Charity Begins With Wealth Creation

Loading

John Stossel @ Reason:

Charity—helping people who have trouble helping themselves—is a good thing two times over. It’s good for the beneficiary and good for the donor, too. Stephen Post’s fine book, The Hidden Gifts of Helping, reveals that 76 percent of Americans say that helping others is what makes them most happy. Giving money makes us feel good, and helping face-to-face is even better. People say it makes them feel physically healthier. They sleep better.

Private charity is unquestioningly better than government efforts to help people. Government squanders money. Charities sometime squander money, too, but they usually don’t.

Proof of the superiority of private over government efforts is everywhere. Catholic charities do a better job educating children than government—for much less money. New York City’s government left Central Park a dangerous mess. Then a private charity rescued it. But while charity is important, let’s not overlook something more important: Before we can help anyone, we first need something to give. Production precedes donation. Advocates of big government forget this.

We can’t give unless we (or someone) first creates. Yet wealth creators are encouraged to feel guilt. “Bill Gates, or any billionaire, for that matter,” Yaron Brook, author of Free Market Revolution and president of the Ayn Rand Institute, said on my TV show, “how did they become a billionaire? By creating a product or great service that benefits everybody. And we know it benefits us because we pay for it. We pay less than what it’s worth to us. That’s why we trade—we get more value than what we give up. So, our lives are better off. Bill Gates improved hundreds of millions of lives around the world. That’s how he became a billionaire.”

Gates walks in the footprints of earlier creators, like John D. Rockefeller, who got rich by lowering the price of oil products, and Cornelius Vanderbilt, who did the same for transportation. The clueless media called them robber barons, but they were neither robbers nor barons.

They and other creators didn’t just give us products to improve our lives, they also employed people. That’s charity that keeps on giving, because employees keep working and keep supporting their families. “That’s not charity,” Brook said. ”(It’s) another trade. You pay your employees and get something in return. But the employee is better off, and you are better off.

Read more

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
29 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Charity must begin with wealth creation because poor people can be pretty stingy.
I have a new(ish) neighbor who recently retired as a bank manager.
He was telling me about how before ATMs his poor clients would cash their checks 100% and carry a wad around all month, spending it as they went.
But with ATMs they would rather just get $20 or $40 at a time.
He asked why, because those same folks used to carry all their cash.
—>>>Family steals from them when they sleep or threatens them for money when they are awake.
Usually these clients are older women who have children big enough to intimidate them.
Not having any money around saves them getting beat up.
Really sad.

Something about helping another that I posted before Christmas:

‘Twixt Damnation and Redemption

It’s kind of funny how small things can have such a big impact.
On the one hand, we have a man in his mid-fifties with a shattered knee who cannot work.
On the other, a young waitress who is struggling to get ahead, holding two jobs while trying to get into college.
It’s like this: Two years ago, I injured my knee. I don’t remember how it happened, save that I found myself laying on my back with my leg pointing straight up. Bent at the knee. My first thought was, “That isn’t right…” I had hyperextended my knee, shattering my leg for about two inches just below the joint. I was in surgery a few hours later, where the surgeon spent two hours piecing bone fragments together in an effort akin to assembling gravel back into a rock.
It went rather well, although healing took some time. One year later, I was back at limited work, walking almost normally, looking forward to what was to have been my final evaluation and clearance to return to work full time, without limitations.
But…
At the final evaluation, the doctor told me that I was developing advanced arthritis as a reaction to the trauma of the original injury, and it was progressing.
Yep. Two months later I could barely walk, and couldn’t work at all. At the moment, I can leave the house about twice a week, and am usually laid up in bed for a day or two after I drive anywhere. Makes it hell to get groceries, for example.
I have known since the arthritis hit that the only way for me to get back to almost full functionality would be to have knee replacement surgery.
My case manager got me an appointment for Nov 14, last Wednesday, for a consultation with a joint replacement surgeon. About time, let’s get this over with so that I can get my life back! I’m tired of being a cripple.

