When you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day ...
when you teach a man to fish, you feed him for life”
Dear Ms. Peek,
Like millions of legal immigrants, my grandparents came to America for the
freedoms and opportunities this exceptional country has to offer. They
worked 15 hour days to give their children a better life than they had. My
father, in the spirit of Horatio Alger, worked his way from rags to riches.
By building his own business, he not only created a job for himself and his
own employees, he helped to create and sustain jobs for the employees of all
his suppliers.
Today, we all agree that small business is the engine that creates jobs and
grows our economy, however most Americans have no idea how to get a product
to the marketplace. Over the years, schools have taught most Americans how
to be corporate employees. It’s time to go back to the basics and teach
Americans how to start and build a business of their own.
After starting from scratch, we spent 25 years, selling over 20 million of
our own diversified products ... and, we spent another 25 years teaching our
proven methods to over 2 million Americans. Most of our students experienced
great success, and were able to employ many others. In the past few years,
we made our methods even more user friendly, affordable, and accessable, by
digitizing all our instructional materials. We are offering a free video
presentation at http://www.cossman.com, which shows Americans how they can start
and build their own full-time, or part-time business, with little or no
money, even if they have never been in business before.
We sincerely believe that our program could help get Americans back to
work, create jobs, and stimulate our economy. Any mention of our program on
your behalf would be greatly appreciated. For more information about us and
our program, please visit our website at: http://www.cossman.com
With Kind Regards,
Howard Cossman
Cossman International Marketing
Spring Blooms Could Drown Under Obama Spending
Liz | 04/16 at 02:21 PM
Hallelujah! Spring has sprung. Bursting magnolias and sunny daffodils bring smiles all around while golfers take to the fairways and Yankees fans hail Hideki Matsui on opening day. Keeping pace with these happy signs of life are a resurging economy, and zooming stock prices. The market blew through 11,000 on the Dow this week, closing above that level for the first time since 2008 and quickly topping 11,100. Manufacturing indices in many regions have picked up, and retail sales posted a surprisingly strong 1.6% for March. Employment appears to be rising slightly (the Employment Trends Index from the Conference board was up in March for the seventh straight month), credit markets are improving and corporate profits continue to boom, with early second-quarter announcements running ahead of expectations. Commercial real-estate prices are inching higher, and the much-anticipated “next shoe” of wide-scale defaults in that sector has so far not occurred.
How unfortunate that tax day has to land with a thud in the midst of all these festivities. For sure, April 15 has never been a day of celebration. This year, though, tax day reminds us of our country’s finacial woes, which may well chill our resurging economy and markets. As Americans assess their financial futures, many are calling for a change in the country’s direction and priorities. The Tea Party crowd is the most visible and vocal critic of the Obama administration’s ambitious expansion, but they are not alone. Sixty-two percent of the nation’s likely voters say that the country is headed down the wrong track. That’s a lot of unhappy people.
Tax day highlights many of the persistent arguments between left and right in our country, which are again at the forefront of our national debate. In particular, there is wide disagreement about what is fair. Those who, like President Obama, think it’s fair to “spread the wealth around” have no problem with the notion that funding our skyrocketing budget deficits is going to land heavily on the backs of our country’s most successful workers. Why not? They can afford to pay more. Those in higher income brackets don’t think it’s necessarily fair that their hard-earned wages should support people who are unemployed, or who took on too much debt during the boom. It turns out, as in most arguments, that there is a middle ground. It is only when one side or the other perceives that neutral territory to have been breached that protesters take to the streets.
I am always amazed that people wanting to raise taxes on the rich are so ignorant about our tax code. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, an international alliance of 30 countries headquartered in Paris that studies policy, has determined that the United States “has the most progressive tax system and collects the largest share of taxes from the richest 10% of the population.” A study from that group published in 2008 concluded that “there is also evidence of a negative relationship between the progressivity of personal income taxes and growth.”
What does our tax system actually look like? It is, as the OECD confirms, highly progressive, meaning that the share of taxes paid by people in high income brackets is more than the portion they earn. In 2007 (latest available data) the top 10% of earners in the U.S. paid 71% of all taxes; that’s up from 49% in 1980. (It is true that over that period the portion of income earned by the top 10% increased – from 32% to 48%.) The bottom 50% of earners in this country in 2007 paid less than 3% of all taxes while they earned 12% of total income.
This year, it is likely that 47% of all households will pay no federal income tax. Many find that prospect alarming, and also unfair. It is especially concerning considering that the substantial wealth shift promised by President Obama’s health-care bill has not yet taken effect. A recent piece from the Tax Foundation claims that Obamacare will take $76 billion from the top 5% of earners in the U.S. and give it to families in the 20th to 30th percentile. (Those in the lowest brackets do not gain as much because they already receive Medicaid.)
Americans are the most generous people on earth, but they are worried about the declining number of citizens who have “skin in the game.” A Harris poll of tax attitudes reported that 66% of Americans felt that “everyone should be required to pay some minimum amount of tax.” As the numbers of people receiving money from the government tops those paying in, politicians looking for votes will push policies that further distort the “givers” versus “takers” relationship. All this to the ultimate detriment to the economy. If you tax something, typically the quantity of that product goes down – the rationale for taxes on tobacco or soft drinks, for instance. The same is true of productive labor.
It is when we move from the theoretical to the personal that these arguments become difficult. A recent story in the press discussed the difficulties some Americans were facing as welfare payments were cut off. The story detailed the tough (and heartbreaking) struggle of a single mom with four kids trying to get by. It turned out, however, that three of her children had been born after she was already receiving welfare, or, in other words, when she was already struggling. As much as we can sympathize with her undoubted hardship, we also wonder – why keep having kids? Where was the personal responsibility?
A recent dust-up over extending unemployment benefits just concluded with the government now promising payments of up to 99 weeks – almost two years – for those looking for work. The recession has surely made it very hard to find jobs, but is this the best way to spend another $18 billion? Does paying someone for that long a time encourage him or her to go back to work, or are the payments a disincentive to find a job?
Americans are beginning to understand that today’s government generosity may come at the cost of broader hardship down the road. Older Americans, in particular, worry that their expected Social Security and Medicare safety net (that they have paid into over their careers) may develop holes. They are right to be concerned.
The United States is not Greece, but the borrowing spiral in our country could well lead eventually to the kinds of draconian tax hikes and budget cuts that Greeks now face. They, too, probably thought it could never happen.
Fed Chair Ben Bernanke has called for a plan to reduce our budget deficits. The Tea Partiers want a plan. We need a plan, and it cannot be solely to raise taxes on our most productive citizens.
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I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the… Barney Frank Won't Have to Worry About Money in Retirement
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