It is a real tragedy that we have no process for amending the Declaration of Independence. We have a method for the Constitution but nothing for this other founding document. I wish we could go back to Jefferson’s original.
What am I talking about? I’m talking about how he substituted the “pursuit of happiness” for “property.” Jefferson was on the right track. Originally his phrase, as I understand it, was, “life, liberty and property.” That takes into consideration that one of the great reasons people came to this country was because where they came from everything belong to the king.
This is the norm in history. If you go back to ancient Egypt, Pharaoh owned all the land, except with the priests claimed. I was reading on Sarah Hoyts blog recently about how her parents had a deed to the property. It wasn’t a deed. It was simply permission from the king to live on it and treat it as their own while he did not actually give up sovereignty over it. This was normal. Even if you were a great and powerful Lord, you exercised power over your lands by permission of the king. If you fell out of favor, he could revoke his grant. Common people had no hope of actually owning land. This is just one of the many jewels in America’s crown and the Progressive* elites are trying to destroy it.
I understand in Europe things are getting so expensive that owning a home is a multi-generational project. We are approaching that here. The real problem though is not that property is expensive but such things as eminent domain or tax liens. The government can tax us out of our property or can declare it has a higher use for your property and take it away. We need to reestablish the importance of private property.
I checked my Communist Manifesto, and I remind you one of the big goals of Marxism, and our Progressive* elites, is to remove the security that property gives individuals and make us dependent upon the state even for place to live.
If we can’t amend the Declaration of Independence, then, perhaps we need an amendment added to the Constitution which guarantees us the right of property. That might be a good plan for the next election. Republican Platform Committee, are you listening?
*(Liberals, educators, cultural Marxists, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, fascists (I repeat myself), elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc. Synonym for swamp dwellers)
homo unius libri
Welcome to Varied Expressions of Worship
This blog will be written from an orthodox Christian point of view. There may be some topic that is out of bounds, but at present I don't know what it will be. Politics is a part of life. Theology and philosophy are disciplines that we all participate in even if we don't think so. The Bible has a lot to say about economics. How about self defense? Is war ethical? Think of all the things that someone tells you we should not touch and let's give it a try. Everything that is a part of life should be an expression of worship.
Keep it courteous and be kind to those less blessed than you, but by all means don't worry about agreeing. We learn more when we get backed into a corner.
Opus 2025-090: Election 2026: Amendments
Opus 2024-263: Election 2024: Tips
I am hearing repeated references to Trump’s proposal to exempt the tips of waiters and waitresses from the income tax. I think that’s probably a decent idea, not because servers deserve a special break, but because anything that reduces the tax burden is a good thing.
However, his promise or his desire is stillborn, or will be stillborn, if we cannot elect people to Congress who will pass the legislation for his signature. That is why the primaries were so important, but we are past that now. We are now down to the general election. It is not just important that we elect a president. It is vitally important that we elect a Congress that also cares about the American people and the Republic.
That automatically rules out the Democrats. I wouldn’t actually deny that there might be a worthy Democrat out there somewhere but the odds of finding him are very slim. I will admit that the Republicans in many cases are not much better. However, slightly better is more desirable than overwhelmingly worse.
So make sure that you vote down the tickets. Try to find out who in your state is on the right side. The hard ones will be the judges, county officials, and city councils. We need a clean sweep. Just selecting a man at the top, assuming we can overcome the cheating, will not do it. We need change all the way down.
Since real Americans can’t vote often, make sure that you vote early.
homo unius libri
Opus 2023-134: Should-a-Beens: Walls
I have a suggestion for the next congressional bill to raise the debt ceiling. Walls.
I don’t mean walls on the borders. What I am looking for is walls around any city over a certain size, say 500,000. I am rigid on the walls but willing to adjust the number down.
I think that they could sneak it into the small print when the bill is in the resolution process, or does it not do that for budgets? It would be a way of playing the game by their rules, pass the bill to find out what is in it.
Construction should start immediately, starting with the city which meets a formula of population and geographic size. The more condensed, the higher on the list. It would also require funding for another government police force on the lines of TSA. It could be paid for by a graduated tax like we all pay. The bigger the city, the higher the tax, with small towns getting a welfare subsidy paid for out of the pockets of the megopolices.
It is an idea whose time has come.
homo unius libri
Opus 2023-097: The Power to Destroy
Throughout history the church has been the strongest and most dynamic when it was not in bed with the government.
