TO THE LEFT IS A PICTURE OF ONE TRILLION DOLLARS.To more accurately visualize that, go to: http://izismile.com/2009/03/10/can_you_imagine_one_trillion_dollars_6_pics.html
The present total The United States' obligations is $63.8 trillion.
According to USA Today, the United States taxpayer is now on the hook for $546,668.00 per household. (Leap in U.S. debt hits taxpayers with 12% more red ink.)
That’s four times what the average household owes for all mortgages, car loans, credit cards and other debt put together.
Are we supposed to sit back and say, "Oh...$546,668.00 per household! Well, I guess if we have to spend it, we have to spend it. After all, the government knows best? Guess the wife and I will just have to work three jobs each."
Look, there will come a time, and it is virtually upon us, when the government will simply take 100% of everything we earn and "give" to each of us what it thinks we should have, based on its perception of our value to society.
There is historical precedence for this kind of thinking.
Are you smart enough to remember what it is called?
At the risk of using a triple entendre, that has me seeing red.
12 comments:
"Look, there will come a time, and it is virtually upon us, when the government will simply take 100% of everything we earn and "give" to each of us what it thinks we should have, based on its perception of our value to society."
Big talk from someone who is living off of the social security and medicare taxes that working people LIKE ME are paying to support you.
You aren't earning anything. You aren't generating any wealth. You are living off of government subsidies that I am paying for by going to work every day.
I think you should thank me.
I'm keeping you alive.
Mr. Xavier ~ Pretty big talk yourself, friend. If our friend Joe had been a ne'er do well throughout his life, & hadn't hit a lick at a snake, then maybe your admonishment would apply.
However, I don't think you realize who you're speaking to. Otherwise, you'd know that Mr. Joe has himself to thank - as he paid INTO whatever system he may/may not be drawing from all this time...perhaps since you & I were riding w/ training wheels. (Just a guess...)
So, I'm thinking his work-ethic & efforts (& the Grace of God) are keeping him alive... :)
XO: I paid into the system for longer than you have been alive! Social Security since the first day I ever worked and Medicare ever since its inception in 1965. Although I am "living off you," others lived off me.
Oh, and by the way, does the fact that I'm still working come into play here?
My employer still takes Social Security out of my paycheck, and I pay income taxes on my Social Security.
Who's getting my hard earned money?
Until the last two years, I have NEVER used up my "sick leave," as there was NOT A SINGLE year that I missed more than three days of work.
For the last 27 years I have gotten up at 4:00 AM five days per week, and worked a sixth day of "normal" hours.
From age 16 until my heart attack two years ago, I worked two or three full time jobs the whole time.
If ignorance were bliss, you'd be blistered.
Lose some hate and snide, fella. It's gonna kill you.
Oh, and by the way again, what on earth does Social Security and Medicare have to do with my post?
See whether you have the intelligence to stay on topic.
I won't hold my breath.
Susannah: XO is nothing more than an arrogant, knee-jerk, spew-it-out-before-you-get-the-facts kind of a know-it-all who doesn't bother with facts. Typical of his ilk, he believes that something is true because he thought of it or said it whether or not it actually happened or is.
Facts don't get in the way of his diatribes in any way, shape or form.
He is to be pitied, because he is unable to see his own shortcomings and must compensate for them with this vile form of bravado.
We both know what he really needs.
Joe - I checked out XO's blog:
not impressed
We taxpayers see it as an impossible debt that is being used as a solution for a problem that could have been managed so much better.
President O'Bummer sees it as no big deal.
Go figure.
Sue: XO is trying to make me famous (of infamous).
PCC: It was a big deal when Bush did a whole lot less of it, it bacame a smaller deal the larger it got.
Go figure, indeed.
Well, if anybody believes that they are keeping me alive, could you do it more directly? Just start writing those personal checks out to me immediately. Contact me for mailing arrangements. :0)
Joe - In my book you are (in)famous. How are you feeling. Not overdoing, I hope.
If Social security disappeared tomorrow you would be better off than XO will ever be.
Joe, I will only add that if XO is an accountant, he’s not someone I’d want to consult with. In the first place, government forces some citizens to pay into Social Security; having done that, they are “entitled” to a benefit. It is at best, a supplemental pension plan and hardly adequate. What the idiot may have meant to mention is the millions of “un-entitled” beneficiaries; those who draw a benefit, never having once contributed.
It is also possible he is unaware of the fact that Congress treats the Social Security Trust as their personal slush fund. I wonder why that doesn’t concern him. Ergo, the man has no credibility whatever. Let’s just hope he’s not also a CPA … those clients are in deep trouble.
Hold on a minute, gents and ladies.
Medicare, social security and other insurance programs have cross subsidization as their basis.
Most people either don't see a doctor or who go to the doctor eventually get better and don't cost the system too much.
However, 1 major heart attack and you've probably spent double what your lifetime contributions into medicare + social security combined.
Let's say the heart attack treatment all told, cost $500K. Realistically, maybe that's low.
How much has Joe contributed? If he made $50,000 a year for the last 30 years, that means that his maximumn income was, over that time, $1.5M. His heart attack was one third that.
Now, all of his payroll deductions for fed, medicare, social security probably came to an effective 22% of total income (not the marginal tax rate, which is only charged on the last tier of income).
So, let's say HALF of that 22% (which is probably high)
was for medicare and social security.
That means Joe has 11.5% of 1.5M that he has contributed into the system, AT MOST.
AT MOST.
That's $172,500, with some interest even though these funds aren't invested.
And remember I'm WAY overestimating his contribution.
$172K to cover Joe's monthly soc security check, his expensive heart attack, and all future medical expenses for the rest of his life.
I think Joe otta be thankful for the Americans making more, and less, than him that are currently paying his freight.
And for our "socialist" system (that really isn't socialist).
We're Americans and we're generally a kind-hearted lot, except when it comes to abortion doctors.
Heh.
Ration Al: I am impressed! That is a really good analysis of what's going on.
I want to extend my personal gratitude to you and XO for your thoughtful kindness toward me and others of my plight.
For the record, I still pay into Medicare via my paychecks and into a supplimental health policy.
Unlike a private health insurance plan, Medicare does not "make" money on its "members," but subsidizes itself from other government agencies, placing a greater burden on you and XO and others.
Had those monthly premiums been placed in a private company all of these years, there would have been much more accumulated through investments (which, by the way, insurance companies - other than AIG - are still making and making good on), thus lessening the burden on the tax payer.
Now, if I must thank you guys, ought not those I supported all of those years thank me?
Not one ever has.
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