Taxes!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
I'm irrationally excited about getting my taxes filed, so I wrote up a quick song:
I want my money back money back money back
I want my money back money back money back
G-man, give me my cash
G-man give me my cash
Barbecue sauce
Philosophically, I do support paying taxes to support entitlements, defence, highway maintenance etc, etc. But I would be lying if my liberal leaning heart didn't go all a-flutter when the refunds roll in.
WHAT?
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Since humor like this certainly indicates that bipartisanship is a priority in Washington...
See them all at:
Deja vu? House Passed the Stimulus with No Republican Support.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Just saw the end of the vote on CSPAN.
I'm happy to see the bill passed. I'm happy to see it passed because I believe it is a good solution based on research and evaluation of many different opinions. You can see my reasoning below if you like, but it's not the point of this post.
- Aside: An overwhelming majority of economists, experts on how to deal with a hemorraging market, agree that one tactic we can leverage to reinvigorate this economuy is a spending bill -- whether your spending on building barracks or re-sodding the mall. Tax cuts, for the most part, are pandering to the voters in terms of stimulating the economy since they are dollars which are not guarenteed to flow back into the economy. In good times, a tax cut can result in econonmic growth. In bad times, however, individuals are much more likely to sit on that extra cash (really, what are you going do with it? Head out to buy a car/home/widget?). The tax cuts in this bill targeted towards business are helpful, but the truly prohibitive cost keeping small business from hiring employees is the cost of insurance. Thus, a payroll tax cut alone is unlikely to result in a hiring spree.
I'm deeply troubled by the tone of this vote.
Democrat or republican, these are people we elect to represent us. They are supposed to be informed, and to be able to think for themselves.
Under this philosophy, I would like to believe that each of the representatives who voted today did so having:
- Read the bill
- Evaluated expert opinions
- Talked to their constituents
I have a hard time believing that all 178 republicans came to the very same opinion -- consequently, the same goes for the dems. All 246 of you believe this bill is the best for your district? I came to the conclusion that it would be -- but we each have our own unique thought processes, we assign value differently, we have variying priorities. And we SHOULD.
It would be incredibly interesting to interview every single rep. and get each of their reasons for voting yay or nay.
Can bipartisanship actually exist?
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Right now, our country's political parties seem like two warring siblings smiling in a posed photo. In the image, they are placidly smiling, trying to appear that they're setting aside their differences to coexist harmoniously...meanwhile each is pinching the other hard behind their backs.
Instead of making an effort to actually behave in a bipartisan manner, the Republicans and the Democrats in congress are engaged in a war to be perceived as bipartisan. It's classic, screw the country and it's "issues" like shrinking GDP, growing job loss, and markets atrophy. What's really important is that you cover your back and at all costs *get reelected.*
Offenses:
Republicans --
Proposing and passing amendments to the House bill, then behaving like kindergartners and following teacher's orders not to vote for it. This charade was a massive waste of time and energy (believe me, I watched it on CSPAN), and it burned out whatever smidgen of good will the House Dems may have had.
Democrats --
Writing a CRAPPY bill. Really crappy. So bad, Obama was secretly lobbying against it!
From: Democratic Congressman: Obama Has Been Disappointed by Pelosi's Pork
On Liberadio (!) on Super Bowl Sunday, Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., said that the White House has conveyed to Democratic leaders its displeasure at the amount of "pork" in the stimulus package.
Cooper, one of 11 Democrats who voted against the bill, said that he "actually got some quiet encouragement from the Obama folks for what I’m doing because they know its a messy bill and they wanted a clean bill."
Continued Cooper, a conservative "Blue Dog" Democrat, "Now, I got in terrible trouble with our leadership because they don’t care what’s in the bill, they just want it passed and they want it to be unanimous.
They don’t mind the partisan fighting cause that’s what they are used to. In fact, they’re really good at it. And they’re a little bit worried about what a post-partisan future might look like."
Sheesh.
Given the chance to prove that the Democratic party is committed to assisting the citizens of this country, dems instead try to eek in pet issues and projects. Yes, Ms. Pelosi, Obama won. But we elected a pragmatic leader, not someone who is going to promote a divisive agenda in the guise of "stimulus." I may agree with some of the agendas you're pushing, like the birth control spending, but this bill is not the place for them.
This bill is meant to pull this country out of economic muck and mire. And how are we doing on that?
Worst January on Record for Stocks
Time Warner reports $16 billion quarterly loss
ADP Says U.S. Companies Reduced Payrolls by 522,000
Panasonic to Cut 15,000 Jobs
Kraft posts 72% decline in profit, cuts 2009 view
Oh, right. So...
Senate Lacks Votes to Pass Stimulus
This bill is meant to pull this country out of economic muck and mire. And how are we doing on that?
Worst January on Record for Stocks
Time Warner reports $16 billion quarterly loss
ADP Says U.S. Companies Reduced Payrolls by 522,000
Panasonic to Cut 15,000 Jobs
Kraft posts 72% decline in profit, cuts 2009 view
Oh, right. So...
Senate Lacks Votes to Pass Stimulus
Stimulus Bill Passes the House
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The House of Reps passed the stimulus bill...without a single "yay" vote from the republican side.
If you're curious about where the money is going, this google doc lays out the spending by agency/initiative:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p-kX0k_KXgtwwzHnvEn4eCA
The vote stats and acutal bill text can be found here:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1/show
A change of pace...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
In the photo above, Beyoncee is wonderfully out of focus.
Is it me, or do celebrities seem more irrelevant than ever right now? Scrolling through the inaugural photo albums, I couldn't help but cringe when I came across a familiar face from LA. January 20th was a day to celebrate our government and our new president, not a chance to market a film or get a little extra press.
The video below is not for the faint of heart. For those of you who watch 30 Rock, from time to time the "actor" characters on that show get upset when people forget how important they are. They then do something incredibly inane and frequently damaging to remind everyone of their magnificence and relevance.
Behold, life imitates art (ok, I know calling 30 Rock art is a little...much):
Incredible.