Christianity had spread all through the Roman world by the time of Constantine. During that time it had not only been unofficial but illegal and at time faced severe persecution. It reached the capital before Paul got there and in spite of Paul’s reputation as an evangelist, the gospel spread faster than he could travel. The church was originally made up of the poor and slaves. In spite of all that it was strong, until legalized. It was downhill from there.
Once it became legal to be a Christian the typical traits of organizations started taking over. You had a rigid hierarchy that developed. Magnificent buildings were erected. The level of commitment nosedived and rot set in. Of course there was always a core of true believers but it became much like the mega churches of our day.
When the American colonies were planted, each one established some kind of state church and supported them with tax money. Because many people had come to the new world for religions freedom and there was a lot of unoccupied land that limitation did not hold. Gradually accommodation was made for people starting their own churches. The people had to be committed because they received no government support and they were not socially acceptable.
The churches continued to multiply and thrive under the Constitution. The First Amendment makes it clear that the government was not to get into the religion business. This enabled every discontented member to break off and start their own church without the approval of their betters. This worked very well until the government started using the tax code to shackle the gospel.
Now churches are tax exempt in property and income. Gifts given to the church are a tax deduction. It all sounds so good until your realize that the exemption is being used to control what the churches do and say. It was a truism that “The power to tax is the power to destroy.” I would suggest that the same can be said of the power to not tax. All it takes is a friendly call from the IRS and a pastor can be muzzled by concerned laymen. I used to think that the day would come when the churches would be taxed. Now I am not so sure because it is such an effective means of manipulation.
Where are we today? Should we welcome the threat of removal of tax exemption from the churches? Should we initiate it? Would you stop giving at your current level if it was no longer a deduction? How does this relate to the warning that we cannot serve God and Mammon?
I would vote for it. Like persecution it would help to separate the sheep from the goats.
homo unius libri
Opus 2021-236: The Golden Zucchini
Remember the statement about a billion dollars here, a billion dollars there and pretty soon you start to talk about real money. Think about that in regard to all the “stimulus” and “infrastructure” money being proposed and printed by congress.
Maybe we need to go back to understanding that a million dollar budget is real money to most Americans. People passing budgets seem to have forgotten what it takes to earn a dollar. I am not just talking about congress here. We have city councils and school boards who seem to think that there is a magic plant somewhere that grows golden zucchinis. Forget the goose. No goose could lay enough golden eggs to make a difference. Even if that were true it would not solve the problem because if gold were that common but there was no increase in productivity to justify the extra money, inflation would be just as rampant. Congress has as little understanding of what it costs to pay our bills as we do of how much money a trillion dollars represents.
Congress needs to learn to think in terms of how long it takes to pay off their spending even if you have a job paying $100,000 a year.
If they won’t think in those terms then we need to find ways to vote differently.
homo unius libri
Opus 2021-219: Reminders: #4: Immortal Quotes: Taxes
There are certain topics I have written about. They are worth repeating. I need to revisit them to refresh my memory and enhance my thinking. Others need to be reminded. There is a constant bombardment of ideas that clutter our minds.
“The power to tax is the power to destroy.” It looks like this was originally a statement made by Daniel Webster in arguing against the taxation and repeated by Chief Justice John Marshall in approving the law. I originally wrote about this ten years ago but felt I needed to address it again.
This principle was always presented as one of the reasons that churches were tax exempt. If churches could be taxed then the government could bring them down and violate the First Amendment. We probably should have understood that it applies to the individual citizen also.
The reason for runaway taxes is not the profligate habits of the ruling classes. It might have been in ancient times but there is much more wealth today. The reason is the entitlement attitude of the masses. There comes a point where the masses who produce nothing will expect more than the workers can produce. What you start doing is eating your seed corn.
Seed corn is a concept we have forgotten today. Before the modern hybrids were common the farmer would set aside enough grain after the harvest to be able to plant the crops next year. It did not matter how bad things got, you did not eat your seed grain. If you ate it there would be no harvest the following year and you would starve. If you read your Bible you will find other instructions, even though it is not a manual on farming. The land must be allowed to lie fallow. You only passed through to cut the grain one time. You plowed in the fall to aerate the soil. There are probably other things mentioned that I am to citified to see.
When you have high taxes that suck away the seed grain from the producers, the production falls the next year. When those working see the slothful being provided for at the expense of the workers, they have less inclination to work so hard next time.
