Spring has arrived here at Windsong Woods as the bright purple and yellow Crocus push through the leaves and Winter debris. The Wild Turkeys sing their mating song and the frogs cry with joy and urgency in their little vernal pool. The blueness of the sky brings warmth to my soul as I clean up the yard and watch furtively for the annual arrival of the Black Flies.

Tax day has come and gone, though for many of the self employed, the bill remains until the season begins again. They will pay their 'Interest and Penalties' for a financial world gone mad. They are not slackers or thieves.

It was a hard Winter for those that ply their income from the sea. It was difficult to watch as these strong, competent, self-willed men and women lost their income by half over the Winter. It's one thing to loose money from a retirement plan, but when your total income is cut in half and you have worked just as hard if not harder, the word 'discouraged' takes on a whole new meaning.

At least the privatization of Social Security did not go through and we avoided that catastrophe. I have wondered for a while now why it is that the wealthy get away without paying their full share of Social Security.

Why is payment into that fund limited to only the first $100,000 or so a person earns? How much better would it be for the whole country if everyone paid the same percentage of their income? Why do the poorest of the poor carry this burden on their backs while the richest of the rich are relieved of this duty?

Someone earning $30,000 a year pays the full 12.4% to Social security and 2.9% to Medicare (at least Medicare is not now limited by earnings amount). How is this fair and equitable? To say the rich have "paid enough" doesn't seem right to me. If a person earning $30,000 a year must pay 15.3% of their income, then that is a hardship. A CEO making a million dollars or more pays the same 15.3% as someone making a $100,000 and not a penny more.

Let everyone pay their fair share and take the burden off the poor.

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