Citizens are cash cows. A cash cow is defined as, "a steady, dependable source of income." As citizens, we are required by law, through threat of force, to pay taxes to the federal government. The federal government could decide to tax us any amount they wished, and we would be forced to pay. To refuse would be illegal, no matter how just. Therefore, we are the government's cash cows.
Just what did the government spend our hard-earned money on in 2010? 22.62% was spent on health care (Medicare/Medicaid) and 20.04% was spent on Social Security. The chart can be found here. That means 42.66% of the federal budget was spent on welfare. But what does that mean dollar-wise? Going to the president's website, it is easy to find percentages, but difficult to find hard numbers. In 2010, the federal government spent $3,456 billion ($3.456 trillion) while it only took in $2,162 billion ($2.162 trillion) in taxes. Interestingly enough, if I spent more than I earned, I would be charges some serious overdraft charges from my bank. I wonder where the government banks... Oh yeah, they bank with the Federal Reserve, a bank where money can be created from thin air.
Back to the number game: 23% of $3.5 trillion is $794 billion and 20% is $691 billion. That equals $1.49 trillion spent on welfare alone. That is over half of what the government brought in through taxes. 68% of our taxes go to welfare. 19.27% of the budget pays for our military and a mere 0.81% goes towards legal and immigration. If we include the 3.26% that goes towards veteran benefits and the 1.65% towards international affairs, that brings us to 24.99% of our budget goes towards defense and legal. $863.65 billion is spent on national defense and our legal system.
If the federal government only undertook its three responsibilities (military, court system and police force) the total budget spending would be roughly $863.65 billion per year, assuming we cut out all welfare and privatized everything else. As of Feb. 16, 2011, the population of the United States was 310,831,978. If we divided that out, every person in the United States would have to pay $2,778.51 per year to balance the budget. Currently the average American pays roughly 20% of their salary to federal taxes, and the average salary is $29,500, which translates into about $5,900 in taxes per person. That means, if the government only spent money on what was necessary, it would save the average American approximately $3,121.49 per year.
If we kept the taxes the same as they were in 2010 and from the $2.162 trillion subtracted the $863.65 billion for military and legal, the government would be left with $1.3 trillion. The current US National debt is $14.13 trillion. It would only take 11 years for the government to pay off the national debt under this plan, assuming the US government incurred no further debt. 11 years may seem like a long time to hold a debt, but when you consider Obama's current 2011 budget plans for an increase in national debt of $13 trillion, 11 years to being debt-free doesn't sound bad at all.
© 2011 Nate Phillipps
Showing posts with label taxes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label taxes. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Saturday, October 23, 2010
The New Slavery of America
The thirteenth amendment states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” While the stereotypical slavery of plantations and railroads ended with the passage of this amendment in 1865, another form of slavery was introduced by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935.
The form of slavery introduced by FDR is technically called involuntary servitude. Involuntary servitude is when a person labors against their will to benefit another, under some form of coercion. By law, I am mandated to pay into the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program, commonly known as Social Security. A portion of every paycheck goes towards Social Security. Every paycheck, some elderly person receives 6.20% of my earnings. In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson added Medicare to FDR’s Social Security program. By law, I am mandated to pay into Medicare. Every paycheck, 1.45% of my earnings go to a sick, elderly person.
Social Security does not benefit me, nor does Medicare. Both of those programs benefit others. I work for money, and part of that money is stolen from me and given to people who didn’t plan for their retirement. What part of the Constitution gives the government the power to plan for all of our retirements? Lazy, leecher-like greed and a sense of entitlement is the only justification for Social Security and Medicare. In 2009, the United States government made $121 billion dollars from Social Security, and that’s after they made all the payments to the recipients.
You would think with a surplus of that much money we would see a break on our taxes, or a reduced deficit. What does the government need $121 billion for? Maybe the government wants to buy up car companies, banks, and other private businesses? What if we don’t want Social Security or Medicare benefits? You can opt-out of receiving benefits, but you’ll still have to pay into the programs. After all, a tax is a tax.
If we do not pay taxes, the IRS gets upset and we get in trouble, possibly fined or jailed or both. How’s that for coercion?
