Sam and Joe
by Marsha Whitt
by Marsha Whitt
Joe hired Sam to oversee Joe’s affairs. Joe would pay Sam a wage, plus health and retirement benefits. Joe was very busy living his life and apparently trusted Sam, so he rarely checked up on Sam. Whenever Sam said more money was needed, for transportation concerns, for health insurance policies, for their retirement investments, for the school Joe’s children attended, to help or appease the neighbors, for parties or lunches that Sam held (to which Joe was never invited), and for the additional people that Sam hired, Joe promptly paid. In fact, Sam conveniently arranged for money to go directly to Sam out of Joe’s paycheck each week. Joe didn’t really like that, but he consented and never said anything.
Once in a while, Joe would learn about some of the things that Sam was spending Joe’s money on (on Joe’s behalf, of course), and he thought it was a waste. Sometimes he would mention this to Sam, but he never demanded a change, and let Sam keep working for him. Sam arranged every so often for a raise for himself out of Joe’s funds. He also set up a different heath care plan for himself than what Joe had (it was actually much better than Joe’s). Sam’s retirement plan was also much better than Joe’s. This was all paid by Joe; Sam contributed very little to his own retirement. In fact, if Sam decided to retire after only a few years, he would receive benefits for the rest of his life. Yes, Sam was very well taken care of by Joe. But, Joe needed Sam (he knew because Sam always told him so). In fact, Joe barely even had to be responsible; he knew Sam was there.
Joe never even looked at the accounting books, but just in case he ever decided to, Sam had things set up so that Joe really couldn’t figure it out anyway. When Sam spent an inordinate amount of Joe’s money, he would sometimes intentionally leave items off the budget, so Joe didn’t get upset with him. In fact, Sam got accustomed to not even including the bills that were due when he gave the bottom line report to Joe. In actuality, Joe’s debt was actually about 6 times greater than any figure Sam ever gave him. If Joe knew that his future debt was so large that his children and grandchildren would have to work extra hard and still never be able to pay it off, Joe might have been upset. But, Joe was too busy living his life to check on Sam.
Sam was also using a lot of Joe’s money to provide security for Joe, but Joe noticed that people were gaining illegal entry anyway. Sometimes Sam would catch these people, but he’d just let them go and many of them hung around and lived off Joe, too.
Sam was also using a lot of Joe’s money to provide security for Joe, but Joe noticed that people were gaining illegal entry anyway. Sometimes Sam would catch these people, but he’d just let them go and many of them hung around and lived off Joe, too.
One day, Joe noticed that an awful lot of what he earned was going to Sam in some way or another; in fact, about 40 to 50%. And this didn’t even include the debt that Sam had racked up on Joe’s behalf (that Sam lied about). When Joe looked at the books he was very confused; things just didn’t seem to add up. Whenever Joe questioned Sam, Sam assured him there was no problem. So, Joe just kept on living his life. Things had been this way for so long that Joe figured that’s just the way it had to be. Besides, Sam did such important things (he knew, because Sam continually reminded him).
Now, if you or I had hired Sam we’d check up on him, wouldn’t we? Why, we’d have Sam thrown in jail for extortion, fraud, and obstruction of justice. At the very least, we’d replace Sam.
But, maybe we’re being too hard on Joe. After all, he’s just your average Joe Citizen; he can’t do anything, can he? And Sam? He’s your average Congressman. There are 300 million Joes and only 535 Sams. But Joe is busy living his life. And Sam is very busy spending Joe’s money……
posted by Tireless Irate Minority @ 7:29 AM
1 Comments:
You folks have a lot to learn about logic, math, and truth.
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Mark said...
You think the fairtax is voluntary?
Well if its about buying a shirt, yes. Its voluntary, don't buy the shirt.
But is rent voluntary?
If you have a stroke and need to go to ER -- is that voluntary?
If you need brain surgery to remove a blood clot or tumor -- is that voluntary?
If you need to go to a nursing home for rehab -- is that voluntary?
If you pay insurance premiums -- is that voluntary?
The fairtax sounds great, it sounds fantastic! I can see why people love it.
But you wouldn't love it if you went to the hospital for surgery, and got a 30,000 sales tax on a surgery.
The sad fact is, the people who get the brunt of this tax would be people who need medical care. People who pay rent.
This tax isn't what a lot of its fans think it is. IT would work much much differently than advertized.
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