Monday, August 20, 2012

A defense

In response to my WND column Go To Trade School, Young Man, someone posted a dissenting opinion on both my blog and in the comments section on WND as follows:

We need two things to be absolutely free in this country....free HEALTH CARE......and free EDUCATION. There are 33 countries in the world that provide free HEALTH CARE and 133 that provide FREE EDUCATION.

We are the richest nation in the world so why can't we get it right? There is only one difference between us and the people in those countries........and that is that they pay their fair share of taxes across the board.....including the very rich.

I know for a fact that I paid 30% in income taxes last year and Romney, by his own admission (for what thats worth since he won't prove it).......paid only 13.6%.......a MULTI-MILLIONAIRE!! I ask you, what is wrong with this picture? By the way......it is speculated that Huntsman Senior who used to work at Bain Capitol spilled the beans to Harry Reid about Romney paying zero taxes in the last 10 years.....I'd say that is a good reason to back off from coughing them up.......!!

The millionaires and billionaires in this country are paying less than they have ever paid in history. You bet.....the best we can do is a good trade school until we can unprivitize the universities and put it back to the way it was when FDR was president. He had the richest paying their fair share and the country did well. Just look at history. It says it all........


Reader Rob over at PACNW Righty wrote an intelligent and thoughtful rebuttal to this opinion. You can read his post here.

23 comments:

  1. Thanks, Patrice....I have lurked at Rob's blog and have not seen him in a while...Glad to see that he has written...
    Hope you guys in the PACNW area are safe from those fires...I pray daily for all of you.
    Love from NC

    ReplyDelete
  2. I read your blog regularly but I haven't commented before (I don't think, anyway!) :)

    I am a homeschooler and like you have a daughter who is nearing graduation. She is interested in photography very much. She is very smart, and could easily "hack it" at any university in pretty much any degree program. But being a successful doctor or lawyer isn't the kind of thing that is going to make her happy in life. She's a wistful spirit, and wants to be a SAHM & second generation homeschooler one day. For her, she's eager to dual-enroll at community college soon so that she can earn credits and start photography classes.

    And my husband and I couldn't be prouder. Some of our relatives are bewildered at our thoughts but like you said...they are just old schoolers that believe college is the "end all, be all" of an 18 -25 year old's life.

    In the end, hard work is hard work. College doesn't make you an automatic success, nor does it guarantee life-long happiness.

    For whatever reason, I think homeschoolers just "get this" more than the general population.

    For the record, my other two kids, who are less academically inclined as my oldest, want to pursue other things as well. My son is eager to go into the military, and my daughter is not at all sure what she wants to do with her life, and we're not hitting the panic button because she's 10 and doesn't have a career path laid out in front of her.

    Great article. Just had to share :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice rebuttal. Oh, and I am one of those underemployed college graduates working in retail! Going on six years. I'm currently going through an employment agency in search of better work, but its hard. One thing I've got going for me right now is years of experience working with people (I used to be painfully shy, even after graduating college) and customer service work which seems to perk people's interest when they consider me for an interview. Now, I have one company wanting me back for a second one! *fingers crossed*

    Its just clerical work that doesn't really require a degree, but it'll get my foot in the door.

    ~Lily~

    ReplyDelete
  4. Who knows how to respond to a comment like that, sometimes it's not worth wasting your breath. For one thing Romney is obviously bright enough to legally only pay 13%. Anyone who can figure out how to keep more of their money from government is a hero in my book. I am tired of funding leaches.
    BTW, Romney paid $3,000,000 in taxes last year, which is more that this person did I am sure, it is certainly more than I pay in a lifetime.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly, Duke! I couldn't agree more! But many Americans don't think that way. Liberals have done a good job of brainwashing them. They honestly think it's their "duty" to pay WAY too many taxes. Then the government takes those taxes and spends them on all sorts of unnecessary and even ridiculous programs, as well as giving far too much to those who don't want to work for a living. The waste is getting to be horrendous!

