Tax On Dividend-Paying Stocks Rising To 74% [View article]
Yes, a "good investment opportunity" is defined as one where the cost is lower than the perceived benefit, and the higher taxes increase the cost, lowering the perceived benefit of investments.
Surviving And Prospering Over The Next 4 Years Of Economic Darkness [View article]
Jesus also said slaves should obey their masters. The point is that we shouldn't look to 2,000 year old mythical stories as the basis of our morality. Instead, we should use logic. Taxation is a form of theft. We have tolerated it because its origins in the USA seem benevolent, and relatively harmless - a small pooling of resources to provide a common defense against enemies foreign and domestic, a non-profit printing of money (now relegated to the for-profit Federal Reserve, no longer backed by anything), and a few other narrowly defined powers that we delegate to other humans. Government is only legitimate when it has powers delegated by others, and govt becomes tyrannical when it has powers that are illegal when citizens do it. With such a high amount of taxation going towards transfer payments (welfare, entitlements), govt demonstrates their illegitimacy. In fact, the second that welfare became legal (theft of one neighbor to give to the other, illegal for everyone outside of govt), the government became illegitimate.
Fiscal Grand Bargain: Are Spending Cuts And Revenue Increases Both Needed? Part 2 [View article]
"Imagine, for a moment, this country without SS. Citizens will not save the equivalent percent because they have other debts."
Imagine a policy called Social Security, a replacement for a retirement account, but with the HUGE downside that if you die soon after retiring, are divorced, and have adult children, nobody in your family can get any of that money, it goes to the state. All of that money worked to save up for retirement, then lost entirely to the government. Say what you will about the risk of malinvestment (savings interest used to be reliably above SS's historical ~2% equivalent yield on money put in), but the complete loss of the savings to the government instead of having something that goes to your family when you die, is just unpardonable, fatal defect in the system. I support the idea of keeping SS as a *voluntary* option, but not mandatory.
I guarantee Ayn Rand (was forced to) paid more into SS and Medicare than she cost them. This is the illogic so prevalent in liberals. The complete ignorance of initial conditions. If the mafia stole money from you and then later in life gave you a rocking chair and a mobility scooter from a fraction of the money they stole, you would still oppose the mafia. In fact, she would be ideologically inconsistent if she didn't take SS and medicare support that she was forced to pay for, since it was her money afterall.
A Grand Bargain: 8 Factors That Could Drive A Surprise On The Deficit [View article]
...how can something not be good for individuals, but yet benefit some aggregate composite of individuals called "the country"? You're choosing winners and losers. That's not government's role. Since they hold a monopoly on the use of force, it's to be used only against those who initiate force against our lives or property. Their monopoly on force isn't to be used to decide winners and losers among the population, subsidizing those who vote for them while stealing from those who have done the most for other citizens (as evidenced by high compensation from voluntary transactions).
A Grand Bargain: 8 Factors That Could Drive A Surprise On The Deficit [View article]
He could have said he'd give them not only popcorn, but $100 to each voter... then just explain after he wins that this depends on his ability to convince the school officials to tax the future students to pay for this 1 time expenditure. Cassidy may have given her own money for the popcorn, but in the big leagues, you bribe with other people's money.
If your son had done this, perhaps other kids would see it's identical to the deficit spending that politicians use to bribe voters. Perhaps these BS highschool elections can be used for good to educate students about the corruption possible when you can just steal from other future students to bribe current ones.
Apple Has Peaked: The Warning Signs Are Multiplying [View article]
I kind of agree. The first iPhone was revolutionary, but when the 5 came out, with just a barely larger (longer) screen, I got a Samsung Galaxy S3. I was hoping Apple would finally get rid of the bezel entirely to keep the same shape but larger screen.
Why Every Company Should Operate Like Coach [View article]
The memetic value is "I am a woman who cares about high quality and am high value, just look at my purse!" Interestingly, because of IP, things as common as purses and clothing can't have intellectual property rights, so they do it by putting their logo and name all over, but that doesn't improve the structural integrity.
Almost No One Makes Money From The Stock Market Alone [View article]
Yeah the nice thing about a plot of land, is that there's no storage cost. Everything else has some extraneous cost of ownership, but not land, it just sits there, forever.
Steve Forbes: How To Bring Back America [View article]
But, given that in a market free of any government regulation, most customers will share the fear of new, unregulated competitors, companies must alleviate their fears to compete against well-established brands. If the safety net is removed from a tight rope, the companies themselves must re-build the safety net, and those new competitors who do this best will get the most customers.
I have to reiterate the point that regulators only regulate periodically, especially in the restaurant industry, where daily regulation would be needed. Suppose a smartphone app existed whereby all transactions give a grade of 100 to the company by default, unless you adjust it within 48 hours. For restaurants, this would mean you get your receipt sent to your smartphone, and then if you make no rating change, it gives the restaurant a 100 for that transaction. If you were to get sick, you adjust it. If only there were some way to get every single transaction rated (a high rating by default would be easiest for the buyer), that would be more useful regulation than periodic checkups by government officials.
