"American police force" investigated

One thing the catoon misses is the fact that the worker is not slave to the owner in a capitalist society. If he is not happy with the wage provided for his services he is able to sell his knowledge and service to another for a higher wage.

I have always said that communism is probably the purist from of governance ever concieved.
The theory is unarguable, it is in real world practice where it fails miserably.
The reason why it never has, nor ever will succeed is that it does not take into consideration the base, greedy, evil if you will, nature of man.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Communism has the power to turn the most noble of pigs into ignoble men.

 

Let's not lose sight of where that $75 bucks goes. Let's see, taxes, licenses, machine maintenance, office staff, health care plans, SS contributions (another tax, maybe, depending on your point of view) raw materials for Joe Wrench to make into widgets, shipping. I guess there is more, but the suit had the balls to go for the blue chips. He is entitled to some compensation for that alone.

Edit to add: I got this from a friend that WAS a subchapter S business man. This came to him from a friend of his.


<style></style> Long email, but very educational!!
Subject: Small Businesses - Can they survive?



The Employee Meeting:
I would like to start by thanking you for attending this
meeting, though it's not like you had much of a choice.
After all, attendance was mandatory. I'm also glad many
of you accepted my invitation to your family members to be
here as well. I have a few remarks to make to all of you,
and then we'll retire to the ballroom for a great lunch
and some employee awards.

I felt that this meeting was important enough to close all 12
of our tire and automotive shops today so that you could be
here. To reassure you, everybody is being paid for the day
--- except me. Since our stores are closed we're making
no money. That economic loss is mine to sustain. Carrington
Automotive has 157 full time employees and around 30
additional part-timers. All of you are here. I thank you for
that.

When you walked into this auditorium you were handed a rather
thick 78-page document. Many of you have already taken a
peek. You were probably surprised to see that it's my
personal tax return for 2008. Those of you who are adept at
reading these tax returns will see that last year my taxable
income was $534,000.00. Now I'm sure this seems rather
high to many of you. So ... let's talk about this tax
return.

Carrington Automotive Enterprises is what we call a Sub-S - a
Subchapter S corporation. The name comes from a particular
part of our tax code. Sub-S status means that the income
from all 12 of our stores is reported on my personal tax
return. Businesses that report their income on the
owner's personal tax return are referred to as
"small businesses." So, you see now that this
$534,000 is really the total taxable income - the total
combined profit from all 12 of our stores. That works out to
an average of a bit over $44,000 per store.

Why did I feel it important for you to see my actual 2008 tax
return? Well, there's a lot of rhetoric being thrown
around today about taxes, small businesses and rich people.
To the people in charge in Washington right now I'm a
wealthy American making over a half-million dollars a year.
Most Americans would agree: I'm just another rich guy;
after all ... I had over a half-million in income last year,
right? In this room we know that the reality is that I'm
a small business owner who runs 12 retail establishments and
employs 187 people. Now here's something that
shouldn't surprise you, but it will: Just under 100
percent ... make that 99.7 percent of all employers in this
country are small businesses, just like ours.

Every one of these businesses reports their income on a personal
income tax return. You need to understand that small
businesses like ours are responsible for about 80 percent of
all private sector jobs in this country, and about 70
percent of all jobs that have been created over the past
year. You also need to know that when you hear some
politician talking about rich people who earn over $200,000
or $500,000 a year, they're talking about the people who
create the jobs.

The people who are now running the show in Washington have been
talking for months about raising taxes on wealthy Americans.
I already know that in two years my federal income taxes are
going to go up by about 4.5 percent. That happens when Obama
and the Democrats allow the Bush tax cuts to expire. When my
taxes climb by 4.5 percent the Democrats will be on
television saying that this really isn't a tax increase.
They'll explain that the Bush tax cuts have expired ..
nothing more. Here at Carrington we'll know that almost
5% has been taken right off of our bottom line. And that
means it will be coming off your bottom line.

