Shop here for ME and MY BENEFIT!

Alright - Upromise is figuring out how to use social networking and... you know... the *rest of the internet* to expand. Hey, when you shop, shop through this link:

http://www.upromise.com/guest/2451898627

Go on, click it. You want to. Click it and buy something damn you!

Tenure: good for teachers, bad for kids.

Could there be hope? In DC of all places, someone's standing up to the "education establishment" mafia. NYT's article re the efforts of Superintendent Michelle Rhee to reform the teaching establishment has some great ideas for reforming tenure (even though it doesn't go as far as eliminating it). If Randi Weingarten's worried, you know it's on the right track!

The Tax System - Explained With Beer

This was emailed to me last night, and though I don't know if the attribution is correct, it's a very clear description of America's tax system. Plus it talks about beer.

The Tax System - Explained With Beer

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

• The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
• The fifth would pay $1.
• The sixth would pay $3.
• The seventh would pay $7.
• The eighth would pay $12.
• The ninth would pay $18.
• The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20." Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

• The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
• The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
• The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
• The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 ( 25% savings).
• The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).
• The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Cognitive dissonance

This is disconcerting. I work on Wall St. I have an MBA from one of the top business schools on planet earth. I'm a devout capitalist that counts Atlas Shrugged as one of the most important and influential books of anyone's life. I loath socialist, class warriors, and the Kennedys... And yet I have to vote for Obama.

I can't vote for the fascists even if they have a much better tax policy. The election shouldn't be a choice between theocracy and socialism but c'est la vie. Its all so very off-putting.

Beware the looters. SHAME on the republicans for selling out to the theocratic nitwits in the midwest and south (oh, and Alaska apparently). They've managed to turn the great career of McCain into John Kerry circa 2004.

Word of the day

Here's another word of the day: Obsequious.

This was part of a song lyric I heard when I was in junior high, and randomly googled on the train. Turns out I've been singing "Infamous, anonymous, nefarious, and bane" but this whole time its actually "Obsequious, arrogant, clandestine, and bane".

Go figure.