Just Say'n: 2011

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Such a waste...

"A Veteran Dies By Suicide Every 80 Minutes".

Sad, so very very sad...

WHY?

Why is it that we can take young men and women, spend millions training, send them into harm's way, and then when they return, they seem to become the forgotten? You would think they are the lucky ones, the honored ones... they have returned, and they are the Veterans.

WHY?

I am a Veteran, and proud of it. But I sometimes question others. Are you proud of the Veterans who have put their lives on the line for you? Sure, there is all the hoopla, and the ra ra ra, when our Men and Women return, but that seems to fade into "oh well".

WHY?

We all have our problems for sure, but regardless; something must be happening that these courageous men and women take their lives. Some will say suicide is not courageous... maybe... maybe not, that is up to you to decide, but, I think you will get an argument about who is courageous and who is not if you ask their Mom, their Dad, their Wives, Husbands, their Children. One thing I know is that it does take Great Courage to VOLUNTEER to put your life on the line to serve the Great Country we ALL live in.

WHY?

What is the answer? I do not know! Some will say, "The Government needs to do more". Some will say that "they" need better care. Some will say that "they" "should" do this; some will say "they" "should" do that... So, is that the answer? Do we just leave it up to "they" & "should"? Well, "they" is you, and "they" is me". Not sure about me, but then again, what about you?

WHY?

I am not sure why I am writing this, my words are feeble. But as I sit here, with tears in my eyes, I can only think of the travesty that is betaking of our fine young Men and Women, and the sorrow left behind for their Mom, Dad, Wife, Husband, Children and Me.

WHY?

I leave that up to you... NOT THEY.

Just Say'n

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/02/suicide_n_1070491.html?1320251842&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

Thursday, October 27, 2011

The Great Government Bailout.

Today I reached my 69'Th year of life. Such a long time in such a Great Country. Life might be better, but I know not where.

As a country we are going through some rough times and there are serious decisions that must be made that will keep our Country strong?

However, as serious as the issues that face our Government (Translated... YOU & I) are there is always a little time for some humor.

My son Matthew did some serious calculations regarding the payback of student loans, and came to the startling realization that he would have $77 a month left over from his paycheck to pay for food, electricity, transportation, clothes, communications, etc.

That got me thinking about the National Debt.

Seeing as how I have a lot of time since retiring, I use a lot of it up just thinking about things like this, and ways that perhaps I can help (or not).

So, with a little bit of brilliance, an Excel spreadsheet, and some creative mathematics, I believe I have come up with the Ideal plan to not only eliminate the national debt, but at the same time... "Will save you a lot of Money".

But first, I must confess that I did have to get some help. You see; I do not have a PhD, Masters, or... as far as that goes did not even go to college (Although I have watched the Masters on TV). So, to help me with the math I recruited all the brainpower from the Federal Reservoir, as these are the folks who really know how to manage money. Thus, any omissions or miscalculations are strictly not the fault of the author (ME).

So, without further ado here is...

MY PLAN FOR ELIMINATING THE NATIONAL DEBT.

<<<THE GREAT GOVERNMENT BAILOUT>>>

We start with a bit of data...

Best I can tell the National Debt stands at roughly $14,000,000,000,000.00 (That's $14 TRILLION).

As of the 2010 census, the population of the US was 308,754,538 (roughly 308 MILLION)
Here is how the plan works... it's both brilliant and genius (at least I think so, but you be the judge).

First off, this is a 4 year plan (just like the one for the President), so I estimate (crystal ball... like the shiny one on "Dancing with the Stars") that in 4 years the National Debt will be $34,000,000,000,000.00 (That's $34 TRILLION).

So, doing some quick math you will see that that is $110,123.00 for every man, woman, child, who were alive at the time.

Now... BIG (As in Big Government) simply bales out every man, woman, and child, who were alive at the time to the tune of... you guessed it... $110,123.00. Yep, they give everyone $110,123.00. Now, there is one catch. Each of the men, women and children, have to immediately invest their money by turning it over to Wall Street, who will in turn guarantee a return on investment of... now get this... 0.5%. Sounds kind of low right, but just wait, as Wall Street has all the backing and power and insight from Bernie (remember him?).

Now, all you PhD's out there will immediately realize that this Bailout will simply be added onto the National Debt, increasing it to $68,000,000,000,000.00 (that $68 TRILLION). But have no fear; my plan takes that into account... Just watch (read on).

Now for the serious math that gets us there...

Remember we start off with an initial investment of $110,123.00 for every man, woman, and child.

At year 1, interest is $551.00 and balance is $110,674.00 per person

At year 2, interest is $553.00 and balance is $111,227.00 per person

At year 3, interest is $556.00 and balance is $111,783.00 per person

At year 4, interest is $559.00 and balance is 112,342.00 per person

For a TOTAL of $446,026.00 per person

As I said, this is a 4 year plan, so you can see that at the end of the 4th year, your $110,123.00 investment will have turned into $446,026.00 (Yay Bernie!!!).

