News-Record.com

I bet you voted for Perdue!
Cut out the pork? You are joking of course.
If you do not like your pay check now, wait until 2012!
A few weeks ago there was a lte,praising Kay Hagan, for her estate tax plan.
I said then, this letter was a pro Hagan letter, that smelled like 3 day old fish.
You should consult a lawyer are a cpa, if you want tax advice. This misleading letter can cost you, most everything you have worked for.
I have asked Allen Johnson, of this paper to clarify this!
Lawyers and CPA's cost money, but then advice is worth about what you pay for it.

Pork .. like Honey Bee Grants, Doggie?

Ellen: I do not think your paycheck has yet been robbed .. but if salary were a concern you clearly enteren the wrong profession.

" ... the new norm ... if one cannot pay his bills, he asks for a handout."

Was this your husband:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/11/18/big-automakers-beg-congress-b-lifeline/

"It seems to be the new norm that if one cannot pay his bills, he asks for a handout."

Ellen, dear, I hate to be the one to break it to you but "he" is not the first to take your taxes. It has been going on for a very long time. How long have you had such a severe case of selective memory? My sympathy.

"I have to say “the American people have spoken.” Now we all have to live with their decision."

Yes, we have reached the point where the people who want to vote themselves money from "the public" outnumber those who believe they are personally responsible to care for their own needs. We have reached the point where the people who want "smart people" in Washington, D.C. to make their decisions for them outnumber those who are willing to educate themselves, work hard, and take risks. The people who believe all their problems are somebody else's fault outnumber those who believe that, in America, people can manage to prosper in spite of other people.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the responsible, educated, risk takers have just been too busy working to realize their freedom is dangerously eroded? Maybe we aren't really outnumbered?
But yes, we all have to live with the decisions of voters who want to be slaves to an all-powerful government.

I don't know, mama. Economic mobility...that thing where those that "those who are willing to educate themselves, work hard, and take risks" have the highest rate of moving up in income class seems to be higher in many of the heavier-taxed, democratic-socialist countries of Europe. I'd read the whole report, but Figure 3 is the most relevant.

http://www.economicmobility.org/assets/pdfs/EMP%20American%20Dream%20Report.pdf

Does a desire for policies that help Americans start out on equal footing with equal access to certain services make one irresponsible or greedy? It seems clear that these policies are the most beneficial for society as a whole, at least economically.

Competition in education would be a great way to "help Americans start out on equal footing" but I'm not holding my breath waiting for our leaders to break the government monopoly on education. Instead, government will continue to keep juvenile delinquents in regular classrooms preventing others from getting that equal footing, keep teaching to the lowest common denominator (so as to not hurt anyone's self-esteem by allowing somebody to excel) and keep shoveling more money into failed public systems in cities across our country.

Interesting link--was able to skim the report. Don't you suppose one of the reasons US might have less economic mobility now (if indeed that is true) is that we have such high illegitimacy, subsidized (and thus encouraged) by the government? Talk about a kid not getting "equal footing!" Yet that is something I cannot do anything about because I am "judgmental" and/or "unrealistic" if I expect people to exercise any sexual restraint at all.

I still believe America is the best place to get a chance at a good life. Let's not ruin it by letting the government destroy any incentives for individuals to take risks, start businesses, and save money.

This letter is convoluted and lacks a clear argument.

I betcha your tests are hard as hell.

“… we have reached the point where the people who want to vote themselves money from 'the public' outnumber those who believe they are personally responsible to care for their own needs.”

Sorry, Mom, we’ll have to disagree … and the data supports my position. Now before you jump upon me .. although if you’re cute that’ be OK .. those who have most-taken away “freedom” are neither the “responsible, educated, risk takers [who] have just been too busy working to realize their freedom is dangerously eroded” … nor the fabled welfare moms.

“[T]he people who .. vote themselves money from ‘the public’ … " are the few, the proud, the very well to do who at an accelerating rate, have had the laws written specifically to benefit themselves at the expense of your fabled “voters who want to be slaves to an all-powerful government.”

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“those who are willing to educate themselves, work hard, and take risks" …

That’s the whole point – see the top 1% on rahrah’s linked report. Those folks do not take risks; they have the power to write the contracts .. and they do ... and the contracts say “If you do well, we both win. If you do not do well, you lose but I still win.”

