As we approach the holiday dinners and relatives staying two days past the "fail-safe-point," I thought I would give you a small smorgasbord of sensible facts and issue updates for you to invoke when Cousin Eddie's arguments clearly commit violence against common sense.
Go for the jugular early and show them how cutting taxes actually increases the country's tax revenue. This drives them crazy! The Congressional Budget Office reports that through the first 7 months of this year, tax revenues rose 2% TO $2.041 trillion even though the corporate tax rate was dropped 14%.
Of course, Aunt Ridley from Portland will say, "This just helps the rich!" Calmly pour a little more shiraz and inform the table that the Census Bureau reported that real median household income (amount earned by the very middle) recently hit $65,084 in 2019 dollars. That's the highest level ever and a gain of $4,144 (6.8%) since the current Administration took office and passed the tax cuts. For comparison, during the previous Administration's nearly 8 years, the median household income rose just under $1,000. How can this be possible?
When Uncle Hunter, or Professor Hunter as he prefers, pulls out his Yale sweater, remind the living room that student-loan debt has now hit $1.5 trillion and college prices keep going up simply because the government guarantees the debt to a third party (the university) without the third party having any incentive to cut costs, increase productivity or show an economic benefit for the expense. [Similar to the states' control of Medicaid enrollment while the Feds actually write the checks]. Explain how this all violates Econ 101, if they still teach that at Yale, but that Secretary Betsy DeVos has recently updated CollegeScorecard.ed.gov. The site will now provide a little transparency and capitalism to the equation y giving prospective students information on how much their school's graduates are earning in their desired field, and how that equates to monthly pay along with the student loan payments. Knowledge is power. A good step by Betsy in the right direction. And, don't let Elizabeth take our Charter Schools!
Slide some extra cash to the young crowd to ensure they choose Uber and Lyft over drinking and driving this season. But, warn them that California has now ruled these capitalist drivers can no longer be independent contractors in charge of their own destiny - along with your DoorDash girlfriend or the Amazon buddy who puts together the delivered furniture. California wants more employment taxes from these overachievers, along with more workers comp and unemployment insurance payments. Unions and scumbag plaintiff attorneys are behind this socialist campaign, as 5,730 wage-and-hour law complaints were filed last year in California alone. These ingenious businesses will be gone overnight if the socialism spreads from the left coast and the National's ballpark. Get up the courage to ask DoorDash Girl to marry you before you never see her again!
When the family plans the Memorial Day trip to your brother-in-law's beach house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, respectfully decline on the principle that others' tax dollars rebuilt this house after the last hurricane. Have the integrity to not speak out of both sides of your mouth, and provide your family strong leadership-by-example. Explain the situation with Loyola University Professor Walter Block's advice. "The best policy is the middle one - laissez faire capitalism. Treat people as adults - allow them to take whatever flooding risks they choose, but on their own nickel. They should be free to build wherever they want, and to indemnify themselves against risk by buying insurance on the open market. But they should not receive a dime of taxpayers' money for rebuilding." We toast to that.
Finally, honor Uncle Joe and Cousin Linda's, Korean War and Vietnam veterans respectively, requests to turn off the NFL and NBA games on the flat screen. Uncle Joe gave up the NFL after the final "taking a knee" scandal, and Cousin Linda canceled her NBA Live subscription after the Houston Rockets-LeBron fiasco of not supporting the courageous Hong Kong citizens.
But, give them a new idea. Watch "Field of Dreams," and then make your proposal to let Pete Rose finally enter the Hall of Fame. Rally their emotions for the game of a simpler time. Charlie Hustle sprinting to first base even on a walk, playing hurt, knockdowns and spitballs, and sliding into bases hard. Rose won 3 batting crowns, 3 World Series Championships, and had the most hits ever. Ever. As you watch "Shoeless Joe" Jackson hit balls with Kevin Costner, think about what Roger Lowenstein wrote about Rose. "The sport misses the authenticity of his voice, and the Hall of Fame - barred to him on account of his banishment - can hardly be complete absent such an immense talent. After 30 years, baseball should think about bringing him home." [Full disclosure, this author kept a poster of Pete Rose over his bed for 18 years in that Dayton, Ohio rancher and always wore number 14 in every little league contest].
Happy Thanksgiving my friends. I wish you and your families incredible happiness and prosperity.
"I didn't have no education." - Pete Rose, famous for his double negatives
** Thank you to the WSJ, Forbes and Fortune for the above quotes and statistics.
** For more information on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com.
** To access JAM Views directly please visit jeffreyamartinovich.blogspot.com
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