This one’s for Chuck, Nancy, Ted and Harry – “How Taxes Work” - A Capitalist Tale.

Since it is clear that a) they are liars and/or b) they don’t understand anything that Hayek, Schumpeter, Freidman and Laffer have ever written, I thought a simple parable that an eight grader could understand might help.

This is a story about ten men dining together. Don’t worry Harry, Ted and Chuck, it is short, like your attention spans … and Nancy, I will use no big, confusing words so you will be able to follow along without hurting yourself.

How Taxes Work

Every day, ten men go out to dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. They agree to pay the bill the way we pay our taxes and it goes something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) pay nothing. The fifth man pays $1. The sixth man pays $3. The seventh man pays $7. The eighth man pays $12. The ninth man pays $18. And the tenth man – (the richest) – pays $59.

The ten men ate dinner in the same restaurant every day under this arrangement and seemed quite happy about it. One day, the restaurant owner threw them a curve. He said, “Since you are all such good customers, I am going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20.” Nancy, this meant that now their meal would only cost them $80. Harry, Ted and Chuck will realize that this is a tax cut.

Continuing to pay for their meal in the same way, the first four men were unaffected. They would continue to eat for free. But what about the other six men – the paying customers – how could they divvy up their $20 windfall so that everyone would get his “fair share”?

Now pay attention, Nancy, here’s where it gets more challenging. The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everyone’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So, the restaurant 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 that each man should pay.

So, the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth man paid $2, the seventh man paid $5, the eighth man paid $9, the ninth man paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was better off than they were before while the first four continued to eat for free.

But, once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. “I only got $1 out of the $20, declared the sixth man who pointed to the tenth, “but he got $7!”. Ted likes this part.

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man, “I only saved a dollar too … it’s unfair that he got seven times more than me!”

“That’s true!” shouted the seventh man, “why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“No, no, no”, shouted the first four men in unison, “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!” I think Al Sharpton was representing them.

Nancy, pay close attention here, we’re getting to the good part.

Angry now at being so unfairly treated, the nine men surrounded the tenth man and beat him up. The next night, he didn’t show up for dinner, so the nine men sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late, that they were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of being able to pay the bill. No one could pay! Imagine that!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, Nancy, Ted, Chuck, Harry and the rest of the Democrat party and these days, some Republicans is exactly how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, continue to attack them for being wealthy and they just might not show up for dinner any more.

I am SURE you can understand this.

Good day and good luck.

Great! Your Tax Dollars Hard at Work!

How does a Charles Schumer get into office?

“

The federal government should offer troubled borrowers hundreds of millions of dollars to bail them out of subprime mortgage loans”, several leading Democratic lawmakers said on Wednesday.

"The federal government can send in an infusion of [money] to prevent foreclosure," said Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat.

The cash infusion is needed right away and should go to both help fund community groups aiding troubled borrowers and to directly fund bailouts, Schumer said.

Schumer spoke as chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, a joint committee of Congress, and appeared with Democratic senators Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

He said he planned to introduce legislation soon.  (And, he is chairman of the Joint Economic Committee?)

Maybe a 1600 on the SAT's does not indicate future academic performance.

Why should I have to pay for those idiots who were stupid enough to have borrowed beyond their ability to re-pay. Talk about slippery slopes. What’s next? Let free markets do what they always do. This is the Democrat’s idea of government and should frighten anyone with even a room temperature IQ. If it becomes the government’s responsibility to bail-out stupidity, we will be broke in a month.

"We will not be in peace until we set our foot again in our beloved al-Andalus," al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said on claiming responsibility for an attack which killed at least 24 people in Algiers on Wednesday.

Al-Andalus is the Moorish name for Spain, parts of which were ruled by Muslims for about eight centuries until the last Moorish bastion, Granada, succumbed to the Christian Reconquest in 1492.

The terrorists will undoubtedly attempt to extend their offensive from Northern Africa to European soil, anti-terrorism judge Baltasar Garzon warned, cautioning that Spain was at a "very high risk" of suffering an Islamist attack.

