First off, I don't usually comment about either religion or politics here, but I'd just like to say: Build the damn wall! It'll create jobs, slow down the flow of drugs and gangs and make the immigration process much more fair for others trying to become American citizens from Europe or Asia. The cost for a section of the wall is 5.7 billion and of course like most government contracts, there will be over-runs but that's OK. 5.7 billion seems like a huge amount of money until you look at what a small percentage of the total federal outlay it is. In fact, it's not much more than a rounding error to the clowns in Washington.
A partial shutdown of the government is certainly going to effect a lot of people, both directly and indirectly. It's not the way I would want to start my New Year. In fact, I did start my new year that way a couple of times many years ago. The government employees who are going to come up short should be able to get a short term loan but the last administration decided it would be a good idea to shut down as many payday loan outfits as they could. Those of you on furlough should remember that when if comes time to vote. Everyone out there should also remember what Charlie Reese said about how 545 people control the remaining 300,000,000 of us. Shutting down the country because of some infantile pissing contest is just plain ridiculous.
Next order of business: I bought the new bike and got it titled and plated. However, it cost me a little over $130.00 to make that happen. $76.00 of that was for excise tax and $15.00 was for Transportation Infrastructure Improvement. And that's on top of the roughly $350.00 I paid in sales tax. Since Indiana staggers the renewal dates on the plates, I went ahead and renewed for 2020 while I was there but still. Nearly $500.00 for the privilege of riding my motorcycle on public roads. Is my motorcycle and other vehicles worth 7% more in Indiana than in say Montana? Not only no, but hell no.
I just got my first Social Security check of the new year. I got a little raise which is nice. It was roughly the same amount as inflation was last year but I doubt seriously if it will ever keep up completely. When Social Security was initiated it was supposed to be free of federal tax, which made a lot of sense. They were taking your money as a tax along with the matching amount from your employer. Now with Medicare thrown in that's about 15% of your earnings, then when you retire, they tax your money again at what ever tax bracket you happen to fall into. I read the other day a hypothetical case where a couple pay into Social Security something like $850,000 on their lifetime earnings and then receive $1,200,000. Pretty lousy return on that investment, especially when they have to pay taxes on it when the feds dole it back out to them one month at a time. And if they die shortly after they retire, the money stays with the gov rather than going to a beneficiary. If I had been given a choice, I think I could have done much better on my own.
So, you've got 500 and some people who are supposed to be representing you and I, probably a third of which are millionaires. I pay taxes and licensing fees on damn near everything thing I do or I earn. Those of you still working will have to work until almost the first of May or about a third of your annual income just to pay your tax obligations, by the way. As a tax paying citizen who has been paying into the system for over 50 years and will continue to pay until the day I die, I would like to say to those who are supposed to be representing me, just build the damn wall. Balance the budget. Try and act like grown-ups for a change.
I did contact my Congressman about this, by the way. I would urge you all to do the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment