It will.

Work part time and spend more time with my daughter.

it must be tax time.. 8^)

I kind of gave up last week.. Last year we had the best year yet. We seriously blew the doors off all previous years. The result though is pretty sad. The federal income tax is now the equivalent of a fully loaded audi A3's sticker price. Which means we get to write a check in a couple of days. So, apparently an Audi A3 in value was not enough.. No, for us to be able to say we payed our "fair share" we in fact need to write a check.

I hear you and believe you. I guess it just hasn't gotten bad enough yet for me.

It took a long time before Hank and Dagny were convinced of the futility of struggling and refusing to give up. Almost as long as it took me to be convinced. Now even I am convinced. You soon will be convinced, too, Mamaemma.

Mmm, I'm hungry now!

Snoogoo, you have expressed something very important. I have struggled most of my life (since I read Atlas) to keep a positive attitude as I watched my country change. The last 8 or so years have been especially difficult, as I have had to accept multiple encroachments of my freedom at work.
I can only imagine what it must be like for a young person. I am 62, but I often wonder what it will be like for my children.
The thing that has kept my afloat is to constantly think about all the wonderful things in my life.
There's an old saying, "It's impossible to be depressed when you're counting your blessings".
Just as in Atlas, it's the bright, principled people who are suffering. The moochers have never been happier!

Wonk? Is that you? Where's my word salad?

Definitely pack away as much as possible into 401k/IRA to bring down your adjusted gross. I printed out my social security statement for kicks the other day. What a joke.

I feel your pain, the same thing happened to me this year as I got kicked into another bracket.. take home pay goes down as production goes up. The system is set for failure. Everyone is so bewildered why people are choosing not to work and this is why. Why work when you can make more on welfare than you can working and paying taxes? It's enough to drive you crazy.. I know a lot of productive, bright, principled people who are suffering deep personal depression because of this right now.

It's OK to string a few of those words together, of course with the appropriate figure gestures.

Damn it, I just keep working and struggling and refusing to give up. My daughter will be joining me in practice in a couple of months, and if for no other reason, I want to give her a better start than is available anywhere else.
Also, the truth is I am really like Dagny in that I just cant let it go yet.

it's thrown you into a new tax bracket. If you are not getting the benefit of the pay increase, consider putting that amount away in some sort of IRA

what are you going to do about it?

I know the feeling. Talk about a disincentive to produce!
I pay over 60% taxes out of each paycheck, and that's just payroll taxes.
Wish I knew a strong enough cuss word!