Now, let me digress. This is important later in my story:
About a week before, I was eating at my favorite restaurant, as part of my weekly get-out-of-the-house shopping expedition, when I overheard my waitress talking about how she had nearly frozen a previous night while waiting for her ride home. I asked her if she had a warm jacket, and she didn’t. She is 19, works two jobs, is trying to get into college, and like many people, can’t quite seem to save enough money for anything extra. So I offered to buy her a Winter jacket and a pair of warm boots. I’ve done a few things in the past that some people would call evil. I don’t, but then, I know the circumstances. Helping someone else out with no reward gives me some badly needed good-guy points. ‘Nuff said.

So, I’ve got an appointment with the surgeon for that afternoon. I call the waitress (We’ll call her “Sharon”) and we arrange to meet after my appointment at Burlington Coat Factory. Only because I met a woman in the waiting room who was wearing a beautiful coat who’d bought it there. Good a place as any.
I go to see the surgeon, I’m going to get an appointment for the surgery, I’m going to get my freaking LIFE back, I tell you, I’m riding high.
I come crashing down, and it’s a long way down.
Surgeon tells me that, because he has to go in through the incisions made in my previous surgery, that what should be a low-risk, ordinary operation has become a very high-risk operation indeed. High risk of complications such as deadly blood clots, paralysis of the joint, very bad infection in the knee, maybe even amputation. Not a joke, these are serious, odds-are-bad, danger-Will-Robinson risks.
He refuses to do the surgery. Maybe in a couple of years, when the old incisions have had time to heal. Maybe in five years. Maybe never.
I now have no hope of ever getting better.
I sat there in his office with my face in my hands, feeling dark despair. No hope. Crippled for the forseeable future. And my knee is getting worse. Instead of getting better, I am getting less capable every week.
I was supposed to take two weeks this Autumn for a hiking trip in the Appalachian mountains. I would have been carrying two weeks of supplies and my cameras. About 80 pounds. Now I can barely carry myself.
Soooo…. I left the doctor’s office, feeling mighty sorry for myself, knowing that I was entering a black depression that would last for days, if not weeks. But before I could let myself curl up into a little ball of sobbing manhood, I had one last promise to keep.
“For I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
How true. Feelings must wait on obligations. I pointed my car at the Coat Factory and rolled.
Sharon arrives, and we start shopping. Now, Sharon is an itty-bitty thing, maybe five foot tall in heels, and as cute as a box of puppies. Always cheerful, despite her rough life and long hours. She has a smile that just lights up everything, making it really hard to be depressed around her. I had a budget, I would spend no more than the cash in my wallet. But I’m insistant on two things- the coat has to be durable in quality and style. I’m not going to get her a jacket that will fall apart in a year or two, nor one that will go out of style. And it has to look good. Sharon is a pretty girl, she should have pretty things.
I have a seat, and she goes flitting off through the coat racks. Lots of nice coats, but nothing that’s right. Warm and ugly, stylish but thin, if you’ve ever gone shopping for women’s clothing you know what I mean.
And then… It’s as if the angels began to sing. She comes out with the Holy Grail of Winter coats. This thing is georgous. It’s thigh-length, very fine material, a good match for her complexion, beautiful stitching, fits perfectly, with a thick, warm, zip-in lining and a detachable hood with a fur lining. Real fur, too, not that acrylic stuff that mats up the first time you wash it. It is the by-God perfect coat for her.
I look at the price tag. *Cough* *Choke* $140.00. One Hundred And Forty Freaking Dollars!
WTF? My $25.00 Law Enforcement jacket is ten years old and still looks good!
$140.00. But wait, it’s been marked down. And marked down again. $59.00. *Whew*
Turns out it’s an adult cut coat with no adults small enough to wear it. Until Sharon.
Everything she liked was on sale. Way on sale. Quality stuff, too.
Gotta love a girl like that.
So, we walked out with a warm coat, warm boots, a pair of shoes, three sets of leg warmers, and a hat. And a bath towel, so she could sit in my car in her new coat without getting it dirty. Never mind that. I still had some cash in my wallet, so we stopped on the way to her house at a nice restaurant for dinner. Which is where I learned that Someone Up There approved of what I was doing. Remember my limit? The cash in my wallet? I hadn’t been keeping track, figuring that when the wallet ran dry, we’d stop.
After paying for dinner, I had one penny left.