      Delete
    2. I don't believe Romney pays taxes on a paycheck. He pays taxes on investment income which is something like 15%, less his deductions, 13%. That's the tax laws, none of us are any different in regard to investment income taxation.

      I think that his family paying $3M did their fair share.

      Delete
  5. I bopped on over to Reader Bob's blog to read his post.

    He made his points succintly and convincingly in a well-regulated demeanor.

    I'm still waiting for a liberal to do that.

    It seems that many a left-leaning person can't talk to me without yelling at me with all capital letters and excalmation mark strewn all over the place. Or by making blanket remarks seemingly regurgitated from talking heads. Or by conveniently leaving out important facts or premices.

    Just Me

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You've hit the nail right smack on the head, Just Me! I just wish more people "got it" the way you do. --Fred in AZ

      Delete
  6. Unfortunately there are quite a few that still think Free health care and free education are actually free (Someone has to pay for them). I find the "fair share" particularly frustrating; yes we could tax the rich more as some would argue just like they did in say Paris. Where once the doctors realized that past 3 hours a day and 4 days a week everything else was going to the government for taxes so they cut their hours. The so called rich left the country so they could keep more of their own earned money and so the economy tanked. Do he/she mean that kind of "fair share"?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Free? FREE? Maybe that person should become a teacher or medical professional so they can WORK FOR NO SALERY.

    They don't have a clue, like most liberals.

    Terry
    Florida

    ReplyDelete
  8. My oldest sister lives near Cheney, WA. She never went to college, but she was always a "go-getter" to the max. Anything and everything she got involved in was a success. She used to be an insurance agent and sold many policies to big companies, making a very good commission. She's now retired, living on 20 acres with a beautiful log house and barn that's PAID FOR. She was VERY successful with absolutely NO college education! --Fred in AZ

    ReplyDelete
  9. Three points to ponder for the response you received from the lefty who needs to research his remarks a tad better.

    1. NOTHING in life is free. His example of countries dishing out free health care is a fine example of smoke and mirrors. Wealth and or value of some sort was used to furnish the health care and usually in the form of tax or redistribution of wealth by law and force. Take a good look at the free health care in Great Britain lefty and the tax rates these Brits have saddled themselves with. Free eh?

    2. Please lefty, give me an example of any nation in history that has ever taxed itself to prosperity. Runaway taxation consumes the nation it taxes as it tries to support a bloated and expensive central infrastructure . We are living in a nation that gives the best example of this I can think of. If you have not noticed we are broke...

    3. Why on earth is the liberal segment focusing on a politician that has been in the public eye and in and out of office for 20 years or more and his tax returns. If Romney failed to file or pay his fair share according to the tax laws in use do you not think that the jackboots at the IRS would have come calling? Go ahead lefty and give that thought a try and I am sure your dear leader's tax dudes will be knocking on your door. Not all tax is assessed at the same rate, whether income tax, death tax or investment tax. One last thing on the rich and taxed lefty. In all my years of working I have never gotten a job from a poor person. Usually the ones who own companies need to be able to pay me. When you make the cost of doing business too costly you get a mass exodus of people trying to shelter what they can. Look at Maryland and the "millionaires tax" they implemented on the rich folk that had lived there. Had is the key word lefty.


    had enuff

    ReplyDelete
  10. lol, everyone knows that the more dependents you have, and the more money you spend, and the more money you make and invest, then the result is more deductions. i can remember back in john f. kennedy's day a person could save all their grocery and retail reciepts for clothing and household needs and use them for a deduction on taxes...the very wealthy get tax deductions to lower their taxes, and the very poor get checks in the mail if they have lots of kids and very little in the way of anything else. tax reform is needed desparately in order to make the middle class back into what a middle class used to be. education has never been free...our taxes pay for the teachers, the school bus, the school building etc... used to be a parent also paid fees for book rentals and supplies needed by children but that was outlawed some thirty years ago so the taxpayers could anti up a little bit more. healthcare has never been free even in the days of the old west...the chicken or basket of fruit given to the doc for his services cost someone some sweat and labor to produce with hopes that the doc would take it for trade on medicine and medical attention. and charities still take on alot of those bills that are made today. i think i would be terrified of taking free anything these days cause there is always a cost of some kind attached or in the fine print.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When they say "free health care" and "free education".....they mean paid for by taxes. We pay a lot of taxes now and don't get any of these services totaly free. No one means free..free.

