Did You Know This?
After spending a half hour standing in line at the local UPS Store to make copies of my tax paperwork on April 15th last year (I owed additional taxes), I've somehow managed to have a file labeled "VRR Taxes 2007," but contained within is only some supporting paperwork and a copy of some various 1099's.
I guese the balance of the info is misfiled in one of the ten or twelve file drawers sprinkled around the upstairs and basement office cabinets.
Any way, in order to E-file for my 2008 return which will include a sizable refund (silly me), I have to produce the Adjusted Gross Income from last year's return.
No problem, I'll just get the IRS to send me a copy of last year's filing.
Well, as is usual with G O V E R M E N T, even in an age where virtually everything is available on line--most of the time for FREE--but they want me to go to this IRS Web Page and...
PAY THEM FIFTY SEVEN DOLLARS FOR A COPY OF MY RETURN.
Doing a little quick math, that would work out to over $14 PER PAGE.
Add that to this years' requirement that you make less than $56,000 in order to e-file for free, and what you have here folks is yet another example of the G O V E R N M E N T putting the screws to people that elect to make a living and pay their own way in this country.
So now I've paid $29 to file Pat's return with Turbo Tax--an IRS "certified" and "approved" e-file "provider," then shortly after I hit the "e-file button" I learned that the $29 fee only covered one return.
If I had bought the software download or went to Circuit City and picked up a CD ROM copy I could file for the "entire family," but noooooooOOOOOOO...
Now I'm faced with paying the IRS $57 and then ponying up another $29 for another Turbo Tax session to e-file.
All this in order to comply with an archaic, inane, insane system of theft and wealth redistribution run by idiots and ingrates elected by all of the liberal doo-gooders and their following of underachievers in our great country.
Did I mention the two full days it's taken me to put the tax returns together thus far?
How about paying me my billable hourly rate for that time spent Mr. Obama?
SCREW it, I'm not paying that much for a COPY of my own tax eturn so I guess that I'm sending in the package via the plain old US mail and waiting for eternity to get my refund.
dammit... when will the rip off mentality and insanity end?
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Here...Take This Driving Knowledge Test
(And Stay The Heck Home If You Don't Make At Least 80)
http://moneycentral.msn.com/quiz/driving-skills-quiz/home.aspx
I made a 95...but I lost the screen shot before I could paste it here.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/quiz/driving-skills-quiz/home.aspx
I made a 95...but I lost the screen shot before I could paste it here.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Live Tax Info From My Cave
File Federal Tax Returns? For free? On line?
I'm all a tremble with anticipation of getting OUR overpaid tax money back in OUR Bank accounts in a hurry this year.
You too can go to this web site and save some paper and a stamp or two:
http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=201897,00.html
Unfortunately the State of Georgia is still operating in the dark ages, and since they owe Pat a freaking fortune for drawing a severance paycheck out of Georgia while living in Tennessee--a state with no "state" income tax--I'll have to grind around with a pen and paper and wait a couple of months to get "our fair share" back from the idiots in downtown Atlanta.
Meanwhile, I encourage you to get your paperwork filed and not pay H&R Block or any of the other scam operations a single cent to expedite your refund.
If, on the other hand, you own the vultures at the IRS a single cent--wait until April 14th and pay the bastards at the very last minute like I've done for my own account in the past.
Tis the season...TAX Season...
Ho Ho Ho...dammit
I'm all a tremble with anticipation of getting OUR overpaid tax money back in OUR Bank accounts in a hurry this year.
You too can go to this web site and save some paper and a stamp or two:
http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=201897,00.html
Unfortunately the State of Georgia is still operating in the dark ages, and since they owe Pat a freaking fortune for drawing a severance paycheck out of Georgia while living in Tennessee--a state with no "state" income tax--I'll have to grind around with a pen and paper and wait a couple of months to get "our fair share" back from the idiots in downtown Atlanta.
Meanwhile, I encourage you to get your paperwork filed and not pay H&R Block or any of the other scam operations a single cent to expedite your refund.
If, on the other hand, you own the vultures at the IRS a single cent--wait until April 14th and pay the bastards at the very last minute like I've done for my own account in the past.
Tis the season...TAX Season...
