Living so close to Canada as I have my whole life you get to know a lot about the country and meet a lot of the citizens (who are pretty universally delightful and warm people).
There are also a lot of things they do right (sometimes absurdly simple) that we can't seem to manage in this country. One was getting rid of paper dollars a long time ago, and now they are aggressively phasing out the penny, both are among the most worthless extravagances that Americans still hang onto.
If there is so much "fiscal conservatism" and "old fashioned economics" on the loose in Washington DC (although I defy you to show me any actual proof of same), why aren't the penny and the dollar bill (and possibly the nickel) not gone already?
Monday, April 21, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Guns, Guns, Guns V
Another notch on the belt for the unfettered "guns in every home" group....and another little nudge upward for our particular bubble.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Calling BS on The Republicans This Time
I saw a fascinating documentary last night. It is Robert Reich's Inequality for All. He served in various administrations of both parties for all of his career but he can tell you about that.
I knew about many of the facts and economic trends in the documentary beforehand but what surprised me was that it started much earlier. The economic trend of minimizing/eliminating the middle class goes back to at least 1970. In other words, my entire working life has been spent as part of a middle class that has now shrunk almost to the point of invisibility.
He punches holes in one of the biggest Republican lies in current vogue - the 'impairment of the job creators' through asking them to ... well actually pay their current taxes for one thing, or pay a rate that is commensurate with the huge wealth increases they are reaping without contributing anything to the economy...and certainly not jobs.
Reich makes a compelling point that the middle class represents the true 'job creators'. After all, I don't think a CEO of a large corporation making, oh, $90 million per year is going to go out January 1st and say "I am going to create some jobs this year so I can make less money next year."
No, for the large majority of American businesses, demand = job creation, and the middle class is overwhelmingly responsible for demand in this country and economy. Of course, if the middle class ceases to exist or suffers huge losses in real income as they have since 1970....there is no demand, and no job creation. Sound like any economies you know of?
This is a well done, very factual documentary and is done without the usual preachiness of someone on a pulpit. One gets the sense that Reich is done with Washington politics and wants to very much leave it in his rear view mirror, but because he understands what is going on, he cares about what is going on.
I don't give a fig about voter ID to vote in US elections, but I really think it should be a requirement for every American voter to sit down and watch this documentary and understand it before casting another misguided vote based on the most charismatic candidate, the richest, or heaven forbid based on political party membership!
Update: That whooshing sound you heard was the Canadian middle class zooming by the US, eh?
I knew about many of the facts and economic trends in the documentary beforehand but what surprised me was that it started much earlier. The economic trend of minimizing/eliminating the middle class goes back to at least 1970. In other words, my entire working life has been spent as part of a middle class that has now shrunk almost to the point of invisibility.
He punches holes in one of the biggest Republican lies in current vogue - the 'impairment of the job creators' through asking them to ... well actually pay their current taxes for one thing, or pay a rate that is commensurate with the huge wealth increases they are reaping without contributing anything to the economy...and certainly not jobs.
Reich makes a compelling point that the middle class represents the true 'job creators'. After all, I don't think a CEO of a large corporation making, oh, $90 million per year is going to go out January 1st and say "I am going to create some jobs this year so I can make less money next year."
No, for the large majority of American businesses, demand = job creation, and the middle class is overwhelmingly responsible for demand in this country and economy. Of course, if the middle class ceases to exist or suffers huge losses in real income as they have since 1970....there is no demand, and no job creation. Sound like any economies you know of?
This is a well done, very factual documentary and is done without the usual preachiness of someone on a pulpit. One gets the sense that Reich is done with Washington politics and wants to very much leave it in his rear view mirror, but because he understands what is going on, he cares about what is going on.
I don't give a fig about voter ID to vote in US elections, but I really think it should be a requirement for every American voter to sit down and watch this documentary and understand it before casting another misguided vote based on the most charismatic candidate, the richest, or heaven forbid based on political party membership!
Update: That whooshing sound you heard was the Canadian middle class zooming by the US, eh?
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Time to Call BS on Congress...Again
I long ago gave up on anything said by anyone who is a member of a political party, much less a member of Congress. But it turns out that Congress in particular has been lying to us with greater vigor than normal about taxes (and so have several "anti-tax" groups).
There is collective rotten-egg-on-the-face today of every member of Congress who has ever (falsely) wailed about the "tax burden" on the poor US. It just isn't so folks...the only place we have to go is to join a couple of sterling, role model countries...Chile and Mexico.
Besides, everyone knows, the rich corporations that support your campaigns don't pay taxes anyway !
There is collective rotten-egg-on-the-face today of every member of Congress who has ever (falsely) wailed about the "tax burden" on the poor US. It just isn't so folks...the only place we have to go is to join a couple of sterling, role model countries...Chile and Mexico.
Besides, everyone knows, the rich corporations that support your campaigns don't pay taxes anyway !
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Throw Out Your Physics Texts
Well...maybe not quite yet, but as theoretical physicist Allan Adams explains in this 'improvised' TED Talk, you need to be ready to accept some pretty radical ideas if you are a true thinker! Depending on where this discovery goes, it is not only very important (and mind-boggling), but it could obsolete more than a few textbooks....
(Sorry religions of the world...science has left most of you behind long ago. The Pope better get to work on whether the Earth MIGHT just be older than 6000 years after all....).
(Sorry religions of the world...science has left most of you behind long ago. The Pope better get to work on whether the Earth MIGHT just be older than 6000 years after all....).
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