Obama Lemonade near Henderson
Sun, Jul 19, 2009 | by Michael Morain
John Scherle squeezed a little politics into the lemonade he sold on his farm near Henderson. According to the signs he posted for “Hope-y, Change-y Obama Lemonade,” with special “class warfare prices” that depend on each customer’s income. Those who make less than $25,000 per year pay 25 cents, while those in the upper income brackets pay a full five bucks.
The profits will help Scherle’s grandson pay off the federal deficit in 2030, according to one sign.“We don’t care if we sell much,” Scherle said. “We’re just getting the message across.”
It seemed to be working, but the message was open to interpretation. Some riders cheered or gave Scherle a thumbs up; others pedaled by with a grumble.
– Michael Morain, filing from the Henderson fire station
I love the idea. Unfortunatley, the way it works is the $250K+ group not only has to pay the $5, but they don’t even get the lemonade (i.e. universal healthcare and other social services)
Also glad to see people are beginning to wise up and understand the reprecusions of Obama policy, as we all (and future generations) will be suffering from the consequences. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen about 9 months ago.
Oh ya i almost forgot go for it tax the rich i dont need a raise or a job the rest of my life. or did you forget u have a job because of the rich
FYI: this was on Hannity last night. Iowa lemonade stand makes national news.
I love Obama.
JOhn — very funny. Good for you. I love that you got attention for this. The world is upside down right now and maybe your real life message will get the point across to some less thoughful people.
Oh enough with the FUD. If we tax the rich, they will leave and take their jobs with them? Every job that can leave the country already has.
I’m willing to take this chance of losing my job because of a minor tax increase upon the fabulously wealthy. I’m not afraid. When did Americans become such cowards?
Huh, farmers can be attention whores, who knew?
Wha, wha, wha. All I hear anymore is how bad OBAMA has everything screwed up in this country, when Bush doubled the deficit! It was the Republican’s who got us into this mess…so maybe YOU should remember why you lost 9 months ago…and two years before that when you lost control of congress. 6 years you had it all and screwed everything up.. and Clinton had a surplus! Now it’s Obama’s fault? Quit your crying. Oh, btw, if your are rich, and you could have found out how to get richer leaving the country, you would have already gone!
Fat Sean is one of those uninformed Obama Kool-aid drinkers. I’d rather lemonade from these awesome entrepeneurs! Way to go! Very funny!
Now let’s set up an Obama style RAGBRAI. Those 10 pounds overweight only have to ride to CR. Those 20 pounds overweight only ride to Des Moines and those people that can’t even get out of their chair get a taxpayer purchased little rascal!
The concept is entertaining but isn’t really analogous to the progressive income tax. To make it comparable, in this scenario the people making over $250k should be charged the same amount on the first $25k worth as people making less than $25k. So, for say 8oz of lemonade, you’re charged $.25. If you want another 4 oz, it will cost you an additional $.25 for a total of $.50. If you want 16oz it would cost you $1, and 20 oz would cost $2. The first 8oz costs everyone the same; the additional 4oz costs everyone the same; the 4oz on top of that costs everyone the same; and the final 4oz. costs everyone the same. In this analogy, though, the lemonade is the wealth of the country. In order to take a larger share of the country’s wealth, you have to pay more back into the kitty.
On the other hand, John Scherle’s lemonade stand is analogous to subsidization of industry. In his example, the rich are subsidizing the cost for the poor. Kind of like the country subsidizes the agricultural industry. What line of work is Mr. Scherle in again?
Brian, what you described is not a progressive tax system, that’s a flat tax, which I think the rich would be thrilled about. A progressive tax forces people to pay not only more, but a much higher percentage. Just a correction, you cannot “take” wealth. If you could, that would be a different story.
Oh Brian…..who feeds you…as you complain about the farmers and ranches..Lets forget the blame and figure out how we get there from here…i have never seen anyone spend their out of debt..
aleakbar, you obviously do not understand either what I wrote, what the progressive tax actually is, or both. The example I outlined is most definitely NOT a flat tax. Lesson time: the progressive tax, what we have now, only forces people to pay a higher percentage on the income received above the previous tier. Everyone pays 10% on the first $8,350 of income; everyone pays 15% on the next $25,600 of income; everyone pays 25% on the next $48,300 of income; everyone pays 28% on the next $89,300 of income; and so on. If I wrote the comment over, I might have rephrased to read “In order to enjoy a larger share of the country’s wealth, you have to pay more back into the kitty.”
Jerry, for the record I have no problem with agricultural subsidies. I’m just pointing out that the way this lemonade stand is set up is a better criticism of subsidies than anything else.
Well, like most Obama bashers, his strategy was a bit off. He placed himself in the middle of a hill–going up.
If you ask me, the real story should have been the lemonade itself. Best lemonade stand on RAGBRAI all week, I sampled at least 4 stands per day.
this is GAYYYYY
Well, Dan. Glad to see you’re still part of the uninformed masses. It was Clinton policy that got us into this mess. But of course you don’t watch any real news and know that the Bush Admin. spent a lot of time trying to correct this problems, but your Democrat congress wouldn’t play ball.
Since when did RAGBRAI become a political trail..