Ho Ho Ho...dammit
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Mobach Bobama
mobach mobama ...mobach bobama... mbache b-bamma
Sorry...I'm just trying out celebrating the new president's election in the way I see it on my TV.
Sorry...I'm just trying out celebrating the new president's election in the way I see it on my TV.
Government Air Quality = Zero Customer Service
Bureaucratic DumbASSES Prevail...
Well, I've been sitting here manning the phones for a day and one-half, waiting on my government mandated 'burn permit" to arrive via fax AND I'm sure it won't take much for you to guess that the idiots over in the Knox County Air Quality office can't be troubled with getting a dial tone and satisfying my request.
Oh yeah, I'm sure when I call tomorrow morning they'll manage to act like they either didn't get a phone call early yesterday afternoon else blame the delay on my fax machine or some other technicality, but in the end this is just another perfect example of G O V E R N M E N T...
and the lack of competition allowing them to have e-mail and a web site but still rely on TWENTY YEAR OLD technology to deliver the product which is one of their primary roles in even existing.
Well, I've been sitting here manning the phones for a day and one-half, waiting on my government mandated 'burn permit" to arrive via fax AND I'm sure it won't take much for you to guess that the idiots over in the Knox County Air Quality office can't be troubled with getting a dial tone and satisfying my request.
Oh yeah, I'm sure when I call tomorrow morning they'll manage to act like they either didn't get a phone call early yesterday afternoon else blame the delay on my fax machine or some other technicality, but in the end this is just another perfect example of G O V E R N M E N T...
and the lack of competition allowing them to have e-mail and a web site but still rely on TWENTY YEAR OLD technology to deliver the product which is one of their primary roles in even existing.
One Less Kennedy In The Senate
One More Fine Day Spent Away From Liberal Hell
Caroline's out...undone by of all things personal finances and TAXES--something members of the Kennedy family have been shoving down our throats and up our neither regions for decades.
One has to smile and understand that--just like thermodynamics--nature hates an unbalance of entropy.
(that means shit flows downhill for those of you in the the unwashed non-technical masses)
Caroline's out...undone by of all things personal finances and TAXES--something members of the Kennedy family have been shoving down our throats and up our neither regions for decades.
One has to smile and understand that--just like thermodynamics--nature hates an unbalance of entropy.
(that means shit flows downhill for those of you in the the unwashed non-technical masses)
Canadians Finally Getting Some Balls?
Their Geese Bring Airliner Down, But A Terrorist Is Still A Terrorist...
Check this crap out... Obamarama pal Bill Ayers is refused entry to Canada this week in this ASSociated Press story:
TORONTO -- William Ayers, a former U.S. radical who featured prominently in Republican efforts to thwart Barack Obama’s election campaign, has been denied entry to Canada.
The University of Toronto’s Centre for Urban Schooling issued a statement Monday saying Ayers was denied entry to Canada on Sunday night.
Forty years ago Ayers was a member of the Weather Underground, a radical group that claimed responsibility for a series of bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.
(anyone but me notice the ASSocaited press makes a point of the bombings being "non-fatal?")
Ayers was a fugitive for years but after surrendering in 1980 the charges were dropped because of prosecutorial misconduct.
(Lucky bastard...)
Ayers was not allowed an opportunity to meet with his lawyer, the center said. Paul Copeland, his lawyer in Canada, said he was wasn’t allowed to speak to Ayers or a border supervisor.
Copeland said Ayers was denied entry at Toronto’s island airport.
“I couldn’t get anybody to talk to me and it doesn’t surprise me,” Copeland said.
Ayers told Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper that he has traveled to Canada more than a dozen times in the past.
“It seems very arbitrary,” he said. “The border agent said I had a conviction for a felony from 1969. I have several arrests for misdemeanors, but not for felonies.”
So they (the Canadians), home of draft dodgers and "consequential" objectors of all religions and political leanings, elected for once to keep someone out of their country that has personally assaulted the American People and the American government.
I say that it's about DAMN TIME, since if it wasn't for the American Taxpayer dollars and the government of the United By God States of 'merica the Canadians would be speaking Russian or Japanese about a half century ago.
And another thing while I'm bitching on a good rant...
Why the heck does the ASSociated press have to interject these paragraphs in the middle of an otherwise non-partisan news story?