And the ramp only runs one way.
The goal of the Proregressives is to destroy the productivity of the free market. Taxes are an effective tool for doing that. Keep in mind that they think because they are the elite that they will get plenty because they deserve it. The ones who will be destroyed are you and me.
homo unius libri
Opus 2021-215: G7 Is More to Be Feared than G5
Conspiracy theorists worry about G5. While I accept that radiation is a problem, I am not sure how this is going to rot our brains any more than our cell phones. They need to worry more about G7. Our overlords are consumed with taxing everything that moves. The latest being reported is that the G7 group has declared they need to tax multinationals.
Why are the elites so set on taxing? They have to know that there is a level that discourages profit and prosperity. We have reached that, maybe gone past. They don’t care. What people don’t seem to understand is that part of the mentality of the elites is that they will always be on top and thus will always have steak. Go through history and look at the classic famines. Did people starve and die? Yes. Did the leaders starve and die? No. In fact they probably gained weight. Some, like Marie Antoinette, may have been just ignorant. The answer to those who can get no bread is of course, “Then let them eat cake.” After all, that is what the elites do.
The Proregressives* really want it that way. They consider themselves smarter and assume that they will be the ones making the decisions and getting the big pieces of the pie. They assume that you will submit to being reduced to peasants and serfs again. They hate capitalism that generates enough profit for them to skim it off with enough left for the common people to live in comfort and have choices. They love socialism that lets them simply steal from the masses and leave them to struggle to keep starvation and freezing away with whatever is left.
The socialistic way of looking at things assumes that the elites will have all the power and will take what they want at the point of a gun. They assume they deserve no less and you deserve no more. If they can do it to a law abiding people, such as we have been, then they will tax until the turnip runs out of blood. Then they will kill the golden goose. Then they will pass laws against hoarding or keeping cash under your bed. Better yet they will do away with cash and keep track of what you deserve in a central digital depository.
We have a lot of adventures ahead of us if the group now in control of our governments can maintain power and Balkanize the population. Stay alert. Speak up while you still have a chance. Vote the suckers out if they have not totally corrupted your local elections. If they have done so then research the Battle of Athens. It doesn’t take too much awareness to see how HR1, HR5, AFT rulings and Supreme Court weaseling and the direction things are being pushed. Let us hope, pray and act in such a way that the push does not succeed.
*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc. Another word for swamp dwellers)
homo unius libri
Opus 2020-283: On the Street: Virginia Is Not for Lovers Any More
Virginia is obviously run by Democrats. They are doing everything they can to milk the tourist trade. One of the great surprises for us was the sales tax for breakfast. In addition to the state tax of 7% there was an additional 4% for eating out.
I can testify to the 11% because we just paid it. The internet is a bit confused. Google tells me that the tax at most locations is 5.3%. Then why does it also say it is 7%? Then they add that groceries for home use pays a “reduced” rate of 2.5%. Amazing. Even California does not tax the food you take home to feed your children.
It turns out that we were lucky we did not eat in Hampton. According to Google, and you know how reliable that is, Hampton adds 7.5% to the bill making a whopping 14.5% tax on your meal. You have to be seriously bored to eat out in Virginia.
Virginia is not for lovers anymore unless you mean lovers of taxes.
homo unius libri
Opus 2020-234: Convention Slight of Hand
I found the Republican National Convention full of positive messages and encouragement. The best messages came from the common people. The professionals tended to be standard, boilerplate cheerleading but the working people had something to say and said it well.
One speech that bothered me was given by Ivanka Trump. She did a good job and everybody seemed to like what she shared. If it was listing accomplishments of her father is was quite a list. The problem I had was that it was more the kind of accomplishments that big government people would come up with. There were a lot of things done for a lot of people. To tell you the truth I can’t remember what they were specifically but for each need listed the answer seemed to be, “Throw some money at it.” That money has to come from somewhere and what people in the cheering section seem to forget is that throwing money at problems is the way the Democrats deal with them, Democrats and too many Republicans.
It reminds me of the video making the rounds of a young black man with a brick running up behind an old white man crossing the street and bashing in his head. He wasn’t even looking. He had done nothing except walking while white. It doesn’t make any difference. He now needs a new head.
Keep your mind in gear, your hand on your wallet and your voter ID where it can be presented.
homo unius libri
Opus 2019-108: Kicking the Can, part 2 of 2
Think of the federal deficit. It is out of control. It keeps getting bigger. Logic and common sense tells us that we need to do something about it. There is a limit to how high you can raise taxes without destroying the economy. The big missing piece of the puzzle is cutting spending. The question that no one wants to answer is “Where?”
