The article that your will find below was emailed to me.  I’m not sure when it was published but there is some interesting truth in what Charlie Reese discusses.  These 545 people create problems that they then need to find creative ways to solve.  Most of the creativity as of late is to spend money on the problem and money never solves a problem.  It just digs a deeper hole that we need to try to crawl out of…  We all need to seriously think about learning to speak Chinese…they own this country and are buying our debt and funding the agendas of the 545.  Things in life aren’t free and we need to stop!!! Take our hard knocks and start to rebuild.   The 545 need to remember the founding principles of this country… and those that don’t need to be gone!  It is your responsibility… VOTE them OUT!

By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.  Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don’t propose a federal budget.  The president does. You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does. You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one  president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human  beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague  this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.   In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank. I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.. They have no legal authority.  They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.  I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.  The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

I received an email from a business associated that had some of these neat little tidbits below… All it said is that it was from an advertising firm.   If you happen to know or have a link to the original source please let me know.

Since our current economic condition here in the USA has us all thinking in terms of Billions I thought it might be interesting to put that term into perspective.  The number is almost an incomprehensible number and while it just seems to roll off of people’s tongues what does it really mean?

A billion seconds ago – It was in 1959.

A billion minutes ago – Jesus was alive.

A billion hours ago – our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

A billion days ago – no one walked on the earth with two feet.

A billion dollars ago – about 8 hours and 20 minutes at the rate our government spends it.

Let’s look at Katrina and New Orleans and their request for 250 Billion Dollars to rebuild…

If you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans that means every man woman and child in the city would get $516,528.

Each of the 188,251 homes would get $1,329,787.

If you are a family of four you would get $2,066,012.

So what about the $700 Billion for the bank bailout?

That is enough money to fund complete medical care for every man woman and child alive in the US for 11 years!

Needless to say at $6.93 I have to take a loan against future payouts in order to be able to do anything.  Our dinner at the local Mexican restaurant was more that 5 times that amount (with tip of course), the movie tickets were $9.25 each and the popcorn and soda pop to go with them cost more than many 3rd world families have to spend in an entire month.

I figure at this rate I am going to need to have between 9 and 10 more paychecks to cover the evening out.  I got a little caught up in the moment of having that money to spend which encouraged me to do just as our government is doing… deficit spending!!!   Fortunate for me personally, I only need 10 more paychecks to cover my little splurge…

Put into perspective… our 700 BILLION dollar stimulus package divided by approximately 350 MILLION Americans is about 2000 dollars for each man woman and child in this country. (Tax payer or not.)  If I gave the government back their $6.93 per paycheck I would need about 289 paychecks to cover my $2000 of their stimulus spending.  (That’s 11 years for me!) An you know what that doesn’t include any interest.  The money doesn’t grow on trees.  It has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is typically going to get an interest payment as well.

There are a couple of conditions that cause the reporting… You need to receive payments of more than $20,000 AND you need to have more than 200 payments made to you.   I know for me that the AND portion of this bill becomes pretty significant.   Both conditions must be met before there is any reporting by Paypal.  In the original bill these reporting requirements were much smaller than those that were finally signed into law. 

So when does it all happen?  January 2012, Paypal will need to send 1099s to all of their customers that meet the requirements. 

You can see a full article by Ken Swab on the Paypal blog.

So this brings up a few interesting questions…

• At what point is an eBay sale considered taxable income?  (Do you report garage sale income as taxable income?)
• What other legislation is out there that might have an Internet sales reporting clause?
• What are the logistics of tax reporting for local jurisdictions and the Internet sale?  (ie… should a seller in Washington state be required to collect New Jersey sales taxes for products that are being shipped to a New Jersey locale?

As Earth Day (04/22) approaches, the city of Seattle is making the news with their announcement this month of a PLAN to begin taxing paper and plastic bags at grocery and convenience stores.  The plan calls for a $.20 cent tax on each bag that you use.  The idea being that with the money raised Seattle would be able to provide everyone in the city with a reusable grocery bag and perhaps other recycling programs.

I’m all for making the environment a better place for everyone but really $.20 for each bag you need?  Surely there must be a better plan that could be put into place.  I know when I head to the grocery store for my weeks worth of shopping the 1 bag that Seattle is going to give me isn’t going to even come close to what I need to get my groceries out of the store. And the reusable bags… our local grocery store charges somewhere in the neighborhood of $.99 for each of them.   For me not an issue – but what about those (think fixed income, and poor) that don’t have an extra buck laying around… not to mention an extra $10 or $15.  Every penny counts when you live paycheck to paycheck.

Why can’t we go down the road of personal choice instead of taxation?  Have the stores give me a rebate each time I bring my bags in for re-use.  $.20 seems rather extreme but even a few cents each time provides me with the incentive to bring them from home and to remember to bring them into the store when I get there.  Another tax is not the solution.  My current grocery store is doing this now and while I don’t know the success or how the program is funded I certainly made the choice to purchase the reusable bags.

Another question I have about this tax… who administers it?  Are they going to create a whole new department that has its set of overhead?  Perhaps that is why it needs to be $.20, they need to pay for the administration and enforcement of the program.   Not to mention the burden on the merchants for reporting, and payment.

Final question… you ever drive down the highway and notice how many pop cans, and beer bottles there are tossed out the window?  If you want to make a serious dent in recycling why doesn’t the state require (as other states do) a deposit on every bottle and can sold?  If you have to pay an extra $.60 for a six pack of beer you are much more likely to save the cans so that you can get your $.60 back… and if you don’t someone will.

"Green" is a great idea… but I think this tax goes too far too early in the "go green" mentality that is starting to make inroads not only with individuals but with corporate America.  Taxing people turns them off.  I don’t see this tax as doing anything different.