Feel Like A Chump?
Tomorrow’s show will feature an interview with Richard W. Rahn is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth. If you are not familiar with the Cato Institute click here. It is a libertarian think tank. And for my money you rarely these days hear this much common sense on economic issues.
Here’s a piece of the Rahn column I read this morning.
It only gets worse. Congress now proposes a stimulus program, in addition to the already passed TARP program, which will cost the typical American family more than $20,000 (a small portion of which may be returned as tax credits). If Congress reduced your family’s tax burden by $20,000 this year, and let you spend the money, rather than Congress spending the money (after the government’s normal overhead and handling fee), would the American economy be worse off or better off?
Just remember, those members of Congress who vote to tax you and spend your money on “bailouts” and phony “stimulus” may be calling you a “chump” behind your back.
Yes … they probably are. Here’s a link to a “chump roundup” over at Instapundit. Please click and thanks.
Feeling like a chump is not a new experience. It first struck while I was sending my children to college. Because our family had been frugal, had foregone vacations to the Bahamas and ski trips to Aspen, had accumulated savings, lived in a modest house we could afford (by the way, with a 12% mortgage), we were denied tution aid because "our need was not so great". That year, my earnings were just enough to pay taxes and the tution bills to three universities….that was it! We lived on our savings.
Did I feel like a chump? Absolutely. The lesson: be responsible, be frugal, work hard, and sacrifice. Your payoff: higher tax rates, paying for somebodies else's children to attend college, being called "selfish", and lectured on how I'm not paying "my fair share".
Unfortunately, nothing has changed. Now I'm retired, living on pension and savings. And what does Nancy Polosi want to do? Tax my 401k "windfall profits". Chump city, right here.
Our experience was close to emgee's. When our two sons went to college 20 years ago, we'd saved 1/2 of what we needed to pay for their educations, even with them working and contributing to the savings. Needless to say, we did not qualify for financial aid either. Adding insult to injury, the other students thought we were rich because of the absence of financial aid, but they had their own cars, computers, and all the other "toys" while our boys did without all of that. Back then P.C.'s were not essential for every student.
After they graduated, we continued our thrifty habits to save for retirement. Now that we are retired, the government wants to tax us even more. If they'd just leave us alone, we wouldn't need so much of their "help."