Le · rêve, · l'Espoir, · le · Désir

Our Tax System Explained: "Bar Stool Economics"

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten
comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go
something like this:

The first four men (The poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all
such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily
beer by $20." Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the
first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.

But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they
divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They
realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from
everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up
being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be
fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded
to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to
drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare
their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to
the tenth man," but he got $10!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth
man. "I only saved a dollar, too It's unfair that he got ten times more than
I!" "That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back
when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute,"
yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The
system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down
and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they
discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of
them for even half of the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how
our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most
benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being
wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start
drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics University of Georgia

Well, I just got back from voting and I voted for Obama (I know SHOCK!!) but according to zrzuce's latest posting I made the right decision although not by a huge margin lol

Who You Should Vote For

Barack Obama: 53% John McCain: 47% Hillary Clinton: 40% Mike Huckabee: 40% Ron Paul: 40% Mitt Romney: 27% Who you agree with on the war in Iraq: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama Who you agree with on the economy: Barack Obama Who you agree with on health care: Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney Who you agree with on taxes: Mike Huckabee Who you agree with on abortion: Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Mitt Romney Who you agree with on gay rights: Ron Paul and John McCain

Mom went Home today at almost 3:30 PM. She is now whole, healthy and perfect which is truly a blessing from God! We should all be so lucky!!

For those of you who have been asking, the service will be on Sunday at Click Funeral Home in Farragut at 4 PM (visitation from 2-4).

Thank you so much for all of the thoughts and prayers the past few months. We have appreciated them more than I could begin to tell you.

Last week my brother and his family came and we had a fantastic time talking, laughing, singing and praying together as a family. Mom did great during that time and once they left she really started to go downhill. The day they left, Wednesday, she got very sick. Last Thursday Mom went to the residential Hospice facility and poor thing just wants to go home. I can’t blame her, but there’s no way she can come home right now. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like she’ll be going home again. Her doctor came in this morning and told her not to worry about certain things, just concentrate on spending time with family and enjoying that time.

Some people keep asking about me…well I’m doing ok considering the situation. I’m the one that has to be strong right now. I’ve accepted that Mom isn’t going to be with us much longer on earth but I’m ok with that. She’s sick and miserable in her current body. I’m not afraid of death or dying and neither is she. We are all Christians and know that she is going to her real home in Heaven. The home that God has made just for her! If you know and believe that in your heart what is there to fear?? Of course there is sadness and mourning, but not fear. I rejoice in the fact that soon Mom won’t feel any more pain, sadness or suffering.

Well, once again I haven’t updated in way too long and I’ve had people asking what’s going on with Mom. The night before Thanksgiving she had a really bad night. She wasn’t responsive and could barely breathe, Dad had to call 911 and have them take her to the emergency room because he couldn’t get her there himself. He said that he was really worried that she wouldn’t make it to when they got there. Once she got to the hospital they found out she has a really bad infection in her port, which is why she had a 103.5 temperature so they started treating it and it helped a little but not much. They went ahead and decided not to do anymore chemo treatments. Last Sunday they took out her IV so she’s not going to be getting any nutrients other than what she will eat and drink herself (which is barely anything). The doctor talked to Dad Monday morning to figure out what Hospice approach they want to take (at home or in a residence thing). That morning doctors said they didn’t know whether she has a few days or a few weeks left, but they did say it would be no longer than a month.

FORTUNATELY they took out the nasty infected port on Tuesday which has helped her comfort level a LOT and she’s coming home today!!!! Granted she’s coming home on Hospice, but that’s better than being off somewhere else far away where we wouldn’t be able to see her as much or as often. We’re really praying for what’s best for her right now but I have to admit I’m really (very selfishly) hoping that she’ll be able to see at least one more Christmas.

Thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers! Your support means more to me than I could ever fully express.

Love you all and God Bless!

Well, I was e-mailing an update to one of my friends about Mom and I realized it's been a while since I posted anything on here so here it goes...

As most of you know, Mom's ovarian cancer came back very aggressively and very quickly. She's been at St. Mary's for a few weeks now but HOPEFULLY she'll get to come home sometime next week.

Here's the hard part, last Tuesday they doctors gave the prognosis of 2 - 6 months but we're not really sure about anything right now. She's going to get some new form of chemo on Saturday (hopefully) and we're just praying that it does something...anything really. But right now all we can do is pray for God's will no matter what that may be...as hard as that is to think about. I guess the best way to look at is is that we prayed for more time with her 3 years ago and we've had 3 good years. Maybe it's time for her to go Home now...but I'm selfish and would like for her to stay here a bit longer, you know 20ish more years ;)

Thank you to everyone praying for her and the whole family! We really do appreciate it!