This morning I ran a column in the Washington Post on the President’s claim that he has “total” and “absolute” power to order all states to lift their pandemic orders and re-open the economy. Both Republicans and Democrats have objected to the President’s statementsin last night’s press conference. The fact is that our Constitution was designed expressly to bar such claims. Absolutes find little sanctuary in a Constitution designed for limited government with shared powers.
President Trump shocked many by his declaring that “When somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total. The governors know that.” If they “know” that, they know little about the Constitution. As I have previously written, the states and their governors hold the primary responsibility to prepare and deal with pandemics. President Trump spent weeks correctly stating that basic principle of federalism — statements that I supported. Now he appears to have done a 180 on the issue and claiming that, while governors can put these orders in place, he has absolute authority to lift them. He stated yesterday that he allowed the governors to make these decisions but that they did so only because he let them. He maintains that he always had total authority over these decisions. That position in constitutionally incomprehensible.
What is more interesting is why the President felt the need to trip this wire and draw the ire of not just Democrats but a broad array of conservative and libertarian leaders. It is also entirely unnecessary. If the federal government calls for loosening these restrictions, many governors will follow suit. Moreover, it will put huge pressure on others.
The problem is that President Trump is losing that persuasive authority with such unnerving statements about absolute power. This is a baffling and alarming claim. At a time when the President’s team is being praised for real progress on a number of fronts (and the virus appears to be generally declining or leveling off), the President quashed on the good press by triggering a debate over his claim of “ultimate,” “absolute,” and “total” power. The only thing that is clear is that these claims are not even aspirational; they are incomprehensible under of our constitutional system.
“…FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMING THE UNITED STATES…”
___________________________________________________
2014 – OBAMA FUNDS WUHAN CORONA VIRUS RESEARCH
The NIH Director
October 16, 2014
Statement on Funding Pause on Certain Types of Gain-of-Function Research
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced(link is external) today that the U.S. government will undertake a deliberative process to assess the risks and benefits of certain gain-of-function (GOF) experiments with influenza, SARS, and MERS viruses in order to develop a new Federal policy regarding the funding of this research. During this deliberative process, U.S. government agencies will institute a pause on the funding of any new studies involving these experiments. For purposes of the deliberative process and this funding pause, “GOF studies” refers to scientific research that increases the ability of any of these infectious agents to cause disease by enhancing its pathogenicity or by increasing its transmissibility among mammals by respiratory droplets.
George – You said PCS and I should get accommodations.
No need, I moved into his den. Paul is my new roomie. 🤠
Congratulations, World War Thirty-Three.
I expect many, many, many American babies to grow, defend and perpetuate this great nation.
Oh, did you mean to present a purely Platonic relationship?
My bad.
Is this Donald Trump?
https://www.psycom.net/antisocial-personality-disorder/
Scumbag in chief holds up checks to get his name on them:
“The Treasury Department has ordered President Trump’s name be printed on stimulus checks the Internal Revenue Service is rushing to send to tens of millions of Americans, a process that could slow their delivery by a few days, senior IRS officials said.
The unprecedented decision, finalized late Monday, means that when recipients open the $1,200 paper checks the IRS is scheduled to begin sending to 70 million Americans in coming days, “President Donald J. Trump” will appear on the left side of the payment.
It will be the first time a president’s name appears on an IRS disbursement, whether a routine refund or one of the handful of checks the government has issued to taxpayers in recent decades either to stimulate a down economy or share the dividends of a strong one…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/coming-to-your-1200-relief-check-donald-j-trumps-name/2020/04/14/071016c2-7e82-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html
“that could slow their delivery by a few days,”
Take note of the word “could”. Anything “could” do anything. The checks cannot be sent out without a signature that is printed with the checks. They assign another generality to how long…”a few days” which is another meaningless statement and demonstrates they don’t even know what the process is. This is typical Washington Post BS, typical anonymous source, typical news creation and a typical lie.
The time it takes to affix the President’s name takes no longer than affixing the name of the Secretary of the Treasury. That means no time is wasted. I think the signature was prepared before the checks could even be written.
Anon probably believes the Washington Post because he thinks the President signs each one individully.
