It doesn't take a swami.

My sister’s first husband (and the biological father of my niece and nephew) passed away recently at the age of 47.  When I heard the news, I didn’t ask about the cause of death.  I didn’t need to.  Nobody who knew him would have needed to. 

 

John wasn’t just a lifelong alcoholic.  He was the type of alcoholic you read about in the original Alcoholics Anonymous “big book.”  The quantities of alcohol he poisoned his body with were… prodigious, for lack of a better word.   I would share an example or two if I thought anyone would believe it possible for a man to have drunk that much booze.  

His drinking wrought total and complete devastation and ruin upon him, yet he never changed course.  Day after day, gallon after gallon, year after year…for John it was ever the same.

And then he died, because….well….what else was supposed to happen?

  

While no man knows the future, it sometimes doesn’t take a genius to make an accurate prediction.  Drink like John did…eventually an organ will fail and you will die.  Practice the piano for two hours a day…you’ll eventually get pretty good at it.  Spend more money than you make for years on end…eventually there will come a day when you can’t borrow what you need anymore.  (Most all of us probably know someone that has gone through this lately.)

Just as it didn't take a genius to know what was eventually coming for John, it doesn't require a masters in economics to know we are in big trouble with our federal budget.  What predictions can we make about how this debt will effect us?

Before answering that question, let us take a brief assessment of the situation as it stands now.  As a nation, we owe (roughly) $13,000,000,000,000.  There are (roughly) 300,000,000 in our population.  Divide those numbers and you will see that we owe (roughly) $40,000 for every man, woman and child.  That is our debt.

This year, our government spent (roughly) $1,400,000,000,000 more than it took in.  Close to $5,000 for each of us.  That is our deficit.  For those that have a hard time wrapping their brain around that number, it is (roughly) twice what we spent on the entire military.  Because the Congress never did get around to passing a budget it’s hard to nail down the numbers, but as best I can tell the government borrowed 1 out every 3 dollars it spent.  Think about that for minute.  How long would your household stay afloat if you earned 60k per year and spent 90k?

I will go no further with assessment of the current situation, except to say it much worse when one considers the ramifications of the retirement of the baby boom and our obligation to them in terms of social security and Medicaid.  That is, however, a little bigger bite than I am willing to chew right now.

So what do we have to look forward to?  Will the US government default on its debt?  Will the US mint just start printing money and devalue our currency?  How about some Greek style austerity and the civil unrest that will surely follow? 

Without some very courageous, swift and meaningful action by our congress and president, our hand will be forced and those will be our choices.  And believing that congress will act courageously is kind of like believing that John would eventually put that bottle down.

Grayson Ad: Dirty Politics Epitomized

Daniel Webster, Alan Grayson's opponent for congress, spoke about Biblical versus in the context of marriage.  Here is what he said.



Here is how Alan Grayson used it in his campaign ad.



To me, this is beyond despicable.  Regarding the verse that says "wives submit to your husbands," Webster basically says that verse is between your wife and God.  Don't bring that up.  Instead, focus on the verse that says "husbands, love your wife as Jesus loves the church."  That's the verse for you to pay attention to.

Grayson doesn't just twist the words.  He flat out edits the speech to mean exactly the opposite of what the guy is saying..... and then takes it even further to compare Webster to the Taliban!

I searched the internet all morning, and I was unable to find any indication that Webster believes women shouldn't be allowed out of the house without their husbands permission.  I couldn't find where Webster believes that adulteress women and rape victims should be stoned to death.


I know what you're thinking.  Grayson must have lowered his head in shame when confronted with the out and out lie of an ad he put out.

You'd be wrong.  This man, like most politicians, knows no shame.



My favorite part is at 2:24 where Grayson says "We could argue endlessly about whether it's in context, out of context, whatever...."  And a child with cookie all over his his face could argue endlessly with his mother about whether or not he'd been eating cookies. 

