How Do You Feel Today
As I walked through the door this morning, one of my German colleagues asked, "So, how do you feel today?"
Me: "I'm fine, thanks. Why do you ask?"
Her: "You have a new President! Isn't that good?"
Me: "Yeah, sure."
Her: "You don't like him?"
Me: "I don't care."
Her: "But he is better than Bush, isn't he?"
Me: "They both have good and bad qualities."
Her: "But Obama is for fairness."
Me: "Not for me. I'm one of the one's he'll be coming after."
Her: "What do you mean?"
Me: "The poor will get more, the rich are exempted in hundreds of ways from paying for it. The middle class suckers like me are the one's who are going to pay for this. How is this good?"
Her: "But people who need help will finally be getting it."
Me: "Maybe ... maybe not. The point is, I lose in any case."
Her: "But that is surely fairer, no?"
Note to self: This one is a candidate for Betriebsbedingte Kuendigung ... it's only fair she should lose her job so that others can keep theirs.
Me: "I'm fine, thanks. Why do you ask?"
Her: "You have a new President! Isn't that good?"
Me: "Yeah, sure."
Her: "You don't like him?"
Me: "I don't care."
Her: "But he is better than Bush, isn't he?"
Me: "They both have good and bad qualities."
Her: "But Obama is for fairness."
Me: "Not for me. I'm one of the one's he'll be coming after."
Her: "What do you mean?"
Me: "The poor will get more, the rich are exempted in hundreds of ways from paying for it. The middle class suckers like me are the one's who are going to pay for this. How is this good?"
Her: "But people who need help will finally be getting it."
Me: "Maybe ... maybe not. The point is, I lose in any case."
Her: "But that is surely fairer, no?"
Note to self: This one is a candidate for Betriebsbedingte Kuendigung ... it's only fair she should lose her job so that others can keep theirs.
posted by Mike B at 1/21/2009 10:52:00 PM
2 Comments:
Have you actually done any research on the changes you are discussing? Unless you are netting over $625,000 according to the numbers discussed prior to election, you should be doing the same or better. If you are one of those fortunates netting more, wtf is your problem?
I understand it is "cool" for you to be negative, but can you actually share how you will be personally monetarily worse off in any way other than the darn rest of us whose savings have been destroyed by the fraud and lack of regulation since deregulation became the norm?
Signed, someone who pays so much more tax in Germany that when I go back to the US I will have carryforward for years and is fine with it and with the US providing health and childcare for its citizens and legal residents based on income graduated sliding scale (just like Germany).
I've been double-taxed for years; though some of that was relieved the past couple of years by the change to the AMT limitation on foreign tax credits, I suspect that provision will go away.
My savings were also hit by the fraud that resulted from a long series of regulation that made it easier for unqualified borrowers to pile on the debt in the name of putting more people into their own homes as well as making it then easier for them to walk away from that debt when it became too uncomfortable.
And don't get too enamoured of your carry forward, because it will only be applicable against any foreign source income you might have, if any. I will personally lose hundreds of thousands in carry-forwards if I ever repatriate to the US, though I might actually win if I do a Jimmy Rogers and move to Singapore.
As for helping our fellow citizens and legal residents in need, that is a feel good argument ... look at the new stimulus package details and tell me how much of that money is really going to citizens in need (A: maybe $40B out of $800B if you are charitable in how you define need).
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