Friday, March 16, 2012

What a Liberal

I am about to upset the “America: Love It or Leave It” crowd; sorry in advance. However, the Constitution gives me the right to freedom of speech, so suck it up. I realize there are a limited number of readers for this blog so maybe there won’t be any hardcore patriots, but if there are, this blog might light your hair on fire. The further to the right you are, the more combustible you will be. If the blog were printed in the Huffington Post, I might have to live under an assumed name. People are going to tell me I should just leave this country if I see that many problems. It’s a thought; but I’m not going anywhere.

I might leave if I could. Sometimes I would love to leave. Two things are stopping me though. First, being that I was born in this country, most of my friends are citizens. All the people I love are right here in this country. I have become very attached to a few of them, especially my progeny. It would be hard enough for me to move to a different state from them, let alone to a whole ‘nother country.

The second reason is that all the good countries have the same ignorant laws and restrictions our beloved country has. They all would throw me out. They would tell me to go back to where I came from. No country is perfect. Some are far less perfect than others. Regardless, the countries I would move to, won’t take me. I’m a real life Hyman Roth.

America is a decent country to live in. Many of the laws are fabulous. We try to promote equality and harmony among our citizens. We try to be generous, though we have a long way to go in that respect. We are trying, sometimes very. However, we confuse wealth with talent and natural resources with ideas and solutions. We also have a collective hubris that dwarfs my waistline. We do try to be fair, especially to the citizens that are white and male. We give them every opportunity, allowing them to control most every institution. White guys would probably be in charge of the NAACP and NOW had they realized how these groups would impact our country a few decades ago.

Compliment time is over. I hope you didn’t miss it. Now it is time for the incendiary part.

Our country likes to think of ourselves as generous. I like to think of myself as thin. Both are about the same distance from the truth. I believe most of the people in this country are generous - as individuals. I also believe most human beings are generous – as individuals. The problems appear when we form groups. We draw lines on maps, call them cities, states and countries and then we get frugal, cheap, and downright stingy.

Bill Gates has given billions to charity. Wow! That’s incredible! Go Bill Gates! That was my first reaction. Then I realized that as a percentage of the wealth he has accumulated, I probably have five neighbors who have donated more than Bill Gates. I’m not big on quoting the bible, but I believe JC once asked his disciples who gave more; the rich man who gave a large sum of money but had an even larger sum left over; or the poor woman who was giving her last few dollars; poignant.

I can’t expect the people who earn thousands of dollars to donate millions and billions. The math wouldn’t support people earning thousands to donate millions and billions. Million and billionaires won’t even donate millions and billions. Mostly they’re saving for a rainy day; and another Cadillac or two; maybe a NASCAR or NFL team, right Mr. Romney?

The people we need to be generous, who can afford to pay more taxes, won’t. I’m sure, among their claims are that government would be wasteful and corrupt with more tax revenues. I have to trust them since I’m sure most million and billionaires have an inside look at corruption. They must know what they’re talking about. A starving person might be thin but I wouldn’t go to them for nutritional advice. Corruption is a purview of the rich.

It is regretful that so many people with so much money won’t go into government and make it more honest. I’m sure what we need to make our government more honest is to have more participation from the one percent of the wealthiest Americans. I googled Congress to determine the percentage of millionaires within the halls. I found that only 47% of the members of Congress are millionaires. The other 53% may be well on their way, but they fall short right now. Maybe when the participation of the wealthy is over 50%, government will be less corrupt, less wasteful. Then maybe we can take care of our citizens that are old or sick or handicapped; teach our children better, pave our roads, make our streets safe and put out all the fires. Until then, I guess the rich need to get richer before they run for Congress. Right Mitt?

Our beloved country also likes to think of itself as champions of equality. If you’re a white guy of average intelligence, a decent physical condition and don’t talk with a lisp, there may not be a better country to live in for equality. I’ve never heard of any country clubs banning white guys. But Tiger Woods, arguably the best golfer ever, has country clubs he can’t join even now; right here in this country; in the year 2012. He doesn’t have the right kind of pigment.


