the Constitution and believe that all citizens of this great country should be protected and provided for without being judged based on race, creed, color or financial background. So, in an effort to speak up without arguing that our country is headed down the wrong path - I will take the time to reflect on the day itself - April 15, 2009 - TAX DAY.

Today, the White House released pieces of the President and Vice President's taxes. President Obama did very well for himself this year ($2.5M) with his recent book. It is interesting to note that he paid roughly 32 per cent of that back to the federal government in the form of Federal tax and 2.9 per cent in State taxes. President Obama also reports that he paid approximately 6.5% of his income to charities. Very impressive Mr. Obama.

On the other hand, Vice President Biden earned $269,256 (including income from his memoirs). Compare his contribution to the tax system with the President. Mr Biden paid roughly 17 per cent to Federal Tax and 4% to his home state of Delaware. Now for the kicker. Mr. Biden makes reference constantly to his Roman Catholic faith. However, when it comes to giving back to charity he apparently missed the 10% tithe that is present in virtually every Catholic church. No, Mr. Biden missed by an order of magnitude and donated .7% (less than 1 per cent) to charity.

Why is this an issue? From one of my previous posts I stated that Joe Biden reports a net worth of $63,000 . Net worth was a big issue during the election of 2008 (Palin is out of touch as her net worth dwarfs her constituents). Why did no one ask 'Why is Joe Biden only worth $63K when he has been collecting a salaray as Senator for 35 years.?' . One could assume that he was being philanthropic with his income and living a modest lifestyle. At less than 1 per cent being donated to charitable organizations - I think we can rule that out.

So, if Joe Biden is not overly generous with his money - where did it all go? Again I ask - is someone who makes in excess of $150,000 a year for a number of years and is worth less than $100,000 really the person we want a heartbeat away from the presidency when the economic future of our country is in such peril?

We are accelerating down the wrong road.

When the government started planning for TARP 1, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Face it - the banks in the U.S. were in a difficult position but it was the government that helped them get there so perhaps they should help bail them out. I was against the 'covering of the tracks' by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts but knew that I did not have a vote in the outcome. The government decided to spend 'my money' because they are smarter than the common man (tongue firmly planted in cheek at this point) and they gave the banks the first $350 billion dollars .... with absolutely no strings.

Follow along:
Mistake number 1 - all the garbage pressure place on the banking industry to loan money to those that can not afford to purchase a home.
Mistake number 2 - TARP 1 .
Mistake number 3 - Failure to control, watch, manage or even track where TARP 1 funds actually went.
Mistake number 4 - Requesting TARP 2 funds.
( up to this point this has been on President Bush' watch, except mistake number 1 that started back during the Carter administration)

Now, in addition to the proposed 'stimulus' package which is nothing more than a big list of pet programs, bailouts for states that can't manage their own budgets, and a justification to spend more taxpayer money now and in the future, President Obama is raising the concerns about how banks spend their money. Face it - the banks are making huge political mistakes with the way they continue to spend money. BUT - IT IS THEIR MONEY! It is very easy to be swept up in the anti-Wall street sentiment if we allow our jealousy to get the better of us, but consider what this means. How much is enough? How much is too much? I am no longer talking about Wall street - I am talking about an individual or corporation - in the eyes of the government. There are plans to limit executive compensation to any bank that received funding to $500,000. Granted that is a lot of money to someone who makes less than $100,000 but what business is it of the government to dictate how a business operates? If they want to start setting limits and controlling compensation - perhaps they should look at themselves first - Fannie Mae anyone and this is a government 'corporation'?
So now consider that a corporation is no different than a citizen in this country. Does the government have the right to regulate how much money you make? Yes the incrementalism argument begins to build at this point. What if the government decided that any individual, organziation or company that has ever received government assistance was then beholden to any regulation on compensation they want to impose (after award of the assistance )? If BIG GOVERNMENT wants to start down this path - let's start by limiting compensation for any artist (actor) that ever participated in any activity paid for by the NEA. Next, any athlete that attended school on any form of government paid scholarship can only receive compensation of $150,000 (roughly 5 times that of the average American according to U.S. Department of Labor)? University professers are limited on compensation and length of employment - afterall they are paid for partly from the government trough. I can continue ..... but won't.

The point of my argument is taxes are a voluntary (according to Harry Reid) contribution to the government. The government(at least the legislative branch in this blog entry) has completely lost site of this simple fact. The money is not theirs - it is ours. Our founding fathers knew this and warned against a government becoming too powerful for the common good. We are heading down the wrong road and someone is standing on the gas pedal. How do you get off of this ride?

"There are two distinct classes of men...those who pay taxes

and those who receive and live upon taxes." -- Thomas Paine (1737–1809)

No wonder we are where we are

I am no genius when it comes to ... just about anything. With that disclaimer how hard is it to pass a U.S citizenship test? Personally, I found it to be a relatively simple test - take a look at the questions and see for yourself. Apparently, I am not a normal citizen of the country as 'elected officials' only scored 44 per cent. 'Ordinary' citizens scored 49 per cent. This information was taken from the article 'US officials flunk test of American history, economics, civics' . If the education, or awareness of our country is this abysmal - there is no question as to why we find ourselves continuing to elect officials that really have no idea what they are supposed to do, let alone become self declared experts on foreign policy, financial issues, health care or even the role of government.

Instead of electing people who understand the history of our country, its role in the world or even a strong discipline in an area that matters to the general population, we seem to elect people who will cater to a particular need or cause. Where does this get is .... Refer back to my previous post .

This most recent election brought to the forefront the concern over 'qualifications' to become President or Vice President. Personally, I think anyone wishing to run for office should be required to take the test, pass it with at least an 80% (that was a B in grade school) and their scores and answers published for all to see. Not that it will matter much as we are increasingly becoming a society of hand outs. That is the general population increasingly sits back and puts their hand out looking for what their elected official will give them.

Go back to my previous post on taxation and see where you fit. In the end, if you find yourself not wanting to pay for someone elses beer will you do something about it or just complain and threaten to move if your candidate doesn't win ... like Alec Baldwin promised to do.

A lesson on taxation

I was recently sent an email from a friend that I thought was simple enough that most people could understand. I have pasted it below verbatim:

UNDERSTANDING ECONOMICS (OR) BAR STOOL ECONOMICS

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all 10 comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

• The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing
• The fifth would pay $1
• The sixth would pay $3
• The seventh would pay $7
• The eighth would pay $12
• The ninth would pay $18
• The tenth man ( the richest) would pay $59

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.
Since you are all such good customers, he said, I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for all of you will now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so:

The first four men were unaffected, they still pay nothing and will drink for free. The other six men -the paying customers had to decide how to divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share". They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33, but if they subtracted that from everybody's share then the fifth and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his 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 should pay. And so,

• The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving)
• The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings)
• The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings)
• The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings)
• The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings)
• The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 ( 16% savings)

Each of the six was better off than before and the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20" declared the sixth man he pointed to the tenth man "but he got $10" "Yeah, that right" exclaimed the fifth man 'I only saved $1 dollar too" "It's unfair that he got ten times more than I" That's true! shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2".
"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" We didn't get anything at all" The nine men surrounded the 10th 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.
But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them, for even half of the bill!!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction!! Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy and they just may not show up anymore.
In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible-they will go ahead and vote for Obama.