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Barstool Economics : For all you Colombianos,Euros and ......

....Even folks from the USA that need a unique and accurate way to view how our tax system works. With all the talk of healthcare reform, tax structure, salary capping, and all that other dandy stuff our new "fearless" leader has started to talk about, this is a perfect and entertaining read.

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, boys and girls, 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.

By Rocco81 on Aug 25, 2009, 18:33 in Off Topic.

Rocco81 says on Aug 25, 2009, 18:43:

BUMP

Sic semper tyrannis

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niolasarboleda says on Aug 25, 2009, 18:58:

Three guys go to a bar. They tell the bartender (for the sake of cultural relevance we'll say he's Colombian) that they're going to split the tab three ways, and they have a few drinks. At the end of the night, the bartender tells them the tab is $30 dollars and they put in $10 each. When he gets back to the register, he realizes that he made a mistake and that the tab is really $25. Making a papaya hedge bet with the $5 overcharge, he figures he can tell the guys that there was a mistake and give them back $1 each (they'll probably add it to the tip anyway), leaving them paying $9 each and he'll keep the other $2 for himself. So if each guy paid $9 ($27 between them) and the bartender kept $2 making $29, where's the remaining $1?

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our financial sector works :)

The Internet. Strengthening the case against free speech every day.

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utopiacowboy says on Aug 25, 2009, 19:15:

I got a better idea. Let's kill the tenth guy and take all his money and drink until we've spent it all. After that let's kill everyone on Wall Street and anyone who works for one of the bailout banks.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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Rocco81 says on Aug 25, 2009, 20:34:

Well Greg, you say working Poor. You might have some substance to that statement but we really want to define working and poor with the key word bieng working. Poor is relative. In the middle of the USA in Nebraska or Oklahoma for example, you can live a normal middle class life off of around 30k a year. Yes in my area that is not a lot of money and in any big city that isn't a lot of money, but in the majority of small towns and counties in the US that is enough to have an apartment, groceries, a car and not really be "poor". I do respect the working poor that you mention though, because typically they do not take from the gov. and are barely making it...but there is a big difference beteen worrking and non working poor that I think some people blur the line on.

Also I am not trying to be insensitive to the small business owners out here who are paying an arm and a leg for insurance, but almost ALL employers offer some sort of health care. Hell McDonalds offers full healthcare to its employees (very good health care actually) Walmart, pretty much any major chain in any mall, etc etc...Constuction jobs, mechanics, truck drivers..many of these if they are not already Unionized, offer insurance. Now, if you want to talk about illegal workers bieng uninsured that is another story all together.

Greg Im not trying to single you out but since you are the only one who responded seriously I will address your post. The whole bad schools thing, again I really think that is played out and blown waay out of proportion. Im the product of a public school from a very blue collar town, like probably the majority of the US is. There are a few examples of ghetto and poor schools, but again I think to assume that the government can step in and just fix the bottom of the barrel schools with a little cash is naive. You know why? Because they've tried that. Again and again...

Sic semper tyrannis

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Rocco81 says on Aug 25, 2009, 21:27:

Exactly AZ....like I want to be.

Sic semper tyrannis

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miamimike says on Aug 25, 2009, 23:55:

Rocco, on your comment about McDonald's workers(in the fry line/burger flipping capcaity) receiving Health Insurance, I doubt they get it cost free. They probably have to pay a portion(like Walmart employees) and at minimum wage, they never could afford their portion. But it makes good press. Many here in Miami in this wage class(working poor-miami last year was voted America's largest & poorest big city) are NOT offered insurance and if they are, many cannot afford it even if the company they work for subsidizes part of it. If you have to go out and buy a Private, Non group Policy( a decent one, not a Cadillac of a plan) such as with Blue Cross/Shield, this plan could easily cost you over $600 monthly minimally in after tax dollars. And if you have any pre-existing conditions, you won't even be able to buy a Policy. Period. And these "workers" are actually working,,,Thank God for Florida's Kidcare, at least the children of the working poor can receive Health Insurance(good also) from the State at a reasonable rate otherwise these Kids would be tossed into that group that cannot pay and enlarge the already huge numbers of nonpayers. And if Bush's plan in 2006 to grant Amnesty to 12 Million Illegals had passed, can you imagine the financial strain this would have placed on an already overburdened healthcare system of nonpayers? Thank God many Congressman and Senators had the Good Sense God gave a Goose and they rose up and defeated this Amnesty Give-away,,,Twice(they fooled me, I didn't think they had it in them)

