[Rokinronda]

I just rec'd this email that is a little disturbing. This is too true to be funny.


The next time you hear a politician use the

word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about

whether you want the 'politicians' spending

YOUR TAX MONEY





A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,

but one advertising agency did a good job of

putting that figure into some perspective in

one of its releases.



A.




A billion seconds ago it was 1959.


B.


A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.


C.


A billion hours ago our ancestors were

living in the Stone Age.


D.


A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.


E.


A billion dollars ago was only


8 hours and 20 minutes,


at the rate our government


is spending it.




While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division



Louisiana Senator,


Mary Landrieu (D),


is presently asking the Congress for


$250 BILLION


to rebuild New Orleans . Interesting number, what does it mean?


A.


Well, if you are one of


484,674 residents of

New Orleans


(every man, woman, child),


you each get $516,528.


B.


Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in

New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.


C.


Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets



$2,066,012.



Washington, D. C


< HELLO! >


Are all your calculators broken??



Accounts Receivable Tax

Building Permit Tax

CDL License Tax

Cigarette Tax

Corporate Income Tax

Dog License Tax

Federal Income Tax

Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)

Fishing License Tax

Food License Tax

Fuel Perm it Tax

Gasoline Tax

Hunting License Tax

Inheritance Tax

Inventory Tax

IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),

IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),

Liquor Tax,

Luxury Tax,

Marriage License Tax,

Medicare Tax,

Property Tax,


Real Estate Tax,

Service charge taxes,

Social Security Tax,

Road Usage Tax (Truckers),

Sales Taxes,

Recreational Vehicle Tax,

School Tax,

State Income Tax,

State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),

Telephone Federal Excise Tax,

Telephone Federal Universal Service Fe e Tax,

Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax,

Telephone Minimum Usage


Surcharge Tax,

Telephone Recurring and


Non-recurring Charges Tax,

Telephone State and Local Tax,

Telephone Usage Charge Tax,

Utility Tax,

Vehicle License Registration Tax,

Vehicle Sales Tax,

Watercraft Registration Tax,

Well Permit Tax,

Workers Compensation Tax.



>STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.


What happened?


Can you spell 'politicians!'


And I still have to


'press 1' for English.




What the hell happened?????

[Sidney Lanier]

You know, we don't have to look back a century to a time when there was no income tax and the super-wealthy were able to get super-wealthier (the Gilded Age), while the poor and insane were forced to live in almshouses and the like; in fact, in our county in New York, it's only a few years ago that they finally tore those houses down as they were taking up needed room on what subsequently became the Ulster County Fairgrounds.There were also no cars, recreational vehicles, or pleasure boats; no telephones; no electricity, except to some extent in major cities; and on and on. Those were decidedly different times....

This is not meant to be a political post (I don't 'do' political...), but we can look back only a decade to see that in modern times when we do have taxes and services (anyone want to live in Mogadishu, Somalia? no government, no taxes, no services, just warlords...) that it is possible not only to cut the deficit but even create a surplus. Look at this link featured by Fox Business on one of their On the Issues pages:

http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Bil..._+_Economy.htm

It can be done! I agree with Rokinronda that it is the politicians who need to be held accountable. But will we? Too often we hear that we should "throw the bums out," but do we ever? Look at the rate of reelection of incumbents and we can know, as Pogo said (does anyone remember Pogo?), "We have met the enemy and he is us!"

As far as the economy is concerned, which at the bottom line is what we're talking about, IMHO we are in deep excrement....

[Fourpar]

Rokinronda,

Well put. Perspective is an amazing concept.

We went wrong over the years in so many ways I expect it would be impossible to identify them all. At the risk of incurring the wrath of those who don't think this a political issue, I submit that one big place where we took the wrong fork in the road is with President Taft when he drafted the 16th Amendment to The Constitution, establishing the Income Tax. That has to be on the list of biggies. Another is when that same President drafted the 17th Amendment, which said Senators will be elected by popular vote.

One of the results of those two acts is an environment of "one group can make another pay the freight". And since all our leaders (well mostly all, the president is still supposedly elected by the electoral college) are directly elected; buying votes by promising the world overcame voting on principal. Our government continues on a path toward a Democracy, a concept that the founding fathers tried mightily to avoid. They studied history and learned that concept was not viable long term. We tend not to pay as much attention to history today.

Overly simplistic, absolutely. But there is little dispute, we are in miserable shape now. Is there a way out? Not with any on the politicians in the headlines today...And I seriously doubt that is going to change with the next President..regardless of which of the 3 contenders wins. :dontknow:

[JUREK]

Rokinronda: Good post

In short we are in deep doo doo regardless who wins. :bigthumbsup: