Day: November 6, 2010

POLITICAL: Helping the R’s cut spending

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://gopleader.gov/Contact/default.aspx

May I suggest the idea one inet pundit had? A flat 10% across the board cut. We’re paying a lot of bureaucrats well, let them figure out how to do it. If the administration wants to favor one program over another, fine. As long as the year over year total is 10% less, I’d suggest that you agree. Simple, easy to communicate, and dramatic. Then insist on the same every year. imho!

p.s., if the math is too complicated for those smart folks, as a fat old white guy injineer I can demonstrate “move the decimal” and cut that amount.

fjohn reinke

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MONEY: Just don’t

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://www.lewrockwell.com/bonner/bonner438.html

Rising Food and Energy Costs to Add to Retirees’ Problems by Bill Bonner

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Our advice: don’t grow old. Don’t retire. Don’t get sick. Don’t trust the feds. And don’t sell your gold.

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Yup, it’s gonna be tuff to be old!

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RANT: Unemployment?

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

>In regard to unemployment, if you need to rely on that to survive

Agreed. Unfortunately, they pitched it as “insurance” and it ain’t. Unemployment is not an uninsurable risk. It’s not random. (Learnt that in the MC eckynomics class; I am after all a fat old white guy injineer with a low index.)

>So let’s agree to disagree.

Agreeably.

>government stands to make a profit. As they have on the bailout money.

So, they stole 10K$ from my wife’s retirement fund to enrich the unions, Wall Street, and the big banks. Then they sell the proceeds of that theft, make a profit, and me as the victim are supposed to be happy about that? If they had been forced to go thru bankruptcy, she would have gotten some money back. Estimates were 25¢ on the dollar. So we got screwed; I’m not happy. It was only a small percentage of her retirement and our portfolio. But it was the principle. By allowing anyone to avoid bankruptcy, the Gooferment took the pressure off the various managements to find a solution. By allowing Leman Brothers to fail but bailing out others, they created a mess. Goldman Sachs was picking winners and losers. Lehman was the biggest GS competitor. Timmy and others were all ex-GS people. It was a raid on the public treasury.

>I know you’ll never agree with me, but that’s my humble opinion.

You’re right about that. I’ve worked on Wall Street and I KNOW how the sleeze think.

>I believe most of today’s unemployment is due to skills gap.

> There are a lot of jobs out there, but individuals don’t fit the profile.

Might be. I think that the unemployment is due to the uncertainty that the Gooferment has introduced.

>I fear those jobs will not be coming back.

Well you could get them back if there were tariffs. But then, like Smoot Hawley, will create a worse Depression. We have to reinvent America. I think we have a natural global advantage in the production of food. So instead of paying farmers not to grow, we need to incentivize the food production process.

>This due to improper planning and reliance on another stipend from uncle
> sam, social security.

Another welfare program designed to transfer control to Washington DC. And, racist, xfer $ from poor minority men to rich white women. And, another mislabeled program; how can you “insure” old age?

>Why is Obamacare socialism when Medicare is a sacred cow?

Both are “socialism”!

>I think the free market is a viable option, with premiums being tax deductable.

I think we should just leave everyone alone to chose what they want and STOP using the guns of Gooferment to “social engineer”?

>Unfortunately, I do agree the Bush tax cuts must be repealed for the more wealthly americans.

Sorry, but when you take the money away from the rich, who will save and invest?

>Its an effective way to deal with the deficit. (Which Bush did wonders to increase.)

Nah, the Lafer curve, and the fact that you’re not dealing with idiots, will frustrate you. Lowering taxes will generate more revenue as it frees up people locked in by taxes. And, rich people aren’t stupid. How many docs will choose leisure over treating folks when their income is going to exceed 250K. And don’t forget it’s 250k$ on small business, so you’re paying on gross not net of expenses. It’s stupid. So like Maryland found out when they levied a “millionaire’s tax” over ½million, about ½ of their millionaires disappeared. Moved or feathered back their taxable income.

> legacy costs, defense and servicing debt.

I like the idea of a 10% across the board cut every year. But, no one is allowed to impact the citizens. Should drive the bureaucrats nuts!

>All of business is not hurting, this could be a record year on wall

>street. Bonuses are back up and greed is back in vogue.

You know that looting the public treasury is very profitable.

>Additionally, whether Republican or Democratic, I support my government.

That’s where we disagree. I’m a little L libertarian like Jefferson. It’s NOT my government. If we were having a beer, I could go into great detail about why it ain’t. :-)

> I disagree with some legislation, but I know it is a basic

>part of what makes this country great.

No, what makes this country great is liberty. And, then people make the most of it. Then, everything flowed from their “greed”.

# # # # # posted 2010-11-06 20:39

IPAD: Reports to HQ?

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

The IPAD today popped up, or perhaps it would be better reported that when the IPAD was syncing ITUNES popped up on McBa and requested permission to report to HQ how the IPAD was being used. For my benefit, of course.

I wonder what it is reporting. User played KLONDIKE. (Who cares?) User updated CARINGBRIDGE. (Now were into medical privacy. HIPPA?) SAFARIed to the following websites. (Now we’re treading close to that privacy line.)

Who knows what gets reported to HQ?

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POLITICAL: So how do we apply the calculation problem today

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north900.html

The Police State Is Doomed
by Gary North

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In 1920, Ludwig von Mises wrote a short essay, “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth.”

He argued that socialist economic planning is inherently blind. Without free market prices that are based on private ownership, the government’s central planners have no way of knowing where to allocate scarce resources. This is especially true of capital goods. The planners are forced to copy prices in the non-socialist societies. This was his theory. It turned out to be correct in practice.

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Today, in the Gooferment, they don’t know how to use capital or expense dollars? It’s obvious every time you look at their pronouncements. Real people make decisions about trade offs all the time: If I do X, it precludes Y. Does the Gooferment even have the concept of capital and expense? Look at New Jersey’s version of the Big Dig, the new trans-Hudson tunnel. The Guv is expecting a cost overrun. And, how does that get paid for? But the bigger question is: does it make economic sense? A private entrepreneur investing his own capital would say: does the roi exceed the cost of capital? The Gooferment can’t even phrase the question. They don’t know the answer and because it’s the taxpayer’s money. Or the posterity of the taxpayer who will pay. The politicians and bureaucrats just don’t care.

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