Tonight, I am at Columbia New Jersey. If you’ve been following along, I started my day after a 587 mile run, in the Bronx. From there I ran to mountaintop Pennsylvania, and then through the Bronx to Long Island, and now I’m back in New Jersey. In the morning I’ll head down to Carlisle Pennsylvania, and then back to the Bronx again.
If you’re thinking that I seem to be spending a good deal of time in New York City, you’re quite right I do. More than I ever envisioned, and frankly more than I like. But, it’s where the money is at the moment. I get a nice little bonus for going into the city every time I do, so I’m not going to complain about it. Well, very much anyway.
Temperature is down here have been running a little high so I’m very glad to report that the cooler mounted in the sleeper of this truck is working just fine. For that matter, so is the rest of the truck.
Got a call from Donna earlier this evening, and had to walk both she and Matthew through the process of getting the sump pump working. Apparently, got airlocked and needed a little help. It seems to be working now though.
That’s one of the things about life on the road, and still having a house at home and a family there. You feel kind of helpless beyond giving advice on how to repair things that need it. Welcome to my world.
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There’s lots of news in the political world today, most of which bores me to tears. Hillary Clinton continues to self implode, yet her supporters seen unswayed by this implosion. 1 your support for something or someone is not based on fact, facts are not going to sway you away from them.
I see the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, making the claim that Obama is too conservative. Had a good little laugh over that one this morning.
I’m sure later this week I’ll pick up on something that’s a little more currently topical than the main thrust of today’s Ramble is, but it occurs to me and watching the lay of the land, that maybe it’s time we started going over a few basics. Here is one of them.
I keep hearing about corporate welfare. It’s a phrase that gets batted about when somebody finds out that some corporations somewhere, some for profit organization is getting a tax break on the idea that it’s a means of creating jobs and increasing business opportunities. Business opportunities, and making a profit, of course are evil in the eyes of most progressives. Absolutely evil. Oh, they may deny that, but their actions in their words in general make them out as liars when they say that.
Let’s call this what it is. There is in fact no such thing as corporate welfare.
First of all, you need to understand that corporations always and invariably pay far more per dollar of profit then Joe and Jane average do. Well, at least on paper.
There are a large number of Americans unfortunately Who see that as right and proper. But in fact, what it is, is a hidden tax. Every dollar of tax that is levied on any business, any business at all, is passed on to you and I as a cost of doing business. It is a hidden tax. When you consider that, you begin to see very quickly that we are paying far more in taxes than the government is telling us. Between taxes directly and unfunded mandates which also lead to cost of doing business which is also passed on to the consumer government is taking between 65 and 75 percent of our annual income. Directly out of our pockets. And most of us don’t even notice. Can you imagine that the founders wanted us to be paying that kind of a percentage in tax, that they wanted government to grow quite that large? I certainly cannot, and I suspect you don’t either.
Yet, as large as our tax burden is, its still not enough for those in government, and those who support a big centralized government. In other words, the progressives, the Liberals, the Democrats. The Socialists.
Tax policy in this country has become huge shell game. You and I, Joe and Jane average, are paying all of it. And yet, most don’t even know it.
I would suggest that a more fair model would be to remove all corporate taxes. Those in business pay 0 tax. None. Nada. That way, such taxes are not hidden. The government have to be right up front about the amount of money that they’re taking out of our pockets. You want to see a smaller government? That’s the way to proceed, because the result even from the left of having to pay those taxes up front, well, let’s put it this way cats being roasted alive, would howl more quietly them they newly awoken taxpayers.
Thing is, I doubt it’ll ever happen at least in my lifetime, because the political courage to be that honest and upfront with the American taxpayer is simply not in the persona of either party currently.
Ponder as an example Obamacare. How was that sold to the American people? Other people were going to pay for your health care.
The program became wildly unpopular however, when the American taxpayer found out that they were the other party. They were the ones who ended up having to pay for it out of pocket, and because government got involved with it, had to pay a good deal more then they were already paying. So it is, with government in general.
This is what happens every time government gets its hands on something. Cost go up, choice goes down, everything becomes a political football, and the song never changes. Yet, liberals keep trying the same tired formula.
I suggest it’s time to stop playing this shell game, this game of hide the tax. It’s time to get honest with ourselves about how much we are paying in taxes.