I am making this a submission instead of a journal entry because there is a lesson here for everyone who reads it. It’s one that I have learned over the course of a long, adventurous life. Are you paying attention?
When you’re depressed, your life is in the toilet, nothing is going right, the best way to get better is to do something nice, something unexpected, for someone else. With no expectation of any kind of reward.
When I left the surgeons office after swallowing that bitter news, I knew that I was about to enter the pit of a black depression that would have lasted for weeks. The kind of soul-searing mood that makes ordinary people buy pickup trucks and write Country songs.
But by spending the afternoon with a bright, beautiful young lady, listening to her laugh, watching her smile, knowing that she was happy… that I had made her life more comfortable and made her happy when I didn’t have to, I never entered that depression. That good feeling carried me home, and now the danger’s over. I can look at the future and say, “Okay, what’s my next step?”
Granted, after that bit of walking and driving with my bad knee, I had to dope up and go to bed for two days, but it was worth it. I’m alive and everything’s going to be all right. One way or another.

And the related journal entry:

If you’ve read my latest submission, please allow me to point something out.
I am an a**hole.
Seriously. If someone comes up to me and asks for a handout, I’ll probably snarl at them “Get a job”.
I don’t give handouts.
The only reason I did what I did was because the person didn’t ask for help. They weren’t crying about what they didn’t have. They didn’t even know that I could overhear their conversation.
They were someone that had earned my respect, they needed a little help, so I helped them.
I believe in giving a hand up, not a hand out.
And I’ll do it with my own time and money, thank you. I won’t force anyone else to contribute. I’m no liberal.
Liberals would have taken the money from me in taxes and given it to this person. And about 40 cents out of every dollar taken would have reached the person who needed it.
I gave out of my own pocket and 100 cents out of every dollar reached the person who needed it.
And I got the side benefit of feeling pretty good about myself.
This is why I detest Government programs. Not only are they far more wasteful than private charities, they provide an excuse for people to look the other way when they see someone in need. “Oh, there’s a program for that, I don’t need to do anything!”
So the government takes more from us, and charities get less.
And people become more dependent on government, and vote for whoever promises them the most free stuff, paid for by the producers.
Which is why the USA is dying.
And we’re going to take the rest of the world with us, because we’re too interrelated.
I always thought that my nation would outlast me.
But then, I never expected to live this long.

And one more true story from my life, for those who care:

An Absence of Angels

It had rained earlier that evening, and as the heavy car glided down the interstate, he could not shake his black depression. He wasn’t certain that he even wanted to, he had grown accustomed to the mood. The overcast night was the perfect setting, the staccato hissing of the tires on the rain-wet roadway the perfect white noise to accompany his thoughts.
Approaching an exit where there was a truckstop, he remembered that he had failed to check the car before starting on his trip, as was his habit. The Cadillac had very few miles on it, and didn’t use any fluids, but still… He decided to pull off at the next exit to be sure.
He guided the car onto the ramp, letting the engine drag slow it until he pulled off onto the shoulder. If the Caddy needed anything, he would pull into the truckstop there. If not, he would cross the road and reenter the highway. At least it wasn’t raining anymore, just the overcast hiding the moon. A perfect night for his mood.
He heard the other car pulling onto the shoulder behind his before he saw the headlights. Glancing up as he shut the hood, he saw that one of them was badly aimed and knew it wasn’t a cop, so it was probably trouble of some kind. Before he stepped out where the other driver could see him clearly, he reached inside his jacket and unsnapped the restraining strap on the .45 in the holster on his belt. As the headlights went out, the door opened and by the dome light inside he could see two women. The driver got out and walked towards him.
“Excuse me, sir. Can you help us?”
Oh yeah, here it comes. First the sob story, then the request for money.
“We’re trying to get to Atlanta, and we’re broke and on empty. Could you put a little gas in our car?”
He felt that she was real… He could recognize fear, and she was afraid. Afraid that he would turn her down, and she would have to ask another. And another, and another, until she found someone who would help her. But what price would be demanded for that help, besides her pride? She wasn’t, after all, too unattractive.
“All right,” he replied, “Follow me to that truckstop.” He motioned with his hand. “I’ll buy you enough to get there.”
Sliding behind the wheel, deep in thought, he eased the caddy onto the ramp and turned at the top towards the truckstop. They were far from Atlanta. She pulled up to the pump behind him, and as he slid his Visa card through the scanner to turn the pump on, he glanced at the tag on her car. Fulton county, so she hadn’t been lying.
He filled her tank, more to make sure that it had really been on empty than out of generosity. She explained that they had been worried, not for themselves, but for her infant son in the back seat. He asked her if they needed anything else, and she said that she needed diapers, then half-laughed as she added that she probably wouldn’t find any in a truckstop. He smiled and responded, “You’d be surprised. They sell a little of everything in there. Go look while I finish up here.” He’d noticed the ashtray when he’d looked inside the car, and asked “Do you need anything else? Food, drinks, cigarettes?”
The last thing she had said to him was to thank him, telling him how she and her sister had prayed for God to send them an angel to help. He had laughed at that, replying that apparently all of God’s angels were busy, so she’d gotten him instead.

