Recycling is a hoax. It spends more energy than it saves, it costs taxpayers millions, it does nothing to save space in landfill or prevent increased used of fossil fuels or dangerous chemicals. It's only benefit is that it makes people feel good.
Governor Jerry Brown of California personifies recycling: old stuff plus tons of energy and effort, equalling more waste than before.
His recycled idea to bolster California's struggling economy: TAX HIKES. His "millionaires tax" plan targets wealthy individuals specifically. You know: they need to pay "their fair share", another recycled mantra. And the threshold for the millionaires tax? Those who make $250,000+ annually. Because, according to the rehashed 60's Keynesian:
“Anybody who makes $250,000 becomes a millionaire very quickly if you save it. You just need four years,” Brown said. “It is a millionaires tax. It taxes millionaires, right? And it’s for schools. And it protects public safety.” When in doubt, raise taxes, and talk about the investments in education and need for police and fire fighters.
Boy, how many times have we danced to this tune.
Remarkable still is Governor Brown's understanding of what constitutes a millionaire. I know democrats tend to struggle with math and budgets and book keeping... Obama, Geithner, Orszag, Rohmer, Pelosi, Reid take note... but this failure to grasp rudimentary IRS workings is pretty staggering. I guess they are not used to paying taxes. Hell, Charlie Rangel didn't even know he HAD to pay taxes. Maybe when you live in the bubble of liberal intelligentsia you forgot how life works. So, here's my attempt to help Jerry Brown:
Home State of California
Married Man with 1 child
Annual Income: $250,000
Here's how my paycheck would look, if I get paid monthly (courtesy of PayCheckCity.com):
Monthly Gross Pay: $20,833.33
Federal Withholding: $4,414.29
Social Security: $875.00
Medicare: $302.08
California Taxes (before Jerry Brown adds on): $1,883.51
SDI: $208.33
Net Pay: $13,150.12
Now, I haven't deducted a DIME for 401k, Flexible Spending Account, Life or Medical Insurance. And just for fun, I'm going to leave all that out, because I want to prove what a moron the Governor of California is.
From my $13,150 monthly paycheck (I'm even giving the Governor an extra $0.12 monthly because it's easier math and... it's more money to invest in education or green energy... or the children), let my buy myself a home. Average home price of California is $295,100 (According to Zillow.com).
But aren't I a "millionaire"??? I'm a rich fat cat- just look at the tax the Governor wants to throw on me! So no way do I live in an average house... no I'm going to buy myself a $500,000 home that I put 20% down on- my $400,000 mortgage is roughly $2500.
$10,650.
Car insurance for 2 cars? Carinsurance.com says California averages $1215.85 annually- Let's just say $100 per month, but as a millionaire, I have two cars. (What should my wife not have her own car? Sexist...) $200 per month.
$10,450.
Property taxes? Tricky... depends on where I live- and that opens a whole can of worms- but, tax-rates.org, a tax website, says that in 2012 Californians spent 0.74% of the value of their home on insurance- so annually $3700. Monthly- $308.
$10,142.
Daycare? According to the National Association of Child Care Resources and Referral Agencies study in March 2011, in California the average cost of a 4-year old family center is $6596 annually. More if my child were an infant... but for Governor Brown's sake I'll just make 'em twins... $13,192 ($1099 per month).
$9043.
Can I eat? This study: Official USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food at Home at Four Levels U.S. Average, May 2011 said that my family of four would spend $193.10 if we had a "moderate" plan... and being millionaires, I figure we would be at least moderate... after all, don't us millionaires eat foie gras with sauternes every day? (Keep the ten cents, Jerry)
$8850.
Gas? CNN says in 2011 the average person spent $368. Can my wife drive, too? We are millionaires...
$8126.
Oh- by the by, understand that I haven't paid an electric or gas bill (and the accompanying tax), don't have a pet, I must be naked because I haven't bought any clothes (nor the sales tax), never go to a movie or a restaurant, never take a vacation, and lucky for me, I've never needed to fix my roof, buy mulch, change the oil on my car, get eyeglasses, or give to charity. I must not have cable, internet, a cell phone, a magazine subscription, dry cleaning (I'm naked, right?) or toys for my kids.
And that amount, that rough, crudely estimated total of $8126 per month, times 12 months, is $97,512 annually. And if my family of four lives this way for the next 10 years, without any inflation, and no need for a new car, new shoes (I must bind my twins' feet...), no soccer teams, damn I won't even buy roses for my wife's birthday... I can be a millionaire in just over 10 years and 3 months.
Watch out America cause in July 2022 this future millionaire is going to go crazy! So, yes Jerry Brown. Raise those taxes on us "millionaires" earning $250k a year. After all, we don't need to go to the dentist and enjoy being naked.
Democrat math by a recycled Governor. Way to go, California. For choosing him over the incredible Meg Whitman you deserve to be naked. At least you millionaires.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Goodbye, Andrew
I had only met Andrew Breitbart a few times- had dinner with him once. What I first admired about him as a person (and not just as an activist) is that he talked to me- directly to me- and had not the slightest air of "do you know who I am?" and "why am I talking to you?" He didn't measure me what I could do for him or whether or not it was worth his time to talk to me.
