We Should Pray for the Rich to get Richer (Bar Stool Economics)
by Charles Adler
March 12, 2009
It's been a tough year for the richest people in the world. That's a line right out of a magazine whose target market is the rich. My question to you, “Are we supposed to care that it's been a tough year for the richest folks on the planet, people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett?” Yes, I care a lot. Not because I worry about them putting food on their table or a roof over their heads. I just don't do the Jack Layton thing when I see that kind of headline. I don't lick my lips and feel gleeful that some rich people are seeing their portfolios taking a hit...And the reason is, because I care about the rest of us. The non-billionaires and the non-millionaires. The rest of us.
You see folks, I always look forward to the rich getting richer because during those years the rest of us tend to do better too. It is not a coincidence that in a year where the rich took a big hit, most of the rest of us did as well. In a moment, I want to give you some BARSTOOL Economics that is so accessible, so easy to understand, you will want every member of your family to hear it or read it. You will want to download the podcast, and you can find it by simply accessing our site, CharlesAdler.Com.
Now back to some BARSTOOL Economics 101.
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 on 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, boys and girls, 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. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
Folks, that's your BARSTOOL Economics. I offer you this because in recent days you have heard a lot of empty nonsense about how if tax rates can be hiked on the rich money, more money will trickle down from the heavens for the rest of us. You have heard a lot of nonsense about how corporate taxes should not come down because that would only be assisting the rich. The reason I have no use - intellectually speaking - for Jack Layton's economics is because unlike BARSTOOL economics, his numbers don't add up. He and the Liberals sometimes lean in this direction especially in these times of high anxiety; they lean in the direction of wanting you to think that if only the government punishes the top two earners on those bar stools, Man Number Ten and Man Number Nine, it will be good for the other eight.
The folks who litter the mainstream media as pundits with their economics and sociology of envy and the politicians who do the same, are all counting on one thing, that you don't have a basic grounding in what we are calling BARSTOOL Economics. Log on to www.charlesadler.com
and get a written copy of this and later today on our podcast. Subscribe to Itunes and download my podcast into your IPOD. Get as many people you care about educated on this stuff. It's your best defense against the media and academic and political predators who appeal to your anxiety instead of your common sense. In the meantime, we need to hope and pray that the economy can start revving again, the way it needs to for us to have a prosperous middle class. How will we know things are working again? When the rich get richer.
They are the reverse of the canaries in the coal mine. When the canary is dropped down into the mine deep enough so that it cannot survive, we say it’s no place for coal miners to go. The Rich are my canaries in the gold mine. When they start smelling the gold, it starts to get golden for the rest of us. And so on behalf of us, I say, “We should hope that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and the other members of the rich, have a very good year.” We should pray for the rich to get richer.
I'm Charles Adler on the Corus Radio Network.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Moving
Tomorrow I am moving to St. Albert with Christina which is extremely exciting. I have never lived on my own (without my parents) so I am extremely excited. I may not blog for a while since we currently will not have Internet but I will try and blog when I can. I am busy packing up all of my stuff. You never know how much stuff you have until you have to pack it all up.
THE MANY NAMES OF ME
I got this from a friend, and thought I would try it...
THE MANY NAMES OF ME
1.YOUR REAL NAME:
Amanda Perrot
2.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother and fathers middle names)
Judy David
3.NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dad)
Folkert Louis
4.STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
peram
5.DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Dog
6.SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, town where you were born)
Dawn St. Albert
7.SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning
The Orange Coke
8.FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Amot
9.STREET NAME:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)
Vanilla Chocolate Chip
10.ROCK STAR NAME:(current pets name, current street name)
Harley RR265
11. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on)
Princess Village
12.YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle)
Amaizzle
13.YOUR IRAQI.. NAME:(2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, first two letters of your middle name, last two letters of your first name then last three letters of your last name)
Mrdadarot
14.YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Digger
15. STRIPPER NAME: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy)
Dance Chocolate
THE MANY NAMES OF ME
1.YOUR REAL NAME:
Amanda Perrot
2.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother and fathers middle names)
Judy David
3.NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dad)
Folkert Louis
4.STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
peram
5.DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Dog
6.SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, town where you were born)
Dawn St. Albert
7.SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning
The Orange Coke
8.FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Amot
9.STREET NAME:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)
Vanilla Chocolate Chip
10.ROCK STAR NAME:(current pets name, current street name)
Harley RR265
11. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on)
Princess Village
12.YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle)
Amaizzle
13.YOUR IRAQI.. NAME:(2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, first two letters of your middle name, last two letters of your first name then last three letters of your last name)
Mrdadarot
14.YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Digger
15. STRIPPER NAME: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy)
Dance Chocolate
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
The Death of Common Sense
Here is another blog post from Charles Adler.
