A friend of ours has been hosting two couples from Russia recently. A little background is needed first. He met them while participating in a target shooting competition. The Russian men come to the US to hunt trophy animals they also like to gamble in Nevada. They are ex KGB and seem to be middle aged (about mid 50's). The explained that when they were young men there were only two career paths in Russia, become a party politico or join the KGB. They had an interesting observation after spending some time in the country. We have a lot of old people.
When asked to explain, they remarked that there were very many old people in the United States, meaning over the age of 60, actively participating in social life and visible. In Russia, "old people" either are not as active and outgoing as ours are, or there are just less of them due to attrition. Maybe it is the harsh weather, poor health conditions, or just that old people stay home and don't run around in Bermuda shorts at the mall like they do here. I don't know.
Anyway an interesting observation. We have a lot of old people.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
What Animal Am I
Aaaaw. I'm a bunny. Funny don't you think?
These adorable woodland animals are known for their fluffy cotton tail and shy disposition. Bunnies reproduce like crazy and are found all over the world. As a bunny, you spend your days hopping through fields and chewing on grass and leaves. Your cuddly, gentle appearance is irresistable!
You were almost a: Pony or a Duck
You are least like a: Monkey or a MouseTake the Cute Animal Quiz!
You Are A: Bunny!
These adorable woodland animals are known for their fluffy cotton tail and shy disposition. Bunnies reproduce like crazy and are found all over the world. As a bunny, you spend your days hopping through fields and chewing on grass and leaves. Your cuddly, gentle appearance is irresistable!You were almost a: Pony or a Duck
You are least like a: Monkey or a MouseTake the Cute Animal Quiz!
Folgers Happy Morning
This has to be the strangest and most surrealistic commercial I have ever seen. It is also funny in a very warped way. Somehow it brings back memories of the 1970's. It as if the Brady Bunch have gone on a yellow tinged psychedelic trip.
Watch the whole thing. I love the dog.
Hot cha cha cha!!!
Added another link in case the first one is broken
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
666 The Apocalypse Has Arrived
Here it is. The fabled and fated day of judgement. The mark of the beast is upon us. We had our first sign of impending doom. This morning the newspaper didn't arrive!!! The beginning of the end!! The horror! Oh...Ok ....the inconvenience. Our little cozy routine was all discombobulated. The Dumbplumber (AKA my husband) said, now he knows how the cat feels when we move things in the house or have company to intrude on her well set routine. Ah, well. This too shall pass. At least I have the Internet to get my morning news fix.
But, just in case this is the real thing, I think I'll check the Armageddon Pantry this afternoon. I'm sure we must need some more dried fruit or wine or something.
But, just in case this is the real thing, I think I'll check the Armageddon Pantry this afternoon. I'm sure we must need some more dried fruit or wine or something.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Taxing the Wealthy
When a lie is repeated over and over it becomes mistaken for the truth. This is called propaganda. The mantra that tax cuts only benefit the wealthiest 1% and that there have been massive cuts in social programs as a result of the wealthy skipping out on taxes is widespread, especially by the left. Part of the reason for the spread of these lies and misconceptions is due to the complex nature of economics, biased blathering by uneducated reporters and mostly by purposeful distortions of policy by those who benefit from the lies.
Caution: this is a link heavy article as I want to document myself. If you don't like economics or statistics, don't click the links.
First of all, income tax is not a tax on the "wealthy". It is a tax on income. Period. Wealth is taxed when you die. Politicians self-servingly promote the idea that the top 1 percent are dilettante millionaires living off of the backs of the rest of the population. The facts are something different. Of the one half of the 1 percent who are in the top tax bracket, more than two thirds are small business owners. Of all businesses in the US approximately 98% are classified as small businesses that employ less than 100 people, yet they also generate over 36% of jobs. Taxing the small business community to death would harm and halt the economic growth we have seen since the tax cuts were enacted May 28, 2003 when ALL income classes had their tax brackets lowered.
Does this mean that the people who earn more income paid less dollars in income taxes when the rates were reduceded? Yes. But here is the rub. The class warfare warriors focus on dollars of tax relief received instead of the percentage of taxes to income paid. These figures from the Cato Institute give us a real picture of where the tax revenue is coming from. The top one percent make about 17 percent of the money in this economy, but they pay 33 percent of the income taxes. How is that fair? The top five percent make 33 percent of the income, but pay 52 percent of the taxes. The bottom 50 percent pay only five percent of the income taxes In contrast, households earning less than $75,000 received about 70 percent of the benefits from increasing the child credit and 64.4 percent of the benefit from creating the 10 percent bracket on the first $14,000 of taxable income, the Tax Policy Center says. In addition, it says 55.2 percent of the benefit from ending the so-called marriage penalty was received by families earning less than $100,000.
How is our economy doing since the tax cuts? To hear the Democrats in Congress and the leftist moonbats on blogs the US is perpetually about to go into a recession.
Unemployment is at a low of 5% and lets face it 5% of the population is just not employable and will never hold a job.
