Choosing Whose Blood to Shed
Bloody riots in the streets demonstrated how Greek government employees felt about being paid for twelve months’ “work” a year instead of receiving fourteen “monthly” paychecks a year on the way to fully-paid retirement at age 55, as I recall. It makes one wonder how the 40% of those employed in America who work for government at some level would react to having their pay cut in half to reflect what similar jobs in the private sector pay. We might get lucky, of course, and they would go on strike; little would improve this country as much as a whole lot less regulating going on.
I read recently that a garbage collector in Seattle makes over $109K, a splendid example of “jobs that Americans won’t do,” and Oakland has fired 10% of their police who can’t get along on an average $162,000 plus lavish benefits. The “labor” dispute is over whether the cops should be required to match the 9% contribution Oakland makes to their pension funds in return for a one-year freeze on lay-offs or hold out for a three-year freeze. Their very generous pension benefits. But that’s okay, because the Police Chief resigned in disgust and the department announced that it won’t even investigate 44 types of crime ranging from poisoning animals to grand theft. The Supreme Court has already held that the police have no obligation to protect any particular citizen.
Our basic problem is that everyone feels “entitled:”
1. Congress feels “entitled” to pass devastating laws its members are not obliged to abide by, and a great many members feel that flouting any inconvenient laws is a perquisite of office;
2. The professional welfare class feels “entitled” to food, housing, medical attention, “earned income credits” for one day’s work, and at least four dozen other goodies paid for by others;
3. Government workers feel “entitled” to lavish salaries, all public holidays, more than generous vacations, sick leave, and “family” leave, all of which can be turned into money, and virtual freedom from being fired no matter what they do or how little they do;
4. Unions, Farma, Pharma, banks, Wall Street, et al., have demonstrated that they are “entitled” to massive payoffs for campaign contributions;
5. Nidal Hassan, the mass killer at Ft. Hood, appears to be “entitled” to draw his $6,000/mo salary while sitting in a civilian clink;
6. Queen Michelle apparently feels “entitled” to a half-million dollar tax-payer funded vacation in Spain for herself, one daughter, a bunch of her dear friends, and, of course, an enormous entourage, only having had eight vacations plus a trip to England in the last eighteen months, poor dear;
7. Teachers feel “entitled” to far more money for far less work–and far fewer working days–for job performance that would get anyone else fired;
8. Illegal aliens feel “entitled” to everything the welfare class gets plus citizenship and the right to desecrate our flag, trespass, run drugs, murder ranchers, and clog our jails and hospitals;
9. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Head of the Fed have demonstrated that they are “entitled” to counterfeit and launder money through their favorite banks; and
10. The few, the employed, the tax-paying are deemed “entitled” to pick up the tab for all of this. Well, not exactly, since half of all employed Americans pay no income taxes at all.
The Federal government is broke, most of the State governments are in the red, cities are unable to pay their bloated bills, and everyone involved pretends that the “budgets” they can’t fund also cover pension plans. Well, except Congress, which pretends there will be money for “off budget” pensions, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicade and “deems” the budget to have been passed, using Geithner’s funny money to make payoffs. Pay bills. Whatever.
Something has to give, something other than those of us who have been raped all of our lives. Everyone else’s choice is that #10 should continue to “spread the wealth,” but we have reached the point where we are dropping out, avoiding taxes, not even trying to increase our incomes, and definitely feeling that charity begins at home. The milk of human kindness has definitely curdled and we don’t believe Al Gore, either.
There are only five ways to handle having overspent recklessly for fifty years: raise taxes (and everything the top 20% make wouldn’t pay the bills), lower expenses (unthinkable), cut taxes, borrow more from increasingly unwilling lenders, or ignore the whole mess as long as possible. Problem is…ALAP is now. Somebody other than # 10 has to start ponying up or scaling down.
Which leaves our tax lords with four choices of who the sacrificial victims shall be:
A. The welfare classes, solid D voters and known to be more than a little violent (over 40,000,000 are on food stamps now);
B. The Unions and other special interests, solid Statist voters and always willing to fund campaigns ($50 Bn last cycle) for fractions of pennies on the dollar for what they will receive;
C. Illegals, with a proven record of violence and virtually guaranteed to vote for the left; and
D. The Social Security crowd, with the Baby Boomers nearing their mid-sixties, more likely to vote R or I than D, who submitted tamely when told there will be no COLA for three years “because there is no inflation.” There is, at least 3.5%, and even if there weren’t, chances are we will see rampant inflation in ’11 and ’12 and beyond. Age of eligibility is ooching up and the latest proposal is seventy, and never mind that many do not have the stamina or health to work until then or are employed by firms which do not allow that.