      Delete
  11. Free healthcare and free education huh? Why stop there, why not free food, free clothing and free shelter? Heck, why not free iPads for everyone as well. As others have pointed out, free is not free but I think it's important to ask "at whose expense?".

    For if something is free and the person from whom it was taken does not or did not consent for it to be taken (ie. it was taken by force -which all taxes are) the effect is slavery for those whom were robbed of their productive efforts.

    Remember to think of all your slave masters when you are all doing your taxes next year. All the people who benefit because you've been forced to contribute your "fair share" will surely thank you because without your efforts they could not survive.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nothing is free! Everything has a price-it's just that government has the ability to so confuse things as to render it almost impossible to find out what it truly costs the individual. Britain has "free" medical care, but look at what energy costs-it's all paid for somewhere.
    I work for a hospital-even if all the staff were volunteers, it's still plenty expensive a place to run...

    ReplyDelete
  13. This young communist is a perfect example of why I went Galt. If you carry his philosophy to its logical conclution, we are all goverment property and if we refuse to pay for his "free" health care and education then we are held in bondage by the point of his gun.

    Carl

    ReplyDelete
  14. Some of you folks may want to consider CollegePlus.com. You CLEP out of as many courses as you can, then take the rest online thru Thomas Edison College. It costs a fraction and takes a fraction of the time.

    I second Vocational School, military, or pull-up-your-bootstraps learning like my Grandfather did. He retired from his job of 48 years, was asked to be a member of the Board of Directors for a company - he didn't understand the financial statements, so he purchased a "college" Accounting book and read it, and taught himself how to read the financial statements. (He had I were "taking" accounting at the same time! LOL!) DWLee3

    ReplyDelete
  15. Under the "free" health care systems in Britain, people can wait for weeks (even months( to see a specialist and as much as a year to have elective surgery. Patients have been known to die while waiting for surgery that was not deemed to be an emergency. In Canada the health care system is having financial problems, and their solution to getting patients surgeries more quickly rather than have long waits is to send them to the US. Even the prime minister of Canada came to the US for surgery to get it more quickly!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am in a position to comment on free education. A large company that I use to work for, provided classes in Industrial Technology. It was open to all 3,000 employees at their facility. Every quarter the same 20 pupils would show up for class. The class was twice a week and two hours per class. It was taught by a qualified engineer. The books and the instructor were paid for by the company. We were also paid our salary at straight time to attend class. That was an extra 4 hours a week. The excuse from the other employees was, it wasn't overtime. Even if they are paid, they still want come. Later, when I was making more money, I was told it wasn't right for me to be making more!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm with the folks who think Romney should be taxed on investment income the same as earned income.

      The tax codes were written by the wealthy to protect their own wealth. The codes need to be completely re-written as far as I'm concerned.

      I have always worked. Often, I have worked outside the home 60 or 70 hours a week. I was taxed on my whole income, not a portion of it. When I was a school teacher and spent thousands of dollars out of pocket for things the school did not provide, I paid sales tax on those items, even though I had already paid my income tax (and property tax). I don't think Romney's income should be any more "protected" from taxation than mine.

      I don't understand the argument that Romney should pay lower taxes because he's not going to need Social Security or Medicare. We pay taxes and we enjoy some, not all, of the benefits they provide. If families were taxed on how much they "used" that our taxes provide, then people with many children would (instead of receiving deductions), pay much higher taxes than people with no children or one child.

      I'm betting that somehow his taxes will be made public and that people will be shocked when they realize just how little a percentage in taxes he pays in comparison with us, the once great middle class.