The gross domestic product growth rate took off immediately after the tax cuts hitting a 20 year high of 7.2% in October 2003 and has continued to grow at a respectable 3 to 4 % average surge in tax revenue since the tax cuts.
The reason we don't see this information published in the MSM is that the MSM is composed of or controlled by left leaning Democrats with agendas. They want to perpetuate and prolong class warfare to regain power and further their Socialistic aims. By repeating propaganda over and over to create unrest and division within the population the politicians hope to gain power. This is a similar technique used by the National Socialist Party in Germany as applied to the Jewish population. Fortunately for us and unfortunately for our current politicians, there is a fatal flaw in their propaganda. Most people aspire to become wealthy and earn high incomes. It is hard to create a complete societal rift and create envy, when people want to become the envied.
But let's look at the real tax on the Wealthy.....the Estate Tax. Here is one description by proponents of the tax.
"The estate tax is the most progressive tax in place in the United States tax code. It is the federal government's only tax on accumulated wealth. It helps reduce concentrations of wealth and power." Redistribution of wealth, isn't that a central tennent of Communism?
More about the Estate Tax in a later post. But consider this, if you or your family have worked hard to create a business, have been smart in your investments, or have just been lucky in owning land in an area that has had huge property appreciation through no effort of your own, why should you be punished and have over 50% of your efforts confiscated by the government and redistributed to others?
Caution: this is a link heavy article as I want to document myself. If you don't like economics or statistics, don't click the links.
First of all, income tax is not a tax on the "wealthy". It is a tax on income. Period. Wealth is taxed when you die. Politicians self-servingly promote the idea that the top 1 percent are dilettante millionaires living off of the backs of the rest of the population. The facts are something different. Of the one half of the 1 percent who are in the top tax bracket, more than two thirds are small business owners. Of all businesses in the US approximately 98% are classified as small businesses that employ less than 100 people, yet they also generate over 36% of jobs. Taxing the small business community to death would harm and halt the economic growth we have seen since the tax cuts were enacted May 28, 2003 when ALL income classes had their tax brackets lowered.
Does this mean that the people who earn more income paid less dollars in income taxes when the rates were reduceded? Yes. But here is the rub. The class warfare warriors focus on dollars of tax relief received instead of the percentage of taxes to income paid. These figures from the Cato Institute give us a real picture of where the tax revenue is coming from. The top one percent make about 17 percent of the money in this economy, but they pay 33 percent of the income taxes. How is that fair? The top five percent make 33 percent of the income, but pay 52 percent of the taxes. The bottom 50 percent pay only five percent of the income taxes In contrast, households earning less than $75,000 received about 70 percent of the benefits from increasing the child credit and 64.4 percent of the benefit from creating the 10 percent bracket on the first $14,000 of taxable income, the Tax Policy Center says. In addition, it says 55.2 percent of the benefit from ending the so-called marriage penalty was received by families earning less than $100,000.
How is our economy doing since the tax cuts? To hear the Democrats in Congress and the leftist moonbats on blogs the US is perpetually about to go into a recession.
Unemployment is at a low of 5% and lets face it 5% of the population is just not employable and will never hold a job.
The gross domestic product growth rate took off immediately after the tax cuts hitting a 20 year high of 7.2% in October 2003 and has continued to grow at a respectable 3 to 4 % average surge in tax revenue since the tax cuts.
The reason we don't see this information published in the MSM is that the MSM is composed of or controlled by left leaning Democrats with agendas. They want to perpetuate and prolong class warfare to regain power and further their Socialistic aims. By repeating propaganda over and over to create unrest and division within the population the politicians hope to gain power. This is a similar technique used by the National Socialist Party in Germany as applied to the Jewish population. Fortunately for us and unfortunately for our current politicians, there is a fatal flaw in their propaganda. Most people aspire to become wealthy and earn high incomes. It is hard to create a complete societal rift and create envy, when people want to become the envied.
But let's look at the real tax on the Wealthy.....the Estate Tax. Here is one description by proponents of the tax.
"The estate tax is the most progressive tax in place in the United States tax code. It is the federal government's only tax on accumulated wealth. It helps reduce concentrations of wealth and power." Redistribution of wealth, isn't that a central tennent of Communism?
More about the Estate Tax in a later post. But consider this, if you or your family have worked hard to create a business, have been smart in your investments, or have just been lucky in owning land in an area that has had huge property appreciation through no effort of your own, why should you be punished and have over 50% of your efforts confiscated by the government and redistributed to others?
Thursday, June 01, 2006
The Best Rock and Roll Station Ever!!
Just discovered KCDX http://www.kcdx.com/ If you love music and hate the canned stuff on commercial FM stations, you know where they play the same 20 songs over and over, you will LOVE this. You need a broadband connection. I have this streaming on my computer when I am working or just futzing around and leave the website open so I can see what is playing at the moment. I don't always like rock and roll but the mix is so eclectic it works as a change up from my usual jazz, blues and old standards that I have in my comuter music library.
There is an interesting story about the station and the owner.
ENJOY!!!
There is an interesting story about the station and the owner.
ENJOY!!!
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