Here is a fact that is amazing to me. In the year 2012, in this glorious land of ours, we’ve finally wiped out prejudice and bigotry; except for the group of CEOs that comprise the Fortune 500 Companies. Of those 500 companies, there are seven Asian, seven Hispanic and five Black CEOs. That’s 19 minorities among the 500 CEOs. Add that to the whopping number of women who are CEOs, twelve, and we get a grand total of 31 CEOs out of 500 that are not white guys. That’s leaves only 469 CEOs, or 94%, that are white. See?

That’s not merely prejudiced and chauvinistic, it’s appalling. I suppose that Asians, Latinos, Blacks and women don’t have the skill sets to lead a Fortune 500 company. If so, who among us has the time to teach those sloths to manage Fortune 500 companies? Or maybe the problem is that minorities and women are not born with the abilities needed to learn the skills. I suppose white guys are going to have to carry that burden too, for the good of our country. Thank you white guys!

Speaking of all those women CEOs – you remember; the twelve out of 500 – do you know that white guys are legislating laws and by-laws and rules and all kinds of things for the benefit of the fairer sex? You must’ve recently seen the white guys Congressional committee who were very interested in furthering women’s issues. There wasn’t a woman on the committee. There wasn’t a woman scheduled to testify. That’s how much the white guys thought of women. Those nice white guys gave women the entire day off to go shopping or do their hair or whatever they wanted, just so long as they didn’t interfere in those hearings. They couldn’t stop to listen to what women had to say because they were too busy concerning themselves with getting the best legislation for them. Those white guys really have women’s best interests at heart. It’s just you can’t tell their motives by their actions.

How about our country’s war policies? We can argue about the merits of going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan but let’s not. Iraq wasn’t about 9/11. Saddam Hussein couldn’t sneak up on the World Trade Center if it was abandoned. Maybe Afghanistan was involved, but not Iraq. Afghanistan is where Osama Bin Laden was living. He was being protected by their government. I understand, but don’t agree, with the rationale for fighting Afghanistan; but not for over a decade.

Here is a news flash. Bin Laden is dead. He’s buried at sea. Obama, that wimpy, Mulatto Muslim without a birth certificate that we elected President in 2008, gave the orders to take him out. Most of the top leadership of Al Qaeda are dead or locked up in Guantanamo. So what are we still doing in Afghanistan? What is the delay in bringing our troops home and proclaiming “Mission Accomplished!”? We are not going to change Afghanistan if we stay another year, ten years or make them our 51st state. We need to get the troops home. Now. Not by 2014; not by 2013; by April. Yesterday would have been even better.

Speaking of the troops, our glorious country sent them off to avenge 9/11; kept sending them back on two, three and four tours because we didn’t have enough people who would volunteer to fight. So how did we thank our troops when they finished their tours of duty? Negligent and despicable comes to mind. Instead of thanking the troops, throwing them a party and asking what we can do for them, we loosed the lions on them. Thousands of troops are homeless as you read this.

War mutilates a psyche and devastates a soul. Our country allows the troops to come home to no jobs, foreclosed homes and broken families. Sure, we sew up their physical wounds but what about their mental health? Doesn’t America have a responsibility to our troops beyond mending their bodies? If your answer is yes, then what has been done to the troops is equally despicable as what we do to minorities and women. Let’s not even get into the despicableness of our treatment of gay people or the Native Americans. To quote Mr. Saturday Night, “Don’t get me started!”

Maybe we can have a war surcharge. The more wealth you have, the more assets that you own, the more you are taxed because of the war. After all, America is what made millions for the millionaires and billions for the billionaires. Each war should be financed out of their pockets since they’re aren’t sending a representative amount of their children. Perhaps the troops wouldn’t have to suffer nearly as much if we financed wars on the backs of the people who can afford it most. Even better, maybe we would go to war less. Maybe we would begin to discuss our problems with other countries, trying to find solutions that would be mutually acceptable. What a novel approach to conflicts, don’t you think?

