I’ve thought about starting a blog for a long time but never really got around to doing it. I didn’t really care for creating one until now. Lots of things are happening in my life along with plenty of narcisstic and self-deprecating thoughts that boil down to a swirly dark chaotic mess. But when I’m not feeling like that, I’m pretty awesome.
A Deeper Look Into Why I Hate Politics
This was a comment in response to a post about GE skipping US taxes.
I have a financial planner. He’s a dyed-in-the-wool PNAC militant Republican, all the more ironic considering he’s an Iraqi with family ties to Chemical Ali. I watched him give a seminar once where in one breathtaking sentence he managed to tie Rosie the Riveter to Osama Bin Laden and blame the rise of Islamic terrorism to the post-war appearance of women in the workplace. I mention this not only to illustrate that his mindset is very much not my own, but to illustrate exactly how far away it is from anything I would consider “progressive.”
Yet he manages my money. And he manages it aggressively. When we had this come-to-jesus about philosophy he said “I’ll tell you the same thing I told (a prominent liberal whose money he also manages). I don’t make the laws. I just play by them. You can hate the policies as much as you want but if I leave money on the table, I’m not doing my job. What you do with it is up to you – give everything I save you to Greenpeace for all I care. But can we have an understanding that because the tax code is written for the rich by the rich, you’d be a fool not to play the game by our rules?”
We fully arrived in Bizarro-World when we were talking about how our current state and our former state don’t grant the same professional rights to my wife (a naturopathic doctor) and that her scope of practice would be significantly curtailed compared to what she was used to. “The cheapest thing to do would be to hire a lobbyist and get the laws changed,” he said. We just sort of stared at him, bug-eyed. Cheapest? “Well, you’re talking a state law with a very narrow scope. We could probably overturn that for ten, twenty thousand dollars.” It turns out he was speaking hyperbolically, but he wasn’t far off. The list of lobbyists he showed us was the same as the list of lobbyists my wife’s professional organization hired off of. His prices were off – maybe a factor of two, factor of three. Not a factor of ten.
Americans need to understand down to their very bones that their money is going to – and their country is being run by – people who know that an inconvenient tax law doesn’t need to be suffered, it needs to be changed. These people know that if $200k of lobbying saves them $200m in taxes that lobbying is their most financially efficient tax strategy. Americans need to understand that the entire system is rigged against people who take the 1040EZ, who always get the Standard Deduction, who think that their $10k account on eTrade makes them a “player.” The entire system is rigged so heavily against the individual with a middle-class income that the average taxpayer still thinks he’s a small fish in a small pond – he doesn’t even realize he’s a goldfish in an aquarium bought and paid for by people whose fortunes dwarf his so extravagantly that scientific notation is necessary to illustrate the difference.
The AP ran a pie chart in 2001 that I saw in a newspaper once and haven’t seen since. It broke down who, exactly, benefited from the Bush Tax Cuts – remember, back when you got a $300 check as pablum to get you to shut up? Prosperity for everybody, right?
That graph had a lot of stuff on it that wouldn’t surprise you. “Businesses” got a big chunk of it. “The Middle class” got a tiny chunk of it. “The wealthy” got a big chunk of it. But way down at the bottom, next to a “2%” there was an asterisk. That asterisk, down in the footnotes, said “Samuel, John, Christy, Alice and James Walton.”1
2% of the benefits of an entire national tax cut – about four billion dollars – went directly to five people. Who happen to own Walmart. They cut you a $300 check so yo wouldn’t grumble about it. Each Walton, individually, got more tax cut than 2.5 million people, collectively. But it’s okay, because you got an X-box.
That’s the system we live in. And the people who have the most direct power to change it are the ones that are benefiting the most. Be angry at GE. Be angry at the tax laws. Be angry at the lobbyists. Be angry at the people taking advantage of it. If you aren’t outraged, you aren’t paying attention.
- “Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporality embarrassed millionaires.”
John Steinbeck
Edit 1. Fixed link.
Further Reading 1. “The Walton family of WalMart would receive an estimated tax break of more than $30 billion by repealing the estate tax.”
The 5 Most Recent Pics on my iPhone
Every now and then I will post the last 5 pictures taken on my iPhone. It can be pretty random but at the same time says a lot about what I’ve been up to.It’s pretty interesting what you thought was worth taking a picture of and many times in hindsight you think to yourself “why did I take this picture?”
Just Plain Bread
I dont even remember which restaurant this is from, but one thing holds true: Bread becomes your favorite thing to eat once you sit down at your local franchised family restaurant.
It’s funny, really. At home I could care less about bread. Unless it had some kind of spread (PBJ for me please), I wouldn’t think twice about eating bread alone. BUT, when I’m at a restaurant, suddenly the simplest bread and butter becomes my best friend.
It’s NOT Friday
OK I know this song has already been beaten to a dead horse, but it just so happens that I had to save this picture on my phone x days ago because it’s hilarious! Yes, most people can agree this is a terribad song but, what if the lyrics were changed and it were sung by someone like Katy Perry or Ke$ha? This song has all the fundamental foundations for a popular pop song, yet I believe the only things holding this song back from being good (as defined by our pop-culture) are lyrics with sexual intentions and a super hot ho-bag singing it.
And let’s be honest here people, these lyrics are very very bad, but what about some of the top hits like Extraterrestrial by Katy Perry? The lyrics are basically about inviting some slimy alien to rape her…Really?
Angry Rice Krispy Birds
Aren’t these awesome! Made by my long time friend Lisa, she created these delicious characters for my friend Peter on his birthday.
Angry Birds is a game I’m pretty sure every iPhone or Android user has played. Why is it popular? Because it’s an easy, simple, and aesthetically pleasing to the eye destroying pigs under piles of plywood and bricks. But I have to point out to you casual gamers that this concept is OLD, which is why I’m not so inclined to be “addicted” to the game. Hardcore gamers like myself (geeks) have long had games like Cannons and Gunbound. But I will admit, Angry Birds is very popular because they did the best job creating it for the typical user on a smartphone. Graphics, gameplay, and content are just a few areas Angry Birds have beat out anyone trying to compete.
Craigslist
Still sought out by musical gear heads, this Boss DM-3 is over 20 years old! One reason why I can sell it for a pretty decent amount (upwards of $150) is because it’s “vintage.” There are tons of digital delay effects out there, but not many can accurately mimic this old thing.
Now to get to my point about Craigslist. This place is great to sell your old crap you don’t want anymore. Got an old TV you dont feel like moving and trashing? Put it up on craigslist for someone to come pick it up! In my opinion, the hottest thing to sell right now is anything branded with Apple. Apple is so damn popular you can easily get 80%-90% of your money back selling an old model iPhone, iPad, iMac, iPod, etc. I was able to sell my old Macbook (2006) to pay for my iPad! And of course, watch out for the creepsters and only meet people in public places.
Guitar Hero?
For some reason this made me laugh pretty hard. The girl you see here is a family friend’s daughter that wanted to show my brother and I how to play Guitar Hero (PS2 version LOL). Anyway, she’s only got one guitar. So she has my brother play with the guitar and she plays with the CONTROLLER!? First of all I didn’t know you could do that. Second, who plays guitar hero with no guitar!? It becomes L1, L2, R1, R2 Hero! I’ll tell you who plays it like that: 10 year old gamers.
Well now that you’ve seen my latest 5 pics taken with my phone, what are some of yours?
Hwangsta 