Nostalgia

ask me tomorrow, I'm having my done

600?!?!?!?!?
Dude, I had like 2500.
What the hell?

Taxes suck. Big time. Taxes rob one from one's freedom. If a slave is someone who is forced to work for nothing then paying part of your income is paying away part of your freedom. If the government takes half of your earnings essentially at the point of a gun (because that's how they will come to your house to arrest you if you don't pay) then you are only half free. Sorry for the rant, but I hate taxes.

Kev- this is from 2 months of work in dakota, and I have to pay it all at once. I paid a little over 1500 from the ranch. And I'm broke.

boots- Ain't it nice, not doing it yourself?

Virgil- I hear you loud and clear, my friend. You can rant about anything you want on my blog.

We have to pay taxes because if we don't then some people won't be able to live, and I don't know about you but I like my sidewalks clean and free of homeless people. Secondly, some will become desperate and resort to robbing, scrapping, maybe killing someone for the sake of getting through another day. The fact you tax haters don't get is that homeless shelters, churches and food pantries have had to turn people away because they're over capacity, and while that's not your direct problem I ask each of you to check outwww.pimpthisbum.com and listen to some video testimony of guys who had everything to live for---a family, home, good paying job, but had the rug pulled out from under them, compliments of the shi tty casino market economy. The guys who started this website are doing a great public service and I hope some of you will throw them a couple bucks. You only think this could never happpen to you.

Oh, god - i'm sorry skib. I know that must feel awful.

I do, however, agree with Jon - not to start sides or anything, I promise. Freedom has a cost. It's hard to see the big picture, I know, when you feel like you've just been robbed big-time after so much hard work (I'm a waitress and a part-time college student, and tips have been poor recently) - but you haven't been robbed, not at all.

Trade you. I'll never get caught up with IRS but at least I never have to worry about owning property.

True we need a safety net in society. But a safety net not redistribution. I don't mind helping the poor. Hey I grew up dirt poor. I know what it's like. And basically a safety net exists. Sure like any system there are people (drug addicts mostly and people with mental illness) who fall through the cracks. And let's try to address how they fell through the cracks. It's all this middle class welfare that bugs the hell out of me.

Yes, I agree that without taxes, nothing would ever get done. I agree with helping people that need a hand, but what I don't want (and what I see happening) is my money being spent on people that are not willing to help themselves. Most of my reason for this post was to help shake off the shock of having to cough up almost a month's salary all at once.
I apologize if it came off as *****ing about not wanting to pay at all. That was not my intent.

Well, when you talk about people not willing to help themselves, they consist mostly of lazy types and those with mental problems, some severe, some not so much, some scamming the system outright. Visit one of your regional medical hospitals, you'll get the picture better than any description of it. I'm all for what you say, people should help themselves, and the system has placed many many limitations for applicants of food stamps, cash assistance, medicaid. And I assure you it's not much, you or me wouldn't want to live on it for any long period. Those that do...well, it must take some getting used to.

I only wish that those who come down so hard on the public assistance programs for the reason that our tax dollars are being pissed away unjustifiably would apply the same standard across the board. Now I'm not trying to deflect from public welfare, it's a problem that needs correcting, but so do other areas of the federal/state budgets that allocate far more to wasteful pursuits.

Also consider that many people who join the military are interested in handouts as well. Yeah they serve our country and that's great, but their motivation was using the system first and serving the country second, third, oftentimes last, sadly. For them welfare is not an option, they want to get ahead, not stand still, but in a sense they're leeches too. Oh but they're sacrificing their lives, yes yes of course, I realize that. Serving in the military is, for many, just another form of welfare that targets the poor and low middle class. That's a serious problem on both ends.

Corporate welfare, political corruption, back room dealing, nepotism, unjustified wars, etc etc etc, which are far more costly. Let's stop waste at all levels and that's not a topic I see idiscussed in this forum enough, or at all, except when it comes to welfare cheats, and that's a hangup people need to acknowledge by broadening the scope of their thinking and criticism.

I agree that there are some serious flaws in regards to military personnel. Many veterans with minor and sometimes fictional medical claims are making it difficult to support soldiers with legitimate concerns that require more care. I do not, however, hold anything against those who enter the military to pay for school or get health benefits. What they're risking/giving up is, in my opinion, almost always equatable (and often worth more than) what they receive in return. And I can say, with personal knowledge, that the military needs to put more money and effort into counseling services for combat veterans.

I do despise taxes, especially when they're paying for fatcat AIG vacations. I'm not against welfare but I agree with jon1jt and Virgil that it really needs to be applied with more consideration.