Obama had a very limited relationship with Ayers, whose Chicago home is in the same neighborhood. They served together on the board of a Chicago charity, and in the mid-1990s when Obama first ran for office, Ayers hosted a meet-the-candidate session for Obama at his home.
Obama has condemned Ayers’ radical activities. There’s no evidence the two ever were close friends or that Ayers advised Obama on policy. Ayers has said he hardly knew Obama.
Yeah...I thought so...
If you say something often enough to people that don't know the truth (or care about actually knowing the truth or have the capacity to think critically), the what you say will by default become the truth.
Obviously the ASSociated Press is concerned that you might be confused about our new President's past ASSociation with Terrorist Ayers.
fortunately, I'm not.
Are YOU?
Check this crap out... Obamarama pal Bill Ayers is refused entry to Canada this week in this ASSociated Press story:
TORONTO -- William Ayers, a former U.S. radical who featured prominently in Republican efforts to thwart Barack Obama’s election campaign, has been denied entry to Canada.
The University of Toronto’s Centre for Urban Schooling issued a statement Monday saying Ayers was denied entry to Canada on Sunday night.
Forty years ago Ayers was a member of the Weather Underground, a radical group that claimed responsibility for a series of bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.
(anyone but me notice the ASSocaited press makes a point of the bombings being "non-fatal?")
Ayers was a fugitive for years but after surrendering in 1980 the charges were dropped because of prosecutorial misconduct.
(Lucky bastard...)
Ayers was not allowed an opportunity to meet with his lawyer, the center said. Paul Copeland, his lawyer in Canada, said he was wasn’t allowed to speak to Ayers or a border supervisor.
Copeland said Ayers was denied entry at Toronto’s island airport.
“I couldn’t get anybody to talk to me and it doesn’t surprise me,” Copeland said.
Ayers told Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper that he has traveled to Canada more than a dozen times in the past.
“It seems very arbitrary,” he said. “The border agent said I had a conviction for a felony from 1969. I have several arrests for misdemeanors, but not for felonies.”
So they (the Canadians), home of draft dodgers and "consequential" objectors of all religions and political leanings, elected for once to keep someone out of their country that has personally assaulted the American People and the American government.
I say that it's about DAMN TIME, since if it wasn't for the American Taxpayer dollars and the government of the United By God States of 'merica the Canadians would be speaking Russian or Japanese about a half century ago.
And another thing while I'm bitching on a good rant...
Why the heck does the ASSociated press have to interject these paragraphs in the middle of an otherwise non-partisan news story?
Obama had a very limited relationship with Ayers, whose Chicago home is in the same neighborhood. They served together on the board of a Chicago charity, and in the mid-1990s when Obama first ran for office, Ayers hosted a meet-the-candidate session for Obama at his home.
Obama has condemned Ayers’ radical activities. There’s no evidence the two ever were close friends or that Ayers advised Obama on policy. Ayers has said he hardly knew Obama.
Yeah...I thought so...
If you say something often enough to people that don't know the truth (or care about actually knowing the truth or have the capacity to think critically), the what you say will by default become the truth.
Obviously the ASSociated Press is concerned that you might be confused about our new President's past ASSociation with Terrorist Ayers.
fortunately, I'm not.
Are YOU?
Here...Read This
Dang Fine Words Of Hope In Trying Times...
All over the country Americans have invested their hopes in Obama's ability to pull his country together to face its challenges. Among these Americans are millions -- most likely tens of millions -- who have never identified with their government before, who felt "outside" the system they regarded as run by elites, who ascribed its economic troubles to the greedy rich, who bought the Jackson-Sharpton canard that America was a racist society and they were locked out, who would have scorned the term "patriot" as a compromise with such evils, and who turned their backs on America's wars.
But today celebrating their new president are millions of Americans who never would have dreamed of celebrating their president before. Millions of Americans -- visible in all their racial and ethnic variety at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday -- have begun to feel a patriotic stirring because they see in this First Family a reflection of themselves.
The change is still symbolic and may not last. A lot depends on what President Obama will do, which is not a small question given how little is still known about this man and how little tested he remains. Some of this patriotism may be of the sunshine variety -- in for a day or a season, when the costs are not great. Or more cynically: in to show that their hatred for America is really just another form of political "dissent." Yet whatever the nature of these changes they cannot for now be discounted. Consider: When President Obama commits this nation to war against the Islamic terrorists, as he already has in Afghanistan, he will take millions of previously alienated and disaffected Americans with him, and they will support our troops in a way that most of his party has refused to support them until now. When another liberal, Bill Clinton went to war from the air, there was no anti-war movement in the streets or in his party's ranks to oppose him. That is an encouraging fact for us in the dangerous world we confront.