During a Nat’l Emergency The President does if the states are ignoring the U.S. Constitution & the Bill of Rights. I believe he as emerg power to instruct them what to do. As for reopening, are you aware that about 70% of the total U.S. population lives within about 50 miles of our 3 coasts. down the east coast, across the southern coast & along the west coast. Thus internal staes with much lower populations, more land per capita & open spaces etc will not be as hard hit by this virus. The hardest hit was NYC with subways which are damp & warm plus elevators and people densly packed in, plus gov. Cuomo & mayor DeBlasio all told New Yorkers to ignore Pres. Trump & go out & party. Then cliff dwellers without practical life experience PANICKED & ran to emerg. rooms when they were NOT sick, but sat near someone who was sick. Then 3 wks later gues waht ..everyone was sick for real. Now lets see what’s more important curing every last person or putting 30 to 40 million out of work for 3 to 4 months & on food stamps & welfare? Where will you move to when no one can afford college & colleges & universities go boke? Back in 1929 -1932 we still had mostly agrarian economy everyone had gardens etc. Today most city dwellers would starve. $6 trillion is the aprox. cost of a 60 day bail out. We can’t print enough for a 4 month bail out. by then 20 % of all businesses …will disappear, we will become a 3rd world country and China will win. Is that your intention to be dead right?
Mr Kurtz, you posted that twice now.
Do check that Donald Trump was inaugurated on 2017 Jan 20 and so as I stated, 11 months before the ban was lifted.
But have another!
OK i can’t count months then. I still want to know why they decided to lift the pause. The pause was smart, the research was dangerous; why did they lift the ban on research and why especially if it was being conducted in the PRC too? just seems so stupid to me, but what do i know, anyways
anyhow the story is breaking wide open. Turns out the state department was warning Washington that the Wuhan lab was insecure in December 19, and the Pentagon’s been trying to figure out if it was a lab release. so the “conspiracy theory” that got people banned from twitter back in february is now front page speculation in april.
funny how that works
Kurtz, it is not universally accepted that the “pause” was smart and that this type research is not valuable and possibly critical. The Wuhan lab as a possible source is a different issue from whether it was a designed bio-weapon. The latter has been discounted by research.
“CNN is now the Leftist State Media.”
— Jeffrey Lord
“CNN is now the Leftist State Media,” Jeffrey Lord told Fox News when asked about the chyrons.
“It gets angry when its propaganda gets answered by this president. CNN said the China travel ban would ‘backfire’ — and instead it saved lives,” Lord continued. “Substitute ‘CNN’ for ‘Trump’ in those snarky chryrons and their problem is self-evident. It’s too bad because they do have a lot of good people there.”
Former CNN conservative pundit Steve Cortes, another Trump defender who wasn’t long for the liberal network, took to Twitter to criticize how Monday’s coronavirus briefing was covered.
“I’m almost impressed with how hard the CNN chyron writers of my former network effort to get their revulsion for Pres Trump just right! I don’t miss it,” Cortes tweeted.
Former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien called the chyrons a “mess” and “inappropriate,” noting that they’re the “opposite of good journalism.”
Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson told Fox News that CNN’s on-screen graphics basically confirm that the network has a liberal agenda.
“CNN’s argumentative chyrons demonstrate that news and opinion have completely merged at CNN, feeding into Trump’s claims that CNN is ‘fake news.’ What’s worse, CNN is quite proud its chyrons, reflecting that CNN is oblivious to how deeply its reputation has been damaged by the games it plays with its news operation,” Jacobson said.
“CNN’s argumentative chyrons demonstrate that news and opinion have completely merged at CNN.”
— William A. Jacobson
Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity even poked fun at CNN’s hysterics during their handoff on Monday night.
“Imagine the rage of the 24-year-old in the chyron booth,” Carlson said, mocking a CNN employee by pretending to aggressively type while uttering, “He’s so bad, orange man,” before Hannity chimed in.
“Blind, psychotic rage,” Hannity said.
Former CNN pundit: Network is officially ‘Leftist State Media’ after Trump chyron coverage
CNN’s coverage of Monday’s White House coronavirus press briefing put a harsh spotlight on the network’s line-blurring between journalism and agenda-driven opinion, media experts tell Fox News, and even has some wondering if the liberal network has abandoned objective coverage of the president altogether.
CNN cut away from Trump’s task force briefing on Monday when the White House aired a brief video designed to combat recent reports that the response to coronavirus didn’t happen quickly enough. CNN host John King quickly called it “propaganda,” which became the phrase du jour for the network during a series of events that one former network employee said proved it has officially become “Leftist State Media.”
