Tuesday, November 23, 2010

middle class screwed again


In Entitlement America, The Head Of A Household Of Four Making Minimum Wage Has More Disposable Income Than A Family Making $60,000 A Year
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/21/2010 23:18 -0500

Federal Tax


Tonight's stunning financial piece de resistance comes from Wyatt Emerich of The Cleveland Current. In what is sure to inspire some serious ire among all those who once believed Ronald Reagan that it was the USSR that was the "Evil Empire", Emmerich analyzes disposable income and economic benefits among several key income classes and comes to the stunning (and verifiable) conclusion that "a one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimum wage) has more disposable income than a family making $60,000 a year." And that excludes benefits from Supplemental Security Income disability checks. America is now a country which punishes those middle-class people who not only try to work hard, but avoid scamming the system. Not surprisingly, it is not only the richest and most audacious thieves that prosper - it is also the penny scammers at the very bottom of the economic ladder that rip off the middle class each and every day, courtesy of the world's most generous entitlement system. Perhaps if Reagan were alive today, he would wish to modify the object of his once legendary remark.

From Emmerich:

You can do as well working one week a month at minimum wage as you can working $60,000-a-year, full-time, high-stress job.

My chart tells the story. It is pretty much self-explanatory.



Stunning? Just do it yourself.

Almost all welfare programs have Web sites where you can call up "benefits calculators." Just plug in your income and family size and, presto, your benefits are automatically calculated.

The chart is quite revealing. A one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimu wage) has more disposable income than a amily making $60,000 a year.

And if that wasn't enough, here is one that will blow your mind:

If the family provider works only one week a month at minimum wage, he or she makes 92 percent as much as a provider grossing $60,000 a year.

Ever wonder why Obama was so focused on health reform? It is so those who have no interest or ability in working, make as much as representatives of America's once exalted, and now merely endangered, middle class.

First of all, working one week a month, saves big-time on child care. But the real big-ticket item is Medicaid, which has minimal deductibles and copays. By working only one week a month at a minimum wage job, a provider is able to get total medical coverage for next to nothing.

Compare this to the family provider making $60,000 a year. A typical Mississippi family coverage would cost around $12,000, adding deductibles and copays adds an additional $4,500 or so to the bill. That's a huge hit.

There is a reason why a full time worker may not be too excited to learn there is little to show for doing the "right thing."

The full-time $60,000-a-year job is going to be much more demanding than woring one week a month at minimu wage. Presumably, the low-income parent will have more energy to attend to the various stresses of managing a household.

It gets even scarier if one assumes a little dishonesty is throwin in the equation.

If the one-week-a-month worker maintains an unreported cash-only job on the side, the deal gets better than a regular $60,000-a-year job. In this scenario, you maintain a reportable, payroll deductible, low-income job for federal tax purposes. This allows you to easily establish your qualification for all these welfare programs. Then your black-market job gives you additional cash without interfering with your benefits. Some economists estimate there is one trillion in unreported income each year in the United States.

This really got me thinking. Just how much money could I get if I set out to deliberately scam the system? I soon realized that getting a low-paying minimum wage job would set the stage for far more welfare benefits than you could earn in a real job, if you were weilling to cheat. Even if you dodn't cheat, you could do almost as well working one week a month at minimum wage than busting a gut at a $60,000-a-year job.

Now where it gets plainly out of control is if one throws in Supplemental Security Income.

SSI pays $8,088 per year for each "disabled" family member. A person can be deemed "disabled" if thy are totally lacking in the cultural and educational skills needed to be employable in the workforce.

If you add $24,262 a year for three disability checks, the lowest paid welfare family would now have far more take-home income than the $60,000-a-year family.

Best of all: being on welfare does not judge you if you are stupid enough not to take drugs all day, every day to make some sense out of this Mephistophelian tragicomedy known as living in the USA:

Most private workplaces require drug testing, but there is no drug testing to get welfare checks.

Alas, on America's way to to communist welfare, it has long since surpassed such bastions of capitalism as China:

The welfare system in communist China is far stringier. Those people have to work to eat.

