Middle Class Part 5: Paying to Live for Free

Now- Get: See, I get it. It boils down to, and I realized this quite some time ago, that the only way to get paid a lot of money for the work you do is:
1) to either learn, or be born with, an ability that not too many people have, and that people will pay to see, or to use, etc. (be able to hit a baseball thrown at 95 miles per hour, or dream up a computer software structure such as Windows that most of the country uses);
2) or work harder than most others to develop a physical or mental ability not otherwise granted to you naturally by fate;
3) be lucky or beautiful if you are not infused with talent or determination;
4) or fool people into believing you can run a multi-million dollar corporation and then accept a buyout after having proven that you don’t know the first damned thing about running a corporation.

So, the reason my kids don’t have a prayer in the world of attending a good college which will help them get a good job, that will allow them a decent living, and help them toward the social and economic goal of becoming more significant is because I am one ignorant, unmotivated, uncoordinated, talentless bastard! I get it.

This is our country: We live in a country where we are free to do plenty of things we want to do. We do, in fact, pay to live here, through various forms of taxation. And I choose that alternative rather than to live for free in Africa. I welcome being taxed as long as it is fair, and as long as it is proportional with the tax exacted from other income classes. And what I mean by fair is figuring out how much money the top 1-10% of people are accumulating and seeing how much they are taxed or otherwise giving back to the community or to charity. Because even if they are in a higher tax bracket, I wonder that the richest 5% need that many homes, vehicles, vacations, jewels, servants, etc. Dolts will tell you they earned it and many of them have, and people not even in that group will support their being able to keep all of it, but no one needs that many THINGS and I'm not a socialist for stating that very obvious point. Everyone who is not in the richest 5% shakes their head in disgust wondering at what point the richest people in the country might finally be satisfied that all their desires can be met. To everyone else, the uber-rich, and their lifestyles are instinctually disgusting.

A monopoly on class: Before making this into a class war from the get-go, I wonder that the government needs to be grabbing as much of our money as they are, including the money that many of the rich have earned by working at least as hard as anyone else- starting businesses, working long hours, late hours, overnight hours, risking their own money in the pursuit of a better life- the ultimate in capitalism. For whoever risks most should achieve most, as long as the risk is legal and fair, and doesn’t harm any but one’s competitors in the process, and as long as the victor does not create a monopoly situation, where too often the consumer has to pay more for less- whether that comes at the hands of a cable or phone company, or a chain of grocery stores that only sell one kind of canned corn and can charge more for it.

A proof pilgrimmage: In order to find out if we are over-taxed, or if we (the middle class) are overtaxed proportional to our income level compared to the upper class I have to do some research. I am in the middle of it and before beginning I had to determine if I would rather teach a blind pig how to detassle a field of corn, or do some google searching to find out where our money goes. As I remember my two days spent detassling at $3.65 an hour when I was 15, walking home with a severe sunburn and a rash between my thighs- I figured I would see how good I was at hunting down some numbers. I am probably about as qualified to start upon this long adventure as I am to teach a creature who likes to roll around in the mud any farm duties. At any rate, I typed: “where does our tax money go” into the Google search bar and was on my way. You might say this is a pilgrimmage that won’t end with any degree of satisfaction in my finding proof- at least not the kind that is believed, trusted, or welcomed by those that stand to lose the most- presented by a guy like me. They'll lose nothing to be sure, for even were I to prove my point and find millions who agree with me, nothing will change. Who am I? Well, you have to start somewhere- George Will (political and social theologian), Ken Burns (historical documentarian) and the like, are busy with other panaramic subject matter, though not as allegedly inherently fraudulent as the US government's insatiable need for tax money.

Government Intake: From an April 10, 2005 David Wallechinsky parade.com article. I learned that the government spent $2.5 trillion in 2005, at least that is what they took in. According to him, that money is collected in the following manner- income taxes- $894 billion, payroll taxes and related receipts- $774 billion and corporate income taxes- $226 billion. Along with that, the government borrows $427 billion (which is what continues to make the national debt grow, along with the interest accrued). Incidentally, an April 15, 2007 msnbc.com article written by John W. Schoen indicates that the federal government must keep track of where $2.7 trillion goes- so it seems that they get an extra 100- billion every year (as Wallechinsky in 2005 indicated the feds had $2.5 trillion to spend). Hopefully, I’m understanding the difference between $2.7 and $2.5 trillion (a difference of $200 billion?) I’m not used to dealing with numbers over a few thousand dollars.

