LOL! Teabaggers fail at spelling, what the definition of socialism is, and now MATH too?

[ck4829]

Here's an excerpt from the latest right wing chain email that is attacking the public sector of the economy:

"(Government workers) are supported 100% by the American taxpayers employed in the private profit producing sector (sic). None of the gov. offices produce one red cent in profit--they are all parasites. Every 100 gainfully employed American tax payers supports 6.5 gov. employees 100% (sic)."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/10/28/12521/681

Ooh, scary. Let's play around with this.

Now, assuming this chain email is true, this is what it really means:

Take 100 "gainfully employed tax payers" (sic) and the 6.5 "parasites" (sic).

Let's turn it into a thousand "tax payers" and see what it looks like.

Multiply 100 by 10, and 6.5 by 10.

We now have 1000 "tax payers", now how many public employees do we have?

65.

That's right, it takes 1000 "tax payers" to pay for the salaries of a mere 65 public employees.

That's how much of an "inconvenience" (:sarcasm:) the public sector is.

Now, on the other hand, if you work in an average corporation, then your CEO is making 300 dollars for every dollar you earn. But, let's not be concerned about that, lest you be a "socialist" or be advocating "class warfare."

Can we trust these people to be fiscally responsible when they can't even interpret basic math right?

[handmade34]

1. some ideas are complex

the message resonates because the propaganda has been reduced to simplistic ideas... they forget that money cycles and any wages (public or private) go back out into the community and supports local business... the only wage/income that doesn't is excessesive wealth (and we can debate what that is... but it is not what government employees make)

[Frustratedlady]

2. I was at an auction recently and a group of 5 young people were nearby.

One of them bid on 3 books and paid $11. A girl from the group asked how much that was for each book. The guy said, "$6...no, $5. Yeah, that's right. Five bucks!" No one in the group corrected him.

All were voting age, as well. They walk among us.

[Javaman]

5. One day as I was walking out of whole foods, a group of twenty something dolts

prattled on about "art".

main dolt: I just love the "16th chapel".

lesser dolt: yeah, me too. that was "Michael deAngelo" right?

main dolt: no....(in a condescending way) it was Leonardo Di Vinci.

I almost paused to hit them both upside the head. But, I thought better, one can't fix stupid.

[surrealAmerican]

3. They also seem to have forgotten ...

... that public employees pay taxes too.

[MrsCorleone]

8. And, not to meander too off point, public employees are also good for the economy.

This is coming from a private business owner.

Imagine if the republicans got their way and public pay &/or bennies were cut along with that of the private sector, which is already well under way. The net effect: even more money is sucked out of our economy, which is just fanf*ckingtastic in this already fragile economic environment. This hurts everybody, except those very few at the top.

I, along with my fellow small biz owners, do well when everybody in my community does well. It's that simple.

:hi:

[hobbit709]

4. Not counting the fact that a government employee ALSO pays taxes.

[AmandaRuth]

6. republican/teabagger math has always been distorted.

you know, like

1,500,000 hate radio/republican media outlets equal 5 liberal ones

3,000,000 spending on elections by corps and rightwing think tanks equals 5,000 by unions

2,000,000 annually in salary for healthcare execs equals 18,000 annually for an admin worker

1,000,000 in tax cuts for the rich equals .05 in tax cuts for the rest of us.

stuff like that.

[gratuitous]

7. 35 attendees at a Beck rally

Magically become "thousands" in the subsequent Fox News report.