Sunday, July 27, 2008

Cartoon for July 28

Help is on the way!

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7 comments:

  1. devilJuly 28, 2008 at 1:31 AM

    so have you actually registered stuffwantstobefree.com yet? you never know, man... it might make you a few magic dollars! if nothing else, you could end up just selling the domain name to some other entrepreneur...

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  2. Aggie DudeJuly 28, 2008 at 8:29 AM

    The first one isn't funny because it's something I wouldn't be surprised to see argued for by right wingers. They say the reason jobs are being off-shored is because all the spoiled Americans want to get paid too much for their work.

    Of course it's really about much more than that, but that's complicated.

    Here's an idea, Ted...how about cutting every tax payer a rebate check!!!!

    I can't believe the people running this country have jobs...

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  3. TonyJuly 28, 2008 at 11:48 AM

    Panel 3: I should have been a lawyer.

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  4. DirtySokJuly 28, 2008 at 12:57 PM

    Don't forget the wealthy foreign sadists in the torture tourist trade. If the movie "Hostel" has shown us anything (and it hasn't), rich folks will pay big money to kill someone with their bare hands.

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  5. AndersJuly 28, 2008 at 1:32 PM

    @dirtysok -The one thing I learned from "Hostel" was to not visit Slovakia. I bet the Czech tourist ministry sponsored the movie. Some of it was even filmed in Prague.

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  6. AnonymousJuly 29, 2008 at 7:03 PM

    Ted you are the best.
    However, had I written this strip, it would have been better! Dude, howbout instead of giving us another rebate check they just lower our taxes? Better yet, howbout they only raise the taxes of people that voted for bush?

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  7. AnonymousJuly 29, 2008 at 8:46 PM

    Here's one of those things that sounds reasonable if you say it as though it's axiomatic: high taxes discourage innovation. What I've experienced, though, is that every time they cut the rich a tax break, innovation goes DOWN.

    Here's why. Let's say Daddy Bigbucks has a million a year that he has to find a home for. If he just stuffs it in a mattress, the gov. is going to take a certain percent. So, he needs to put it somewhere.

    Let's say he has three options:

    -- the mattress,

    -- one that has a 10% risk of total failure, and yields 120% if it works.

    -- another that has a 80% chance of failure, but yields 1000% if it works.

    If taxes are low, let's say 10% for simplicity, and if he just stuffs it in a mattress, he'll clear 900,000 for the year.

    The low-risk investment has a downside of clearing $100,000 (10% tax relief on a loss of $1m.) and an upside of about $1,100,000. The high risk investment has the same downside, a $100,000 consolation prize, but a 20% chance at really big money, where he clears $18m after taxes.

    Now let's look at the same two options in a high-tax situation -- 90%

    -- The mattress gets really unattractive: $100,000 for the year.

    -- The low-risk investment's downside improves ($900,000 in tax relief), but the upside looks a lot like the mattress: $120,000 for the year.

    -- the high risk option looks a whole lot better: the gov guarantees you'll walk away with $900,000, and every five years you get to keep $2,000,000.

    Well, I hope I didn't make some stupid arithmetic error, but that's roughly the way I think it goes. I know it's contrived, but look at the number of U.S. Patents issued to U.S. companies vs. the tax rate for the very rich (and corporations.) High taxes encourage risk-taking by those who can best afford it.

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