Social Security isn’t our money, it’s my money and it’s your money being used for others. In 2017 Social Security will start running on a deficit, and will continue downward after that. I won’t be retired by 2017. It is incredibly probable that I will never see a dime from Social Security, and yet I am forced to pay for the program. If people want to retire, they should start their own savings account. The government has no business enslaving all of us to pay for others. I am my only responsibility.
© 2010 Nate Phillipps
The form of slavery introduced by FDR is technically called involuntary servitude. Involuntary servitude is when a person labors against their will to benefit another, under some form of coercion. By law, I am mandated to pay into the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program, commonly known as Social Security. A portion of every paycheck goes towards Social Security. Every paycheck, some elderly person receives 6.20% of my earnings. In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson added Medicare to FDR’s Social Security program. By law, I am mandated to pay into Medicare. Every paycheck, 1.45% of my earnings go to a sick, elderly person.
Social Security does not benefit me, nor does Medicare. Both of those programs benefit others. I work for money, and part of that money is stolen from me and given to people who didn’t plan for their retirement. What part of the Constitution gives the government the power to plan for all of our retirements? Lazy, leecher-like greed and a sense of entitlement is the only justification for Social Security and Medicare. In 2009, the United States government made $121 billion dollars from Social Security, and that’s after they made all the payments to the recipients.
You would think with a surplus of that much money we would see a break on our taxes, or a reduced deficit. What does the government need $121 billion for? Maybe the government wants to buy up car companies, banks, and other private businesses? What if we don’t want Social Security or Medicare benefits? You can opt-out of receiving benefits, but you’ll still have to pay into the programs. After all, a tax is a tax.
If we do not pay taxes, the IRS gets upset and we get in trouble, possibly fined or jailed or both. How’s that for coercion?
Social Security isn’t our money, it’s my money and it’s your money being used for others. In 2017 Social Security will start running on a deficit, and will continue downward after that. I won’t be retired by 2017. It is incredibly probable that I will never see a dime from Social Security, and yet I am forced to pay for the program. If people want to retire, they should start their own savings account. The government has no business enslaving all of us to pay for others. I am my only responsibility.
© 2010 Nate Phillipps
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sodomizing America
One of the main principles this country was founded upon is freedom of speech. Since then, the government has tried to find a way to silence all opposition. In order to silence us, the government does not need to take our voices or our ideas; all they need to do is remove our system of communication. If we have nowhere to communicate, we essentially have nothing to say.
President Obama is working on creating an 'internet kill switch' that he can use whenever he deems the internet to be a threat to national security. Quoted as saying, "I will tolerate debate on war policy but I won't tolerate division," one can see where Obama stands on free speech. As long as your speech matches Obama's speech, you are tolerated. If you differ from Obama, then you are no longer tolerable.
The beauty of America is that no matter what your belief, you are allowed to state your belief, and pursue your belief (as long as you aren't harming anyone else). What better example of freedom of speech is there than the internet? I can communicate my ideas with people all over the country, and all over the world. If Obama gets his kill switch, he will be able to stop the flow of communication, the flow of ideas. Sure, we can live without the internet, but the internet has surpassed the Postal Service as the number one delivery method of messages. An internet kill switch is the equivalent of shutting down the Post Office, or burning all the letters deposited in the mail box.
Obama isn't the only government official who wants to control the internet. The FCC has started the process to classify the internet as a public utility, which would grant the government a monopoly on internet services, internet packages, and internet control. The first sites to go will be sites like this one. Eventually, any site that doesn't agree with the party line will be shut down. The internet is the new printing press, and the government will do anything in its power to shut it down.
Another founding principle of America was the freedom from excessive taxes. After spending an unprecedented amount of money on failed businesses and failed countries, Obama needed a way to quickly raise some money What better way than taxes? Of course, he doesn't want to come right out and say he's raising taxes. Instead, Obama has tried to make us believe that he's raising taxes for our own good. Cash for clunkers was a program that used your tax money and my tax money to buy vehicles for people who subscribed to the party line. Have a gas guzzler that's responsible for global warming? Trade it in and the taxpayers will buy you a nice 'green' car.