Once CNN decided to return to the briefing, the network’s on-screen chyrons began editorializing with snarky comments that were praised by the far left but frowned upon by journalism professors, conservative media watchdogs and ex-CNN employees.
Various CNN pundits went on to refer to the video as “propaganda” for the remainder of the evening and into Tuesday morning, while the network enlisted what it considers straight-news reporters to chime in. Brian Stelter called it “nothing short of disgraceful,” Jim Acosta accused Trump of having a “total meltdown” and Don Lemon said Trump’s briefing was “the height of narcissism.”
CNN’s graphics department aired chyrons that stated, “Angry Trump turns briefing into propaganda session,” “Trump uses task force briefing to try and rewrite history on coronavirus response,” “Trump melts down in angry response to reports he ignored virus warnings” and “Angry Trump uses propaganda video, produced by government employees at taxpayers’ expense.”
“The CNN chyrons during yesterday’s presser were clearly designed to take a sledgehammer editorial approach to Trump’s comments,” DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall told Fox News.
“Viewers watching these live COVID-19 briefings have enough sense to figure out for themselves what is going on, without producers trying to push opinion while the events are in progress,” McCall added. “Such brief and politically charged chyrons leave little room for context and perspective, which a story like the pandemic crisis should demand.”
Jeffrey Lord was CNN’s most prominent pro-Trump voice until the network severed ties with him in 2017, and he feels the network has taken a turn for the worse since his exit.
– Fox News
Potential SARS-CoV-2 source:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masked_palm_civet
Estov
Mr Kurtz, Donald Trump had been president for 11 months when the GOFR ban was lifted.
By the way, the Daily Mail is not a reliable source of information; they just Make Stuff Up.
Wrong Benson. Very wrong. Here’s a different source
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2017/12/feds-lift-gain-function-research-pause-offer-guidance
Feds lift gain-of-function research pause, offer guidance
Filed Under: Dual-Use Research; Pandemic Influenza
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News | Dec 19, 2017
Share Tweet LinkedIn Email Print & PDF
ebola_virus-nih.jpg
Ebola virus
NIH
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today lifted a 3-year moratorium on funding gain-of-function (GOF) research on potential pandemic viruses such as avian flu, SARS, and MERS, opening the door for certain types of research to resume.
The action coincides with today’s release of a US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) framework for guiding funding decisions about proposed research involving pathogens that have enhanced potential for creating pandemics.
Experts involved in the discussions welcomed the development, but some said the new framework still leaves key unanswered questions, such as how to responsibly report findings from the funded lab work in medical journals. Meanwhile, in research labs, some scientists plan to resume experiments and are relieved the pause has ended. Both groups are eager to see how the new review process works in real life.
In a statement today, NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, said “We have a responsibility to ensure that research with infectious agents is conducted responsibly, and that we consider the potential biosafety and biosecurity risks associated with such research.” He added that he is confident that the review process spelled out in the new framework “will help to facilitate the safe, secure, and responsible conduct of this type of research in a manner that maximizes the benefits to public health.”
wrong.. heres a diff source
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2017/12/feds-lift-gain-function-research-pause-offer-guidance
December 19, 2017:
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today lifted a 3-year moratorium on funding gain-of-function (GOF) research on potential pandemic viruses such as avian flu, SARS, and MERS, opening the door for certain types of research to resume.
“December 19, 2017:”
Care to state what is running through your mind?
“I have total authority – but the failures are all because of the states – it is their fault”
We need more big government….just like China
Interstate commerce…try reopening without that authority..
King Donald the Mad. 👑
But wait ! Guess what. US helped fund bat coronavirus experiments in Wuhan. LOL amazing
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8211257/Wuhan-lab-performing-experiments-bats-coronavirus-caves.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline&__twitter_impression=true
WHOSE GENIUS IDEA WAS THAT?
i guess we understand now why Trump stopped calling it the China virus– turns out some American science geeks may have been in on it! See the link
I seriously begin to wonder again if this wasnt already under study in the Wuhan bsl 4 lab. this is pathetic. somebody needs to get to the bottom of this. Ok. if the sars-cov-2 was not lab created but emergent from nature, the next key question was the sars-cov-2 emergent from nature and accidentally spread by these incompetents?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8211257/Wuhan-lab-performing-experiments-bats-coronavirus-caves.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline&__twitter_impression=true
“Now The Mail on Sunday has learned that scientists there experimented on bats as part of a project funded by the US National Institutes of Health, which continues to licence the Wuhan laboratory to receive American money for experiments.
