Be Thankful

Like Louis CK did in his rant on Conan, everything is incredibly amazing in these times we live in, but no one seems to appreciate it or be enjoying it. Everyone should travel to the third world early in their lives to appreciate all we have in this country. I've been to Djibouti, El Salvador, Honduras, and Panama. I have seen what true poverty is. If you are not living in a rock hut with a dirt floor selling pineapples by the road, then you are doing just fine.

A friend of my wife just had premie triplets. All barely one pound. But thanks to our free market, capitalist system that rewarded thousands of people's efforts and risks to find new technology to help these kinds of babies, two of them are off ventilators already. Think about it! 10 weeks short of in-womb time and these babies are living, and have a decent prognosis.

Or me and my immediate family as 'average Americans'. I've got two laptops, a desktop, everyone has cell phones, there are at least two digital cameras in the house, I've got a GPS in the car plus two handhelds, and I'm about to post a 'blog' on 'the internets' that literally anyone in the WORLD could read as soon as I post it. Is that amazing cool or what? People used to be amazed when you could get something from one side of the country to the other in a matter of days instead of weeks. Now we communicate and send information around the world in seconds. Just yesterday at work I was involved in an online conference between three sites. The advantage of seeing the data manipulated real time on my computer (I was actually watching my bosses desktop, which he had shared over the link) was invaluable.

And you know what, it's really hard to think of anything great that I can attribute to the government. The space program is about the only thing besides the military, and I think space is about to go commercial and we'll get the government out of that area.

All that still leads me to believe if we get the government out of our way, and protect our freedom to pursue our own happiness and fulfillment, then all of our personnal production combined makes everyone better off.

Kepe smiling, America is still the best country on the face of the earth. Ever.

Privatize Social Security

Social Security's inflation-adjusted rate of return is only 1.23 percent for an average household of two 30-year-old earners with children in which each parent made just under $26,000 in 1996 (1998 Heritage Foundation data: I don't think it has changed much since then. This site showed a HIGH estimate for me of 1.69%). Anyway you cut it, that is barely keeping up with inflation at best, or in the soon-to-be future, way behind inflation. And then when you and your spouse die (assuming your kids are grown) the GOVERNMENT gets the rest of all that money you worked so hard for.

I think the biggest benefit of privatizing social security would be the wealth building aspect of each citizen having control over THEIR own money. I just checked, and I can get a 1 year CD with a $500 min at a rate of around 2.8%. That's about 80% better than the social security return. And that is just in CDs! With my longer time horizon (42 yrs old), I could do better than 2.8% with stocks and bonds. And yes, even with the market tanking, I would do that. I'd love to be buying now at historic low points, because in 20 years it is almost guaranteed to be higher. Check this chart out. Pick any highpoint, and then go down the road 30 years. Even if you pick the peak before the Great Depression ('29) to buy, you would be up in '59. No excuses here. You can buy no-load, mutual funds that automatically diversify.

So I can make more, and if I die all that wealth would go to my wife and kids, increasing their wealth. Immediately. No waiting until 65 or 60 at the earliest. Just think how this could help low income families: college tuition, buying a house, a downpayment on their retirement accounts. Anything those citizens did with that money would be better than the government squandering it at 1.89% for other people, instead of the fruits of MY labor going to help MY family.

Privatize it NOW. Have options for folks to remain in if they want (suckers). With all this spending now, I'd rather the government take that money to pay out to folks for getting out of Social Security (sure, a reduced amount from what I put in, but I'll come out ahead in the end). Mandatory privatized for those under say 35. Use the TSP (Thrift Savings Plan: Federal gov and military eligible-only 401k type plan) as the available funds to keep it simple for folks, if they want. Have full option out available too (invest in whatever you want, under recognized plans and funds). Keep the mandatory payroll 'tax' to fund that, but your tax goes into your account and you have the control.

Seems like a good plan to me. My money, I control it, and even if I just sock it into CDs I do better than Social Security. If I die an untimely death, my family, who is my primary responsibility, benefit now, not down the road.

12 American Solutions for Jobs and Prosperity, from American Solutions.com. I'd love to hear from anyone that can provide a counter argument for these, as they all make perfect sense to me!

1. Payroll Tax Stimulus. With a temporary new tax credit to offset 50% of the payroll tax, every small business would have more money, and all Americans would take home more of what they earn.
   
