Taxing Thoughts

It’s lawful to make up to 200 gallons of beer or wine per year for your and your family’s consumption, at least under federal law (I’m not sure about all the states). So why, just over seventy years after the Twenty-First Amendment became effective, is it still a federal felony to distill alcohol for consumption without obtaining a license and enduring all sorts of federal red tape? I can understand why commercial production would be regulated, but if the government condescends to allow us to make our own beer and wine, why not our own whiskey and vodka, too? (Disclosure: I am a former homebrewer — of beer — with occasional aspirations of getting back in the game. But I have no aspirations of making my own booze. I so very rarely drink the hard stuff that the opportunity cost of making my own would be prohibitive.)

Bill Gates supports rugged individualism in telling youth of America to stand on their own two feet and strive for excellence.

Look, I don’t know perfectly that Bill Gates said this but if he did, my hat is off to him. It was reported recently that Mr. Gates gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school.

He speaks of how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Here are his 11 points:

Rule 1 : Life is not fair – get used to it!

I’m going to traffic court tomorrow to adjudicate one of the Mrs parking tickets. Normally I’d just pay up. Not this one. It’s $50.

It was also uniquely got.

Normally, to get a parking ticket, the car must be parked. That means stopped, without occupant, in an illegal place.

In the Peoples Free Democrat Republic of Washington, D.C., that also includes several unique variations:

- at a legal place, but not at the right time;
- parked where some City Hall wanker, or fed gubmint mucky-muck wants to park for a plush conference attended on the taxpayer dime;
- parked in a zone that gets re-zoned during the day, without notice; the usual penalty for this is a $250 ticket, a boot ($175) and/or a tow ($225).
- PWW (parking while White)

The President has authorized General Petraeus’ request for more troops for Iraq, but some are suggesting that we encourage the enemy.

The President of the United States is the Commander and Chief of the U.S. Military. This means that he has full authority to send troops into any part of the world that is necessary in order to protect the interests of the United States. Now of course he is also working with complete support of the United Nations through several UN resolutions with regard to our efforts to free the Iraqi people and in doing so, stabilize the Middle East. Or at least leave it more stabilized than we found it.

While some would have you think that all big business is evil, here are a couple of shining examples of good in big business.
Yes, there really are some who would have you think that all big business is the same. That it’s only made up of greedy money grubbers who want nothing but to be “filthy” rich. And by the way, where did that phrase come from and why would one associate someone who is rich as filthy? I guess if you could say that someone worked hard for their reward then they would indeed be filthy by virtue of their sweat. Because in most cases that is just what you get!

From Atrios:

Lying like a rug on the tax cuts

David Rosenbaum of The Newspaper of Record (when they axe Lelyveld, that is) has a great headline:

Bush May Have Exaggerated, but Did He Lie?

My goodness gracious, are such things possible?!

What is more important is that the tax relief most people will receive is quite meager, hardly the impression the president sought to leave when he campaigned around the country for the plan.

Mr. Bush kept emphasizing the tax benefits for people with modest incomes, not the more extensive tax relief he wanted for the well heeled. He often had onstage with him a couple with two children and an income of $40,000 or $50,000 whose taxes would be cut by more than $1,000, mostly because of the increase in the child tax credit.

From CalPundit:

TAXES….Taxes, taxes, taxes, how much is enough?

This post isn’t about persuading anybody about anything. I just want to present a few numbers to put the whole tax/budget debate into perspective.

The chart on the right shows total federal tax receipts. As you can see, they have been relatively steady for the past 50 years, averaging about 18% of GDP (yellow line). There’s also a pretty obvious dynamic at work: whenever taxes start to rise to around 20% of GDP, they get reduced. This happened most recently in 2001, and during the 2000 election there was a bipartisan consensus that taxes ought to be lowered. (Bush and Gore differed on the size and nature of the cuts, but both agreed that taxes should come down.)

Thought this was interesting, shows the short sighted nature of government decison making!

From www.dailynews.com

Burbank airport almost cleared for $107 million in improvements
BY JASON KANDEL, Staff Writer

BURBANK – A Bob Hope Airport finance committee gave the preliminary OK on Monday for a proposed $107.2 million budget – 36 percent more than last year – that includes nearly $70 million for facility upgrades and runway improvements.

…

Last year, the figure hit an all-time high of 5.5 million, surpassing the 4.9 million in 1995 and 2004. The increase is fueled by new arrivals from Delta Airlines and JetBlue flights.

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Six operators of eight car park sites near Bristol International Airport have lost appeals over using their land as unofficial car parks.

In 2003, North Somerset Council refused retrospective permission for the land to be used for parking.

…

Bridget Campbell, of the government inspectorate, said in two cases up to 350 cars parking on land was causing “a serious loss of openness”.

She said the numbers of cars at Freeman’s Farm and The Oakes made the countryside area feel urban.

…

The owners… were given until 20 January 2005 to cease the parking practice.

Councillor Peter Burden said: “The council is committed to protecting the green belt from further damage by mass off-airport parking.”

From Talking Points Memo:

Let’s watch really closely how the walk-back unfolds. And taking what was undoubtedly a hotly-debated stab at walking back the administration’s WMD claims this afternoon was Secretary of State Colin Powell.

A little more than an hour ago NPR ran an interview with the Secretary on All Things Considered. Here’s one of the key passages in which the interviewer asks Powell about why no toxins were found on the alleged chemical/biological weapons trailers found in northern Iraq

MS. BLOCK: There were no toxins found in those trailers.

SECRETARY POWELL: Which could mean one of several things: one, they hadn’t been used yet to develop toxins; or, secondly, they had been sterilized so thoroughly that there is no residual left. It may well be that they hadn’t been used yet.