“$1,000,000,000,000.00 Like It’s Chump Change”

Posted on 20/03/2009 by Grumpa Joe
My Flag Flies Everyday

My Flag Flies Everyday

We hear an awful lot of commentary these days about the stimulus bill, the budget, the Porkulus Bill, on and on. Each time we hear the amount of money being spent, politicians and commentators alike bandy about the phrase “a trillion dollars,” like it is pocket change. The number, one trillion, continues to fascinate me. Probably, because  in my mind that number is so large, and unreal I cannot mentally process the information.  

It has taken me fifty five years to accumulate a nest egg large enough to feel comfortable with. In spite of the nest egg, I still have to rely on Social Security to make ends meet.  The egg became scrambled in three short months, and my fifty five years of hard work went down the drain. I must now consider returning to the working population.

My dilemma is this; I spent fifty five years working in a number oriented business, if I can’t process the number, one trillion, how in the world can a bunch of lawyers elected to congress do it? They can’t. They have no clue as to what is happening to their constituents. If they did, they would have done the right thing, and voted the  trillion dollar packages into the toilet where they belong. They would also impeach the president and his cabinet as being incompetent.

As an excercise to get an understanding of what a trillion dollars is, I made a spread sheet to calculate how long it will take to pay off a trillion dollar debt. The numbers are too large to show the entire spreadsheet on this page.

      years to pay off debt
           
debt in trillions   1 2 3 4
payback rate          
1 Million per day   2,740 5,479 8,219 10,959
1 Million per hour   114 228 342 457
100 Million per day   27 55 82 110
1 Billion per day   3 5 8 11
1 Billion per hour   0 0 0 0

My three year old  grandchild will be thirty years old if we pay back one trillion dollars of deficit at a rate of one billion dollars per day, and not spend another dime along the way. We don’t have one trillion dollars of deficit, we have ten,  and it continues to grow exponentially. Only the fat cats in congress will survive.  

 Send the tea bag, vote them out of office, do what it takes to get the lazy bastards out of office. Elect some people who are real citizens, and  who care about the country, and its people. If we don’t take radical action now to stop  “Change We Can Believe In,” only the fats cats will survive. The rest of us will spend the rest of our lives waiting in lines to get a roll of toilet paper.

Filed under: conservatives, economy, Election, family, Government, politics, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Capital Gains What?

Posted on 21/10/2008 by Grumpa Joe
My Flag Flies Everyday

My Flag Flies Everyday

The rhetoric in this campaign could only be written by lawyers. We need to listen and understand every word, then read between the lines. I keep hearing that BO wants to limit his taxation to the “very rich.” He openly says there are many companies who are so rich they can afford to give some up for those at the bottom. I got to thinking about his words, and the concepts begin to sink in.

The folks who support BO and who have jobs seem to agree that their employers use them to make their fortunes. These workers have a mentality that somehow, their employer would not be rich if it were not for the sweat of their labor. They revel in the concept of taking it back from the rich. These people resent everything and everyone who has a nickle more than them. What they don’t understand is that the employer pays them a fair market wage for the the fruits of their effort. They also don’t realize that when they go home, the employer is still working to make things happen. Business is a 24/7 operation, and the owners take on a huge responsibility to make it a success.

How does the capital gains tax affect me and you? I fall into the “ninety five percent, or the middle class,” who are supposed to get a tax break in the BO program. I will get that tax break at the expense of a capital gains tax on the wealthiest of companies.  I don’t work anymore, and I live off my 401K, and Social Security. It took my deceased wife and me over forty two years to accumulate the nest egg. We gave up luxuries, spent judiciously, and saved. We invested in the market, and bought into many different companies. Many of my investments are designed for growth so the nest egg keeps up with inflation. When a company does well and expands, or grows, they transfer the growth to the share holders in the form of a capital gain distribution. It is not money, but shares of stock. This is a “capital gain.” At the end of the year, I have to pay a tax on that gain. There have been years, when I had capital gains, and paid a tax, however, the share price of the stock dropped making the value of the gain negative. Uncle Sam took the tax and ran. There was no sympathy toward the stock holder, Even though I was stuck with a stock that was lower in value than before the gain was declared. My 401K depends on capital gains to keep feeding me. I have to sell shares of the funds to get the  money I live on.

All of the people, who have been hypnotised into believing that BO will only tax the rich, are in for a rude awakening.  Any worker who is planning to retire on a 401K plan will be affected by the capital gains tax. Why? because you are investing in the companies that he will tax. All the “boomers” who want to retire and take advantage of their years of labor will be affected too. Companies who pay taxes, pay less dividend and have less money to invest in growth. It is as simple as that; more tax, less growth. More tax, less money in your 401K. More capital gains tax, and the more you pay; the less you have to live on. We are all affected by the capital gains tax, even those of us who are “middle class.” I don’t beleive for a minute that BO doesn’t see that he will burden the retiring baby boomers. He wants it all.

Barack and his liberal cronies love the concept of taking care of the little guy.  He doesn’t believe we are smart enough to care for ourselves.  If BO is really interested in taking care of us, he will abolish his ‘welfare,’ mentality. Karl Marx had a similar idea, and initiated a great ‘experiment” in Europe. Millions were slaughtered to make the idea work. Marxism took everything from the people. The government owned the wealth to take care of the people. The experiment was called “communism.”

Filed under: Election, family, Motivation, politics, Uncategorized, Writer | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Whose Nest Egg Counts?

Posted on 01/06/2008 by Grumpa Joe

Grumpa Joe Looks at FlowerWhile walking this morning it occurred to me that I spent a large part of my life away from my wife and family to earn a living. As many of us do, I spent more time than was necessary at work. I did earn and form a “nest egg.” My dream was to spend the autumn years of life with my lovely wife in play. We spoke of what we would do, we often expressed our dreams of what it would be like. We talked about living in the desert away from harsh winters.

Last night Peggy and I had dinner and conversation with the Ryans. Our time together was marvelous. We met at Villa Rosa in Frankfort. This little place, tucked into a strip mall, in the historic section is quiet. We can hear ourselves talk and think there. In addition, the food is great.  It was over a year since we had dinner with the Ryans, and we had a lot to catch up on. Our last dinner was in the Phoenix area in 2007. 

I walked along the trail listening to the birds and talking to Barb. While I spent all my time building the “nest egg” at the expense of missing time with her, she spent time developing friends. She had to do somethiing to fill the many hours that I was gone, she joined clubs in the neighborhood. She sang in the choir at church. She cultivated relationships. Barb always made sure that I met her new friends and I became a member of her circle. The Ryans are one of the couples I met through her activity in the garden club.

Since Barb died, it is her nest egg that I live on.  It was the time she spent developing relationships like the one we had with the Ryans, that has saved me from major despair. It is all of the people who she cultivated  as friends from the choir, the garden club, and the bowling league that have become my friends. They are the ones who have been my comfort.

Barbara never enjoyed any of the fruits of my nest egg, the one I spent so many hours away from her to build. All of her life she gave me love, and continues to show me her love with the payout from her nest egg.

Filed under: Garden, grief, Memories | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »