‘Overtaxed’ Americans a politically useful myth
Earlier this week, an analysis by The New York Times confirmed once more a conclusion posted repeatedly on this blog:
Contrary to the popular image of Americans as overtaxed to within an inch of our economic lives, citizens of this country in almost every economic group pay a significantly smaller share of their income in taxes — state, local and federal — than they did 30 years ago.
The sole exception:
“Lower-income households, however, saved little or nothing. Many pay no federal income taxes, but they do pay a range of other levies, like federal payroll taxes, state sales taxes and local property taxes. Only about half of taxpaying households with incomes below $25,000 paid less in 2010.”
(An interactive and much more extensive version of the chart above is available here.)
Any honest analysis of our current financial situation must account for this basic, fundamental fact. By comparison with other major industrial countries, and by comparison with our own history, we are undertaxed not overtaxed. Politicians buy votes just as easily by promising endless and repeated tax cuts as by promising new spending programs, and after some three decades of such policies, we are shocked to find ourselves increasingly in debt?
– Jay Bookman
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999 comments Add your comment
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
6:53 pm
josef
Here is the FNM favorite for that night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzqiPvGrkTo
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
6:55 pm
josef
he’s only a Mediocre Mulatto?
He might get offended by that
josef
December 2nd, 2012
7:04 pm
COMMON SENSE
Most excellent video…eat your heart out Billy Joel…
“Mediocre Mulatto?”
Would that make him a mediochre mulatto,,,
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 2nd, 2012
7:06 pm
Michelle’s Mediocre Munificent Mulatto Mayan Muslim Marxist
TM
December 2nd, 2012
7:06 pm
tax payer —I guess you are in favor of getting rid of all of those Bush terrible tax cuts or just those that don’t affect you??
“And if you don’t like those options then elect yourself another Republican-controlled Congress with a Bush at the helm and start passing those tax cuts and spending bills again. See where that gets you>
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
7:08 pm
josef
yep, but we have to live with what we got LOL
And so does Michelle
josef
December 2nd, 2012
7:09 pm
Michelle’s Mediocre Munificent Mediochre Misinformed Mulatto Mayan Muslim Marxist
josef
December 2nd, 2012
7:10 pm
COMMON SENSE
She don’t seem to be complaining…and where’d he get them ears…
josef
December 2nd, 2012
7:14 pm
Michelle’s Mediocre Munificent Mediochre Misinformed Mulatto Muff Munchin’ Mayan Muslim Marxist
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
7:16 pm
josef
How do you get the taste of spaghetti sauce out of your sinuses?
josef
December 2nd, 2012
7:16 pm
Common Sense
A little Chianti oughta do the trick…
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
7:18 pm
via nasal inhaler?
I hope not
josef
December 2nd, 2012
7:20 pm
COMMON SENSE
Depends on the bouquet…
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 2nd, 2012
7:21 pm
via nasal inhaler?
Good heavens no.
Gin is in the nasal inhaler.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
7:22 pm
Kam
Gin is the tonic for josef, not for sane people
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 2nd, 2012
7:26 pm
Gin is the tonic for josef, not for sane people
Uh, oh.
I just finished off a “Vesper”
2 parts gin
1 part vodka
½ part Lillet.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
7:29 pm
Kam
go easy on those or you may fall off the mountain and roll back to Ga
josef
December 2nd, 2012
7:30 pm
GETALIFE
I tried sanity once. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
7:32 pm
josef
especially since everyone here is crazy
Except ME
josef
December 2nd, 2012
7:33 pm
COMMON SENSE
Unmentionable says he bets the Imam does post that one for FNM…only he’ll do it on Thursday…just to be on the safe side…
zeke
December 2nd, 2012
7:36 pm
The federal income tax confiscation should never exceed 10%! PERIOD!
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
7:37 pm
josef
according to the way I read the calendar the world is supposed to end at 7pm on Friday.
As soon as happy hour at the bars ends coincidence I think not
josef
December 2nd, 2012
7:38 pm
“My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you’re ugly too.”
–Rodney Dangerfield
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
7:38 pm
zeke
I hope your life in Somalia is good then
Jan Brewer’s Immigration Backlash Begins
December 2nd, 2012
7:39 pm
As election-chastened Republicans rush to embrace Latinos, Arizona’s infamously anti-immigrant governor finds herself on the wrong side of the fence. By Terry Greene Sterling
Arizona’s Republican governor, Jan Brewer, seemed in perfect lockstep with both her party and Mitt Romney (whom she had heartily endorsed early on) when she issued Executive Order 2012-06 three months ago. The order barred “Dreamers”—young, undocumented immigrants granted temporary relief from deportation by a new Obama administration directive—from receiving Arizona driver licenses. At the time, Brewer called Dreamers “illegal people.”
Earlier this week, those same “illegal people” slapped Brewer with a federal lawsuit. Their lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund contend (PDF) that Governor Jan violated the constitutional rights of certain young, non-criminal immigrants granted work permits and Social Security cards, as well as a two-year temporary reprieve from deportation, by the Obama administration’s Department of Homeland Security.
Brewer’s actions, and the lawsuit, promise to cast Arizona as an extremist state once again. What’s more, the precedent-setting class-action case will likely drag on for years and be a costly affair, since tens of thousands of Dreamers are thought to live in Arizona. Only two other states—Michigan and Nebraska—have banned qualified Dreamers from driving, and those states are not being sued, advocates say, because they may reconsider their policies.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/02/jan-brewer-s-immigration-backlash-begins.html
josef
December 2nd, 2012
7:39 pm
COMMON SENSE
@ 7:37
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 2nd, 2012
7:45 pm
WHAT PART OFILLEGAL DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND!?!? in 3…2…1….
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
7:49 pm
I do have a hot button issue on immigration as my grandparents were legal immigrants, but for the children to whom this is the ONLY country they know I say welcome..
That said E-verify is a joke and so is the H1b and L1 visa program.
There are between 200,000 and 500,000 of those visa holders in this country. Many are qualified but so are the US workers who won’t work high skilled STEM jobs for $20-$30 per hour when they require relocation at your own expense
josef
December 2nd, 2012
7:53 pm
COMMON SENSE
I think that Obama and others on “both sides” have taken to right first step in resolving this immigration fiasco by centering on these kids…only the most heartless amongst us would punish them and send them packing from the only country they’ve ever known…on that there seems to be a common ground…
bob
December 2nd, 2012
7:55 pm
Why do we count Social Security as taxes ? SS provides retirement money, it does not build roads and bridges. It is generational theft and a rip off for those that show responsibility. Don’t credit the poor by saying they pay SS, they are the reason the rest of us are stuck in this ponzi. I was wrong when I said the rest of us, many gov employees won exemption from SS and have a much better retirement plan that allows allows them to invest in stock market options. That is why they are able to retire younger than most of the rest of us. One would think that since we have an alternative plan that has worked so well that the rest of us could win exemption as well. But we have the likes of pelosi that scares her followers by saying they would lose all their money in such a plan even though so many teachers, firemen and police are doing so much better. Why do lib politicians defend such a pathetic system when we have an example of a better plan ?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 2nd, 2012
7:59 pm
…stuck in this ponzi.
There’s your sign.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
8:05 pm
bob
you can retire any time you choose. You say you haven’t contributed to a 401K (who is at fault).
You haven’t independantly invested? (who is at fault)
Quit the wingnut whining and do something about it.
USA Patriot
December 2nd, 2012
8:05 pm
Kam – FYI!….3……2……1…figure it out……….Merry Christmas!
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
8:07 pm
josef
I know several who are caught in the middle. High School graduates but unable to attend college because the states have denied them those rights.
Sad
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 2nd, 2012
8:10 pm
Well apparently our self-appointed resident Sons of Confederate Veterans does not know everything. From the Book of Known Knowledge:
Appomattox Courthouse, building in Appomattox, Virginia, where on April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant, offering his hand to the Union commander for the customary slow dance to end the American Civil War. To the strains of “Two Soldiers,” performed by the Union Army Band, the two men—Lee’s arms resting on Grant’s shoulders; Grant’s wrapped around Lee’s hips—gracefully sashayed around the small wooden surrender table as members of both armies exchanged furtive glances from across the room. As the song drew to a close, Grant twirled Lee once, let him out an arm’s length, pulled him in tight, and dipped him to the floor, signaling the end of the four-year-long conflict and the beginning of the Reconstruction Era. Afterward, all in attendance were invited onto the dance floor to participate in a ceremonial waltz.
Antietam, Battle Of, Civil War battle and single bloodiest day in U.S. history, cut short after rival generals Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan deduced that, with so many casualties on both sides and no clear-cut winner, they must be fighting all wrong. Launching assaults in Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek in 1862, both generals sensed they must have been making some major tactical and strategic blunders after infantrymen not only started dying, but also began losing limbs, screaming in intense agony, and doing nothing whatsoever that could be construed as seizing victory or advancing the larger political goals of their side. As a result, Union and Confederate forces agreed to stop the fighting halfway through in order to regroup and make sure everyone was on the same page in terms of what a battle was and whether or not they were doing it right. When combat continued, 1,500 more people died almost immediately, leading McClellan and Lee to apologize and agree to fight again when their troops were better trained.
Funny, not one mention in the excerpt about a WI wedding drone attack.
josef
December 2nd, 2012
8:12 pm
BOB
Just for the record here, and no being my usual eoiau self, but I became one of your “government employees” WHEN I reached the stage where I COULD retire and do what I wanted to do. Not everybody has that option. It galls the sh*t out of me when somebody like you comes in badmouthing the working class. If it weren’t for them, the privileged would not be so privileged…SS is about the best thing this country has come up with to providing SOCIAL security…
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
8:13 pm
keep
Why did Grant get to lead?
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
8:14 pm
josef
I didn’t know you could be son eloquent
well said my friend
josef
December 2nd, 2012
8:15 pm
SOOTH
josef
December 2nd, 2012
8:16 pm
GOOD FIGHT
Ooops… my bad…that 8:15 was to you…
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 2nd, 2012
8:18 pm
Common, obviously because of his wooden leg.
TaxPayer
December 2nd, 2012
8:25 pm
I clearly need to read more about that war of northern aggression.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 2nd, 2012
8:27 pm
josef, thought you might enjoy it. And here’s one that I have learned from this Blog: Apparently all right wingnuts (and that dang Kam and his bevy of women) are Ashholes and libs are not.
Ashhole, any individual at a bar, party, or other social function who is having more fun than you. Ashholes also include those who are dating attractive women, make more money than you, or manage to handle everything life throws at them with composure. Ashholes often have great, loving families, use proper grammar, know about wine, exercise regularly, make wise financial decisions, donate to charities, and read books.
Brosephus™
December 2nd, 2012
8:31 pm
indigo: Those military officers I referenced are men with advanced college degrees who have spent, individually, more than 30 years as career officers. I must believe they know what’s good and not good for the military.
I was out for a while, but I’ll respond to your statement with two follow-up question to think about.
#1 How long have they been retired and out of the military?
#2 When was the last time they spent significant time in the field with the actual troops who do the fighting as opposed to playing politics in the office?
They may know things, but times and tactics change as quickly as technology. Someone who served in Vietnam might not be completely aware of tactics used in Afghanistan because of the advancement in technology. I understand your point in trusting the generals. I tend to put my trust in those who’re standing shoulder to shoulder and bearing the burden of the decisions. My experience with the government has shown me that those who sit in offices making decisions don’t always have a complete grasp of what’s going on in the field.
————————-
RF: And so far, all the republicans have put forward to avoid the fiscal “cliff” is closing loopholes and limiting deductions. Why do I think their plan will end up screwing the middle class again?
Because they’ve already been successful with it twice. They hit fed workers with pay freezes and increased contributions to pensions and tried to lower the pension payout. So far, the only amount that’s been legislated towards debt reduction by Congress has been $75B on the backs of fed workers. They haven’t given up sh*t nor have they taken a single penny from the top 2%.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
8:36 pm
Bro
bob from above thinks you’re a leech also just like some of the other flingers
RF
December 2nd, 2012
8:40 pm
“So far, the only amount that’s been legislated towards debt reduction by Congress has been $75B on the backs of fed workers. They haven’t given up sh*t nor have they taken a single penny from the top 2%”
Bro: And so far, I think they’re holding true to form. The ball’s in their court and all they’re doing is complaining that it isn’t the right ball…pitiful.
