The Early News on Obama's Aviation Picks - Scary Mary returns to power?

[RP170]

Taxes are too high for EVERYONE!! get rid of all the waste and we could probably cut our federal budget by 30%. But I am sick and tired of the wealthy that have many times over, the net income they need to live a good life, paying the same percentage in tax that a guy like me, who can barely pay the necessities of a MODEST lifestyle must pay. And the wealthy always seem to have an endless little stream of loopholes they can take advantage of to decrease their tax burden to far less of their gross than I can.

To answer your question....lets see, a guy grossing $1,000,000 being taxed 50% still has a net of 500,000. That's many times over what I earn. So 50% sounds reasonable to me. And they can still live a lifestyle far beyond anything I could ever attain.

You really think someone who makes millions pays the same percentage tax wise as you do? Give me a break! Why don't you get a job then where you make a million dollars then if you want to walk away with $500,000? You chose to be a pilot.

Don't complain about someone else who is wealthy because of hard work or great business decisions that have led them to where they are. Many of them are far more educated than any of us as well. Some people are more successful than others due to a variety of factors. Why should they be penalized more than someone who is uneducated and chooses to be unemployed and sit around doing nothing, while the wealthy support these people?

How about we all pay the same percentage in taxes? Seems like the only fair way to do it!

 

[RP170]

So what if you are the labor and make more than 250K? People who worked hard and happened to be in the right place to get where they're at are supposed to pay more because you haven't made it?

And that basically sums up the views of the democratic party in a nutshell.

 

[pipejockey]

Yes, $120,000, with the same bills you have, except...

They have anywhere from $250,000 to $300,000 in medical school student loans. The payments of which are approximately $2,000 to $2,500 a month.

So, Einstein, let's do the math:

$120,000 in the 33% income tax bracket puts their take-home pay at $80,000 a year, or $6,700 per month.

Minus a $2,000 student loan payment is a take-home of $4,700 per month.

Sound familiar? 'Cause that's just a few hundred more than what I have left over after my $75,000 a year in a 28% income tax bracket and my $250 a month student loan payment on a $30,000 remaining balance.

Doctors don't have it made like you want to believe. If you think so, get the hell out of aviation and take your whiny a$$ back to med school.

This whole "entitlement" mentality has got to stop. You get what you negotiate for, what you fight for, and what you work for. Quit complaining, Mary.

Talk about "fuzzy math". All I can go on is what I see! And I don't see any doctors living in a very modest home like me, driving a 10 year old vehicle with 160,000 miles on it like me. All I see is the excesses. You talk about entitlement? The biggest entitlement attitudes come from management. What do you call those who are earning millions, or 100's of thousands a year who seem to think a guy like me should do more for less? Talk about entitlement.

And I disagree about getting what you negotiate for. In this profession, you get what the top half of the seniority list rolls over and takes from management. I have never voted for any TA that has ever been presented to me and with the corruption, greed, and outright criminal activity of management, I never will!

 

[pipejockey]

What makes you think you are entitled to another persons wealth? What one calls fairness, another calls theft. What you are saying is "If my neighbor makes a dollar more a year than I do, then by God, he should have that extra income redistributed and spread around"

Are you nuts? Where do people like you come up with these things. I am not talking about people who make 1 dollar more than me, I am talking about people who make 100's of thousands, or millions, or tens of millions more than me, and YOU if I might add! And it has nothing to do with redistributing and spreading, but everything to do with those who have the means, paying a greater % of their wealth in taxes than me. I am paid so poorly and many of us here are as well, that my current taxes cut into what I need to pay for life's necessities like food, clothing, a modest home, property taxes(of which most go towards sending other peoples kids to school, I have none) a car payment on a 20 grand car etc. In other words, ALL of my income goes to necessities, while how much of the wealthy's salary goes to necessities? 50%, 20% 10% or less? You see the difference? And why shouldn't the wealthy pay into SS on all their salary not just up to 100 grand? How fair is that? Why do I have to pay it on ALL my income while they pay it on only a fraction?

You people with your heads up the rich's a**es, pull them out and look at the real world, not the world the rich have you believing you live in.

 

[pipejockey]

So what if you are the labor and make more than 250K? People who worked hard and happened to be in the right place to get where they're at are supposed to pay more because you haven't made it? I guess you're hoping the majors don't ever get pay raises back.

Then by all means tax me if necessary! If I am earning over 250 grand then I have MORE than enough to pay for my needs. I may not be driving my 10 year old vehicle with 160,000 miles on it, but a 5 year old vehicle with 80,000. I might eat out a few more times a month. But I will still be living well within my means, and in my same modest house. The sense of entitlement that some people here have accused me of (lear) comes not from people like me but from those that just must have their 500+ grand home, and their 2 new 50+ grand cars every other year. They have to live in a way that flaunts their wealth so as to put peons like me, who merely fly around 10's of tons of metal through the skies, with their sorry lives in my hands. Don't dare talk about to me about entitlement! I don't think it is unreasonable that I earn an above average wage, doing what I do as compared to other holders of 4 year degrees and who do things that require intensive training and who must be professionals at all times.

