Friday, November 27, 2009

Op-Ed Columnist - Taxing the Speculators - NYTimes.com

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Charis Wilson | 1914-2009 - latimes.com

Nice piece. I love what Weston said about meeing Charis. It's in the little photo gallery down the left.

Link: Charis Wilson | 1914-2009 - latimes.com

Monday, November 23, 2009

Herbal remedies need real scrutiny - CNN.com

From this it would seem that marijuana is an herbal remedy, not a drug, under the law.

"The DSHEA law draws a line between synthesized medicines like aspirin and remedies made from herbs, minerals, vitamins and amino acids. This latter group was recategorized as "dietary supplements" -- that is, as foods rather than drugs."

Link: Herbal remedies need real scrutiny - CNN.com

Does the FDA police any other herbal remedies? Any other herbal toxins for that matter?

Tricked-Out Inflatable House Provides “Instant Survival” | Wired Science | Wired.com

I want one, but this article gives new meaning to "vaporware." The airhouse seems to be CGI.

Link: Tricked-Out Inflatable House Provides “Instant Survival” | Wired Science | Wired.com

Garden sheds, car covers, lotsa cool things are possible.

Inflatable photo booth houses 11-megapixel camera, fun | Crave - CNET

Op-Ed Contributor - Animal, Vegetable, Miserable - NYTimes.com

We were to the Farm Sanctuary yesterday and met and touched donkeys, cows, goats, and sheep. We also saw turkeys, ducks, and geese. Also rabbits and chickens.

The place is gorgeous and beautifully kept; it seems two donkeys are up for adoption.

I do suggest that you visit if you're every on I-5 passing through Orland. We also visited Red Bluffs, which had some charming features.

Link: Op-Ed Contributor - Animal, Vegetable, Miserable - NYTimes.com

Are your beliefs about animals different from his?

Kanye West: Close, but not the same cigar*

Kanye West was getting close to something when he said George Bush doesn't care about black people. Actually, George Bush did care about black people, and every kind of people.

It's Wall Street who doesn't care about black people, or any kind of people.

Any President's intentions, filtered through the influence of Wall Street's highest paid prostitutes, end up appearing to make no sense. We are seeing this again with President Obama. We had an idea before he was elected of how he'd like things to turn out, but he is having trouble getting from A to B. Who's stopping him? I think the Krugman piece cited below gets to that question.

--Caroline

* Who said this? Evan Heit?

Op-Ed Columnist - The Phantom Menace - NYTimes.com

Of some interest to the Maloney gang. Krugman opining about what's really going on.

Link: Op-Ed Columnist - The Phantom Menace - NYTimes.com

Saturday, November 21, 2009

HubPages: 7 Things We Did to Beat Squidoo (Case of “less is more”)

I started dabbling in HubPages.com recently. You can write articles about any topic you know well, and if your work gets good traffic you will be paid. The brilliant thing is that you may write about whatever you wish, as long as you are informative, authoritative, and suitable for all audiences. At competitors like Demand Studios, writers must choose among very narrowly defined topics, many of which are quite esoteric and in this writer's view, not worth the effort of researching for the small financial gain of $7.50 in most cases. HubPages.com offers more freedom and hence will end up attracting the best writers. Demand Media, meanwhile, has begun offering some limited health benefits to prolific authors of articles and videos for Demand Studios, their online content creation factory.

Link: HubPages: 7 Things We Did to Beat Squidoo (Case of “less is more”)

Op-Ed Contributor - Protect the Farm, Tax the Manor - NYTimes.com

Bereft of logic!

Link: Op-Ed Contributor - Protect the Farm, Tax the Manor - NYTimes.com

1.
"Thus, while a person who earns $200,000 by working must contribute more than $50,000 in federal taxes, a person who inherits $200,000, or even $200 million, pays no income taxes at all." Yes, he would pay income tax on his salary that year. And next year, when the other guy inherits, they both pay tax on their salaries and the other guys does not have to pay tax on his inheritance.

Me: If you can't get wealthy enough to retire and then allow your kids to retire early on what's left over, how is this a free country? It means people are being FORCED to work. Weird.

2.
The estate tax system provides an essential counterpoint to this giveaway. American estate tax rates have been as high as 77 percent, so 55 percent would be reasonable when coupled with a general exemption of $1 million to $2 million.

Me: How does a crazy figure like 77% justify a crazy figure of 55%? To me it says the people who set these figures are nuts, so why trust anything they come up with? I think inheritance is similar to a cap gain--passive income. 15% across the board.

The naifs that set these rules think being rich is easy. It isn't. You just have more expensive problems.

Friday, November 20, 2009

The Simple Dollar » Selling My Future, One Dollar At A Time

We can generate a rule of thumb for this. I think the guy is nuts wrt to 10%, of course, but in his world, every dollar he saves comes back five-fold if he invests it instead. So as he shops he can look at the real cost of every thing he wants. The ten buck DVD is really 50 bucks in opp'y costs. We can work out a metric like this for gold and silver. Hey, pick your own metric based on your predictions about the stock market and gold and inflation. Either way, having a "multiple in mind" while you fondle the merch is probably a great tool to aid investing versus splurging with your earnings. (Hey Mike--I can't even call it "money" any more!)

Link: The Simple Dollar » Selling My Future, One Dollar At A Time

Op-Ed Columnist - The Big Squander - NYTimes.com

This explains the AIG atrocity well, even if you disagree with his ideas about it.

Link: Op-Ed Columnist - The Big Squander - NYTimes.com