Interesting Sticker

[gwano]

Saw this posted on a blog today. It sparked quite a discussion.
If you think about it, Jesus was about as far left as you can get.

if jesus was a leftist, how come he hung from the center of the cross?
Oh thats right gravity caused that.

[Donzo]

Pointless in continuing this.   Obviously the "rich" need more breaks in life.   

Enjoy!    BTW, you haven't a clue of my income, let alone, of my "work ethic".   I've seen enough at my age to live in fear for my 6 year old son. 

Wow, someone tries to enlighten you to some facts and you run from the conversation.

The truth of the matter is that the "rich" pay a bigger percentage of the overall total taxes paid.

[gwano]

I believe the top 1% of income producers pay about 40% of the overall income tax.

[Donzo]

I believe the top 1% of income producers pay about 40% of the overall income tax.

True.

Yet many think that the "rich" get tax breaks.

Same thing happens with the perception of oil company profits.  Yes, they have big profits but they also give up somewhere around 45% of their revenue to taxes.


Here's a nice illustration:

    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. What happens to 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.

[gwano]

The misconception of oil company profits centers around always record breaking profits seemingly every quarter.

in actual amounts, the percentage of profit per barrel of oil is in line with any major corporation on a percentage basis of profit markup. somewhere around 17% i believe.

the constant record breaking profits arise from the continued worldwide increse in demand and sales, which will not stop until global demand starts retracting instead of growing.