Five Thoughts I Shouldn't Have Had To Share

1.   You’ve discovered that your political opponent, at some point in their life, has done something that they have publicly said is wrong.  As you scream “hypocrite” and proudly wallow in your superiority, I would like to congratulate you.  Through your superior intellect and moral fortitude, you have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that this political opponent is ……exactly like every other human that has ever lived, you included.   Oh, by the way, showing that someone is a “hypocrite” doesn’t necessarily make them wrong about the original point they were making.
2.  The bank didn’t fuck you over on your house, you fucked them.  You were the one who lied about how much your house was worth when you refinanced.  You borrowed as much as your lying appraisal would allow.  You took vacations, bought cars, paid off credit cards etc.  Then, the housing market crashed.  You walked away.  Did you give back to the bank the money you lied to them to get?  Of course not.  The bank got left holding that bag.  Now, this doesn’t make you a bad person….you probably didn’t mean for this to happen.  But shut the fuck up about how the bank fucked you!
3. Not everyone who disagrees with you is a blithering idiot, un-American pinko, racist homophobe or brainwashed troll incapable of thinking for his/herself.  Sure, some are (and they are usually the loudest,) but most aren’t.  Newsflash:  it is possible for two reasonable and intelligent people of sound mind to come to different conclusions when presented with the same set of facts.
4.  There is only one way in the world to get a better credit score:  borrow money from a reputable lender and then pay it back.  Then continue to do that every month.  There, I just saved you all the money the guy with the radio ad was going to bilk from you.
5. The economy is tough, we all get it….but maybe the reason you can’t get a job is because you walk around in a wife beater with your pants on the ground and you speak so poorly that no responsible business owner would ever let you near his/her customers.  And by the way, meth rots your teeth….find a different drug.

Amazing

I posted last week some new statistics from the Tax Policy Center showing that 47% of Americans pay no income tax and that 40% actually receive more in "refunds" than they paid into the system in the first place.

Over the weekend, a new CBS poll came out asking Americans if they feel they are paying their fair share of income taxes.  The results:

Do You Pay Your Fair Share Of Income Taxes?

2010
About right amount     50%
More than fair share     43
Less than fair share     1 

I will assume that the 1% who feel they pay less than their fair share comes from the 40% who profit from the income tax system.  That still means that out there, living amongst us, is 39% of the population that receives free money every tax system yet still believe they pay to much in taxes!!

The sad part for me personally is that I was so outraged over the numbers last week, that I just don't have any additional outrage left for this.  Have we as a society become really become this damn selfish?

Virtual Zeppelin

Ten Years Gone is a freaking awesome Zeppelin tune that I had been dying to play for about 25 years now.  So I hit the interwebs to find some instruction and came across this video.

These guys are from all over the world.  They all recorded their parts separately and shared the files back and forth until they finished this absolutely dead-on cover version.  Now, I'm not big into playing things exactly as the original band did.  That said, this is still a hell of an accomplishment. 

First, Virtual Zeppelin's cover



Now, the real deal.



How freakin' cool is that!!

The New Economic Model

There is much debate regarding whether or not our nation has become a European style social democracy. At the risk of being called an ignorant, racist "Tea Bagger," I would assert it undoubtedly has. In defense of this position, I would like to bring your attention to stories that made news today.

The first is a report from the Tax Policy Center that finds 47% of Americans will pay NO INCOME TAX to the treasury to help cover the costs of national defense, maintenance of infrastructure and the billions in necessary pork to pay off members of congress so the President can pass his agenda. That's right, a full 47% don't pay a dime in income tax.

Although that is pretty bad, it is not the end of the story. There are millions of Americans (the bottom 40% of income earners) who actually get back more in a tax "refund" than they paid into the system in the first place. To me, that isn't a tax refund, it's a wealth transfer. Only a politician could call that a tax refund.

The other story comes from the Wall Street Journal. Current White House Economic Advisor Paul Volcker has given the first signal of the Obama Administrations intention to add a Value Added Tax (VAT) on top of our current income tax. For those who don't know what a VAT is, it is like a national sales tax. The difference is the VAT is applied at every stop in the economy. It is paid by suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers, brokers, retailers and consumers. Basically, every level of production is taxed.

The VAT is almost a foregone conclusion at this point. The only real question is how high the tax will be. The number being guessed at is 10% as this will yield about a trillion dollars, or 2/3 the current deficit, annually.

So in conclusion: Almost half of our "taxpayers" don't actually pay income taxes. Forty percent of our tax payers actually receive more in tax refunds than they paid in the first place. And the federal government is going to tax every level of production in the economy at about 10%. (Don't believe me on this one.....I'll write about it later.)

Sure sounds like a European style Social Democracy to me.

the only good news is that with the VAT at least all the free loaders that make money off the income tax will be helping me in paying the taxes.....did I just say that out loud??