Results of the research were published in November 2017 under the heading: ‘Discovery of a rich gene pool of bat SARS-related coronaviruses provides new insights into the origin of SARS coronavirus.’
The exercise was summarised as: ‘Bats in a cave in Yunnan, China were captured and sampled for coronaviruses used for lab experiments.
……
‘All sampling procedures were performed by veterinarians with approval from the Animal Ethics Committee of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
‘Bat samplings were conducted ten times from April 2011 to October 2015 at different seasons in their natural habitat at a single location (cave) in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. Bats were trapped and faecal swab samples were collected.’
Another study, published in April 2018, was titled ‘fatal swine acute diarrhoea syndrome caused by an HKU2-related coronavirus of bat origin’ and described the research as such: ‘Following a 2016 bat-related coronavirus outbreak on Chinese pig farms, bats were captured in a cave and samples were taken.
Experimenters grew the virus in a lab and injected it into three-day-old piglets. Intestinal samples from sick piglets were ground up and fed to other piglets as well.’
Senior Ministers say that while the latest intelligence does not dispute the virus was ‘zoonotic’ – originating in animals – it no longer rules out that the virus first spread to humans after leaking from a Wuhan laboratory.
Last week, further doubt was cast on the animal market theory after Cao Bin, a doctor at the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, highlighted research showing that 13 of the first 41 patients diagnosed with the infection had not had any contact with the market. ‘It seems clear that the seafood market is not the only origin of the virus,’ he said.
The £30 million Wuhan Institute of Virology, the most advanced laboratory of its type on the Chinese mainland, is based ten miles from the now infamous wildlife market.
Last night, Anthony Bellotti, president of the US pressure group White Coat Waste, condemned his government for spending tax dollars in China, adding: ‘Animals infected with viruses or otherwise sickened and abused in Chinese labs reportedly may be sold to wet markets for consumption once experiments are done.’
US Congressman Matt Gaetz said: ‘I’m disgusted to learn that for years the US government has been funding dangerous and cruel animal experiments at the Wuhan Institute, which may have contributed to the global spread of coronavirus, and research at other labs in China that have virtually no oversight from US authorities.'”
Interstse commerce…try reopening without that authority.
Interstate commerce…try reopening without that authority
Interstate commerce…try reopening without that authority.
Congress must declare war if America has been invaded.
The President will then function with “total power” in his role as commander-in-chief.
Interstse commerce…try reopening without that authority..
“After blasting Trump as a xenophobe and racist for the January 31 travel ban, Biden hemmed and hawed and finally conceded he agreed with the ban. His staff claimed his xenophobic/racist allegations were in connection to Trump’s use of “Chinese virus”—a rubric first institutionalized probably by CNN. Yet Trump used that terminology only after, not before, Biden’s smear. Now Biden apparently is trying to argue that Trump should have issued the once “racist” and “xenophobic” ban even earlier—as Biden its former critic supposedly would have done. Once Biden decided he had to be against everything Trump was for, and once Trump was for most things that the so-called experts thought best, then Biden inevitably was in Pavlovian fashion against what was good for the country.”
Hit the wrong key. This is the article for the above along with the address. As usual it is a great article.
“Corona Meltdowns
Is the bad and self-negating behavior of so many of Trump’s enemies setting him up for an even more impressive victory in the fall?
Victor Davis HansonApril 5, 2020”
https://amgreatness.com/2020/04/05/corona-meltdowns/
Bernie endorses Joe
https://wapo.st/3ciwYp1
From the communist party headquarters?
Barack endorses Joe:
https://wapo.st/2RDpG79
From his prison cell?
The Obama Coup D’etat in America is the most egregious abuse of power and the most prodigious scandal in American political history.
