O brother, where art thou…

I joined facebook rather tentatively but I have found myself pleasantly surprised at how much I like it. I have connected with old friends I never expected to see or hear from again, Planet A2 friends and neighbors, Moominbeach neighbors and even a few Sault Ste. Siberian business-type connections, and familyfamilyfamily. And various rather random pages. Clyde’s Drive-In, anyone? Well, heck, it was because I followed Clyde’s on facebook that we ate there the first day. (It also helped that we were in Sault Ste. Siberia that day.)

Like most responsible fb folks (whatever “responsible” means), I have my own set of rules for what I post. I decided very early on that I would not play facebook games (mafia, farmville, whatever). I don’t do memes in general, so that was an easy one. (Although they are sometimes tempting.) I did a few “quizzes” early on but once I figured out that most of those are written by bored 15-year-olds (what band instrument are you, etc.), I quit. (Even though they are sometimes tempting.) I do *not* do political posts on fb. I believe that my carefully selected “friends” range from Tea Partiers to, well, I’m not sure exactly where my one Yooper friend lands on politics because I can’t always understand what he says. Communism isn’t quiiiite right… But I like to read what all of these people post. I don’t want them to “unfriend” me because I hold different opinions. I want to know what everyone thinks.

So, a meme (is that the right word for this?) that has been going around the last couple days goes something like this (it has many variations):

Remember when teachers, public employees, planned parenthood, and PBS crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither.

I didn’t post this on facebook but I’m posting it here because this is my blahg and I can cry if I want to… I really do believe that some of the truly rich are probably not paying their share of taxes. I don’t mean people like me (or my parents) who worked our you-know-whats off for a lifetime and finally have a family income that some people might classify as “rich”. I’m talking about those folks who have enough income that they can (and do) take advantage of tax “loopholes”. We have been talking about loopholes ever since I filed my first teensy tinesy little 1040-EZ (or whatever it was) and after a year of barely having enough to live on, got a couple hundred dollars (or whatever) refund.

So. Did those folks who skewered our already [arguably] fragile economy into the ground a couple years ago get off Scot-free? I bet some of them didn’t. But others probably did and are living an extravagant life somewhere.

After some phone calls with The Commander, I have lost my train of thought. But what happened to all those investment banker-type folks? The ones who led our country into a deep recession. My dad and granddad were bankers. Our families had enough money to do whatever we needed to do but we were not rich. And those old bankers were honest.

I am done. For tonight.

3 Responses to “O brother, where art thou…”

  1. Uncly Uncle Says:

    I don’t understand the point of the question (laced with democrat talking points) no one asked.

    I DO remember the government is confiscating more money than ever and, as if that isn’t enough, the government is borrowing money it can’t pay back, and if that isn’t enough, the government is printing money and, if that isn’t enough, the government is making commitments for expanded programs to the population that will have to be paid by future tax payers or through unfunded mandates to the states.

    Now, BO want more taxes (and calls it a “spending reduction”). He also call not taxing something “spending”. I say, slash the spending before you ask anyone for a damn dime. Grab your ankles KW, they are coming after the internet for taxes.

    -UU

  2. kayak woman Says:

    Hmmm… You know more about economic stuff than I do. But I wasn’t lacing my question with Democratic talking points. I am not a member of any party and I don’t want to expand “programs” either. But one of the major reasons that our country is in a recession now is because of the ridiculous meltdown that happened a few years ago. A few too many people got to livin’ large and the rest of us are paying the price. We are not out of that mess yet and I don’t know how to get out of it. But taxing the little people more is not going to do it. And I don’t think that the ultra rich are creating a whole lot of jobs, as some of the republicans think they will.

    I am not enamored of any political party right now, but give me a reason to support the GOP. I’m all ears.

    (Seeya at Houghton Lake! 🙂

  3. Margaret Says:

    Well, I’m not an anarchist so I do understand that we have to pay for the programs we have with tax revenue, but it does seem EXTREMELY unequal these days. Powerful people and business seem protected, so the rest of us(like teachers) are taking it in the shorts. Most people seem to want more yet with tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. Huh? Could that be why we owe all that money and have run up some frightful bills with our two wars? (thanks GWB) I’m hoping to get out of those places soon(today?) and start figuring out how we’ll fix this mess we’re in. Strangely enough, I just posted that clip on my FB; I couldn’t resist!