Or, how about health care? Shouldn't everyone have health care? Isn't free health care the American dream? Who cares if it isn't, if you need it, the taxpayers will foot the bill. We won't even see one benefit from the health care bill before we go broke from trying to afford it. And as if the guilt trip from everyone's health isn't enough, we're also at war. You don't want to be seen as unpatriotic do you? Then you shouldn't question the government when they ask for more money. When they demand more money. When they forcefully take more money.
Owning the automotive industry, the banks, the health care industry, Wall Street and destroying the American spirit isn't enough for the government. It's just the beginning. Cap and trade, the internet, the oil industry, health and food, education are all sitting squarely in the government's sight. After that, they will more than likely go after mobile phones, newspapers, and books.
But it's not enough to stop there. The government wants complete and total control. Of the economic recovery of our country, President Obama said, "Recovery also requires countries not having an undue advantage." Obama wants us to surrender our American values. Our country was founded primarily on our belief that we have unalienable rights that nobody can take from us. We believe that our country is the best country in the world. We acknowledge we have problems, but we know that even with our problems, we are several times over a better country than any other on the planet.
Now Obama is trying to make us feel guilty for our success. He wants everybody to be equal in terms of wealth, happiness, and status. The equality America promises is the equality of being able to pursue what makes you happy. There is no guarantee about being happy, or being successful. There only the guarantee that you will be able to try. Instead of letting people rely on their abilities, Obama wants to force everybody to perform at the level of the least able. We have seen this before in the No Child Left Behind Act. Look what it's done for our school system. The government will not stop until we are all peons, serfs, servants and slaves.
They will be burning our freedom in piles. In that sense there will be no difference between books, computers, cell phones, the American flag, and the Constitution; all will be ash in the streets of Washington.
© Nate Phillipps 2010
President Obama is working on creating an 'internet kill switch' that he can use whenever he deems the internet to be a threat to national security. Quoted as saying, "I will tolerate debate on war policy but I won't tolerate division," one can see where Obama stands on free speech. As long as your speech matches Obama's speech, you are tolerated. If you differ from Obama, then you are no longer tolerable.
The beauty of America is that no matter what your belief, you are allowed to state your belief, and pursue your belief (as long as you aren't harming anyone else). What better example of freedom of speech is there than the internet? I can communicate my ideas with people all over the country, and all over the world. If Obama gets his kill switch, he will be able to stop the flow of communication, the flow of ideas. Sure, we can live without the internet, but the internet has surpassed the Postal Service as the number one delivery method of messages. An internet kill switch is the equivalent of shutting down the Post Office, or burning all the letters deposited in the mail box.
Obama isn't the only government official who wants to control the internet. The FCC has started the process to classify the internet as a public utility, which would grant the government a monopoly on internet services, internet packages, and internet control. The first sites to go will be sites like this one. Eventually, any site that doesn't agree with the party line will be shut down. The internet is the new printing press, and the government will do anything in its power to shut it down.
Another founding principle of America was the freedom from excessive taxes. After spending an unprecedented amount of money on failed businesses and failed countries, Obama needed a way to quickly raise some money What better way than taxes? Of course, he doesn't want to come right out and say he's raising taxes. Instead, Obama has tried to make us believe that he's raising taxes for our own good. Cash for clunkers was a program that used your tax money and my tax money to buy vehicles for people who subscribed to the party line. Have a gas guzzler that's responsible for global warming? Trade it in and the taxpayers will buy you a nice 'green' car.
Or, how about health care? Shouldn't everyone have health care? Isn't free health care the American dream? Who cares if it isn't, if you need it, the taxpayers will foot the bill. We won't even see one benefit from the health care bill before we go broke from trying to afford it. And as if the guilt trip from everyone's health isn't enough, we're also at war. You don't want to be seen as unpatriotic do you? Then you shouldn't question the government when they ask for more money. When they demand more money. When they forcefully take more money.
Owning the automotive industry, the banks, the health care industry, Wall Street and destroying the American spirit isn't enough for the government. It's just the beginning. Cap and trade, the internet, the oil industry, health and food, education are all sitting squarely in the government's sight. After that, they will more than likely go after mobile phones, newspapers, and books.