As he powered the heavy car down the ramp, gliding back onto the wet interstate, he spoke mockingly. “Thanks a lot, God. Now I’m out fifty dollars because you couldn’t be bothered.” He eased off the throttle as the Caddy reached his preferred cruising speed and continued, “So what’s up? They prayed for you to send an angel to help, and you let them down. Were all your angels too busy? Were those ladies unworthy because they smoked? Are you really as cold and unforgiving as our new office manager seems to think?”
He was silent for a moment, listening to the road noises as the car floated down the highway. “C’mon, God, why did I have to do it? I’ve seen the movies, I’ve watched the TV shows, why didn’t you send an angel to help them?”
As he eased back into the seat, a voice, polished with humor, spoke in his ear:

“I did.”

@Petercat:

Here is a true story that happened to me:

After Katrina hit, my wonderful spouse and I went to Mississippi to help with reconstruction. Americans helping Americans, or at least that is what I thought.

We hauled our RV to a RV park near the town where we would be helping. We covered all our own expenses, including the cost of the RV park, the gas to get there, our food, and the gas for the pickup while we were there. It didn’t take long to learn there are two kinds of people in a disaster; those who are willing to help themselves, and those who thinks help is owed to them by the rest of the nation. Sadly, the latter exceeded the former. Many people there, just like those in New Orleans, thought I owed them the help I was giving freely. Except for one person.

The RV park had a maintainence man that really had a drinking problem. He was in his mid-50’s, and lived in an old travel trailer that should have been used for a prop for fire training at the nearest firefighter academy. New people bought the RV park and decided they would fire him because he was such a drunk. So during the day he would hide in the woods next to the park, and only return late at night when all the lights were out, sleep a few hours, and return, to hide in the woods again. This went on for weeks.

I caught him sneaking back to his trailer one early evening as he wanted to get some beer out of the fridge. I confronting him, telling him that he had to do something if he wanted to keep his job, and his home. I learned he was a really nice guy, just a drunk. I also learned that he had lost his only son in a car accident when the son was only 16. The kid had been a straight A student, and was such a good football player, the major teams were already looking at him. He told me that was when he started to drink. After losing his son, he lost his wife to a divorce, and then his job as a diesel machanic that made really good money. His life had turned to crap.

I told the guy I was sorry, that I wished I could help him ease the pain of losing his son, and then went back to my RV. But I thought there has to be a way out of his drunkeness, if he really wanted it. I had made friends with a couple of police officers there in MS so I asked them if there was any help available. They told me of a place in Hattiesburg. I called and got a minister who said “Yes, we can help, if he wants it.”

When the maintainence man came back to his trailer a few days later, once again, I caught him. I asked if he would talk to me for a while and I told him that although his son was no longer with him, his son, who I felt was in Heaven, still had the right to have a dad he would have been proud of. He just shook his head as if all was hopeless. He then told me that his trailer, provided by the people who owned the RV park, was supposed to be part of his salary, but that it had not had running water for a year and that is why he never took a shower. I was shocked that anyone would do that to anyone. So I asked him “If I find you a place to go where you can start over and build a life, will you go?” He said yes and I told him to come see me in three days.

The first thing I did was call to see if the rehab center had a bed. They told me they would have one in a week and would take him if he agreed to all the rules. I then went to see the owners of the RV park and told them what I was going to do, and that if they harrassed him one more time, I would call the authorities on them for giving him a trailer with no running water and considering it to be $500/month toward his salary. Needless to say, the owners were not happy with me, but loved my check to them the first of each month.

