What a GREAT show, when Charlie Sykes talked to Adam Shepard, the author of „Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream”
Amazon.com about the book:
“Is the American Dream still alive or has it, in fact, been drowned out by a clashing of the classes? Is the upper class destined to rule forever while the lower classes are forced to live in the same cyclical misery? Millions of Americans fight for the answers to these questions every day, and here, in Scratch Beginnings, one man makes the attempt at discovering the answers for himself. Carrying only a sleeping bag, $25, and the clothes on his back, and restricted from using his contacts or his education, Adam Shepard sets out for a randomly selected city with one goal on his mind: work his way out of the realities of homelessness and into a life that will offer him the opportunity for success.”
Title: Scratch Beginnings
Author: Adam Shepard
Publisher: SB Press
ISBN: 978-0-9796926-0-4
240 pages/trade paperback
Retail Price: $13.95
Here in Germany there is the always ongoing discussion about the social program ‘Hartz IV’, poverty and on higher taxes for the middle class and the riches. There is a lot of envy, too. The far left party “Die Linke” continues to succeed and to gain more and more votes in regional elections and has already 53 from 612 seats in the Bundestag (German parliament).
The average tax rate in Germany is more than 38% (Einkommensteuer) of the income (it ranges from 0% for up to 7.700 Euro income per year to 42% for more than 52.000 Euro income per year), we pay for health insurance about 13,5 % of the income, plus we pay for the pension insurance, plus we have a sales tax of 19%. Health insurance and pension insurance payments don’t count for the graduated income tax rates. Completing the tax declaration is a very complicated procedure if you have different sources of income and a family for example. Btw, I don’t know if I have these % numbers right, I was looking them up with Google, so you better don’t rely on them.
A few years ago I started my own business but now I’m financially almost broken. Nevertheless I deeply do believe in the “American Dream” – and I’m going to start all over again.
© Petr Mašek - Fotolia.com