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A house in my mom's neighborhood had an Obama sign in the front yard. My sister noticed the sign was gone and the next day the homeowner put up this sign:
"You can stealmy sign, but not my vote".
Today there was a sign stuck in the grass outside his lawn that said
"Your sign was not stolen. It was shared patriotically. Thanks. Barack
Obama.
I love it!
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Suppose that every day, ten men go out for coffee
and the bill for all ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes,
it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the coffe shop every day and seemed
quite happy with the arrangement, until one day,
the owner threw them a curve.
'Since you are all such good customers, he said,
'I'm going to reduce the cost of your coffee by $20.
Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers?
How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would
get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33.
But if they subtracted that from everybody's share,
then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up
being paid to drink his coffee. So, the manager suggested
that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly
the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts
each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six were better off than before.
And the first four continued to drink for free.
But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare
their savings.
'I only got a dollar out of the $20.', declared the sixth man.
He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'
'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man.
'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he
got ten times more than I!'
'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man.
'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two?
The wealthy get all the breaks!'
'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison.
'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for coffee,
so the nine sat down and had coffee without him.
But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something
important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for
even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is
how our tax system works.
The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a
tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and theyjust may not show up anymore.
In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
Something for you to think about when you hear talk of 'taxing the wealthy' who don't pay their fair share. Right now 50% of Americans pay 97% of the taxes. When the tax rate goes up, who is going to pay more? |
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Subject: Democrat vs Republican
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so
many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal
Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of
higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words
redistribution of wealth.
She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch
Republican,
a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had
participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that
her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what
he thought should be his.
One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher
taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The
self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the
truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how
she was doing in school.
Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and
let
him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking
a
very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her
no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even
have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends
because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened and then asked, 'How is your friend Audrey doing?'
She replied, 'Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy
classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so
popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to
all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes
because she's too hung over.'
Her wise father asked his daughter, 'Why don't you go to the Dean's
office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend
who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly
that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.'
The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily
fired
back, 'That's a crazy idea, and how would that be fair! I've worked
really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of
hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played
while I worked my tail off!'
The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, 'Welcome to the
Republican party.'
If anyone has a better explanation of the difference between
Republican
and Democrat I'm all ears.
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FYI
I have gone to Private posts only. If you have seen my recent posts with pictures you are on my friend's list already... |
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Remember Father's Day is this coming Sunday! |
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