Ahrcanum

We usually feel better after apology but not this time.  According to the NY Times, “The Obama administration is signaling to Congress that the president could support taxing some employee health benefits, as several influential lawmakers and many economists favor, to help pay for overhauling the health care system.”  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/us/politics/15health.html?_r=1

Yesterday, President Obama said, “It’s never as good as we say it is and it’s never as bad as we say it is. I’m very optimistic.”   Gee, that makes me feel better.  Obama has placed himself in a win/win with that comment and placed all of us in further jeopardy of being poor.  During the election Obama criticized McCain for even suggesting it- so instead, he is sending a message to Congress that if they will do it, he will sign it into law.  Throw in the proposed carbon tax and a tax for every mile driven and the working man or woman won’t see even half of his wages.

SodaHead’s blog writes, ” Doing the math, this would cost the average family receiving health insurance from their employers $2,000 or more in extra taxes per year. Kiss that $600 dollar tax cut good by.” http://www.sodahead.com/blog/49361/obama-plan-to-tax-your-health-care-how-does-that-grab-you/ .

What incentive is there to work when under O, soon most services will be free anyways?  Why should my doctor bust his ass on a Friday when it puts him into a higher tax bracket?  Schools around the nation are considering four day weeks, why not the rest of us?  “By extending school hours and eliminating a day of classes each week, education officials say they could save bus loads of money on transportation and utilities.” http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11898035?nclick_check=1

Why not go to four days a week for all of us?  While I am pondering three day weekends, maybe we should move to the European style of vacations and work ethics.  In the 15 nations of the European Union, by law all full-time employees must be given a minimum of four weeks’ paid vacation per year; in Japan mandates 25 days a year, so unlike 127 other countries, the U.S. has no minimum paid-leave law.  We are the No Vacation Nation and are taxed so highly that half of us can’t afford to go on vacation anyways.  We work hard to give to our government.

Harvard Economist Juliet Shore wrote that we should hold jobs to a set number of hours per week, offer comp time for any overtime, and lower our living standards. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/046505434X.  Lower our living standards?  Ain’t that a kick in the ass, go to work and lower the standards for the American Dream!  Frig u.

Accepting lower standards is only half the problem.  The standards are so low, that it is now perceived to be okay to accept welfare and subsidized housing on a regular basis. Used to be I’d see folks in line at the grocery store embarrassed as they paid with food stamps, now they wave them in the air like they are a prize.  Accepting the standards of the welfare system should never be acceptable nor should the incentive to lower our standards ever be spat out.

I could envision a job interview where the employee says that they expect to work no more than 40 hours a week.  Laughable, because there are plenty of others who are willing to work twice as long for the same pay with or without vacation time. 

TAKE BACK YOUR TIME is a major U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment.  http://www.timeday.org/.  It isn’t my time that feels threatened at the moment, it is my wallet under Obama’s tax plans.

We really don’t have to worry about Take Back Your Time Day- October 24 with so many unemployed we have lots of vacation time, just no money and no incentives to look for work.  Even if you still have a job and take a paid vacation, you are taxed.  Oh, the poor travel industry. 

I think you even have to pay taxes on unemployment compensation.  Is there anything left that doesn’t have a tax?  The only thing I can think of is breathing and when that ends, there is a death tax.