Well, the end of the story is a good one. Mr. Maintainence Man went to the rehab center, gave up his cigarettes, and the booze, stayed the agreed six months then went to work for the center as a counselor. He stayed another six months, and the last time I saw him he was clean shaven, bathed with clean clothes and sober. Wal-Mart, that evil company that the left loves to hate, gave him a full time job. Since his trailer was just two slots down from me, people would ask me what happened to him after he left. I just told them he had moved on.

I returned to Texas but after I had been home about a year, I called a friend in MS and checked up on him. He was still working, still sober, had his own small apartment and had met a nice lady his age at church and had started to date her.

What did helping him cost me? Nothing but the gas to drive him to Hattiesbury. One person helping another person and the government was not involved in any way and his help cost the taxpayer nothing. The rehab center has a re-sale shop that helps support it along with contributions from private individuals. Charities like that one is nothing more than people helping other people become independent. Goverment only makes people dependent, and does nothing for a person’s self respect.

Petercat The lesson learned from your stories—even a==holes love to help pretty girls.lol

Retire05 A good story and good for you!

@Richard Wheeler:

Rich, it has been over five years since Mr. Maintainence Man went into rehab. I called a friend and learned that he, and his lady friend he met at a church, are now getting married. I also understand that he is now working again as a diesel mechanic.

Nothing will fill that void left in his heart when his son died. But as he tried to drink his way out of sorrow, he didn’t have anyone to believe in him. I figured that under all the filth and the drunkeness, was a good man trying to find his way out.

That private charitable rehab center in Hattiesburg is great. They only take those men who agree to stay clean both with the alcohol and by taking baths and changing clothes daily, but they have to work at the re-sale shop or on the dock receiving donations, and they have to attend church on Sundays. The minister admitted that you can’t make someone pray, or even believe in the Message, but attendance is required.

One odd thing happened when I took Mr. Maintainence Man to the rehab. He had to give up his pocket knife. Now, that almost quelched the deal. His pocket knife was a gift from his son, and he had been robbed before while drunk, so he didn’t trust anybody not to steal from him. He couldn’t make the connection between being drunk and being a robbery victim. The minister who ran the rehab told him to put the knife in their safe in a place where he would know if it had been moved, and that he could ask to see it at any time.

My whole point is that there is no government entity that could do for him what that charity did for him. He was already on food stamps, due to his income, which he sold on the streets for booze. Again, one person helping another is worth hundreds of thousands of ill-spent taxpayer dollars.

We have a Pregnancy Resource center in my county. We don’t support abortions, so women (mostly young girls in their mid-late teens, really) can come get help; diapers, formula, baby clothes, car seats, strollers, etc. We encourage them to stay in school, and encourage them to come by with their babies and we will baby sit for an hour while they do their homework. And we have people who volunteer to help these girls with not only their studies, but with learning how to care for their child. Many times they are girls born to unwed mothers (more often than not) and their parenting skills are not natural born. All we ask is that they provide us with their report cards so that we know they are at least trying.

That costs you, as a taxpayer, nothing. The PRC operates completely on donations. Sometimes it will hold a charity drive with an auction, a bake sale, a used book sale; you get the idea. I can’t tell you how many times someone will buy a bunch of cookies at the bake sale that cost $5., give a 10 dollar bill and tell us to keep it because it goes for charity.

There is no government agency ever created that has the ability to do as much good as a charity. Taking money from taxpayers to redistribute to others simply creates dependency, not independence. One of these days, perhaps liberal will wake up to that fact.

Retire05 I absolutely agree that private citizens helping their fellow beings in time of need is the ultimate and best solution.
The BIBLE teaches Christ cared for the “the least,the lost and the lonely” Those among us who are fortunate and able should help those less fortunate. “There but for the Grace—-”
I am personally opposed to income tax and would prefer a fair tax where people are taxed on consumption, particularly excessive consumption.
I’ve seen Consrvs.disagree,saying it is a right to accumulate and consume all one is able. I respectfully disagree.I believe the need to have multiple vehicles,houses, guns etc should be tempered by the desire to help up the less fortunate among us in any way we can. I SALUTE YOUR EFFORTS.

