[wonder cow]

[Edited] I was struck by the simplicity and elegant grace of a solution to poverty in the US of A.

Here is how it works: 100% tax on anyone who has the gall to make less than $25,000 per year.

This would encourage everyone to make more than $25,000 and eliminate poverty within a 2-3 year period (I'm sure some will test the system the first few years).

[The American Lion]

or any sane person for that matter.

[Goranhammer]

Every Libertarian alive would shoot you dead for that statement.

[Captain Charisma]

Every Libertarian alive would shoot you dead for that statement.

That would violate our non-initiation of force pledge, don't worry, I'm trying to find a way around it.

[dktekno]

Wouldn't that just make even more poor people?

I'm sure people will make more than 25.000 dollars a year if they had the ability and opportunity to do it.

Doing what you want, will just make the poor being even more poor.

Is that fair?

[Le Rouge]

Like anyone that makes less than 25,000$ a year would be Libertarian

[Todd D.]

I made less than 25k last year, and I'm a Libertarian.

[wonder cow]

Every libertarian alive could not shoot me dead. Only one could. That aside, poor people are to blame for their own poverty. I mean, it is not like anyone asked them to be poor, they just take it on to themselves to live in poverty.

But I need a great name for the legislation that would implement this idea. Something that masks its actual intent and makes people feel guilty for opposing it:

How about: "The Helping American Citizen Patriots Fulfill The American Dream Act".

I like it. It has two "American"'s.

[Le Rouge]

I made less than 25k last year, and I'm a Libertarian.

Are you a single mother raising a child on 15,840$?

[era o divertimento]

Cow, I'd like to be the first to add to your new bill: If someone makes less than $20,000 per year, you take their children away.

I propose a slight modification to the title then, and call it the:

"The Helping American Citizen Patriots Fulfill The American Dream And Protecting America's Children Act".

I'm pretty sure the third "America" will get it passed.

[Comrade Ogilvy]

What would you do if someone came to your door with a cup in hand asking for a contribution to help buy guns to kill a group of people they didn't like?

To the reader in America...

Your terrorist government and military may confine its mass murders primarily to the innocent civilian people of other countries, but do you think it’s on your side? You think it’s there to protect you from the righteous wrath of the world?

You bet it is — if you are wealthy, “well-connected” and immoral. If you obediently look the other way while it commits its obscene crimes against humanity.

Not wealthy or well-connected? Your are there to be used like patriotic fools. You are cannon-fodder. You are nothing to them — nothing but consumer-taxpayers — suckers — to be used, controlled and bled.

So if you’re an obedient little consumer-taxpayer they’ll leave you alone. Seriously oppose their evil and they’ll do their damnedest to destroy you.

In the end, of course, it is they who will be destroyed. That is guaranteed. If ever there will be an “act of God” it will be the total annihilation of the American Empire someday.

But in the meantime — before the inevitable fall of the American Empire - how many more innocent civilian people and helpless children around the world will it butcher, burn alive, irradiate, poison, torture and impoverish?

And who is in better position to stop the genocidal U.S. government than U.S. citizens? Resist your taxes!

[Comrade Ogilvy]

The salary of a person is dependent largely on their skill level. Also, wages are dependent on the market rate for the labour.

The more qualifications you have, in all likelihood the higher your earning power.

So why the aversion towards the low paid? How would you ensure everybody was well skilled?

[Attila The Nun]

But, what about if deflation were to come? A fixed amount would be unwise.

[Byrath]

This is a funny post.

This part ...

anyone who has the gaul to make less than $25,000 per year.

.. is especially good, since it is true that some Americans seem to think that anyone who earns less than the national average must be a lazy ingrate (not so much here, but in the USA Today letters I read for laughs).

[wonder cow]

First to RudeBwoy....

I am the last [Edited] in the world to defend the entirety of my country's foreign policy. But before you make the type of absurd allegations you make in your post, pick up a fricking history book.

What would the Roman Empire have done if they had our military? What about the Ottomon Empire? What do you suppose world powers of the past would have done with our nuclear arsenal following an attack like the one the United States experienced on September 11, 2001?

Unlike the British, Spanish, and French at the height of their powers, the USA does not have colonies all over the world.

Unlike the Germans at the height of their power, the USA has not marched in to nation after nation for the purpose of conquest.

What were our motives in Korea? Vietnam? The first gulf war?

No, my nations motives are not always pure. But ask yourself this question: What would the nation of "_____________" do with US military power?

Now, back to the topic at hand.....

[wonder cow]

wboxerw,

I love your amendment to the bill. I wish I had thought of this myself. Of course, people who make less than $20,000 a year should not be responsible for children. And the third "American" ... I think that is the clincher.

Should we consider sterilization, or would that cause too much flack with the "civil liberty" nuts?

Should we try to introduce the bill in the house or senate first? Who is our patsy..er...uhm... sponsor?

What committee is it likely to be assigned to? This is a lot of things to worry about for a cow.

[era o divertimento]

[Removed]

[wonder cow]

[Removed]

Of course, take advantage of the broad language of the patriot act, which in its entirety reads, "The executive branch of the federal government can do anything it wants until further notice."

You do not know what a relief it is to know that this option is available. I mean, the thought of listening to Ted Kennedy on the floor of the senate bitching and whining about this bill and how it affects "the poor" and their "civil rights" is enough to make me puke.

What about the ACLU? We need to distract them. What if before you make "the call", I pull some strings and have my local police department set up a "police check point" in a minority neighborhood. This should keep them busy (the bastards are always interfering with legitimate policing of minorities).

[era o divertimento]

[Removed]

[Nikita]

Abit off topic but:

Thanks Wonder Cow for a new signature:

Poor people are to blame for their own poverty. I mean, it is not like anyone asked them to be poor, they just take it on to themselves to live in poverty. - Wonder Cow