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mayor_o_tateville
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Name: John & Jen
Gender: Male
Interests: Theology, history, politics (poly-ticks), website design, good food, good wine, photography, coin collecting, contemplating the nature of God and the universe. Last but not least, my beloved and altogether wonderful wife.
Expertise: See above, plus teaching, culinary arts, and general smart-aleckry
Occupation: Marketing
Industry: Insurance
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
9/6/2004
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Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all
ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it
would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are
all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of
your daily beer by $20."Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so
the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.
But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they
divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted
that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would
each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested
that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same
amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four
continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men
began to compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat
down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill,
they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money
between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how
our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most
benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being
wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might
start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia | | |
| We found out last week via ultrasound what we are having. I won't come out and say it, but let's just say on or around January 20, I will be adding "Senior" to the end of my name.
Jen is happy. I am thrilled. I will scan pics when I get a chance to break the old machine out.
Palin for VP. McCain for placeholder.
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| In honor of our next Vice President (and President-after-next?): Little Known Facts about Gov. Sarah Palin:
- Sarah Palin begins every day with a moment of silence for the political enemies buried in her yard.
- Sarah Palin always beats the point spread.
- Sarah Palin once bit the head off a live Osprey snatched from the air as it tried to fly off with a fish she caught.
- Sarah Palin uses French Canadians as bait to catch giant king salmon.
- When Sarah Palin booked a flight to Europe, the French immediately surrendered.
- Sarah Palin plays Whack-a-Mole with her forehead, and always gets a perfect score.
- Sarah Palin knows who was on the grassy knoll.
- Sarah Palin’s finishing move in the VP debate will be pulling Biden’s still beating heart from his chest & taking a bite.
- Sarah Palin isn’t allowed to wield the gavel at the convention because they’re afraid she’ll use it to kill liberals.
- Sarah Palin once won a competitive eating contest by devouring three live caribou.
- Sarah Palin once carved a perfect likeness of the Mona Lisa in a block of ice using only her teeth.
- Sarah Palin will pry your Klondike bar from your cold dead fingers.
- Sarah Palin pick retroactively makes the theme of #DNC08 “Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead”
- Sarah Palin doesn’t need a gun to hunt. She has been known to throw a bullet through an adult bull elk.
- Sarah Palin drives a Zamboni to work.
- Sarah Palin is actually Kaiser Sose.
- Sarah Palin knows how old the Chinese gymnasts are.
- Sarah Palin wears glasses lest her uncontrollable optic blasts slaughter everyone.
- Sarah Palin is the “other” whom Yoda spoke about.
- The Russians sold Alaska to America because Sarah Palin would not submit to autocracy.
- Sarah Palin will send Biden a pre-debate cheat sheet. The sheet will have tips on defending against Kung Fu Death Grip.
- Queen Elizabeth II curtsied when she was introduced to Sarah Palin
- Sarah Palin’s image already appears on the newer nickels
- Sarah Palin as VP increases Depends sales among scatalogically frightened Democrats
- Sarah Palin was not flown to Ohio in charter jet- she ran as part of morning workout.
- Sarah Palin placed fossils in the ground to test your faith.
- Sarah Palin would have just had an Eagle drop the Ring into Mount Doom.
- Global Warming doesn’t kill polar bears. Sarah Palin does - usually with her bare hands.
- Sarah Palin killed her first polar bear when she was three.
- Sarah Palin paid her way through school by hunting for yeti pelts with a slingshot.
- Sarah Palin used to wrestle kodiak bears in Alaskan bare knuckles fight clubs.
- Sarah Palin once bagged a caribou by staring it down until it died.
- Sarah Palin turned down a job as skipper of a Deadliest Catch boat because it wasn’t challenging enough
- Sarah Palin fishes salmon by convincing them it’s in their interest to jump into the boat.
- Sarah Palin once guided Santa’s sleigh through an Alaskan blizzard with the light from her smile.
I know, blatant ripoff from Chuck Norris, but they're amusing. And I may actually vote for McCain, since he's chosen a conservative VP. (No, I wasn't voting for Obama before...)
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| Recent photos here -
Emma 2008
Oh yeah, there's an ultrasound picture. Number 2 is due the day President McCain or President Obama is to be inagurated. God is good to our family!
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| http://www.tateville.com is updated. Have a look!
I haven't been here in awhile. I don't have the time I once did,
between, work, fatherhood, husbandry (?). As you can probably guess,
life has been crazy. (I do more now at Facebook, because it's easier
and doesn't require time to think out something profound. And it's not
Myspace, which I havent' been to in forever).
Hope you're all doing well. Take care!
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