Bar Stool Economics Options

[Robert]

I'm sure this overly simplified but at the same time reasonably accurate.
I though it was an interesting look at our tax system.








Our Tax System Explained: "Bar Stool Economics"

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 one 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, ladies and gentlemen, 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.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics University of Georgia

[Robert]

"Regarding illegal immigration worker surplus -aren't most of the jobs they do the ones that none else wants to do at the pay employers push on them."

That is one of the biggest an most subversive myths about illegal immigration.
Proponents of Illegal immigration always try to get people to envision the seasonal migrate Agricultural workers.
That's a load of B.S.
There are a lot of what use to be decent working class jobs that have disappeared over the last few decades because of illegal immigration.
A Few examples.
Meat packing plants, sure it's a crappy job in poor working conditions but it use to be a reasonably well paying job for someone who was willing to do the work. Not everyone is cut to be a white collar professional.
30 years ago jobs like this allowed people to earn a decent living wage. Now 75% of them are done by
illegal immigrates who are willing to work for considerably less as long as their employer is willing to overlook their legal status.
Lots of the support type jobs in constrution have disappeared to anyone who doesn't speak Spanish an willing to work for half what the job use to pay.
These are jobs people of limited abilities use to do to make a decent living. They were never going to get rich but they had an oppurtunity to do a job where hard work counted for something.
There is nothing wrong with being a ditch digger, a man could have repect for himself for doing a good job while making a decent living. Now jobs like that pay half of what it use to because the employor can get an illegal immigrate to do it for less. The comapnies doing this have the attitude, So what if we are breaking the law.
Middle an lower class American workers are out $200 billion annually in lost jobs and wages.
We don't need any new laws, just the laws we already have to be "ENFORCED" against any business willing to look the other way, break the law, just because it saves them a little money.

There have been several studies done that show the wave of poor uneducated laborers pouring in from the south has already depressed American wages.
I don't know how anyone could agrue that is a good thing.