Joe the Plumber (Page 3)

Dr Pete....you can't tell me that when a shirtless Matt MacConaughey holds a benefit fundraiser,  that thousands of middle aged women wouldn't be lined up ready to throw money at him the kids in need!

Seriously...it's all about how you sell it.  Either you force people to give money to "those leeches on society" OR you promote the personal emotional benefit you'll recieve for helping your fellow Americans who are having a tough time.  Let people MAKE THE CHOICE to do the right thing, and they will. 

People don't want to be forced to do something...they want to feel like they are making a choice.  America is the greatest country in the world because of the people.  If given the opportunity, we will take care of our own. 

Hasn't the credit crisis taught us that we can't trust the weathly to act in the public interest? 

AS far as taxes go, I don't mind paying a greater percentage of my income to support a society that has provided me with such a great bounty; but there is clearly inequity in taxation.  I'd prefer that all Americans were taxed the same amount and that our Government was more responsoible with spending.

  Universal health care, mortgage buyouts, strong military, new energy policy all sound great until we have to pay for them.  The facts are that our country is running a HUGE deficit every year and adding  more and more "rights" that the government will provide for us is not a tenable strategy.  We're going to need government AND private charity to increase if we think we can solve these problems. 

I just swallowed the little barf I had when I read the last post.

Thank you.  Let's do lunch sometime.  I like you.

Andi

 Just adding a little snarkiness and not trying to anger anyone. It is a solution to the health care situation in our country that nobody wants to toss out there. It would work and everyone in the country knows that. A better solution might be putting a cap on what doctors can charge for services. That way the doctor can still make more if he works more.  An actual salary cap is an extreme that we do not want to resort to. But if we inch along a little at a time we can eventually reach full blown socialism in our country. We apply it in special circumstances a little at a time and we will get there quite unintentionally.

 I see a lot of reference to the poor not being poor by choice. There is a lot of truth in that. One point that hasn't been made though. I made a choice NOT to be poor. I am not one of the families that will be negatively affected by Senator Obama's proposed tax policies. But I fear the option to nibble that income level down exists. Left unchecked it can eventually get to me. That is a reason to oppose robinhood style of taxation.

No one is making the argument they couldnt live with it, it's whether it is right or not. 

I'm 26, working 2 jobs with an infant daughter.  I'd rather work 18 jobs than be on government programs.

Dont need a solution, we just have to stop making people fund others, period. 

 Unfortunately, we live in a world where some arent going to have the best, or even much at all in life.  It is one of the sadly ironic truths in life that is we have to accept, or at least, accept that we cant force others to do soemthing about it.

 I dont have a lot of extra cash myself, so I donate what I can and volunteer my time.  But in the end, no one in the world owes anyone anything just because they are better off.

Next:  39% is OK but 42% is ludicrous?

Then:  42% is OK but 46% is ludicrous

Etc, etc, etc.   That's an interesting mindset.  Like the frog in boiling water story

Death by a 1,000 cuts, as they say

x2

but you forgot

It's OK to tax the $250K group but not the %100k

When that doesn't net you enough money

then it will be ok to tax th $100k gorup just not the $80K

and so on down we go till it's your taxes that get raised.