If All Men Are Created Equal Why Do I Pay More Taxes Than You?

The issue is clear. The Federal Government wants us to act in a certain way, for the public good, and in order to facilitate that they give us incentives and disincentives through the tax code. They say every American should own a piece of the rock, so you get a tax break if you buy a home. They say smoking is bad for you, so they tax cigarettes. They say we are all to fat, so now they want to tax soft drinks. I am wondering, what ever happened to individual responsibility. Are the insurance companies running the country or are we? Personally I am fed up with looking for every little tax break to save a few dollars. It seems, if the fed doesn't get my money the accountant does. Not to mention the piles of receipts I have to keep.

But, that's not the worst of it. The worst is that it is that it is terribly unfair. It is also not the federal governments preview to try to control what we do as individuals. They are interfering with our pursuit of happiness and redistributing income when they use the tax code to incentivize us to act in the manor of their choosing. Why, should people who rent homes subsidize people who own homes? Why should farmers get paid for not growing crops? Look I have nothing against farmers and home owners; I just don't think I should be subsidizing someone else's risk or investment. Capitalism is a wonderful thing if you let it work.

The Federal Government prints money, so regulating banks and monitoring anti trust activity is where they should limit its influence. The Federal Government should give us a flat tax so that all men are treated equally under the law. Otherwise, defend me from enemies foreign and domestic and stay out of my life and my pocket. I am very happy to do my own income redistribution without the help of the government.

Without an understanding of political, economic and social principles we are inadequate employers unable to discern the proper qualifications for leadership and doomed to lead the ship of state on a course to destruction. Ignorance is our greatest enemy. I encourage you to take a few minutes out of your day to learn more about your countries history and politics.http://www.PippoProducts.com is here to help you discover where we were and where we are going as a country and as a people. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Conigliaro

IRAs, 401(k)s & Other Retirement Plans - Taking Your Money Out by Twila Slesnick and John Suttle

There are many books on investing that include chapters on IRAs, 401(k)s, and other retirement plans. However these books usually give the advice to ensure you are contributing to these plans and offer suggestions on what investment vehicles to use to help save a nest egg for a person's retirement years. This book is different. "IRAs, 401(k)s & Other Retirement Plans: Taking Your Money Out 9th Edition" by Twila Slesnick and John C. Suttle is not for the person wanting to invest for retirement, it is for the person who has reached retirement, or about to, and wants to take money out of these types of accounts. There are various rules, and this Nolo legal guide helps the reader navigate them.

Nolo calls this book a retirement companion, and in a sense, that is what it is. It is a very good guide on a subject that is becoming more important all the time as more and more people look to use the money they have been saving.

Chapter One covers types of retirement plans. Included are qualified plans such as profit-sharing plans, stock bonus plans, and money purchase pension plans. Individual Retirement Accounts such as Traditional IRAs, Rollover IRAs, and Roth IRAs are among those included. There is also a little on almost-qualified plans and nonqualified plans. Good brief overview of the plans.

Chapter two contains an overview of tax rules. While it won't take the place of your professional tax preparer, this chapter does provide some general guidance on the tax rules. Retirement plans are all about saving and using as much of your money as you can with as little taxes being paid as legally possible. To do this, you want to know the tax laws that are relevant, and this chapter does give the basics related to your retirement plans and funds.

To get some of the benefits certain retirement plans provide, you must keep funds in them until you reach a certain age. What if you need the money before that? Chapter three discusses early distributions and taking your money out before the law allows. If you need your retirement money early, this is a good chapter to read before talking it over with your financial and tax advisors.

Chapter four covers substantially equal periodic payments. This is a complicated exception to the early distribution tax. It is something some people may need when taking an early distribution. This again is a good chapter to read so you have a basic understanding of the concept before discussing with your financial and tax professionals.

While retirement plans have stipulations on when you can withdraw funds, they also have certain required distributions. Chapter five covers these and taking money out when you have to. Things such as special rules for Roth IRAs, penalties, and waivers are covered in this chapter.

