The number-crunchers in Washington, D.C. might want to put down their abaci and direct their attention to the wisdom of Alexei Kudrin.
Mr. Kudrin, Russia’s finance minister, wants his fellow countrymen to chain smoke and drink to excess.
Those were not his words, exactly. But one can read between the lines.
There was a flash one day, and another a few days later and the war was over. Millions of Americans and Japanese that had just had their date with death cancelled turned around and went home. In Europe the fighting had stopped with Hitler dead, but the squabbling had begun already. Germany had been reduced to ashes in some precincts and barely touched in others. The Soviets were digging in and laying the chaulklines for the Iron Curtain which of course split Germany just as Berlin herself was split into a sector for each of the Allies. British, American and French sectors were Free Berlin. The Soviet sector, less so. [Read more →]
I recently sent this e-mail to an automaton who works in the marketing department at the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company:
Hi Nxxxx,
I’m writing ask if we might have an informal conversation about a marketing partnership that could, potentially, be mutually beneficial. While it might seem a bit unconventional or “outside the box,” it’s something that I’m sure has been done, and, at very least, would present the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company with an opportunity whose risk is negligible compared to the potential reward.
[Read more →]
Recently, as I sat in a booth at my favorite luncheonette — Mr. G’s at 12th and Callowhill — waiting for my lunch to arrive, I did something I actually don’t do very often: I read the City Paper.
The big piece seemed to be one written by someone named Jeffrey C. Billman suggesting that we get serious about the national debt. One of the sub-heads caught my eye: “Spending cuts are not the answer.”
To be fair, the article itself does say that “spending cuts may be part of the equation.” That still didn’t strike me as being especially serious. After all, one sure way to cut down on debt is to stop spending so much. It’s not just part of the equation; it’s the essential part. [Read more →]
The world moves on a woman’s hips, says David Byrne, or maybe it was the Weymouths but we know what they are talking about. That taper, swell and taper is hypnotic, notoriously it is used in advertising and product design to subliminally trip primordial triggers. Is it no more than vestigal reproductive instincts? Science seems to demonstrate this geometric construct to be nearly a bedrock of reality; not quite as solid as the speed of light but close enough to earn the name Normal or Standard Deviation.
And it isn’t just solar intensity or SAT scores that follow this template. Like so many other aspects of finance and economics, a Standard Deviation is historically demonstrated in the relationship between tax rates and tax revenues. [Read more →]
I understand the nature of a changing economy enough to appreciate that some people are thrown out of work and have a difficult time getting back on their feet. The government doesn’t make it any easier no matter what they say because Washington only encourages continued unemployment by effectively paying people not to work. Therefore, I thought about an alternative system, one that would provide a cushion and yet not be a drag on the taxpayer. In fact, my idea provides greater flexibility and much greater potential for those who behave responsibly. No, it’s not perfect but it’s better than what we have. [Read more →]
According to Nancy Pelosi and plenty of other Democrats who get their paychecks signed by Tim Geithner, the source of all this consternation, or at least that which pulsates within their own party, is due to the glacial slowness the Progressive Reform Agenda has taken. Why, we have gone nearly a week without an unread thirty-pound piece of legislation being passed without debate so they do have a point. But when you consult the tea leaves, meaning the polls, there is scant interest in what the Dems are actually proposing. Their hoped for hot buttons have cooled, even among their own electoral base. The time is ripe then to toss a hand grenade, an incendiary, into their tent. I propose here a program based on stated Republican principles addressing the thorny topic of cash reparations to our african-american citizens for slavery. [Read more →]
By Carter Era standards it is not really that bad. Of course by Carter Era standards Carter wasn’t that bad either. Those who remember “double-digit” unemployment remember poorly. The nation has never clocked a year with unemployment over ten percent and those two years that were close to that were ‘82 and ‘83, the shank of the Reagan Revolution. Inflation did hit murderous levels under Carter but of course we are not experiencing anything like that today. Four percent inflation has been the norm for decades and we have had some recent deflation though that was brief. Now we are about two percent, a quite good number giving us a misery index in the elevens which historically is not miserable at all. [Read more →]
CNNMoney.com reports that “Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett are asking the nation’s billionaires to pledge to give at least half their net worth to charity, in their lifetimes or at death. If their campaign succeeds, it could change the face of philanthropy.” The headline of the piece is “The $600 billion challenge.”
