Thursday, January 24, 2008

Tell the feds to take that tax rebate check and shove it . . .

Right into food for the needy and more unemployment benefits for those who lost their jobs overseas! If they won’t, we can do it for them.

I just read an article about the proposed tax rebate on CNN's site.

The third paragraph in caused a sense of elation at the thought of a fat check arriving soon , a return on my taxes from the federal government! It said, "Sources on Capitol Hill and at the Treasury Department said congressional and White House negotiators agreed upon checks of $600 per individual and $1,200 per couple." Truly, I had already spent the money, in my mind, before I reached the rest of the story. My credit card debt was no more, or so I thought.

I read further, though, and a sense of outrage began to grow. "To get to the agreement, Democrats dropped calls for increases in foodstamps and an extension of unemployment compensation." Say what?

Give all us taxpayers a nice smacking fat check, but those who are disabled, elderly, or have lost their jobs in the economic downturn, well, hell, just let them dangle slowly in the wind, no point in fighting for them, they don't count anyway. Get this money to people who are likely to vote, and those other yahoos can just starve. Like their gas and their food costs haven't risen along with the rest of us - heck. they're way too fat anyway, let them do without and lose some weight. Or let them eat more salt pork and potatoes and bread, if they're all that hungry. Let them die of diabetes and heart attacks.

Further down, the coup de grace, "To win over conservatives, the package also is slated to include business tax breaks, according to officials in both parties."

Oh, right. Like CEO's aren't already receiving bloated paychecks and even more bloated bonuses (even when they don't deliver). And, for goodness sakes, give those corporations some more tax breaks. They need money to run ads in Bangladesh and Hong Kong for all those American jobs they've been busily outsourcing.

This whole scheme infuriates me, because I not only think that this is tainted money that greed or need will induce most of us to accept, but further, I don't believe it's good for the economy in the long run. Those tax breaks for already bloated corporations will likely never be rescinded, no matter if the economy makes a rebound, and those who lose jobs due to outsourcing and to the boondoggle of NAFTA as well as the economic slowdown will need some bridge to get to the other side - hopefully a new job.

Over time, this will cause poverty to increase, cause more people to lose their jobs, their homes and default on their loans. This is a quick fix which could be a disaster in the long run.

Please, please, call your senator, call your representative and ask them for a long range plan that will help those at the bottom, not something short term that gets everyone excited at the prospect of an unexpected bonus. Urge them to change the usury laws that allowed the credit crunch we're now in to develop, to readopt the tossed-out laws of previous days that regulated the finance companies and banks, capped the interest rate they were allowed to charge, and forced more fiscal responsibility on us than some of us are capable of doing for themselves (whether by financial desperation or sheer gullibility).

I don't think that I can take this sort of blood money, and if this passes (as I expect it will) I pledge to turn it over to my local interfaith compassion fund or to the local Pantry, whichever one seems in need of an infusion the most.

Dare I call on others to do the same, to put the money where it's needed as a lifesaver; where it's needed more by those already going under, already drowning, than by those of us who may be merely dog-paddling to keep our heads above water?

Sign it over to a reputable organization that feeds the hungry, so the feds will have a record of how it was spent, how they should have spent it. I know that thought hurts (it hurts my greedy heart, too). Sometimes you have to do what's right, no matter how much it hurts, because hell beckons the selfish soul.

I could surely use the money, but for the sake of my soul, I dare not keep it. Who will join me?

3 comments:

  1. I am a single mom on disability and unable to work. I made less than $3,000 "income" so I won't qualify for the individual or child benefit and the 19k I collect from Social Security is too much money in Texas to qualify for any assistance. My bills have all increased and I could use the check to put food on the table. AllI can say to your blog is God Bless you and your family abundantly for your sacrafice.

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  2. Hey C.W.

    I'm in. I haven't even filed yet. I'm giving some to family who need it. But, I'll look around for the right org to give a substantial portion of it to.

    I just found you by following a link from my referral stats. Thanks for blogrolling me, and I just put you on my blogroll. Could you please change the text of my link from "Sociable Loner" to "Pine Belt Progressive" when you get a sec? The address hasn't changed. I re-branded my blog a while ago.

    Also, I have some stuff about a guy in Hburg who got arrested under very questionable circumstances for exercising his First Amendment Rights, if you're interested.

    Anon, I am very sorry to hear of your plight. I have family who struggle with very similar circumstances.

    Something weird happened the first time I tried to post my comment. If you get a duplicate, please accept my apology and delete one of them.

    :)

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  3. Thanks, Geneo, I have changed it already and will check out your posting about the guy in Hattiesburg.

    Stories like the one above are all too common, and I don't know how people like her are making it, with the cost of gas, groceries, utilities and all the other necessities going up all the time.

    This seems like a small enough thing to do, thanks for joining me in this little gesture that maybe will help someone, at least for a little while.

    ReplyDelete