Another hit is on the way. If you aren’t drawing genuine SS you may not know that Medicare is not optional. Well, I do not have to pay them over a hundred dollars a month, which is going up, along with co-pays on medical services and prescriptions, because the government will be delighted to keep my entire check if I refuse. And whee! As of 1/1/11 my Medicare “entitlement” will be treated as “income” and will have funds withheld from it for new taxes…and guess who gets to set the “worth” of that niggardly policy? Not anyone who is going to analyze my use and gloat, “She almost never goes to the doctor more than twice and she only uses one Rx!” Does anyone here believe A and C will be charged taxes on Medicare/Medicade?
Obviously, the sacrificial classes of choice remain small business, the elderly, farmers/ranchers, and those without political connections. The real question is: who is next, because we can’t cover the demands at all levels from Fed to village? Gotta love tiny Bell, CA, pop. under 39,000, whose Mayor was paid over three-quarters of a million, with a hundred thou’ for the part-time City Council members. So useful to be able to raise your own salaries…
B is clearly going to get a pass so long as the system manages to stagger onward, the Obama-Pelosi-Reid axis will push “amnesty” through one way or another in order to meld C and A…and sooner or later we will either have a total breakdown of the economic system or civil war. The cynical, power-hungry class knows this, and their plan is to increase regulations, increase “law enforcement” groups and use of US troops for “crowd control,” expand their powers of confiscation, and do everything possible to break the middle class which made the old America possible. The whole thing is a dull version of Atlas Shrugged with dangers even the brilliant Ayn Rand did not foresee, including making it illegal to grow and process our own food.
As one vivid book title states, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal. Well, almost everything. Evading taxes is illegal; avoiding them is not. You all know that it is not possible to collect enough tax money even to get public debt to manageable proportions. The higher taxes are, the less we indulge in behavior that results in a greater level of confiscation. I smile when I consider how far tax revenue is below projections this year, and I urge you to do your best to starve the tax beast.
Here is a bright little idea of my very own in addition to buying nothing you can get from a tax-free source (Craig’s List, for example) and buying only those things you can eat or protect yourself with. I am on record endlessly as advocating pulling down to one telephone per household, cancelling cable TV, and ridding yourself of every other expense you can which carries numerous taxes.
You have slightly over 4 1/2 months to figure out what you are going to cut to cover having your health insurance plan treated as “income” and showing up on your withholding in January. The first thing to do is analyze your family’s use patterns. Unless you have elderly members or someone on dialysis or in need of major surgery that “free” insurance is almost certainly a rotten deal just as it is. If you simply pay the bill an office call will be $100 or less and your doctor might agree to a reduction because you’ll save him large administrative expenses.
What is your deductible? Work out how many times a year, on average, anyone actually goes to the doctor. If you’re looking at a $2,000 deductible, see if that is enough to purchase a catastrophic health care plan and one for prescription drugs. Next, ask your boss what the “value” of your health package will be deemed to be for tax purposes. If the figures are as I expect for many of you, see if you can negotiate a raise in return for dropping health care. He may well be glad to cooperate, and if he is au courrant on politics and the firm you work for has 50 or more employees some beancounter somewhere has already worked out it will be much cheaper to pay the fine than to provide government health insurance for you–at which point you will be stuck with Obamacare, if nothing changes.
Yes, I’m serious! Insurance was never meant to cover routine expenses; its purpose is to protect you against the extraordinary. If you buy your own health care plan, well, that obviously isn’t “income,” now, is it? It is clear out-go. A raise you get in return is income, but it will be real income, not mythical. The Obama scheme is rather like taxing us on air to breathe, something we’ve always had. I would mind paying taxes on a raise if I were going to get one in the next three years, which I’m not, but I am infuriated by the idea of having to pay taxes on the Medicare I didn’t want in the first place because I have Tri-Care…which is secondary to Medicare, the Army really believing in taking care of its own.
