“Messieur, your pocket has just been picked!” In milliseconds my husband’s wallet was snatched from his person when he reached up to steady himself while riding the subway in Paris. All that went though my mind was "Oh No, Not Us!" while desperately looking around at a throng of people, anyone of whom could have been the thief. The most heart sinking feeling I’ve ever had; for my husband, anger for the torture of replacing his wallet contents.
Having your pocket picked is horrible, but what if you actually catch them with their hand in your pocket and manage to look the villain directly in the eye...
Does your heart start pounding at the thought of it? Mine does. Adrenaline flowing... balancing between decision of how to react and the raw rage of being violated.
Uncle Sam (what a nice name... awww) is not your uncle. He's not even related to you and mostly only cares about paying his own bills. Your family's welfare is a distant consideration. Don't worry. Our founding fathers suspected as much, and put protections into the Bill of Rights and Constitution to protect you from your government.
In the early days, actually up until the Great Depression, federal government spending was only 10-12% of the economy. During WWII, it was 20%. Between that time and Reagan's presidency, federal spending rose to 40% of the economy. Let me put that another way. The government doesn't make money. Every penny it spends comes from your earning power. When it spends more than it has, it starts biting into your children's earning power. There is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny paying for anything. You are.
Today President Bush's budget is for $2.9 trillion. Dividing this by the 153 million workers counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics... and that equals $19,000 per worker (i.e. taxpayer). If you earn the average wage in this country, that's how much you are on the hook for every year - decided by your uncle in Washington, D.C.
He gives $6,010 of your money every year to administrators, insurance companies, doctors and lawyers in the name of Medicare and Medicaid. He takes another $3,970 in the name of helping older people retire (Social Security). Whatever is left over from this part, he uses to cover his overdrafts from other departments. If you think he puts this in a trust fund for you, please call me at (800) 462-3658 or (800) IMA-DOLT because I have some shares in a New York bridge that are on special. Oh yes. Washington does spend some of your taxes on defending us - $3,940 to be exact. At least that's more than the $1,710 of your money he uses to make interest payments on his credit cards.
You get the idea. Every number here is directly from Uncle Sam himself. He's honest with you. He just doesn't break it down like this because he knows how you get tense when you feel that hand in your back pocket...
On this site, I will do my best to break down for you every last politician's great idea for spending your money, along with some ideas on what you can do about it.
Thanks for reading.
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