Real World Terror Alert
6/02/2007
Trickle Down Reality
Real World Trickling
"Trickle-down theorists are quick to object that higher taxes would cause top earners to work less and take fewer risks, thereby stifling economic growth. In their familiar rhetorical flourish, they insist that a more progressive tax system would kill the geese that lay the golden eggs. On close examination, however, this claim is supported neither by economic theory nor by empirical evidence."
"The surface plausibility of trickle-down theory owes much to the fact that it appears to follow from the time-honored belief that people respond to incentives. Because higher taxes on top earners reduce the reward for effort, it seems reasonable that they would induce people to work less, as trickle-down theorists claim. As every economics textbook makes clear, however, a decline in after-tax wages also exerts a second, opposing effect. By making people feel poorer, it provides them with an incentive to recoup their income loss by working harder than before. Economic theory says nothing about which of these offsetting effects may dominate."
"If economic theory is unkind to trickle-down proponents, the lessons of experience are downright brutal. If lower real wages induce people to work shorter hours, then the opposite should be true when real wages increase. According to trickle-down theory, then, the cumulative effect of the last century’s sharp rise in real wages should have been a significant increase in hours worked. In fact, however, the workweek is much shorter now than in 1900."
What's really trickling down are your wages:Beginning in the mid-1990's, pay increases for most workers slowly but steadily outpaced the rate of inflation, improving the living standards for nearly all Americans. But an unexpected reversal last year in those gains has set off a vigorous debate among economists over whether the decline is just a temporary dip or portends a deeper shift that may cause the pay of average Americans to lag for years to come.
Just Off The Borderline Vanity Press!!!
Excerpts from the book:
"Over a long weekend, I could teach my dog to be an investment banker."
- Marx Bubonic
"Fiction writing is great, you can make up almost anything."
- Napoleon Danielson
"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward freedom and democracy - but that could change."
- Marx Bubonic
"Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things."
- Napoleon Danielson
Books For Father's Day
"Capitalism is the only moral system, for it allows man to dispose of his labor as he sees fit, allows man to redrawal from those relations that do not give pleasure, and allows man to live without the threat of force. Its foundations are embedded in the moral code that God gave to Moses. It is the basis on which legitimate government is organized. Capitalism gives every individual an equal voice."
from the book The Price of Sin
by Mark Pribonic and William A. Danielson
Moses:"Thou Shalt Not Pay Taxes"
Moses Brings God's Message of Laissez Faire Capitalism to Man.
File under: Book Review, Satire
The hottest new release on the Ayn Rand Best Seller Vanity
Press List (Only 100,000 spots below Ann Coulter's "Godless" )
"The Price of Sin".
Authors Mark Pribonic and William Ayres Danielson AKA
"...an author of hundreds of blogsphere articles, both under his real name and under pseudonyms."( we know them all dontreadonme..) concoct a new mythology for the arm chair Capitalist. Moses was the messenger from God to bring capitalism to the world.
An anotation about this new thriller:
"The Ten Commandments are the moral codes by which God had commanded the manner in which individuals are to lead their daily lives. However, more than this, embedded in the moral code first received by Moses is the foundations of capitalism and limited government “The bottom line is that Moses, Paine and Rand could have all sat down and agreed on the most important outcome, yet disagreed on the source. Can you imagine the scene? Stunning indeed.” After reading this book, you will never look at the organization of society [government] the same again."
Yes that's right, Ayn Rand, author of "The Virtue of Selfishness" in agreement with Moses. The same atheistic Ayn Rand who said... "Evil requires the sanction of the victim."( Tell that to a rape victim ) and "Guilt is a rope that wears thin."
So there you have it. Moses was the first Libertarian.
Our view: The premise for this book is utter nonsense.
The price for indulging in this sin...Hardback $27.89.
Decide for yourself.
Excerpt available:
Order before midnight, so you don't forget!
It's rumored that the next release by this dynamic team of authors will be
"Why God Gave You Bad Bootstraps"
and Dr. Danielson's solo effort: "Why I Am So Wise; A Retort to Nitzche"
6/01/2007
It Was 40 Years Ago Today
The inspiration behind Sgt Pepper's songs revealed
Macca reveals that he was the one who came up with the name that introduced the world to the concept album and the gatefold sleeve.
'At the time there were groups called Laughing Joe and his Medicine Band or Col Tucker's Medicinal Brew and Compound. I took the idea back to the guys and said, 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - I've got a little bit of a song cooking with this title,'' the Mirror quoted him, as saying.
