Like a Child Having a Temper Tantrum

I was just in line at Target today and behind me there was this kid throwing a temper tantrum because his mother would not buy him some toy.  It was ever so obnoxious and maddening, with the screams running threw me like nails on a chalkboard. 

My first thought was the obvious, “thank God I do not have any kids.”  The second was rage.  Not at the child who wanted his toy, with no means to get it so resorting to the only manner he knew, but at the mother as how spoiled of a child did you raise?!?  Then at the store and society, as maybe we shouldn’t allow these annoying brats around us, why should my day be ruined by having to put up with this?!

So just as we can’t blame the child for the flailing and crying, can we blame Elizabeth Warren for her remarks when claiming there is a "social contract" demanding that the rich pay more?  As she puts it, without things like public roads and education systems they would not be rich, so it is only just they contribute some more... 

What “social contract” is she crying about?!  She pitifully rants about the horrid job creator who needs to pay more in taxes because apparently our “social contract” states that the creation of those jobs, and the creation of that product that society wants and will buy (maybe a toy for instance), is not good enough!  No, it is not good enough for me and you to be employed, to be able to feed our families, to be able to afford the products these job creators make.  No, they must be robbed some more, in order to pay for a larger share of our grand government expenditures like the loans to Solyndra and her reelection bid.  The rich, whom as Lowry notes obviously are doing something the less fortunate of us are not by coming up with the idea and a product to make money, must now do more and pay for the rest of us to get our toys that we can’t afford without them?!

As I said about the child though who knows no better, I can’t hate her remarks and ramblings, rather I hold contempt for the remarks of her leader, the President.  Whom consistently talks about some ‘fairness’ when it comes to taxation.  As if a system in which the top 5% pay almost 60% of the taxes and just about 50% contribute nothing at all isn’t “fair” enough, we now must soak the job creators for more, because just like the child crying in the store, we know no better and are able to do nothing else?!  We need a parent who will stand up and state the obvious, like duhhh, spending more than 20% of GDP is simply disastrous and unsustainable!  But no, he continuous on his rant about fairness, even though as Krauthammer notes it will likely lead to less jobs and less tax revenue!  

They can afford it, these children cry!  They can afford it more than us, they flail and scream…  When you pick up a newspaper and read of the lost generation not being able to ever get a job, the high unemployment figures or the fears of a double dip, I want to yell that we can no longer afford to over burden the productive members of our society.  We can no longer allow a system to continue, in which it is better to keep money overseas than to bring it back and create jobs.  I do not want these people not to reinvest, because I want a job!  I want my neighbor to have a job!  I want these government “officials” to do the only responsible thing to do, stop the out of control spending and bring it down to 20% of GDP. 

That is why the only true answer is to vote these bums out of office, because it is our own fault for allowing this to continue.  Just as I wish Target would hang up a sign and say “No spoiled crying kids allowed on line,” we need to stop the system that allows these people to kill our economy.  So I will vote, just as I will search in earnest for the store that wants to kick out families. 

Now, once I have kids of my own, I will be the first person picketing outside any store that has the audacity to post such an outrageous sign!  But hopefully, I will only be able to do so on the weekend, as during the week, hopefully, I will be going to work and earn enough money so that I may buy the picket sign, as well as the blow horn I will be screaming into!

SEC Investigating the Big Bad Traders

Okay, as if there was not enough evidence that the regulators in this country can’t tie their own shoes let alone properly regulate, the SEC is subpoenaing firms and hedge funds regarding insider trading surrounding the debt downgrade of the US government. 

Before I continue - I know, I know, how can we expect our regulators to stop watching porn and actually do 5 seconds worth of work.  Geeze, I guess I should know better right?  When you are watching porn on an internet browser, you can’t possibly do things like a Google search!  That would take up your computer screen!  Slap to the head, I am such an idiot!

Wait a second!  Hey Sherlock, I may be no Watson but I would assume with the bonus you got for ignoring crooks like Madoff, that you could afford a smart phone, right?  Well do me a favor and pull it out (GASP, not that!  Put that back in your pants and pull out the phone you disgusting moron!)  and Google what you are investigating!  I did, and looky here, I found articles in the WSJ, abc and others detailing the fact that the S&P had said they wanted 4 trillion in cuts or they were going to downgrade. 

Am I missing something here?!  Shouldn’t you guys be doing anything with your time other than attempting to make the front page of a newspaper?!   See, I thought that you had to have inside information for it to be insider trading.  Silly of me, I know, trading on the potential that was splashed across the newspaper for months should clearly be illegal! 

One could make the argument that this is payback for the S&P saying it like it is.  We have unsustainable debt and something has to be done!  But all we hear is ‘raise taxes’, not cut anything…  I know this might come to a shock to some people, but even cbs was saying we had an unsustainable debt back then (I am the master of the Google search!). 