CHECK THIS ONE
CANADA OIL INDUSTRY IN THE WEST FROM ALBERTA TO BRITISH COLUMBIA,
AND NORTH TERRITORIES,
ARE LOOKING FOR SKILLED AMERICANS TO FILL THE NEEDED JOBS, ONE IS TARGETTING CALIFORNIA, BUT ALL STATES ARE WELCOME,
WELDERS, INGENEERS, ECETERA WELCOME

@Richard Wheeler:

The U.S. Constitution guarantees us our natural right to the persuit of happiness. Who are you, or any government official, to determine what makes me happy. That happiness might include multiple vehicles, guns, or art works by the masters. So no, I don’t agree with you on that.

As to the “fair” tax based on consumption. It would only hurt American workers as people reduced their consumption of goods, especially those who are poor or low income earners. Yeah, I know all about the “credit” for consumption taxs, but how is that any better than all the rules we have now? How about this: a flat tax rate of X%, paid by everyone, including those who get in-kind income from being on welfare? Why should a family earning $60K/yr pay taxes when welfare recipients get that much in welfare benefits but pay no taxes at all?

One rate; applicable to everyone. You earn $25,000/yr, you pay 15%. You earn $2,500,000/yr, you pay 15%. I don’t support the Marxist system of progressive taxation. It seems only liberals suffer from wealth envy.

Retireo5 One thing you can take to the bank.I don’t envy anybody’s wealth. Means absolutely NADA to me. Unimpressed. I’ve been around wealth most of my life. I’ve also been around abject poverty.
The measure of one’s worth has nothing to do with one’s money or possessions.

‘@Nan G,
@ petercat

I just loved your stories,
I said before of at 5years old, in an first day orphenage, going to bed,
with other children of my ages,
whIle missing my sisters 3 of them in another place according to their ages,
I was so lonely and sad, and I told GOD THAT NOW THAT MY PARENTS ARE WITH HIM,
HE MUST BE NOW MY FATHER AND ANSWER ALL MY WISHES,
HE DID, beyong my wildest fear when someone followed me in the dark street, which I felt the danger,
and ask FOR PROTECTION. WHILE RUNNING NEVER FELT MY FEET TOUCHING THE GROUND,
and so many other stories feeling the help of a POWER FROM GOD,I HAD NO DOUBT ABOUT IT EVER,
and helping other, telling the way I could see help them,
YES, I never turn away from those fantastic unbelieveble stories, where other get a smurf of doubt,
because they never paid attention when there was help, they took it as a normal thing done
from another kind and generous but not rich good person.
but I alway stayed alert to detect which was coming from a normal human and always surprise to observe the not normal event, some bad which I believe from hell itself,
and the other which are to weird and good they must come from GOD AND ANGELS TOO DIVINE TO BE OF THE EARTH,

Richard Wheeler
IT’S because of your military experience that made it not the first priority in your life is in it?
you have seen that which the citizens who never done it cannot grasp and understand,

retire05
yes you’re right, it would be fair if all get taxe,
good lesson for the poor also they would not be put aside of the other
like don’t belong to the society, it would give a pride they participate in the fabric of tax,

@retire05: #4
You are absolutely right, especially your last line. We don’t need outside help as long as we have each other.
The people who need help are better served by a safety net provided by their brothers and sisters than by a hammock provided by the government.
The purpose of good people is to help others on a path to self sufficiency.
The purpose of the government is to help them on a path to dependency.

@Richard Wheeler: #5
I really think that, in this case at least, what made her so very attractive was her attitude. I’ve always liked tough little broads.
But you do have a valid point!
I haven’t seen her since she got a better paying job at a restaurant which, sadly, I have neither the class nor the money to eat at.

@retire05: #7
One thing that successful charities have proven without a doubt is that the only realistic way to help someone for the long haul is to insist that in order to receive help, they must help themselves. Yes, there often is a need for immediate money with no strings attached, but to continue that aid will always, in the long run, harm both giver and receiver.

