The tax cut ratchet
notice that everything that happens is good for tax cuts.From The tax cut ratchet - Paul Krugman - Op-Ed Columnist - New York Times Blog
If the economy is growing, and tax receipts are rising, then it shows that past tax cuts achieved wonders, plus the Laffer curve is right so let's cut taxes some more!
If the economy is shrinking, well, it needs a boost and what better boost than another round of tax cuts!
See, cutting taxes is always good. It makes you wonder why we ever had taxes in the first place.
Krugman does a bang up job exposing the tax-cut ratchet. Or tax cut racket if you prefer.
Carbon Socialists
Yeah, OK, OK. Well, I think -- I mean, I think Gore would have been a disaster as president. We'd have been living in the Dark Ages. I think he's fundamentally hostile to human civilization. And a phony.From Media Matters - Carlson: If Al Gore were president, "[w]e'd ... be living in yurts in the dark"
This in a nutshell is what drives me crazy about the Climate Crisis debate. People like Tucker Carlson are allowed to keep this silly dichotomy between industry and ecology; between no regulations and living in yuts. This is simply not the case. It is as dishonest as it is logically flawed.
Our atmosphere is a commons in the traditional, ECON-101 sense of the word. The position that Mr. Gore and many others are advocating is that of using market forces to limit C02 release. Requiring that industry purchase the right to dispose of C02 is a market based, capitalist solution. It rewards those who through hard work, efficiency and smart investments; limit their use of the C02 and punishes those who over-produce waste C02 by requiring that they pay for their waste. It is no different than requiring businesses to pay to have trash hauled away. Those that become more efficient produce less trash, pay less and therefore become more profitable. Those that figure out how to turn other peoples trash into their treasure also profit.
So how on earth can anyone imply that those who want to use market forces to promote more efficient and cleaner technologies are anti-industrial? That whole line of thinking is self-contradictory. No one is suggesting that we dismantle power plants and return to an agrarian economy. Let alone Mr. Gore. No one is suggesting that the government take over power production. In fact, the opposite is true. Those of us that accept the truth on global warming see that the economic boom that could be created in the post-fossil-fuel era will likely create the worlds first trillionaires as well as creating millions of new jobs in the private sector.
People like Tucker Carlson are Carbon Socialists. They defend a system where tax money is collected by scary Big-Government and is used to fund Big Government Bureaucracies to subsidize favored politically connected 18th century technology. And they rail against anything that would force those favored 18th century technologies to compete on a level playing field with modern technologies. They cling to the silly dichotomy of "Market Forces" versus "Carbon Regulation" and refuse to see that this is about "Carbon Regulation via Market Forces".
We are the ones that are pro-industry. They are the ones that are anti-industry. We favor carbon markets. They favor carbon socialism.
stem-cell research breakthrough
Stemming the controversy: Scientists announced Tuesday that they've discovered a way to cultivate stem cells using skin cells instead of embryos. This could mean that potential cures for everything from Parkinson's disease to Alzheimer's might circumvent the morally fraught debate over whether stem-cell research is a handmaid to infanticide, as many critics have claimed.From Bloggers on the stem-cell research breakthrough. - By Michael Weiss - Slate Magazine
Now that the need for embryos for stem cell research may be obsolete, why is it that I am the only guy with a blog that sees this as a five year set-back for Stem Cell research caused by the President's allegiance to the Texas Taliban.
world's first solar-powered Bluetooth headset
Check out the world's first solar-powered Bluetooth headset. Because you don't look dorky enough when wearing a normal Bluetooth headset.
Newt is a Theodore Roosevelt Republican?
I don't know of anybody who argues for unregulated free enterprise. I'm a Theodore Roosevelt Republican. I like the fact that the government requires that I have clean water to drink no matter what restaurant I walk into anywhere in America.From Salon
I'm feeling charitably; so I'm not going to pick-nits. As much as I might disagree with Newt, the guy is brilliant. This article is well worth the read.
Alternative Tax Showdown
Under current tax law, 23 million taxpayers will owe the alternative tax for 2007, up from 4 million last year. The tax was originally intended to apply to multimillionaires. But most of this year’s alternative taxpayers make between $100,000 and $500,000 and about a third make less than $100,000. They all have good cause to feel rooked and to expect help from Congress.Alternative Tax Showdown - New York Times
I'm not a big fan of the AMT. I think it does more harm than good. If there is a legitimate problem with too many wealthy people taking too many tax write-offs, the right solution would be to raise the top tax bracket or to close the exploited tax loop holes. Inventing a parallel tax system might be great for tax accountants but as a tax policy solution, it is a terrible waste of time and resources. If those tax exemptions are legitimate; then so be it. A person who is entitle to write something off deserves to do so even if they are filthy rich.
I fear that the solution to the AMT crisis will be to create a SAMT (secondary AMT) for people that find that the AMT unfairly applies to them.
Subway Face
treo_110807_006
Originally uploaded by karmakazesal.
Saw this at Bway Fulton Street Station. This was hidden from view unless you're walking into or out of the second car.
Dish Washer Wanted
Dish Washer Wanted
Originally uploaded by karmakazesal.
The fact that the help wanted sign isn't in English says everything no one else will say.
Grace Hopper Quote
"It's better to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission."--The Late Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, who led the effort to create COBOLFrom BYTE.com
The Writers Strike
I have one quick thought on the writers strike. Why aren't the striker's signs better? They should have creative, snappy slogans. They should have witty, catchy chants. The speeches given to the news crews should be moving. Or at least touching. What gives?
30 Reasons Why All Programmers Are Schizophrenics
A few days back, I was lazily browsing the net - when suddenly I discovered that I have Schizophrenia. No, I did not get a hallucination that my dual monitors suddenly changed into a two headed beast. Nor did I hallucinate about anything else. What happened was that I stumbled upon a page about schizophrenia. To my shock, I had all the symptoms described in that page. Not just me - all the programmers I knew had Schizophrenia as well.From 30 Reasons Why All Programmers Are Schizophrenics at BinnyVA
If time travel causes Schizodonniedarkosis, maybe Java programming causes Schizojavosis and perl programming causes Schizoperlosis?
Navy to Get Robot Boats to Fight Pirates
Apparently, piracy (real piracy, not the BitTorrented variety) is all the rage off the coast of Somalia. The pirates, who probably don't have peglegs or parrots but I picture them that way anyways, hijack ships and hold them and their equipment for ransom, sometimes killing crewmembers in the process. It isn't pretty. But the US Navy and Coast Guard have a trick up their sleeves: robotic boats.Robots V Pirates: Navy to Get Robot Boats to Fight Pirates, Sets Stage For Historic Battle
Finally, a pirate fighting robot. If it had ninjas it would be the perfect geek news story.