Back from vacation

Back from vacation. Did my annual camping trip to Cumberland island off the coast of Georgia- My friends and I have been making this trip annually for 20 some odd years. The picture posted was taken by myself and is of the main trail leading to the campsite.

I noticed the last post I did before going on vacation drew some comments- hm….. it always amazes me how many different views there are concerning income taxes. The truth of the matter whether you want to believe it or not is simple- the lower taxes are the more revenue collected-point blank. Also if you over burden the rich with taxes you create a climate where they protect there assets any way possible- and history has shown the rich can live anywhere- they simply pull their money out of the system and head to a more friendlier tax system. Here is the most important thing- when is the last time you got a job from a poor man?

There is a great example that came from the Clinton years. The luxury tax. It placed a serious tax on high end luxury items. This tax crippled the yacht building industry along the lower east coast. Some of you say, hell fuck the rich and their yachts- but that’s because you can only conceive the economy being static, in actuality the economy is a dynamic interwoven entity that is as fragile as it is resilient. See, the “Rich” didn’t want to pay this tax since it was cheaper to buy a yacht manufactured elsewhere and hire a crew to sail it to the USA. In the mean time normal everyday craftsmen, men and women , that used to make a very good living building everything from teak cabinets and decking were out of work. Even the companies that made the small things like galley fixtures were adversely affected

The idea of taxing the rich is a double-edged sword that cuts it’s owner as easily as it cuts other things. There are many in America that want a socialistic style society. This has been and is being tried in other countries and to this day the amount of wealth and opportunity that exists in the good ole’ USA has not been matched by those countries.

I hear over and over again- poverty this, poverty that. Just what the fuck is poverty these days. I mean have most of you out there that repeat some of this shit over and over ever visited a third-world country. You know places where real poverty exists, not like poverty here where even the poorest among us have a video game, television, etc…Places where if you don’t work you don’t eat, and there is a serious shortage of work.

Quit listening to the talking heads. Do your own research, form your own opinions. Get to the bottom of these issues. Look historically at what has happened and why- it is said, ‘those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it’, abandon the concept of weakening the strong to help the weak. It has never worked in the history of the world, and it won’t work simply because you are doing it. If you truly want to help people then demand something of them. Allow them to build something of their own, not something confiscated from someone that busted his butt.

Also, stop this “they are the lucky ones’ shit. It is not luck when you work hard and make a dream reality. The vast majority of wealth in this country is new wealth. The Old money crowd is still around but they are a minority these days. One last thing before I go.

In the 60’s some damned good men and women of different racial backgrounds fought the good fight. It was called the Civil Rights Movement. They wanted to live in a country were the color of your skin would not exclude you from enjoying the American dream. ( kinda funny you never here of the Japanese dream, or the European dream, or the South American dream) They succeed beyond most of there wildest dreams- but it doesn’t make one damned bit of sense to legislate away some of those success’ with outrageous tax burdens. If my father was taxed at the rate I am there is no fuckin’ way he could have raised 5 boys on his military income—Yes, I had a father that participated in my upbringing, that alone these days is enough to ensure that a child doesn’t grow up in poverty, especially since the largest growing segment of our society living in poverty are households of single women with children.

Later’