@retire05: #9
Retire, I would have to disagree with you on the Fair Tax. I think that people would probably increase their consumption, as prices would go down when the producers stop paying taxes.
If people didn’t consume more, then they would be saving more, which would also be a plus.
I wouldn’t have to tell the government every year how much I’d earned, nor where.
The hidden taxes which take such a big bite out of everyone’s income would disappear.
The money currently invested overseas would return to the USA for investment in OUR economy, along with a lot of foreign investment, as the USA became the world’s largest tax haven.
The cost of preparing taxes every year would disappear, as would the business expenses of maintaining an army of tax accountants and lawyers on staff.
People with underground incomes such as drug dealers wouldn’t be able to avoid paying taxes.
And since producers wouldn’t pay taxes, prices would fall. It’s called competition.
And, if instituted on a local level, anything that you bought would remain yours, without your having to pay “rent” to the government every year in order to keep and use it. (Property taxes).
And on and on.
No, the fair tax isn’t perfect, but it’s probably the best idea out there as a whole. And if you want to see the economy come roaring back, let’s implement the Fair Tax, as currently written.

@Richard Wheeler: #10
Exactly right. On the nose.

Petercat
it seem for many that once we start to help, they put you in the spot to continue,
I have experience that, almost each time I started to help, and help and help and stop
than they ask for it regardless if they don’t know if you can ,
it is the dependency of those on welfare also,because they get it as a stable regular same day,
for them to forget even they are on welfare, and it’s only payday when it come,
they grow up with the mindset that they should no have to pay for anything.

@ilovebeeswarzone:
Thanks, Bees.
You’re beginning to sound like one of those “tough little broads” that I’m so fond of!
Being a good person carries with it so many more rewards than the alternative…

@ilovebeeswarzone:#20
I’ve run into people like that, even in such areas as the guy at work who is constantly borrowing lunch money. My response is “I didn’t agree to raise you.”
Or give them an opportunity to earn it- “My lawn needs to be mowed”.
Just remember, there is nothing wrong with saying “No!” when necessary.

@Petercat:

Since I don’t agree with taxpayer funded “forced” charity, where politicians get to pick the winners and losers, I agree with you on that.

But I don’t agree with the “Fair” tax as it will never work. Based on a consumer tax, in order for it to be reasonable, and not drive up the cost of products, goods and services, all 50 states would have to agree to revamp their taxing structures, and that will never happen. Politicians in D.C., and state capitals, are not going to agree to give up such cash cows as gasoline taxes, just as one example.

Nope, we could eliminate all those agencies you mentioned with one page tax returns:

How much did you earn in the year 2012 in wages or in-kind contributions?

Multiply that by .10 (or 10%)

Pay the total.

End of story.

I also think we have to do something about those who pay no taxes, except for sale tax where applicable, for what they receive from the taxpayer. Why should a family earning $60K/yr have to pay taxes, but a welfare family that gets $60K/yr in welfare benefits pay nothing? We also need to put an end to the Earned Income Tax credit. Why is someone sent a check from the IRS for more than they paid in? Yet, in its ultimate wisdom, Social Security benefits are taxable. An middle class wage earner who draws Social Security, along with their spouse, will wind up in the 15% tax bracket and even the money that the government withholds for Medicare Part B is taxable income. A couple where the husband draws $1,800/mo and the wife draws $900/mo in Social Security benefits will pay well over $1,000.00 in federal income taxes.

Petercat
yes you have the answer, but you know, they come on a time that it come out unexpected,
in the middle of ; hi how are you ,what a nice day, can I borrow a fifty till tonight?
I use to think,; ah till tonight, and I take what money I have , and they put you on a stand by,
tonight never come, neither the next day, none ,
then the next week I take my courage and call to demand it. oops
they had forgotten it, FORGOTTEN, DID YOU SAY FORGOTTEN, I NEED MY MONEY NOW;
THE borrower say, okay, I’LL SEE WHAT I CAN DO, CLICK,
AND I HATE THE PERSON, AT THAT POINT,
WELL I don’t have that problem anymore,
no I did not kill the borrower, I moved out, from that neighbor the inlaws. they email me, they phone
I don’t answer nothing, I ERASE THEM OUT OF MY LIFE

bye

Petercat
you said an important fact about the lawyers working for the government, they are quite an army of them and on the PEOPLE’S DOLE, I HEARD OF THE EXCESS OF LAWYERS IN THE WHITE HOUSE NEVER SEEN BEFORE,
they are paid hundreds of thousands for their services,
just the removal of those would reduce on the debts, don’t they think about it at the WHITE HOUSE?
BYE

there is 5 feet of snow and still coming,
they say it will be the biggest storm in many years.

