Buffalo Boy's Blog
Giving You More Than Just My Two Cents
Mathematical Mayhem
I was up this morning at 2:30 AM, not by choice, it was our precious baby girl Olivia having really her first bad night in quite sometime, she has been the perfect baby all things considered, the kid sleeps up to 11 hours a night without a sweat, never cries and goes about her business. Tonight the heat and humidity got to her.
So while I was up I checked out the news early to a report talking about the national debt. Its hit the $ $13,000,000,000,000 mark. Thats $13 TRILLION.
The US Debt Clock breaks it all down for you into smaller yet still mathematically chaotic numbers for one to stare at around 4:30 in the AM. The numbers are moving on there and while I was watching it in 30 seconds the national debt went up $1 million give or take a few seconds/hundred thousand bucks, at $13 trillion whos counting right? Heres how it broke down at approximately 4:44 AM this morning:
1. National Debt per citizen $42,049 per person, to put that in perspective that is roughly double what my wife makes at her current job and probably the average salary for most professionals in the country.
2. State Debt was around $1.1 trillion, that wasn't even factored into the national debt.
3. What is really frightening was the TOTAL US DEBT, that is combined federal, state, local, business, financial institutions and household debt are a combined $55,732,000,000,000 in debt. Thats $55.7+ trillion for those of you who care not to understand that many zeros. That breaks down into $180,000 or so PER CITIZEN and $688,000 or so PER FAMILY. My daughter can't work for another 14 years or so unless she babysits, but she won't officially be on the books at least until then with working papers and she already owes $180K.
That leads me to three things:
1. Maybe there is something to the idea of allowing illegals to work and get them on the tax roll. Why are we so against making what they do for us legal? How many of us would settle for minimum wage if that picking lettuce? Not I. I have a good job and most of us who are legal can do better than that. What draws illegals here is that they can't get even what farmers pay here to do that work, so why not get them on the payrolls and get that income to count toward the debt and in the process make a national living wage?
2. As much as the teabaggers and repukes want to bitch and complain that the democrats spend too much, this is not and has not been a democrat problem. This is a BIPARTISAN problem and lets face it, if not for George W and Dick we had a budget surplus goiing 10 years ago, they squandered it by coughing up tax credits and lowering taxes on the wealthy. They spent too much on Iraq without budgeting for it and they ran up debt on a shitty war not to mention running programs like Medicare part D which was a money eater and a total train wreck.
3. When are we upping the tax rates on the wealthy. When the wealthy were taxed this country was humming. Its 36% now, it was 39% under Clinton who got a surplus out of it, its been as high as 90% and things were fine. Time to tax the rich.
Well I read your post because you gave me a heads up. The only good thing about it was a Pink Floyd video to watch. You can't up the tax on the wealthy. My question is why? Because they make more? Do you resent them because they've worked hard and have landed serious jobs with serious coinage attached to them? The democrats have turned the federal government into a union for the poor. We all know how well unions work for the country. Ask those in the steel business. The railroad business. The auto industry. Ask those affected by the bloated wages and raises given to the teachers and state/federal employees... us the taxpayers that's who. Mike you've got it all wrong, sorry to say. Give up your idea of utopia. Washington is filled with crooks on both sides. Some people are poor, some people are rich. That's life. Get over it. The debt doesn't mean shit, who's going to hold us accountable for it? No one. Poor people are poor because they've made choices that keep them there. Flat tax all the way. 25%. Won't see too many welfare rats buying flatscreens they don't need then will we? You know what America's problem is? Over-consumption. We should produce less (if that's possible), purchase less, waste less. We'd be better off if GDP shrank by 50% and we all lived within our means. We've become the land of want instead of the land of need. I could go on for hours about how this country has become a fucking nanny state, and a liberal wasteland but you wouldn't get it so I won't bother. You want to improve America, here's my final solution - elminate welfare, deport the illegals, end the minimum wage, castrate the poor, electrocute the criminals, downsize government, and impose term limits on every position left. Reward hard work, intelligence, and the will to survive. Make do with less. End the handouts. By losing the weak we will strengthen ourselves.
So basically you want an Anarchy where the obscenely wealthy rule and the middle class struggles and the poor are left with nothing......
The tax rate on the rich in the 80s under Reagan was 39%, its 36% now, back in the 50';s it was 90% and the economy hummed
Besides the rich will always find ways around paying their fair share. I could see leaving the tax rate low if the rich were actually putting it back into the workers pockets but they aren't they are using it to pay lobbyists in washington so they can stay obscenely wealthy.
How about FINALLY having real campaign finance reform and only using public money? NO Coorporate hand outs , they better do something soon to overturn or prevent coorporations from taking advantage of that supreme court decision back in February.
And you are right over consumption is the problem we need to have mandates on all new homes and businesses that are built or upgraded that they have solar panels installed, wind turbines and energy efficent lighting/appliances...There should be an aggressive energy policy one toward making solar powered or at the very least electrical powered cars...the technology is out there did you know there is a car that runs on Algae that provides it electricticity?
