Re: Inferior imported tools
Too many skeletons in my closet to run for president. Besides only egotists and lawyers want that job. With nearly half the working public on some form of government payroll, what chance do you think a person with my beliefs have. I do however, have a story about how taxes work -- perhaps you've seen it before. Those on welfare should be able to grasp this concept but they probably won't believe it until it hits home some day. Here goes:
Every day, ten men go out for beer 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 bar every day
and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. He said, Since you are such good customers, I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer 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 and thought this was really cool.
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 beer. So the bar owner
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 paid $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 was 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 me!
That's true, shouted the seventh man. Why should he get $10 back when I
got only $2? 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 drinks, so the nine sat
down and had beers 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 they just may not show up any more. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier. For those who understand, no further explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible. Do you think this has any bearing on why jobs are going offshore?