On average you could be looking at a $500/month bite in new taxes on your insurance alone, and unless someone is undergoing months of rehabilitation it is very unlikely your bills add up to that. If they do, either live with the consequences of your current plan or find a catastrophic care policy that covers therapy following surgery. Add up your premiums, your deductible, your co-pays, and the new tax, and I will be very surprised if you can’t come up with a better solution unless you are well up in years. When John died I was offered COBRA for myself and Andrew, then 20. At $840/month! Ludicrous. In three years Andrew and I were ill once, and it cost us $100/each to see the doctor, including shots in lieu of a prescription antibiotic. $840/mo X 36 months = $32,400, and my refusal saved us over thirty thousand dollars. AFTER tax dollars. Since dental and opthalmologists (Andrew has flawless teeth and sight better than an eagle’s) weren’t covered anyway…
We’re all hoping for a change in control of Congress after the elections, but despite some naive Legislator’s attempt to get Pelosi and Reid to agree to propose no new legislation, only “housekeeping,” after that Tuesday (riotous laughter; Dubya was stupid enough to fall for, “How dare you contemplate vetoing the stimulus package when you know Obama wants it and he won big and can have it in three months?” but I assure you any “lame duck” Congress will be working overtime vindictively right up until the third week of January of 2011) a lot more bad things are coming down the pike. If they push through “Cap and Trade” the estimated tab is an additional $300/month for most households. If you do not work out where to get the money for these new expenses who will? It will hurt less if you do it before you have no choice.
Regards,
Linda Brady Traynham
Whiskey & Gunpowder
August 12, 2010
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Linda Brady Traynham
Linda Brady Traynham is a former editor and analytical project report writer and is now a Whiskey & Gunpowder field correspondent on a ranch in the Republic of Texas. She studied Counseling at Boston University and got her Masters degree in Philosophy from the University of Hawaii.
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the oakland police department announced that it won’t even investigate 44 types of crime ranging from poisoning animals to grand theft.
why? why? why?
because they are too busy investigating the oakland police!
i have come to the understanding that geitner and bernanke are every bit as competent as paulson and greenspan. the new guys are trying to get a little inflation going. so, they print, print, print, and now, $1 in new money leads to $.80 increase in the money supply. so, they’re a wee bit frustrated… the money just disappears, like middle class “wealth”, itself. now, they are going to ‘ease’ money, quantitatively, into the economic system~~~$2 trillion for starters.
linda, these guys can do it! inflation is the “tax”, which you mention in “D”, above (“rampant inflation”), which will keep everybody “feeling” entitled. this is macro-economics. we pay off the old dollar debt with the newer, even more worthless dollars, credit expands once again, and the economy gets bigger and grows! just add another zero to everything! prosperity in the land of Oz! 0′s?
if these satanic clowns can’t pull this off, then we will just have more debt and less money. like now.
pelosi et. al. are smart, satanic clowns, too! they used to pass the bill for the feel-good entitlements to the states, but now the states are generally in negative cash flow to the point of insolvency, so congress is just sticking the bill to the feepaying citzenry, directly.
this brings us to micro-economics. as you query, if you don’t figure how to pay for these “new ‘expenses’ “, who will? the rich will write a check. the poor person will finally have the knife pulled from between the shoulder blades…and plunged directly into his heart.
personally, being poor, i prefer deflation. the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer~~~some things will never change~~~but at least we can polish off the freaking government in the process!
Linda is so good it’s scary…this is why the MSM will fall to the bloggers…and she lives here in Texas, too!
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Dear Steve: What a nice thang tuh say! (I made a typo, but turned it into “thang” ’cause that’s so Takes-us.) How fur y’all live from jest Nawth uh Bryan-College Station? As many readers as we have I have hoped for a long time to find some who live relatively near by, without success. This is a new Steve, crew, not our Steve F or Steverino, and welcome aboard. Please visit us over at http://www.thetexasring.com, the spin-off site where other W&G authors such as Tex Norton and new Texas resident Tony De Maio hang out and we put up great articles there aren’t room for here from James the Wanderer, Desert Rat, Steve Foste, Michael Rough, and others are featured as they deserve–and the reader exchanges are bright and lively. This is your personal invitation to come join the fun, and we hope to see you there. Thank you again for a really great compliment! Linda
We need more of this truthful analysis. You would think the TARP of $700+ billion was the only benefit to “big banks” and a few shadow banks on Wall Steet. How come the Fed doubled its “balance sheet” almost overnight”? The “Too Big to Fail” looters (with the help of inside cronies) dumped toxic assets at the Fed, got FDIC insurance they never paid premiums for, became “bank holding companies” quickly “chartered”.abd then eligible for all member bank benefits.
