Tag: Business

Politicians Description

Charlie Reese is a retired writer for the Orlando Sentinal

545 vs. 300,000,000 People
-By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.
You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.
If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it’s because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan …
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees…

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have read it… is up to you.
This might be funny if it weren’t so true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he’s fed.

Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.

Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for
peanuts anyway!

Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.

Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.

Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won’t be done
Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He’s good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he’s laid…

Put these words
Upon his tomb,
‘Taxes drove me
to my doom…’

When he’s gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the heck happened? Can you spell ‘politicians?’

Charlie Reese is a retired writer for the Orlando Sentinel. Mr Reese wrote the first version of this piece in 1985 and revised it in 2008. This version was sent to me by a friend and I have no idea of who made this revised version. If there is reason that I should remove this then please tell me the reasons and the article will be removed.

May 1, 2024

Dan Valley Dot Com plans to showcase each town in the Dan River Basin. Our first town is Madison because I am more familiar with it. Therefore Madison NC will be our test, a place to experiment and work the bugs out of our system.
This picture was taken by me, standing in the street on a Thursday afternoon.

The town of Madison is one of the oldest towns in the North Carolina Piedmont, being chartered in 1818. The town is located at the junction of the Dan River and the Mayo River.

Madison, in the early days, was a river town. Barges traveled the Dan River with Madison being the inland terminus. Freight was carried up and down the Dan River on barges as the only other way of moving anything was by horse and wagon. Roads were not conducive to efficient wagon traffic.. The town was also known as “Hog Town” because the farmers from miles around would bring their hogs to market in Madison NC and then move them to other destinations down the Dan River.

Traffic across the river was by Ferry. Bridges began to appear in the early 1800’s but the area where the Dan and Mayo join is prone to flooding…..even today.

About 1888 the railroad began passenger service in and out of Madison. The rail roads replaced the barge traffic on the Dan River. Rail roads could move faster and to more diverse locations than river barges. Rail roads were more flexible.

Actually, as kid, I had the experience of boarding a train at the Madison (1945) depot for a trip all of the way to California. This was the time of the steam engine….Smoke and soot…steam whistles and such……Oh there is something about the good old days….

Amazing that we were so advanced

Madison no longer has passenger train service or barges on the river. The world changes and not always for the good. I suggest a trip to the North Carolina Museum of Transportation located in Salisbury.

Madison was a thriving tobacco town from mid 1850’s with several plug tobacco factories. John M. Galloway, a local planter, was reported to be the largest grower of tobacco in the world. Madison remained largely a tobacco town until after World War II when it emerged as a textile town. During the 1940’s and 1950’s workers would be bused in from eastern Stokes to work in Madison’s textile mills. The textile industry has evolved but is still the largest employer.

Madison NC

was the commercial center of western Rockingham County and Eastern Stokes County. Farmers from these areas would bring their tobacco to market in Madison where they would do their banking and purchase necessities which included food that could not be raised on the farm. During the 1940’s and 1950’s, Madison had many commercial enterprises such as an A & P super market, a bank, a Belk’s department store, 2 pharmacies, a doctor and a dentist. There were many smaller local merchants. It was really a thriving town at this time, but times rapidly changed.

A few of the older homes in Madison have been preserved.

Unfortunately the population of Madison, NC has been decreasing for years. In the late 1950’s, the population was approximately 4400 people and today, 2020, the population has shrunk to approximately 2100 folks while at the same time the area of the town is almost 3 times what it was when the population was over 4000. For what was once a prosperous and growing town…things are not looking good. This is unfortunate because the area still has a work force that is willing to work.

Madison’s largest manufacturer and Rockingham County’s largest manufacturing employer is Unifi. The company’s Madison plant was established in 1970 by two local businessmen as Macfield Texturing Company. Unifi purchased that company in 1991 and currently has about 500 employees in Madison and 225 at a second plant in Reidsville.

The nation’s largest supplier of brick pavers, Pine Hall Brick, operates two manufacturing facilities in Madison. The company has been a leading manufacturer of face-brick, pavers and specially shaped brick since 1922. Headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC, Pine Hall Brick maintains about 160 employees in Madison.

Remington Arms Company, LLC moved its corporate headquarters to the Madison area in 1996. America’s oldest gun maker, Remington designs, produces and sells sporting goods products for the hunting and shooting sports markets, as well as military, government and law enforcement markets. While Remington does not manufacture any products in Madison, its corporate office provides about 150 jobs in the community making it a major employer.

Located in downtown Madison, Gem-Dandy is a wholesale distributor of belts and accessories servicing retailers across the globe. Gem-Dandy employs more than 40 people in Madison.

Legal distilleries have found a home for manufacturing their spirits in Madison. When it opened in Madison in 2005, Piedmont Distillers Inc. became NC’s first legal distillery since prohibition. The company currently has about 20 employees in Madison.

Also in Madison, Italian-themed GIA Distillery produces its handcrafted solera style American whiskey and grappa in the old train depot (circa 1895) that houses its distillery and tasting room.

Dan River Basin Association
Western Rockingham Chamber of Commerce

Tag: Business

Politicians Description

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Madison NC

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