A nice Raise

I pay income tax.

Most of us do when we have income. This is what supports the functions of our government and pays George Bush's salary and the no bid contracts for Vice President Cheney's company Halliburton. I think of income as money I get. I do something...I get paid...That's income.

Someone hands me a twenty for no good reason? They may be stupid but I have income of $20 as a result. My government gets a cut for keeping the money supply in balance so it's worth something and also for guarding the borders and keeping terrorists and Fidel Castro from coming here and taking it away from me. Tax is the part of my income that I throw in the collective pot supposedly for the mutual benefit of all of Americans. This is the deal we make by staying here and living in America. Other countries have different deals, but I like this one best.

One of the things I don't like about our system is the ability of people in high places to give themselves lots of money...not paying their fair share. Here is a little example of someone in a high place in government giving themselves 12.7 million dollars...

At some point in the coming years, this guy is going to be given about 76 million dollars. This is the same deal as the twenty I would get only bigger...much bigger. Until last week, the part of that he would have had to throw into the collective pot to help America function would have been 12.7 million dollars more than it is now. This is not a poor man we are talking about. His net worth is in the 20 to 30 million range now.

So this multi multi millionaire goes to Congress and askes them to not make him pay his fair share of tax. Congress does the right thing and says, "Sure, incredibly rich person! You didn't earn this money it was just given to you so you should keep it all." Congress passed a bill stating just that and this person signed it for a nice 12.7 million dollar profit.

Well done, Mr. President.

Perhaps nobody will notice that you paid for this in part by stealing it from Social Security, specifically the $255 per month payment to WIDOWS!

There's a lot more here...You won't like it, though...

Greg Palast


Peace,

Steve