The United States is a wonderful place to live. If you’re lucky enough to be part of the four percent of the planet’s population to have been born in this country, you have a chance to have a great life; sort of. It’s best if you’re also born a white guy, but even that won’t guarantee a great life. Being born a white guy and having lots of money would be even better. However, there are no guarantees of a great life; no matter what, where or how you’re born. Life can suck if your rich and be wonderful if you’re poor. That’s just the way it is. Life has no guarantees except that it will end; at least so far.

The sooner we start caring and sharing, the sooner more people can be part of a wonderful life on planet earth. We have plenty of resources to feed every human being alive. We have plenty of wealth so that every human being can have at least a minimally decent existence. We have the medicine and technology so that no human being has to suffer needlessly because they can’t afford to get help. We have everything we need to supply all seven billion of us on this rock an ample subsistence and a satisfying life. It’s just a matter of the rich among us being willing to share. I’m willing to share forty or fifty percent or more of all my wealth to include more humans in the good life. I wonder if Bill Gates, Warren Buffet or any of the other million and billionaires are willing to make the same pledge. Do you think so? If you do, I’ve got some prime ocean front property in Arizona I’d like to show you!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Taxing and Parents

I consider myself a fairly average parent. I love my kids. I’m sure there are things I do that will leave them mumbling to the shrink during their midlife crisis sessions. I also think there are things they learn from me that are good, useful lessons they will take to their adult life. I’m not sure what they are but I’m hoping there are some. I can’t be the worst parent and I’m sure not the best. I’ll settle for average.

When other children came to our home to visit, I tried to encourage my children to share the things they had. Most parents understand the negotiations that need to take place between a parent and a child in order to get a visiting six year old to play with your child’s toys. My strategy was always to tell my kids that if the toy breaks while our guest is playing with it, I would buy them a brand new one. The idea of having a brand new favorite toy worked well for all except my son’s favorite toy that he had since he was three. It’s a Curious George monkey that he calls Diddy, after the little chimp from one of the Donkey Kong games. Fortunately it wasn’t very popular with the other children so I didn’t have a terrible time getting my children to share their toys. Sharing is always a good thing.

When it came to mealtime with guests, there was hardly a problem. Maybe on Thanksgiving there was a small conversation if three of more children wanted a Turkey leg, but to be honest, I don’t remember that ever happening. The assurance that there were two turkey legs satisfied everyone and peace was always quickly restored. Sharing vegetables or salad was even easier because my children became the most magnanimous people on the planet when it came to sharing peas and broccoli. Even sharing peas and broccoli is a good thing.

Giving money or gifts to visitors was even easier. I could just ask the kids to get this or that gift and give it to this or that person and they were very happy to do it. I think it was mostly the surprise of seeing the gift unwrapped that led my children to give the gifts so easily. It was never too difficult to get my kids to share gifts with other children and adults, and sharing gifts is always a good thing.

Giving and sharing is one of the things that are on the top of the parental to do lists for their children. Some children are more difficult than others, since everyone has their own individual personalities. However, virtually all the parents who believe they have been good parents, agree that kids need to learn to share and care about other people. Sharing and caring about others is a very good thing.

So what happens when people get older? Do people lose the sharing skills they were taught as children? Or am I delusional when I believe that parents teach sharing skills to their children? I understand the argument that I am delusional, but that’s a different conversation. I don’t think I’m delusional for believing parents teach their children to share.

So where do the sharing skills go when the 12 year old kid becomes a 20, 30 or 40 year old adult? I hear well educated people saying that homeless folks need to get jobs so they can feed their families. Don’t they think most of these homeless people have thought of that? I guess that’s the value of education. Maybe Santorum was on to something when he accused President Obama of being a snob for wanting more education for people.