"It was such an important event [that] the SEC would be remiss not to look at whatever evidence is available," said Jacob Frenkel, a former SEC enforcement lawyer

Well sir I would be remiss if I didn’t say this…  you guys aren’t worth your weight in playboy magazines!  Okay, fine, I agree we should look into some things, but don’t start dragging companies’ names through the mud like I am sure will be done over the next few days.  And as for the rest of us, we should keep an eye out in order to ensure that this isn’t a hit job on those that thought the government needed to make some cuts in the deficit, but failed to do so. 

Are They Electroshocking the President?!

I am increasingly coming to the impression that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid take Obama once a week to some secret lair.  Once there they must chain him up and plug him into an electrical shock chair.   

Nancy yells “How do you create jobs?” 

Harry goes “How do we close the deficit?” 

Nancy,  “The cure for cancer?!”

Back to Harry “How do stop it from raining?!”

Poor Obama is shocked and shocked until he answers each question correctly.  “Tax Increases” he screams, “Oh God, we need tax increases!”

How else do we explain away this man’s logic?  That is other than tourette's, and I would not dare group people suffering from such an ailment in the same category as our dearly misguided President.  So when I see his latest tax increase on millionaires, the only explanation I can think of is electroshock.   Now, I know that I have lost you guys a bit here, but hear me out.

When you want to curb emissions, stop people from smoking or lesson congestion on the roadways, what does any good liberal and conservative say to do?   Institute a sin tax they yell!  That’s right; we raise taxes and increase the cost of doing that action.  

So when it comes to creating jobs, can the answer really be to raise taxes?!  Take the millionaire’s tax, which comes from the idea that everyone’s favorite, jolly, loveable billionaire, Warren Buffet (I am actually NOT being sarcastic here for once!  Seriously, don’t you want to just run up to him, tickle him and ask ‘Who is everyone’s favorite billionaire?  You are!”), should pay the same effective tax rate as everyone else.  But alas, the capital gains tax isn’t at the same rate as the personal income tax and Mr. Buffet doesn’t get to give away enough money to the government.  - Don’t worry Warren, I can take some of that money off your hands if you want me to!

I am going to skip over the obvious problem that Warren is an exception, and most of the time people invest only after they have paid their income taxes (double taxation).  Instead I will ask a question:  What are we taxing here?  

What Obama wants to tax is 1 part risk, and 1 part public good.  An individual goes and risks a sum of money by buying stock in a company.  The person does this because if his original assumption in that company is correct, the value of the stock will go up.  Now, psst, come closer so I can let you in on a dirty little secret…  Stocks usually only go up when a company is profitable, and when companies are being profitable they usually hire more people (if for no other reason than they need more accountants to hide some of their money from our huge tax burden).   Yet they need those stocks and bonds to get to a place where they are being profitable!

If you raise taxes all you are doing is lessening the reward for someone taking a risk with their money.  More taxes means that rather than get the rewards from an investment, they now must give more of it to Uncle Sam.  As even the most rudimentary knowledge of the supply and demand curve will tell you, this will cause people to stop taking those risks with their money, which would cut off a major source of expansion and funding for companies, which in turn, gets rid of job growth…  

Same principle as a tax on cigarettes, huh?!  So why does he keep yelling “raise taxes” every five seconds?!  That’s right, electroshock, and that’s why I say raise taxes on electroshock treatments!

Another Person Suing Fast Food Chains...

I saw this headline and thought, boring….  Not that I hate those that are overweight, as hey more power to you if you are.  But I figured that this would be just another fatty suing someone else because he decided to wake up, finally look in the mirror and say “Is that really me?! I am fat!  This could not possibly be my fault so who can I blame?!”  Or more realistically, how can I get rich quick – am I right?

Nope! Wow, was I wrong!  Well sorta, as it would appear to me that this guy is obviously attempting to get rich quick, but in the most maddening yet glorious of ways!  Our dear friend Martin Kessman is literally suing White Castle because he cannot fit into their booths.  I will let you pause, re-read, then see the picture below of our good friend courtesy of MSNBC

You can’t make this stuff up!  

‘Martin Kessman, 64, has filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified financial damages against the fast-food chain, claiming that his local White Castle is in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act because the seating cannot accommodate a customer of his size. A federal lawsuit filed last week claims that in April 2009, Kessman smacked his knee into a metal post while trying to wedge himself into the stationary seating at a White Castle in Nanuet, N.Y., near his home.’

You say what now?  I am sorry Martin, maybe you’re a good guy and all, but if I was one of those Americans With Disabilities that Act was supposed to protect, I would sue you for squishing me into the same category as you (I couldn’t resist the pun).  And did you hit your poor knee?  Here’s an idea bud, leave the White Castle and walk of the pain, clearly you could use the exercise. 

What makes me mad though is this:

After limping out of the store in pain, he wrote multiple letters to White Castle’s corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, complaining about the inadequate seating situation and his embarrassment in having to try to fit into a chair at the Rockland County location. White Castle’s response was a series of “condescending letters’’ and three coupons for a total of nine free hamburgers, according to the lawsuit.

“But the cheese was extra!’’ he wrote in the lawsuit. 