Numbers are boring, I know ... but let's talk a bit more about
that $534,000. That's the money that was left last year
from company revenues after I paid all of the salaries and
expenses of running this business. Now I could have kept
every penny of that for myself, but that would have left us
with nothing to grow our business, to attract new customers
and to hire new employees. You're aware that we've
been talking about opening new stores in Virginia Beach and
Newport News . To do that I will have to buy or lease
property, construct a building and purchase inventory. I
also have to hire additional people to work in those stores.
These people wouldn't immediately be earning their pay.
So, where do you think the money for all of this comes from?
Right out of our profits .. right out of that $534,000. I
need to advertise to bring customers in, especially in these
tough times. Where do you think that money comes from? Oh
sure, I can count it as an expense when I file my next
income tax return .. but for right now that comes from
either current revenues or last year's profits. Revenues
right now aren't all that hot ... so do the math. A good
effective advertising campaign might cost us more than
$300,000.

Is this all starting to come together for you now?
Right now the Democrats are pushing a nationalized health care
plan that, depending on who's doing the talking, will
add anywhere from another two percent to an additional 4.6
percent to my taxes. If I add a few more stores, which I
would like to do, and if the economy improves, my taxable
income ... our business income ... could go over one million
dollars! If that happens the Democrats have yet another tax
waiting, another five percent plus! I've really lost
track of all of the new government programs the Democrats
and President Obama are proposing that they claim they will
be able to finance with new taxes on what they call
"wealthy Americans."

And while we're talking about health care, let me explain
something else to you. I understand that possibly your
biggest complaint with our company is that we don't
provide you with health insurance. That is because as your
employer I believe that it is my responsibility to provide
you with a safe workplace and a fair wage and to do all that
I can to preserve and grow this company that provides us all
with income. I no more have a responsibility to provide you
with health insurance than I do with life, auto or
homeowner's insurance. As you know, I have periodically
invited agents for health insurance companies here to
provide you with information on private health insurance
plans.

The Democrats are proposing to levy yet another tax against
Carrington in the amount of 8 percent of my payroll as a
penalty for not providing you with health insurance. You
should know that if they do this I will be reducing every
person's salary or hourly wage by that same 8 percent.
This will not be done to put any more money in my pocket. It
will be done to make sure that I don't suffer
financially from the Democrat's efforts to place our
healthcare under the control of the federal government. It
is your health, not mine. It is your healthcare, not mine.
These are your expenses, not mine. If you think I'm
wrong about all this, I would sure love to hear your
reasoning.

Try to understand what I'm telling you here. Those people
that Obama and the Democrats call "wealthy
Americans" are, in very large part, America 's
small business owners. I'm one of them. You have the
evidence, and surely you don't think that the owner of a
bunch of tire stores is anything special. That $534,000
figure on my income tax return puts me squarely in Democrat
crosshairs when it comes to tax increases.

Let's be clear about this ... crystal clear. Any federal tax
increase on me is going to cost you money, not me. Any new
taxes on Carrington Automotive will be new taxes that you,
or the people I don't hire to staff the new stores I
won't be building, will be paying. Do you understand
what I'm telling you? You've heard about things
rolling downhill, right? Fine .. then you need to know that
taxes, like that other stuff, roll downhill. Now you and I
may understand that you are not among those that the
Democrats call "wealthy Americans," but when this
"tax the rich" thing comes down you are going to
be standing at the bottom of the mud slide, if you get my
drift. That's life in the big city, my friends ... where
elections have consequences.

You know our economy is very weak right now. I've pledged to
get us through this without layoffs or cuts in your wages
and benefits. It's too bad the politicians can't get
us through this without attacking our profits. To insure our
survival I have to take a substantial portion of that
$534,000 and set it aside for unexpected expenses and a
worsening economy. Trouble is, the government is eyeing that
money too ... and they have the guns. If they want it, they
can take it.

