A Very Basic Question

By the Grace of Government?

You work hard every day, trying your best to earn a living and provide for your family. 40, 50, or 60 hours of your labor went into earning your salary, and at the end you get two days of "rest", if you're lucky, and a paycheck. So whose money do you receive at the end of the week?

If you had to pause for even a second to think about that, please stop reading right now and join the Communist Party, for you have clearly surrendered more than your earnings. You've also turned your back on your heritage as an American. While most people realize that there is a cost for the seemingly seamless services that their tax dollars buy, the line has been crossed from fees for services to confiscation with a vague promise that - if you behave - those services may be provided with conditions.

The latest debate over whether to "extend the Bush tax cuts" in Washington has been framed in a way that should anger every American. Our politicians - our alleged "public servants" - are busy arguing over how much of our money we can have, but perhaps the most chilling philosophy of the Liberals on the Hill is the arrogant idea that they cannot afford to allow us to keep what we earn.

Do these members of the ruling elite truly think that the American people will tolerate being forced to work for a government allowance, much as we did as children who were cared for by our parents? It may be a bad analogy, since our parents were actually trying to teach our young minds the value of labor for wages. But now our own government wants to continue treating us as children long after the lessons of our parents have been well learned. Though we were at the mercy of what our parents considered a fair wage for the chores they chose for us, they did let us keep all that they paid us.

Another deceitful tactic of the Left in this battle is the mislabelling of the debate, calling the extensions of the Bush-era tax cuts...another tax cut. All an extension will really do is maintain the current tax rates, which have been in place for nearly a decade. So, to be acutely accurate, what the Democrats want to do is basically raise taxes - in the middle of a terrible economy and record unemployment - on the only taxpayers who have the ability to hire workers.

People like Nancy Pelosi don't agree that raising taxes on the employers will hurt the economy. To the contrary, she believes that raising taxes on those who offer jobs will benefit those who don't have one. If you don't see that this will only increase the number of people who don't have a job - and thereby necessitate higher taxes on the job creators - then there is no hope for you.

There can be no question, however, that what the Democrats have been attempting is nothing more than a tax hike in the middle of a recession, something that any economist worth his salt would excoriate as destructive.

Again, while most people realize that in order for a massive society like ours to function, taxation is an excepted way to pay for the services we enjoy. Where the lines of ideology diverge is when we are taxed at ever increasing levels, only to learn that our money is being squandered by a bureaucratic monolith, and spent on monuments to themselves, and silly studies to learn things that will ultimately benefit no one but the recipients of the grants.

The question, then is: whose money is it, anyway? While there is a concerted effort by Liberals to force us to feel ashamed for our so-called greed in wanting to keep what we have worked for, they are simultaneously attempting to use our religious beliefs as a club, reminding us that God would want us to be generous. How ironic that they do this while ripping our holiday symbols away as we carol and donate.

Here's an idea. This Christmas, all I want is to have my country back. I really don't think that is too much to ask, just as is the simple principle of deciding how best to spend and donate that which I have earned. (Here's the hidden answer. It will come in handy on the test. It's my money!)

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Give 'Em A Bargain

Any good business person knows that the best way to make more money is often to charge less. Sure, a high price tag is good for profit margins but if it repels customers to a high enough degree, it becomes worthless, thereby making the overall profitability drop to zero. Reduce the margin, draw in customers, and sell like crazy. Call it the tortoise and hare approach.

There is a town on Long Island in New York that has just embraced this simple philosophy, which is odd considering that government doesn't usually comprehend free market strategies. Quite the contrary, the practice most normally endorsed by the elected is to charge more as coffers dwindle; more in taxes.

Brookhaven Town may be the first to learn an important quality of capitalism - which sadly is at grave risk, but that's for another time - is such that when profits fall, sales are desperately needed to boost income. Understanding that the current economic climate has people choosing how to spread their increasingly limited resources, and facing its own budgetary woes, the town is experimenting with a half-off sale on outstanding parking tickets. That's right, Brookhaven is prepared, for a limited time only - call now, operators are standing by! - to fore go nearly a half million dollars if people will pay up now.

Here's where it gets confusing, though. If the town, which has the power of the county police force behind it, finds it difficult to collect fines from minor crimes to the degree that they have to offer a sale, what's to stop people from paying their property taxes on time in order to obtain the same deal?

Alas, I stray from my main point.

Ronald Reagan was one of few highly elected politicians to understand this basic principle of economics. Critics called his plan "Reaganomics" and sneeringly still refer to it as "trickle-down economics", something they insist on claiming was a failure, but the basic foundation is provably sound; the more money working people have as discretionary income, the more they will spend and the more the economy will benefit. And yes, it does work from the top down. Perhaps most important in this, especially at our current crisis, is that this model also means more cash spending and less credit spending.

The more money government seizes from individuals, the harder their everyday lives become. As we all know, nothing lasts forever, and things break. With less cash on hand, someone who needs a new refrigerator may have to buy it on credit and if times are that hard, those payments cut into an already squeezed budget. See the domino effect at work?

Government understands all too well the concept of living large on borrowed money, but they never have to worry about where the payments will come from; that's why they keep us common folks around. At least one small town may have stumbled across a painful truth, however blindly they may have found it. I just hope they absorb and store the lesson. Perhaps it could start a trickle-up effect...that's how governments usually work anyway.

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