If it seems unfair that Barack Obama should be the source of a new patriotism -- albeit of untested mettle -- life is unfair. If the Obama future is uncertain and fraught with unseen perils, conservatives can deal with those perils as they come. What matters today is that many Americans have begun to join their country's cause, and conservatives should celebrate that fact and encourage it. What matters now is that the American dream with its enormous power to inspire at home and abroad is back in business. What it means is that the race card has been played out and America can once again see itself -- and be seen -- for what it is: a land of incomparable opportunity, incomparable tolerance, and justice for all. Conservative values -- individual responsibility, equal opportunity, racial and ethnic pluralism, and family -- are now symbolically embedded in the American White House. As a result, a great dimension of American power has been restored. Will these values be supported, strengthened, put into practice? It is up to us to see that they are.
Go HERE to read the entire article
All over the country Americans have invested their hopes in Obama's ability to pull his country together to face its challenges. Among these Americans are millions -- most likely tens of millions -- who have never identified with their government before, who felt "outside" the system they regarded as run by elites, who ascribed its economic troubles to the greedy rich, who bought the Jackson-Sharpton canard that America was a racist society and they were locked out, who would have scorned the term "patriot" as a compromise with such evils, and who turned their backs on America's wars.
But today celebrating their new president are millions of Americans who never would have dreamed of celebrating their president before. Millions of Americans -- visible in all their racial and ethnic variety at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday -- have begun to feel a patriotic stirring because they see in this First Family a reflection of themselves.
The change is still symbolic and may not last. A lot depends on what President Obama will do, which is not a small question given how little is still known about this man and how little tested he remains. Some of this patriotism may be of the sunshine variety -- in for a day or a season, when the costs are not great. Or more cynically: in to show that their hatred for America is really just another form of political "dissent." Yet whatever the nature of these changes they cannot for now be discounted. Consider: When President Obama commits this nation to war against the Islamic terrorists, as he already has in Afghanistan, he will take millions of previously alienated and disaffected Americans with him, and they will support our troops in a way that most of his party has refused to support them until now. When another liberal, Bill Clinton went to war from the air, there was no anti-war movement in the streets or in his party's ranks to oppose him. That is an encouraging fact for us in the dangerous world we confront.
If it seems unfair that Barack Obama should be the source of a new patriotism -- albeit of untested mettle -- life is unfair. If the Obama future is uncertain and fraught with unseen perils, conservatives can deal with those perils as they come. What matters today is that many Americans have begun to join their country's cause, and conservatives should celebrate that fact and encourage it. What matters now is that the American dream with its enormous power to inspire at home and abroad is back in business. What it means is that the race card has been played out and America can once again see itself -- and be seen -- for what it is: a land of incomparable opportunity, incomparable tolerance, and justice for all. Conservative values -- individual responsibility, equal opportunity, racial and ethnic pluralism, and family -- are now symbolically embedded in the American White House. As a result, a great dimension of American power has been restored. Will these values be supported, strengthened, put into practice? It is up to us to see that they are.
Go HERE to read the entire article
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
"Burn Permits" Burn My Butt
More Un-needed Government Intervention...
I've been looking around the property the past month, and since it's winter and the leaves are off the bushes and weeds I can see the structure of the Fawnia and Flora and to be honest...I think that I need to get out the electric chainsaw and the pruning clippers and do a little lawn maintenance.
The temperature is supposed to near 50 tomorrow for the first time in a couple of weeks, and in anticipation of the event I made the phone call this afternoon.
I got the phone number off of the Knox County Website.
Guess what?
They have to FAX me my "Burn Permit" from the "Knox County Air Quality Office."
Further...even though I can find the address and phone number on line, I can't find the "burning rules" on line.
Also, they have a web site and e-mail addresses, but I still for some unknown reason have to tie up my telephone waiting on a fax from a government bureaucrat that will move three inches to open a file drawer or peck on their keyboard because they have to FAX ME THE GOVERNMENT MANDATED "BURN PERMIT."
