Wednesday, April 10, 2013

            I finished my taxes today….that is figuring them for 2012….we never finish taxes.  I feel privileged to be able to earn an income to provide for my family as well as to provide for my wife and I in our retirement.   I read Pat Buchanan’s column yesterday, “Where Have All The Workers Gone?” He quotes some sobering statistics from the end of the month labor reports for March.  Unemployment fell to 7.6% because 495,000 people dropped out of the labor force-stopped looking for jobs.  Only  63.3% of eligible workers are working.  Food stamps are now being used by 47 million Americans, an increase of 16 million since Bush left office.  5% of the working age population are receiving disability pay and most are permanently out of the work force.  The top 1% of workers pay 37% of all income taxes, and the top 50% pay 98% of all income taxes.  Baby boomers are retiring at the rate of 300,000 a month and starting to draw Social Security and to use Medicare.  At the same time, the President proposes a record-breaking budget that pays lip-service to entitlement reform, the area that must be pared back if there is ever to be a hope of living within our fiscal means.  With fewer workers paying the bill, the buck has to stop somewhere.