BAR STOOL ECONOMICS

Yet another attempt to instil some good sense into a leftie!

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. What happens to 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.

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7 thoughts on “BAR STOOL ECONOMICS

  1. Well considering in countries like Sweden where the richest pay 70+% of their income but continue to stick around that’s bullshit. Also, regarding how to get out of our economic hole… the great depression showed us two things. One: The rich in America will pull up the drawbridge s and bar the gates at the first sign of economic calamity, shouting “fuck the plebes!” The whole damn time. Two: it took a tax and spend democrat and WW2 to end it. Thankfully we aren’t in quite that bad of shape this time around.

    –compliments of my brilliant son, Eric!!

  2. The truth is hard to come by, any way you look at it… Sort of like the 2/3 majority, if you follow me. At least until we do away with career politicians, we’re to some degree screwed regardless. And before we ever consider tackling that, we need to do away the humanizing of the big businesses (phrasing evades me, dratz!) Next thing you know they’ll have birth certificates and social security numbers! (Somebody married one recently, just to make a point!)

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