Poor, pitiful thing.  Taxes are such a bad, bad thing. [sniff]

Once upon a time, in the early 90's B.C. (before Clinton), I was newly married; my spouse and I earned under 50K annually between us.  It was tight; I worked full time, went to school evenings, paid for much of my schooling out of pocket.  My spouse was still paying off his school loans, just finished paying alimony, had paid and continued to pay child support throughout the entire decade and never missed a payment. 

In spite of those awful, horrible, nasty taxes that Clinton made us pay (as if he alone was responsible for both the deficit which pre-dated his administration AND the taxes which paid it down), my spouse and I have managed to work our way to the upper percentiles.  We had good, stable jobs.  All our friends had jobs, too.

Frankly, we are your worst nightmare: living proof that the middle-class can pay reasonable, fair taxes AND manage to work to a degree of success.  We are proof that the upper class can still pay a fair amount of taxes and have a comfortable life.

We don't have ANY debt, save for the small amount left on our 15-year mortgage (yes, 15-year; we've been married nearly 14 years).  We fix stuff when it breaks rather than buy new (my washer and dryer are 22 years old).  We make major purchases only after considerable research for the best deal.  We try not to go out to dinner more than once or twice a month (and when the kids were quite small, as little as once a year).  Our vacations are on frequent-flyer mile tickets and we stay with family.  We try to save 50% of our gross income.

I made and still make my own sacrifices.  I cook most of our meals from scratch (much cheaper, tastier, healthier, more environmentally friendly than prepared/packaged products); I dry 50 to 75% of our laundry on the clothesline (25% reduction in monthly electric bills, let alone the positive impact on the environment).  I buy any item of clothing based on cost per wearing, not just because the item is trendy; I have no problem with shopping in consignment and thrift shops.  I patch and repair my entire family's clothes.  I've had one new car in my entire life, and it's now 6.5 years old.

That's how middle class people can get ahead.  We are living proof.  We did it.

But they DON'T get ahead when they are saddled with increasing debt incurred by spendthrift behavior and excess use of credit.  Neither will they get ahead if they allow their elected officials to be spendthrifts, throwing away money on pork-laden bills.

What do you do when the checkbook is low?  Keep spending on unnecessary luxuries?  Or do you pay the essentials, work on paying off debt, save for that rainy day?

George W. Bush has never really worked -- I mean really worked -- a gawddamned day in his life.  Somebody always came along in the nick of time and bailed his ass out of trouble, in spite of some huge messes he created.  He really doesn't know what it means to have to scrimp or save or cut corners.  I have no respect for him; he's simply not earned it, just as he's not earned much of anything in his entire, sad, shallow life.  Conservative, my *ss; the only thing he's conserving is his own backside.  His tax cuts did NOT help the middle class, nor did they encourage the middle class to try and save.  They only helped his kind, the very wealthy, and they don't need the help. 

You see, the very wealthy don't spend money in the same manner as the middle class; they hoard it, are chary with it. 

How do I know this?  Not only do I live it, but I've met it, had lunch with it at the country club, played golf with its spouse.  Yeah, I now know Money pretty damned well.  And I know Money doesn't give a rat's f*cking *ss about YOU and the rest of the middle class except as fungibles and humans assets in the supply chain of life.  (The lower class?  what, you mean the boy who shags the golf balls and puts my golf bag in the trunk?  or the girl who fetched that Grey Goose martini for me?  Feh. They're lucky to have a job.  It's a great country, ain't it?)

The rich put their money in shelters.  They find ways to pay fewer taxes, take write-offs on everything and anything possible.  They pay less as a percentage of income than you do, because they can.  I've been introduced to new tax shelters this year by other rich people (did you know I can write off 100% of my out-of-pocket medical expenses?  Neither did I); they do that, share the wealth with each other.  And you, poor sorry sap, will continue to trust this same rich guy who gave me this little pointer as he runs for office.  When he runs for office he'll tell you taxes are a very, very bad thing -- never mind that he's managed to use every shelter possible to pay only about half of the percentage you are paying now, or that his ultimate aim is to pay absolutely nothing in taxes while insisting on the same public services everyone enjoys.  You?  You'll eat it up, fall hook-line-sinker for his crap, you'll pull the switch like the trained, trusting chimp that you are, and you'll vote for him.  You and the golfball shagger.  Maybe even the martini-bearer since she's not well-educated.

You see, Mr. Money got very wealthy, incredibly, stinking, filthy rich, by being able to promote a product (himself), by selling a slick line of BS.  He got that lovely seven-, eight-, nine-figure accumulation of personal wealth by maintaining an intense degree of focus on his bottom-line.

And NOT by giving a rat's f*cking *ss about YOU.

So do you feel lucky, punk?  Go ahead, vote for Bush.

Me?  I make my luck.  And I don't vote for coke-rattled, AWOL-lying, irresponsible, spendthrift drugstore cowboys.

10:20:06 PM    comment []