Tax Protests, Sinking Ships and Reality....

Excerpt from Forbes article here and below:

Here is me spouting off now:

I'm tired of hearing about "Sacrifice For The Greater Good". And I'm 'specially tired of hearing it from fatcat politicos who are running the biggest con-game in the world - the Guvmint.

Usually anytime anyone says "sacrifice for the Greater Good" it is a sign to run the other way as fast as possible. Nine times outta ten they are talking about taking from you and giving to sumbuddy else.

This is especially important today as "consumers" are continually bombarded with the message that it's for the "Greater Good" to "consume" instead of saving.

It's not.

The way to take care of "the Greater Good" of your society is to take care of your community first; and the way to take care of your community is to take care of your neighborhood first; and the way to take care of your neighborhood is to take care of your family first.

If people were to save instead of consume, we wouldn't need so many government services and tax rate hikes. But we (Yep, it's us, not the Government.) are spending billions of a bad paper IOU to the future on businesses that are providing products and services no one needs.

And jobs: If the reality is that if we are being told that the best reason a particular company is in business is to provide jobs... then that's why you should let the free market the **** alone. Comparatively good money after bad dragging us all down. Our default on that great big IOU and the accompanying crash will come soon enough.

Take care of you and yours, and the "Greater Good", for what it's worth, ususally takes care of itself.

... And in these days
When darkness falls early
And people rush home
To the ones they love
You better take a fool's advice
And take care of your own
One day they're here;
Next day they're gone...

(Don Henley – New York Minute)

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"...Some analysts have made the case that Americans are not overtaxed (at the federal level) and that therefore the protests were not justified. But this misses the point. Government spending is exploding, with the Congressional Budget Office projecting $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years. People know that this spending represents future taxes.

Here is an interesting set of facts. If the government increased the top tax rate from the current rate of 35% to 100% (yes, that's right 100%), it would only collect an extra $400 billion this year. In other words, confiscating all the income that is currently taxed at 35% would not raise enough revenue to cover any of the annual deficits projected in the next 10 years. There is no way that tax hikes on the rich alone can pay for proposed spending in the current budget. In addition, state and local taxes are going up, with at least 10 states planning on hiking taxes. And promised future spending on Social Security and health care must also be paid for. Under the Obama administration's budget, federal government spending in the next 10 years will average 24% of GDP, almost triple what it was back in the 1930s. As a result, when we add together today's taxes and expected future taxes, Americans will face a bigger tax burden than at any time in history.

Meanwhile, the government is taking over private-sector companies, printing massive amounts of new money and interfering in the free market. And it doesn't help that this has happened while many government officials are running into trouble over not paying their own taxes, which undermines the Obama administration's call for the average taxpayer to sacrifice for the greater good...."