The good news is that it's good for 90 days for some reason. All I wanted to do is burn some crap that been laying against the fence line since we bought the house last April along with some new stuff I knock down while doddering around the yard brandishing power tools of various descriptions.
Now after going through the trouble to get my 90 day faxed permit I may just cut everything in sight down and burn it in order to avoid any future conflict or worse of all...come up against of all things...
A BURNING BAN.
They have those, you know.
In Atlanta they had one every year from Memorial Day to Labor day, then I think they basically banned anything larger than a match or cigarette lighter outside for the remaining seven months of the year.
Doesn't anyone but me find it strange that today you have to ask the GOVERNMENT for permission to dispose of leaves or limbs or dead bodies of infants in your back yard in a nice bonfire fashion?
I guess it's sort of like the thinking of the gun control zealots...
When fires are outlawed...only outlaws will have fires.
The rest of us will just have to freeze to death while camping or be buried under piles of lawn refuse because the GOVERNMENT IS DOING IT'S BEST TO PROTECT US FROM OURSELVES.
dammit...
I've been looking around the property the past month, and since it's winter and the leaves are off the bushes and weeds I can see the structure of the Fawnia and Flora and to be honest...I think that I need to get out the electric chainsaw and the pruning clippers and do a little lawn maintenance.
The temperature is supposed to near 50 tomorrow for the first time in a couple of weeks, and in anticipation of the event I made the phone call this afternoon.
I got the phone number off of the Knox County Website.
Guess what?
They have to FAX me my "Burn Permit" from the "Knox County Air Quality Office."
Further...even though I can find the address and phone number on line, I can't find the "burning rules" on line.
Also, they have a web site and e-mail addresses, but I still for some unknown reason have to tie up my telephone waiting on a fax from a government bureaucrat that will move three inches to open a file drawer or peck on their keyboard because they have to FAX ME THE GOVERNMENT MANDATED "BURN PERMIT."
The good news is that it's good for 90 days for some reason. All I wanted to do is burn some crap that been laying against the fence line since we bought the house last April along with some new stuff I knock down while doddering around the yard brandishing power tools of various descriptions.
Now after going through the trouble to get my 90 day faxed permit I may just cut everything in sight down and burn it in order to avoid any future conflict or worse of all...come up against of all things...
A BURNING BAN.
They have those, you know.
In Atlanta they had one every year from Memorial Day to Labor day, then I think they basically banned anything larger than a match or cigarette lighter outside for the remaining seven months of the year.
Doesn't anyone but me find it strange that today you have to ask the GOVERNMENT for permission to dispose of leaves or limbs or dead bodies of infants in your back yard in a nice bonfire fashion?
I guess it's sort of like the thinking of the gun control zealots...
When fires are outlawed...only outlaws will have fires.
The rest of us will just have to freeze to death while camping or be buried under piles of lawn refuse because the GOVERNMENT IS DOING IT'S BEST TO PROTECT US FROM OURSELVES.
dammit...
Can We All Just Get On With Business Now?
I'm Tired Of The Three Year "Election Cycle"
Imagine if you ran a company like we apparently run this country?
If you did, I say that if your company didn't run out of cash and close up for "market reasons", it would most certainly go down the crapper because all of the employees were constantly engaged in discussing who should be in charge and what clothes or hairstyle the new CEO's wife should wear to the company picnic.
I'm just plain tired of the entire process...how about you?
I just don't care anymore because now I'm in the legally "disenfranchised" part of the population that can only hope the government stays as far away as possible from my wallet and what few freedoms I have left, and that the "Left" either learns a few lessons in the process else implodes as the American people realize what they've done in putting celebrity ahead of content, character, and proven capability in the process of electing virtually unknown people like Obama and Al Franken to national office.
I have to accept the people, but I just hope I can accept all of their mindless programs and other "HELP" they're going to force on me in the next four years.
Imagine if you ran a company like we apparently run this country?
If you did, I say that if your company didn't run out of cash and close up for "market reasons", it would most certainly go down the crapper because all of the employees were constantly engaged in discussing who should be in charge and what clothes or hairstyle the new CEO's wife should wear to the company picnic.
I'm just plain tired of the entire process...how about you?