Chapter six continues with required distributions during your lifetime. This is a good chapter for everyone to be familiar with since it discusses when you are required to start taking money out of your retirement plan or IRA.

Unfortunately, not everyone lives long enough to use their retirement money. Chapter seven focuses on distributions to your beneficiary if you die before age 70 1/2. Distribution methods, spouse beneficiary, nonspouse beneficiary, and no designated beneficiary are some of the topics in this chapter. If you don't care what happens after you die, this chapter won't mean much. But if you want to know what will happen with your accounts if you pass on without using them up, this chapter provides that information.

Chapter eight continues with distributions to your beneficiary if you die after age 70 1/2. Yep, it matters how old you are when you pass away as to what might happen with your funds. This chapter explains the differences. Like chapter seven, read it if you want to know what happens with your money if you die. These two chapters can help you prepare and plan to ensure your money goes where you want it to.

Chapter nine focuses on Roth IRAs. The book calls the Roth IRA one of the biggest sugarcoated carrots out there to encourage people to save for retirement. Personally, I believe them to be a great investment vehicle for many people. If you have a Roth IRA or are thinking about one, this chapter provides some good guidance and advice.

Chapter ten covers Roth 401(k) plans. If you have one and are under 59 1/2 years old and want to withdraw money from it, this chapter has some useful advice.

Appendix A contains some IRS forms, Notices, and Schedules. Appendix B has life expectancy tables. These are things to be familiar with when planning, and are included as a reference.

This is a very good reference for those that have this kind of investment and want to know the rules regarding getting their money out and using it, while minimizing taxes and not incurring penalties. It is especially important for those nearing retirement age as they prepare to transition from earning and saving to withdrawing and spending. There are some very good strategies and suggestions regarding what to do before and after retirement with your retirement plans and saving vehicles.

Alain Burrese, J.D. is a performance and personal development expert who teaches how to live, take action, and get things done through the Warrior's Edge. Alain combines his military, martial art, and Asian experiences with his business, law, and conflict resolution education into a powerful way of living with balance, honor, and integrity. He teaches how to use the Warrior's Edge to Take Action and Achieve Remarkable Results. Alain is the author of Hard-Won Wisdom From The School Of Hard Knocks, the DVDs Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking series, and numerous articles and reviews. You can read more articles, over 100 reviews, and see clips of his DVDs as well as much more at http://www.burrese.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alain_Burrese http://www.pippoproducts.com/familyfinance

The Law

All congressmen should be required to read "The Law," by Frederic Bastiat. This 70-page book explains, like no other, what the role of the law and government should be. Having been written about one hundred and fifty years ago, it is amazing how relevant this book is today.

Today, the law has many purposes. If we think something is wrong or not as it should be, we are very quick to suggest a law that will fix the problem. We use the law for things for which it was not intended.

The law, Bastiat explains, is a collective force made up of individuals. Because of this, it should not be allowed to do what an individual himself should not be allowed to do. Legal Plunder, as Bastiat calls it, is an example of something that would be illegal for an individual to do, but it is considered legal when done by the government. This is a great example of how the law has been corrupted and it is being used to try to make everything that we might consider wrong, right. What is legal plunder? Here's a great quote by Bastiat:

"...how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime."

So what should The Law be allowed to do? It should be allowed to do only what an individual should be allowed to do. For example, everyone would agree that an individual should be allowed to defend himself and his property. In this case, you can think of the collective force that is the government, as a group of individuals who are helping you defend yourself against someone trying to take your life or property. There is nothing wrong with a group of individuals helping you defend yourself, but there is something wrong with a group of people robbing someone, just as it is wrong for an individual to rob someone. Once one starts viewing the government as a collective force made up of individuals, it is easy to realize that we have made certain crimes legal, as long as they are committed by the collective force that is the government. The law's purpose should be to protect the natural rights of individuals. These natural rights are the right to life, liberty, and property; nothing more.

