Somebody FREAKIN shoot me!!!!

[GregWeld]

I think the tax issue is one of personal perspective. Most people look at their neighbor and think "they" must be rich or have a better job - etc. People tend to think everyone is better off than they are.

Here's my TAX perspective.

I'm the 1% guy that everyone hates... Too bad. In 2011 I bought almost a million dollars worth of cars - In Washington I pay 9.9% sales tax on those purchases. That's 100K to the state just in car tax alone.... forget the license fees etc.

I just bought a big truck - I paid 24K in FEDERAL excise tax and 20K in state tax - plus license fees.

This is the problem that people don't understand.... people spending money... is what makes an "economy"..... People NOT spending money creates a recession. If there is a recession... I will still live GREAT! But I might not spend as much money because I just don't have to, and or, I just don't feel like it. Who does that affect? It affects how much sales tax I pay -- it affects all the people that MIGHT have made money off me - thru commissions... profits... etc.

I don't mind paying taxes at all... I pay HUGE taxes (dollar wise).... I don't mind it. What I mind is people paying nothing - then bitching that their lives aren't good enough... that it's someone else's fault that their lives suck... and that the "government" should do more for them.

2/3rds of the Federal budget is now SOCIAL PROGRAMS.... it used to be 1/3rd of the budget. I would like to see that reversed so that we can get back to spending money on building and maintaining roads - improve our education system - national defense etc. In other words - I'd be HAPPY if I thought Obama was going to increase my taxes to build stuff - create stuff - etc. But his agenda is to take from me - and spend even more on "social programs". We have so many of them now we can't afford to pay our bills. I think that is what half the country is fed up with. The other half (according to the popular vote) seem to have their hands out...

[Flash68]

Greg, you're a lot smarter than you look.

Could not agree more with you. Pay the minimum legal taxes you can (call it creative, calling it using the tax code, whatever) and use the savings to consume and invest and stimulate!

[GregWeld]

.... And I don't mind people being on welfare etc... or getting unemployment..


What I DO care about is that someone isn't LOOKING for a job - of any kind...

Being out of work - or being out of/down on your luck... I'm okay with that... but you'd better be trying to do something to change that. 'Cause sitting around doing nothing is what I get pissed about.

Personally - I'd like to see us return to a more WPA style program. If you're getting a "pay check" -- then you are "on the payroll" -- either the state or the county or the fed is sending you a check and taking care of your needs. IF that is the case --- then you need to "DO SOMETHING" for that check. You need to mow grass or rake leaves - or sweep streets - clean graffiti off - paint a government building - help the cooks at the public schools..... SOMETHING. If you're incapable - incapacitated - "slow" - etc.... then you should probably get more because we need to take care of those that can't take care of themselves. I'm totally for that. But if you can get out of bed in the morning... and walk and talk... then we have plenty of work that needs to be done. Doesn't have to be hard work - there's plenty of "hands"... but ya gotta do something.

[Shmoov69]

Gregg....clap clap clap clap!! Spot on!! ALL of it!!

[out2kayak]

As several have echoed, I don't mind helping my fellow person.

The thing that gets me is we feed a person a day (food stamps, other social programs) verses teaching them how to be self sufficient. What's that old saying:

"Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to sell fish and he eats steak."

I have been in several industries where it simply became unprofitable to work there. The first was an engineer fixing broken electronics. Tech changed and it's cheaper to throw things out and get the latest verses handing it to me to fix.

I transitioned into another area (programming) and worked there for a while. Many of the jobs were off-shored and there was another transition.

So, now I'm doing solution architecture.

Bottom line is I have to keep learning, many times paying for my own training, to keep my skills sharp and competitive with the market.

We need the government to incentivize people to learn, grow and adapt to an ever changing world.

Handing someone money (remember how you spent your tax rebate check of 2008) is usually used to pay for short term pleasure. Instead, how about giving employers a break to bring on more interns (no matter their age) or fostering a mentoring program?

I just hate the government taking my hard earned money only to see others waist it.

Just saying....

[Van B]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

.... And I don't mind people being on welfare etc... or getting unemployment..


What I DO care about is that someone isn't LOOKING for a job - of any kind...

Being out of work - or being out of/down on your luck... I'm okay with that... but you'd better be trying to do something to change that. 'Cause sitting around doing nothing is what I get pissed about.

Personally - I'd like to see us return to a more WPA style program. If you're getting a "pay check" -- then you are "on the payroll" -- either the state or the county or the fed is sending you a check and taking care of your needs. IF that is the case --- then you need to "DO SOMETHING" for that check. You need to mow grass or rake leaves - or sweep streets - clean graffiti off - paint a government building - help the cooks at the public schools..... SOMETHING. If you're incapable - incapacitated - "slow" - etc.... then you should probably get more because we need to take care of those that can't take care of themselves. I'm totally for that. But if you can get out of bed in the morning... and walk and talk... then we have plenty of work that needs to be done. Doesn't have to be hard work - there's plenty of "hands"... but ya gotta do something.

The only thing you missed here is that if you put these people to work mowing or street sweeping you can bet your ass that the union municipal workers will bitch that their work is being taken away. I like the way you are thinking though.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Van B

The only thing you missed here is that if you put these people to work mowing or street sweeping you can bet your ass that the union municipal workers will bitch that their work is being taken away. I like the way you are thinking though.

You just make the current employees -- "supervisors".... and give them 5 or 6 helpers.

[Vegas69]

I've always said the same thing Greg. If you are collecting government assistance, you should either be working to improve society or indebted to the US Treasury. Meaning, you have to pay it back. Whether it's taking tax refunds to minor windfalls through garnishment. Of course a drug test should be mandatory every month.

But hey, I'm not a politician and could never get elected. You have to lie through your teeth to get in office. I'd rather tell it how it is......

It's never going to change. There will always be those that do and those that don't. There are getting to be a lot less doers so I'll juse forget about it.

[57hemicuda]

Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way that you can quickly understand them. This quote came from the Czech Republic . Someone over there has it figured out. It was translated into English from an article in the Prague newspaper Prager Zeitungon on 04.28.2010.

"The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America.

Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their president."

[Blake Foster]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

I've always said the same thing Greg. If you are collecting government assistance, you should either be working to improve society or indebted to the US Treasury. Meaning, you have to pay it back. Whether it's taking tax refunds to minor windfalls through garnishment. Of course a drug test should be mandatory every month.

But hey, I'm not a politician and could never get elected. You have to lie through your teeth to get in office. I'd rather tell it how it is......

It's never going to change. There will always be those that do and those that don't. There are getting to be a lot less doers so I'll juse forget about it.

I am WITH YOU!!! 100% why do we allow (IN CANADA, cuz i have no opinon on the US) people to just sit on their asses and collect EI or Welfare? there are highways to clean, so many things that these people could be doing, for their Checks, i am also 100% for mandatory drug testing to receive your benifets.
there should be no free lunches, you get up with the rest of us and put in a good days work and guess what then you get a check.
that's all