Accustomed Living

It's amazing how many people today live by the "Accustomed Living" standard. Over-privileged, well-fed, wealthy men and women get very used to a certain way of living; privileged. However, when times get tough, they would rather leach more from those who depend on them to maintain their way of life.

The Government gives tax breaks to large business owners because the theory is that with all that extra money, business owners will be able to hire more people, thus creating more jobs. Unfortunately, this doesn't work. While this produces an environment that allows the payment of higher wages or more employees, most business owners tend to end up just pocketing the left overs and labeling it 'profit'. That's all well and good, but the second the economy takes a spin in the wrong direction and businesses start to lose profits, the owners of said companies would rather fire parts of their workforce (or at least make major cuts where possible) than dip into their pockets where all those profits gathered for all those years. After all, we can't have the life their accustomed to change, can we?

The problem with this whole set up is it relies too much on the willingness of the business to actually do with the money what was intended. Now, don't get my wrong. I in no way support the full Democratic Robin Hood philosophy of tax the rich, give to the poor because their definition of rich and poor is drastically screwed up. I think a fine line down the middle of helping businesses maintain profitability while taxing people evenly and fairly would work best. Taxes aren't a punishment. They are a necessary funding from the people to pay for things the government needs. So, all citizens, regardless of income level, should pay some form of tax. The amount to tax is the biggest concern. We're probably better off with just a flat percentage tax.

The wealthiest people in this country are too well protected and supported even for mistakes they make themselves. Recently, I accidentally overdrew too much from my checking account and was hit with a $600 overdraft charge. Now, ratio metrically, that $600 loss to me is the equivalent of $60,000,000.00 loss to a wealthy CEO of some huge company. On one hand, the CEO will most likely be able to retrieve most of it through clever tax deductions and government intervention. Me? I'm just screwed. Hell, the bank who took my money is the company who probably lost the 60 million and is getting it back by hitting me with larger surcharges.

In the end, I give a lot of credit to the middle class of this country. We have adapted and evolved from high on the ladder of success to the lowest rung of surivability; selling homes, budgeting money, and sacrificing luxuries. Meanwhile, the upper 1% of this country doesn't know the meaning of the word sacrifice... unless you mean he'll have to skip his golf game on Wednesday because he just might have to show up at the office for an hour...