Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner and the bill for all comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing like they do now with the present income tax structure.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59 of the bill.
I have unfortunately been exposed to something from which there is no cure…the writings of intelligent people. Most of us have read textbooks chock full of ten cent words written by people with lots of initials and abbreviations after their names and we really gain nothing from them. They are written in a language other than what we speak which I’ll call Intelectish. The pedestal that these authors put themselves on is so high and they look so far down on us poor, tired, huddled masses that they cannot see what is above them.
Famously known as the demon barber of Fleet Street, Sweeney Todd slit the throats of unsuspecting customers before dumping them through a trap door into his basement. His partner in crime used the meat to make pies to sell at a sidewalk shop. Though these were fictional characters we may have a more destructive duo around today.
Last Saturday morning I slept in a little and headed off to go grocery shopping at my favorite warehouse club. I didn’t have time to eat breakfast before I left so I planned to have lunch at the club after shopping. Plus it was Saturday and I knew the sample booths would be out in force attracting crowds of shoppers. The free sample thing really works as I picked up a few extra items, but the traffic jams near the little carts can be irritating. I am not sure why folks feel they have to eat the sample in front of the server. That’s one of my pet peeves.
There is going to be a lot written and spoken about the nearly 2,000 page piece of legislation that was hoisted on us yesterday. There are many experts who will evaluate this piece by piece and page by page. Some will love it most will hate it, but there will be huge push to pass this thing. I have a few thoughts as we move forward:
First of all, kudos to Congress for actually making this available for us to read. It is also nice that the representatives have the opportunity to also read the bill before they vote on it. Even John Conyers may take the time to read this bill.