11/15/12
$250,000 dollars a year income is a lot of money even in today’s inflationary times. The average family income in America is slightly above $50,000. Adding another 200,000 dollars a year to the average American family would make them all rich. They could save. They could send their kids to college, they could own a nice home in the suburbs, they could take expensive trips to anywhere in the world, and have a financially happy life.
Taxing the $250,000 and up income bracket more would seem to rob the Yuppie and wealthy Baby Boomer of a few more percentage points in their tax bracket, but it would allow the 99% of Americans and the country to survive. Is it wrong to ask a wealthy person to give more of his earnings to subsidize the rest of the country so they don’t have to go on food stamps or welfare assistance? I feel little love for anyone earning millions of dollars a year and refusing to pay the same tax rate as a person making 25,000 to 50,000 dollars per year. They would still have far more money after taxes than the poor guy trying to get by with a family of four, under the poverty level.
The rich, richer and richest in America don’t understand the poor, poorer, and poorest in America. They were given great inheritances, they were given great jobs in the family business, or like Romney they were given a trust fund. Anyone making $250,000 or more in this economy are doing exceeding well. Anyone making more than that is doing extremely well. The one thing I have noticed of the wealthy is they don’t understand the poor. I have been fortunate in so many ways, but having been rich was a great experience. I regret my loss of wealth but I gained something valuable in its place. Peace of Mind. I found when I had money everyone in the world wanted it. But when I didn’t have money no one bothered me. Bill collectors gave up calling. Ex wives gave up trying to get more. The world ignores you when you’re tapped out and poor. That is the one great advantage of being poor. The other advantage of being poor is you find time to develop your mind and skills to create new opportunities if you are inclined to better yourself. Some unfortunately have given up. It is easy to give up but devastating to everyone who does. This world is a place where only those who are unwilling to give up ever succeed at anything. Even a hungry animal will still spend his day searching for food and shelter, until he starves or is prey to a hungrier and larger animal. Learning to never give up a goal or dream is the essense of our lives’ success or failure. Rationalizing failure is also a major part of our lives, but failure is only a temporary state if we allow it to be.
The poor American or poor European or Asian or any nationality, have the same basic needs. But their fates and government policies have crippled or ruined them or in some cases killed them. Basic health insurance, basic allowances for food and clothing are needed by a society however, so many Americans seem to ignore these basic needs of their fellow citizens. When someone is on top of the world and everything has gone well in their lives, they easily forget how miserable another human being might be. The homeless man or woman or family, who can barely scrap up enough money for food,or shelter or vital medicine are now estimated at over three million people in the United States. 50 million Americans rely on Food Stamps and other government programs just for the absolute basic necessities.
The Republican concept of small government with a huge military is about as bankrupt a concept of government as that of North Korea. Everyone but those in government and the military are working and have incomes, while everyone else is poor. Poverty is most often created by lack of opportunity. If major companies are rewarded for outsourcing American jobs, and hiding their income in foreign banks, they are denying the average American the opportunity to have a decent job and earning a decent wage as well as depriving their own country of the taxes and investments needed to grow the U.S economy. Mitt Romney supposedly has over 100 million dollars hidden in an offshore acct. His known fortune is estimated at over 250 million dollars. Is it any wonder why 82% of the voters in the U.S believe Romney has no connection to 99% of the American people. The closeness of this recent election between Obama and Romney was more media hype than reality. Obama won all of the most populated states, while Romney couldn’t even win Florida, the most Republican rigged state in the country. No one liked Romney as a leader, those who voted for him simply hated Obama, for what ever reason.
People will read this article and wonder if I am right or wrong in my assumptions of the rich and poor, but wether they agree with me or not the fact remains that if corporations and their Republican and Democrat sycophants continue to dominate American government policies, we are doomed to fall off the Fiscal Cliff. The advantage to being poor now as opposed to when the country falls off the cliff, is that the poor have already fallen and are at the bottom of the cliff. Others who aren’t rich have a lot shorter distance to fall than those earning $250,000 or more. Corporate and government game playing with the fate of 99% of us will soon backfire as their stock portfolios or cash reserves are depleted overnight, their corporations are bankrupt, and all the wealthy and their politicians are thrown or jump off the cliff, onto the hard ground. Where they will either crash and die or survive critically wounded.
L.A. Steel
Recent Comments