The Cheese was extra?!  Dear God, that is outrageous!  I mean, listen White Castle, next time someone writes to you complaining that they can’t fit in your seats, can I ask that you not send them any free burgers?!  Clearly, if the person thinks him being too large to fit in your seats, means that the seats are too small to accommodate his midsection, then a) you shouldn’t be encouraging him to eat any more, and b) why give something away for free when you know he is going to buy it anyways?!  Finally, if you are going to give the fatty a free burger, don’t make him pay for the cheese!  What are you people, animals?!

And alas, now I feel bad:

“Despite the humiliation, Kessman — who says he's been eating the chain's famous 'sliders' for 52 years — still sends his wife on burger runs to White Castle because he is too embarrassed to return to the store, according to The Post.” 

Truly, I feel bad after reading that, as what evil trick I ask, did this man play on whatever fool of a woman he tricked into marrying him?!  Martin, help a guy out!  How in the world are you married and I am still single?!  And to Mrs Kessman: Mam, next time Martin asks you to go get him more White Castle, get in the car and keep driving right past that store…

Update to Our Math

As an update to my previous post we can all rest a little easier tonight. 

As the iceberg continues to be exposed, sinking more and more of the most shaky and shoddy of ships, the grand ole SS Obama Approval Numbers, we now know that our hundreds of millions was spent to aid at least 1.9 million in lobbyist fees.

Include that with the aforementioned campaign donations and we are working that rate of return number up! 

Let's Do This Math Together!

In yet another egregious example of why the US taxpayer should not trust these lowlifes in Washington with our hard earned money, we are able to start adding up our tax dollars going out the window in support of cronies and politicians:  Solyndragate

Why this is a scandal is because our trusted President and his advisors (I hope that you can hear the sarcasm in my voice), clearly sent out a bunch of e-mails saying what a crap investment their 535 million dollar loan would be, and then decided to make it anyway.  Tsk tsk, wag of the finger, ‘how shameful’ cries the press and the republicans (insert more sarcasm here)...  To that I ask a simple question: What, outside of future bad loans, did you really expect from a government loan program?  If these companies were any good why wouldn’t they get loans like the thousands of other reputable companies in the country do…  wait for it…. THE PRIVATE MARKET!  Gasp!

So what am I upset about you ask?!  What makes my blood boil?!  Because I can’t understand why we don’t care about the obvious problem! 

First, as came out early on, the executives and the board of this company donated thousands of dollars to Obama’s presidential bid.  To top it off, the chief investor in the company was a huge Obama campaign bundler (pooling a bunch of “smaller donations” together into “one larger donation”).     Reading between the lines it would appear that part of our 535 million went to pay back those donations. 

Next up is everyone’s favorite!  The lobbyists!  Apparently as if the taxpayer money going to Obama donations wasn’t bad enough, now we can start incorporating the $187K for lobbyists as well.

So here’s the rub to me…  We all expect the kick backs and the ‘you give to me, I will give to your campaign or lobbyist friend.’  Clearly, this is why the outrage is more centered around the fact the White House knew the loan would be a failure.  But although I believe these numbers are only the tip of the iceberg, I want to know why I the tax payer have such a low rate of return on my begrudgingly given campaign/lobby funding?! 

Are you really telling me that I need to spend 535 million dollars to donate hundreds of thousands to people I hate!  What?!  What the heck guys?!  At least give me something for it like a bunch of $600 toiler seats for the pentagon, or…  ummm…  something, anything! Please!

My First Letter to the State of New Jersey

In response to the following travesty reported on  abc and "nj.com" I wrote my first gripe to the governor:

Dear Governor Christie,

I would like to start by saying that I am a very large supporter of yours.  So much so that your election was the first election since college that I volunteered in.  That being said, I guess it is fitting that the first person I got involved in campaigning for, will be the first elected official I write to. 

I am writing to you because as a young, professional, Italian American, whose parents took him to the Jersey shore every year as a child, and who has rented shore houses in Belmar for the last 3 years, I am horrified by the stereotype that this show gives to me, my friends and family. 

Clearly, the state of New Jersey providing tax money (a.k.a the money in taxes that my family, friends, and I pay) to that show is a statement of support by all of us.  In fact, the only manner in which to view a group of people paying another for making such a radical statement is that they, which in this case is the collective “we,” agree that we are all stupid, vain “G” words. 

Leaving aside the budget problems that you are attempting to fix, and the lowering of taxes this state desperately needs, you must stop this credit because of this reason alone.  You must stop this payment because many of us are tired of the stereotype, and none of us want to support it.  We want this credit stopped because we will not have our government officials tell us we are stupid and ignorant.  We will not have our government officials call us racial slurs.  We cannot, and will not stand for our hard earned money, being used to put us down.

I condemn those in the EDA who approved such a horrendous thing, and I want to know who I need to donate against, and campaign against in the next election to change this.  I also trust that you, an Italian American, and the representative of the State of New Jersey, will do the right thing and stop this credit.  

I know it is a little  "suck upy" in the beginning, but hey, I like the guy...  Also, maybe there is something to the phrase you catch more bees with honey than vinegar?!