Houses are being foreclosed by the millions; unemployment is over 8 percent while the structural unemployment is over 15 percent and minority unemployment is over 20 percent. Veterans are coming home from fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, suffering the psychological problems of war; the problems that develop in any normal human being when they see people they’ve known and loved killed right in front of them. Yet we don’t have jobs for the Vets or even the medical help they need. There are millions of homeless veterans in the United States who are suffering untold psychological problems. It is beyond a shame how our country has used and abused our Veterans. If there are such things as sins, then what America has done to its veterans is a surely a sin.

My son once told me an adult actually said that the street person he had seen should get a job instead of holding the sign begging for money. Did that fairly clueless and totally heartless adult think the person was holding the sign because he thought that was the way to riches? Maybe the person holding the sign didn't really want a job because they’d chosen to have that leisurely lifestyle street people have known to love.

Maybe I’m being delusional again. It seems to me that in these difficult times, it’s tough enough to get a job when you have an address, transportation and the support of your family and friends. Imagine not having an address because you’ve been thrown out of your foreclosed home, only public transportation, and no one that cares enough to take you in as you face one of the most difficult times in your life; find a job under those circumstances, even at McDonald’s.

People aren’t begging on the side of the road or sleeping in homeless shelters because they’re too lazy to get jobs. Sure, there are people who wouldn’t work under any circumstances. But that is the vast minority of people. Those people are not most of the people who have had their homes foreclosed or can’t even get a sandwich for lunch. Yet, America is not sharing or caring about the vast majority of the people who need us most.

We have millionaires and billionaires who don’t want to go from 15% income taxes to 28% income taxes. That is just amazing to me. For every million dollars earned by a person, the 28% tax bracket would mean they only take home $720,000.00. That’s just shy of $14,000 a week - take home pay - with a million dollar salary. How much is enough?

In 2009 there were 235,000 folks who “earned” salaries over one million dollars. That is according to IRS statistics. I’m thinking there were even more, but those 235,000 folks “earned” in excess of 750 billion dollars; again, these are IRS statistics, not some fly by night marketing company.

Just as an aside, which, by the way, lights my shorts on fire, over 1400 of those 235,000 folks did not pay anything in income taxes. I don’t even want to know how that could be. I don’t care what hardships they’ve had to endure, how miserable their lives had been up until they earned a million dollars, once they’ve earned a million dollars, fairness and justice demand they pay at least the 15% in taxes! I’m losing weight just thinking about people earning a million dollars that don’t pay any income taxes. I'm not interested in some bogus rational of why they didn’t have to cough up even five cents in income tax.

Back to those who actually pay taxes, at only a 30% tax rate, our country would benefit by over 225 Billion dollars. We would be able to hire over four million teachers and pay them 50 thousand dollars per year. Or maybe policemen or firemen or something that benefits society as a whole. And that’s just a 30% tax rate. If we ratchet it up, and tax multimillionaires like they should be taxed, our country would benefit even more. And those poor multimillionaires would only have multimillions of dollars left to drown their sorrows in. I’m almost feeling sorry for the greedy rich. 

As far as I can figure, the truly wealthy in this country need to pony up in these tough times. If you’re earning an average salary, you can’t make a big difference when you pay your taxes. But if you’re making over a million dollars, you can make a huge difference. One millionaire can fund several above average paying jobs. A million millionaires can fund several million above average paying jobs. This isn’t an economics argument. It’s a mathematical one. And the millionaires will have hundreds of thousands even millions of dollars left after we take these large sums of taxes from them.

What it comes down to is sharing. Most of us were taught to share when we were kids. Many of us, unfortunately, forget those lessons when we become adults and actually enter the work force. There is enough wealth in the United States of America to support every single citizen in a comfortable lifestyle. That comfortable lifestyle can be accomplished while the millionaires still keep their second homes, fifth cars and the usual three week vacations to Europe. Multimillionaires will still have all their goodies but they’ll have a little less in the bank. Breaks my heart; but it comes down to sharing. The top earners need to give up more money in taxes to make everyone else better off. We are not asking them to give up their toys. We just want them to share the toys with us so we can all play more. It would seem it is the least these mega rich can do for the country that made it possible for them to be mega rich. Or am I being delusional again?