Did I go over the top? Rightie chain mail response to my Aunt.

[Buddyblazon]

My right wing Aunt...who I actually love very much...sent me this today:


Thought this was good. : )

Have a great day!

Love,
XXXXX




How many zeros in a billion?


This is too true to be funny.

The next time you hear a politician use the
word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the 'politicians' spending
YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,
but one advertising agency did a good job of
putting that figure into some perspective in
one of it's releases.


A.
A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were
living in the Stone Age.

D.
A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E.
A billion dollars ago was only
8 hours and 20 minutes,
at the rate our government
is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain...
let's take a look at New Orleans ....
It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.


Louisiana Senator,
Mary Landrieu (D)
is presently asking Congress for
250 BILLION DOLLARS
to rebuild New Orleans . Interesting number...
what does it mean?

A.
Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans
(every man, woman, and child)
you each get $516,528.

B.
Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in
New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.

C.
Or... if you are a family of four...
your family gets $2,066,012.

Washington, D. C

< HELLO! >
Are all your calculators broken??

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago...
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt..
We had the largest middle class in the world...
and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened?
Can you spell 'politicians!'

And I still have to
press '1'
for English.

I hope this goes around the
USA
at least 100 times

What the heck happened?????



My response:

What the heck happened?????

What happened?

The war on the middle class is what happened. Taking from the middle class and giving to the rich....that’s what happened. The demonization of Unions. The programming of our middle class to think that the UAW workers make too much money....and that the rest of us not being paid enough to keep up with the cost of living is “right where wages should be”....and Executive bonuses are perfectly acceptable. And replacing real wages with credit. And charging us an arm and a leg (no pun intended) for health care...and prescriptions....dumbing down education....deficit spending.

All these things and more are what happened.



Did I go over the top. I love my Aunt to death. She is caring...loving...gentle. I just don't agree with her politics.

[Warpy]

1. No, but you should have pointed out that

all those niggling little taxes were levied to make up for tax breaks targeted toward the richest.

Yes, we're being robbed by taxes on top of taxes. Yes, we're being robbed by artificially low wages and the offshoring of all the decent jobs. Yes, we're being robbed when we're urged to go into debt for what our wages won't buy, and yes we're being robbed by this country's refusal to deal with the health insurance mess.

However, the mean old government isn't the enemy. It's the rich men who bought the mean old government one crooked politician at a time.

[DCKit]

2. Great point Warpy.

Each of those "niggling" taxes is no sweat for the wealthy - They are targeted to the working class and, as they add up, it's a fiscal landslide against the poor.

[Matariki]

3. You did good and you weren't mean or harsh with her

I have republican relatives who I love too ;-)

For whatever reason they seem perfectly fine with jabbering on about their politics, while if we 'liberals' state our opinions or argue with them we feel like we're being rude.

I think we all need to politely counter stuff like what your aunt sent you. At best, they'll think about things from a different perspective, at the least they'll realize that talking politics with the family might not be good for harmony ;-)

[Arugula Latte]

4. Another good thing to say is: "Wow, you must be really furious

with how much of our tax payer dollars have been wasted on the invasion and occupation of Iraq!"

[treestar]

5. Nah, that sounds reasonable enough

The comparison doesn't work, either. Merely because a billion seconds ago was 1959 doesn't mean that a billion dollars should not be spent by the government today. There's no relation. So it's a lot of money. Who is saying it isn't? Stupid republicans.