Posted on 02/28/2009 5:29:18 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
I got this earlier today, from a reader:
Jonah, a few years ago, I lived in Manhattan (we met briefly one year at a cocktail hour at some bar on 2nd Av when I was at [job description withheld]). My bride and I together were pulling down about 400k per year. (btw, we didn't feel rich, we didn't act rich, and Bernie Madoff never took us into his confidence, either.)
At the same time, every dollar we earned was being taxed about 50% (I mean, taxed where I could see it being taxed) . So who were we working for? Everything we bought, we were buying one just like it for somebody else. I decided then (probably 2002 or 2003) that I wouldn't do that any more. So I deliberately changed my career strategy to move into jobs that paid progressively less. After 2 such job changes, we left New York for CT. Our income now is about 130k and soon I will leave my 80k job for real retirement. Yeah, I have a pension and some other assets (dwindling) that can produce income. But I think I've succeeded in minimizing my income - and therefore my tax burden. And yeah, I'm at a stage in my life where my strategy is practical and I know most people aren't. But so far it's working for me.
And this came in just a minute ago:
Jonah:
I don't believe Stephen Benen would be happy if I and other anesthesiologists simply worked less - because we maxed out on low taxes.
I work a lot of overtime, for MONEY.
Without this incentive, people like Benen would be waiting in line for surgery.
Sincerely,
Frank
Fixed it. Don't include me with the Marxist thieves.
Yes, the word we’re looking for here is “slavery.”
Socialism demands that the most productive members of society cheerfully work for free more than half the year so that parasites can sit on their rear ends and do nothing. That’s slavery.
LOL.
We get the government that we elect. I agree with the the Liberals running a disinformation campaign to this day that has Baghdad Bob envious but....
Conservatives lost in the debate of ideas presented in the 2008 election, we lost because Bush abandoned Conservatism, We lost because McCain was not a Conservative. We lost because Conservatives that were in Congress allowed the Democrat liberals to ride roughshod on the standard safe banking practices which allowed massive greed and easy money to poison our capitalist system.
We lost because the Media lovefest for Obama gave him a minimum 10 point advantage. We lost because the media hate for Sarah Palin took any advantage away from her.
and now we reap what we sow.
Maintain the same hourly compensation, but cut your work schedule to every other week or 4 hours work/4 hours unpaid time off each day. The 4 hour schedule would likely service your good customers while cutting the costs at a time when there is little business on the table. It solves the too much income, too much tax and cuts your work load at the same time.
The 4 Day Tire people used a model that opened for business on the 4 best business days. That's a possibility as well.
I could double my salary if I wanted to. But, I'd pay so much in taxes that it's not worth it. I'd have to work longer hours and take on a lot more stress. I had just started looking for a new job in late summer and when it looked like Obama would be elected I decided I'd rather have the easy job with the lower pay rather than the stressful job with the high pay, because the "high pay" turned out to not be so high once taxes are figured in. I'm the second income and my income is already taxed high enough, thank you.
I pray you are Right.. but the cult like worship of obama is scary indeed.
In the spirit of altruism, you must jump into the stew pot. That is the duty of a good turnip.
Everybody better realize that these people just don’t care. Right now we only tax income, when they get full power after the rigged 2010 elections they will go after taxing wealth and assets since income taxes will simply not generate the cash they need. They also know that money, like guns, is a source of power and they want to have a monopoly in that department. These people are about power, fairness, equality are just slogans they use to dupe the ignorant into following them.
I’m hoping my husband will ease off and quit working himself silly. It’s hard for a person with work ethic to ease off, though. I think he’s trying ‘cause there’s no need working to just pay more taxes.
Do not forget this
One patriot is worth 500 Obots
They have nothing , no heritage, no constitutional traditions, and they are self invented.
Patriots are involved in the compassionate action of making everyone free, of creating a free and well favored society for citizens. We have that tradition, and many of our ancestors gave everything they had, including their lives to assure it.
Obots want everyone to surrender freedom, rather than waiting for the government to take it away, as it has already begun to do. Their action is motivated only by self interest. They are doomed to failure.
I made a mistake.
A patriot is worth 1000 Obots.
Don’t work for the looters.
Contrary to popular opinion, socialism isn't really about "taxing the rich".
As it happens, the truly rich can take care of themselves. They've got their tax shelters, their tax-free municipals, their trust funds and foundations. Plus, they can afford to buy "protection" (see Soros, Buffet, Gates, et al). Socialism has very little impact on the very rich.
By the same token, socialism has a minimal impact on the poor. Their circumstances might be bettered...a little bit. Or, at least, they'll think they're being bettered -- because the folks immediately above them on the financial ladder are getting hammered.
In the end, socialism's greatest impact is not on the rich. Nor on the poor. Instead, it is on the middle class. The first end-result of socialism is the extermination of the middle class.
See Soviet Union, c. 1932, kulaks.
Name me one socialist country with a broad, prosperous and growing middle class.
When I was doing the corporate noid thing I asked my boss to quit giving me raises since most of it went to the gubmint. We worked out alternative compensation like flexible hours, priority on work trips to resort spots and working less/more time off.
PS
We must fight with everything we have, since the future of our country and our freedoms are at stake. Socialism is the threat, and appeasement gives victory to our oppressors.
You can only take 100% once.
Remember the fable about the frog and the scorpion?
The scorpion asked the frog to give a ride across the stream.
The frog said, "But you will sting me and kill me."
The scorpion promised that he would do no such thing -- because doing so would risk his own life.
Finally, the frog agreed to ferry the scorpion across the river.
In mid-stream, the scorpion curled his tail and struck the frog in the back of his head.
Dying, the frog reprimanded the scorpion, "You promised. And now you've killed me. I shall die from your poison and you shall drown. What have you accomplished?"
The scorpion responded, "It is my nature."
We are the frog. They are the scorpion...
All my doctor friends could barely contain their joy at Obama’s ascension. Buttons, cheers from nurses, techs and doctors.
Now, they are more somber and some are disallusioned. I hope we don’t get it as bad as Saganite says.
Maybe they’ll wake up sooner than we give them credit for.
Bravo.
Tried and failed, but no one learns history, real history, anymore.
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