I just don't care anymore because now I'm in the legally "disenfranchised" part of the population that can only hope the government stays as far away as possible from my wallet and what few freedoms I have left, and that the "Left" either learns a few lessons in the process else implodes as the American people realize what they've done in putting celebrity ahead of content, character, and proven capability in the process of electing virtually unknown people like Obama and Al Franken to national office.
I have to accept the people, but I just hope I can accept all of their mindless programs and other "HELP" they're going to force on me in the next four years.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
And Now Kennedy Falls Out Of His Chair At Lunch...
I'm Not Trying To Be Insentive or Boorish...BUT...
Poor old Ted Kennedy.
He's old and sick and I'm not suggesting that anyone laugh at him or his current misery, but I do have to suggest that what goes around comes around--usually at the worst possible moment.
I guess he'd rather be barfing on his table and writhing in the floor in a Tuxedo in 2009 rather than lying dead in the back seat of a car in the cold waters near his New England home in Chappaquiddick forty years earlier in 1969.
And then there's Pelosi's botoxed face and Durbin's crooked toothy smile and the rest of the cast of the usual Democratic characters--standing guard over today's inauguration "festivities" like mutant relatives at some macabre family holiday dinner...except this time it's the family of putrid stinking LIBERALS our electorate has decided to force on the other 49% of the country.
God help us all...
Poor old Ted Kennedy.
He's old and sick and I'm not suggesting that anyone laugh at him or his current misery, but I do have to suggest that what goes around comes around--usually at the worst possible moment.
I guess he'd rather be barfing on his table and writhing in the floor in a Tuxedo in 2009 rather than lying dead in the back seat of a car in the cold waters near his New England home in Chappaquiddick forty years earlier in 1969.
And then there's Pelosi's botoxed face and Durbin's crooked toothy smile and the rest of the cast of the usual Democratic characters--standing guard over today's inauguration "festivities" like mutant relatives at some macabre family holiday dinner...except this time it's the family of putrid stinking LIBERALS our electorate has decided to force on the other 49% of the country.
God help us all...
Things Aren't Starting Out Too Well
No Bible...
And he botched the words to the oath of office.
I sure hope things aren't downhill from here.
UPDATE -- 1:22 AM Wednesday 01/21/08
Ok...looking at some of the news sites they show a disjointed hand on a bible and attribute it by default to it being that of Obama, and just to be fair--apparently Chief Justice Roberts bumbled the words first causing President Obama to stumble as he tried to work from memory and heard something different offered in the ceremony.
No one can say that I'm not fair and correct myself when I report what I call "news". My opinion is subject to change also, but only on my schedule.
And he botched the words to the oath of office.
I sure hope things aren't downhill from here.
UPDATE -- 1:22 AM Wednesday 01/21/08
Ok...looking at some of the news sites they show a disjointed hand on a bible and attribute it by default to it being that of Obama, and just to be fair--apparently Chief Justice Roberts bumbled the words first causing President Obama to stumble as he tried to work from memory and heard something different offered in the ceremony.
No one can say that I'm not fair and correct myself when I report what I call "news". My opinion is subject to change also, but only on my schedule.
I wish I'd Wrote This...
The Facts Maam...Just The Facts...
This letter is apparently going around the Internet, but I hadn't seen it until I was reading Neal Boortz's website this morning.
Check it out:
To All My Valued Employees,
There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.
However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.
First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You've seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I'm sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.
However, what you don't see is the back story.
I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.
My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.
Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.
So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations... You never realize the back story and the sacrifices I've made.
Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.
Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds.
Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:
I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.
The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.
The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.
Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.
When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.
So where am I going with all this?
It's quite simple.
If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more.
Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.
If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about....
Signed,
Your boss
(Shamelssly stolen from Neal Boortz's website)
This letter is apparently going around the Internet, but I hadn't seen it until I was reading Neal Boortz's website this morning.
Check it out:
To All My Valued Employees,
There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.
However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.
First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You've seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I'm sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.
However, what you don't see is the back story.
I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.
My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.
Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.
So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations... You never realize the back story and the sacrifices I've made.
Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.
Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds.
Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:
I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.
The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.
The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.
Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.
When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.
So where am I going with all this?
It's quite simple.
If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more.
Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.
If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about....
Signed,
Your boss
(Shamelssly stolen from Neal Boortz's website)
Monday, January 19, 2009
No Doubt A Great Man In His Time
Is "The Dream" Still Not Becoming A Faded Memory?
