Percentages 2: Attack of the Taxes

1% of the population pays 40% of the taxes. 

That set of numbers is absolutely useless.  I'll say it again but louder so you can hear me.  THAT SET OF NUMBERS IS ABSOLUTELY USELESS. 

Not many things make me want to smack someone but I swear the next politician that uses such a meaningless factoid I will personally seek out and smack.  As long as someone foots the airfare and expenses. 

There are countless articles referencing these numbers.  A quick search of the phrase "1% of the population pays 40% taxes" returns millions of results.  Partisan results abound and dominate.  Democrats and Republicans fall on either side of the argument surrounding a question "should the rich be paying 40% of the taxes in the country".  The articles that point out the meaninglessness, absurdity, and outright mind-numbing slowness of mind of even considering those numbers as important are... small.

Few tell the real story - the tax RATE of someone in the 1% earner bracket is rarely mentioned.  1 and 40.  1 and 40.  And if you think those numbers clearly show the unfairness for those 1% you are possibly brain damaged.  No really get that thing checked out.

I'm not here to talk about that tax rate or any others.  The current tax law is labyrinthian, arcane, and may have been invented by rabid insane asylum residents from a future that never existed.  It is not, to make it concise, possible to talk about that subject without studying the fine points for 8 years while living on the top of a mountain and wearing clogs.

My point is that batting around numbers that mean nothing by themselves and then repeating it over and over again is insanely irresponsible.  It is outright damning that politicians would use it - but then I can't really blame them.  They repeat it and the population, the dumbasses we, whip into a frenzy in agreement or disagreement.  Over something that means NOTHING.  Worse than nothing.  It is a single point on a chart with zero other points being mentioned.  Useless.  Try submitting a chart with exactly one data point and see how far that gets you. 

In fact it reminds me of a chart I found while doing some research.  "Number of dragons killed by turrets in Rocheƒter: 3"

Go ahead and glean something useful from that.  Go on.  In fact write thousands of articles that use only that as a data point.  And then flame war anyone that doesn't agree with your stance on it.  A single data point.  That means nothing.

Percentages

This edition of Where's My Cane is forgoing the podcast and going straight to text.  There are a few reasons for this but the primary one is that our hobbies are keeping both of us rather busy and sitting down to record a podcast is unlikely to happen until after Clothesline Festival.

So on to the rant.  Percentages.

Let's talk about taxes.  And while we are at it... let's throw in education, healthcare, and for good measure we'll also talk about how arrogant the US as a whole is.

First let's get one thing out of the way.  We are not special.  Just because we live in the US, just because we are born here, raised here, just because our founding fathers were rich white men, we are not special.  I say this because it seems everyone is always acting specialized.  This is a pandemic that runs macroscopically and microscpocially.  From how we consider ourselves as a nation down to how we consider ourselves as individuals the mass of our country feels as if the ONLY things that will work in the US are born and raised in the US.  Ideas, budgets, concepts, even people must be internal and nationalized or else it "won't work here".

How many times have you thought that?

"That won't work here."

"We are different."

"But that's a different culture."

In business this line of thinking would be suicide.  In fact apply a "that won't work here" ideology to just about anything and it will cause failure.  We are willfully ignoring known successes.  Because we are special.

So what am I on about?  What the hell am I actually referring to?

Taxes.  Healthcare.  Education.

I don't care what party you align yourself with politically.  It doesn't matter what religion or lack of religion you choose to explore.  If you are unaware that those three major topics are faulty, have been broken, and continue to break, then there is nothing I can do for you.

In our two party system each blames the other for these issues.  Each has a different approach.  But neither admits we are doing everything wrong and have been for some time.  They only differ, that is to say, on specifics.  Where the funds come from, who should be taxed more, etc etc.  Facts are stubborn things and to snag a fact out of political vitriol is like trying to bob for apples in a vat of sulfuric acid.

Let us look at some facts, then.

Healthcare Costs (includes percent GDP)
I ask you to browse this chart and ask yourself if our healthcare system costs us MORE or LESS than cradle-to-grave systems of socialized healthcare systems.  Look solely at numbers and try NOT to think like a black-and-white-two-party American.  Your affiliation DOES NOT MATTER.  Go get bent if you think it does.  Take baby steps.  Do you admit that something is wrong?  Something, in fact, is broken?

Do you think that the amount you pay out-of-pocket per year is higher or lower than the taxed rates of socialized systems?

In the next blog we'll dig into more detail!