tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3356197772493765397.post8635871323369654022..comments2023-06-14T07:02:58.527-05:00Comments on The St. Lou Jew: A Dumb Question: Joe the PlumberY?http://www.blogger.com/profile/11649272113923397688noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3356197772493765397.post-54508094559638967322008-10-20T11:45:00.000-05:002008-10-20T11:45:00.000-05:00Currently the top 1% pay 37% of tax returns. The ...Currently the top 1% pay 37% of tax returns. The top 10% pay 78%. Right now, approximately $15 trillion is invested abroad in order to avoid domestic taxation. Imagine how much better our economy would be with that money invested at home – the jobs that money could create. It matters not how much money you have - if you're required to part with more of it, you spend less of what you have left over. Companies invest in additional labor to grow their business. Take more money away and they hire less people. It's a very simple process that gets no mention in the debate, yet historically it's how businesses have responded. These policies designed to help lower-income people end up hurting them more.<BR/><BR/>The idea that because someone can afford to pay more taxes they should pay more is, I'm sorry, insulting. I mentor a middle school kid in the South Grand neighborhood, and my goal is to help him realize that the world is a bigger and colorful place and that opportunity exists outside of poverty, so that when he grows up he can make his own life. I guarantee you that my efforts, and the other mentors of the program I do this through, make much more of an impact on the kids of their neighborhood than anything the government could do precisely because I'm there on my own free will, on my time, and I’m connecting on a personal level with nothing but myself invested, and I hold myself to a much higher standard than I know the government could ever produce. This, and I hope this isn’t insulting, is what many people find so hypocritical about the liberal movement. They have such a concern for mankind that the best they can muster up is to make other people “fix” things by forcing a redistribution of wealth rather than taking initiative to make a difference themselves. Meanwhile, the people being required to foot the bill give more money, and more personal time, to charity. There is everything right about wanting to help people, but you have to want to help them for the sake of helping, not retribution. When food and shelter and education matter the most, where it comes from is irrelevant, and if blaming other people becomes the focus when we all have time to give, then who are we really helping?Sleep Now In The Firehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15071778677226301293noreply@blogger.com