Take cover,
don't hide.
Be my lover,
be my bride.
Leave or stay,
but take my key
and please be
forever free
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Friday, May 30, 2025
Forever Free (a #poem)
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Who is speaking?
My dear friend Hannibal Lecter almost escaped from Alcatraz. Sing-Sing! But there was this big shark. 'Jaws' they called him. He had very strong teeth. Just like mine. I have very strong teeth but nobody ever gives me credit, did you know that? The Chinese owe us a lot of credit. So I will call them tomorrow and tell them that Ukraine has to give us credit. Did you know that there are nazis in Ukraine? I saw it myself on TV the other day. Or maybe it was the day after. Great movie, 'The Day After'. It's American, did you know that? 'cause they all speak English in it. People tell me that people don't speak English like they used to. Like my dear friend, Joe the Plumber. Remember him? Ah, dear old Joe. An illegal immigrant took his job, did I tell you that? But Fake News won't tell you because they don't like me. Oh, no. But I will make them like me. I will put tariffs on Fake News...
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My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon
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Only two things are certain in life
"Nothing is certain except death and taxes" A famous quote from Benjamin Franklin. It's a bit simplistic of course but otherwise some 30 percent of people won't understand this.
It's also not exactly what he said, back in 1789.
There's this myth going around that the Dutch pay the highest tax rate in the world. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that bit of propaganda is just not true.
Above chart shows how the people with the highest incomes are taxed. By far most Dutch people don't make more than some €70,000 a year, so they will never be taxed that 'More than 50%!'.
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Want to read (more of) my short stories?
My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon
A donation (click) is much appreciated:
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There are more taxes than just income tax. And every country has a different way of spending all that tax money. Some countries spend more on subsidies for the weapons industry and financial support for billionaires in Big Tech, Big Agro and Big Oil. While other countries put more emphasis on Healthcare and Education than on giving 'the elite' more money and power.
The difference can maybe be attributed to the USA being a capitalist plutocrasy and the Netherlands being a social democracy.
What do you think your government spends most of your tax money on?
Here's where the citizen's tax money goes to in The Netherlands. Here's the USA for comparison.
Both countries spend a lot on 'defense' (the arms industry) but where the Dutch money for a big part goes to healthcare and education, a big sum of American tax dollars goes to paying of government debt.
That's of course quite simplistic because there's far more to it than that.
If you want to know more about the Dutch (income) tax system, here's expat David Wen with a nice breakdown:
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