13.9 Percent

[G-Man]

Mr. Buffet does NOT pay less taxes than his secretary despite what Mr. Obama tells you.

Obama also left out that Buffet's secretary make a half million a year.  Yup, 500,000 for secretarial work.  Good for her!

[..]

Electile Dysfunction:

The inability to become aroused over any of the choices for President put forth by either party in the 2012 election year.

[98valk]

u know it's really funny. Rommey does not work. he is living off his retirement accounts. at this time in the tax laws, the capital gains tax is 15%.
I guess the liberal marxist crowd would feel better if he was paying 39.875% as in 1978 under carter which he inherited from the nixon/ford presidency and which was lowered by him to 28% in 1979. reagan lowered it to 20% and then back to 28% when Bush sr took over.

but really they want him to pay 80% because to a marxist they want it ALL. its called 3/4 slavery.

[Bob E.]

Mr. Buffet does NOT pay less taxes than his secretary despite what Mr. Obama tells you.

Obama also left out that Buffet's secretary make a half million a year.  Yup, 500,000 for secretarial work.  Good for her!

Yeah...that's almost as good as getting paid $1.6M as a "historian".  Good for him! 

[Thespian]

 Back to rhetoric and talking points. And so it go's.

 Thanks  Bob for giving them something to think about. Sorry to hear about the family, but maybe what Scott Walker has done in Wisconsin is the C change America has needed, and we will regain a middle class.  

 BTW Rupert Murdoch's secretary gets her pay from a salary, not the same tax rate. Somehow I think you knew that though.    
 

[Jabba]

Bob, it's unfortunate that your parents have struggled, but they could have made different choices. 

I also think that we should help our baby boomers with their healthcare.  I don't think we should provide healthcare, in Spanish, for non-citizens.  I see it here in Indianapolis.  I provide services for a Non-Profit division of IU Health that provides healthcare for undeserved populations.  It's dominantly Hispanic, and less than 1/2 speak English.

The Fair Tax would open up a lot of manufacturing jobs, for people like your dad.  They polled 500 international companies and asked what would they do if America eliminated corporate taxation, and went to the FairTax.  The vast majority responded with "Open a factory in America".

There are other opportunities out there. 

I seriously wish your parents luck.  I assume you are helping them out?

Me... I have my wife, son and I that live in my house.  My elder brother 11 years my senior lives with us too.  As does his daughter and her two daughters, one of which has special needs.  I believe in looking out for your own people, and not asking the government to take from everyone else and take care of my people. 

Jabba

[Bob E.]

Bob, it's unfortunate that your parents have struggled, but they could have made different choices. 

You know...it is easy to say that looking back.  Oh...I wish I would have done this or that.  If only Dad hadn't worked at that particular factory.  Or...Oh I wish I would have waited longer to have kids.  Or...Oh, I wish I would have gotten a Registered Nursing Degree instead of a LPN degree and made more money.  Mom was valedictorian of her high school class so she could have done alot more.  But her parents (especially her alcoholic and verbally/mentally abusive father) didn't support her ambitions.  So she put herself through nursing school later.  The thing is that you make the best decisions you can based on what is going on in your life at the time.  Back in '69-'70, it was common for men to get a job in a factory and to start building a family at a young age.  Hell, that was the American Dream back then.  But things don't always work out like you plan and you never know what is going to happen tomorrow.  You can say that shouldn't be the gov't's problem, that people should "take care of their own" and you might be right.  But the fact is that there is no way I'd be able to afford to support my parents needs...especially their medical care or even just their prescriptions. And there are alot of kids much less fortunate than me that would have an even more difficult time.  And what about people who didn't have kids at all?  The reality is that this became enough of a problem back in the day that the gov't said, "you know, we need to do something ab0ut this."  If we cut or end these programs, I fear we'd be back in that same boat.

I didn't tell the story for any sort of pity or sympathy or anything.  I told it to illustrate that there are hard-working people who are not free-loaders that would otherwise be in real trouble if programs like SS and Medicare didn't exist.  And I would venture to guess that folks like my parents are alot more representative of reality than the picture many in the GOP try to paint when they describe (demonize) the people "sucking on the gov't teet".

And to answer your last question....I am fortunate enought to live next door to my parents.  So yes, I help them out where I can.  And I'd be lying if I said they didn't help me out alot as well.  My brother and his family also live nearby and we are all a close knit bunch.

[Jabba]

I never said that they shouldn't exist.  They should in some form.  But what we have now is an abomination.  The people who need and deserve it, are largly not willing to game the system to get it, and the ones who do... are the ones that shouldn't be getting it.

Our government is too big.  Too bloated, and should not exist to redistribute wealth.  Figuring out a way for your parents to get healthcare... I am on board with... but not by requiring that EVERYONE in America have EQUAL healthcare, and that I pay for it all.

Jabba

[Jabba]

I had a kidney stone in September.  I was in the hospital overnight.  The bill?  $12,000.  No surgery.  Pain meds.  IV Fluids.  and a CT scan.

Why was the bill so high?  Because of all the people that get healthcare that don't PAY for it.  The hospital has to recoup their costs... and they do it by overcharging insurance companies when they can.  In turn, we all pay higher insurance costs and people like your mom and dad can't afford it.

Frankly, I'd like the government AND employers out of the healthcare business.  Just pay me (and everyone else in America) that money, and let us be in charge of our own health insurance.  Stop treating Jose' Doe at the hospitals, and secure the border to begin with.  Eliminate the market for their labor here in America.

Jabba

[G-Man]

Mr. Buffet does NOT pay less taxes than his secretary despite what Mr. Obama tells you.

Obama also left out that Buffet's secretary make a half million a year.  Yup, 500,000 for secretarial work.  Good for her!