And I'm furious about financial aid for middle class students, which is pathetic. The fact that my parents could afford a very modest house (and I do mean modest) does not mean that they can pay for my college. And yet our governor saw fit to push the removal of much-needed grants from students of my similar "status" and hand it to "needier" ones. But their error is in assuming that I'm in any better shape than the "needier" ones are. I'm in school thirty hours a week, do homework thirty hours a week, and work another fifteen to twenty hours. But because I live at home, surely I must be doing really well!

What? The military is not welfare. The military is no different than any other public servant job, like air traffic controllers, department of motor vehicle beaurcrats and teachers. If you ask me I think teachers have it pretty soft. Anyway, if you haven't heard, the current president is looking to expand the number of soldiers in the active army, not reduce it.

As to why people, especially young men join the military, that's a complicated and multi faceted answer. Frankly the school system has failed a lot of young men, men who are really looking for an identity that is not intellectually based. It is no coincidence that now more women go to and graduate from college than men, more women are becoming doctors and lawyers than men, more women go on to grad school than men. I should write a whole blog on what this classification of young men are looking for.

That would be a good blog, Virg.

It's true, many teachers do just enough to get by, not meet the standard, and a very small percent actually exceed it. The military is a quasi-welfare system in the sense it offers opportunity for many that could never get it otherwise. There's just not enough opportunity to go around. College, a good paying job, medical coverage, an opportunity to save money. Up until the crazy Iraq invasion and the Persian Gulf before it, enlistees felt pretty confident that the most difficult obstacle was bootcamp. I remember guys in high school talking how they'd heard it was easy sailing. Some were jazzed up about receiving special training opportunities they never got in public school. Keep in mind receiving public assistance has its demands as well. There's some mandatory job training programs that candidates must complete to continue receiving benefits.

The school system hasn't failed, the system works pretty well for those who take advantage of it. The problem is that America still hasn't acknowledged that not every kid is cut out for book learning. Most high schools offer a technical program (mechanic, auto body, electrical, etc) usually half the day, but where's the opportunity to meet the wide diversity of interests? I can't tell you how many times a student would approach me and ask why the school didn't offer specialized programs in engineering, writing/journalism, the stock market, international relations, computers, business management, physical fitness, archaeology. And what about the artists? I met talented high school musicians, painters with no painting courses, photographers with no photography or film courses, sports commentators with no sports course; kids who loved to come up with innovative ideas for video games. One art course, lucky three or four in the course of four years. It's sad, very sad. A whole nation of children and young adults stuck in a system that doesn't understand them.

And so there all these kids are 18-years old bored out of their skulls and in walks a military recruiter offering them what appears to be a no-brainer. Listen, dress up in fatigues, go overseas, kill people when we tell you too, and accept the fact you might be shot, many times, or blown into pieces too. In return we give you medical coverage, special training, and a paycheck. And hey don't forget that serving in the armed forces is a noble profession---you're serving your country. Maybe you'll get to shake the president's hand too. Wouldn't that be cool?!

Your comments about the school system are pretty good, jon. I agree that it would be far more beneficial to offer specialized programs as an alternative to standard classes. It would have to be a pretty large high school, though, to be able to support that number of programs without being drained financially, right? Around here there's a "technical" school for high schoolers that offers those sorts of programs, but a lot of places are devoid of such an institution. It would be great to find a way to tailor education to individual needs.

Well, we have to first get away from the dead idea of one municipality equals one school system. Let's build schools with a broader, more eclectic appeal---specialized schools that pool together the resources of counties. Or if a township could do it on its own, great! Let's tap the possibilities of the internet. Think virtual learning. The possibilities are endless.

There is nothing wrong with a military career. It is noble and worthy service, and they are my heroes.

All this reminds me of one incident that was in news quite sometime back. It's not about the US.

There is a tourist destination here called Goa, where a lot of foreign tourists come for a vacation.

There was a family from England that was vacationing in that city. An unfortunate incident happened that one of the kids got killed (dont recall how, though).

But what remained in my mind was the fact that this woman and her kids were living on welfare money in England. This family was living in a moving van (or whatever that is called) and they were dependent on the government for their survival.

The incident was unfortunate, but I was wondering how could a person living on welfare money even think of going for a foreign vacation? Does the govt. give that much money? Even though they convert it in Rupees and spend it here, but, still.... and I was like...What??!!! even the poor of the west are richer than most average people living here that they can think of going on such vacations....

They don't in the US Maddie.