Brosephus™
December 2nd, 2012
8:43 pm
NoCom
That shows that it’s probably dangerous for bob to even think. I read that post, and he probably pulled a hammy thinking that hard.
josef
December 2nd, 2012
8:46 pm
GOOD FIGHT
I guess I could be an a33hole…
Brosephus™
December 2nd, 2012
8:46 pm
RF
That’s why I’ve said that we should go head first over the deadline. Why should my family and my colleagues be the only one’s losing money out of our pockets? I personally have no problem paying 3% more in taxes as I’m lucky enough to have a working spouse. We don’t live high on the hog, and we budget and plan as though we still lived 10 years ago. The only difference is that we have our daughter now and another child on the way.
josef
December 2nd, 2012
8:49 pm
BROSEPHUS
“…and another child on the way.”
Mazel Tov!
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
8:50 pm
Bro
I’m sure he did
kinda sounded like Little Nero (without the cowboy hat)
Brosephus™
December 2nd, 2012
8:52 pm
josef
gracias..
Brosephus™
December 2nd, 2012
8:53 pm
NoCom
RF
December 2nd, 2012
8:54 pm
“It is generational theft and a rip off for those that show responsibility. Don’t credit the poor by saying they pay SS, they are the reason the rest of us are stuck in this ponzi.”
How about you ’splain that to my dad, who worked for 45 years, paying the payroll tax the entire time? His only “pension” is a small one he gets after the company he worked for over twenty years let everyone go with more than 10 years in because they didn’t like the pension contribution they agreed to make? In the end, all he had to count on after all those years was Social Security. And it wasn’t because of bad planning- he even turned down a chance to go into business with a couple of friends who ended up millionaires because he didn’t want to risk losing a pension and health insurance for his family.
Obviously you have never been part of the working class that don’t make it into management and get the golden parachutes offered to you. If you had, you’d know how, even with careful investing, the vast majority of Americans will never be able to save enough to retire on, and those that are trying took such a bad hit in the last recession that they’ll never recover what they lost in time. God help us if people like you get to determine the fate of Social Security and pension funds. You support robbing both to give the rich even more to squirrel away offshore somewhere and would condemn the rest of us to total destitution when we’re too old to work any longer.
josef
December 2nd, 2012
8:57 pm
RF
Oh, I think Bob IS from the working class…he’s just a wannabe…people not from the working class and trying to pretend they’re not don’t think the way he does…
RF
December 2nd, 2012
8:58 pm
“and another child on the way”
CONGRATS!!! let me just tell you, one is a challenge, and two is a monumental feat!! I love mine though, and wouldn’t have missed the work raising them for anything!!
I’m with you on letting the deadline pass. Let’s see how we deal with the sequestration (is that anything like castration….JK!!), and the tax rate hike most of us will see. In the end, they’ll get the revenue AND spending cuts they’re arguing over, and even the rich will have to pay a little more. I guess I could live with it for a while if it means cornering the party of NO for a while. I’d love to see them squirm out of the pledge to Grover then too!
josef
December 2nd, 2012
8:59 pm
Sorry for the contorted syntax on that @ 8:57…forgive me OREP, I was shooting from the hip!
DEAinATL,
December 2nd, 2012
8:59 pm
Median family income in the U.S. is almost exactly $50,000. THAT’s middle class. Those that think 100K, not to speak of 250K (that’s taxable income, i.e, after mortgage, property tax, charitable deductions) is “middle class” is deluded. Cut military spending and corporate welfare (ethanol subsidies and big oil tax breaks), abolish special rates for dividends and “carried interest,” raise gas tax by 10 cents a gallon, break up the big banks – that’s the way to end the deficit and build the economy.
Brosephus™
December 2nd, 2012
9:01 pm
RF
Re pensions:
Hostess 2012…
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/judge-hostess-give-executives-18m-bonuses/story?id=17844113
Former employees are outraged over the bonuses handed out to high ups.
“Anybody’s got a reason to be upset who lost their job if there handing out large amounts of money,” Paul Carroll told ABC News.
