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 →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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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 →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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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 →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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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 →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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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.

Tags: money, politics & government by Mike McGowan
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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 →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Daniel Putkowski
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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.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, money, on the law, politics & government by Bob Sullivan
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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.

[Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ricky Sprague
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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.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, damned lies, money, politics & government by Bob Sullivan
1 Comment »

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.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, money by Bob Sullivan
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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.

[Read more →]

Tags: money by Mark Draughn
3 Comments »

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.

[Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Mark Draughn
12 Comments »

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!

[Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Mike McGowan
5 Comments »

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 →]

Tags: health & medical, money, politics & government by Ken Watson
3 Comments »

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.

[Read more →]

Tags: money, religion & philosophy by Eric Dzinski
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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 →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
2 Comments »

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?).

[Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Dooley Womack
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I was sitting around (in Africa still) having yet another great conversation with a friend of mine, Rob. It went something like this (any facts I get wrong are a result of my faulty memory and not a lie on Rob’s part):

Rob: “So I noticed you’re wearing a Matix T-shirt”

Me: “Yeah. Funny thing is, I don’t know where I got it. I didn’t buy it. And someone, I don’t know whom, sent it to me. But I liked it and so I’m wearing it. Why? Who are they?”

Rob: “Every pair of pants I own are made by Matix. They are a great grassroots company that I used to work for. I trust them.” [Read more →]

Tags: fashion & clothing, money by Jeffrey Maryak
26 Comments »

I read Bob Herbert’s Op-Ed “Invitation to Disaster” on the New York Times website yesterday.  I had problems when reading it; I found that I couldn’t get as excited about the topic as Mr. Herbert.  I mainly feel a sense, not of desperation and an urge to fight back as he does, but one of resignation to the futility of fighting the problem.  The People can vote themselves money, and are engaged in said activity with a vengeance.

[Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Mike McGowan
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In the chart below, I’ve plotted IHE (Ishares Dow Jones Pharmaceuticals ETF), IHF (Ishares Health Care Providers), and IHI (Ishares Medical Devices), with SPY (S&P depository trust) included for comparison purposes. I’ve also included vertical lines marking various landmarks in the road to healthcare reform (left to right): May 11, healthcare industry players meet with Obama; June 8, Senate HELP committee releases initial draft bill; June 23, Obama presser on healthcare; July 22, Obama prime time presser on healthcare; July 31, Congress recesses to go home and get yelled at by constituents; November 19, Reid unveils bill in Senate; December 24, Senate passes healthcare bill. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, money, politics & government by Dooley Womack
5 Comments »