Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Rambling on...


  • Corey Haim dies this morning of an “accidental drug overdose”. How can any overdose be an accident?

  • America, get ready to see sales tax go up to as high as 12%!

  • A new device from Cisco can stream every movie ever made in less than four minutes. How do I get me one of these?

  • How does the government collect unpaid loans from those who defaulted? Withhold it from their Social Security check. I have no problem with this!

  • Who would have a problem with Walmart selling a black Barbie for less money than a white Barbie? One group is based in Harlem…

  • America has a new enemy, and her name is Jihad Jane!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

An overdose can be accidental. When it is "intentional" they call it "suicide".

Denney Crane said...

Is death by playing Russian roulette accidental? Same thing...

Anonymous said...

Per the law of unintended consequences, raising the sales tax rate could very likely have the effect of reducing tax receipts.

Already there is growing non-compliance in Texas with sales tax remittance. Even though it's generally understood to be 'self-funding' (i.e. it's an add-on tax), when the stuff hits the fan, many undercapitalized business owners convert sales tax dollars to pay the rent, utilities, groceries, etc. After racking up two or three periods (months or quarters) of non-payment, many reach critical mass and stop filing altogether, creating a Gordian knot nearly impossible to unravel.

Higher sales tax rates will have the effect, to some degree, of retarding purchases of durable goods. Less business activity means less employment, less equipment, less lease space - well, you get the picture - a general economic contraction. Oh, yeah, and probably less tax collected (though I can't accurately predict the elasticity of that function).

As non-compliance grows, the taxing agency will move in and close the most egregious "offenders" (in part to maintain a level playing field), possibly leaving the survivors more viable, but leaving a swath of unemployment in its wake, at least in the short to mid-term.

The possible upside to an increase in tax rates is that maybe, just maybe, it will be the straw that broke the camel's back, causing the nutless sheeple of this state, and by extension, the nation, to rise up and roust the bastard politicians in Austin and Washington who got us all in this mess.

Tar and feathers, anyone?

tmike said...

As for the Barbie dolls: To all the groups bitching about the inequality of the cost of the dolls sending a bad message, what kind of message does affirmative action send. Your dumb ass can't pass the test but we are going to promote you anyhow? That's a good message.

Anonymous said...

Denny only if you play using a semi automatic.