This default rating would also give new purchasers a look into how many customers are happy with it (no adjustments to default rating). For things like dishwashers, warranties might be most useful, since the time until normal failure is too long. The point is that fears shared by most people creates a market for fear-alleviation, and as long as there is fear, the market will scramble to offer solutions. The problem is that it can take longer to reach an acceptable equilibrium than the short-term government solutions, but I think this is more optimal since it doesn't grant any body of humans a monopoly on violence over the consensual transactions of other humans. For so long, government has played the role of monopolizer of fear alleviation, but we're beginning to see what the market can offer.
Steve Forbes: How To Bring Back America [View article]
Lawrence, I argue that with modern communication and feedback mechanisms, consumers can regulate commerce more often and directly than government can. Customers interact daily with commerce, while government - being a smaller group of people with specific regulatory acts - has limited regulatory capacity, which they make up for with threat of force. Picture it as a parent who threatens their kid with grounding for a month if they do drugs... but yet the most effective way is if the kid's friends all don't do drugs. The good friends act as surrogate "minimum standard" enforcers, but peacefully without threat. I argue that today we have enough "surrogate regulators" that using force is no longer a cost-effective way to ensure minimal quality.
A restaurant might pass the inspection one day, then a worker could slip arsenic in a taco the next day. There's really no actual regulation, other than the minimal standard. A growing portion of the population looks to alternative sources of regulation (such as non-GMO, organic, vegan, paleo, raw-milk, etc.) and therefore builds their own "trusted network" that critiques commerce. Amazon ratings and social networks also function this way.
Imagine governmental regulatory agencies becoming non-profit organizations that offer quality control licenses as their product, and advertising this to the public. However, new competitors would not HAVE to meet their requirements, but would still have the right to compete and be licensed by a competing private regulator such as UL, Consumer Reports, or [secret shopper-style regulation company?]. The would let the general public have the freedom to buy from a business whose quality standards differ from the government's (such as the issue of raw millk - illegal in many areas, yet drank for thousands of years by humans), but know that a minimum requirement exists, and to look for the regulatory "symbol" when they shop, maybe something like "play it safe, look for the logo"... something similar to "American Made" stickers on products.
Basically, govt could radically cut costs by offering their regulation as added-value, rather than requiring the manpower and resources to check every single business, when quality regulation is available in the form of intelligent customers, secret shoppers, and blogs.
Steve Forbes: How To Bring Back America [View article]
Don't blame the "Europeans" on the race of central bankers who have been pushing for it for centuries, the Rothschilds, Warburgs. It's not "Europeans", but a subset of non-European people who lived amongst them. Then the Balfour Declaration, a quid pro quo to get the US into WW1 in exchange for a homeland in Palestine (Israel), then, according to Charles Lindbergh and others at the time, it was only a tiny minority of people who wanted to involve the US in WW2, primarily those in ownership of the media, the same people. Then there was the PNAC (Project for a new american century) signed by an overwhelming amount of these same people, predating 9/11 and this millennium's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Blaming Europeans is like blaming the feudal serfs instead of the king's advisors.
Former Clinton economic adviser Laura D’Andrea Tyson describes how the "vicious circle" of income inequality leads to educational inequality, which then perpetuates the wealth gaps in the U.S. Tyson also notes how poverty is much higher in single-parent families than in those with married parents. But while she wants to increase taxes for the rich and pour money into education, she stops short of advocating policies to strengthen marriage. [View news story]
Especially with the amount of free educational tutorials and videos online, such as Khan Academy, partly funded by Bill Gates, which has videos explaining almost every major concept taught in the major academic subjects of school. It's costing taxpayers $10k per student-year, so a class of 25 costs us $250,000 EACH YEAR... premium price for an inferior product. That's govt in a nutshell.
Some jobs remain beyond the reach of automation, but the list is growing shorter. "The pace and scale of this encroachment into human skills is relatively recent and has profound implications," says MIT's Andrew McAfee. Next: Robots with "eyes" (using technology found in Microsoft's Kinect) that can pick up boxes and drop them on a conveyer belt. Think FedEx and UPS. [View news story]
Increasingly expensive workers filled with workers-rights propaganda are a strong incentive to permanently automate tasks. In fact, the closer a job is to being ABLE to be automated, the less the labor SHOULD cost, meaning if robots can do a task that a human is currently doing, that task shouldn't cost anywhere near $20/hr or what union wages would force car makers to pay. There will, however, always be a place for intelligent humans in the production of goods and services. Too bad the govt schools are too busy filling them with pro-govt anti-business propaganda to give them skills that will enable them to self-sufficiently survive the future workforce that is developing with automation as a permanent fixture.
Self-sufficient people don't vote for more govt, that's why. Kids who can't find jobs because they wasted k-12 reading politically correct literature instead of learning tasks for which adults will pay, will vote for more govt. It starts in the public schools, the root of the problem is there. That's the nexus of the lifetime of govt-dependency. Competing schools is the solution.
