Here I go getting political again:

The Buffet Rule would, by best estimates, recoup 3.2% of this year’s federal budget.

I it is crazy that someone making $80,000 a year has to give 30% of their income to the government (not to the poor, but to the government…the two are not synonymous). To use real numbers, if you make $80k a year, you have to give $24k toward the operation of the federal government.

To be fair, it’s also ridiculous that someone who makes $1,000,000 a year has to pay 15% in taxes. In real numbers, that is $150,000. It’s ridiculous either way that someone pays more or less taxes as a percent of income because they make more or less money than another person.

It’s ridiculous that if someone earns $1 at their job and pays income taxes on it (so they are left with $0.70 of their original dollar), then invests their $0.70 and earns a return of any amount on it, they are taxed on it again.

This isn’t a rich person (or “hedge-fund baby”) issue or a poor person issue. It’s not a way to raise money issue. It’s an over-taxation issue.

It doesn’t mean that I think rich people are better at business. It doesn’t mean that I think they’ve worked harder. They might or might-not be better at saving. They might or might-not have taken more risk with their money and might or might-not deserve to be rewarded for that risk. I happen to agree with most liberals that most of the time rich people were lucky and blessed and fortunate to be at the right place at the right time. But this isn’t about that. It doesn’t matter how they got rich (giving the benefit of the doubt that they didn’t do it illegally or immorally).

And yes, I also agree with liberals that rich people should help the poor. But this is a moral obligation and not a legal obligation.

By they way, poor people are also morally (not legally) obligated to help the poor. We’re all called to serve one another. Nobody wants to talk about that.

But perhaps the most ridiculous thing I see is that if someone goes from earning $999,999 to $1,000,001 a year they will automatically be charged an additional 5.6% surtax under the Buffet Rule. Seriously?!? You earn 2 extra dollars and you instantly lose $56,000!?! To me, that seems to be the biggest potential killer of economic incentive that I’ve ever heard of. It also seems like a scam and a joke and a rip-off!

Mr. Buffet, I appreciate your offer to give away more of your wealth, but looking at it from this side of the 99%, I think I’ll pass. Especially when it stands no chance of helping the poor nor our financial crisis whatsoever!

It’s worth stating again:
The Buffet Rule would, by best estimates, recoup 3.2% of this year’s federal budget. Reduced spending, not more taxation, is the answer…oth for the 1% and for the 99%. 

I’ve seen variations on this before, but I find it hilarious. I’m working on being a better writer and things like this keep me motivated.

Might have to snag one of these. Hot!

One Less Drop cord manager.

Good to All

There seems to be a lot of controversy going on right now about “capitalism” and the free market…particularly as it relates to Mit Romney’s political campaign and government bail outs.

There are a lot of people who are a lot smarter than me chiming in on the topic, but I have a few thoughts:

1. Nobody has the right to a job. We have the right to pursue happiness, which includes the right to pursue a job, but nobody is owed a job. We have to earn it. It is not the government’s responsibility to provide us a job. It wasn’t Mit Romney’s responsibility to provide people jobs at Bain Capital. His responsibility was to his family and himself…namely, to make a profit and provide income.
   
   I don’t think there was anything inherently wrong with him purchasing a company and firing a lot of people. And I say this as someone who was recently laid off from a job due to economic reasons.
2. Capitalism isn’t inherently “bad.” Socialism, for that matter, isn’t inherently “bad” either. They, in their purest forms, are just economical systems. While people who use (or maybe abuse is a better word) those systems might be bad or have bad motives, a system can’t be morally bad (unless, like communism, they seek to strip people of their moral rights).
3. We, as individuals and families, do have a Biblical responsibility to use the resources that we are given (by God), to help those around us.  Whether we gained those resources through a capitalist system or a socialist system or whatever system, we are called to help those in need. It is not the government’s role to regulate how we do that. It is a personal responsibility/decision.

Those are some random thoughts that came to me this morning as I was watching the news. Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think. Feel free to push back.