Written by Neither a borrower nor a lender be. These are the words of the bard. Well, at least they’re the words a character of the bard spoke to his son. This advice is as wise today as it was back in Shakespeare’s time. It may be a little different today than it was back then, but not much. The basics are pretty much the same. Borrowers risk losing their wealth through interest payments and lose of collateral, lenders risk losing their wealth through the bankruptcy of borrowers. The acts of lending and borrowing need to be measured and the risks on both sides considered before it is agreed upon. READ MORE »
Posts in category Taxes
Szandor Blestman’s Positive Outlook for 2011
As I sit here typing this on the last day of the first decade of the twenty first century, I must say that I’m not sad to see it go. The years from 2001-2010 (the year 2000 having been, in my opinion, the last year of the twentieth century rather than the first year of the twenty first) were the worst consecutive ten years of my life, and I’ve been around for half a century. That’s saying quite a bit as I’ve had some very tough times in my life and my share of struggles. But these last ten years go much deeper than my personal trials and tribulations. In the past I’ve always been able to figure something out and get along with my life. Now I feel trapped. Now I feel like a whole way of life has gone by the wayside. I have the feeling that a whole lot of people share my point of view. READ MORE »
Calling a Spade a Tyrant
Anyone who plays cards knows what the suits look like. They know what a spade, club, heart and diamond are. Yet some slick talking people might try to confuse the issue at times. Depending on rules to games and what they are trying to accomplish, some people might point out the similarities between the suits. Hearts and spades closely resemble each other in shape. Clubs and spades are the same color, as are hearts and diamonds. Stretching it a little, one could claim that there is a similarity between clubs, diamonds and spades in that they all come to 4 cardinal points. But cards and suits are easy to distinguish from each other. It becomes a little more convoluted when discussing concepts that aren’t drawn and pictured on cards and that we’ve been indoctrinated to think of in ways different than their true nature. READ MORE »
Decentralization in an Age of Globalization
I’m not one known to make predictions about the future, but I am going to make a prediction here. I am going to predict that we’re going to start hearing more and more about global government, or global taxes, or global solutions to the ongoing economic crisis in the mainstream corporate media. I make this prediction because of the current precarious position of the dollar as the second round of quantitative easing takes place. Already there is a sector calling for a replacement for the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. READ MORE »
The Scientific Method Versus the Religion of Science
Knowledge is power. That is something that men have known for a long time. If I know something you don’t know, there’s a chance I’ll be able to take advantage of that fact. I can do so honestly by providing a service, for instance if I know something about electronics and you need something fixed, or I can do so dishonestly, for instance by engaging in some questionable activity like a shell game. I can chose to impart my knowledge upon others and help benefit mankind, or I can keep my knowledge secret and try to use it to my advantage, or I can deliberately misinform, obfuscate and lie in an effort to try to control the behavior of others and elevate myself in their eyes. It is this third option that is the most insidious when exercised. READ MORE »
Employers in U.S. Start Bracing for Higher Tax Withholding
Written by Employers in the U.S. are starting to warn their workers to prepare for slimmer paychecks if Congress fails to vote on an extension of Bush-era tax cuts.
“I’ve been doing payroll for probably close to 30 years now, and never have we seen something like this where it gets that down to the wire,” said Dennis Danilewicz, who manages payroll services for about 14,000 employees at New York University’s Langone Medical Center. “That’s what’s got a lot of people nervous. All we can do is start preparing communications with a couple of different scenarios.”
Lawmakers won’t start debating whether to extend the cuts, which expire Dec. 31, until after the Nov. 2 elections. Because it takes weeks to prepare withholding schedules, the Internal Revenue Service will probably have to assume the cuts will expire and direct employers to increase payroll deductions starting Jan. 1, experts say.
Democrats Can Be Tea Partiers Too
There is a popular notion going around that the Tea Party has great influence in this election year. Candidates endorsed by the Tea Party are quite popular. It is also popularly believed that Tea Party candidates are basically revamped Republicans and Neocons. That may be what the Tea Party has become, but it certainly isn’t what the spirit of the Tea Party is all about. Indeed, the Democrats could have hijacked the Tea Party early on if the had been politically savvy enough, but it was the Republicans that saw the power in the grass roots movement and took control of it early to use public sentiment to their advantage. READ MORE »
Austerity and Riots, a Matter of Broken Trust and Fraud
There are some who might wonder at the recent riots in France. They might want to blame them on the French people being lazy, or greedy, or unwilling to make sacrifices. They might wonder if the French people don’t realize that the world is in a financial mess, that we are all going to have to work a little harder and change our lifestyles if we are going to muddle through these tough times. Personally, I don’t believe these protests and riots in France are about such things. I don’t think they’re about being unwilling to make sacrifices or work harder. I think they’re about recognizing the fraud that has been perpetrated upon humanity and demanding justice on those who perpetrated the fraud. I think it’s about finally saying “Enough!” and demanding that promises made be kept.