Social Security was sold and promoted as a “Contributory” system. I paid into it starting with my meager take as a newspaper delivery boy in tthe 1940s. But when administrations needed some way to cover at least part of their deficits, SS surpluses were converted to general revenue. The employer/employee “contributions” soon morphed into a payroll tax! Well meaning, but uninformed, spokesmen for the working classes call for suspension of the payroll tax as a means to help workers.
Excellent write-up, Linda. Another whose views parallel yours is Alan Caruba over at http://www.WarningSigns.com
This member of the choir will reserve comment for later.
Dear ‘Rat:Thanks. When I get to him I’ll enjoy seeing what Alan has to say. Linda
Linda, you know it’s easy for folks that must be sacrificed for the greater good. Though many of us have issues with those “Mandates” . Funny I don’t consider myself simply expendable. That my life had no meaning. Thought I’m not dead I think I did good stuff with my life. Yet the Government has no problem writing me off as unimportant. I was important not cause I was special just cause I was a chick that played 8 man football. Girls can play foot ball and all sports. Put the best players on the field and you win! it Does not matter about races or sexes. I got no time for your narrow little mind if you think ability is related to race or sex.
WE will pay as soldiers and many others. I get a bit peved I’m not the problem yet I’m lumped with the morons.
I can survive any COLA cuts cause I plan ahead. I can deal with the cuts if you did them across the board for all goverenment workers.
I do think we all need to sacrifice. Funny how all SS and milatary had sacrifice a COLA and the unions not so much. Well you got your raise of 3.1% and you are happy with that I guess us folks on SS and the military will just have to suck it up. You may want to think about that….
Some of you may not be aware that Lynne has become a very dear friend through her participation here and more so over at http://www.the texasring.com. She is former military, and, in common with many (including moi), has been treated very badly by an ungrateful Congress and a series of wimpy Joint Chiefs of Staff. If there were any way to swoop her up and/or adopt her and have her live on my place, I would. She’s brave, gallant, funny, imaginative, beautifully bright, a total darling, competent, talented, chock full of character and principles, and would make some lucky man a great wife if he deserved to win her affection and allegiance, or I would cosset her joyously if I could…and I’m going to disagree with her. Honey Lamb, you and I have done FAR more than “our share” of the sacrificing, even if I thought we had shares, which I don’t. We have been raped all of our lives by politicians buying votes and the lazy living on what is extorted from us. We don’t owe any of those damn’ leeches a thing, and I don’t care whether someone wants to bring up “unwed mothers,” “illegal aliens,” firms that are “TBTF,” or anything else. They caused their own problems. I owe them nothing. I don’t even care about the very few who claim their woes are not their fault. That’s what families are for, and churches. Heavy sigh. The ones who could use just a little help to steady their burdens would far rather suffer than ask, such as my darling Charles’ oldest son and his delightful wife (I had to pry out of them tonight that the AC is going out on their SUV. In South Carolina. In the summer. And they refused my offer of help or one of several vehicles we can spare easily.)…and our Lynnie. The moochers stand up and demand “entitlements.” Let’s take a vote over at TTR: how many of the crew, if darling Lynne asked, would help her? I will be highly surprised if the roll call doesn’t come in that ALL of us would, without question and without regret even if it left us a little short or we had to forgo a luxury. The problem is that our beautiful, stubborn darling would starve to death in a ditch before she asked! Dear, dear, Lynne, I’m not rich (well, by my standards!) other than in happiness, brains, incredible friends, my dearest Charles and my two children, livestock, and places to write publicly, but will you please, please, PLEASE promise me that you won’t ever be desperate because you’re too proud and self-sufficient to admit that you need a couple of hundred dollars, or some other trifle? I resent every last cent of taxes I pay but I would grudge you nothing I could get you to admit you needed that I could handle. No, of course she won’t. Pig-headed female!
Shhhhhh Linda, you’ll cause Lynne’s hat size ta swell. And no, you and Texas can’t have her, we need her up here in this neck of the woods. Just wish she lived closer. But Texas already has it’s fair share of great people with good heads on their shoulders, ya can’t have them all. Ya gotta share some.
