You cannot tax us out of debt and back into prosperity!

I am very perplexed by the many daily arguments that we need to raise tax rates and that "millionaires need to pay their fair share".  

And recent comments by Buffet the Clown only further confuse the "less than millionaire" folks.  As anyone who has spent 20 minutes doing any research learns, the 267,000 millionaires in America already pay 90% of the taxes.

Now perhaps the real argument concerns "tax rates" not "amounts paid".  It would seem "unfair" that a millionaire would pay say 10% when a secretary might pay 18%.  But I am not sure that is a good analysis either.  

"Contribution" should always be in someway related to the tax on the activity (ie., golf fans pay for golf not all citizens).  Seems obvious to me that everyone would go nuts if Congress passed a law requiring us ALL to have "skydiver or needlepoint insurance".  Those folks who would never go skydiving or do needlepointing (probably the bulk of us) would be livid by this "forced socialism" and would likely revolt or hold "serious discussions" about this.  Why penalize everyone for the mistakes of a few? 

But just call it Federal Deposit Insurance, Social Security/Medicare, Uninsured Motorist Protection or Quantitative Easing (QE123) and somehow we forget all our free market American principals and philosophies.  Jefferson and Madison are rolling in their Patriotic graves as their published words of wisdom on how to avoid all this have been shelved ("too hard to read" one CongressClown said).

Now I don't know if some "rich folks are not paying their fair share", but what I do know (and know well) is that the Schofield Family (one man, his wife and their one child) contribute way more than their fair share.  

I work(ed) 60-80 hours a week since I was 16 to become successful.   Last year we paid 32% of "what our accountant says our income is" in just "federal income taxes" (and there are other taxes too numerous to recite here).  

Should I really be paying more?   Do you see any irony in the fact that if I worked less I would pay less?  Do you think the government is doing good stuff with this money?  What would I do with it if I got to keep it this significant amount of money?  Would I consume American products, save in bank or invest in my small businesses?  Seems like I am the real creator of jobs and any answer on what I would do with my own money is good for society?   It seems obvious that more "inefficient government redistribution" is not the answer and you can quickly see better answers in just these few questions.

And just because my S Corp income defines my taxes at such a rate I might be "a millionaire on paper", we too have trouble paying our bills and have to always manage our cash (and we live totally within our means).   These days I struggle to manage my funds as I care for my elderly mother in a nursing home.  But some think I should pay more. 

And I am a guarantor on all of our business debt while the economy is floundering (not worried really but the risk is always out there).  The argument to force the guy working the hardest with the most risk to pay some more is some progressive economics for sure.

We absolutely need a fair tax system but that would also be a tax that everyone pays.  The Alternative Minimum Tax was supposed to fix this but it did not.  Supposedly, 1,500 of these 267,000 millionaires paid at a lower rate than they possibly should (a statistical insignificance but makes for nice sound bite if you don't know the facts) and a few corporations seemingly paid little or nothing (those companies, like GE coincidentally have the most lobbyists and "political connections).

But 50% of the American taxpayers, the lowest income earners paid ZERO federal income taxes.  And they are very likely to be the ones that consume the bulk of these government services. And by "investing nothing" you can see they are not "vested" and quickly call for more taxes or subsidies.  And by investing nothing they are quick to buy from GE or China since this too does not hurt them.   This is an Economics Catch 22 wrapped up in class Albatross surrounded by a tax Enigma.

So let's stop this silly discussion about tax increases.  We need to raise tax rates right now just like we need new immigration laws.  NOT!  We just need to enforce the rules already in place and quit allowing loopholes and weakness to rule our behaviour.  

The Government cannot tax us back into prosperity or out of debt, that is simple truth and only through "responsible consumer behavior" can we fix his economy.  It would be irresponsible of Citizen Bill to continue to allow his government to misuse any more of his or his fellow citizens productivities without a little bit of a fight.  The battle rages.

God Bless Citizen Bill and his Family & Friends.


Here is a great graphic showing some of what we already owe.  Not you and me, we will be dead long before this is paid but you better have some grand kids cause they will be paying the interest on this (notice I did not saying paying off)..

Created by: MBA Online

National System on Interstate Waterways

Ok here is a crazy idea as I continue to sit here and read all the stories about recent fires and flooding and drought across America. 

Remember back during the late 1950‘s when we built the interstate highway system?  As a result of this initiative, there is roughly 50,000 miles of interstate highway in the continental United States.  