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The New Green Fascists Threaten Everyone
I used to argue in favor of using green technologies. I used to believe that green technology was the way of the future and that taking steps to conserve energy was good for the planet. I no longer believe such things. Want to know what changed my mind? It was Greenpeace. It was others who were promoting the ideas I was promoting a few years back. They have abandoned all reason and have resorted to blatant threats to promote their agenda. I don’t take kindly to threats. READ MORE »
Pledge to America or a Plague Upon Her?
“There’s nothing in the streets, looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left is now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight..,
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss.”
From “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who
Politics in the United States of America has degraded into nothing more than a circus. It has become a cancer on our society that will not stop growing until we cut it out by its roots. This is partially a result of the two party duopoly that has been established by the rich elite who continue to pay for it, and partially a result of decades of popular apathy, ignorance and indoctrination that has led to acceptance of that system. It has become obvious that, with a few, but a growing number of exceptions, the worst possible humans are the ones that have decided to run for political office. That is because, I believe, positions of power attract control freaks who wish to exercise force over people and all their dealings. READ MORE »
Cut Taxes, Cut Spending, Shrink Government
So, I heard part of Barack Obama’s speech yesterday. He held some sort of televised “town hall meeting” on CNBC which was entitled “Investing in America Forum.” This on the heels of the declaration by The National Bureau of Economic Research that the “recession” ended in June of 2009. I definitely didn’t get that memo. Well, one thing I can say for sure, these guys don’t give up on the rhetoric. They don’t lighten up on the propaganda. Barack loves to pretend that he cares and the elitists on top love to pretend that they can fool everyone just by saying everything’s okay and the economy is hunky dory. READ MORE »
Taxing the Poor; Creating Victims and Criminals
There’s a big, public debate going on right now about whether or not to keep the “Bush era” tax cuts. The Democrats are claiming that anyone making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year should be taxed more to close the national deficit and the Republicans are claiming that these are the very people who need the money to create jobs and kick start our economy. By the way, they’ve been trying to kick start the economy for a couple of years now, even after they spent hundreds of billions or even trillions bailing out the mega banks and corporations. READ MORE »
Conspiracy Theories, the Lure of Collectivism and the Cycle of Abuse
I read an interesting piece the other day about mass delusion and the economy. It got me to thinking about, of all things, conspiracy theories. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, the reason the powerful can get away with conspiracy, the reason they can cause so much harm and consternation is because they know how to create and manipulate mass delusion. Maybe the main mass of the population disregards conspiracy theories so off handedly simply because they don’t want to believe they’re true, not because facts or evidence point to said theories being false. READ MORE »
Republicans Should Embrace an Anti War Philosophy
I heard a great idea the other day. It was proffered by Stefan Molyneux. We should hold a referendum and find out who favors wars of aggression and foreign occupation and who doesn’t. Those in favor of such things should have to pay for them. Those against said wars should receive a tax refund for the portion of their taxes that would have gone to fund such foreign adventurism. I have the feeling that if this were the case those funding said projects would quickly discover just how expensive wars are and how much it costs to maintain an empire. I think they would quickly learn that such adventurism is simply not worth the price. READ MORE »
Corporations and the Federal Government’s Bass Ackwards Priorities
2011 Leave a Comment
If there’s anything in this world that should be regulated, it’s corporations. If there’s anything that centralized government should do, it’s protect the common folk from these monstrous behemoths. Some might think that’s blasphemy coming from a free market enthusiast like I am. That’s because for decades, perhaps even centuries, people have been misinformed, perhaps deliberately, as to the nature of corporations. Many people have come to believe that to be pro business, pro free market is tantamount to being pro corporation. This is not so. In fact, I believe just the opposite. I think that being pro corporation is being anti business. I think that being pro corporation is being anti free market, in fact it’s tantamount to being anti freedom in general. READ MORE »