   
2. Real Middle-Income Tax Relief. Reduce the marginal tax rate of 25% down to 15%, in effect establishing a flat-rate tax of 15% for close to 9 out of 10 American workers.
   
   
3. Reduce the Business Tax Rate. Match Ireland’s rate of 12.5% to keep more jobs in America.
   
   
4. Homeowner’s Assistance. Provide tax credit incentives to responsible home buyers so they can keep their homes.
   
   
5. Control Spending So We Can Move to a Balanced Budget. This begins with eliminating Congressional earmarks and wasteful pork-barrel spending.
   
   
6. No State Aid Without Protection From Fraud. Require state governments to adopt anti-fraud and anti-theft policies before giving them more money.
   
   
7. More American Energy Now. Explore for more American oil and gas and invest in affordable energy for the future, including clean coal, ethanol, nuclear power and renewable fuels.
   
   
8. Abolish Taxes on Capital Gains. Match China, Singapore and many other competitors. More investment in America means more jobs in America.
   
   
9. Protect the Rights of American Workers. We must protect a worker’s right to decide by secret ballot whether to join a union, and the worker’s right to freely negotiate. Forced unionism will kill jobs in America at a time when we can’t afford to lose them.
   
   
10. Replace Sarbanes-Oxley. This failed law is crippling entrepreneurial startups. Replace it with affordable rules that help create jobs, not destroy them.
    
    
11. Abolish the Death Tax. Americans should work for their families, not for Washington.
    
    
12. Invest in Energy and Transportation Infrastructure. This includes a new, expanded electric power grid and a 21st century air traffic control system that will reduce delays in air travel and save passengers, employees and airlines billions of dollars per year.

Progressive Income taxes

I hear almost daily someone wishing our tax system was more progressive, meaning obviously that the 'rich' paid more in taxes, and the 'middle class' and 'poor' paid less. President Hopenchange has capitalized on those desires with his whole 'no increased taxes if you make less than $(fill in an etheral number here) a year', and the unspoken corollary, 'and greatly increased taxes if you make more than said amount'.

Let's look at the FACTS though (straight from the IRS, for 2003, apologies for the crappy layout):

Income . . . . . Share of Total . . . . . . . . . . . . .Share of Income
Group . . . . . . Adjusted Gross Income (%) . . . . .Taxes (%)
Top 1%. . . . . . 16.77 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.27
Top 5% . . . . . 31.18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54.36
Top 10% . . . . 42.36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.84
Top 25% . . . . 64.86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.88
Top 50% . . . . 86.01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96.54
Bottom 50% . . 13.99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.46

So, the top 1%, earning just 17% of the income, PAYS 34% OF THE TAXES. (Yes, I'm shouting. My wife would be saying 'Don't use that tone of voice with me'). That IS the definition of progressive, the tax rates we have right now. Keep going down the list: the top 10%, earning 42% of the income, pay almost 66% of the taxes.

I think the biggest indicator of the state of our country is the last line. The bottom 50% of income earners, pay only 3.46% of the taxes. That sounds fairly unburdened to me. Can anyone explain to me how this ISN'T progressive? How the 'rich' aren't paying 'their fair share'?

If you want to raise the issue of payroll taxes, I'd be happy to talk about privatizing Social Security. Yes, even with the market tanking, I'd rather had been investing that 12% of my income myself, rather than handing it over to Uncle Sam to not even make enough to keep pace with inflation.

Did you see the British PM call for a world-wide New Deal? This whole concept of tax the top 30% to death to pay for all kinds of social welfare for the bottom 30%, and fund the government jobs of the other 30% (I need to credit who I got that from: working on that) WILL NOT WORK. That top 30% will stop working so hard, since the government is going to take most of it. Then where will you be?

The flip side is free market capitalism, and freedom and liberty (ie low taxes and non-intrusive government) for ALL the people. Then those top 30% work their butts off because they get to reap the rewards of all their risk and hard work. But the gov. gets increased revenue because there is overall higher GCP and more folks making more money. More folks have jobs so less welfare is needed. The pie keeps getting bigger. Lets try that instead of this crazy idea that the economic pie is static, and we have to cut it up differently. You love to have 10% of $1million instead of 10% of $100k wouldn't you??