We have been writing for over a year, how the very top of America's social order steals from the middle class each and every day. Now we finally know that the very bottom of the entitlement food chain also makes out like a bandit compared to that idiot American who actually works and pays their taxes. One can only also hope that in addition to seeing their disposable income be eaten away by a kleptocratic entitlement state, that the disappearing middle class is also selling off its weaponry. Because if it isn't, and if it finally decides it has had enough, the outcome will not be surprising at all: it will be the same old that has occurred in virtually every revolution in the history of the world to date.

h/t Nolsgrad

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Penn Gillette on the TSA

Federal V.I.P Penn - 11/13/02
Last Thursday I was flying to LA on the Midnight flight. I went through security my usual sour stuff. I beeped, of course, and was shuttled to the "toss-em" line. A security guy came over. I assumed the position. I had a button up shirt on that was untucked. He reached around while he was behind me and grabbed around my front pocket. I guess he was going for my flashlight, but the area could have loosely been called "crotch." I said, "You have to ask me before you touch me or it's assault."

He said, "Once you cross that line, I can do whatever I want."

I said that wasn't true. I say that I have the option of saying no and not flying. He said, "Are you going to let me search you, or do I just throw you out?"

I said, "Finish up, and then call the police please."

When he was finished with my shoes, he said, "Okay, you can go."

I said, "I'd like to see your supervisor and I'd like LVPD to come here as well. I was assaulted by you."

He said, "You're free to go, there's no problem."

I said, "I have a problem, please send someone over."

They sent a guy over and I said that I'd like to register a complaint. I insisted on his name and badge number. I filled it out with my name. The supervisor, I think trying to intimidate me, asked for my license, and I gave it to him happily as he wrote down information. I kept saying, "Please get the police," and they kept saying, "You're free to go, we don't need the police." I insisted and they got a higher up, female, supervisor. I was polite, cold, and a little funny. "Anyone is welcome to grab my crotch, I don't require dinner and a movie, just ask me. Is that asking too much? You wanna grab my crotch, please ask. Does that seem like a crazy person to you?" I had about 4 of them standing around. Finally Metro PD shows up. It's really interesting. First of all, the cop is a BIG P&T fan and that ain't hurting. Second, I get the vibe that he is WAY sick of these federal leather-sniffers. He has that vibe that real cops have toward renta-cops. This is working WAY to my advantage, so I play it.

The supervisor says to the cop, 'He's free to go. We have no problem, you don't have to be here." Which shows me that the Feds are afraid of local. This is really cool. She says, "We have no trouble and he doesn't want to miss his flight."

I say, "I can take an early morning flight or a private jet. " The cop says, "If I have a citizen who is saying he was assaulted, you can't just send me away."

I tell the cop the story, in a very funny way. The cop, the voice of sanity says, "What's wrong with you people? You can't just grab a guy's crank without his permission." I tell him that my genitals weren't grabbed and the cop says, "I don't care, you can't do that to people. That's assault and battery in my book."

The supervisor says that they'll take care of the security guy. The cop says, "I'm not leaving until Penn tells me to. Now do you want to fill out all the paper work and show up in court, because I'll be right there beside you."

The supervisor says it's an internal matter, and they'll take care of it. "If you want to pursue this, we're going to have to go through the electronic evidence."

I say, "You mean videotape? Yeah, go get it."

She says, "Well, it'll take a long time, and you don't want to miss your flight. We have no problem with you, you're free to go."

The cop says, "Your guy grabbed his crank. That ain't right."

So, I fill out all the paper work and insist on a number to call to register a complaint. She says that I filled out a complaint, and I say, "I want more, give me another number. " She gives me a number that I find out later has been disconnected. I leave. I have a card with the name and number on it and the bad 800 number for the FAA.

My flight is way delayed, so I go to Burger King with Glenn - and all the feds are now off duty and at BK and sneering at us.

The next day the woman in charge of public relations calls me to "do anything to make my McCarran experience more enjoyable." I was a little under the weather with allergies and busy, so I didn't call back until yesterday.