Now multiply that $446,026.00 by the entire population and you will see that the total return on investment (thats ROI to all you non morticians out there) is a WHOPPING $137,708,521,271,250.00 (that's $137 TRILLION)

Take away the $68,000,000,000,000.00 (that's 68 TRILLION) owed and you have a balance of... drum roll please... $69,708,521,241,250.00 (that's $69 TRILLION), or $225,779.85 for every man woman and child.

Now for the bad news... "TAX". Yes, you gotta pay tax, and you are now in the 25% bracket, so your tax obligation is $56,444.96 leaving you with a balance of just $169,334.89 for the 4 years, which works out to $42,333.72 per year or $3,527.81 per month, which is a whole lot better than Matthews $77.00.

Whoever said "Figures don't lie" might just be wrong... GO FIGURE...

Just Say'n

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Jobs and the strategy...

Well, here we go again...

"Senate Republicans vote to kill Obama’s jobs bill"

The President (should I say we the taxpayers) just spent millions of dollars flying the President all over the country on Air Force One, campaigning for the passage of the "Job's" act.

Is it any surprise that the Republicans (R's) killed the bill? Not to me!

It is quite clear that the "do nothing" Congress (R's & D's) intends to "do nothing" that the other side wants. Might be right, might be wrong, but fact is if the "other side" wants it then "this side" does not.

So, how to get out of the quagmire? Well, the answer is that the wrong strategy is being applied. So let's change the strategy. Let me explain...

What the Democrats (D's) need to do is to tell the R's that they accept their plan, the President then needs to, once again, fly all over the Country, but this time promoting the R's job plan. Now, this will put the R's in a precarious situation. Surely they cannot accept a plan that the President is proposing, even if it is their own!

So, what will they (R's) do? Well they will now come up with another plan. They will now "kill" the President's plan... the one they just proposed, and will come up with a "NewNew" plan. Obviously it will have to be just the opposite of the one just proposed that the D's accepted.

So now this "NewNew" plan is proposed to the D's, who easily accept it, as it is what they (D's) wanted in the first place, the President signs it into law, and as a famous "fat man" once said... "And, away we go".

Incidentally... I still think that the ballot should have a spot for "NONE OF THE ABOVE". If "none of the above" wins then all of Congress gets fired, and we start fresh.

Anyway... I have to go out and rake leaves.

Just Say'n

Sunday, June 19, 2011

The New and Simplified tax structure.

There is a lot of talk - or should I say debate, - or maybe I should say arguments - these days about the tax structure.

The debate is that some want to raise taxes on the 'rich' and some do not. Some think that everyone should pay tax, as some do not pay any tax at all. Others feel that the middle class carries the blunt of the tax bill. (Which appears to be not true as the 'middle class' only - choke, choke - pays 29% of the taxes - see table below)

There is a report published (elsewhere) that states 10% of earners paid 71% of all income taxes. This same report noted that 51% of earners paid NO income taxes.

Therefore, if

10% paid 71% of taxes and

51% paid 0% taxes then that means that

39% paid 29% of taxes.

It seems like these arguments just keep going on and on and on.

Just the other day, while daydreaming and rocking away on the front porch, it suddenly struck me. Ah... a simple solution that will result in a win, win, win situation for all.

Now, it could be that the 10% who paid 71% of the taxes are to be considered "The Wealthy" (more commonly referred to as the 'rich'), and the 51% that paid 0% taxes could be considered "The Non-wealthy" (more commonly referred to as the 'poor'). That leaves the other 39%, who could be considered "The Neither" (more commonly referred to as the 'middle class'.

So... how to solve and make everyone happy.

It is so simple...

Rather than raise the tax on the 'rich', and at the same time devise a way that the 'poor' who do not pay any tax at all can now pay their fair share, and also lower the tax burden on the 'middle class'. It will work like this...

Each of the 10% 'rich' is assigned a given number of Surrogates from the 51% group of the 'poor'. This could be done through a lottery in order to avoid discrimination. The 'rich' then give a proportional percentage of their money to each of the Surrogates, in such a manner that the 'poor' are then promoted to the 'middle class', and the rich person is promoted to the class of the 'poor'.

Now that means that there will be 90% who are now in the 'middle class' as opposed to the previous 39%. Since there are now 51% more in the 'middle class' the 'middle class' tax burden can lowered.

The result is as I said. A win, win, win.

The 'rich' win as they no longer are burdened by being hounded to pay higher and higher taxes.

The 'poor' win as they no longer endure the complaints of the 'rich' about not having paid any tax.

The 'middle class' win as their tax burden is now reduced due to the increased pool of 'middle class' taxpayers.

And to top it all off (the icing on the cake - so to speak), "BIG" (as in Big Government) also wins as they will receive more tax than before.

Now, as you see this is a very simple program, but will still need to be managed and administrated by 'someone'. Who better to do this than "BIG". They have the experience, and they soon will have more of your money. A new division could be created called The 'Government Institute For Trading' or simply "GIFT".

Please tell your Congressmen and or Congresswomen of this concept. I think once they see it they will jump right to it, rush it through the Senate, get it signed by the president, and off we go. Debt reduction, Balanced budget, controlled spending, and on and on and on.