I don't want to make this too long. There's a great
lunch waiting for us all. But you need to understand
what's happening here. I've worked hard for 23 years
to create this business. There were many years where I
couldn't take a penny in income because every dollar was
being dedicated to expanding the business. There were tough
times when it took every dollar of revenues to replenish our
inventory and cover your paychecks. During those times I
earned nothing. If you want to see those tax returns, just
let me know.

OK... I know I'm repeating myself here. I don't hire
stupid people, and you are probably getting it now. So let
me just ramble for a few more minutes.Most Americans
don't realize that when the Democrats talk about raising
taxes on people making more than $250 thousand a year,
they're talking about raising taxes on small businesses.
The U.S. Treasury Department says that six out of every ten
individuals in this country with incomes of more than
$280,000 are actually small business owners. About one-half
of the income in this country that would be subject to these
increased taxes is from small businesses like ours.
Depending on how many of these wonderful new taxes the
Democrats manage to pass, this company could see its tax
burden increase by as much as $60,000. Perhaps more.

I know a lot of you voted for President Obama. A lot of you
voted for Democrats across the board. Whether you voted out
of support for some specific policies, or because you liked
his slogans, you need to learn one very valuable lesson from
this election. Elections have consequences. You might have
thought it would be cool to have a president who looks like
you; or a president who is young, has a buff body, and
speaks eloquently when there's a teleprompter in the
neighborhood. Maybe you liked his promises to tax the rich.
Maybe you believed his promise not to raise taxes on people
earning less than a certain amount. Maybe you actually
bought into his promise to cut taxes on millions of
Americans who actually don't pay income taxes in the
first place. Whatever the reason .. your vote had
consequences; and here they are.

Bottom line? I'm not taking this hit alone. As soon as the
Democrats manage to get their tax increases on the books,
I'm going to take steps to make sure that my family
isn't affected. When you own the business, that is what
you're allowed to do. I built this business over a
period of 23 years, and I'm not going to see my family
suffer because we have a president and a congress who think
that wealth is distributed rather than earned. Any
additional taxes, of whatever description, that President
Obama and the Democrats inflict on this business will come
straight out of any funds I have set aside for expansion or
pay and benefit increases. Any plans I might have had to
hire additional employees for new stores will be put aside.
Any plans for raises for the people I now have working for
me will be shelved. Year-end bonuses might well be
eliminated. That may sound rough, but that's the
reality.

You're going to continue to hear a lot of anti-wealth rhetoric out
there from the media and from the left. You can chose to
believe what you wish .. .but when it comes to Carrington
Automotive you will know the truth. The books are open to
any of you at any time. I have nothing to hide. I would hope
that other small business owners out there would hold
meetings like this one, but I know it won't happen that
often. One of the lessons to be learned here is that taxes
... all taxes ... and all regulatory costs that are placed
on businesses anywhere in this country, will eventually be
passed right on down to individuals; individuals such as
yourself. This hasn't been about admonishing anyone and
it hasn't been about issuing threats. This is part of
the education you should have received in the government
schools, but didn't. Class is now dismissed.

Now, all that is financial, and might or not be relevant to the original post. But it DOES illustrate a few things about capitalism and the perils and pitfalls of a republic vs. another form of governance.

 

I think a rhetorical question has no answer, or one that is obvious. Pretty clear which this is.

 

Correction -the banking system is owned by private investors, also known as the "banking elite", and not comprised of public investors, i.e. you and I. The government owns nothing. All property is collected into the hands of banks and "certificates" of ownership are issued to users; this is one of the goals of communism. The banking bailouts are simply a means to further increase the deficit and devalue the "currency" so much that it becomes completely worthless X trillionfold -this will usher in a "need" for reformation and the adoption of a unified currency for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico; owned by the very same banking collective and loaned at face value plus interest to each nation under a new international banking system to rival the Euro. Over time, the goal is to merge both into a single world currency with a massive, one world bank.