Most people will admit we need to cut spending but they always want it to be on someone else’s dime. The reason they are not willing to do anything is because it might hurt them. Think about all the ways that many of us are on the public dole. I was a public school teacher. Because I worked for the government in a government controlled system I made about twice what teachers in private schools made and had an awesome health care package. How many teachers do you know who are willing to cut back on education? After all, it is for the kids, right? And don’t look at the man behind the curtain making a lot of money. And have you seen the obscene amounts of money university people make?
How about all the tax loopholes we have. I bought a home and had a mortgage. I was allowed to write off the interest. I accept the fact that some tax deductions make sense. The cost of new equipment is an expense that should be deducted but board of directors meetings in resort areas? You can get the same business done at the local school cafeteria.
For me and millions of other elderly it would have to do with Medicare. We want the cost of our drugs reduced. There are a lot of crony capitalism things that could be changed but in reality we just want the cost to go down. It doesn’t matter if those still working pay more or the government has to borrow the money, I want relief. See the way it works? And this at a time when the elderly are the ones who have most of the disposable income. I still can’t figure out why I get a discount when the working stiff with three kids pays full price.
We need to start voting for people who will pledge to cut spending even if it means I have to give up going out to eat. Eventually when someone goes to kick the can down the road they will find it has a giant rock behind it.
homo unius libri
Opus 2019-083: Headlines: How Dare You
Most of us have heard about the fire at Notre Dame cathedral. You may have heard about how the pledges and donations are pouring in to the tune of a billion dollars. I find that encouraging. There are people in the world who are willing to do what they can to restore a world, historical and spiritual landmark.
Then things get murky. It seems that the “yellow vests” of Paris are not happy about all this generosity. They seem to be upset that people are giving their own money to support their own concerns and none of it is being syphoned off by the government to the people in yellow vests. Here is where it gets into the Land of the Fake. How much of what we are hearing is true or even half-truth?
I have not taken a position on the yellow vest protestors. It is a French thing. I do know I have expressed the point that people who protest this way are not so much against high taxes as they are against any kind of demand that they pay their way. I would say that if they are really angry that people are giving to rebuild the church then they are simply snowflakes in yellow vests. We know that we are to be leery of yellow snow. Maybe the same goes for yellow vests.
Why do people want to donate to rebuild the cathedral? There could be many reasons but a big one for a Frenchman is insurance. Keep in mind that the French are culturally and historically Roman Catholic but they don’t go to church much. They like to have it there in case there is an emergency. They make big donations because they believe it will make a difference. Historically we would call them indulgences. When I was young it was demonstrated in a movie called Lilies of the Field. The main character played by Sidney Poitier was asking a businessman why he had donated a big item in rebuilding the local church. The business man had already said he did not believe the religious stuff. His reason, “Insurance”. If you believe in hell you could call it fire insurance.
I hope they get the damage repaired without any tax money involved. I won’t be donating but I wish them well.
homo unius libri
Opus 2018-299: The 17¢ Revolution
I had heard other numbers but today I read that the increase in the gas tax in France was about 17 cents a gallon. What that means is gasoline was already about $7.00 a gallon and they added a few cents more. This is hardly a cause for revolution. It could be that someone finally leaked the information that here in Texas I am paying less than $2.00 a gallon and that blew the lid off. It has to be more than that. I am guessing that the reporting we see in the MSM is deliberately ignoring deeper reasons for revolution in France. And the uproar is spreading to other countries.
I would suggest that the rioting has other roots. One might be the kid gloves being used in dealing with the Muslim invaders that are slowly taking over the country. I don’t think the rioters went into the areas that are Muslim no-go zones. Another might be the almost total lack of voice that the common people have in France as well as the rest of Europe. The EU is a powerful group of unelected bureaucrats that regulate the lives of the common, unwashed masses to the point of tyranny. It could also be that their socialistic life style is finally catching up with them and they are having a tantrum. It could be that the labor unions have such a lock on the matter of life-time employment that the young people who can’t get jobs are unhappy.
