mstdn.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
A general-purpose Mastodon server with a 500 character limit. All languages are welcome.

Administered by:

Server stats:

16K
active users

#spending

6 posts5 participants0 posts today

#USPol

Questions and an idea for my #USAnian friends...

Your ~~feral~~ federal government is currently being commandeered by an executive that believes that it can rewrite the U.S. constitution via executive orders. One of the primary techniques they are using is usurping the congress's "power of the purse", by either refusing to spend congressionally-allocated funds, or by spending those funds on things other than congress allocated them for.

If the executive branch thinks it's fine to ignore your constitution and screw taxpayers with tax dollars, then...

1) Most of the feds' tax income comes from income tax and various #employment taxes.

2) Employers collect these taxes and remit them to the government.

3) Q: exactly *who* do they remit them to? Based on history, I would think this would be a state agency, who would keep the state/municipal portion and remit the rest to the federal government. Is this correct?

4) "Blue" states are, in general, net payers of tax dollars vs. federal services received.

5) "Red" states are, in general, the opposite - they receive more in federal services / support than they remit in taxes.

So, depending on the answer to (3), my #idea is: why don't blue states stop remitting funds to the federal #government? Don't steal it, just hold it in trust until the feds can be made to follow the law correctly.

I would think this would hurt the feds, a *lot*.

I recently instituted a (personal) "walking around money" budget of 5 GBP/day. It seems to be having the intended positive effect by making me genuinely weigh up whether I *really* need this coffee, or that chocolate bar.

I'm interested in other folks' ways of handling this sort of problem. Do you have a daily-spending-money budget? Does it influence your behaviour in the ways you want? #personalfinance #money #retail #spending

A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt

That is why I decline to recognize the mere multimillionaire, the man of mere wealth, as an asset of value to any country, and especially as not an asset to my own country. If he has earned or uses his wealth in a way that makes him of real benefit, of real use — and such is often the case — why, then he does become an asset of worth. But it is the way in which it has been earned or used, and not the mere fact of wealth, that entitles him to the credit.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/7…

WIST Quotations · Speech (1910-04-23), "Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena]," Sorbonne, Paris - Roosevelt, Theodore | WIST QuotationsThat is why I decline to recognize the mere multimillionaire, the man of mere wealth, as an asset of value to any country, and especially as not an asset to my own country. If he has earned or uses his wealth in a way that makes him of real benefit,…