One very important point that Bastiat makes in his book is that the law is supposed to play a negative role, not a positive one. What he means by this is that so often politicians use the law for what they consider to be justice, but justice cannot be created. Justice is only present in the absence of injustice. For example, The law should be used to protect me from the injustice of having my property taken away from me by someone else. This is an example of how the law makes sure justice reigns; by making sure the injustice of having my property stolen, doesn't take place. On the other hand, when politicians try to help those less fortunate by taking money from others, they are trying to create what they think is justice, when in reality they are violating the natural rights of the people they are taking the money from, and are thus creating an injustice, which is the opposite of what the law should do. If I cannot get five of my friends to legally rob someone, why is the government allowed to do it for me?

The law's role should be limited to one of protector; protector of our natural rights. If all Americans understood this, we would be well on our way to solving our problems, since most of our problems originate from the law being used for the wrong purpose. So how can we fix this corruption of the law? Quite simply. Make the same rules that apply to individuals, apply to the government

Pedro Garcia is a Software Engineer and a libertarian writer at TruthInExile.BlogSpot.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pedro_Garcia The Law http://www.pippoproducts.com/products.html

Winston Churchill on Dictators

"Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry." -- Sir Winston Spencer Churchill, from Bartlett's Familiar Quotations

Humility, Honesty, Integrity Are Scarce Commodities and Cannot Be Bought in the Commodities Market

By Sandy Shaw

There are times when we need to do more than just say that we are going to return to basics. We need to return to basics. I write this article one year on from the collapse of Lehman's bank which had so many international tentacles resulting in various international disasters.

Many were hurt. Some were ruined. Jobs were lost. Sin is ugly when we view its consequences.

A few made a lot of money, but who would want to make so much money at such an immense price when considering the lives of others?

In the United Kingdom we are reading of a car company where there has been financial ruination but four men have each made around nine million pounds, with some six thousand people no longer having a job.

Writing as a Christian, it is essential that mankind realises that God's ways and God's laws cannot be broken, and neither can we improve upon God's methods.

One thing God says to man is that godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. However, it is true that we can send it on ahead and Jesus Christ makes that very clear.

Invest in the poor. Invest among the poor. Invest in those ministries which minister to the poor. Invest wisely where there are no moths, and no thieves and no corruption, and where pride and arrogance play no part. That calls for honesty, humility and integrity, and these are scarce commodities in the financial world. These cannot be bought on the commodities markets!

Some people live with the thought that they are going to live forever, and to reach their goals they will use almost any tactics available. Such sowing reaps a horrendous harvest.

Lehman's Bank wanted to be the number one and it really did not matter all that much as to how that position and status was reached. A fundamental knowledge of the Word of God would have taught those at the top just how wrong that type of thinking was. Of course, they can be rescued.

Man can be forgiven and restored and reconciled with God following repentance and faith. That is the good news and that news requires to be proclaimed far and wide and particularly in the business world and also in government circles.

Does The White House and Downing Street London know this?

Honesty, humility and integrity reap a very different type of harvest.

Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children's Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary athttp://www.studylight.org entitled "Word from Scotland" on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column. His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sandy_Shaw http://www.pippoproducts.com

Politics As Usual and the Move Towards Socialism

Politics is like a drug for society as it is the catalyst, as well as the sound and fury of mankind and his slow progression. Some say that politics is no way to run the human race or our civilization, yet others swear by their leaders, who often enough turn out to be complete hypocrites. Just when you think you have found an honest politician, low and behold we learn that they are not what they purport or the media allows us to believe.

Still, whether you like the idea of the political process or not, and yes, admittedly it has a lot to be desired; it is how we do things here. And so, it makes sense to be informed about our leaders and know what's really going on behind the publicity stunts, political strategists and barrage of mass media advertising. It is for this very reason that I feel compelled to offer you a recommendation for a very good book to help you sort things out and not be fooled by the façade:

"Do As I Say, Not as I Do; Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy" by Peter Schweizer; 2005 by Random House New York.

This author also wrote the bestselling book; "The Bushes and Reagan's War." This book has chapters of some of the leading Democrats that are involved in modern day US politics. People such as the Clintons, George Soros, Nancy Peloci, Barbara Streisand, Edward Kennedy, Al Franken, Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Gloria Steinem, and Cornel West. Once you read about some of the reality behind these larger than life celebrities and their true exploits it will leave you shaking your heads and running for higher ground.