In a statement overnight, Hostess said the bonuses are designed to keep top brass from leaving before winding down what’s left of the company “quickly and cost-effectively.”
“I was qualified to draw my pension, with no notice I lost about 70 or 75 percent of it I didn’t work 34 years to lose it,” Carroll said.
RF
December 2nd, 2012
9:01 pm
“people not from the working class and trying to pretend they’re not don’t think the way he does”
True- those folks just go around making comments about the 47%…
I still can’t believe that buffoon was the best they could find to run.
josef
December 2nd, 2012
9:04 pm
RF
When folks asked Mom how she managed nine, she said that after three you’ve reached critical mass so it’s no longer an issue!
But, I tell ya, I do wonder sometimes how she did it…seven of us boys, on top of that…but as a divorcee in a time and place where that was just unheard of. Of course, she had the support system from the extended family, but still…coming home to THAT after a hard day’s work…?
barking frog
December 2nd, 2012
9:07 pm
josef
How did you determine that bob thinks? His points are mostly repetitions
of fallacies made by many others.
RF
December 2nd, 2012
9:09 pm
Bro: here’s some interesting facts on that.
If you’re one of the few remaining Americans with a pension, we’ve got some good news and some bad news for you.
The good news is that if your pension fails, there’s a backstop provided by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. That U.S. government agency will cover your payments up to a maximum level that’s based on your age and accrued benefits when the pension failed. For a 65 year old, that maximum is currently $55,840.92.
The bad news — pensions are a dying breed. For instance, when Hostess Brands entered bankruptcy liquidation, it became the latest in a long list of companies to terminate its plan. To top it off, while the existing retirees may still be protected by the government backstop, younger Hostess employees aren’t so lucky. A 45-year-old, for instance, will be able to get no more than $13,960.20 a year from the guarantee.
Unfortunately, Hostess and its employees are not alone.
There was a time when the concept of a career meant working for a single employer from graduation through retirement, with a lifetime pension and a gold watch awaiting you when you were through. These days, a mere 11 of the Fortune 100 companies offer pensions to new hires, down from 90 as recently as 1998.
In recent years, airlines like Delta (DAL), United (UAL), and US Airways (LCC) have turned pensions over to the PBGC as part of their bankruptcy proceedings. All told, the PBGC manages payments for around 4,500 plans in total. During its Fiscal Year 2012 alone, the agency took over for more than 150 pension plans
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/11/21/pensions-retirement-hostess-bankruptcy/
Old Retired College Professor
December 2nd, 2012
9:10 pm
forgive me OREP, I was shooting from the hip!
Bless you, my son. Go and sin no more.
RF
December 2nd, 2012
9:12 pm
“but still…coming home to THAT after a hard day’s work…?”
Sometimes two makes me wonder if I accidentally dropped my sanity somewhere and it rolled into the gutter…NINE would have been REALLY hard work! My mom managed to take care of four under the age of 8 and worked full time most of our childhoods. I don’t know how those southern women did it, but dang they were good!
Old Retired English Professor
December 2nd, 2012
9:13 pm
. . . . but that comma splice in your little prayer (two independent clauses joined only by a comma, with no coordination conjunction) may require some expiation.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 2nd, 2012
9:14 pm
Syntax?
Isn’t that the levy they place on hookers?
barking frog
December 2nd, 2012
9:15 pm
josef
have you left your but out again ?
josef
December 2nd, 2012
9:18 pm
FROG
I was giving him benefit of the doubt and trying to be the Imam’s Petit Prince and be nice…
RF
Relative to that working class thingie, I’ve said this here before, but as kids we had to pick cotton. Not because we were po down-trodden, but because we were going to appreciate where our good life came from… my brother the stockbroker and my sister the banker were local celebrities because they could pick a hundred pounds a day by the time they were 12.
And you know what I learned? I don’t want to f’ing pick cotton!
When Jefferson Davis was being lax about learning Latin, his dad took him to the foreman and told him to work him in the fields under the same conditions as the slaves and to cut him no slack because he was Massa’s boy…he did as ordered. The point was to make the little snot nose aware of what his obligations were for the privilege. Davis recalled that he quickly mastered the fifth declension, but that it was a lesson he never forgot.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
9:19 pm
josef and RF
My mother was a sharecroppers daughter in south AL who had to drop out of school at 14 when her mom died.
