Racism in America

Today I listened again, to another claim of how white people don't "know what it's like to be a black man in America." That's right, the caller to a national radio broadcast made this claim while discussing the recent passing of Arizona's law addressing illegal immigration.

I have lived my entire life hearing about how tough life is for minorities in America. While I realize there have been injustices in the past by people of all colors, we live in a time where we go out of our way to accomodate minorities even if it means discriminating against whites. That's right, I said it. We all know it. Minorities are given additional points on government jobs/applications and special considerations are made for minorities when granting government contracts.

So I say to the minorities; you have no idea what it is like to have to watch everything you say, lest it be construed as racist. Most "minorities" living in America today don't know what it's like to work their asses off, only to lose the job or contract to someone else because we want to award it to a minority. To grant someone or some business a job or contract BECAUSE they are a color other than white is just as racist as awarding the job or contract to a white person because they are white!

My parents raised me not to be racist. If I work harder than you, I expect to reap the benefits of that work, regardless of what color you are. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for EQUAL treatment, not special treatment.

Consider that as long as we fight amongst ourselves over these petty issues, the idiots in Washington don't have to improve the laws and policies of America to attract businesses and jobs to improve our economy (which would improve everyone's situation).

Here's a suggestion; instead of arguing over race, let's join together and demand our federal government repeal onerous laws and get moving on facilitating economic improvement!

Class Warfare?

The next time you hear about how "the rich" don't "pay their fair share" or how they need to pay more in taxes, please consider the following;

Here are some reasons I'm glad some of you here in America are "rich;"

1. You provide me and my employees with work. I am in the dry cleaning business and you buy clothes that require my services. You are busy working, earning a living and require my delivery services. I and my employees appreciate that you need us.

2. You buy goods and services that keep other people busy at work and they also need my services, again providing us with work and an income.

3. You buy expensive products. I am grateful to you for buying things like plasma tv's when they were $10,000 and personal computers when they were thousands more than they are now. Your purchases at higher prices allowed the manufacturers to improve technology and production so that now, many of the rest of us can afford the same products at a fraction of the cost you paid.

4. You buy cars (and maintain them) when they are brand new that years later, I can afford. It may sound silly, but because you bought that Cadillac years ago and maintained it well, I was able to buy a luxury car in great condition and with low mileage that I would have never been able to consider if I'd had to buy it new.

5. You are willing to spend your hard-earned dollars on medical procedures that later become affordable to the rest of us. Thanks to you, I could afford Lasik surgery that prevented me from spending hundreds of dollars a year on bi-focals (and possibly tri-focals later).

6. You pay much more than me in taxes. Because of the taxes you pay on all of your purchases and property, it reduces my liability. I don't mean I wish you to pay more (on a percentage basis) than I do, but I realize that if we both paid 20% income taxes, you'd pay more than me and I am grateful to you for that.

7. When my church has big-ticket repairs/improvements needed, you often step up to help out. This helps ease the burden on the rest of us that may not have the resources to pay for the repairs/improvements.

I could continue with many other reasons to thank the so-called rich. There will always be those better-off than me and some less-fortunate. We should be willing to offer a helping hand to the less-fortunate while not begrudging the more-fortunate.

Amazing New Jobs Bill

Wow! The congress and president are excited that they passed a "bi-partisan" jobs bill. Yep, they say it will inspire businesses to hire people by giving them a "tax holiday" on the Social Security Tax employers pay.

Just how will it work? Well, you hire someone who's been unemployed for 60 days or more and the business is exempt from the 6.2% (of annual salary on this employee) for the remainder of 2010. Sounds great doesn't it? Until you consider; on a $20,800 annual salary ($10 per hour), it would result in a $1,290 (annual) saving for the company, but it is still costing the business $20,800 to pay the employee, plus unemployment and workman's comp that are both based on payroll, and oh yeah, there may or may not be the actual work there to support hiring an employee...duh!

And here's the kicker; the uncollected revenue will have to be made up by the taxpayers (you and me). When will the idiots in D.C. understand that you need customers buying goods and services to justify hiring workers?