Now I’ve been saying this kind of thing for going on 30 years now. And when I do, people’s eyes glaze over. You say it, and people applaud. What am I doing wrong?
Lynne will probably tell me brusquely that she’s as tough as they come and she already has a mother!
This reminds me of a several occasions during the fifteen years we lived in Washington before John died, when women asked me pretty astringently why I was always surrounded by men. The traditional answer is to lapse into an ah-xucs-cent so thick a Jaw-juh native would have difficulty understanding it, “Honey, Ah’m uh South’n Belle an men jes’ find me ear-resisssssstible!” Howl of laughter, because actually…the older I get the more fascinating men find me, so Lord help the world if I live to be 105. I tried explaining it’s a cultural thing, and down he-uh we genuinely LIKE men. More black looks. They knew I wasn’t a flirt or young and beautiful…well, they should have listened. I LIKE men, and most women don’t. I like to talk about the subjects men are more likely to be interested in. In particular, I’m very partial to engineers because you have such fascinating minds, which should blow the giddy South’n Belle bit to bits, but doesn’t. Ain’t nuthin’ uh man lahks talkin’ ’bout so much as hissef an’ his work! Seriously–all I do is treat men like human beings and not sex objects or potential sources of money.
Dang spam filter just ate my reply.
Brendgard, dear…give me some samples. Say the first nice things that come into your head about me, Lynne, Desert Rat, and James the Wanderer. Spontaneous, don’t work at it. If you’re serious I only have two answers: you need to loosen up a bit, or you don’t sound sincere, and my guess would be the first. You can be a little formal sometimes–and y’all don’t want to see me get stiff and formal because that means I’m talking to am ambassador or a policemen (two sets who cannot be amused), or I am so angry that I’m thinking about blood on the floor, preferably not mine. Somewhere early in the archives here is a piece on dueling I did. I am almost never annoyed, but when I wrote that I would have taken the lout on with pistols, edged weapons, or blunt instruments!
“Lynne will probably tell me brusquely that she’s as tough as they come and she already has a mother!”
.oO(And she would be right, she is tough lol)
Sometimes ya gotta take em down and sit on them to get them to listen. But I want film rights if ya do. Post them on YouTube and make a fortune
Back when Iacocca took over Chrysler, he had a come-to-Jesus meeting with the UAW, with a simple message: “You can take a 20% pay cut or a 100% pay cut. Your choice.”
Amazingly, it was epiphany time! They decided that 80% was better than zero! Imagine that!
The big difference between Iacocca and Obama is that Iacocca kicked instead of kissed.
All these municipalities and others who are broke and don’t have the money to pay these inflated pay/health/retirement deals oughta take a page from Iacocca’s book. That takes leadership capability, of course, which creates a serious problem, right there.
But the more I read folks’ comments about the leeches and moochers of this society, the more I’m glad that some thirty years back I began evading and avoiding anything to do with the American middle-class system. I mean, really: Why would anybody feed the wolf that’s trying to eat you?
I did my darndest to minimize the availability of any wealth I created to the Beltway Bandits–but I still lived comfortably and contentedly. Wasn’t easy, but I’m stubborn. My wrinkles come from grinnin’, so I guess I’ve done okay.
I guess all this economic malaise is my fault. I didn’t spend enough in the stores, buy a McMansion or pay enough taxes. Mea culpa! I dunno if I’d had an inoculation against consumeritis or against stoopid.
Giggle-snort. Time for me to grab my Bible and sit on the porch and glower. But it’s hard to glower when you’re grinnin’…
‘Rat
Interesting article. From an independent’s view, the Democrats have certainly messed up, and can do even more damage with the carbon dioxide war, but to imply that Republicans will do any better is comical. They approved a Medicare drug bill that there was no money to pay for and costs a lot more than projected. They never asked us to pay the bills for Iraq and Afghanistan; instead they suggested we go shopping.
Also, minor point, it was not the mayor of Bell, Calif., who was paid 750K-plus. It was the city manager. The mayor was around 100K if memory serves.
Right, Jack, thanks. Anybody ’round here a Republican?!
Brendgard…you keep hanging’ out ’round us and you’re going to get to be downright charming! How do you see this spectacle–mud or lime jello?!