Common Sense, aka C.S., lived a long life, but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No one really knows how old he was, his birth records were long ago entangled in miles and miles of bureaucratic red tape.
Known affectionately to close friends as Horse Sense and Sound Thinking, he selflessly devoted himself to a life of service in homes, schools, hospitals and offices, helping folks get jobs done without a lot of fanfare, whooping and hollering. Rules and regulations and petty, frivolous lawsuits held no power over C.S.
A most reliable sage, he was credited with cultivating the ability to know when to come in out of the rain, the discovery that the early bird gets the worm and how to take the bitter with the sweet. C.S. also developed sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adult is in charge, not the kid) and prudent dietary plans (offset eggs and bacon with a little fiber and orange juice).
A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Technological Revolution and the Smoking Crusades, C.S. survived sundry cultural and educational trends including disco, the men's movement, body piercing, whole language and new math.
C.S.'s health began declining in the late 1960s when he became infected with the If-It-Feels-Good, Do-It virus. In the following decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal and state rules and regulations and an oppressive tax code. C.S. was sapped of strength and the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, criminals received better treatment than victims and judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional baseball and golf. His deterioration accelerated as schools implemented zero-tolerance policies. Reports of 6-year-old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing classmates, a teen suspended for taking a swig of Scope mouthwash after lunch, girls suspended for possessing Midol and an honor student expelled for having a table knife in her school lunch were more than his heart could endure.
As the end neared, doctors say C.S. drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding regulations on low-flow toilets and mandatory air bags. Finally, upon hearing about a government plan to ban inhalers from 14 million asthmatics due to a trace of a pollutant that may be harmful to the environment, C.S. breathed his last. Services will be at Whispering Pines Cemetery. C.S. was preceded in death by his wife, Discretion; one daughter, Responsibility; and one son, Reason. He is survived by two step-brothers, Half-Wit and Dim-Wit.
Memorial Contributions may be sent to the Institute for Rational Thought.
Farewell, Common Sense. May you rest in peace.
Common Sense, aka C.S., lived a long life, but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No one really knows how old he was, his birth records were long ago entangled in miles and miles of bureaucratic red tape.
Known affectionately to close friends as Horse Sense and Sound Thinking, he selflessly devoted himself to a life of service in homes, schools, hospitals and offices, helping folks get jobs done without a lot of fanfare, whooping and hollering. Rules and regulations and petty, frivolous lawsuits held no power over C.S.
A most reliable sage, he was credited with cultivating the ability to know when to come in out of the rain, the discovery that the early bird gets the worm and how to take the bitter with the sweet. C.S. also developed sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adult is in charge, not the kid) and prudent dietary plans (offset eggs and bacon with a little fiber and orange juice).
A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Technological Revolution and the Smoking Crusades, C.S. survived sundry cultural and educational trends including disco, the men's movement, body piercing, whole language and new math.
C.S.'s health began declining in the late 1960s when he became infected with the If-It-Feels-Good, Do-It virus. In the following decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal and state rules and regulations and an oppressive tax code. C.S. was sapped of strength and the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, criminals received better treatment than victims and judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional baseball and golf. His deterioration accelerated as schools implemented zero-tolerance policies. Reports of 6-year-old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing classmates, a teen suspended for taking a swig of Scope mouthwash after lunch, girls suspended for possessing Midol and an honor student expelled for having a table knife in her school lunch were more than his heart could endure.
As the end neared, doctors say C.S. drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding regulations on low-flow toilets and mandatory air bags. Finally, upon hearing about a government plan to ban inhalers from 14 million asthmatics due to a trace of a pollutant that may be harmful to the environment, C.S. breathed his last. Services will be at Whispering Pines Cemetery. C.S. was preceded in death by his wife, Discretion; one daughter, Responsibility; and one son, Reason. He is survived by two step-brothers, Half-Wit and Dim-Wit.
Memorial Contributions may be sent to the Institute for Rational Thought.
Farewell, Common Sense. May you rest in peace.
Canada's Version of the Ant and Grasshopper
I got this from Charles Adler's Blog. I thought that it was pretty funny.
