An American is taxed about 35% of their wage income (if they are in a high tax bracket). That American is taxed about 15% on their investment income (assuming the income is long term gains). So, why is it surprising that Romney, who has about 250 million in wealth, but has a wage income under one million, is paying net taxes of about 15%? Almost ( Read more... )

Everytime I go through a TSA checkpoint, I get patted down now. EVERY time. Admittedly, some of it is because I refuse to go through the "new" full body radiation machines (not the old ones, I'll walk through those), I mean the new ones that look like radiation closets. My body has had 3 lifetimes worth of radiation, I am sure. But even where they ( Read more... )

Populism makes me nervous. I'm a nervous guy anyway, an ex-risk manager (a psyche one never manages to overcome, at least, not me, not yet), a conservative person with paranoid tendencies. Populism is, on one level, about the masses feeling discord with the system, and with the "elite" that succeed in that system ( Read more... )

During/After the 1987 Stock Market crash, Ronald Reagan and company did (at least) one thing that totally saved the situation. He and his cronies got on the phone and talked, twisted arms, whatever, but they got american listed companies to start announcing buybacks of their own stock ( Read more... )

The link below is an article from Forbes, printed in 1931 originally. It is long and dense, but it is very very informative of how currency worked when usage of the gold standard was much more common. If you want to know anything about the banking system (generally), this is an excellent read, and very thought provoking.

An interrelationship of ( Read more... )

in thinking about all the recent events politically in the US, in some sense, it comes down to two different themes. Centralism v. Federalism. ,Monetarists v. "Keynesians. So, on the second of those two themes, I was just curious where you all fall, simplistically.
Here's an easy poll.

Poll Monetarism v. Keynesians.

Comments appreciated.

The debt ceiling "crisis" is a farce, created by DC Republicrats, and has almost no meaning at all but one. "They" knew this would happen, probably expected it to happen during the election year though, they planned it for a fight about taxes v. spending. Like, there is a fight there, we need to work on both. The only actual thing that might come ( Read more... )

and a different perspective on some of the big financial "busts" of our time. Just reading the review might give enough sense of the perspective, but i'll get the book, i am sure.

a Krugman review, pushing his slant, but well written, as usual.

I like LulzSec. I can't help thinking of the movie War Games, tho.

Prejudice never really changes its face.