O'REILLY: Not high on handouts

I earned two master's degrees. I teach full-time. After a day at school, I take care of my rental properties which I have been working on for 35 years. I learned to do carpentry, electrical, plumbing, roofing. I clean toilets, stoves, refrigerators attics and basements. In the summers I renovate bathrooms and kitchens, from the studs out. Now after 35 years of working two jobs, with a wife who also is self employed and often works 14-hour days, seven days a week, we find ourselves in the income range where Obama wants 50% of what we earn. My wife and I, like many others in this country, did not inherit our money but earned it, and I resent those politicians who think they have a right to it. Robin Hood gets a bum rap. He did NOT steal from the rich to give to the poor. He took confiscatory taxes from the greedy government and gave it back to the people who earned it. Long live the spirit of Robin Hood.

Yes, Cornelius, you have a very understandable point of view, especially in the United States. But in countries, like mine (Belgium), where high 50% tax rates have been enforced for a long time, you really appreciate the results that come from it, something that is probably still a far away sight for the US. We have exquisite education, all universities maintain a maximum 1000$ year tuition, and I haven't ever seen a bum in my town, where I've lived for over 9 years (150 000 inhabitants). In fact, I have only seen a bum in Brussels and Antwerp. The USA is in a pickle. It can't manage itself any longer, it's broke, bankrupt. Either it breaks apart, or it restores itself through the expenses of its stockholders, the population. You can sit on your money, but just remember, that money is just an imaginary piece of paper that is part of the USA, and if the USA breaks, that piece of paper is worthless, something that has become more clear by the year. I admire your determination to defend your property, but if you want your property to maintain value, you should either leave the USA, or help rebuild it.

It frightens me that Bill really thinks anyone under the 250,000 a year level is lazy and uneducated and are so by choice. What a strange reality you live in. I do not smoke dope (or any drugs. hell I don't even drink much more than socially. I really don't care much for gin). I did not drop out of school. I definitely make much less than 250k a year. Despite this A third of my hard earned check (yes I work hard too Bill! fancy that!) goes to taxes. And while you lament about 40% of your income going to taxes, 40% of 250k hurts much less than 33% of 40k. Hell I would love to make 100k after taxes.

Addicuss, while I dislike O'Reilly, you sound like a fool. He didn't characterize everyone with less than $250k income. He didn't say he paid a 40% tax rate. And if you paid 33% rate on your income, it would be worth your time to find an accountant - you should be paying around 11% after adjustments. Go back to USA Today.

Swatje, Good luck to you being you don't want to think or act for yourself. Your government has done an efficient job at controlling your brain and your eyesight. There is little chance that you can ever achieve any dream or ambition that you might have. You want someone else to think for you, work for you and take care of you. The comfort zone you are in is only an illusion. And as far as your schools, you get what you pay for. You got ripped off for your $1,000.

Bill, I am sure you are proud of yourself for making so much money. All the talk of Obama and his ego. Obama could have made that money easy. He could do your job. The crowds he pulls you could only dream of. 95% of the U.S. will not see a tax increase with his plan. So you may spew your rhetoric about having to pay for reefer smokers. The people that work on your staff...are they reefer smokers? The fact that you would use the word reefer. Goes to show how far out of touch you are. I know your demographic at fox news is senior's just by the commercial's that air on that channel. Maybe if you did'nt have a million dollar pay out for sexual harassment. The 4% tax increase would'nt be so hard for you to take. We could always debate what we could have done with 561 billion dollars that Iraq has cost us. Those are tax dollars by the way. Reefer smokers are not looking too bad right now.

So here's the rub. The 2009 Federal budget is $3.1 trillion. There are roughly 305 million Americans. In a completely unbiased system, each of us would owe more than $10,000 for our fair share of the budget. My family of 5 would have a $50,000 tax bill. That wouldn't leave me much money for gin or reefer. Many families would have to cut out gin and reefer altogether, along with food, shelter, and clothing. As unfair as it may be, until we can come up with a better system, the rich will get soaked. By the way, unemployment and welfare account for less that 12% of the budget, so even if we eliminated these programs altogether, each person's fair share would still be almost $9,000. Not that we shouldn't eliminate waste and fraud, but these programs are a relatively small portion of the overall budget.

Nation of whiners? Could be. I've worked for 37 years as a public school teacher and will never have to worry about being in the 1%. I think my job is more important than yours so perhaps you should pay 60%.

" I think my job is more important than yours so perhaps you should pay 60%." Only a government school teacher could write something as silly as that. Government school teachers (as a group), manufacture idiots out of excellent raw material. Then they have the gall to demand pay raises for their own sub-standard performance. How do they routinely get their pay raises? In way to many cases, it's not from the results of their finished product.

A few thoughts on this mean spirited and out of touch article. Cry me a river, Bill. As I am a member of the shrinking middle class, you're standing on my back with your ridiculous salary and unwillingness to put a fraction of it to the common good. The rich are getting richer: http://www.cbpp.org/3-27-08tax2.htm "Not since 1928, just before the Great Depression, has the top 1 percent held such a large share of the nation's income." Your use of Robin Hood is quite appropriate, as it is the story of a time when an illegitimate leader collected onerous taxes from the working classes to benefit the rich. It's insulting to those less well off than you that you categorize them freely as gin drinking, dropout freeloaders. But even if they are, society pays the price for them one way or another. It's hard to climb out of a hole if there is no ladder and the people above are dumping on you. What is the Conservative solution, especially if there is a downturn in the economy and a large number of the people living on a marginal salary and trying to make it legitimately in this country lose their jobs? Cutting taxes on the rich and hoping that you are so good as to continue to "give plenty of cash to folks who need a hand" does not sound like a winning strategy for McCain or for a functioning society. I'm sure you have a small army of accountants trying to keep these imaginary dopehead wastrels away from as much of your money as possible. Better prepare to hire a few more when the new government is sworn in . . . the rest of us are looking forward to seeing you paying more of your fair share.