They evoke his name.
They evoke his words.
Unfortunately, I say that today those words are generally taken entirely out of context, and in the process their original meaning is lost as the words are used to not just right the wrongs addressed therein, but to unfairly tilt the table further and further in the opposite direction, under government mandate, in some misdirected effort to reach a minority of a minority which will not be saved from themselves.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
(Read the entire text here: http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html)
When Dr. King spoke those words his children, like those of most of Black America, lived in a home with both a mother AND a father present.
Today that number has sunk by some accounts to somewhere approaching 20% (single parent households.)
This is a tragedy for the black race here in the United States, and no amout of legislation, government programs, sensitivity training, and taxation is going to solve the problem....
and it certainly is a problem for you and me and the government, but it is also most certainly not our fault.
Only black MEN (and the women they neglect) can solve this problem--and in the process and the solution of this single issue I say 75% of their perceived inequality and "disadvantages" will evaporate in a single generation.
Black women could help things along by demanding some accountability of the so called gentlemen they choose to associate with, but remember this mean old white man's words on Dr. King's day:
You can't get a good job if you don't graduate from high school.
You can't go to college if you spend five of the first twenty years of your life in jail and government "juvenile facilities."
You can't expect kids to raise themselves or for kids less than 18 years old to responsibly raise their own kids or their siblings, and you can't expect women to raise children and earn a living while your punk black ass is out playing hoops or hangin with your "homies" and looking for your next young target to sexually exploit and impregnate.
And another thing...notice Reverend King said "my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
He didn't say that the government should get into the class warfare business where "color of their skin" was replaced with "contents of their father's wallet" when it comes to government taxation.
In Lincoln's time in this country only white people had the right to make decisions in life and enjoy the fruits of their education and earnings of their efforts.
Since King's time an overwhelming amount of time and money has been spent righting this wrong and leveling the playing field for people of all colors.
Somehow the government and "black leaders" can't be satisfied with simply having a level playing field--they have to rely on an never ending, ever expanding series of "preferences" and "set-asides" and programs for "working families" of all colors who still refuse to make good decisions and take advantage of things as simple as the twelve free years of education currently offered in every city and town in our nation.
As we watch the celebrations of Dr. King's life achievements and the inauguration of Mr. Obama as the first "black" president of our great Republic--it would be counter productive to wish for anything other than the very best results from the coming administration.
That said, I can only hope the current league of what I see as Impostors and "King Wanna-be's" can live up to half the standard which was set for them over forty five years ago in the very same buildings and lawns of Washington DC.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Girrrrrrrrrrrrr I'm Cranky Lazy
Trying To Figure How I Fit In...
So I'm sitting here watching the salivating media frenzy building up to Monday's MLK day and Tuesday's inauguration, and being a mean old middle aged white male bastard that's enjoyed obvious unfair advantages of wealth and prosperity and, having trampled over women and "people of color" while helping build the most prosperous nation in the history of the world for the past 49 years...
you'll have to excuse me if I don't celebrate Obama and Pelosi and Frank and Durbin taking charge of our government and in the process wrapping everything I've worked for up in pretty green printed government supplied toilet paper and flushing it all down the giant global toilet.
I'm going to stop writing now before I print something that will cause the secret service to come knocking on my door--not for threatening the new president, but for threatening nearly half of the other 535 idiots we've given a seat to in the House and the Senate that make all of the upcoming "stimulus" possible.
dammit...
So I'm sitting here watching the salivating media frenzy building up to Monday's MLK day and Tuesday's inauguration, and being a mean old middle aged white male bastard that's enjoyed obvious unfair advantages of wealth and prosperity and, having trampled over women and "people of color" while helping build the most prosperous nation in the history of the world for the past 49 years...
you'll have to excuse me if I don't celebrate Obama and Pelosi and Frank and Durbin taking charge of our government and in the process wrapping everything I've worked for up in pretty green printed government supplied toilet paper and flushing it all down the giant global toilet.
I'm going to stop writing now before I print something that will cause the secret service to come knocking on my door--not for threatening the new president, but for threatening nearly half of the other 535 idiots we've given a seat to in the House and the Senate that make all of the upcoming "stimulus" possible.
dammit...
