BOILING THE FROG
To paraphrase an old fable: “If you put a frog in a pot of boiling water he will jump out but if you put the same frog into a pot of cold water and then raise the temperature one degree at a time he will stay there until he is boiled alive”.
There are many life applications this bit of wisdom can be applied to. I have sometimes gotten myself into “hot water” one degree at a time until finding myself in a real mess.
Whether it is an addiction, debt, unhealthy relationships, bad eating habits or any number of other life altering and threatening situations, we are all potential victims of incremental disaster.
But it takes Government on steroids to turn this simple truth into an art form for picking our pockets clean. I once heard the Comedian Gallagher say: “Everywhere you leak, they hang a bucket”.
For example go to Walmart and purchase a bag of dog food. Walmart is paying property taxes, utility taxes, employers share of employees payroll taxes, license fees, environmental fees, government regulatory fees, permit fees, etc. (I could go on but space is limited).
In addition, the truck that hauled the dog food to the store had to pay fuel taxes, license fees, special federal taxes on the tires on the truck, regulatory fees, highway use taxes, ad nauseum.
We could work our way throughout the store but the point is made. Question: Ultimately who pays all these taxes and fees? (Pretend you are hearing game show music) – Da Da Da Da. You guessed right! You are!
Next and closer to home, just for fun pull out a recent phone, cable or other utility bill. For example my recent Comcast Xfinity Cable+ bill has two itemized billing sections: One is called: Other Charges and Taxes and one is called: surcharges and fees. On my bill there are ten separate items including, but not limited to, items such as Regulatory Recovery Fees ($2.50) and one called PEG Access Support ($1.53). The two sections total $18.49 + $15.53. Back when I went to school that would be a total of $34.02.
Comcast public statistics state they have 29.3 million customers. If my bill is average that would mean monthly revenues for all these various agencies, departments and “groups” would be (my calculator is smoking but if accurate) $996,786,000.
Stated another way that’s 996 Million, 786 Thousand dollars – rock throwing distance to One Billion Dollars a month from one tax and fee generating utility flowing into the pockets of all of these, sometimes mystery, groups, departments and agencies every month from just this one utility.
Shall we now review our telephone bill, gas bill, garbage bill etc.?
Government will never be satisfied with just our Income Tax, Payroll (FICA) Taxes, Property Taxes, Sales Taxes, Auto License, Registration & Fees, Parking Fees, etc. etc.
Government is a bottomless pit for your money with little accountability.
On the other hand, I am sure that the folks at PEG Access Support are spending their 44+ Million Dollar monthly share of the “take” wisely.
Bob Bandy
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