Weren't the Spanish supposed to have solved this problem by pulling out of Iraq?

Imus and Obama's Daughters

This column has no brief for Don Imus, the liberal radio shock-jock who lost his gig yesterday after calling members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." CBS (and NBC, which simulcast the Imus show on one of its little-watched cable channels) were perfectly within their rights to defenestrate Imus for his gross remark. But by waiting a week to do so, they showed themselves to be craven rather than prudent, and they did more to promote bigotry than to combat it.

It's clear that the networks fired Imus not because what he said was unacceptable but because the controversy it stirred up was not going to go away. This means that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson--two men whose bigotry has done a thousandfold more harm than Imus's--are able to declare victory and pose as moral arbiters.

Oh well, at least we can have the audacity to hope Barack Obama will be a new kind of "black leader." Or can we? From yesterday's New York Times:

Senator Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat who is running for president, called on MSNBC and CBS Radio to disassociate themselves from Mr. Imus, and said that he would never go on the show again. He said he had appeared once, more than two years ago.

"He didn't just cross the line," Mr. Obama said in an interview with ABC News. "He fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America."

So according to Obama, the problem with what Imus said wasn't that it was shocking but that it was so ordinary. Imus gave voice to stereotypes so prevalent that Obama's daughters "are having to deal with [them] today in America."

In what segment of American culture would one be most likely to encounter such stereotypes? We'd venture to say the answer is rap music, also known as hip hop. There's one rap band that actually calls itself Nappy Roots. And of course references to women as "hos" are commonplace in rap lyrics, such as this one by Christopher Bridges, who uses the stage name "Ludacris":

Ho (Ho)
You'z a Ho, (Ho)
You'z a Ho, I said that you'z a Ho (Ho)
You'z a Ho, (Ho)

You'z a Ho, (Ho)
You'z a Ho, I said that you'z a Ho (Ho)

You doing Ho activities
With Ho tendencies
Hos are your friends,
Hos are your enemies

At this point it gets too vulgar for this columnist to feel comfortable quoting.

Anyway, let's salute Barack Obama for taking a stand for decency, for protecting his two young daughters from invidiously racist and misogynistic stereotypes.

On second thought, let's not. It turns out that Obama's outrage with Imus is highly selective (dare we say opportunistic?). Blogger Joshua Claybourn notes a Sept. 15, 2006, Associated Press dispatch from Louisville, Ky.:

Obama made a pitch for Democrats running for local government and for Congress at a rally that drew a few thousand party faithful to a minor league baseball stadium in downtown Louisville. . . .

Before Obama's speech, the crowd was warmed up by a performance by Nappy Roots, a popular hip-hop group.

All right, maybe this is nothing. It's not as if Obama himself invited Nappy Roots to play at the rally, and anyway "hos" is a lot more obnoxious than "nappy." But here's another Associated Press dispatch, from Nov. 30, 2006:

The stars were aligned in Chicago Wednesday, and they were there to talk about lighting the way for the nation's youth.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, contemplating a run for president, met privately with rapper Ludacris to talk about young people.

"We talked about empowering the youth," said the artist, whose real name is Chris Bridges. . . .

The gathering at Obama's downtown Chicago office was a meeting of two star powers: Obama, who enjoys rock star-like status on the political scene, and Ludacris, who has garnered acclaim for his music and acting. . . .

Bridges said meeting Obama, known for his warm personal style, was like meeting with a relative.

If Obama's two young daughters are having to deal with Imus-like invidious stereotypes, then, it would seem a major reason is their father's friends.

The problem the Obama girls face in America today isn't just prejudice. It's cynicism.

This is from “Back for the First Time” on Polygram Records on a

single entitled “Game Got Switched” by Ludacris - I wonder

whether the Scarlet Knights are "scarr3ed for life" by these lyrics:

I hate it when it's too many nigg*z (Too many nigg*z)
Not enough hoes
Too many rookies
Not enough pros
The game got switched on some Ludacris sh*t
So all ya'll can suck my dick B*TCH!!