It took some phone tag, but I finally got the woman on the phone. I was very cool and sweet. I explained the problem. "Do you allow your crotch to be grabbed without being asked?" I didn't exaggerate, I said that there was nothing sexual, I wasn't hurt, and it wasn't my genitals. I just said it was wrong. She said "Well, your feedback is really important because most people are afraid of us." She said, "I'd love to meet you so we could clear this up, and everyone wants to meet a celebrity." She said she had watched the videotape and there was no sound, but she saw him reach around. She said she couldn't tell me what was being done to him but . . . and I stopped her and said, she shouldn't do anything wrong.

I said that I had talked to two lawyers and they said it was really a weird case because no one knows if he can be charged with assault and battery while working in that job. But I told her, that some of my lawyer friends really wanted to find out. She said, "Well, we're very new to this job . . ." and I said, "Yeah, so we need these test cases to find out where you stand."

She said, "Well, you know a LOT about this." I said, "Well, it's not really the right word, but freedom is kind of a hobby with me, and I have disposable income that I'll spend to find out how to get people more of it."

She said, "Well, the airport is very important to all of our incomes and we don't want bad press. It'll hurt everyone, but you have to do what you think is right. But, if you give me your itinerary every time you fly, I'll be at the airport with you and we can make sure it's very pleasant for you."

I have no idea what this means, does it mean that they have a special area where all the friskers are topless showgirls, "We have nothing to hide, do you?" I have no idea. She pushes me for the next time I'm flying. I tell her I'm flying to Chicago around 2 on Sunday, if she wants to get that security guy there to sneer at me. She says, she'll be there, and it'll be very easy for me. I have no idea what this means.

I tell her that I'm still thinking about pressing charges, and I don't just care about me, it's freedom in general. I say the only thing that was good about it, was that while they were dealing with me, maybe they weren't beating up people in wheelchairs. It was amazing. All she was trying to do was make me happy. She said she'd burned a CD ROM of my video and it was being sent all around and they were going to change their training. She said, "We're federal employees, we're working for you, you pay us and we want customer satisfaction. It doesn't matter what the law is, we have to make you very happy so your flying experience is a pleasurable one, and most people don't give us this kind of intelligent feedback."

So, that was it. I'm flying on Sunday, I have no idea what will happen. How crazy is this? Do I really have some sort of mysterious VIP status to shut me up? Should I press charges? She said she was going to talk to the cop. I said he didn't see anything. She said, "Well, he may be able to see the forest for the trees, because he was right there." I quoted his "crank" comment and she laughed and then knew that was a very bad sign. I said, "He'll tell you I was polite, cold, angry, and funny" - that's more than should be expected of me. I still don't know what I'm going to do, but my advice to everyone is complain all you can and call the cops. I think it might make a little difference. Maybe you can become a VIP too.



Penn

Thursday, November 11, 2010

An open letter to Arthur Blank

10 years is a long time.

Today, I did something I never thought I would do. I gave away my Falcons tickets.

Why, you ask? Allow me to clarify...When my wife Liz and I bought our first season tickets in 2000, we did not have any idea what the future would hold for us, or our venerable team. In the last 10 years, we saw a drama unfold and a city fracture.

I respect and admire Arthur Blank. I truly believe he is a good and honorable man. When he purchased the team, we were very excited and when the team drafter Micheal Vick, the city came alive. Little did we know the horrors in store for us.

By now, Mr Vick's story is well known. Here's our story, and the reason I am giving up my tickets...

In 2007, after the dog killing episode, and the birth of our first child, my wife had officially 'had it'. She informed me she would not be going with me to any Falcons game, and it was up to me to find a friend to go with if I wanted to continue supporting the team.I asked my handicapped friend, Jerry to be my new football buddy. And for the most part, the organization was very helpful. I took my 'cheap seat' tickets to the ticket office and asked if I could switch them out for one's with handicapped seating. They complied, and Jeery and I spent that year watching the games from the endzone, in a lower level. In 2008, I renewed, and once again went to the ticket office to inquire about getting available handicapped seating. I was told that there were no 'available' cheap seat handicapped tickets, but if I chose to 'upgrade' ( spend 45$ more a ticket!) I could get those same tickets that in the previous year they had provided. However, if I renewed in 2009, and made a notation in my renewal for a 'seat change' they would see 'what they could do'. I did just that, but surprise, suprise, there were no 'available' handicapped seats in the 'cheap seats'. Facing this, I opted to pay for a couple upgrades and Jerry and I only got to go to a handful of games together, but I was beggining to get discouraged.

