Politics

There is some kerfuffle in Oz at the moment with the Prime Minister wanting to bring in a carbon tax, something she categorically ruled out just 24 hours before the last election. Many people are not happy and there is much name calling and gnashing of teeth. Since the end of the Keating era I have worried that our pollies had become a rather boring bunch with little fair for the dramatic and not really worthy of exposure on the world scene. I now have new hope in Senator Mary Jo Fisher from South Australia. http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2011/03/02/3153400.htm Watch the video and see how political debate is done in the Land Down Under.

Cain's simplified tax plan got me thinking about how the government deals with serious economic times (such as right now). Let's look at the basics of Cain's plan as a super-simplified version of all tax plans. For local, state and federal governments, there are: corporate income taxes, personal income taxes, and sales taxes (as well as real estate taxes and so on). In a healthy economy, money flows and there's enough of the *income* and *sales* taxes to fund the government and it's many programs. In an unhealthy economy, the money flows more slowly, and (for sake of argument) there's not enough of the income and sales taxes to fund the government etc. S…

So I did an analysis of Cain's 999 plan (which basically simplifies the tax code into 9% personal income tax, 9% corporate income tax, and 9% sales tax) to see what kind of effect it would have on personal and corporate taxation, as well other factors, and this is what I came up with, using 2008 numbers. Total personal income equalled about 12 trillion that year, which includes all forms of income, including respective flow-through income from S-Corps and Partnerships, and doesn't factor in things like 401(k) deferrals. Total tax levied that year equalled about 1.25 trillion dollars. Under Cain's plan, that would bump down a bit to 1.08 trillion, not a big change. I…

There is no economic crisis. The news is full of hysteria and dread as to how much of a an economic crisis the world is in. Rome trembles. So to speak. I submit that it is all part of the social manipulation that is at work on us by the media. They only focus on the debtors and ignore the lenders. These lenders are in actual control of the economy. If mankind wants to end the so called economic crisis, all mankind need do is rein in those run away rich lenders. Let us not forget, those nations in debt; Greece comes to mind, should also be made to come to heel on it‘s extravagances. Woe to the rich. The tax man cometh. If there were an actual…

I work quite a bit with federal regulations and under the reg for HAZ-COM labeling it states that labels have to be marked clearly and in english. By having a federal law that mandates the use of english wouldn't that indirectly make english the U.S.'s official language.

Following the thread about homeschooling in Germany I thought it would be good to have a more general discussion on homeschooling and take a look at both sides of the argument. Please add any points or refute any of mine. Pros Child Safety: lots of parents want to keep their impressionable kids away from drugs and knives and peer pressure and keeping them at home is obviously going to help with that in the short term. If you view school as a dangerous place then it's natural to want to keep your kid away from it. Time dedicated to education: one teacher split among thirty children is obviously going to have less time to help an individual child than one parent t…

While some careers gain many benefits from experienced personnel, politics seems to have some extraneous problems with more experienced career members. Campaign financing, partisan politics, corruption and mounting compensation costs all suggest that alternatives might be warranted. A study done at Cornell University suggests that selecting representatives randomly can lead to an improvement in efficiency (links to the study are available within that article). This would eliminate campaigning costs for those representatives entirely, offset by whatever lottery system costs were incurred. It would cut compensation costs as well, since retirement benefits could be reduc…

Are we equal? What is equal to something else, anything? Or is eveything different or of unequal worth, value or importance? Are we endowed with this equality value? If so, what is it?

a person charged with killing and dismembering an eight-year-old ny townboy is confused and apathetic, a "practically blank" personality, in line with a psychiatric assessmentobtained by The Associated Press.The court-ordered assessmentof Levi Aron found him fit to face trial on murder charges within the death of Leiby Kletzky.informationwithin the report from a psychiatrist and psychologist at Kings County Hospital displaythe three5-year-old suspect is deeply troubled, and has given authorities conflicting accounts of his life and his mental and physical history.Aron, 35, has pleaded not guilty to murder and kidnapping within the death of Kletzky, who got lost walking…

Sri Lanka will continue to detain hundreds of terror suspects and outlaw the defeated rebel Tamil Tiger group despite wartime emergency laws being lifted.the los angelesws that experience curbed civil and political liberties for thereforeme of the past 30 years lapsed on Tuesday and the federal government didn't present a motidirectly to resume them, officials said on Thursday.But President Mahinda Rajapaksa approved 4regulations under the facilityful Prevention of Terrorism Act that became effective on Tuesday, Attorney-General Mohan Peiris claimed.Two of the regulations will permitthe federal government to continue to carry rebel suspects and the rehabilitation of the r…

Couldn't help myself. Excellent video by Rachel Maddow

Not really serious here, but was thinking the other day - If most of the US debt is held by Americans, how much is held by the top 10%? I couldn't find any data on that, but would be nice if most of it was indeed held by the top 10%. Then, we could just rip up those IOU's and thank them for their sacrifice. So, maybe the far right was almost correct - maybe the answer would be to default on our debt - but only the portion held by the wealthy. It is only fair, they have benefited the most from the bailout of the financial system. They are winning the monopoly game so readily that many are ready to throw the board and walk away. Maybe this would help?

