Even before September

I weep for my country even before the primary season is over at the "choices" we will be given in November. What choice? U.S. Senator extreme liberal v. U.S. Senator liberal? That’s not much of a choice. Right now, the U.S. Congress (that’s the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives combined) has a lower approval rating and a higher disapproval rating than President George W. Bush has (and that’s saying something considering how many people disapprove of the president) and we are going to pick a new president to lead the charge in changing Washington from that pool? No matter which U.S. Senator America chooses, I think buyers remorse will be inevitable.

Coffee Table Economics

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for coffee 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 coffee shop every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily coffee 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. 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 coffee. So, the shop 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 pay $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 $50 instead of $59 (15% 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 I!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? 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 day the tenth man didn't show up for coffee, so the nine sat down and had coffee 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 anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

This illustration is not my own. I do not know the original source.

Romney out

Whoa! Another interesting twist in an interesting primary/caucus season; Romney withdrew! The field is narrowing down dramatically. Left still in the race are Huckabee, McCAIN and Paul, three very different men with varying points of view on every issue of debate. One has to ask the question: are these three in it for the remainder of the race to the convention?

Super Tuesday?

I'm sure you all know the results of Super Tuesday. McCAIN proclaims himself the front-runner, Romney supporters accuse Huckabee of stealing votes that rightfully belong to Romney, and Huckabee, Romney, McCAIN and Paul all vow to stay in the race. There are still more states in which delegates will be chosen and there is already talk of a McCAIN/Huckabee ticket. I think such a ticket would be a boom for McCAIN and a bust for Huck if he really wants to be president someday. A vice president needs to support the president, and if a McCAIN/Huckabee ticket were, hypothetically speaking, elected in November, Huck would have to compromise for 4, maybe 8 years, because McCAIN has some pretty liberal ideas and he likes to buddy up with the democrats on some of their pet issues, after which, Huckabee would have lost his conservative appeal. He could say "bye-bye" to his current base of support.

A Quote

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
John Stuart MillEnglish economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)