The co-conspirators are:
Bill Taylor, Eric Ciaramella, Rosenstein, Mueller/Team, Andrew Weissmann, Comey,
Christopher Wray, McCabe, Strozk, Page, Laycock, Kadzic, Yates, Baker, Bruce Ohr,
Nellie Ohr, Priestap, Kortan, Campbell, Sir Richard Dearlove, Steele, Simpson,
Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer, Stefan “The Walrus” Halper, Azra Turk, Kerry,
Hillary, Huma, Mills, Brennan, Gina Haspel, Clapper, Lerner, Farkas, Power, Lynch,
Rice, Jarrett, Holder, Brazile, Sessions (patsy), Nadler, Schiff, Pelosi, Obama,
James E. Boasberg et al.
High everybody. I’d like to take a moment to succinctly explain the Constitution and its requirement that the President be a “natural born citizen,” which I will never be. I knew, definitively, that I was ineligible when I ran which makes me a criminal and a traitor.
Barack Obama will NEVER be eligible to be U.S. president.
Barack Obama’s father was a foreign citizen at the time of his birth.
– A “citizen” could only have been President at the time of the adoption of the Constitution – not after.
– The U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5, requires the President to be a “natural born citizen,” which, by definition in the Law of Nations, requires “parents who are citizens” at the time of birth of the candidate and that he be “…born of a father who is a citizen;…”
– Ben Franklin thanked Charles Dumas for copies of the Law of Nations which “…has been continually in the hands of the members of our Congress, now sitting,…”
– The Jay/Washington letter of July, 1787, raised the presidential requirement from citizen to “natural born citizen” to place a “strong check” against foreign allegiances by the commander-in-chief.
– Every American President before Obama had two parents who were American citizens.
– The Constitution is not a dictionary and does not define words or phrases like “natural born citizen” as a dictionary, while the Law of Nations,1758, did.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Law of Nations, Vattel, 1758
Book 1, Ch. 19
§ 212. Citizens and natives.
“The citizens are the members of the civil society; bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to its authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens. As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by the children of the citizens, those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights. The society is supposed to desire this, in consequence of what it owes to its own preservation; and it is presumed, as matter of course, that each citizen, on entering into society, reserves to his children the right of becoming members of it. The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children; and these become true citizens merely by their tacit consent. We shall soon see whether, on their coming to the years of discretion, they may renounce their right, and what they owe to the society in which they were born. I say, that, in order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen; for, if he is born there of a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and not his country.”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ben Franklin letter December 9, 1775, thanking Charles Dumas for 3 copies of the Law of Nations:
“…I am much obliged by the kind present you have made us of your edition of Vattel. It came to us in good season, when the circumstances of a rising state make it necessary frequently to consult the law of nations. Accordingly that copy, which I kept, (after depositing one in our own public library here, and sending the other to the College of Massachusetts Bay, as you directed,) has been continually in the hands of the members of our Congress, now sitting, who are much pleased with your notes and preface, and have entertained a high and just esteem for their author…”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
To George Washington from John Jay, 25 July 1787
From John Jay
New York 25 July 1787
Dear Sir
I was this morning honored with your Excellency’s Favor of the 22d
Inst: & immediately delivered the Letter it enclosed to Commodore
Jones, who being detained by Business, did not go in the french Packet,
which sailed Yesterday.
Permit me to hint, whether it would not be wise & seasonable to
provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the
administration of our national Government, and to declare expressly that the Command in chief
of the american army shall not be given to, nor devolved on, any but a natural born Citizen.
Mrs Jay is obliged by your attention, and assures You of her perfect
Esteem & Regard—with similar Sentiments the most cordial and sincere
I remain Dear Sir Your faithful Friend & Servt
John Jay
If state governments don’t bear any responsibility for what happens in a state why bother having them. I suspect the federal government is there in the background in case they are needed.
“As Trump Declares Absolute Power, Governors Move On Without Him”
Even MSNBC gets this one right — and I’m not a fan.
Interstse commerce…try reopening without that authority
I don’t think he has total control either. I’ve always been a states rights kind of guy.
If a pandemic is an invasion, war must be declared and the president will have full control as commander-in-chief.
If it’s not sufficiently compelling to declare war, there’s actually nothing legitimate to have “total control” over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=77&v=r3QXrQDTDYo&feature=emb_logo
“Enough.” -Donald J. Trump
“Enough.” -Donald J. Trump, in an attempt to silence someone, yesterday
just iterating what EVERYONE was thinking about these so called “journalists”….ENOUGH ALREADY with your biased screeching.