Yeah...that's almost as good as getting paid $1.6M as a "historian".  Good for him! 

Exactly right, good for him!  Everyone is entitled to make as much money as they can, as long as it's legal.  If your post was sarcastic, show me where his earnings were illegal.  And if there is blame to place, why blame the payee?  I think it's more appropriate to blame the payor (payer?).  Blame Barney, he had the oversight, right.

I don't blame the hammer manufacturer for selling the gov't $300 hammers or the $400 toilet seats, I blame the schmuck who signed the check.

[G-Man]

Frankly, I'd like the government AND employers out of the healthcare business.  Just pay me (and everyone else in America) that money, and let us be in charge of our own health insurance. 

Jabba Brother, I am right there with you (two fingers pointing at my eyes and then pointing at your eyes) on everything, except this one.  The reason why businesses started offering healthcare benefits was to attract the best employees.  I feel that this is just fine because the business can get group rates which are usually significantly lower than if you purchased health insurance individually. 

Somewhere along the road, it morphed into employees "requiring" that businesses pay for healthcare.  I remember when I quit school and got a job as a locksmith, my mother made me ask my boss for health insurance.  I did and he laughed.  Mom was pissed as she "expected" him to provide this, even thought it was a two man shop.  Guess if we had Obamacare back then, I would have been covered until 26 under my parent's plan.

[Bob E.]

Mr. Buffet does NOT pay less taxes than his secretary despite what Mr. Obama tells you.

Obama also left out that Buffet's secretary make a half million a year.  Yup, 500,000 for secretarial work.  Good for her!

Yeah...that's almost as good as getting paid $1.6M as a "historian".  Good for him! 

Exactly right, good for him!  Everyone is entitled to make as much money as they can, as long as it's legal.  If your post was sarcastic, show me where his earnings were illegal.  And if there is blame to place, why blame the payee?  I think it's more appropriate to blame the payor (payer?).  Blame Barney, he had the oversight, right.

I don't blame the hammer manufacturer for selling the gov't $300 hammers or the $400 toilet seats, I blame the schmuck who signed the check.

Nope...not illegal as far as I know. I only pointed it out because I though it was just as relevant (not) to the conversation as the statement about the secretary's salary.

[Bob E.]

In turn, we all pay higher insurance costs and people like your mom and dad can't afford it.

Just to be clear...mom and dad have insurance now and will move to Medicare in a few years when they hit 65.  If Medicare didn't exist, almost nobody in that age group would be able to afford the insurance if you could find someone to offer it at all...which is why Medicare exists in the first place.

[G-Man]

Nope...not illegal as far as I know. I only pointed it out because I though it was just as relevant (not) to the conversation as the statement about the secretary's salary.

I thought the secretary's salary was relevant because had Obama divuldged this to the public while he was perpetuating the 15% lie (during the state of the union campaign speech no less), the public might have finally seen how full of crap he really is and not feel too bad for the lowley secretary who's boss is taking advantage of.  

[G-Man]

In turn, we all pay higher insurance costs and people like your mom and dad can't afford it.

Just to be clear...mom and dad have insurance now and will move to Medicare in a few years when they hit 65.  If Medicare didn't exist, almost nobody in that age group would be able to afford the insurance if you could find someone to offer it at all...which is why Medicare exists in the first place.

Yes, but MEDICARE IS NOT AN ENTITLEMENT.  it is paid into throughout our entire working lives, about 45 years for most of us.  It isn't in the same league as food stamps, housing projects, lower education..........it is paid for by the recipient, the tax paying worker.  And, over the 45 years that we pay into this, the cost to the taxpayer is probably higher than if we just purchased it at age 67 when we retire.

[Jabba]

Frankly, I'd like the government AND employers out of the healthcare business.  Just pay me (and everyone else in America) that money, and let us be in charge of our own health insurance. 

Jabba Brother, I am right there with you (two fingers pointing at my eyes and then pointing at your eyes) on everything, except this one.  The reason why businesses started offering healthcare benefits was to attract the best employees.  I feel that this is just fine because the business can get group rates which are usually significantly lower than if you purchased health insurance individually. 

Somewhere along the road, it morphed into employees "requiring" that businesses pay for healthcare.  I remember when I quit school and got a job as a locksmith, my mother made me ask my boss for health insurance.  I did and he laughed.  Mom was pissed as she "expected" him to provide this, even thought it was a two man shop.  Guess if we had Obamacare back then, I would have been covered until 26 under my parent's plan.

Why are individuals or small groups prohibited from banding together and forming larger groups and negotiating better plans?

Because the insurance companies WANT it that way so they lobby (pay) the lawmakers to make laws that prohibit it. 

This is another of my biggest pet peeves.  I work for a 10 person firm.  Our healthcare plan SUCKS.  Why should we be prohibited from joining with 1000 other small businesses and negotiating a much better plan?

I don't know either... but we ARE.

Jabba

[The Anvil]

Guess if we had Obamacare back then, I would have been covered until 26 under my parent's plan.

Please call it what it really is; Nationalized Romneycare.

[fudgie]

Medicare sets the standards on insurance prices. They tell what your private ins can charge for your meds and services.
We use to have set mileage from a hospital to another hospital. They changed to actual mileage. Back to a set miles and last week they said we are going back to actual.
10 yrs ago we charged a base rate, miles, and items that were used on you. Now everything is all bundled into 1 price. We can throw the book at you and charge the same amount as if we do nothing. Its not your private ins, its medicare that is causing the problems.

[a99miata]

Does it really matter? He can afford a really good tax accountant and the guy(or girl) is doing his job by helping him not pay taxes. Nuff said!

[fon1961]

i suggest we all just agree to pay the same rate on income and call it a day