I realize that $600 billion is a lot of money, and if that much were given to charities, it would help some people. Maybe many people. But I thought of something better those billionaires could do with their money, something that would help the nation even more than giving the money to charity. [Read more →]
War clouds gather in the Persian Gulf; Israel and her muslim, if not islamist neighbors are closer to a major clash of arms, and a more decisive one than has been the case for 30 years. Closer to your hearth and heart, oil pours out of an artery in the Mexican Gulf and even with a tourniquet applied the doctors forbid any further, even measured blood letting. Off-shore rigs are being closed in all American waters. In the most mundane of news; school’s out for summer, lies a mystery. The notorious Summer Driving Season began with the Memorial Day weekend. Additionally there are seasonal requirements for fuels in many states that tend to slow down supplies at the pump, driving up prices. The pros will tell you this was the issue year before last, when we saw $5 and $6 dollars for go- juice. But not this time. Despite international chaos and man-caused disasters at sea and in the Executive gas prices are declining a skooch as are crude prices (dropped 4% yesterday), and this is after a slow decline over a year. Can this voodoo be explained? Yes, quite simply. The market prices always look forward to the future, whether to the annual rush of corpulent families towards modest shore rentals or to the new century needs of manufacturing and shipping. In their torpor the markets signal their grasp of one simple fact: The future has been cancelled. [Read more →]
Gerald Ford, among other disabilities during his campaign to win the Presidency he had been appointed to, suffered from rampant inflation. His administration came up with a modest response indeed, a program basically to admonish the citizenry not to engage in inflationary behavior, to save more, spend less and otherwise short-circuit rising prices. This was pitched with a tangy little acronym; Whip Inflation Now! [Read more →]
History is indeed on the march in April. Another invisible pothole has made itself known to the drive-wheels of the Social Justice juggernaut; the Gang of Class Presidents currently running the Fed Gub have crunched and re-crunched the numbers and found that April’s deficit is 82.7 billions. [Read more →]
The precipitous if brief drop of last week which punctuated a drawling decline of several weeks duration has apparently inspired a radical and of course brilliant reaction that has lit a fire under equities; as I type the Dow is up 3.4% on the day. What is this miraculous policy? The collected central bankers of the EU have publicly declared that they will buy bonds from governments at terms they cannot get on the open market. To a tune of $960 billions. [Read more →]
Our country’s illegal alien lawn care crew has reacted to the Arizona immigration law by mowing over the economic “green shoots” we’ve been hearing about for over a year now.
The Greek people took to the streets again this past weekend. Apparently, they’re not happy with Europe’s foot dragging on their bailout. They want that money and they want it now. After all, the socialist dream cannot continue without other people’s money. The Greek government, like so many around the world with Champagne dreams and swamp water budgets, has outspent its income for a decade. Now the bankers won’t lend them any more. Who’s to blame? According to some interviews, a fair number of Greeks believe it is a U.S. plot to impoverish Greece. Well, from this side of the Atlantic, let me say that the United States government has its hands full impoverishing the American people. [Read more →]
10. “Can we add something that bars volcanic eruptions?”
9. “Is it just me, or is this legislation getting more complex than some of those derivatives?”
8. “Can’t we blame the whole financial crisis on Obama anyway?”
7. “Any chance we could give ourselves some o’ them executive bonuses?”
6. “Can we put in a clause making Republican lap dances tax deductible?”
5. “What would Glenn Beck do?”
4. “Any chance the Chinese might consider the United States ‘too big to fail’?”
3. “How can we drag this out as long as we did health care reform?”
2. “So which lobbyist is making the highest bid today?”
1. “Didn’t they get their name because they have so much gold, Man, they had to put it in sacks?”
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
Our country is in a financial crisis. As politicians work hard to enact necessary policies that will benefit us all, the costs of those policies continues to rise. The president is considering a value added tax (”VAT”) to pay for these important programs. VATs add taxes to goods as they are “improved.” For example, when you make a movie you hire a screenwriter. As soon as the screenplay is written the movie is taxed. Then as soon as you attach a director, the movie is taxed again. When actors are hired, the movie is again taxed. When CGI is added, more taxes are levied. Pretty soon, the government is getting a big return on Hollywood’s investment!
And that’s just one example of how the VAT works. I’m sure there are others. My point is that a VAT is a great start, but I’d like to encourage our politicians to “think outside the box,” so to speak, to come up with new taxes to help pay for our impending financial crises. To that end, I’ve come up with some ideas I think every reasonable citizen can agree on.
10. “Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck both claim paying taxes contributes to socialism.”
9. “Wealthy people who are exceptionally good-looking should be exempt.”
8. “On April first, I got an e-mail saying that, as part of the stimulus package, there was a tax moratorium this year.”
7. “Trying to use the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gains Tax Worksheet, I got a severe brain cramp.”
6. “My buddy at the post office said he could backdate my return.”
5. “After I claim all the voices in my head as deductions, it turns out they owe me money!”
4. “This year, in the box labeled ‘For Office Use Only,’ I just plan to write ‘Approved – Send massive refund!’”
3. “Fill out a tax form?! I can’t even get my VCR to stop blinking ‘12:00’!”
2. “My accountant said I could deduct my late fees.”