She raised her 7 brothers and sister and didn’t get married herself until they were all grown and gone even though her dad died when she was a teenager. She went to work in the mills to support the siblings.
josef
December 2nd, 2012
9:21 pm
OREP
I was about to say, “but…but,” but Frog went that one better! Yes, I know you’re not overly fond of elipses, but…
Doggone/GA
December 2nd, 2012
9:22 pm
“When folks asked Mom how she managed nine, she said that after three you’ve reached critical mass so it’s no longer an issue”
I tell people the same thing about dogs! If you don’t want to end up with 10 (like I did) don’t get your 3rd one. Because invariably 2 of them become best friends and the other is odd-man out. So you get a 4th to be a friend for him, and after that one more never seems like much more trouble than the ones you already have…and you end up with a houseful!
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
9:22 pm
josef
I starting pulling peanuts at 5 (my brothers were in school) to this day I hate the sight of raw peanuts LOL
Doggone/GA
December 2nd, 2012
9:24 pm
“I don’t know how those southern women did it, but dang they were good!”
That is not limited to just Southern women
barking frog
December 2nd, 2012
9:24 pm
Common Sense
I started pulling my peanuts around 5 also but no hatred involved though.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
9:25 pm
frog
I only hate the raw ones LOL
josef
December 2nd, 2012
9:28 pm
COMMON SENSE
A lot of folks don’t quite get the chip I have on my shoulder when it comes to rural Southerners, but I came of age in a generation when what you are talking about was the common situation (thank you 100 years of Reconstruction). I respect, admire, and hold in awe “those people.” Those who don’t know or who have forgotten just ought to keep their mouths shut.
Jm (LL)
December 2nd, 2012
9:28 pm
As usual, analytical rigor from Jay is, um, shall we say lacking.
I’ll just note, that the same income bracket today doesn’t buy what it did in 1980, due to that thing called inflation. So people have drifted up into those higher income brackets.
Or said another way, in 1980, if you were making $60k, it was much easier to afford either of those tax rates than it is today.
Point being, zeke’s right. The government will take and spend as much as it can. There is no naturally limiting governor on Fed spending, unlike the private sector, until it is plumb broke.
Jay, turn the light bulb on before regurgitating data from anyone.
RF
December 2nd, 2012
9:29 pm
“And you know what I learned? I don’t want to f’ing pick cotton!”
I hear ya!! My dad used to make us help tend the big ol’ garden my grandpa planted every year to help feed the family, and I learned right quick that weedin’ and hoin’ make studying your multiplication tables look EASY!! To this day, I don’t like buying fresh corn and having to shuck it, even if I’m in my air conditioned kitchen doing it.
Common: I wonder sometimes why parents quit imparting the lesson of hard work for survival to their kids. I run into former students often who hit the adult world and weren’t anywhere near ready to handle the adult responsibilities of work. Most of them learn it the hard way.
Jm (LL)
December 2nd, 2012
9:30 pm
i should’ve said: drive by
out
barking frog
December 2nd, 2012
9:30 pm
Common Sense
When your peanuts are raw emotion can be a problem.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
9:31 pm
josef
I agree completely. My aunt and uncles in rural AL work extremely hard for their everyday existance to this day. One uncle worked construction until 80.
Salt of the earth doesn’t begin to describe rural southerns and rural people all over
My late wife’s uncle farmed until his death at 78
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 2nd, 2012
9:31 pm
I’ll just note, that the same income bracket today doesn’t buy what it did in 1980, due to that thing called inflation.
I’ll just note that if you were alive in 1980, you were making messes in your nappy and not buying goods and services.
Or said another way, you have no personal experience with what you’re talking about.
RF
December 2nd, 2012
9:32 pm
“That is not limited to just Southern women”
Point well taken! Just speaking from what I know, I reckon!
josef
December 2nd, 2012
9:34 pm
DOGGONE
You’re right on the “not just Southern women,” lest we forget. And, yep, on the dogs!
