I wanted to know how my income compared to the rest of the country so I googled the question and was directed to the Kiplinger website. You might be interested in knowing that the top one percent of wage earners — STOP!
Before you reach the conclusion that I am one of the 1.4 million taxpayers who are in that category, let me first say that I am not, but, thanks to some hard work and an intelligent wife who made very wise investments, I do rank pretty high.
Those in the top one percent reported 17 percent of all adjusted gross income and paid a total of $318 billion to the government, which accounts for 37 percent of the country’s total income taxes.
According to the Kiplinger calculations, there are 13.8 million people in the top 10 percent of wage earners. They paid a total of $610 billion dollars to the government. That’s more than 70 percent of the total.
So, the top 10 percent is already picking up 70 percent of the tab for our country. The top 25 percent pay 87 percent of the total taxes, and the top 50 percent pay almost 98 percent.
President Obama continues to tell me that I should be paying my fair share. Exactly what is my fair share? How much more does my President want?
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“He’s a one termer.”
I have heard that line at least a dozen times this week. At dinner last night, I heard a friend say, “He’s a one termer. Look what he’s done to America. Who do you think will vote for him?”
Once the table quieted down, I had the floor, and everyone’s attention was focused on me as I softly spoke.
Some at the far end of the table leaned in to hear my words of wisdom: “If I was fired and was one of the jobless collecting 99 weeks of unemployment checks, and was in the bottom half of this country who does not pay taxes and I was collecting food stamps and had my hand stuck out to get whatever my government is willing to give me — then hell, yes, I’d vote for him.”
• • •
It was raining last Saturday and we had already seen the best flicks around. Carol curled up with a new novel and I spent almost all day watching college football. I don’t remember how many games I saw, but there were two incidents in two separate games that I found troubling. In one game the entire TV audience, along with all of the fans at the stadium, saw a player hit so hard that it took a trainer and two coaches about 25 minutes to help him off the field.
Later, in a different game, a player was taken from the field on a stretcher. The commentator said that he was being taken to the hospital.
Everybody knows that football is a rough sport and injuries occur frequently, but is it really necessary to keep TV cameras focused on a downed player. These are college kids. How old? 19? 20? 21? And you know that mom is back home, glued to the tube, watching her son play.
My heart is breaking thinking about the mother who is watching her son carried off in a stretcher. We know that many of the TV stations will not air this, but there are some who still do.
I am StanGershbein@Bellsouth.net asking the directors of televised college football to refrain from showing severe injuries. Cut to commercials, the weather, anything until play is resumed.