The system is named after it’s presidential champion Dwight D. Eisenhower. Now while I am not a huge fan of government largess, anyone paying attention lately knows this is our only "trick" to getting Americans employed.  The President just proposed sepnding another $450B on a "jobs plan". The last "jobs plan" created $1.6 million jobs at a cost of $200k each.  I have a better idea.

Suppose we built two 2 foot water lines right down the middle of the large interestate highways going east to west.  Or we could build in under it or over it as needed.

The Romans called it a “viaduct” (see example of modern viaduct bridge above) but this time we will not line it with lead. 

Then when we have flooding in Fargo, or Louisiana or wherever, we can just send that water to where it can do more good like West Texas or Bakersfield.  

This would be a large project but I think we could do the research fairly quickly and there should be few easement issues since the highways are already there.  If we do just the east-west routes over I-10, I-20 - I-50 etc. we could make a huge difference across the entire nation.  It would require all American construction (good jobs) and cost way less then bailing out a bank or insurance company.   Others have told me my plan makes too much sense.  There it is, comment away.

So says CitizenBill.

Originally posted March 9, 2009.

God Bless America

On this 10th anniversary of 9/11, all I can say right now is God Bless America.  

While many of my friends know that I have some lingering questions about this event, we all stand united as a free and democratic people and "terrorism" in any form cannot be tolerated by a civilized society.  Shame to anyone along the way that might have had an opportunity to shape the world differently and God Bless all Americans struggling through the changes.

And the results of the third count are?

Can you believe that in the 21st century, in the land of nano technology and space science, the atom and the quark, where we can whip a 75 pound chunk of stainless around the moons of Jupiter, we cannot seem to count election votes accurately every time all the time.  

Just look at your television news or your local paper and media during the most recent election (and we have another coming up).   Did you hear about any discussions or heated arguments about “challenges” or “recounts” or “verification of absentee ballots” or other similar discussions?  Of course you did.  This is not rocket science, this is simple math (how many for or against).  Presidential elections have “hung on the dangling chad” (double entendre intended).

In this recent election, when asked “electronic or paper” I replied “who makes the electronic machines”?  The election official looked at me quizzically and said “I don’t know”.  So I said paper.  But after carefully coloring in all the circles on my paper ballot what happens?  You then insert it into the electronic counter made by the same unknown manufacturer that will now determine our future. While the paper goes into the trash.   But, how do we know for sure the machine did what we asked it too.  Probably 50% of the folks never thought about it since their candidate won.  But if I was the Nefarious Bill instead of the Citizen Bill, I might reprogram all the voting machines or force you to use my software.  Seems to me that we can do better and provide more security for what is one of our most valued liberties and responsibilities.  The Vote.

Accordingly, as is the practice of CitizenBill, no complaints just solutions.   Let me present the concept of e-vote-verification.com. 

In my voting future, elections are done over the internet using your social security number as the reference.  There will still be limited voting at city hall like what we do now for those who chose it (but it will likely fade away quickly like phone booths).  Don't have a social security number?  Why not?  And really I don't care about anyone without one.  No SS number means no vote as you are likely not an American citizen.  I don't know one American citizen without a social security number or an ID (but that is a different subject).  If duplicate SS numbers are entered or you have a bogus number or are a felon, these votes will be dropped into a "suspense" area and not counted unless absolutely needed.  Simple math, no fraud, easy stuff.

So no matter what method you used to vote, electronically at the polling place, internet (of course it is secure who told you it wasn't?), telephone, paper ballot scanned, etc., at the end of voting you will be given a paper receipt with a “randomly generated number”.  

Immediately following all elections, the e-voteverification system will  send all results to the servers and the results will be tallied almost immediately.  This is simple math, addition, no complex formulas needed.  The system will be totally updated  (again almost immediately) and by entering in your unique “receipt number” on the website you will be able to see AND CONFIRM “your vote”.  This simple “check” will provide all the security vote “balance” we would ever need. 

And of course if this is not your vote, there will be a procedure to address that as well.  Simple plan for simple folks.  Do not even leave your home to vote. And in addition to the security and verification that this system provides, I would also bet it is way less expensive than the present system since we will not need to rent a bunch of polling places or hire judges or transport ballots.  Like using a word processor instead of a typwriter, this system will pay for itself in one election.  I will try to work on "candidate check" (like spell check) in the future, one thing at a time.


God bless Citizen Bill and his family and friends.