“… educate themselves ..” maybe, but it is more going to Daddy’s School with a leg up at Daddy’s Company.

“ …hard work …” Long hours in conference at Augusta does not count. When they have spent a winter underground in a coal mine, I’ll give ‘em credit.

So, JDR, do you believe there is still hope for the honest, hard-working, responsible person? I'm teaching my kids to work hard, study hard, and take responsibility when they do something stupid. Should I just give up because some rich guy has it too easy and that's not "fair"? Life's not fair, so let's just give up? Eventually the rich guy who is dishonest will pay a price, and the poor guy who does honest work will get a reward--I just don't believe it is the role of the Feds to determine those rewards.

" ... do you believe there is still hope for the honest, hard-working, responsible person?"

Certainly .. but reward is not linear (or proportional) to the effort or the skill.

Should I just give up .. of course not.

"Eventually the rich guy who is dishonest will pay a price ... " Bull.

" ... the poor guy who does honest work will get a reward. " I cannot believe you actually believe this. Consider the men referenced above - who puts in decades of honest work, only to die of black lung. A stereotype .. but there have certaily been thousands of real examples.

You don't believe it should be the role of Feds to determine those rewards ... I agree .. but the reality is they have done that for a long time. Staying with the above example .. consider the use (a bunch of times) of State Militia to "protect" the interests of the mine owners ... g-men using lethal force against strikers who were clearly asking for better working conditions and oh my God a pay raise.

These day's it's more subtile .. but you'll have to forgive me if I hold distain for the executives that send factories overseas so they can reep hue piles of personal cash.

Biased? Surely .. but not 100% wrong

http://www.courier-journal.com/cjextra/dust/frame_cheat.html

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I've not checked the stats .. but I think it's clear that BLD comes from working in the mones without adequate PPE. So WE the public pic up the tab for the Mining Companies ability .. legal I'm sure .. to not provide the Personal Protection Equipment needed to prevent this.

And why should they? This would only add to the cost of coal production. If only one company did it they would go out of business .. so instead they all skirt paying the real cost for coal production, the prices stays artificially low, and we the public eventually get to pick up the tab.

http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-blba.htm

Stuff like this happens ALL THE TIME .. and we get to pay .. and most don't see it because they get distracted by rhetoric touting the cost of poor welfare moms opposite the true rewards of hard work.

sorry for the typos

"Eventually the rich guy who is dishonest will pay a price ... " Bull.

I do believe that nobody gets away with evil forever. Life on earth is not perfectly just, but God takes care of that in eternity.

For some that believe in a Heavenly justice works well, correcting every evil, righting every wrong.

For others, Heavenly justice is merely a crutch propping the down-trodden with ultimate hope against injustice.

I do find it interesting that for some sins (murder), cannot wait for Heavenly justice but demand earthly justice, while other sins (overt robbery sanctioned by the laws of man), can wait for God to right the wrong.

I recently read The Naming of the Rose, which is sort of a Sherlock Holmes mystery during the dark ages. Interwoven is much period correct observation, including the struggle between the Franciscan vow of poverty and the Church's ongoing collection of the world's wealth "for the glory of God". There was one line that stuck with me. Knowing that man by definition is imperfect, one monk rationalized his ongoing transgressions with, "What else can a sinner do but sin?"

No response, Momma Steam?

Momma was working all day. Paying taxes, too.

My belief in ultimate justice doesn't mean I excuse sin to be dealt with only in the hereafter. It does mean that I don't expect to achieve perfect justice and happiness in THIS world, and I certainly will never believe that a powerful central government can create utopia--no matter how much they tax us.

"My belief in ultimate justice doesn't mean I excuse sin to be dealt with only in the hereafter."

Sorry - I must have mis-interpreted "I do believe that nobody gets away with evil forever. Life on earth is not perfectly just, but God takes care of that in eternity."

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"I certainly will never believe that a powerful central government can create utopia--no matter how much they tax us."

... and we certainly agree on that!

Final attempt at clarity--when our human justice system fails, that doesn't mean the guy got off--only that his justice is deferred. Sure, we have laws and ethics, but some people will evade our law and ethics. I still believe that, ultimately, God does what we can't do.

I knew what cha meant, Momma .. I'm just more of a Heaven on Earth guy. Thanks for the conversation.