No hay Peor Ciego que el que no quiere Ver o Sordo que el que no quiera Oir--Sarah Palin, Wasilla Alaska

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dwmte7 says on Aug 26, 2009, 05:23:

en re economics, president truman once said, "give me a one armed economist so he can never say.....'on the other hand' "

patriarch

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Rocco81 says on Aug 26, 2009, 06:37:

Miamimike - All very good points. I am not fully sure about the McDonalds health plan to be honest, but of course I am sure they do have to pay something. One way or another we all have to pay something.

I do agree though, that health care in this country needs a fix. I dont think our system is 100% perfect and there is always room for improvement but I simply don't think making the government more powerful in our lives and choices is ever the right answer.

Very good point on the immigration issue as well, this is one thing that people need to pay more attention to. The illegals that get health care for their children (see it in my neighborhood all the time) and emergency care for the adults (see it first hand as well..) and cannot possibly pay it back. We don't even have thier real names , addresses, etc...we pay for all of that. This is all going on the tab that will carry over into our grandchildren and their children after that.

Sic semper tyrannis

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miamimike says on Aug 26, 2009, 11:59:

Rocco--check this out inthe Miami Herald ; if Bush has his way in 2006, instead of the $33 Million this Hospital spent on Alien care so far this year, we would have spent $100 Million had Bush gotten his way.

http://www.miamiherald.com/103/story/1202441.html

No hay Peor Ciego que el que no quiere Ver o Sordo que el que no quiera Oir--Sarah Palin, Wasilla Alaska

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aztec says on Aug 26, 2009, 13:35:

Mm this kind of foolishness on the part of Bush is what cost him the support of the party base. He single handily gave the election to the extreme left. Of course our stupid elected GOP became just like other elected officials when they began eating out of the public dole.

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Rocco81 says on Aug 26, 2009, 14:51:

Good points again Mike.

Aztec...its mainly the cause of these cock sucking Neo Cons that we have Odrama in office now. Its actually a surprise he didn't win by more of a landslide with the shit thes 'mo's are pulling.

Sic semper tyrannis

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dwmte7 says on Aug 26, 2009, 16:04:

you brothers are all really intelligent and i truly admire you. what baffles me is why you get your drawers tight because one politico or another is a prick, a fake, a cheat, a dumb shit, a palin, a lier, a thief, a near do well, ad nauseum......for the love of mike, they're politicians, not brainiacs, nobody ever said they were rocket scientists....if anything, you were told they were liars and thievs. so why all the drama. they're fucking politicians...all of them, the good, the bad, the ugly, the rightists, the leftists...every damn last one of them. get used to it. they'll never meet your expectations, ever. again, get used to it. don't fight with your friends here. no body has the same ideals, dreams, opinions, once again, get used to it.

the real matter of importance, after reading you guys--the old guard--for many, many years, i'm pretty damn convinced you're all a great bunch of guys and i'd enjoy a drink with any of you, anytime. so why don't we treat each other like we were drinking buddies, church mates, friends? makes sense.
d

patriarch

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Rocco81 says on Aug 27, 2009, 05:36:

Doug, you are right...but ignoring problems doesn't make them go away. Anyhow this was just a candid look at how our tax system is roughly broken down. I thought it was neat because it put a large and sometimes complex system into layman's terms.

First round on me!

Sic semper tyrannis

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Rocco81 says on Aug 27, 2009, 07:25:

Yessireee..good to see you back around here.

Colin's site is very lame now..its cool that we can curse like sailors and verbally abuse others...but really its not working out there. Colin has completely flipped his wig.

Sic semper tyrannis

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