@ilovebeeswarzone: #25
Yeah, they always seem to forget. And then they get angry if you remind them. Funny how when they’re borrowing, they need it right then, but when it’s time to pay it back, “I’ll see what I can do.” My sister was like that, thank God she moved 400 miles away.
I have a friend who owes me over $600.00, but he just can’t afford to pay me back. He doesn’t mind helping me with physical labor when I need it, though. So it’s okay.
Toss a few snowballs for me, Bees. All we’ve had down here is cold rain. Hasn’t been cold enough to freeze water here yet.
Of course, the highest electric bill I’ve seen yet (all electric heat) has been $130.00…
Waiting for my heat pump.

Petercat
I had to shovel twice on my back door which open on the outside,
I had to squeeze myself out on the first time, like open squeeze out a bit and repeat until out,a good 6 feet,
and I fell in a hole on the side because of the elevation of the ground,
and I was stuck there scary feeling, I lay down and crawl my self out,
it’s the second time it happen in the last 2 years, it suck you in the more you move,
I think you must have hurt a lot with the knee is a sensitive place and it take a long time to heal,
you at least could have chosen another spot to hurt less, but no you went all the way and choose the knee,
hope you get heal faster, another sensitive place is the rib cage, I had that bad fall 2 years ago,
my big sheffard ask to go out and it a black moon nothing to see outside, I TRIP ON A PACK OF METAL
THE WORKER PUT THERE I HAD FORGOTTEN THEM, AND I FALL FLATT AND LIKE A ROCK,
IT TOOK ME A GOOD 3 MONTHS TO RECOVER FROM THAT ONE VERY PAINFULL TOO
BYE

Petercat
I FOUND A NEWS PAPER CUT OUT , info concerning your knee,
question;Isaw my doctor for pain and inflammation in my knee,
he said I have arthritis cause by a bacterial infection, could this be true?
doctor on the newspaper answer; the main cause of the most common type of arthritis is wear ans tear,o
of a joint, HOWEVER AN OVER ACTIVE IMMUNE SYSTEM THE CAUSE JOINT INFLAMATION
CALLED RHUMATOID ARTHRITIS THE CAUSE ARE UNKNOWN.
BUT JOINT WICH COMPRISE ALSO KNEES ALSO CAN BECOME INFECTED WITH BACTERIA AND FUNGI, THESES MICROBES MAY DIRECTLY INFECT THE KNEE OR OTHER JOINT,
EXAMPLE THROUGH A PUNCTURE WOUND OR MAJOR INJURY, BUT more often the infection spread
to the knee or other joint by traveling through the bloodstream from somewhere else in the body,
once the microbe reach the joint it can multiply, THE immune system recognize the invader foreigner
and try to wipe it out, THE infection and the immune response cause WARMTH, PAIN, STIFNESS AND
SWELLING,
SEVERAL TYPE OF BACTERIA CAN CAUSE ARTHRITIS; BORRELIA, BURGDORFERI,
THE DIAGNOSTIC OF INFECTIOUS ARTHRITIC IS MADE BY REMOVING THE FLUID FROM THE JOINT THROUGH A NEEDLE THE MICROBE CAN BE IDENTIFIED THROUGH THAT FLUID, ONCE DIAGNOSE YOU NEED AN ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT IT SHOULD ELIMINATE THE INFECTION
THE MORE ADVANCE CASE NEED TO PUT A DRAIN IN THE KNEE TO LET THE FLUID CONSTANTLY DRAIN OUT OF THE BODY. YOU NEED TO BRIEFLY IMMOBILIZE THE JOINT BUT START MOVEMENT AS SOON AS YOU CAN FEEL BETTER, AND TAKE ALL THE ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIBE, USUALY ITS 10 DAYS, IMPORTANT TO DO, AND TO AVOID INFECTION NUMBER ONE, PRACTICE SAFE SEX, AND NUMBER 2; PROMPTLY CLEAN WOUNDS AND NUMBER 3; USE THICK REPELLENT TO AVOID LYME
DISEASE AND WEAR LONG PANTS IN THE WOODS,
BYE