As a teenager intrested in polotics how does someone get into polotics?

May I first introduce this subject with a comment? When prices go down, people put off purchases because prices will go down and they can get the items cheaper. That reduces manufacturing and workers are laid off. So, there is even less demand. Also, government tax receipts decline as income declines. That makes the national debt more difficult to control. So, the debt grows. When prices are going up, people borrow to buy before prices go higher. The borrowing puts more money in circulation and prices continue to rise. Manufacturing increases to supply the growing demand, workers are hired and the government gets in more tax revenue. Right now, prices are re…

I was wondering what your opinions were, if the need arose for an American draft, as to whether women should be drafted alongside men. Pros? Cons?

Today in the news: Moody's warns France on possible negative outlook So, summarizing the article in my own subjective words: Moody's sees no reason yet to change France's AAA rating, but still influences the economic world and the political debates, by making front page news of an announcement of a possibility in the future. This press release about a possible lowering of the rating of France may cost the French tax payers millions of euros, in higher interests... and there isn't even any reason to change the rating yet! These credit rating agencies have gained a LOT of power over the last year. Until some time ago, nobody had ever heard of them, but now they are…

What was Obama's success? Well now you can decide on Foxnews, and one of the options isn't even something that happened when Obama was president. Can you spot it? Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/10/17/thousand-days-obama-whats-presidents-biggest-accomplishment/#ixzz1b6IP01I4

Thinking about the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attack, it occurred to me that the two wars, thousands of lives lost and hundreds of billions of tax dollars spent in the interim was the result of the "conservative" response. I remember thinking, right after the attack, that an aggressive military response was the wrong thing to do, especially because Al Qaeda was being called an "Islamic" terrorist organization. Not Afghani, not Pakistani, not even Arabic, but Islamic as if the whole religion were responsible. You don't respond to religious fervor with armed force or you just create more religious fervor. I also remember thinking that we were missing out on a uniqu…

Cut/Cap/Balance, passed by the House, is expected to fail in the US Senate, even if allowed to be debated and voted on, the President has said he would veto and it's almost a sure case the Senate could not over ride the 'bill', even if the House could. However many are in agreement that the States should be allowed a voice in adding a "Balanced Budget" amendment to the Constitution (the balance), which takes a 2/3rd's vote from both Chambers. IMO if presented separately and the President could do nothing about it. Do they even know this??? Did you....and while your at it, where do you expect the National Debt to be January 1st, 2013, my guess being 18T$, regardless what …

I have read a very interesting article and also I see a documentary about EMP bombs – Weapon of mass destruction If the Russian will build something very smaller and sell it I think will create a lot of mess in this world. What do you think about this "bombs" ??

In most cases, you want people working for you to have experience. In the case of legislative political representatives, experience can also be a bad thing by continuing an ineffective status quo. It can even lead to ugly things like corruption, scamming the system, cronyism and misrepresentation. We often see newcomers throw their hat into the political ring saying that they'll use their "new eyes" to more easily see what's wrong with the system and work to correct it. We know that bringing in fresh viewpoints can often invigorate business. Does that really work in politics though? Term limits are favored by the vast majority. Why? So people don't make a career o…

So those who have kept up with the news lately might have noticed that today the United States senate approved a measure that would impose duties on goods imported from Nations who manipulate their currency. The main target of the legislation was China. As you know China has consistently devalued their currency in order to compete with emerging economies by selling products for much cheaper than other competitors. The legislation can be summed up fairly well here in a Washington Times piece, the article later goes onto say, Now while many here might agree with the proposed legislation I remain somewhat stand offish. You see this legislation reminded me o…

Now that is is eminent it does seem it was inevitable. We can see how deeply horrible the economy is. Unless you are in Washington DC. But Wall Street has to have known it. I am currently resigned that it was only a matter of time. Have you moved your 401k out of stocks? If not-why not (there is no penalty for shifting investments) Still what are the reasons the street and the country are crashing? I can think of factors- can you?

Sarah Palin did the right thing: she chose not to run for president. However, she already announced that she will still be involved in politics in the future (she'll devote herself to God, family and country". And that in the coming weeks she would "co-ordinate strategies to assist in replacing the president, re-taking the Senate, and maintaining the House". (source: BBC) Her populist right-wing Tea Party ideas will work far better when she is not in power. Even better, while she has no official position, she has absolutely no responsibilities. From the sideline, you can just shout things, and make it all seem so simple. A good strategy team can come up with interesti…

I was hit by the idea: "Society is the prime suppressor of Freedom.". Society is built upon certain rules/practices wherein they dictate how an individual should act and the limits of what a person can say, contrary to the idea of Freedom. A society 'for' freedom eventually overpowers its ruling body; therefore a dictatorship itself does not at all circumstances censor. Even notions that withhold Freedom should be free to be expressed but is not in a 'free' society(as preposterous as that is). I was told Nazism is in a way still in Germany, free, but is frowned upon and so what freedom is that. Ultimately free society is not so free. I want to hear some arguments and …