[Rhodes22-list] Taxes, Politics, & Fables

[Steve Alm]

This disclaimer thing is cracking me up but it seems to be working.  It's
not getting all funky like it did the last time and I think it won't blow up
at all. :-)  DELEAT NOW!

I'm a middle aged boomer, middle income, self-employed gigger and I think I
get taxed to death.  I have to pay both halves of the S.S. Tax, (about 11.X%
right off the top) 1/3 income tax bracket even after pumping as much as I
can into my IRA's pre-taxed--no capitol gains for me--it all just rolls back
in.  No disability insurance, no unemployment safety net.  No group health
insurance, and, as an individual, the best health policy money can buy still
sucks.  At least now it's deductible.  But a catastrophic medical situation
would probably wipe me out.  Frankly, I feel pretty vulnerable.

The good news is that my job is pretty recession-proof.  When times get
tough, people gotta go out and hoist a few and that's where I come in.
Somewhere, somebody's always happy to hear "Bye, Bye Miss American Pie"
because it takes us back to our youth, a simpler time, and gives us comfort.
Sniff...I'm proud to do my part for the American spirit.

...Even if they do vomit on my shoes.

It's difficult for me to untangle all the ramifications of macro economic
change in tax codes, but I doubt I'll be looking at much of a change for me.
No more rebate checks from Gov. Ventura, property tax will stay about the
same, some user fees will go up and services will go way down.  I'll still
cough up about the same.

WARNING:  THIS IS REALLY THE TIME TO DELEAT.

Because of our two party system, trends in economics and business swing like
a pendulum.  In the bear market whirlwind of the 90's, with so much business
popping up, especially  .coms,  unemployment was low and companies had to
pay higher wages for help, if they could find any at all.  Computer techs
were commanding 30K and benefits right out of college.  Good for the labor
force but not good for the big, bottom-liners.  Now, did you feel the
pendulum switch directions the day Bush took office?  Just like
magic...Poof!  Economic crisis!  A little creative accounting and the big
businesses can post losses and lay off thousands.  A few CEO's were thrown
to the lions as sacrificial lambs but most are unscathed.  Unemployment goes
up, people get desperate and the companies can hire them right back, but at
a lower wage.  Loosen the environmental laws and the energy companies can
get a leg up.  BTW, if the Alaska oil drilling proposal goes through, who do
you suppose will get the contract?  Could it be...a Texas company?

WARNING:  THIS IS REALLY, REALLY, REALLY THE TIME TO DELEAT.

Taxes, taxes, taxes.  Anyone want to talk about foreign policy?  The two
parties argue until they're blue in the face on domestic issues, but
interestingly, the congress has always been pretty unified on our foreign
affairs.  My prediction: We WILL invade Iraq regardless of what the
inspectors find and regardless of UN approval.  We may succeed in ousting
Saddam but that will only create a vacuum and it's anybody's guess after
that.  The last middle East military dictator to fall was another guy we
helped into power, The Shaw of Iran.  The pendulum swing in Iran then put
the religious cleric, Ayatollah Kohmeini (sp) in charge.  Would that happen
in a post-Saddam Iraq?  Would that trigger an all-out holy war (World War)
between Muslim and Judeo/Christians.?  If Lieberman was elected president
(slim chance) how would that play on the world stage?

Songwriter, political humorist Tom Lehrer said political humor has taken on
a whole new dimension ever since Henry Kissinger and Yasser Arafat won the
Nobel Piece Prize.  (cough, cough)

Slim


On 1/16/03 5:58 PM, "Todd Tavares" <sprocket80@mail.com> wrote:

> Same disclaimer as everyone else.....delete if not interested.
> 
>   I am so poor, I can not afford to pay attention to this thread.
> 
>  Boo hooo,  it's the poor ones like me who are discriminated against by the
> tax laws.  I just want to grab a case of beer and go sailing.   But I have got
> to first pay my sin tax on the beer, and the luxury tax on my boat.  ;^(
> sniff.... sniff    lmao
> 
> (JOKING of course)
> 
> Todd
> 
> P.S.  who wagered it would be Thursday?
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Rik Sandberg" <sanderico@earthlink.net>
> Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003 11:57:20 -0600
> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Taxes, Politics, & Fables
> 
>> Same disclaimer as everyone else.....delete if not interested.
>> 
>> Ahh....the ever controversial Bill
>> 
>> I hope this truly was said "tongue in cheek". If not, then you and your
>> neighbors have much to be proud of.
>> 
>> It's things like this, that make me favor doing away with personal income
>> tax altogether and instituting a pure sales tax, with an exemption for the
>> basic staples in the grocery store and a few other things like maybe
>> clothing (conservative) and medical care (non-elective). With a system like
>> this, if one insists on having the fancy and expensive things normally
>> associated with the rich, he pays the taxes that should be assessed from the
>> rich. Those who choose to live conservatively and save for later, or are
>> unable to do more than "just get by" would pay very little, just as they
>> should. But there's one thing that's for sure, no matter what you make....as
>> soon as you spend big money, you pay big taxes.
>> 
>> Spoken as someone who contributes his fair share and the shares of a few
>> others too.
>> 
>> Probably contributing to the eventual blow-up, but...........oh well.
>> 
>> Rik
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Bill Effros" <bill@effros.com>
>> To: "R22 List" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2003 8:50 AM
>> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Taxes, Politics, & Fables
>> 
>> 
>>> Paul,
>>> 
>>> Keep those fables coming!
>>> 
>>> Here in Greenwich, Ct. my neighbors and I can't believe how many people
>> seem
>>> to be willing to pay our taxes for us!  Tax law revisions don't change the
>>> total amount that must be collected to pay for what the government spends,
>>> they only change the proportions of who pays how much.  So if our taxes go
>>> down, somebody else's taxes are going up.
>>> 
>>> So far, Mr. Bush has already saved most of us, here in Greenwich,
>> literally
>>> millions of dollars in taxes.  Each.  The "Death Tax" fable worked like a
>>> charm.
>>> 
>>> Now we get to belly up to the trough yet again, with the "Double Taxation"
>>> fable.  Make no mistake, most of our money has never been taxed even once.
>>> We are among the four diners who have always eaten for nothing, because
>>> under the current tax law system we have been able to show the other
>>> diners that we are the poorest by repeatedly deferring our income from one
>>> year to the next. (We can do that because we don't take home
>>> regular paychecks--according to our tax returns we don't earn a cent.)
>>> 
>>> The only problem is that, eventually, we stand to get hit with a tax that
>> is
>>> actually proportional to what we have earned.  But no!  Fables to the
>>> rescue!  It worked once--could it possibly work again?  If this tax law
>>> revision passes as proposed, neither we, nor our families, may ever have
>> to
>>> pay
>>> federal taxes on most of the money we have earned so far in our entire
>>> lives!  We can dine for nothing forever!
>>> 
>>> Thank you, thank you, thank you,
>>> 
>>> Bill Effros
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _________________________________________________
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>> 
>> _________________________________________________
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