It could be many things. Maybe they are just rioting because they do not share a border with the United States that they can sneak across. For France we don’t need a border, we have an ocean.
homo unius libri
Opus 2018-287: Since They Can’t Tax Flatulence, an Additional Thought
This would be a special problem for older people. We would be targeted and become pariahs in society. We would set off alarms in public places and make the neighbors install huge fans. We might be required to erect airtight tents over our houses.
My mind boggles at the possibilities. I find comfort in knowing it will be for my own good, and of course for the children. I am also wondering if I am getting enough sleep.
homo unius libri
Opus 2018-286: Since they Can’t Tax Flatulence
“Another important addition to the conversation around meat is the PLoS One paper discussing health-related taxes for red meat.”This is a quote from another publication called “The Lancet”.
When the elites (Progressives, Communists, Socialists, Democrats, Rinos, liberals) start talking about taxing something like meat you need to remember a quote attributed to Daniel Webster and John Marshall:
“The power to tax is the power to destroy”.I heard it used as an explanation of why churches were tax exempt. It is also something that has been used to attempt to bring down those who are too successful for the taste of the anointed ones. Ultimately we need to understand that the America haters want to use tax policy to destroy the United States of America and hollow out your freedoms so that your choices are limited to what is best for you, and them. They want to make the decisions about what to do with your excess income and when that is gone they will start in on necessities. They think of Venezuela as a success story.
homo unius libri
Opus 2018-216: Nike Speaks
Some people have tried to sidetrack the issue by claiming that the shoes are made in Asia by people making 20 cents an hour. They then decry the vulgar profits being made when they sell their shoes for so much money. Neither argument is worth consideration. They are simply distractions.
First, let’s consider the 20 cents. Is the claim true? I have no way of verifying it. The number may have originated the same way the statistics were generated about the environmental damage that plastic straws create. What if it is true? Then you need to get out a little more and realize how much of the world lives. If someone in China gets paid 20 cents an hour to make shoes and is still working there a week later then that tells you that somehow that person is able to stay alive making 20 cents an hour. In a way we cannot wrap our heads around with our air conditioning, smart phones and, yes, $150 Nikes, they are able to provide for their needs. If they could not they would die of hunger or exposure. Could they do it in Washington, D.C.? That is a stupid question. They don’t live in Washington D.C. On our trip we talked to a waitress in Michigan and a waiter in West Virginia. Both said their salary was $3.20 and hour. Could I live on that? No way. Neither could they. Did you ever stop to think that the bulk of the Asian workers income might come from bonuses based on production rather than the hourly wage?
Second, the reason Nike sells their shoe for so much is a twofer. It starts with the fact that people will pay for it. The only time I every bought any Nike shoes I paid $10 at an outlet mall. I remember talking to a security guard at my school who had hundreds of pairs of shoes and he paid a lot more than $10. It is enabled by a government that allows tariffs that benefit the Chinese rather than Americans.
So get mad at Nike for the right reason: They have glorified a race baiter who hates the country that has blessed him. At the same time remember the federal administrations of both parties that have sold you down the river to the benefit of the rest of the world. Be glad Trump seems to be trying to correct that.
homo unius libri
Opus 2018-091: The War on God, part 4 of 5, Robin Hood Strikes Again
(Exodus 20:15 KJV) Thou shalt not steal.Although all cultures that I know of condemn stealing there are different definitions. Stealing involves taking something that is not yours without the permission of the owner. Coercion is a form of stealing, thus when the Mafia Dons would collect money so that a store owner would not have rocks thrown through his window, it was stealing
If you are going to have government you need to be able to pay for it. Human cultures seem to develop some kind of government. Once it gets beyond the oldest guy in the village being the chief and settling minor disputes you get into paying for things. Society needs roads. We seem to need some kind of court system. Modern society in its concentration of people needs sewer systems and clean water. This can be paid for by each person being billed for what they use or, you can have taxes.
How so? Didn’t Jesus Himself say,
(Matthew 22:21 KJV) They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.Yes, He did. So the question then becomes, “What is Caesar’s?”
Taxes transition from legitimate collection to stealing. Somewhere rulers discovered that you could get more money with a tax system than a billing system. Not only do you claim the money to do the necessary jobs of government but you also need to collect to pay the salaries of the tax collector and all his assistants. Then you have the projects that government officials in their wisdom know are vital but noone will willingly pay for. You hide that in the taxation.