I renewed again this season, and found once again that there were no 'available' handicapped seats. That is, unless I wanted to pony up the cash. This was very frustrating, as it always appeared there were not only available seats, but in many cases, the people sitting in the handicapped section were not even handicapped!Nevertheless, I once again paid to upgrade a few choice games to take my buddy. Here's where it gets interesting.

The very first game Jerry and I went to, we found out that we were seated next to an African American 'gentleman' sporting a black Vick#7 jersey and a couple rows up from a redneck with a jersey that had been modified to read 'conVICKt'.

http://www.youtube.com/user/theotherstuff1#p/u/30/CEj1DW1bUtQ
http://www.youtube.com/user/theotherstuff1#p/u/28/m43oVRAAOUI

Needless to say, the 'commentary' bewteen these two geniuses was entertaining, but hostile. In the last 2 games, the guy in the Vick jersey, who was seated in a handicapped seat, became pretty aggressive and at one point made a scowling veiled threat to me (sporting my new Matt Ryan jersey). At this point, I had it.

It's hard to have faith in the ticket office when they tell me year after year that there are not lower priced handicapped seast availabe, when they are selling said seats to people who are clearly not handicapped.

A note about Jerry. Jerry is a true fan. He has MD, and is poor. Mr Blank, we are both very fortunate people. Jerry will never know the special bond of marriage. He will never have a career. For Jerry, going to sporting event and concerts IS the highlight of his life. That is all he has. And, Jerry knows this and is a real fan: always cheering, always in the seat at kickoff, always vigilant.

Now some may say I should have just texted the dome about the guy next to me, but why? It's not my job to make sure the handicapped seats are going to real handicapped people. I also understand that Mr Blank is looking to put the team in a new home, and I dont fault him for that. I have great admiration for Mr Blank, and his partner Mr Marcus holds a special place in our hearts as we are parents of an autistic child. But if the only option I have to take Jerry to the game is to 'renew' and have faith that the ticket office will do thier best to accomodate a poor crippled man, who has been a vociferous and loyal fan, or just to dig in my bank account and spend 65$ a ticket vs 29$ a ticket, then I dont have that faith anymore. And that is a sad thing.

And I wanted to write this letter today, as we sit at 6-2, poised for the playoffs and awaiting the Ravens tonight on national TV. I will be watching the game, just not at the Dome. And I feel like next season, I might just save the hassle and buy the NFL ticket instead of having to deal with idiots who pine for a player that pretty much destroyed our franchise and think the Mr Blank is somehow 'the bad guy'.

I hope the Falcons win, but I am sad that Jerry and I cannot be there to cheer them on.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Change?

From 2000-2008 Bush signed budgets that increased the debt by $ 4.4 TRILLION
From 2009 until now, Obama has signed budgets that increased the debt by $ 3.7 Trillion

A Republican Congress from 1995 -2007 presented deficit budgets to be signed by the Presidents to the tune of $3.5 TRILLION
A Democrat Congress from 2007 to the present has presented deficit budgets to be signed by the Presidents that increased debt a whopping $5.2 TRILLION in 4 years!

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt.htm

Americans are once again chanting the tune " Change"... but change FROM what TO what?

Both Parties in the Legislative Branches and the Executive Branch has shown a wanton disregard for the American people having now piled up over $ 13.6 TRILLION with projected + TRILLION budget deficits to come.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Polls clearly show the economy (jobs) and the debt as the #1 concern, yet no politician or Party has articulated how that will be done as they spend time at the hate machine during the campaign process----and a willing MSM just plays along.

While people want tough solutions, one must wonder if they will accept the consequences of self imposed. Anyhow, one way or the other, it will be either self imposed or foreign imposed.

The only change available is draconian in nature with incredible sacrifices all around.
The question becomes WHO or WHAT will impose it?