Today's title came to me as I was snacking on some grated cheese after work. I made sure that I left enough for dinner tonight which worked as a good reminder to not polish it off. There have been times in the past when I have over indulged in something and decided to finish it off and hope that it won't be missed. I'm not proud of the times I have done this and can report that most of the time it does not work.
It struck me that just maybe that is what is happening to the wealth in America. Maybe the rich and powerful got into a feeding frenzy on our money and decided to polish it off in hopes it would not be missed. Obviously, they haven't finished it off but we can see more of the container than we can the ice cream. Sorry to switch snack foods in the middle of this post.
On second thought, maybe the rich and powerful have finished it off. It being the balance of our collective money. We still have the potential to earn more wages if we are employed but the country as a whole is in serious debt.
Do we collectively have enough money to be able to pay off our debt if we needed to?
I'm a software developer not an accountant so I can't answer the question. I can just offer my opinion or feeling about the situation. There isn't a warm feeling when I think about the current economic crisis we are in. The report is that the Great Recession has already ended but that isn't the feeling my gut gives me.
My take on letting the Bush tax cuts expire is to keep the lower brackets for $1,000,000 a year and to extend the unemployment benefits. Must of us have seen a reduction in pay already and will see more after the special session taking place on Saturday. My guess is that my pay/benefits have been reduced around 7.5 to 10% so far and there is talk about an addition 2.5 to 6% coming after this weekend (a rumor that the rate is 10% is going around too).
I'm not a big fan of losing money but I am in an odd situation. The pay cut could be slated to keep subsidized health insurance (Basic Health) around longer. This is a good program but it keeps getting whacked more and more every session. I would be OK with losing more money to keep the program around but here are two concerns.
- Will the money taken from me actually go towards Basic Health or the general fund?
- Am I for funding Basic Health because it is a good program or to keep my job?
Past experience has been that once the money gets taken it goes up for grabs in the general fund. I'm not one of the folks that can site all the times this has happened but I believe it has happened and continues to.
The second question is pretty easy to answer. I thought Basic Health was good program when I worked went to work for it in 1996 and still think (what is left of it) is still a good idea. What really bothers me about the reaction around the office has mostly been, "Save our jobs! What about our jobs?!". So much for public service being about dedication to serving the public. Sadly, I think Basic Health has been kept around just as a campaign bullet point. It keeps getting watered down and whacked away at but kept on life support just so some one can say "Look what I've done for you poor person!".
It's all just bullshit isn't it?
Take a minute to visit Old iSkool and The Goal Farm too!
I am sticking with this hands-free data-entry device and still would like someone to volunteer to edit this blog. I'm doing the best I can but it's hard to catch my mistakes and all the times the software doesn't understand me.
From 'The Huffington Post': 'The super-rich got even wealthier this year, and yet most of them are paying even fewer taxes to support the eduction, job training, and job creation of the rest of us. According to Forbes magazine's annual survey, just released, the combined net worth of the 400 richest Americans climbed 8% this year, to $1.37 trillion.'
ReplyDelete1.37B, that's only a little over $3 Billion apiece, the poor sufferers. 3 billion dollars - if you earned $1 million a year, it'd take 3,000 years to make 3 billion dollars. The Walmart family alone stands to gain $32 Billion a year(!) if the current tax rates are extended. Do they really need it or deserve it? Yes, they've been innovative and have provided valuable service to millions of Americans. (They've also been accused of causing traffic congestion, creating environment problems and blight, endangering public safety, paying low wages and benefits, practicing predatory pricing policies, and using BS loopholes to dodge paying their fair share of taxes.) And yes, they've been more than adequately compensated. Extend tax breaks for the super-rich? Yes, it's all just bullshit.