Suppose that once a week, 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.
And the tenth man (the richest) would pay £59.
So, that’s what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every week and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until, one day, the owner caused them a little problem.
“Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your weekly beer by £20.”
Drinks for the ten men would 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 not only would the first four men still be drinking for free but the fifth and sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.
So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fairer to reduce each man’s bill by a higher percentage.
They decided to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.
And so, the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (a 100% saving).
The sixth man now paid £2 instead of £3 (a 33% saving).
The seventh man now paid £5 instead of £7 (a 28% saving).
The eighth man now paid £9 instead of £12 (a 25% saving).
The ninth man now paid £14 instead of £18 (a 22% saving).
And the tenth man now paid £49 instead of £59 (a 16% saving).
Each of the last six was better off than before with the first four continuing to drink for free.
But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings. “I only got £1 out of the £20 saving,” 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 £1 too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!”
“That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get £10 back, when I only got £2? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!”
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next week the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their 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 to pay for even half of the bill!
And that’s how it works.
Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy and they just might 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.
You're a scumbag and a liar, Chuck — but everyone already knows that. She was answering a question specifically about construction projects on the White House grounds.
We'll lay it so even your demented mind can comprehend:
QUESTION: "In addition to the ballroom and the Rose Garden patio, is the President looking at any other renovations or significant kind of projects here at the White House?"
@PressSec: "Not to my knowledge, no, but he's a builder at heart, clearly, and so his heart and his mind is always churning about how to improve things here on the White House grounds. But at this moment in time, of course, the ballroom is really the President's main priority."
In 2023 CNN fake journalist Laura Coates passionately explained why Trump's alleged mortgage fraud was not a victimless crime.
Now Coates is saying that Letitia James' little mistake didn't hurt anybody.
This is CNN.
Dems over the past 24 hours:
> Illegals don’t qualify for Medicaid.
>> They only qualify for emergencies, not full Medicaid.
>>> They qualify for full Medicaid in some states, but it’s paid for with state funds.
>>>> The federal funding we’re asking for won’t go to illegals
>>>>> Only a small fraction of the federal funding we’re asking for is for illegals.
If Senate Democrats refuse to vote for the CR tonight and shut down the government, it proves that they care more about illegals getting free health care than our troops getting their paycheck.
I heard this time and again when I was in this mythic "trans community". The self-inflicted hysteria - that society is trying to "genocide" the trans people and that everyone wants to out and kill trans people.
And then I crossed the political aisle and met some of the "fascists pushing for our deaths" - Helen Joyce, Jordan Peterson, Kathleen Stock.
I couldn't believe the scale of the lies I had been told about them.
They are lovely, sensible, often funny human beings with legitimate and well-evidenced concerns about the current education and medicalisation of children and their mental distress.
I have been deep in the so-called "far right" for a number of years now, keeping company with the key "figures of hate" and I have never once heard anyone express a desire to harm, disclose feelings of hatred, or intent to control people or see them dead for being "trans". Not in a public setting and not in a private setting when the wine is flowing. Never. And I was hawk-eyed and wary when first traversing the political aisle: I myself had been told these people wanted me "in the closet" or dead for being "my true and authentic self."
For the most part, there is only pity and sadness for the lost and distressed young people. Frustration, sometimes, at the lies and slander that circulate - the attempts to ruin their lives that come off the back of these lies.
But the contempt is all for the charities who push this dangerous fantasy on young people, not for the young people themselves.
I never want to hear another word from the left about freedom of speech.
You are the fascists.
Watch this clip. Bookmark it. When they start screaming about freedom of speech, send this to them.