It reminds me of my friend whose husband produced a Julia Roberts movie. After the red carpet premiere, the cast and crew went to a dinner, and Ms. Roberts sat down next to my friend and asked "Who are you?". When my friend told her she was just the wife (lol) Ms. Roberts smiled and said "I'll go sit somewhere else".
And she did. She sized up my friend, decided she was not worth talking to, and moved.
Sad, really, that we all calculate our interpersonal relationships by metrics of utilitarianism. I shouldn't blast Ms. Roberts for doing what I do each time I dodge a neighbor of let a call go to voicemail.
Andrew didn't do that- at least not when I met him. And he was huge- he was famous (or infamous)- he could have commanded the presence of people much more important and influential than me. He didn't. He asked what I thought about things, he listened to my opinions. It was not about him. Ever.
The hardest part of being on the right is finding champions of the right. We have some tremendous players on the right: Rush and Ann Coulter and Dennis Miller, not to mention Hannity and Laura Ingraham and many, many others. But Andrew was cool. Andrew was Hollywood cool, and he wasn't trapped in a branded media outlet (TV, talk radio, weekly column, etc). He was, in fact, and idea more than he was a product.
And his ideas where incredible. Like his offer of $100k to the United Negro College Fund for anyone who found videotaped evidence of tea party activists shouting the "N" word at black democrat congressman preparing to vote on healthcare. That lie has been recycled by the media for years now, but no one ever claimed the reward. Not even the black congressmen who had themselves videotaped the spectacle (especially Jesse Jackson, Jr).
Congress voted to defund ACORN after the great pimps and ho's movies made my James O'Keefe. If you read the current NPR stories about Andrew's death, they still refer to this event as ACORN offering tax advice to the pimp. No mention of the underage, illegal immigrant sex workers.
NPR fired their leadership because of a truth brought to light by Breitbart. Anthony Weiner had to resign from Congress.
Andrew did what the rest of the media refused to do: tell the truth about the institutional left.
The Breitbart moment I will cherish forever is the impromptu news conference at the NY Hilton when the press corp waited for Weiner, and Andrew hopped up on stage and conducted his own gaggle. His passion, his demand for them to find evidence of lying, his exposure of their corrupt cover-up of Democrat candidates and values... never before had I seen someone attack the press so brilliantly leaving them speechless, with cameras rolling.
My heart and prayers go out to his wife and small children. And to the Conservative movement who has lost a true champion. Cool. Original. Fearless. Kind.
Has anyone had such impact on the institutional left?
Thanks, Andrew. We will all miss you.
It reminds me of my friend whose husband produced a Julia Roberts movie. After the red carpet premiere, the cast and crew went to a dinner, and Ms. Roberts sat down next to my friend and asked "Who are you?". When my friend told her she was just the wife (lol) Ms. Roberts smiled and said "I'll go sit somewhere else".
And she did. She sized up my friend, decided she was not worth talking to, and moved.
Sad, really, that we all calculate our interpersonal relationships by metrics of utilitarianism. I shouldn't blast Ms. Roberts for doing what I do each time I dodge a neighbor of let a call go to voicemail.
Andrew didn't do that- at least not when I met him. And he was huge- he was famous (or infamous)- he could have commanded the presence of people much more important and influential than me. He didn't. He asked what I thought about things, he listened to my opinions. It was not about him. Ever.
The hardest part of being on the right is finding champions of the right. We have some tremendous players on the right: Rush and Ann Coulter and Dennis Miller, not to mention Hannity and Laura Ingraham and many, many others. But Andrew was cool. Andrew was Hollywood cool, and he wasn't trapped in a branded media outlet (TV, talk radio, weekly column, etc). He was, in fact, and idea more than he was a product.
And his ideas where incredible. Like his offer of $100k to the United Negro College Fund for anyone who found videotaped evidence of tea party activists shouting the "N" word at black democrat congressman preparing to vote on healthcare. That lie has been recycled by the media for years now, but no one ever claimed the reward. Not even the black congressmen who had themselves videotaped the spectacle (especially Jesse Jackson, Jr).
Congress voted to defund ACORN after the great pimps and ho's movies made my James O'Keefe. If you read the current NPR stories about Andrew's death, they still refer to this event as ACORN offering tax advice to the pimp. No mention of the underage, illegal immigrant sex workers.
NPR fired their leadership because of a truth brought to light by Breitbart. Anthony Weiner had to resign from Congress.
Andrew did what the rest of the media refused to do: tell the truth about the institutional left.
The Breitbart moment I will cherish forever is the impromptu news conference at the NY Hilton when the press corp waited for Weiner, and Andrew hopped up on stage and conducted his own gaggle. His passion, his demand for them to find evidence of lying, his exposure of their corrupt cover-up of Democrat candidates and values... never before had I seen someone attack the press so brilliantly leaving them speechless, with cameras rolling.
My heart and prayers go out to his wife and small children. And to the Conservative movement who has lost a true champion. Cool. Original. Fearless. Kind.
Has anyone had such impact on the institutional left?
Thanks, Andrew. We will all miss you.
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