"Lance Winslow" - Lance Winslow's Bio. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance;http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow http://www.pippoproducts.com/products.html

What Barack Obama has Accomplished So Far

1. Offended the Queen of England. Actually, that one doesn’t bother me, the Queen is not on MY personal list of priorities. But the stupidity exhibited BY Obama was incredible.

2. Bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia. But in ALL fairness,Bush kissed the bastard.

3. Praised the Marxist Daniel Ortega.

4. Kissed Socialist Hugo Chavez on the cheek.

5. Endorsed the Socialist Evo Morales of Bolivia.

6. Sided with Hugo Chavez and Communist Fidel Castro against Honduras.

7. Announced we would meet with Iranians with no preconditions while they’re building their nuclear weapons.

8. Gave away billions to AIG also without preconditions.

9. Expanded the bailouts.

10. Insulted everyone who has ever loved a Special Olympian.

11. Nearly tripled our national debt.

12. Announced the termination of our new missile defense system the day after North Korea launched an ICBM.

13. Released information on U.S. intelligence gathering despite urgings of his own CIA director and the prior four CIA directors.

14. Accepted without comment that five of his cabinet members cheated on their taxes and two other nominees withdrew after they couldn’t take the heat.

15. Appointed a Homeland Security Chief who identified military veterans and abortion opponents as “dangers to the nation.”

16. Ordered that the word “terrorism” no longer be used and instead refers to such acts as “man made disasters.”

17. Circled the globe to publicly apologize for America ’s world leadership.

18. Told the Mexican president that the violence in their country was because of us.

19. Politicized the census by moving it into the White Housefrom the Department of Commerce.

20. Appointed as Attorney General the man who orchestrated the forced removal and expulsion to Cuba of a 9-year-old whose mother died trying to bring him to freedom in the United States.

21. Salutes as heroes three Navy SEALS that took down three terrorists that threatened one American life and the next day announces members of the Bush administration may stand trial for “torturing” three 9/11 terrorists by pouring water up their noses.

22. Low altitude photo shoot of Air Force One over New York City that frightened thousands of New Yorkers. Obama *claims* he knew nothing of this and was, supposedly, outraged.

23. Sent his National Defense Advisor to Europe to assure them that the US will no longer treat Israel in a special manner and they might be on their own with the Muslims.

24. Praised Jimmy Carter’s trip to Gaza where he sided with terrorist Hamas against Israel. (Obama and Carter, closely related perhaps?)

25. Nationalized General Motors and Chrysler while turning shareholder control over to the unions and freezing out retired investors who owned their bonds. Committed unlimited taxpayer billions in the process.

26. Passed a huge energy tax in the House that will make American industry even less competitive while costing homeowners thousands per year.

27. Announced nationalized health care “reform” that will strip seniors of their Medicare, cut pay of physicians, increase taxes yet another $1 trillion, and put everyone on rationed care with government bureaucrats deciding who gets care and who doesn’t.

28. Is trying to push his socialist agenda on our school children by making direct addresses to ALL American school children. The beginning of The Obama Youth perhaps?

Bloomberg: Daschle says, “Health care reform will not be pain free. Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them,” while former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm says seniors have “a duty to die.”

If this does not sufficiently raise your ire, just remember that the President, Senators and Congressmen have their own special Gold Plated Health Care Plan which is Guaranteed the remainder of their lives and they are not subject to this new law if they pass it.

Please use the power of the Internet to get this message out. Talk it up at the grassroots level. We have an election coming up in 2010 and we can reverse the dangerous direction of the Obama administration and its allies. In the interim, we can make their lives miserable. Lets do it!

I got this via email and wanted to share it with all of you. Please, feel free to use it, add to it as you see fit, just keep it real. WE don’t want to become like the loons of the left, we want to post the TRUTH, and nothing but the truth!

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/the-patriot-1

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