A couple of days ago I read an article that read "Can the US economy tolerate a tax increase in 2013?"
I almost passed it, because during this time of year there's so much politicrap out there your brain might spontaneously combust if you take in more than your R.D.A. of politics; like the constant IV drip sort of streaming we are seeing from the media currently and will until the contest is over, and actually..months after......
hm.
ok it never stops.
but my brain thought...you know, I wonder what the amount of tax we are actually talking about is. Not projections, not speculation, but in reality. I wonder if it's equivalent to everyone pitching in $100 (or $20 or $5) more this year....or something like $2 a day. Of course we don't get it explained in such relative terms to us usually, so we try to decipher the information we are given,usually unsuccessfully, about what a 'tax raise' would actually mean.
In fact, people hear the word tax raise and often go up in arms before even hearing another word. Imagine a public servant on the steps of a building about to address a mob of angry misinformed people below; "tax raise..."
"arrrrggghhhhhhhh *slaughter* mayhem* destruction" as a bloodied man tries to squeak out "..s are unacceptable... on... any.. terms" and then he'd die and everyone would look around at each other like ...hmm...damn.
So! I wondered...as I often do...what would it mean?
Would it mean they would have to give up the equivalent of less than 1 quarter or a jar of fancy nail polish?
Or one less coffee or high end scotch a day or one les glass a week of that uber expensive pinot gris? Perhaps one less pair of shoes?
Would they really feel that deprived or would they just make up the money somewhere else?
Literally...can anyone tell me? Would it mean one less hair extension or fake breast? Or one less hair plug or golf game a year. Hm. There's no way it could cost even that much...
Yes...I'm sure they are not even asking as much help from you as one golf game at your favorite course. and ok, even if it is...I'm sure I could make it relative to something equally materialistic and not truly important or something they would actually not even miss, PLUS it would help OUR country....and the rest of us can't really help.
(and by the way, this kind of stuff: http://marketday.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/18/12793197-big-bonuses-seen-leading-to-current-wall-street-scandals?lite
is the kind of stuff that makes it hard for us 'regular people' to not roll our eyes when you talk about protecting big business.)
We'd love to help though. I swear we would. I bet a bunch of us dream about how we'd help if we could and I'm sure, if any of us ever have the opportunity to live with great hoards of money, many of us will remember how easy it is to make a huge change with a little money if people do it together, with intention of a particular goal.
Anyway...back to the point. (yes, there is one)
I read the following quote in this article I mentioned at some point.
“We're not talking about giving tax cuts to anyone. All we're asking is don't raise taxes on all Americans, and especially don't raise taxes on the people who create the business."
and the first thought I had was OH you mean all those big businesses that are OUTSOURCING ALL OF THEIR JOBS? you mean the ones that have thousands of people employed in other countries where they can pay them meager pay and reap the profits? ohhhh right. let's protect those guys.
wait...no. let's SPANK those guys with a big. fat. tax. for not creating jobs IN AMERICA. Also, I say you are not allowed to call yourself 'an american company' if you are producing, shipping, creating jobs and paying for real estate to do all of this IN ANOTHER COUNTRY. No. Bad corp. That's just BS. From now on the people that should get the most benefits are the ones that do the most HERE. They create from the US of A....creating jobs from all sorts of angles, just by keeping it here.
And my second thought brought me to a new perspective on business...
So I wanted to say Mr Kyl...
I would like you to consider how potentially insulting this is to the average small businessman in America; but more than that...why. Why it is insulting? I want you to care..don't just say "oh everyone gets insulted at one thing or another" and shrug and blow it off. LISTEN TO THE WHY>
See, it sounds like you are saying the many many jobs that little business create don't count...they are small and not financially viable or effective...so they obviously aren't considered in your big picture of who needs to pay more and who is creating jobs.
But actually, those little guys? They are the guys keeping us alive.
They are the ones that, if they didn't exist, whole towns just vanish....ghost towns...remnants of previously successful places that just couldn't keep going when the bigger, better funded place moved in downtown and skewed all the prices. Granted, there are gigantic offices full of hundreds of thousands of people, I know.
But Mr Kyl, there is so much more to America than the kind of bustling city businesses you are talking about. It's not just about the size of the skyscraper, Mr. Kyl. In reality, most of America lives in smaller towns or cities....or we live out in the country or forest or wider open spaces.
So for us...the big business guy really doesn't do anything but cause a problem. For us, it is they who should not be given such great importance to, as they really do nothing but shut things down...but they are spoken of by people such as yourself as if they are the very lifeblood of America. They build factories overseas and outsource jobs to other countries. They are not creating jobs HERE.
If you support only the big businesses; the kind that the Obama administration is asking to pitch in more to keep things moving; and the kind you are talking about protecting, you lose the little guys that are the real cogs in the wheel. I've seen it happen, when Wal-Mart came to town and nearly 60% of all small businesses in the town had to close their doors..charming booksellers, toy stores, clothing stores, a staple of the community drug store that had been there for decades...all gone now.
How did that big business help this town with jobs?
And more importantly than that -
How do you think those people felt about closing their own successful businesses to consider putting on a polyester wal mart uniform and listen to people protect 'big business'?
Now, I figure, if businesses, or Very Wealthy People, truly want to help; then what does it matter if the help is done by paying more taxes so more little guys get to stay in business? (which also helps the economy and jobs and morale of the country)
Or do they just get to proclaim "they make the most jobs, regardless of what they are or what they pay, so they get to do what they want" with voting power like individuals, while we watch them get richer and bigger while more little guys, and their investments and finances time and employees and growth, vanish.
Soon you have an empty building to fill and a new potential foreclosure happening. Way to go guys.
America needs the type of people that see past supporting only wealthy, large, business creators to give the little guy a shot a staying alive...the kind of places America was built on and actually keep our economy moving in small towns, rural areas, and even mid size towns and cities...
These are the little business that truly stimulate local economy and employment, not just corporate giants that have big box stores or enough cash to open up a line of stores anywhere they choose. These are the little guys.
Take a walk in an older part of your town.
One that has charm and a large variety of stores in a small community area.
Have you even been to a real butcher? Or a bread maker? Or a doll hospital or a shoemaker or a small artists gallery? We have some of these in Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs and if a big corporation came in to swallow up those little shops you can bet WE the PEOPLE would fight to send them on their way and leave us be.
Think about whatever small shop it is you visit (or if you don't, one you did when you were a child or heard about or used to drive by every day and wonder about) and love the atmosphere of...is it a tea house? a candy shop? a book store? a small dessert shop? Not so big...only 3 or 4 employees...but if those pastries and donuts didn't exist you weren't sure you'd be able to face the rest of the Mondays in your life. All of these places might mean 100 jobs or so...but what would the town be without them?
These are the ones you are essentially shutting down and discrediting with statements like these. These are the guys that keep America moving....the middle to lower classs now....struggling to stay alive and keep our heads above water...wanting to grow...
wanting to be able to have some influence with the giant corporations that could be helping everyone but seem to only be interested in keeping themselves afloat and growing.
A monopoly, of course.......ah to be so wealthy. And imagine how boring our country would be with only the big guys...shipping everything overseas and telling us to be happy about it and keep buying from them because they are 'American'
So...save the little businesses...tell the big guys to help the little guys.
Be leaders and mentors - not corporate commandants with no vision of diversity or how we can all grow together.
Big Ass Corporations, do what's right. and people like Mr. Kyl?
THINK.
be well wanderers
jen
