We are living in a bizarro world it seems

I'll admit it. I'd like to see the tax compromise be modified slightly.

First, I'd like to see no extension whatsoever on unemployment. Isn't 26 weeks enough? Now we have 52... 99... some people want even more than that. If you have been out of work for 99 weeks, perhaps you should lower your expectations. McDonalds is ALWAYS hiring. So is Wal-Mart and a lot of other places with similar unskilled labor positions. So it only pays $8-$10 bucks an hour. Isn't that more than you are getting on unemployment and after 1 to 2 years living off the government don't you feel a little bit bad about taking that much money. If you've worked hard during your adult life and you lose your job, I will give you 26 weeks of unemployment. You earned that. You paid taxes and so you have some stuff coming your way when you need it, but like I said 26 weeks is enough. And please don't give me that argument that there are single moms out there that are on unemployment from their $45,000 a year job and can't afford to take that $22,000 job at Wal-Mart because they can't pay for childcare. If you make that kind of money there are other government programs to catch you outside of unemployment.

Back to the tax issue now. I guess I agree that the middle class is those under $250,000 but there are a lot of small business owners that make more than that but do live paycheck to paycheck. These are the folks that took a chance and do the hiring. They work 60 to 70 hours a week and in the end it is their butts on the line if their business suceeds or fails. Yet, we are going to turn them in villians and say they are the rich... those folks aren't the rich. Heck, people that make $1 million dollars are the upper class but I wouldn't even call them the rich. People that make $1 million dollars a year still have to go to work most days of the week. They still have bills to pay. They might pay to have their 6,000 square foot house cleaned but it is not like they have a live-in made, a butler and a chef. So you want to raise taxes on those making maybe $5 million a year.... OK, I'd be OK with that. You can go ahead and call them the rich. I'm fine with that but Americans need to get some clarity on who is the rich and who are the well off, upper class, upper middle class, etc.

So let's just assume then that you kept all the tax cuts in place except for those people making more than $5 million bucks a year. I'd be OK with that. Let's also assume then that you didn't allow any more extensions on unemployment benefits. Let's hope that you could put a deadline out there and say July 1, 2011 if you have been on unemployment for more than a year... YOU ARE OFF OF IT FOR AT LEAST 2 YEARS. That would give folks 6 months to prepare. And, moving forward from that date unemployment is no more than 6 months. If you can't find a job in 6 months that pays the bills, you've got more problems than finding a job... you've got a laziness problem.

There is a simple way to solve this entire problem that would get rid of the need for income brackets, write-offs, AMT, etc. and that is simply to have a flat national sales tax..., not a VAT but rather a consumption tax. How about this. Let's set a tax bracket of 10% for every American and if you don't pay taxes at all you get no refund. If you make more than $1 million bucks, you pay an extra 5% on that. And then you pay a 1% sales tax on everything that you buy. There is no don't pay it on bread and milk, or you don't pay it on winter coats, you pay it on everything. You want to put a sin tax out there on boos and cigarettes...I'm OK with that. You want to put a fuel tax out there similar to the one we have right now or maybe just a little bit higher and put that money in a lockbox for infrastructure... I'm OK with that too. A plan like that would save the government millions on the IRS and would completely simplify the filing process. It would also allow money to circulate around the private sector much more efficiently and completely while allowing the Fed to drag the vigorish off the top time and time again. The windfall would be ridiculous for the government and it would actually be fair because people that have money spend it on goods and services and those goods and services would always be taxed. The rich would have more money to drop into investments which would further the economy that much more.

It is ridiculous how simple that program would be. It is so simple that it would never work because it is not fair or politically correct. It doesn't make people feel good about the way we are helping people. But as I remember it, the saying goes The Lord helps those that help themselves. So maybe, if we had a tad more accountability and a little more sense to the way our government gives and takes money we could actually accomplish something.