Let me say up front that I’m not on board with the health care reform.
Indeed, employer provided health benefits will be added to 2011 W2′s, and subsequent years thereafter, but it WILL NOT be counted as taxable income, contrary to what this article states. It’s purpose is so that big brother (IRS) can make sure that everyone is covered so that they can tax corporations accordingly.
.oO( Hmmmm had not thought of it that way, but it has potential :> )
Ummmmmm my lawyer has advised me not to answer said question on the grounds it might get me shot!
Honest, I was just thinking of the money to be made off the video is all, it would be rather funny to watch. I could use all that money to buy things for storage.
Besides, now that you’ve put that thought in me head, chocolate pudding ROTFL
I gots one question though. I don’t have health insurance, don’t want it, and can’t afford it. How is fining me for not having it going to make it easier for me to afford it? I have less income than anybody in here. Yes, even less than Lynne. Fining me for not buying it is not going to put more money into my pocket with which to be able to buy it. Maybe I don’t want to know. Something tells me that IF I could understand that one, it might hurt my head.
Dear Shawn: Nice to hear from someone new, and I don’t know anyone who does favor socialistic medicine. Are you quite certain the earth is flat?
Shawn, the only way to be certain replies post is to keep them very brief. Please provide citations so that I can correct my error, if I have made one. For your own sake, be very certain I am wrong, please. LBT
Brendgard, dear…I, for one, never shoot a man who still has some use, particularly not over a completely normal urge to see ladies he likes enjoying themselves clad tastefully in chocolate, tapioca, or banana pudding. I LOVE Lynne (in a totally wholesome way), and I think she likes and admires me, too, so we can’t work up a cat fight just to amuse you, but…Lynne, what do you think? Perhaps for a charity event we could sit in a hot tub playing “Pease Porridge Hot” and “Patty Cake” splatting each other?! I read this to dear Charles and he smiled appreciatively!
Uh…first I have to find out if goats like pudding! I can just see Evita, Waffle, and Faith clambering into the “arena” with happy, inquisitive faces. “What Mama Ladies do? We play?” Clearly the activity would have “redeeming social value” because laughter is therapeutic.
Linda: I was interested in what you said and I wanted to get to the bottom of it. This is what I found. Sec. 9002 is a little vague, but it’s not hard to find a sites that refute the claim. Is there a site you can point me to that says otherwise? Thx.
http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:1:./temp/~bdZ0jd:@@@D&summ2=m&|/home/LegislativeData.php|
http://www.kiplinger.com/busin.....e-way.html
http://www.kiplinger.com/colum.....opic_id=15
Brendgard, If you can understand it. You might be a Liberal.
I know it’s tough right now for us folks @Poverty level, If you are making less then me you should be eligible for some assistance I’m a little to “rich” to qualify. Stop by the texasring, there are some money saving ideas there that may help.
Linda, thank you for all the nice things you wrote and it’s true I admire you. I will take all the help I can get. I don’t think I can do a Cat fight my walker will get in the way. Perhaps Supersoakers at 10 paces :0
Thank you for the kind words Linda, and yes I do admire you and all you have accomplished.
I don’t think my walker is quit e up to a pudding fight houw about super soaker water guns at 10 paces
Well, other than that I can’t imagine why anyone thinks we’d be fighting, I think water pistols would be fun when we have a Ring reunion. Hey! Louisiana shrimp season started! Yes! After “the worst ecological disaster in a hundred years,” sure enough, th’ shrimp boats are a-comin!’
Thanks, Sean, will check them out. That was a serious question. I do enormous amounts of reading and research and I have to keep most of this stuff in my head because my two desks and side table are threatening to avalanche. I’ll go ask Dr. Connolly and see if I can get an answer…
On page 25 of 29: TITLE IX REVENUE
PROVISIONS- SUBTITLE A: REVENUE OFFSET PROVISIONS-(sec. 9001,
as modified by sec. 10901) Sec.9002 “requires employers
to include in the W-2 form of each employee the aggregate cost of
applicable employer sponsored group health coverage that is
excludable from the employees gross income.”
Chuckle…it’s a plot, right, Lynnie? We’ll egg the guys on to thinking we’re going to do a “You might be a redneck if…” routine and then we’ll douse ‘em good!