The album, he revealed, was in tribute to a police officer called Sergeant Pepper when the group toured Canada in 1965.
The songs of the album also hold their own special meanings.
'With A Little Help From My Friends': The line 'I get high with a little help from my friends' was for may years thought to be a reference to marijuana, but in 1970 John Lennon revealed that it really was about the help friends give each other.
'It's really about a little help from my friends, it's a sincere message,' he said.
'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds': Everyone though that it was a reference to LSD. It was in fact inspired by Lennon's son Julian, who came returned from school one day with a painting he had done.
When Lennon asked him about the painting, Julian replied 'It's Lucy in the sky with diamonds'. Lucy O'Connell was one of his classmates.
More
Laugh Till You Confess...Or Else!
Q: How many US Attorney Generals does it take to screw in a light bulb? 
A: I cannot recall that particular answer at this time.
Presidente Bush: El vaquero del loco
Below are a few interesting quotes about President Bush's vision of the world and how he sees things. They are from a column by Georgie Anne Geyer in the Dallas Morning News.
"The White House sees terrorists as born, not created by history, bearing the mark of Cain, not the mark of circumstance. There is a scarlet "T" written on their foreheads at birth and the only answer is to destroy them. This kind of thinking, of course, relieves the thinker of any responsibility for the presence of the insurgent-terrorist-whatever in our innocent midst."
---
"Friends of his (President Bush) from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated "I am the president!" He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of "our country's destiny."
The truth of the steadily deteriorating situation in the Middle East is, of course, quite different. The Palestinian people of 40 and even 30 years ago were formal, conservative people who remained closely tied to their families, clans and religious groups. Theirs was a highly stratified society, which has now been shattered."
Read more...
You Can't Arrest Me! My Dad's A Supreme Court Judge!
Justice's daughter pleads guilty to DUI
Court supervision for Wheaton woman
By Art Barnum
Tribune staff reporter
A daughter of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia pleaded guilty Wednesday to drunken driving in Wheaton in February. Ann S. Banaszewski, 45, a Wheaton mother of five, had three of her children in her van when she was stopped by police.
Banaszewski accepted a plea agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced by DuPage County Judge Daniel Guerin to 18 months of court supervision. She also was ordered to perform 140 hours of public service (of which 40 hours must be beneficial to children), attend counseling and treatment sessions, attend a victim-impact panel and pay $1,500 in fines and fees.
Assistant State's Atty. Michael O'Donnell, as part of the agreement, dropped four other charges, including endangering the life of a child, failure to secure a child younger than age 8 in a child-restraint system, improper lane usage and driving an uninsured motor vehicle.
5/31/2007
Royal Pain
On her recent visit to America, Queen Elizabeth and President George Bush were riding in a carriage, and one of the horses farted. It was so bad they both had to cover there faces with a handkerchief, the Queen said, "Oh I am so sorry."
Bush said "Hey if you would of kept quite I was going to blame the horse".
Northwest Airlines Guide to Bankruptcy
CEO ing made simple
1. Buy company with borrowed money.
2. Make your debt the company's debt.
3. Loose billions of dollars
4. Blame the unions
5. Go into bankruptcy
6. Have the court cancel your debt
7. Have the court cut you workers' pay by 40%
8. Have the court give you a $20 Million dollar raise.
Good job CEO!
The Real Story:
St. Paul, Minn. — "If you asked airline industry analysts earlier this month when they expected Northwest might file for bankruptcy, the most common answer was something like, "shortly before Oct. 17." After that date, changes to U.S. bankruptcy law would have made the process less attractive to the company."
Washington Post:
"But despite major cost cuts, Northwest faces intense competition, soaring fuel prices and furious employees who resent forfeiting $1.4 billion annually only to see their bosses net enormous payouts from stock and options awards."
"Employee rage swelled this month when the company revealed a management compensation plan that awards Steenland stock and options potentially worth more than $20 million."
5/30/2007
New Nixon Biography - A Paranoid Drunk
Listen to NPR report:
Excerpt from Biography:
Richard Milhous Nixon was an improbable president. He didn't particularly like people. He lacked charm or humor or joy. Socially awkward and an introvert, he had few friends and was virtually incapable of small talk. He didn't care to, in his words, "press the flesh." He was also one of our most complex presidents: insecure, self-pitying, vindictive, suspicious — even literally paranoid — and filled with long-nursed anger and resentments, which burst forth from time to time. He never seemed the happy warrior.