COMMON SENSE
Don’t get ME started on grubbing sweet potatoes…another one we had to do since our place was near Vardaman, “the Sweet Potato Capital of the World.” ‘Til this good day, the sight of a sweet potato gags me. Call it a yam if you want to, it’s still a poot-root! Though, I must admit, I do sometimes get a hankering for one of those smaller ones, baked until the skin separates, the inside caramelizes, split open and slathered with tablespoons of butter…
RF
December 2nd, 2012
9:34 pm
“When your peanuts are raw emotion can be a problem.”
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 2nd, 2012
9:37 pm
josef
In the part of NC where I sometimes return to, the farmers will get the majority of sweet potatoes up and then its free pickins for whoever wants em. No work involved LOL
RF
December 2nd, 2012
9:37 pm
“‘Til this good day, the sight of a sweet potato gags me. Call it a yam if you want to, it’s still a poot-root!”
My older brother spent part of a summer helping a friend’s dad kill chickens and get them ready for processing. He wouldn’t eat chicken for the longest time after that, and still isn’t really fond of it.
barking frog
December 2nd, 2012
9:41 pm
Has anyone else noticed that The Jay of the video, the Jay of the blog and
the Jay of twitter is like a journey back in time?
josef
December 2nd, 2012
9:41 pm
My dad’s dad was known for being a hard taskmaster in the fields. He worked side by side with his workers, setting the pace. His philosophy was that he wasn’t about to demand somebody else work any harder than he was willing to himself. When he had his heart attack and died in the cotton patch, folks were all saying “he worked himself to death doing what he didn’t have to.” Mama said, “he worked himself to death doing what he loved. It was a good death.”
It’s all in how you look at it.
josef
December 2nd, 2012
9:48 pm
FROG
Funny! We were looking through some old pictures of us the other day and Unmentionable found one taken when I still had it…he said, if you ever do your own blog, that’s the one to use!
RF
Don’t get me started on that foul fowl! Granny “kept chickens” and they hated me. Kill one? I could do it in a flash and enjoy it! Dress, cook and eat it? No way. They nasty! Skinned chicken breasts from a plastic package at Kroger, well I can tolerate it…
josef
December 2nd, 2012
9:55 pm
DOGGONE
You being from Up Nawth, fair is fair here…since I was a toddler I’ve always been one with a dozen projects going at one time and something of a perfectionist and somewhat retentive in getting them done…Mom’s dad always said there had to be a dead Yankee in the woodpile somewhere to have given me that work ethic…
barking frog
December 2nd, 2012
9:59 pm
josef
at least it is a good yankee..
Doggone/GA
December 2nd, 2012
10:03 pm
“Mom’s dad always said there had to be a dead Yankee in the woodpile somewhere to have given me that work ethic”
Funny! But I don’t make those distinctions. There are lazy people everywhere, just as there are multi-taskers everywhere. I wasn’t actually thinking of the North when I said that. I’ve been watching the series about the Dust Bowl, and those were some women beyond what any of us will ever know. I had no idea just how bad their lives were.
josef
December 2nd, 2012
10:05 pm
FROG
Oooohhhh, you didn’t! I had to read that one twice before I got it…
barking frog
December 2nd, 2012
10:07 pm
My money is on the ladies that traveled west with the wagons for being
the toughest.
josef
December 2nd, 2012
10:09 pm
DOGGONE
Much agreed. So, you’re catching that series? Excellent one that…
A little sidelight comes to mind. Mama was trying to get us as kids to understand what the collapse of the consumer economy was like. There simply were no shoes, off the rack clothes and what have you to be had. On the other hand, being in the country, there was plenty of food. She said that “we were the fattest bunch of little ragged a33ed urchins you ever saw!”
Doggone/GA
December 2nd, 2012
10:11 pm
“My money is on the ladies that traveled west with the wagons for being the toughest”
Them too, especially the ones too poor to have a wagon and who had to walk all the way.
josef
December 2nd, 2012
10:11 pm
As much as I’m enjoying it…dawn comes early and I’ve got one of those days on the agenda, so, g’night and G-d bless…
Doggone/GA
December 2nd, 2012
10:13 pm
Yeah, me too. Got an early morning tomorrow. Night all