Soon you move to Robin Hood collections. I don’t know if you ever read any of the original Robin Hood books but the real Robin Hood did not rob from the rich to give to the poor. He robbed from anyone who had money and kept it for himself. In that sense our taxation is a Robin Hood system. You find that some people don’t, or won’t, pay their “fair share”. You raise the rate on everyone else to compensate. The responsible keep thinking it is their “fair share” and the ones benefitting are not going to tell them any different.
The government does not want anyone pointing out that much of what disguises itself as legitimate taxes is really stealing by special interest groups. Because of that the government is not a big fan of God. He had a flat rate called the tithe.
To be continued...
homo unius libri
Opus 2017-371: Headlines: Head Fake in the Right Direction
Tax cuts are well and good but they are just candy being given out to childish people by evil clowns. They are bribes for votes. All we are missing is the white vans. If the clowns ever want to become super-heroes then they will pull spending cuts out from under their capes. Of course that is like offering fat children broccoli instead of chocolate.
I would be willing to let the taxes stay as they are if the government would simply limit next year’s spending total to the same dollar amount it was this fiscal year. In order to make it work there would be no adjustments for inflation or cost of living. There would be no escape clause for emergencies. It would be just like my allowance as a kid. Here is your money. Spend it as you please. Don’t bother asking for more.
We need to grow up and be the parents to the children in congress.
Slap their hands and vote the suckers out.
homo unius libri
Opus 2017-363: Where Did My Sun Go?
When we first spent the night in our new house I noticed that the sun came up on the left side of our kitchen window. I have watched it move to the right until it is now coming up behind the roof of the garage and we still have almost two months of movement coming.
I know to some of you this is old hat but for me it is an unusual phenomenon. In California I had to struggle with the sun in my eyes as I drove to work or shining through my rear view mirror going in the other direction. Here it is a pleasant observation as I stand by the coffee pot.
Retirement has its moments.
homo unius libri
Opus 2017-336: New Terms: IFF
When appearing before voters a number of Democrats have appeared to favor tax reform. They have even championed some of the points in the new plan presented by the Republicans and backed by President Trump. And therein lies the problem. Trump Derangement Syndrom sets in. This sums it up.
“Democratic lawmakers have privately indicated that their opposition is more about sabotaging Mr. Trump than the merits of the tax plan, said Rep. David Schweikert, Arizona Republican....Factionalism puts the agenda of the party ahead of the good of the country. When you are a Democrat your party agenda is to advance socialism and a limitation of the liberty of Americans. It is done for your own good, of course. Democrats feel that they are the elite that knows what is best for you.
“‘They understand the desperate need for the economic growth,’ he said of his Democratic colleagues. ‘But they almost make it clear — they almost can’t say that in front of a microphone [that] what would be actually good for workers might also be good for this president. And anything that’s good for this president, if you’re Democrat you cannot embrace.’”
There are plenty of RINOs on board. Currently the Democrats are in the drivers seat but they could not control the bus without a lot of help from those who should be our friends.
So be bi-partisan, vote all the suckers out. Remember a swamp drains quicker is there are more places to remove the scum.
homo unius libri
Opus 2017-326: On the Street: Illegal Economics
You have the liberal democrats and the RINO businessmen. You would think they are in opposition yet both want lots of illegal immigration. The reasons are similar. The Democrats want cheap votes. The businessmen want cheap labor. They are both willing to destroy our republic.
There is another reason that employers and business owners often like open boarders. It isn’t just cheap labor. It is also the existence of the cash economy. If you can hire someone and pay them cash you are ahead. You don’t have to pay a bookkeeper and pay all the extra expenses of insurance and taxes.
About two years ago our neighbor was having some remodeling done. I talked to her contractor over the fence for a few minutes. I learned a lot.
He was able to work cheaper because of the cash economy. He was an American born Latino. He spoke well and drove a really nice truck. He was able to do this and charge lower prices because most of what he did was below the radar. Yes, he started with employing illegals. He also paid in cash and was paid in cash. This combination allowed him to save thousands of dollars. He charged less and made more.
Think about the expenses that are dumped on legal operators. Next time you get a pay stub, look at all the items being withheld. Notice how many are matched by the employer. All of it has to be passed on to the person buying what you make or sell. In addition your employer must pay accountants and bookkeepers to make sure the numbers work. Then you have business licenses, construction permits, insurance and so forth. The list goes on.
Illegals work for less. They are often afraid to complain about abuse. If you are really sneaky you can pick up day laborers, have them work all day and not show up to give them a ride home or pay them.
And you wonder why you can’t get a raise.
homo unius libri
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