[Verse 1]
I got a miracle Ludacris lyrical fool
We dirty south shut yo mouth we rock tools
No holds barred but obey the block rules
C*ck tools put chlorine in record pools
Are there anyone like ya (H*LL NAW!!)
I treat humans like students (FAIL YA'LL)
So turn ya book to page 69 and start suckin
When Organized drop the track then start duckin'
When Ludacris get in the bed start f*ckin
Girl: You wanna be startin something
Get out the booth and lemme tell you the truth
We kick down doors
Save all the H20 for front rows
Live in the bank and watch for stank hoes
Stay chromed out and that's on or off road
If you know what I mean proceed to stay clean
Light skinded nig*a turn red but get green
Inhale some of that dro but blow steam
Love a combination big azz and tight jeans

Chorus (Repeat 2X)

[Verse 2]
Girl: Man you done lost yo mind
No I've lost my virginity
And I shot quick
Like that nig*a shot Kennedy
What's the remedy Hennessey Coke
If you cut all your money you'd still be half broke
Ashes to ashes smoke or get smoked
We come by the masses you come and get smoked
If you take me for a fool I'll take you for a joke
Tired of fast food so they cooked up dope
So now we eatin' lobster shrimp and things
Watch for imposters that's been in the game
We invented the game and ya'll just got here
Dude: Man what's that smell
PROBABLY YO UPPER LIP
Cause I love to walk around like my sh*t don't stink
Even if its cigars and that purple color dank
Chillin in the gut with no trace of Tom Hanks
So put this in yo jaw like weiners and beef franks

Chorus (Repeat 2X)

[Verse 3]
I put too much sugar in my Kool-Aid
And partied like a kid with a high top fade
Arrive at the show and I like to get paid
Arrive to a hoe and I like to get laid
Ride up on my back like rugs and floormats
I'm on the right page but what's my format
I wave to the ocean cause I'm where shores at
And women go nuts just like my bozack
Did you know that?
Man I'm the gift of change
Electric stoves so give me the keys to the range
Sagadelic, beautiful but strange
Went to Magic City saw Nikki and Blue Flame
Rearrange same broad different night
Pass the E&J and let a nig*a get right
The bomb threat dude that's on the same flight
The highlight's that I live a high azz life

Chorus (Repeat 6X)

Don Imus and his brother Fred both claim to have had parents, a mother and a father. I have never seen them. Have you? Parental absence coupled to the Imus brothers’ pathological behavior fetishes, have led to a thesis that both spawned spontaneously in dust clots accumulated behind the laundromat dryers where Don would spend many of his formative years.

As nearly as the date can be fixed, Don’s birth - however it occurred - took place in the late 18-hundreds making him a contemporary of such noted Americans as Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur and Grover Cleveland... all U.S. Presidents.

Don spent the normal twelve years in public school and emerged with no formal education ... a product of automatic social promotion. His secondary school experience was limited to carrying a cracked, faded rubber in his wallet and binding a female classmate to a tree with electrician’s tape. He graduated with no honors and no skills. Requiring neither, a broadcasting career seemed a natural for the young Imus and advancements came quickly.

Now widely acclaimed, Imus has been featured on NBC’s “Today” show, the ABC programs “Prime Time Live” and “20/20”, and on CBS’ “48 Hours” and “60 Minutes.” He has been a guest of Charlie Rose, David Letterman, and of particular note, Larry King, in shameless, mutual azz-kissing marathons. In addition, Don has been, and continues to be, a subject of countless, pointless print articles. Time magazine once named Don one of the 25 most influential people in America. More recently, Don appeared on the cover of Newsweek magazine in a feature article titled, “The Importance of Being Imus.” Don’s loyal radio staff hopes they will soon see him similarly featured on milk cartons.

