Posts
990
Joined
4/15/2009
Location
Phoenix, AZ
US
Edited Date/Time
11/30/2012 8:52am
This was in our local paper the other day, thought it was an interesting perspective. A few years after owning my own business, sorta how I was feeling too.
“There was a time not long ago when one could get a good education, work hard, achieve success and some degree of wealth – the so called American Dream. He could retire after many years of labor to pursue a few years of pleasure. He could bequeath what remained of his estate to his heirs. This is no longer true.
Today he is demonized by his government for attaining that success. He is further punished by increased taxation, with the limp excuse that he doesn’t pay his fair share, even though he is in the group that pays 80% of the taxes in his country.
Now that going over the so called cliff is imminent, he is asked to give even more. This browbeaten person now sits in his boat fishing, while the government literally keeps poking holes in his boat, until the boat sinks. So much for the American Dream.”
“There was a time not long ago when one could get a good education, work hard, achieve success and some degree of wealth – the so called American Dream. He could retire after many years of labor to pursue a few years of pleasure. He could bequeath what remained of his estate to his heirs. This is no longer true.
Today he is demonized by his government for attaining that success. He is further punished by increased taxation, with the limp excuse that he doesn’t pay his fair share, even though he is in the group that pays 80% of the taxes in his country.
Now that going over the so called cliff is imminent, he is asked to give even more. This browbeaten person now sits in his boat fishing, while the government literally keeps poking holes in his boat, until the boat sinks. So much for the American Dream.”
You must have missed why the United States was founded, and what made it great for so many years.
The Shop
His success only happened because of the rest of us and had nothing to do with his own initiative.
Steve Jobs had the same set of rules you did, JW -was it just random chance that he was so much more successful than you?
BTW-I'm guessing he was more successful, I don't know you.
Oh yeah, and Guyb too. He invented Motodrive and started civilization.
Here's another big problem I have with the line of thinking represented by the letter writer: it's not as if every dollar taxed is put directly into the pockets of some athiest, minority, single mother who is addicted to drugs. A large percentage of taxes go to infrastructure, defense, education, government employees and services, and some welfare.
You said "but his success was only made possible because he just so happened to be living in a free democracy(random chance)" and "Therefore, he is always somewhat indebted to (t)his country."
So you basically were writing off his success to 'chance' and that he owes his success to his country.
There are plenty in the country that aren't successful. Do they owe their lack of success to their country too?
Like I re-stated earlier; this theoretical man is born in the U.S. (that is random chance), therefore giving him a specific set of opportunities the majority of the world probably does not enjoy. So, by his own initiative, made possible by the free democracy he was born into, he procures wealth and other successes. It's a combo of both, and my intention wasn't to write off hard working people's successes, but rather to make a point of the circumstances that allowed that success in the first place.
I believe (based on my own experience as a vendor with US gov. procurement practices ) that 60% is wasted. US federal tax revenue has been going up pretty steadily, it's not a revenue problem and, since the top 10% of earners account for 80% of income tax revenue, it's not a fairness problem, either.
And your earlier point about the rich paying a higher tax burden in earlier decades is not factual.
Pit Row
And from my understanding, they are. Provide me with a source saying otherwise, and I'll try to find one to back up my point.
Perhaps he needs to educate himself internally by digging his nose into a few government agencies.
I'm certain he would get the idea then.
And as for being born in a "FREE DEMOCRACY" that is what our ancestors fought for so their generations to come could live in a decent free democratic society,not a 2 party dictatorship that taxes it's citizens wages. They did not believe in taxation of peoples wages. They only approved of it during a short time when war was being fought on this soil. We owe everything to our ancestors & their beliefs that they fought & died for.Therefore most current Americans supporting these current systems are committing treachery against our ancestors that made this country possible and brought forth & created The American Dream.
How did you know my last name, btw? o.O
The same way I know where your income taxes go to.
Educating & investigating.
I guess you must have just missed this load of shit.
They contract side work /government contracts and make profits that way also. They just keep letting it pile up and continue to do stupid shit while they pocket/skim on they side.It's a racket.
If everyone stopped paying fed income tax this year.....Not one thing would change that we would notice as far structure or the military.
Other then the money being spent in local economies and helping boost local economies in a sense.
Those 5/9ths of a person need not apply...
Maybe for the certain sliver of society that benefitted from the post-WW II boom it was like that. For the white suburban middle class riding the post-war wave that could afford those suburban houses, Chevys and home appliances.
In recent decades there was also huge amounts of injustice, prejudice, and outright exploitation in America.
How much would we have enjoyed six 12-hour shifts a week in a steel mill where most guys died early and they shot you down if you went on strike? That was the industrial revolution for most that took part in it. Just one example of how shitty it used to be.
It's always been a bitch to make your way in this country and always will be. Do people expect the government to make it easy for them?
http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/06/richest-black-americans-busienss-billi…
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