1. “I just woke up from my New Year’s Eve party.”
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
With tax day coming up soonish (?), there is no better time than now to talk about the incredible importance of taxes in America. For one thing, they fund all of the network television stations. For another, they fund all of the wars. And if it weren’t for taxes, no one would have health care or car insurance. So, as you can see, it is very important that you do all of your taxes.
“But how do you do them?” you might be asking. Well, that’s a good question. [Read more →]
10. After three of the questions on the tax form, he’s just written “Huh?”
9. It takes him a half hour to figure out his tip at Red Lobster.
8. He tends to whimper and say, “Nummers is hard!”
7. His last client was Nicholas Cage.
6. He swears “umpteen” is a real number.
5. He checks off the box for “joint filing,” then lights one up.
4. He keeps insisting, “No, you’re wrong! They’re due on August 15th!”
3. You notice that his calculator is really a TV remote.
2. After every number on your tax form, he’s written “or so.”
1. He likes to do his calculating in the nude, so he can count up to 21.
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
In response to my last post, commenter Mike had a few objections to the basic idea of working for the money:
Money is a place holder, it represents something else, namely your life.
There’s more to that, as I’ll explain below.
On Sunday my wife was in a very bad car accident. My son was in the car with her. Don’t be alarmed. They both seem to be okay. I say seem only because I know that when I was in a pretty bad collision about seven years ago, I thought I was fine until a few days later, when the whiplash and disc damage began to make themselves known. Another story for another time.
On Sunday, my wife used my car (her car needed gas and she didn’t have time to stop) to drive my son to a friend’s birthday party. I was not attending. Just a minute after she left, the phone rang. I answered.
“Your car is totaled.” [Read more →]
Whenever someone proposes spending money on a new government program, critics will say that we should balance out the effect on the budget with a matching tax increase. That would be great if it worked, but it’s a mistake to think that we can make up for increased government spending by increasing taxes.
I got this letter today from the U.S. Census Bureau. Does every residential mailing address in the country get one of these?
My first thought was about the first bolded sentence that informed me that “About one week from now, you will receive a 2010 Census form in the mail.”
Holy crap, are they really spending the money to print and mail these letters to everyone in the country? [Read more →]
One of the most important political developments of the last century happened when the US Government decided to take your income taxes directly out of your paycheck, before you get it. This has had the effect of hiding from the citizens just how much they’re really paying, and has helped keep the sheeple quiet about the massive levels of government spending. Instead of April 15th being a dreadful day when you have to cut Uncle Sam a huge check, now many Americans look at the tax deadline as a payday!
Two recent events were undeniable… arithmetically indisputable, good news on the economic front. These of course were the rapid growth in Q4 of last year and the recent crash through the dirty-glass floor of double-digit unemployment. Gold prices are well down, oil is up but it seems that is mostly currency fluctuation. That’s good stuff. However public opinion is unimpressed. The recent spike which seems was captured only in Rasmussen’s robo-called three-day rolling average has endured scarcely a week. Even the Obies are going easy on the trumpets. So what is up? It’s quite simple. Everyone paying attention now knows that whatever blurps and blips take place in the short term, economically at least, we are fully and truly screwed. [Read more →]
The zipper on my man-purse broke. So I have to find a new one. I devoted not a little of this past weekend, to say nothing of the last couple of weeks, to that aim, and have yet to come up with anything. I know what I’m looking for, and I have seen a few bags that fit the bill, but nothing that’s just right. You see, I live in Los Angeles now, and as a result, no matter what bag I finally decide on, it is certain that there is a better one within an hour’s drive.
Ben Bernanke is the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank and as such has great influence over what you pay in interest in any financed transaction since he is basically the steward of the currency. He was a Bush appointment, a leading figure in the bank bailout scheme known as TARP and has been enthusiastically embraced by the Obama Administration and they want him re-appointed to another term. Why? Well haven’t you heard? Ben Bernanke saved the universe last fall. [Read more →]
So Megan McArdle has a post up talking about the failure of a commercial real estate project in Stuy-Town. I read McArdle a lot, and whenever she talks about New York and D.C. I’m much like an ignorant savage with a bone through my nose being told about far-off Albion. I’m so Southern that I think anything north of the Red River is like one of those old Christopher Columbus maps (”Here there be dragons!”) and I’ve always read the comment threads of her posts about big city vs. suburban living with a bit of wonderment (walking home to your apartment with bags of groceries? WTF?).
Every now and then we’re reminded that, despite the state of the economy and lots of people struggling to make ends meet here in the United States, we’re still fortunate. Beyond fortunate, compared to many parts of the world. On the local news last night was a story of homeless people at Ridge Avenue shelter in Center City Philadelphia organizing a donation effort to help people in Haiti. As one of the homeless men noted, unlike many in Haiti, he had clean drinking water. [Read more →]
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