In a now celebrated episode dating back to the spring of 1996, Don shared a stage with President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at Washington’s annual Radio and Television Correspondents Association’s dinner. While at the podium, Don made some observations about Mr. Clinton that some felt were rude and upsetting to the President, and that tended to leave egg on Don’s face. Little did we know then, that Mr. Clinton was already well into the business of leaving substances splattered on individuals with whom he might come into contact; that his discomfort that evening had its roots in his own wayward DNA, and that Don was Nostradamus. But that’s another story best left to another biography.

Imus is also a best-selling author and an accomplished amateur photographer. His novel, “God’s Other Son,” spent three months on the New York Times best-seller list driven there by listeners to his program who bought the book to get him to shut up about it. His most recent book, “Two Guys, Four Corners,” a collection of photographs of desert rocks accompanied by wrenchingly inane captions, rose to number 13 on the New York Times best set-seller list ... driven by the same people who bought “God’s Other Son,” and for the same reasons.

In September of 1996, the Imus radio program began being simulcast live on cable network MSNBC for reasons never made clear. The Imus program, broadcast and televised, features recurrring, prominent guests ranging from Katherine Graham of the Washington Post to bluesman B.B. King. It also features guests few have heard of and fewer still could give a rat’s azz about; Tim Russert of NBC’s Meet The Press, CNN’s Jeff Greenfield, Time magazine’s Margaret Carlson, all come to mind as examples.

Since 1990, Imus has headlined a radiothon with New York radio station WFAN that has raised over 50-million dollars to benefit the Tomorrows Children Fund, the CJ Foundation for SIDS, and the Imus Ranch for kids with cancer. The money, donated for exactly the same reasons and by the same people who bought the stupid books, funded the completion and the David Jurist Cancer Research facility, both located at New Jersey’s Hackensack university Medical Center.

Imus has received too many plaques, trophies and pieces of walnut with crystal stuff stuck on them to mention. We won’t. He is a member of the Emerson Radio Hall of Fame, the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame, the Stolichnaya and Marlboro Halls of Fame, and, if there is a God, will soon be a permanent exhibit at the Duke University School of Medicine’s Hall of Cadavers where his lungs will be featured in a display designed to permanently traumatize children.

The Presidency 2008 – the Weekly Betting Line

Thompson cancer news this week and Obama avoids his race – Steech laid $100 on Gingrich – I still plan on collecting

Democrat Primary Winner:

Hillary – even money

Still

Barack – 100-1

Lost some black voters by avoiding the lead in the Imus story

Edwards – 3,000-1

Done

Richardson – 10,000-1

Is he even in still?

Republican Primary Winner:

Giuliani – 2-1

Maybe Thompson isn’t in

Thompson – 20-1

Are you in or not?

McCain – 5,000-1

Worse than done

Gingrich – 500-1

Still won’t run – but, but maybe if Thompson doesn’t get in – who knows – take the under

Mitt – 10,000-1

God – spare us

The I-Man and Racism.

I am no huge fan of Don Imus, yet I find him entertaining and I listen to his radio show occasionally. I cannot believe the tsunami of hypocrisy and self-righteousness surrounding this “nappy-headed hos” episode. In addition to the response being just plain wrong, it demonstrates a frightening escalation of the power of political correctness which is threatening free speech, free radio and civil rights in this country.
 


When politicians become the self-appointed arbiters of what can be said and what can’t be said, and then are supported by the leftist mainstream media, we are in serious trouble.

Aside from the two guys on the radio-right, I have heard no one challenge the assault on Imus, and even with those two guys, no one has pointed out the incredible imbalance between what was said in that stupid and hurtful moment last Wednesday (during which time, I happened to be listening to his show) and the enormous good that Don Imus has done over the last 20 years.

Aside from the Imus Ranch for Children with Cancer in New Mexico, for which he raised and continues to raise hundreds of millions of dollars through his show which has impacted hundreds of lives (by the way, half the community of children are minorities), there is the national attention that he has created for the Autism epidemic sweeping this country (1 out of 6 births) and the legislation that has resulted directly from his involvement which is currently winding its way through Congress, the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Veteran’s Medical Facility that he pretty much single-handedly got built in San Antonio with the Fischers’ and others’ money in less than 2 years and is a model medical facility that Congress could never get built – ever. And, finally there is the annual fund-raiser for SIDS that so far as of today has raised almost a million dollars for SIDS research.

