Go Vote Tomorrow!

Remember! Vote! You can't complain about the president and local politicians if you don't take the time to go and vote! I'm dragging 2 kids along with me. If I can do it, you can do it!!! This is the one and only post where I will rant and rave about anything political. I sent out a political based e-mail to some of you, but for the rest, I'm going to post it again here at the end of this post.


First off, thank you Grammy and Grandpa for the shirt that you got for Leo! It fits him great! Here is a picture of Leo in his new shirt. He is upset because I am taking pictures not because I put him in the shirt. I promise, he loves the shirt :)

I even found matching pants! Here is a picture of the outfit after I took him out of it and put him to bed. The shirt says, "My Dad Is Mr. Strong".
Yesterday, Alaina dressed up as a Viking with Daddy and Leo dressed up as a Packer with me. Next week I get to dress both kids in Packer clothes because the Vikings play the Packers!!! Last time they played each other both kids dressed in Vikings clothes, so it is my turn! Hopefully, it will bring them good luck!
Can you guess what Alaina gave Leo? I'll give you two guesses because I have 2 pictures....
You may be right.....
Crayons...Again...I swear...Good thing Crayola is non-toxic! Check out those blue teeth!

Here is a video of the kids and Dave playing Ring Around the Rosie. It was so cute. But as usual, I messed up the video taping and taped it sideways. I (still) couldn't figure out how to rotate it. I promise, I will learn how to video correctly eventually! Until then, I'm going to have to stick to the pictures and leave the videography to Dave....






Here is the e-mail forward that I thought worthwhile to post. For those of you who I have already e-mailed this to, I apologize for the repeat.

Bar Stool Economics by David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.


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 pay $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.


For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.