Government outlays: Wallechinsky writes that three-fourths of the federal budget goes to four areas- the military ($527 billion), health-care (Medicare and Medicaid and other social programs- $721 billion), interest on the national debt ($321 billion) and Social Security ($519 billion). I could get into further gradations of what makes up the $527 billion to the military- things like paying out to the FBI and CIA and aid to foreign governments like Israel and Egypt, among others, and money to social aid programs like unemployment benefits and food stamp program outlays, but I think we have enough to go on at this point. I may get back to this, but if you want a more detailed view head to: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy08/sheets/hist03z2.xls

Wallechinsky has determined that this is the governmental spending breakdown:
Medicare, Medicaid and other Major social-aid programs: 28%
Military: 21%
Social Security: 20%
Other: 19%
National Debt Interest: 12%

Bill Me: My wife does the bills and keeps track of the money at our house and I can tell you that we can have fiscal mismanagement and would have it if I were doing the bills (we pay bills on line and I once paid the electric bill thinking I was paying the gas bill). Paying bills is tough- sometimes because we don’t have enough money coming in (a problem from which the federal government is not exempt). They can’t contain themselves from spending so much- a problem a government’s citizens can’t have. Yes, there are many differences between the financial management abilities of the federal and state governments and those of its citizens- foremost among them- the citizen is responsible for spending his own money, the government, while taxation is a necessary evil, for we wouldn’t have schools, roads and law enforcement, etc. without it, spends its citizen's money and I would guess, spends it irresponsibly. It is as if we are continually being invited to a neighbor’s house (the IRS/government) for dinner when we know he is notorious for cooking mad cow disease burgers, but out of politeness, naivete and concern about being labeled a non-conformist we passively swallow what we suspect is not good for us because we do not have the almighty proof.

What I’m saying: Now, I’d rather give myself a throat culture with a lit bottle rocket than spend the 35 hours necessary doing research on exactly where the government’s money goes (down to the last cent spent on a toilet seat in the Pentagon), but I think it not out of line or argumentatively irresponsible to assume there are plenty of millions of dollars they could and should be forced to spend in areas the public might consider more economically and socially advantageous. I’m a responsible citizen, who makes triple car payments when I can, has a retirement account, a savings account, and doesn’t charge on a credit card more than I can pay off when the bill comes. I expect my government to also be fiscally responsible, and not even so much so. If they’re taking in $2.5-$2.7 trillion there is no way they can keep track of it all, and I don't expect them to. Perhaps they can even account for where every dollar goes. My problem then would be- how in the world can you justify spending that amount of money in that area, in that department (for social aid- on people abusing the welfare system, or for space and technology- for yet another telescope, when you could be paying more on the national debt or for better border control). And if you can- if every expense is dutifully, heart-wrenchingly necessary, then, AND ONLY THEN, for christ's sake, take more from the people who have the most- the richest 1-10%. Because as I've stated a few times in the last six weeks, middle class kids won't be able to afford a college education if they have to pay for it on their own- because of the increased prices of other necessary costs- (rent, vehicles, homes, mortgages, weddings, furnaces, child care). There is the thesis, the neat little bow of a point, and I will seek to continue to tie it together when the summer is more mature.

I'm spent: The government probably is being completely conscientious and responsible in deciding where our money is spent; uh . . . no, I’d sooner believe that an aardvark could kick a crystal meth habit with the assistance of a grizzly bear who ate all the people who showed up in his cave for a Viagra dependence intervention than that the government is responsibly handling our tax money.

Hiatus: I’m going on a break of an indeterminate amount of time- and not because I have been audited and found to be delinquent in paying my taxes, but only to pacify my negative number of readers. This will allow them to digest the first five installments of this topic. I’ll be spending some time with my family, doing some research, golfing, yard work, drinking, reading, and writing- for this topic will find it into a book at some point- a book no one will read . . . kind of like the contents of some blogs. I wouldn't do this much work for no reason at all. Have a good summer!