8.18.16
I heard on tv last night that the top 20% of tax payers pay 84% of personal income taxes, and the Wall Street Journal agrees. Forty seven percent of Federal tax revenue comes from personal income tax, which means that 20% of taxpayers are responsible for over 40% of our total annual operating budget. This is another good argument for a higher minimum wage and income equality. We need to remember that income equality should also mean tax equality. Our government cannot be dependent for almost half of its annual income to come from a small minority of its citizens. That makes this country very economically vulnerable. Higher overall wages means a broader and more stable tax base, a stronger economy and a stronger and safer nation. What was it that Abe Lincoln said, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” If this experiment in democracy is going to work we must have a country where the large majority are willing and able to participate in the best interests of both themselves, their fellow citizens and the country. One of the best ways any citizen can do that is to make a decent living, be self supporting, self reliant and pay taxes that help fund the needs of this great nation. Every citizen needs this opportunity.
Read more about Income Inequality
8.10.16
Well, worldwide terrorism didn’t slow down in the month of July. Wikipedia lists almost 250 terrorist acts this last July, killing and maiming thousands. Most were committed by ISIS, al Quida and other radical Islamic terrorists. Here’s a smattering of the current atrocities –
3 innocents killed in shelling of refugee camp.
Taliban bomb kill 3 children in southern Kandahar province
At least 35 killed in attack on Shi’ite mausoleum north of Baghdad. ISIS and al-Quida are Sunni.
ISIS extremists behead four footballers after declaring the sport anti-Islamic. These men were beheaded for playing soccer.
Isis jihadists have reportedly boiled 7 of their own fighters alive for desertion
These evil creatures actually boiled 7 men alive. Of course it is not surpriseing when you realize that the vile pigs specialize in public beheading, hangings, stoning, mass murder and many other kinds of brutal murders and tortures of unimaginable horror. In just the few instances listed above they killed innocent refugees, helpless children and other totally defenseless human beings.
And here in the U.S. we’re worried about waterboarding?
….. Really???
7.31.16
Almost all the polls I’ve seen for the presidential race have Clinton ahead of Trump by about 5 percent. That is a huge margin, especially when you consider the fact that 2/3’s of voters do not think they can trust Hillary Clinton. Considering all the problems Clinton has, if the Republicans could have come up with 1 decent candidate out of the 20 originally in their primary they would have this election in the bag. Of course I could say the same thing the other way. If the Democrats had come up with a better candidate to run against Trump this would not even be a contest. As it is now, the election is Clinton’s or win or lose. It is no secret that Trump is his own worst enemy, and the he has said enough stupid things that almost half the country would rather vote for someone who is a proven failure that they cannot trust (aka:Hillary Clinton) than someone who is an unknown entity but babbles way too much bigoted sounding ignorant crud.
7.20.16
I don’t know what to think of the economy or the stock market, but that’s not unusual. Of course neither does anybody else. The unemployment numbers seem ok, the U3 is less than 5% and the U6 is less than 10%, both slightly below their averages for the last 15 years or so. The problem with the job market is that wages are down and unemployment is still very high among the poorly educated, and low wages are still a problem even among many well educated Americans.
As for the stock market, it took a big dip because of the Brexit then took off like a bat out of hell to record highs this month. I keep hearing that it depends on the Fed and interest rates, or on the price of oil, or on the unemployment rate, or some other world event, or whatever. Like most people with a 401k or any kind of retirement fund I hope it doesn’t take another huge dump. With bonds paying almost nothing for interest I could conceivably never retire if I invest money there, so I guess that if I stay in stocks at least I have a 50-50 chance of retirement while I am still young enough to enjoy life a little bit.