Author Archives: tonyj126

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About tonyj126

I'm a 50+ married man who always seems to have a large backlog of work to do, but also a lot of flexibility in my schedule. Much of the work I do is volunteer or taking care of extended family members. I suffer from, as my priest calls it, "the sin of self-sufficiency," which means I can figure out how to do most things myself, and consequently, reduce the need for community to solve problems. As a logical extention (at least to me), I find myself called to comtemplate the country's and the world's woes and offer my observations. I hope someone out there will find them useful.

Of Ice and Pen – My Writer’s Manifesto

I’ve gained a few pounds the past month-and-a-half. Probably not coincidentally, I have been spending quite a bit of time writing this blog during that same period. It’s actually not the writing that’s the problem; it’s the research. I can … Continue reading

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The America Great Series – Intermission (i.e., Summary to Date)

After all that research and pretty detailed blog posts about federal spending, budget resolutions, and presidential candidates’ tax plans, it seems to be time for a break. We’ve hit intermission. It’s time to leave your seats, go out to the … Continue reading

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The Centrist Awakening

I saw a bumper sticker the other day which read “Don’t Believe Everything You Think.” There are a couple ways to interpret this phrase, and I’ve decided not to look it up online until the very end of this post. … Continue reading

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The Policy of Low Expectations

For most of my life, I have employed what I like to call The Policy of Low Expectations, or PO*LE’ (in my family, we pronounce it with two syllables and make it sound French). We joke about it a lot, … Continue reading

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Part III-D-2: Let’s Look at All the Presidential Candidates’ Tax Plans (America Great Series; Taxes, Economy & Jobs)

In my last post I created five hypothetical families at different income levels and calculated the federal taxes paid, or refunded as a credit, by each household with the current tax code for 2014, and with the flat tax proposed … Continue reading

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Part III-D-1: How Would Ted Cruz’ Flat Tax Plan Affect Federal Income Tax Revenues (America Great Series; Taxes, Economy & Jobs)

Update: During subsequent research into the presidential candidates’ tax plans, I found a page from the Tax Foundation which contained additional information on the Cruz Flat Tax Plan. The differences to what I had used are: the standard deduction is … Continue reading

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Part III-C: A Look at How Job Creation is Effected by Tax Cuts and Increases (America Great Series; Taxes, Economy & Jobs)

Fair warning – this is going to annoy a few people. There is not a lot of agreement among economists on how tax cuts stimulate the economy or tax increases dampen it. But it is also a political and ideological … Continue reading

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I Have A Special Power That Can Influence the Presidential Election

I’m watching a college basketball game at the moment – Virginia Tech at Syracuse. Our passions for sports teams are usually born during our youth and my teams were the New York Giants and the New York Mets – I … Continue reading

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What Happened in 2014 in McPherson County, Nebraska?

I’m going to make a bold statement here. The federal government is useful & necessary, and the country would have a difficult time functioning with a much smaller version. Why do I make such a statement – because I like … Continue reading

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A Shift in How to Help the Less Fortunate

In 1988 there was a short-lived television series called Probe staring Parker Stevenson and co-written by Isaac Asimov. My wife & I may have watched all 7 episodes, or perhaps just the first one, but the plot of the pilot … Continue reading

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