Rat, Luv, the only thing wrong with your plans is that you ended up living too far away. We could have ourselves a heap of fun settin’ on our porches shootin’ at distance markers, swappin’ quotations an’ ideas, and sendin’ th’ young ‘uns to check the trot line.
Great comment, Steverino. Do something similar but a little longer and send it to Michael to put up on the Texas Ring, please. Everybody…when you comment at http://www.thetexasring.com the filter NEVER eats them and the programming sends copies to authors and editors. We need to keep battling the machine, here, because this is where we get great new playmates, but TTR can be your sanity backup! Hugs, Linda
But Lynne, I’m already harassing you over at the Texas Ring about poopy mood syndrom lol. I don’t qualify for the public health care I believe. And this has been sticking in my craw. I have not visited a doctor since at least ’90, and that took a huge amount of pain in the form of a 2nd degree burn to drive me to visit then even. But in no way shape or form can I afford it, and now I’m told I will be fined because I can’t. I hope that they overturn it. If not, then at least figure out a way not to get fined for being so poor. It’s downright asinine.
linda-
joel salatin’s book “everything i want to do is illegal” has nothing to do with taxes. it is about his efforts to market his organically produced meats, eggs and vegetables against the resistance of large agribusinesses and the government regulators who are largely owned and operated by large producers. for anyone interested in marketing sustainable produced ag products, it’s an informative and entertaining read.
i have no connection with salatin other than also being a farmer interested in direct marketing of my products.
jay
Thank you, Jay, for filling in the readers. I know, and one of my friends is a friend of his. Isn’t the title perfect, though? If we think it is bad now, wait until we see all the restrictions in the Food “Safety” Act. In my context it worked well; more and more we’re getting to “Everything which is not forbidden is mandatory.” Good to hear from you again. Regards, Linda
As the Iron Lady once said, “The trouble with socialism, is that you eventually run out of other peoples money.”
Jay, you said;
linda-
joel salatin’s book “everything i want to do is illegal” has nothing to do with taxes. it is about his efforts to market his organically produced meats, eggs and vegetables against the resistance of large agribusinesses and the government regulators who are largely owned and operated by large producers. for anyone interested in marketing sustainable produced ag products, it’s an informative and entertaining read.
i have no connection with salatin other than also being a farmer interested in direct marketing of my products.
jay
If you don’t understand that what you just said “isn’t about taxes”………well, let’s just say you might just need to “re-think” the logic of your statement. Here’s what I did. It is illegal to not pay taxes. However, it is not illegal to not make enough money to pay taxes. I got tired of paying for all the entitlement slugs, be they politicians, unproductive scum or corporations. I made good investments, have paid all my bills and paid off my house. I did all of this by not eating out 5 times a week, by not guaranteeing to foot the $50k-100k bill for college for three children, by saving as much of my salary as was legal and by not giving a sh*t what anybody had to say about it. AND THEN, I BECAME A FARMER! I am a homesteader and all I want to do is sell my natural garden goods and animals on the side of the road, live a natural and healthy lifestyle and be left the **** alone. I spent 11 years active duty and just retired 2 mos ago with 6000+ points, 34 years for pay with 37 total years. I will start getting my retirement next year when I’m 60. Anyway it IS about taxes. The government is sooooooo afraid that people will “go back to the land” out of self preservation for both the physical health benefits of simple hard work, the nutritional benefits of growing your own food, a less demanding expectational lifestyle (i.e. less money, oh, and less tax revenue), and a more spiritual connection with your life and your environment. During the 75 or so French revolutions the French NEVER didn’t pay their veterans (yes, I know it is a double negative). I expect SS to be there but if it isn’t I’ll get by but my military retirement better never, never, ever stop!!! Why do you think the gov’t and agribiz don’t want you to be able to farm, homestead, grow your own veggies, pigs, goats, chickens, what ever….tax revenue. Big business doesn’t pay taxes, you do and if big biz goes down then your income had to go down (never mind that it is a much healthier kind of life) and that means less taxes to collect from YOU. I know I sound like a tree hugger but the only green I care about is in my pocket, it’s just that homesteading is a better way to keep it. Feed myself, off the grid and a very UNPRODUCTIVE taxpayer, but well fed, ornery and look tacky. But, Oh, well! Wow! Never read you before Linda, I’d love to have your baby!…..LOL>>SO