Tax On Dividend-Paying Stocks Rising To 74% [View article]
Surviving And Prospering Over The Next 4 Years Of Economic Darkness [View article]
Fiscal Grand Bargain: Are Spending Cuts And Revenue Increases Both Needed? Part 2 [View article]
Imagine a policy called Social Security, a replacement for a retirement account, but with the HUGE downside that if you die soon after retiring, are divorced, and have adult children, nobody in your family can get any of that money, it goes to the state. All of that money worked to save up for retirement, then lost entirely to the government. Say what you will about the risk of malinvestment (savings interest used to be reliably above SS's historical ~2% equivalent yield on money put in), but the complete loss of the savings to the government instead of having something that goes to your family when you die, is just unpardonable, fatal defect in the system. I support the idea of keeping SS as a *voluntary* option, but not mandatory.
Effects Of Obamacare On Employment [View article]
A Grand Bargain: 8 Factors That Could Drive A Surprise On The Deficit [View article]
A Grand Bargain: 8 Factors That Could Drive A Surprise On The Deficit [View article]
If your son had done this, perhaps other kids would see it's identical to the deficit spending that politicians use to bribe voters. Perhaps these BS highschool elections can be used for good to educate students about the corruption possible when you can just steal from other future students to bribe current ones.
Apple Has Peaked: The Warning Signs Are Multiplying [View article]
Why Every Company Should Operate Like Coach [View article]
Almost No One Makes Money From The Stock Market Alone [View article]
Steve Forbes: How To Bring Back America [View article]
I have to reiterate the point that regulators only regulate periodically, especially in the restaurant industry, where daily regulation would be needed. Suppose a smartphone app existed whereby all transactions give a grade of 100 to the company by default, unless you adjust it within 48 hours. For restaurants, this would mean you get your receipt sent to your smartphone, and then if you make no rating change, it gives the restaurant a 100 for that transaction. If you were to get sick, you adjust it. If only there were some way to get every single transaction rated (a high rating by default would be easiest for the buyer), that would be more useful regulation than periodic checkups by government officials.
This default rating would also give new purchasers a look into how many customers are happy with it (no adjustments to default rating). For things like dishwashers, warranties might be most useful, since the time until normal failure is too long. The point is that fears shared by most people creates a market for fear-alleviation, and as long as there is fear, the market will scramble to offer solutions. The problem is that it can take longer to reach an acceptable equilibrium than the short-term government solutions, but I think this is more optimal since it doesn't grant any body of humans a monopoly on violence over the consensual transactions of other humans. For so long, government has played the role of monopolizer of fear alleviation, but we're beginning to see what the market can offer.
Steve Forbes: How To Bring Back America [View article]
A restaurant might pass the inspection one day, then a worker could slip arsenic in a taco the next day. There's really no actual regulation, other than the minimal standard. A growing portion of the population looks to alternative sources of regulation (such as non-GMO, organic, vegan, paleo, raw-milk, etc.) and therefore builds their own "trusted network" that critiques commerce. Amazon ratings and social networks also function this way.
Imagine governmental regulatory agencies becoming non-profit organizations that offer quality control licenses as their product, and advertising this to the public. However, new competitors would not HAVE to meet their requirements, but would still have the right to compete and be licensed by a competing private regulator such as UL, Consumer Reports, or [secret shopper-style regulation company?]. The would let the general public have the freedom to buy from a business whose quality standards differ from the government's (such as the issue of raw millk - illegal in many areas, yet drank for thousands of years by humans), but know that a minimum requirement exists, and to look for the regulatory "symbol" when they shop, maybe something like "play it safe, look for the logo"... something similar to "American Made" stickers on products.
Basically, govt could radically cut costs by offering their regulation as added-value, rather than requiring the manpower and resources to check every single business, when quality regulation is available in the form of intelligent customers, secret shoppers, and blogs.
Steve Forbes: How To Bring Back America [View article]
Former Clinton economic adviser Laura D’Andrea Tyson describes how the "vicious circle" of income inequality leads to educational inequality, which then perpetuates the wealth gaps in the U.S. Tyson also notes how poverty is much higher in single-parent families than in those with married parents. But while she wants to increase taxes for the rich and pour money into education, she stops short of advocating policies to strengthen marriage. [View news story]
Apple (AAPL -0.6%) has received a rare downgrade to Hold from Oracle Research. The company's recent run-up presumably has something to do with it. Apple's last downgrade came in April, courtesy of BTIG's Walter Piecyk. (earlier) [View news story]
Some jobs remain beyond the reach of automation, but the list is growing shorter. "The pace and scale of this encroachment into human skills is relatively recent and has profound implications," says MIT's Andrew McAfee. Next: Robots with "eyes" (using technology found in Microsoft's Kinect) that can pick up boxes and drop them on a conveyer belt. Think FedEx and UPS. [View news story]
Self-sufficient people don't vote for more govt, that's why. Kids who can't find jobs because they wasted k-12 reading politically correct literature instead of learning tasks for which adults will pay, will vote for more govt. It starts in the public schools, the root of the problem is there. That's the nexus of the lifetime of govt-dependency. Competing schools is the solution.