Meanwhile, Republicans will be Republicans:
“More than 80 percent of the benefits of a tax change tucked into the coronavirus relief package Congress passed last month will go to those who earn more than $1 million annually, according to a report by a nonpartisan congressional body expected to be released Tuesday.
The provision, inserted into the legislation by Senate Republicans, temporarily suspends a limitation on how much owners of businesses formed as “pass-through” entities can deduct against their nonbusiness income, such as capital gains, to reduce their tax liability. The limitation was created as part of the 2017 Republican tax law to offset other tax cuts to firms in that legislation.
Suspending the limitation will cost taxpayers about $90 billion in 2020 alone, part of a set of tax changes that will add close to $170 billion to the national deficit over the next 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the nonpartisan congressional body.
…..An analysis by the JCT found suspending the limit overwhelmingly benefits higher earners. About 82 percent of the benefits of the policy go to about 43,000 taxpayers who earn more than $1 million annually. Less than 3 percent of the benefits go to Americans earning less than $100,000 a year, the analysis found. The analysis included the impact of another tax change in the coronavirus relief legislation that allows firms to write off 100 percent rather than 80 percent of their losses, reversing another change in the 2017 tax law.
Hedge-fund investors and owners of real estate businesses are “far and away” the two prime beneficiaries of the change, said Steve Rosenthal, a tax expert at the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/14/coronavirus-law-congress-tax-change/
Exactly what do you know of why this provision was instituted?
Sure:
“About 82 percent of the benefits of the policy go to about 43,000 taxpayers who earn more than $1 million annually. Less than 3 percent of the benefits go to Americans earning less than $100,000 a year, the analysis found.”
Anon complains about money returned to those that pay the taxes and generate much of the wealth he spends.
The story is simple and explains the mathematics behind Anon’s complaint on multiple subjects where he describes the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Whatever validity exists in that idea is totally destroyed by his lack of critical thinking and his inability to comprehend simple mathematics.
—
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.”
Drinks for the ten now cost just $80
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men – the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay! And so…
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
“I only got a dollar out of the $20,” declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, “but he got $10!”
“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!”
“That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!” The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
https://www.mantelligence.com/walks-into-a-bar-jokes/
Diaper Man you’re stuck in the pre-virus age. All that crap about the virtues of low taxes and small government is destined for history’s ash heap at this point.
By the time this crisis is past us, everyone under 60 will see the virtues of socialism. A Grest Depression awaits us and it will require a ‘We’re all in this together’ way of thinking.
“everyone under 60 will see the virtues of socialism. ”
Paint Chips do you even know what the word socialism means. You might refer to a country that you say embraces socialism when the term is used to prove how pleasant socialism is when the country isn’t really a socialist nation. I think you should provide your definition of socialism along with the important points of ownership so we have something to refer to when you make your argument.
To date no socialized nation (based on the standard definitions that have withstood the passage of time) has succeeded long term and during the 20th century those socialized nations of import killed over 100 million people just to remain in power.
The Coronavirus has given you the ability to finally shout out that you are a socialist. You look fondly towards that virus because in your mind it seems to provide evidence that socialism is good. Thus to you if you ever were in power you would probably create a Coronavirus Day to celebrate once a year no matter how many people died and how many families might ultimately be destroyed.
You are one of those heinous individuals that good people should run away from.
Allan – I liked your anecdotal comment about your time in El Mexico, never had a chance to reply.
I eat with the locals down there. Always rent my own car and drive around. Drove myself to Chichen Itza for the day. You just have to be smart about where you go, and times of day, yada yada, you know the rest.
WW33, I was at the ruins of Chichen Itza and Uxmal many years ago. Some of the climbing into the temples was quite unsafe. I wonder if they now have better access or everything is the same. If you liked those ruins go to Angkor Wat in Cambodia but make sure to leave enough time and I think for that spot one of the things you will have to take prophylactically is either hydroxychloroquine or a similar drug. I knew what I was going to see before hand but was shocked by what it looked like in front of me. If you go that far travel away from tourism to the lakes of Cambodia where people live and fish. An amazing experience. Food isn’t the biggest problem though water can be. I am generally more concerned with some of the other things that can happen.
Eating with locals can be a tricky thing unless they are locals that are actually tourist spots. I have a tendency to eat where locals eat which sometimes can be in the street without any controls so one has to be extremely careful.