But it's not enough to stop there. The government wants complete and total control. Of the economic recovery of our country, President Obama said, "Recovery also requires countries not having an undue advantage." Obama wants us to surrender our American values. Our country was founded primarily on our belief that we have unalienable rights that nobody can take from us. We believe that our country is the best country in the world. We acknowledge we have problems, but we know that even with our problems, we are several times over a better country than any other on the planet.
Now Obama is trying to make us feel guilty for our success. He wants everybody to be equal in terms of wealth, happiness, and status. The equality America promises is the equality of being able to pursue what makes you happy. There is no guarantee about being happy, or being successful. There only the guarantee that you will be able to try. Instead of letting people rely on their abilities, Obama wants to force everybody to perform at the level of the least able. We have seen this before in the No Child Left Behind Act. Look what it's done for our school system. The government will not stop until we are all peons, serfs, servants and slaves.
They will be burning our freedom in piles. In that sense there will be no difference between books, computers, cell phones, the American flag, and the Constitution; all will be ash in the streets of Washington.
© Nate Phillipps 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Awareness, Knowledge, Action
A lot of people agree with my views, and every single one of them has asked, "What can we do about it?" Knowing what a difficult task we have ahead of us, it is normal to feel overwhelmed. The most important thing is that while it is alright to feel overwhelmed, it is imperative that you do not feel discouraged. It will be a long, hard fight to win our country back, but we can do it. In order to make the changes necessary to restore our country, we need to follow three steps: Awareness, knowledge, and action.
Awareness
This step is simultaneously the easiest, and the most difficult step. The first thing that must happen is that people must be aware of what is going on. If you are reading this blog, you probably have, at the very least, an inkling that something is wrong with our country. Simply, if people do not feel an immediate and harsh effect from some law or government action, they will ignore it. The health care bill will affect every American, but the taxes and benefits don't kick in immediately, so by the time the crunch is felt, it will be too late. In order to raise awareness, we need to make sure that people understand that everything that happens will have some sort of effect, and that every voice that joins our cause is pivotal. People must understand that our country is being hijacked by our own politicians, and that it is our duty to prevent them from doing so.
Knowledge
Once people are aware, they will require knowledge. It is one thing to know something is wrong, but it is another thing to be able to explain what is wrong, why it is wrong, and how to fix it. The government assumes we are all uneducated. Actually that's not true. The government knows we are all educated, and they assume that their schools taught us to love the government no matter what. The government assumes we can't think for ourselves. In order to defeat the coruption, we must be able to think for ourselves. Our brains are our greatest attributes. We should never have to say something so moronic as, "We need to pass the bill to find out what's in it." Somebody wrote the bill, at least one person should know what's in it. I would prefer if every politician knew what was in it before they voted on it. Where the government and politicians fail, we need to step up and pick up the slack. We don't have to save them, but we do need to save ourselves. Nobody else will.
Action
Action will be taken. Maybe not today, tomorrow or even this year, but eventually, action will be taken. The biggest challenge we have is organization. The government owns the media. The government can talk to every American at once. The government does not own me. The government does not own you. They think they own us, but really, the citizens own the government. It has been too long since we have claimed our ownership, reminded them of our ownership. To this effect, we have a multitude of legal options before us. We have the plan, we just lack the numbers.
For now, focus on raising awareness and increasing knowledge. When the time is right, the action will happen. Until then, do not become discouraged, fellow patriots. We may be socialist now, but socialism cannot sustain itself, and eventually, we will be capitalist once more. Do not despair. $
© Nate Phillipps 2010
Awareness
This step is simultaneously the easiest, and the most difficult step. The first thing that must happen is that people must be aware of what is going on. If you are reading this blog, you probably have, at the very least, an inkling that something is wrong with our country. Simply, if people do not feel an immediate and harsh effect from some law or government action, they will ignore it. The health care bill will affect every American, but the taxes and benefits don't kick in immediately, so by the time the crunch is felt, it will be too late. In order to raise awareness, we need to make sure that people understand that everything that happens will have some sort of effect, and that every voice that joins our cause is pivotal. People must understand that our country is being hijacked by our own politicians, and that it is our duty to prevent them from doing so.