You really think someone who makes millions pays the same percentage tax wise as you do? Give me a break! Why don't you get a job then where you make a million dollars then if you want to walk away with $500,000? You chose to be a pilot.

Thats the problem, they don't! Most pay far less!! Don't listen to all the belly aching that I'm sure you have to listen to from the pukes you're flying around for netjets. They don't know what struggling means. Well unless they are talking about struggling to pay for their 1,000,000 home, and their 200,000 yacht, and the high maintenance wifes shopping sprees, and the his and hers Porsches etc etc.

Don't complain about someone else who is wealthy because of hard work or great business decisions that have led them to where they are.

Now there are different kinds of wealthy. Those that actually were the brains behind a product or idea, such as Bill Gates and other business owners, but my wrath is directed at these CEO's and upper management who are separated from the rest of us by merely having their spots in Harvard, Yale and other top notch business schools, bought for them by their rich mommy and daddies, and they proceed to graduate and have these upper managemnet and executive positions handed to them, like it always has been and always will be. Entitlement anyone?

Why should they be penalized more than someone who is uneducated and chooses to be unemployed and sit around doing nothing, while the wealthy support these people?

How about we all pay the same percentage in taxes? Seems like the only fair way to do it!

Someone who is unemployed sitting around doing nothing finally does have their unemployment run out, plus they pay taxes on their unemployment. And not all people who are unemployed choose to sit around doing nothing. What is a mainline pilot going to do if they are unemployed at this time? Go to some 2 bit regional at 1st year fo pay? Even max fo pay is unacceptable. Besides, most of these despicable airlines expect you to throw your career away somewhere else and resign your seniority number. Hows that for fair? They are stuck having to wait for their spots back at mainline or go back to school for something else perhaps. You make it sound like people on unemployment are just lazy scum.

 

[Mamma]

Yes, $120,000, with the same bills you have, except...

They have anywhere from $250,000 to $300,000 in medical school student loans. The payments of which are approximately $2,000 to $2,500 a month.

So, Einstein, let's do the math:

$120,000 in the 33% income tax bracket puts their take-home pay at $80,000 a year, or $6,700 per month.

Minus a $2,000 student loan payment is a take-home of $4,700 per month.

Sound familiar? 'Cause that's just a few hundred more than what I have left over after my $75,000 a year in a 28% income tax bracket and my $250 a month student loan payment on a $30,000 remaining balance.

Doctors don't have it made like you want to believe. If you think so, get the hell out of aviation and take your whiny a$$ back to med school.

This whole "entitlement" mentality has got to stop. You get what you negotiate for, what you fight for, and what you work for. Quit complaining, Mary.

Don't forget malpractice insurance!

 

[Lear70]

Talk about "fuzzy math". All I can go on is what I see! And I don't see any doctors living in a very modest home like me, driving a 10 year old vehicle with 160,000 miles on it like me. All I see is the excesses.

Again, you're looking at the specialists, the plastic surgeons, the docs who spent 12-15 years just in medical school and specializations to get where they are.

I know you're only going on what you see, I have 2 GP's and a cardiac specialist in the IMMEDIATE family. I know (generally) how much they take home - the GP's who are in their own practice don't make nearly as much as you think they do. Just stating a simple fact.

You talk about entitlement? The biggest entitlement attitudes come from management. What do you call those who are earning millions, or 100's of thousands a year who seem to think a guy like me should do more for less? Talk about entitlement.

I don't disagree with this statement at all. Never said I did - management makes MUCH more than they are worth, in most cases, given their education, knowledge, and experience. I know I'm perfectly capable of joining their ranks after returning to school for a few years then working in middle management for a decade, but I don't think I could sleep at night doing what they do to people.

And I disagree about getting what you negotiate for. In this profession, you get what the top half of the seniority list rolls over and takes from management. I have never voted for any TA that has ever been presented to me and with the corruption, greed, and outright criminal activity of management, I never will!

I disagree with you there, only in that you're making generalizations again. Not all airlines are like this.

The AirTran pilots voted NO for a sub-standard T.A. last year. Certainly the senior pilots who voted NO helped, and I greatly appreciate them doing so, for they were the ones who would have benefited (short-term) with the T.A., but they voted No anyway. A fantastic show of solidarity.

In this case, so many pilots have been hired from Regionals and so many pilots in the last 4-7 years (65% of the entire seniority list), that they all recognize the same pitfalls: Scope, Merger & Acqusition language, Insurance, F/O pay rates. As such, we're mostly all on the same page, and just need Leadership that can tap that innate solidarity that exists within the pilot group, and turn us into a focused, fighting machine.

Certainly no Legacy carriers I can think of (or SWA, FDX, or UPS) fall into this category, so it's the exception, not the rule, but again, be careful with your generalizations. Those are what started all this bickering...

