For this week’s edition of Feel-Good Friday we’ve got millionaires asking congress to raise their taxes, a secret Santa handing out $20 thousand dollars $100 at a time, some cool feel-good quotable banners, a record sales report about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and my great friend Tom Anthony Roehl singing Andy Williams Christmas music with full accompanying orchestra this Sunday! All good stuff. Hope you enjoy! Have a great weekend!
Patriotic Millionaires Say “Raise Our Taxes”
A group called Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength has been lobbying for congress to raise taxes on millionaires so that everyone can pay their fair share.
200 millionaires signed a letter calling for Bush-era tax cuts to end for those earning more than a million dollars a year, leaving behind the Clinton-era rate of 39% that coincided with strong job growth and a revenue surplus.
Something I didn’t know is that about 400,000 people in the U.S. have an income of $1 million a year or more.
In a letter from the organization to congress they write …
“Since November of last year, we have urged you to put your country ahead of personal political interests and to increase taxes on people with incomes over $1 million per year. We have made this request as responsible and patriotic citizens who now or in the past have earned an income of $1 million or more per year.
Despite our willingness to provide additional support to the country financially to ensure its continued well being, despite the overwhelming support of the idea among the American public, despite the reality that millionaires like us are paying lower taxes now than at any time in the last 60 years, and despite the fact that the Bush tax cuts are the single, largest cause of the current federal deficit, you have repeatedly refused to consider this limited and reasonable step to address our country’s fiscal challenges.
Now, as our country approaches a potentially catastrophic impairment of our financial obligations, we are writing to reiterate our demand.”
I don’t know about you but most often people look out for number one first, middle and last. I’m not a finance major, economics professor or a CPA. I think I simply like what I’m seeing here because of what it appears to be upon first and even second glance–an effort to do what they feel is right even if it costs them at their pocket book to do it.
Here’s their website if you want to watch some videos and learn more. The principal leaders of the organization have truly been all over the news. I’ll be darned – I’d never heard of them until just this past week. http://www.patrioticmillionaires.org/
Secret Santa Gives Away $20 Thousand $100 At A Time
A man went to Reading, PA and gave away $20,000 one-hundred dollars at a time. He says “The message is it’s okay to copy what I do. We want you to do that. Anybody can be a secret Santa.” Check out the video – pretty cool.
Feel-Good Quotable Images This Week
Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales Set Records
Maybe it’s just “frugal fatigue” where everyone hunkered down for soooo long and not spending just get tired of it. But the reality of Black Friday and Cyber Monday according to several sources including ABC News is this …
Shoppers hungry for Black Friday deals came out in droves, creating more mayhem than anyone can remember, but thankfully for retailers, they also spent at record levels, according to retail analysts.
“We were expecting Black Friday openings to be very strong. I don’t know anybody was expected that they were going to be this strong,” National Retail Federation vice president Ellen Davis told ABC News Radio.
According to a survey conducted for the National Retail Federation, a combined 226 million people visited brick-and-mortar and online stores during the four-day Black Friday shopping window, which is an increase of 14 million shoppers from last year.
Consumers cumulatively spent an estimated $52 billion during the holiday shopping rush, which kicked off on Thanksgiving Day at some retailers, according to the survey, which was conducted by online market research firm BIGresearch.
One thing said in various reports indicated that about 44% of people surveyed said they’d mostly bought things for themselves. This would be good too because it’d mean they have a lot of buying still to do for others.
Menomonee Falls Symphony Orchestra presents,
‘An Andy Williams Christmas’ With Tom Anthony
The golden voice of the Crooning King has captured the ear of millions of fans spanning across the generations for over fifty years. Join the Menomonee Falls Symphony Orchestra and their featured guest singer, Tom Anthony, as we enter the sentimental nostalgic Americana this great performer inspires. His music has been and will forever be a part of the Christmas Spirit.
The soloist singer, Tom Anthony, is one of my very best friends and I’m really excited for him to have this opportunity. Ya, it feels good. Perfect for a Friday!
I’m going and so are several other Leanness Lifestyle friends and members. Looking forward to it! Congratulations again Tom, what a special gift you have.
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