Knowledge
Once people are aware, they will require knowledge. It is one thing to know something is wrong, but it is another thing to be able to explain what is wrong, why it is wrong, and how to fix it. The government assumes we are all uneducated. Actually that's not true. The government knows we are all educated, and they assume that their schools taught us to love the government no matter what. The government assumes we can't think for ourselves. In order to defeat the coruption, we must be able to think for ourselves. Our brains are our greatest attributes. We should never have to say something so moronic as, "We need to pass the bill to find out what's in it." Somebody wrote the bill, at least one person should know what's in it. I would prefer if every politician knew what was in it before they voted on it. Where the government and politicians fail, we need to step up and pick up the slack. We don't have to save them, but we do need to save ourselves. Nobody else will.
Action
Action will be taken. Maybe not today, tomorrow or even this year, but eventually, action will be taken. The biggest challenge we have is organization. The government owns the media. The government can talk to every American at once. The government does not own me. The government does not own you. They think they own us, but really, the citizens own the government. It has been too long since we have claimed our ownership, reminded them of our ownership. To this effect, we have a multitude of legal options before us. We have the plan, we just lack the numbers.
For now, focus on raising awareness and increasing knowledge. When the time is right, the action will happen. Until then, do not become discouraged, fellow patriots. We may be socialist now, but socialism cannot sustain itself, and eventually, we will be capitalist once more. Do not despair. $
© Nate Phillipps 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Taxes Feed The Broken System
The government is spending massive amounts of money. Of course, the government doesn't have its own money; it has our money. What the government does have, however, is a monopoly on force, which can be used against American citizens. One of the government's favorite channels for this force is taxation.
Nobody I know enjoys paying taxes. I enjoy it even less when the government is moving in a direction I'm not happy with, or spending money on programs I don't believe in. I'm paying into Social Security, but soon that will be bankrupt.
I also payed for people to trade in their cars to buy new cars at a discounted price with the Cash for Clunkers program. People honestly believed that the government was giving them money to buy a new car. The government may have given them the money, but you and I financed it. In the movie business, we'd be credited as producers. In the government business, we get credited as suckers.
When preparing your taxes, you need to calculate how much you earned, invested, etc. Nowhere on the form are you made aware of what your tax money is going towards. With all the money the government spends, and all the taxes they collect, you'd think that somewhere (and somewhere easily accessible) you'd be able to find what exactly they're spending it on.
Falling short of a revolution or complete economic collapse, I have a proposition to fixing taxation, as well as the whole of government. The solution? Allocate. When we fill out our tax forms, there should be a list of government programs, well, basically a list of everything the government spends money on. Next to each item on the list, there should be boxes. We, as citizens, would place a check mark in each box that was next to a program we wanted our tax dollars to be spent on. When the IRS received all the forms, they would simply go through and figure out what percentage of check marks each program got. Then, any program that didn't receive enough check marks to balance their budget, would be terminated.
© Nate Phillipps 2010
Nobody I know enjoys paying taxes. I enjoy it even less when the government is moving in a direction I'm not happy with, or spending money on programs I don't believe in. I'm paying into Social Security, but soon that will be bankrupt.
I also payed for people to trade in their cars to buy new cars at a discounted price with the Cash for Clunkers program. People honestly believed that the government was giving them money to buy a new car. The government may have given them the money, but you and I financed it. In the movie business, we'd be credited as producers. In the government business, we get credited as suckers.
When preparing your taxes, you need to calculate how much you earned, invested, etc. Nowhere on the form are you made aware of what your tax money is going towards. With all the money the government spends, and all the taxes they collect, you'd think that somewhere (and somewhere easily accessible) you'd be able to find what exactly they're spending it on.
Falling short of a revolution or complete economic collapse, I have a proposition to fixing taxation, as well as the whole of government. The solution? Allocate. When we fill out our tax forms, there should be a list of government programs, well, basically a list of everything the government spends money on. Next to each item on the list, there should be boxes. We, as citizens, would place a check mark in each box that was next to a program we wanted our tax dollars to be spent on. When the IRS received all the forms, they would simply go through and figure out what percentage of check marks each program got. Then, any program that didn't receive enough check marks to balance their budget, would be terminated.
© Nate Phillipps 2010
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