Walter Sobchak, Neocon
In the The Big Lebowski:
“the movie’s most striking role belongs to John Goodman as
Walter Sobchak: a hawkish, slightly unhinged Vietnam vet and
the Dude’s best friend and bowling partner.”
9/12/2008
5/25/2008
Driving Toward Disaster
The public, and especially the mainstream media, misunderstands
the “peak oil” story. It’s not about running out of oil. It’s about the
instabilities that will shake the complex systems of daily life as
soon as the global demand for oil exceeds the global supply.
So says the article. Read on.
kf6hqc
3/24/2008
don’t make investment mistakes
With today’s roller coaster stock market, you’ll want
to avoid making costly mistakes.
kf6hqc
3/21/2008
mechanical turk
Complete simple tasks that people do better than computers and,
get paid for it.
Follow the instructions on how to complete the HIT, (Human
Intelligence Task), and when you are done, click the “Submit ”
button to save your answer.
You are paid when your answer is approved by the person that
listed the HIT.
The money you earn is deposited into your Amazon.com account,
where you can turn it into cash at any time by transferring it to
your personal checking account.
Start being artificial artificial intelligence.
kf6hqc
12/5/2007
Do you really know what money is?
A wake up call to Americans. Just how educated
are you when it comes to money and what it is,
what it represents and how it makes our world
go round and round and round. Watch these five
short videos and then tell me how your stomach
feels afterward.
kf6hqc
10/16/2007
earning your big bucks
Do you wanna see how you make money in progress?
You can just sit and watch how much money you make
by the second. Try it once, you’ll like it! I’ll bet you try it again.
kf6hqc
9/5/2007
Adopting a Kidnapper’s Creed for Education:
No Child left behind…
Poor education breeds poverty, and poverty breeds
poor education. The proposed remedies often involve
more funding for schooling, more schooling, more testing,
and now, more remedial education at the postsecondary
level, whether in two-year or four-year colleges. I think
this is a fundamentally mistaken way of looking at education
and employability. It only exacerbates the problem. And it
does so at great financial and human costs.
An interesting read by Rick Garlikov.
kf6hqc
6/15/2007
econocrash has begun, they say
It’s official. Mark your calendars. The crash of the
U.S. economy has begun. It was announced the
morning of Wednesday, June 13, 2007, by economic
writers Steven Pearlstein and Robert Samuelson in
the pages of the Washington Post, one of the foremost
house organs of the U.S. monetary elite.
Frightening reading…
kf6hqc
3/2/2007
a simplified lesson on the tax code
An accounting lesson on the tax code – very simplified!
Subject: The Tax Code
A simplified explanation of its economic affects on taxpayers… and bums.
Let’s put tax cuts in terms we can understand:
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner and the bill for all ten
comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would
go something like this, according to earnings:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1
The sixth would pay $3
The seventh would pay $7
The eighth would pay $12
The ninth would pay $18
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59 So, that’s what they decided
to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed
quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them
a curve.”Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to
reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20.”
Dinner for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the
first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what
about the other six men – the paying customers? How could they divide
the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his “fair share?”
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted
that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man
wouldeach end up being paid to eat their meal. So, the restaurant
owner suggested:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings)
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings)
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings)
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings)
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings)
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings… the least
proportionate savings) Each of the six paying customers was better off
than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.
But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings:
“I only got a dollar out of the $20,” declared the sixth man. He pointed
to the tenth man,” but he got $10!” “Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the
fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times
more than me!” “That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he
get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!” “Wait
a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at
all. The system exploits the poor!”
As a consequence, the first nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him
badly. The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for dinner, so the nine
sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they
discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money
between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our
tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most
benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being
wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might
start eating overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
Author unknown
via Chopper Jim
kf6hqc
2/21/2007
Learned Hand
Billings Learned Hand (January 27, 1872 – August 18, 1961)
— usually called simply Learned Hand — was a famed American
judge and an avid supporter of free speech, though he is most
remembered for applying economic reasoning to American tort
law. Hand is generally considered to be one of the most influential
American judges never to have served on the Supreme Court of
the United States. (wikiquote)
Hand once said, “Any one may so arrange his affairs
that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to
choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there
is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes.”
He is not saying to hide your income or cheat the IRS, simply fix
your affairs so as to pay as little as possible but do pay what you
owe and no more.
April 15th is just around the corner! I thought I’d share this
important little quote with you just in case you’ve never heard
it before.
kf6hqc
1/31/2007
extended warrenty blues
Do you buy the extended warrenty on items whether
big ticket or small? Well, this article may change your
mind on handing over good money for nothing. In a
way it’s like betting against yourself against a sure
thing. Good little article.
kf6hqc