We do need to get rid of the minimum wage it needs to be a LIVABLE wage no one can live on $8 per hour, I can see a minimum wage for high schoolers and college kids for summer jobs/seasonal work but for those looking for full time permanent work there out to be a livable wage, even for farmers and industry that hires the illegals, you would have a lot less illegals lined up if it wasnt a cash based wage system for those jobs that attract them, Canada I believe has a no cash economy, EVERYONE is on the books and that eliminates their problems with illegals working up there and they have a livable wage. that is subsidized by the government.
There are millisons in this country working for minimum wage who DO work hard who can't do better.
What do you do about the single mom who can't work because she can';t send her kids to daycare
You're a communist environmentalist Mike. There's no other way to put it. You're all for re-distribution of wealth, and government mandates for energy programs that aren't profitable. There's a reason solar and wind haven't taken off - it's not worth it. We've had this discussion before. It costs 3-5x as much per KwHr for wind and 7-15x for solar. Give me cola powered electricity any day.
The economy hummed in the 50s because of the post-war boom. There were fewer people, less handouts, and cost of goods was incredibly cheap. Families could live with one breadwinner.
Wealthy people already pay their fair share. They pay 36% of a high salary. If they make $1M, they pay $360K in taxes.. I think that's a fair share. The graduated income tax is already a partial redistribution of wealth and you're looking to go full-out Marxist. That's bullshit. That's not the American way. Why work hard to make a ton if you'd have to pay 90% taxes?
And by the way, in Buffalo, you can live on minimum wage if you tried hard enough. And if you were married and you both worked minimum wage you could actually save some money. Problem is the scumbags don't try. They wait for their handouts and assistance programs, and buy items they don't need. And your single mom example? Tough shit for her. Maybe she should have thought before having a kid.
This quote appeared in a Czech newspaper in April of this year. I think the Czechs may be on to something ...
" The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president".
In response to above....
Elections have consequences, but as we are discovering .. a country educated by the government is reaping far greater consequences. It is churning out generation after generation, each one more enamored with government and the possibilities of plunder. This is why I say that teachers unions pose more of a long term threat to the safety and stability of this country than does Al Qaeda. It is exactly for this reason .. correcting the damage caused by years of 'education' by a teachers union will be a lot harder to overcome than any policy implemented by Obama or any attack on our nation.
The fool you speak of us surviving was George W. Bush, the work Obama has been doing has been fixing what the fool left behind in his wake
You have no idea how much work teachers do, what do you propose paying our teachers minimum wage? If you are equating teachers with Al Qaeda then you are truly ignorant of how important a free and public education is to the health and welfare of this country. Teachers deserve every penny they make, they put in 12+ hour days throughout the school year prepping, teaching and grading students and trying to follow the impossible standards set by the most ridiculous set of standards set forth by the Bush Administration in No Child Left Behind which WAS NEVER FUNDED.
I love how the communist continue to blame a former president for everything. They love living their lives from under a rock, hiding from reality a reality they have created by putting this useless "individual" in office. He has done nothing, is capable of nothing and has proven time and time again he can't handle the position. Can't wait for the next election. Should be a media cum fest.
Ralph wed stop bringing it up if It wasn't a fact.
Check the 8 years Bush was in office:
Record deficits, bad war in Iraq that was never in the budget and spend Billions on that in part led to the financial mess we are in.
Mike, what's with all the "fake" posts left by advertising links diguised as names?
I think you're biggest problem Mike is that you're entrenched in this idea that the government has a responsibility, can, and will provide everything for everyone. Unfortunately that's not the case. That was never the intention of state and federal government. It was more about establishment of property rights, regulation of trade, and interstate and international relations. Gradually over time, the government began to usurp their role, and expand into areas they not only had no constitutional jurisdiction over, but they had no experience with either.
That's why every time they put their hands where they don't belong there's a fiasco. That's why state-run anything has miles of red tape and boatloads of wasted money. That's a problem on both sides of the aisle too. The government needs to get smaller, and truly govern, not legislate life. They first and foremost need to make do with less. They need to hire people who are experts in their fields to run their programs efficiently with a focus on the ottom line. That's the rule of thumb in private sector.. how much is this going to cost? Why, when the government runs something, does cost concern go out the window? Why are they paying $500 for toilets at SUNY when I can go to Home Depot and buy 5 for that amount?
This all matters because you're current administration is expanding government, and wants to expand even more if they could. They'll just make you more dependent on them because you're going to become a have not Mike. We all will. He and they aren't boosting the middle class, if anything they're keeping us down, making it harder to do anything with what we have.
In the long I definitely think that silver will rise in value abundant additional than gold. Gold can merely maintain its worth despite what currency does.
Food and Play is what Chuck E Cheese is all about with, I believe, less emphasis on food. They sell principally pizzas though sub sandwiches are available. The pizzas are very plain tasting and small amount hard.
The one.5 Panasonic Convection oven supplements a wall oven for baking...a joy when cooking for many or merely massive roll or cookie receipes.
A Sharp Micro/Convection oven is price each dollar of the worth you will pay. I like mine!
If you're in search of a high quality and extrememly versatile convection/microwave/thus a lot of additional, then you can stop looking. I'd have paid a ton additional if I the Sharp microwave was going to be this great.
How did Dairy Queen get pregnant ? Burger King forgot to wrap his whopper. The cuisine is worse than this old joke.