      Delete
  17. Response to Rob PACNW RIGHTY:

    1) With all due respect…..at the time of FDR’s “New Deal” it took 5 years from 1929 to 1933 for unemployment to rise from the depression (under a house & senate Republican controlled government). When WW11 began in 1942, the unemployment rate sat at 9.9%... almost to what it is today. This was the time period in which conservatives say that FDR failed. Unemployment came down 15% from 1933 to 1941….so you have to ask yourself……did the war really save us? It helped tremendously….but we were already well on our way to recovery from FDR’s “New Deal” plan.

    2) If you think “trickle down economics” works, then why aren’t we rolling in jobs? The wealthy are holding onto their money and investing in Wall Street and Venture Capitalism. They don’t care about the middle class. Collecting dividends is the wealthy payroll of choice. I don’t know what Rob meant by Romney being taxed twice when he reinvests. We ALL get taxed on profit and it is our choice to reinvest….but most of us don’t have the luxury to stash it in the Caymen’s or a Swiss bank account to cushion our tax year. Not against being rich…..just pay your fair share!

    One of your readers mentioned that if Romney only paid 13.6%, then that was equivalent to millions and that was already enough to pay. Mitt Romney would never have what he has today if he lived in the Sudan or Darfur. This country has made him RICH! Again…not against being rich….just pay your fair share!

    When they cherry picked Obama’s speech about “not doing it by yourself”…..they left out what he REALLY meant. It’s about how we all use the roads, cell phones, the grid, the INTERNET, grants, pale grants, student loans, etc, etc, etc. WE HAVE ALL HAD HELP AVAILABLE TO US AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER from this government to make us successful.

    Do you think it is fair when you aren’t wealthy to take 30% of what you make verses only 13.6% (or nothing) for those that have. That could be the difference in a poor person eating or not eating when you’re not rolling in it. It’s crazy to think Romney shouldn’t pay his fair share if he lives in this country….especially after how many jobs he has out- sourced.

    GOP short term goal:
    Wipe out taxes for the rich and put it on the backs of the middle class by taking away all their entitlements and then go to 100% free enterprise.

    When you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, he will jump out….but when you put him into warm water and simply turn up the heat, he won’t know the difference before he is cooked. This is the plan. They don’t want ANY entitlements. (continued in two comments) two-sided-truth

    ReplyDelete
  18. (continued from two-sided-truth)

    3) Medicare: The truth about the GOP Plan:
    Ryan and Romney want a voucher plan for Medicare. What this means is that you will receive an $8,000 voucher to pay for insurance every year. But they also want to get rid of Obamacare. This means that if you are 65 and have a pre-existing condition, you will not be able TO EVEN GET INSURANCE once Obamacare is off the table because Obamacare allows you to be insured with a pre-existing condition. You might as well throw those silly vouchers in the garbage because they will be worthless. Taking a quote from Romney on a recent stump speech he gave….”you are on your own!” Hope you kids have enough stashed to help your parents because it will be on your backs if they are elected.

    716 billion they accuse Obama of taking from Medicare: THE TRUTH:
    Part of it went to cutting the fat in the program. The rest is going back into Medicare. You see, Obama offered physicians a deal in which if they reduced their pay and provide better care to recipients……they could make it up in volume on the back end. They took the deal. It was an ingenious plan.

    716 billion and the GOP plan? THE TRUTH:
    They will take 716 billion from Medicare and pay off some of the deficit (maybe) and go to a voucher plan. Obama’s plan will cover Medicare up until 2024. Do 65 year olds really want to trust the GOP with something they have paid into for years? Don’t think so…..yet they will tell you that nothing will change for Seniors. I don’t know what else to call it but an out and out lie. I implore you to pleeeeeese fact check me if you don’t do anything else after reading this…. We’re being bamboozled and like the frog…..will not realize it until it is too late.
    Two-sided-truth








    ReplyDelete