CLASSIC VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering
heat all summer long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the
winter. The grasshopper thinks
he's a fool, and laughs and dances
and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The shivering grasshopper has no food or
shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
THE END
***
THE CANADIAN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering
heat all summer long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the
winter. The grasshopper thinks
he's a fool, and laughs and dances and
plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
So far, so good, eh?
The shivering grasshopper calls a press conference
and demands to know why the ant should be allowed
to be warm and well fed while others less
fortunate, like him, are cold and starving.
The CBC shows up to provide live
coverage of the shivering grasshopper,
with cuts to a video of the ant in his
comfortable warm home with a
table laden with food. Canadians are stunned
that in a country of such wealth, this poor
grasshopper is allowed to suffer so
while others have plenty.
The NDP, the CAW and the Coalition
Against Poverty demonstrate in front
of the ant's house. The CBC,
interrupting an Inuit cultural festival
special from Nunavut with breaking
news, broadcasts them singing "We Shall Overcome."
Jack Layton grants in an interview with
Mike Duffy that the ant has gotten rich off the backs of
grasshoppers, and calls for an immediate tax hike on
the ant to make him pay his "fair share".
In response to polls, the Liberal
Government drafts the Economic
Equity and Grasshopper
Anti-Discrimination Act, retroactive to the
beginning of the summer.
The ant's taxes are reassessed, and he
is also fined for failing to hire grasshoppers as helpers.
Without enough money to pay both the
fine and his newly imposed retroactive taxes, his home is
confiscated by the government. The ant moves to the US
and starts a successful agribiz company.
The CBC later shows the now fat grasshopper finishing up the last of
the ant's food, though spring is still months away, while the government
house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles
around him because he hasn't bothered to maintain it.
Inadequate government funding is
blamed, Bob Rae is appointed to head a
commission of enquiry that will cost $10,000,000.
The grasshopper is soon dead of a drug
overdose, the Toronto Star
blames it on the obvious failure of
government to address the root causes of
despair arising from social inequity.
The abandoned house is taken over by a
gang of immigrant spiders,
praised by the government for enriching
Canada's multicultural diversity, who
promptly set up a marijuana grow op and
terrorrize the community.
THE END
***
This invented compare and contrast parable of the ant and grasshopper is the best way of discussing the political right and left.
CLASSIC VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering
heat all summer long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the
winter. The grasshopper thinks
he's a fool, and laughs and dances
and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The shivering grasshopper has no food or
shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
THE END
***
THE CANADIAN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering
heat all summer long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the
winter. The grasshopper thinks
he's a fool, and laughs and dances and
plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
So far, so good, eh?
The shivering grasshopper calls a press conference
and demands to know why the ant should be allowed
to be warm and well fed while others less
fortunate, like him, are cold and starving.
The CBC shows up to provide live
coverage of the shivering grasshopper,
with cuts to a video of the ant in his
comfortable warm home with a
table laden with food. Canadians are stunned
that in a country of such wealth, this poor
grasshopper is allowed to suffer so
while others have plenty.
The NDP, the CAW and the Coalition
Against Poverty demonstrate in front
of the ant's house. The CBC,
interrupting an Inuit cultural festival
special from Nunavut with breaking
news, broadcasts them singing "We Shall Overcome."
Jack Layton grants in an interview with
Mike Duffy that the ant has gotten rich off the backs of
grasshoppers, and calls for an immediate tax hike on
the ant to make him pay his "fair share".
In response to polls, the Liberal
Government drafts the Economic
Equity and Grasshopper
Anti-Discrimination Act, retroactive to the
beginning of the summer.
The ant's taxes are reassessed, and he
is also fined for failing to hire grasshoppers as helpers.
Without enough money to pay both the
fine and his newly imposed retroactive taxes, his home is
confiscated by the government. The ant moves to the US
and starts a successful agribiz company.
The CBC later shows the now fat grasshopper finishing up the last of
the ant's food, though spring is still months away, while the government
house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles
around him because he hasn't bothered to maintain it.
Inadequate government funding is
blamed, Bob Rae is appointed to head a
commission of enquiry that will cost $10,000,000.
The grasshopper is soon dead of a drug
overdose, the Toronto Star
blames it on the obvious failure of
government to address the root causes of
despair arising from social inequity.
The abandoned house is taken over by a
gang of immigrant spiders,
praised by the government for enriching
Canada's multicultural diversity, who
promptly set up a marijuana grow op and
terrorrize the community.
THE END
***
This invented compare and contrast parable of the ant and grasshopper is the best way of discussing the political right and left.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)