5/29/2007
Free Market Fiction: The Threat Of Labor
Business donates $12 to political campaigns for every $1 from unions.
The Poverty Business
The May 21 issue of Business Week has an interesting cover story that touches on a number of issues discussed here and locally in blogs. Titled "The Poverty Business," the story looks inside US comapnies that are making big profits from the nation's working poor. Here's some key quotes for the story:
What's the purpose of capitalism?
"The only feasible way to run a capitalist scoiety is to allow companies to maximize their proftis. That will sometimes include allowing them to sell things to people that will sometimes make them worse off."
Tyler Cowen
Economist at George Mason University
What did PT Barnum say?
"I don't know whether I was more bothered by the ignorance of the customers or by the company taking advantage of the ignorance of the customers."
Kehinde Powell
Former tax preparer for Jackson Hewitt
---
A couple weeks ago, I stopped by two local payday loan stores -- the Cash Store and Check Advance -- to see how it works. Here's what I found out:
There was no credit check on me. The paperwork is quick and easy to fill out. I needed a blank check from an account that had been open for 30 days -- I didn't need to prove there was money in the account. I was told I could borrow $500 that day. I needed to write out a check for $610. The $110 is the finance fee for 14 days. If I did nothing at the end of the 14 days, they would cash my check. The annual percentage rate (APR) on the loan would be 573.57 percent. While I waited around reading brouchures and waiting to talk to the girl at the counter, five people came in and all rolled over their $500. They paid the $110 in cash and wrote another check for $610 date 14 days later. The store two blocks away only charged $100 for 14 days.
Read The Poverty Business Brain Grow and Keith Epstein.
Read about The Economics of the Poverty Business.
5/28/2007
Market Forces Nearly Close Catholic High School
OTBL bloggers continually whine about the cost of "government schools" and
proclaim that if only schools were privatized and at the mercy of "market forces" then we would see a new dawn in education.
Here's an example of the new dawn. St. Agnes was closer to eternal darkness than a new dawn had it not been for some very generous and weathy donations
recieved in the nick of time to keep them afloat.
From the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
"This month, St. Agnes nearly shut its doors until two anonymous donors contributed $2.6 million and the school raised $750,000 more at the last minute. Meanwhile, St. Thomas Academy alumni continue donating millions to the thriving all-boys school, and enrollment remains at capacity."
"Parent Sarah Mealey, of Bloomington, spends nearly $40,000 a year to send her four children to Catholic schools."
"Urban Catholic schools, such as St. Agnes, increasingly recognize they must be effective at raking in money and recruiting students to stay open."
I wonder how many Wal-Mart jobs a parent would have to have to keep their kids in school when the OTBL "New Dawn" of market based education arises?
Probably something like 5 or 6. Who needs sleep anyway?
Memorial Day
“Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.”
General Omar Bradley
General Omar Bradley
"The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars."
General Douglas MacArthur
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.
Read more...
"What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world."
General Robert E. Lee
“It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.”
General Norman Schwarzkopf
5/27/2007
In Case You Forgot What The Republicans Are...
The following is exceprt from a speech by Republican Senator Mel Martinez, Florida, from his recent address to the Republican National Committee.
---
My friends, I believe that is our Party...the REPUBLICAN Party...the Party of Lincoln, the Party of Reagan, the Party of George W. Bush...
The Party of optimism, vision, and determination … ready, willing, and able to make a real difference on the issues that matter the most to the American people. There are many challenges we face as a nation that need our attention. We must reduce our dependence on foreign oil, so that people like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela cannot threaten our economic vitality. We must reform our entitlement programs, so that we do not leave our children and grandchildren buried under a debt that we have created for them.
Read more.
Those benevolent capitalist$!!!
"Christ, back in Chicago, we don't make bicycles any more. It's all human relations now. The eggheads sit around trying to figure out new ways for everybody to be happy. Nobody can get fired, no matter what; and if somebody does accidentally make a bicycle, the union accuses us of cruel and inhuman practices and the government confiscates the bicycle for back taxes and gives it to a blind man in Afghanistan."
H. Lowe Crosby
ICU: Eye See You
"Subjecting every citizen to surveillance and screening points actually will make us less safe, not in the least because it will divert resources away from tracking an apprehending terrorists and deploy them against innocent Americans!"
-Ron Paul
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