Panhandlers

Given my profession as a truck driver I often have the pleasure of dealing with both panhandlers and women of ill repute (lot lizards). They both in the end want the same thing, money. The lot lizards at least are willing to provide a service, however disgusting you may find it. It occurred to me the other day that Washington DC must be something like a truck stop. Full of all sorts of nefarious characters looking for a hand out, pay off, or favor.

There seems to be a disconnect in society. I fear that the majority of people just think that government has all kinds of cash, and that government ought to give it away. They fail to realize that government gets there money from the people. They of course have operating costs, so a good portion is taken off the top to keep the government wheels turning. This allows one to justify petitioning the government for favor. Government is faceless and so big that surely they will give to a worthy cause.

So in come the panhandlers. The panhandlers have all kinds of hard luck stories and play on your emotions and feelings of charity. Now as a truck driver its my own money that they seek so I always say no. Government on the other hand, its not their own money. Its money that belongs to someone else, so its much easier to just say yes and get them out of your hair. Its just a drop in the bucket anyways, it won't matter that much. The cycle continues until all the money is gone, and there is none left. Well, let's just borrow some money, so we can keep paying off the panhandlers. So they borrow, now they have panhandlers and creditors to satisfy. What is the next step? Well, all those rich people, they have all kinds of money they don't need, let's take more away from them. So taxes are raised so government can keep paying off the panhandlers.

Now those "rich" people have less money to spend, so they cut their expenses. They purchase less goods, invest less, and if they are in business they will do the same. The first cuts are always to labor. Labor being double taxation anyways, since an employer is required to pay half of the medicare and social security taxes for each employee. So they lay some people off. Now there are less people with money buying things, less people paying income taxes. They of course say government needs to help, so they file for unemployment and collect money from the government. They demand "stimulus" or "jobs projects" funded again by government. All the while government borrows more money, taxes more of those dirty rich people, and goes deeper and deeper into debt.

Now there is a great divide among the citizens of the nation. We have the dirty rich people, and the poor people. Now some politicians have figured out that if you take from the rich and give to the poor that those people will always be loyal and continue to vote for you. They also figure out that if they shape their language in certain ways that they can scare people, or make them feel guilty. They will use words like millionaires and billionaires, or senior citizens on fixed incomes, or children with downs syndrome, or inner city. These people will surely die if the government doesn't take care of them. Those millionaires and billionaires have to give more, they have enough for themselves. So the politicians get on television and say things like "I won't give tax breaks to corporate jet owners at the expense of old people, handicapped kids, and cute fuzzy bunnies."  It sounds totally logical right? I mean surely we have to help all those poor souls that can't provide for themselves.

Now let us visit a place called reality. In reality a full half of the US population pays zero federal income tax. 40% make a profit at the end of the year. This means they get a "refund" in excess of what they paid in during the year. The top 10% of earners in the US, those with a household income of $366,000 or more. Those top 10% pay 73% of the taxes collected by the federal government. Now I ask, how is this considered fair? How is it that these 10% should pay for the whole nation, and in fact pay the bottom 40% a profit at the end of the year. This doesn't deter the politicians of one party though. They always want more from that top 10%. Notice the cutoff for the top 10% is $366,000 for a household. Not exactly corporate jet owners, not millionaires and billionaires like they are made out to be. Its just plain old, study group, emotional, demagoguery. In plain English they are flat out lies.

That top 10% are the people that make the economy work, these are the people that employ other people. The ones paying 73% of the taxes, and its about time we quit trying to paint them as being villains. We should thank them for paying the bulk of taxes, thank them for our jobs, and thank then for taking all the slings and arrows that they do.

Back to the politicians. Its time we start saying no. No to the panhandlers, no to women of ill repute, no to special interests, no to the recipient class. This top down taxation, debt, and giving handouts has to stop. You do not even want to know what the consequences will be, if it does not stop. Civil unrest, hyper inflation, mass unemployment, criminal activity, food shortages, fuel shortages, and who knows what else. When that happens, pray that you are stocked up and well armed, no I am not joking.

Congress, has to learn to say no. More important, the citizens of this nation need to get off the couch and pull their heads out of the sand. Nothing will change unless these idiots in Washington are made to change. Educate yourselves on the realities of how economics work, quit looking for handouts, quit living off the backs of others. The world, the government and the top 10% of taxpayers do not owe you anything. You owe it to yourself to be a true independent individual that provides for themselves, provides for your family, and pays attention to what is going on in this country. We are losing our liberties daily, its a slow and steady decay but a decay nonetheless. Think about that when you are required to buy certain light bulbs, certain showerheads, certain kinds of fuel for your vehicle, have to petition the local government to do an improvement on your house, get a permit for a garage sale, pay to register your car, pay countless taxes on your utility bill, own a business and be told how to run it. It's right there in front of your faces. Quit accepting it!  Vote every last one of these people out of office, do it over and over until they get the idea. Get involved with your local governments, work together with neighbors, do something.

These power elite, they think you are all a bunch of backward, uneducated, peasants. They talk to you like you are children, manipulate you, and get their way because they know you will not get involved. They manipulate the law, and trample our constitution to suit their own personal gains. Their idea of constitutional is whether or not they agree with it or not.

Government is not mommy and daddy and they cannot give you anything that they have not taken from somebody else. With success comes failure and in a just society people should be allowed to fail, go broke, lose their house, and businesses should be allowed to fail, all without the interference of government. The housing market tanked because of foreclosures, the foreclosures happened because of government interference. They forced banks to make loans to people that had no business getting a mortgage, all in the name of  "The American Dream." They interfere with business too, they bail out bad businesses like General Motors and Chrysler because they are "Too big to fail." They bail out banks, the same banks that were forced to make bad loans. Remember where they get their money from.

Our country is on the brink of economic collapse and we are more interested in American Idol, NFL Lockouts, and murder trials on TV.  It's all "Bread and Circuses."