 

[pipejockey]

Well my congratulations go out to the airtran pilot group. Rejecting that TA was a very non LCC thing to do. I have never been a fan of the LCC business model, in that it has flooded the market with seats requiring the already entrenched airlines to cut their fares to a point that no longer supports the wages that allowed our predecessors to live wonderful lifestyles. But if the carriers like airtran and jetblue can bring these pathetic wages up significantly, I might have a change of heart. In other words, be a part of the solution as opposed to part of the problem.

But this all started with a difference of opinion on the tax structure for the wealthy and who is actually wealthy or not. But I'd like to ask if anyone thinks an average General Practitioner actually deserves more than an average pilot. I don't necessarily believe that. We can talk without end what people deserve and what they don't deserve. Does a MLB pitcher deserve 15,000,000 a year for actually working in about 35 games a year? Do all these Hollywood types deserve the millions they earn for pretending to be somebody else in a movie or TV? People talk about supply and demand dictating. Well wannabe actors are a dime a dozen in Hollywood, and most of them could do just as good a job as the ones who actually make it.

Anyway, my hope is that an Obama administartion will make it easier for us to seek self help in the future and to prevent bankruptcies from giving management carte blanche to do whatever they want.

 

[RP170]

Then by all means tax me if necessary! If I am earning over 250 grand then I have MORE than enough to pay for my needs. I may not be driving my 10 year old vehicle with 160,000 miles on it, but a 5 year old vehicle with 80,000. I might eat out a few more times a month. But I will still be living well within my means, and in my same modest house. The sense of entitlement that some people here have accused me of (lear) comes not from people like me but from those that just must have their 500+ grand home, and their 2 new 50+ grand cars every other year. They have to live in a way that flaunts their wealth so as to put peons like me, who merely fly around 10's of tons of metal through the skies, with their sorry lives in my hands. Don't dare talk about to me about entitlement! I don't think it is unreasonable that I earn an above average wage, doing what I do as compared to other holders of 4 year degrees and who do things that require intensive training and who must be professionals at all times.



Thats the problem, they don't! Most pay far less!! Don't listen to all the belly aching that I'm sure you have to listen to from the pukes you're flying around for netjets. They don't know what struggling means. Well unless they are talking about struggling to pay for their 1,000,000 home, and their 200,000 yacht, and the high maintenance wifes shopping sprees, and the his and hers Porsches etc etc.



Now there are different kinds of wealthy. Those that actually were the brains behind a product or idea, such as Bill Gates and other business owners, but my wrath is directed at these CEO's and upper management who are separated from the rest of us by merely having their spots in Harvard, Yale and other top notch business schools, bought for them by their rich mommy and daddies, and they proceed to graduate and have these upper managemnet and executive positions handed to them, like it always has been and always will be. Entitlement anyone?



Someone who is unemployed sitting around doing nothing finally does have their unemployment run out, plus they pay taxes on their unemployment. And not all people who are unemployed choose to sit around doing nothing. What is a mainline pilot going to do if they are unemployed at this time? Go to some 2 bit regional at 1st year fo pay? Even max fo pay is unacceptable. Besides, most of these despicable airlines expect you to throw your career away somewhere else and resign your seniority number. Hows that for fair? They are stuck having to wait for their spots back at mainline or go back to school for something else perhaps. You make it sound like people on unemployment are just lazy scum.

First of all, you are a total idiot. Have you ever seen income tax brackets? The wealthy pay far more than you do.

You don't even work at NetJets and call the people we fly around "pukes." What do you call the people that fly on the airlines then? Trash?

I can tell you 99% of them are more in touch with reality and obviously more intelligent than yourself. I do agree with the fact that many people do make more than they should (CEO's that run companies into bankruptcy, etc).

No, I don't think people on unemployment are lazy scum. People who choose not to work but are able to work and continue to live off of welfare and other government funded programs are lazy scum.

 

[pipejockey]

First of all, you are a total idiot. Have you ever seen income tax brackets? The wealthy pay far more than you do.

You don't even work at NetJets and call the people we fly around "pukes." What do you call the people that fly on the airlines then? Trash?

I can tell you 99% of them are more in touch with reality and obviously more intelligent than yourself. I do agree with the fact that many people do make more than they should (CEO's that run companies into bankruptcy, etc).

No, I don't think people on unemployment are lazy scum. People who choose not to work but are able to work and continue to live off of welfare and other government funded programs are lazy scum.

I stand by my statement! The wealthy business owners out there have so many holes in our tax code you can fly a 747 through them. Some are actually paying as little as 2% of gross.

And clarify for me about the lazy scum. Would you consider the airline pilots out there on furlough, who are fully able to work, by definition, but who choose to continue to collect unemployment while trying to find other work flying instead of flipping burgers or greeting people at Walmart, are they scum? After all, they are fully able to work!

And yes, many people who fly on the airlines these days are indeed trash. Have you seen southworsts fares lately? Yup, still 69 bucks! Cheaper than a bus.

Oh, and could you do me a favor? Go get a nice cold glass of water, and proceed to the millionaire slug sleeping on the couch, or perhaps his bed in that back of that corporate jet, and throw the water in his face. Thanks!!