Brain Fertilizer

So there are approximately 300 million people in the US right now. There are approximately 140 million people working at this time. Yeah, that doesn't include self-employed, but we need a number to work with, so that's the one I'm going with.

Assume, if you will, that the 140 million people thus represent all taxpayers. Consider that a moment. That means that when a candidate proposes a $1.5 billion program, he's proposing taking $10 out of each person's pocket.

Okay, granted, it's an oversimplification. Much of our taxes are on corporations rather than individual income taxes...but the corporations just pass those taxes on to the consumer, right? So for practical purposes, the burden is still on the individual earning the money.

In addition, let's actually take note of the fact that the tax burden is much greater on the wealthy. Let's say the average middle class taxpayer is responsible for 1/10th of that, and "the rich" pay the other $9 for each 1.5 billion dollar expenditure.

That still means that John Kerry's $1.5 trillion health care plan will unavoidably take $1000 per year from your income. I haven't heard him say he'll actually cut anything to pay for it, so a vote for John Kerry is a vote saying, "Please take away an additional $80 from my discretional spending every month." And that's just one program.

Remember the Brainfertilizer Rule of Thumb, kids: for every $1.5 billion, you lose $1. That may not sound like much, but it adds up.

*Critiques, correction, and derision regarding this post are invited.