Deirdre Imus, (Don’s wife) is highly active in conservation and environmental reform with Don’s support, both individually and through his radio program. She produces green products, and she educates and personally clears out toxic cleaning products in places like East Harlem where the incidents of extreme asthma have seriously impacted people’s health, resulting in extraordinary school dropout rates and have been proven to have resulted from the use of toxic cleaning products in the public school system. And, who attends public schools in East Harlem? This is actual real work – as opposed to empty speeches by hysterical politicians about hysterical topics like global warming. I dunno, but Don doesn’t look like a racist to me. And, by the way, he calls her the “green ho”.

So, the remarkable thing is that when you compare his track record over the last 20 years in raising hundreds of millions of dollars for these causes with a stupid comment on live air, there is something very wrong with the way this is being portrayed.

Al and Jesse – how much money have you raised for SIDS? How often have you shown up to clean up the East Harlem schools’ toxic dump? Where is your Ranch for Children with Cancer? What have you done for wounded Vets? Too busy defending a false accuser in Durham? How about an apology from the two of you? Yeah, that and Hell freezing over at about the same time.

And, “scarred for life”? Give me a break. If this truly scarred you for life, Essence, I worry about how you are going to deal with the real world after hoops. You are obviously playing the race card anyway, as I find it impossible to imagine growing up in the Bronx and having not heard worse. You want “scarred for life”? Try walking in the Duke Lacrosse players’ shoes. And, by the way did any of the other 349 people who actually watched the NCAA Women's Finals not think that the Rutgers' women looked and ACTED like a bunch of maximum security prisoners?  Looked a lot different than their press conference.

The flight from Imus is embarrassing. The same politicians who begged to be on Imus’ program for the past 10 years are running for the hills – showing what they are truly made of. McCain, like him or not, at least understands honor and loyalty and courage – he declared he is staying with Imus. And there are others as well – James Carville, Mary Matalan, Rudi Giuliani, etc.

As for the apology, Carville is right, he should have simply apologized and move on – and stopped talking about it. Actually Morgan Freeman once said that we should ALL stop talking about race, and it would just go away. He is right, though as long as Sharpton, Farrakhan and Jackson are around, that will likely not happen.

Now, CBS acting as cowardly as they usually do, have cancelled his radio program as well.  I am sure that Les called Sumner and Sumner said, "Les, I am confident you will do what is in the best interests of the shareholders", and Les did. 

It seems nobody stands for nothing anymore.



Imus has asked the Rutgers team to meet with him privately so that he could apologize to them directly and so that they could have an opportunity to understand who he is and he who they are.  Backed against a wall, the Rutgers' women "graciously" accepted met with Imus, demonstrating (at least for the cameras) far more maturity, temperance, tolerance and a higher road than Sharpton and Jackson could ever understand or muster. It seems that the meeting went well and the Rutgers women have made a positive public statement.  That may do more for race relations in this country than all of the freedom marches and government intervention over the last 40 years ever could do, though it won't get Imus his job back at least not with CBS.

At the end of the day, Imus will become a better person out of this, and will be back on the air somewhere soon.  It’s all good.

The Presidency 2008 – the Weekly Betting Line

Not much has changed this week – Steech laid $100 on Gingrich – I plan on collecting

Democrat Primary Winner:

Hillary – even money

Done

Barack – 50-1

Not much going on after all

Edwards – 3,000-1

Done

Richardson – 10,000-1

Done

Republican Primary Winner:

Giuliani – 2-1

In trouble now with Thompson in

Thompson – 8-5

Needs to hurry up and get in

McCain – 5,000-1

Done

Gingrich – 1,000-1

Still won’t run – but can assist Thompson big time

Mitt – 10,000-1

Done