6-16-08

Monday is here.....I am officially on vacation. I shall spend this week pondering the country's seemingly insurmountable problems, and devising solutions to remedy these problems.

We are saved!

LOL.....you are such a cutie!

Lol. I want you to elaborate on why you think Obama will be so bad. You are my Republican barometer, I really want to know what the other half is saying.

My thoughts on Obama: First, I think he is too ingrained into socialism, which is just a term for taking assets away from one person, and giving it to another. We are fairly socialized as a country right now, and for the most part, those social programs have been a disaster for the country. Our social security system has become a ponzi scheme, the "war" on poverty initiated in the sixties is a total bust, our public education system has become a joke, and the tax burden on middle class people has become so heavy it's ridiculous. In short, expanded government cannot compete with the private market in creating wealth for the whole nation. Obama....and Hillary....wants to expand this government to unprecedented control over people, via higher taxes, more regulation, tighter control on private enterprise, and mandates on private citizens of how, when, where you spend what little is left from an already emaciated paycheck. I have little faith in government control over my life, and every law and regulation that they create, every dollar they take out of my pocket, decreases the power I have over my own life, and gives it to someone else. Obama's solution to these problems is to offer even more government control by increasing taxes.....on the very entity that keeps the country going.....private enterprise. This will have two primary effects....less job creation, and more government control. The secondary effects from these two things are many: Less investment, eventually a lowering of tax revenues to the government, necessitating even more taxes to support that government, higher inflation and a lower quality of life for the middle class, less opportunity for poor people to get themselves out of poverty, which necessitates even more government support. In short, the saying that "there's no such thing as a free lunch" will be proven true. Someone, somewhere has to pay for it, and when someone else is paying for it, there is no incentive to control costs. And the government has proven over and over again that they are incapable of doing that. They are not good stewards of wealth, and waste and corruption become rampant. As smart as Obama is, and as compassionate as he sounds wanting to help the "little people" over the "evil" corporations, government stewardship just does not work! I put my faith in the notion that people will do what serves their interest, and I don't need a bureaucrat telling me what that is. Government has been expanding exponentially since the 50's, and it's time to put a halt to it. Obama won't do that. Mccain won't do it. And truthfully, after the last 40 years (since Johnson), I don't see how anyone can have faith in a government that has become like Jaba the Hutt. Bush ran on a platform of smaller government, and has failed miserably, expanding it to the point of it's current bloatedness. Clinton wasn't any better, Bush 1 wasn't any better, and even Reagan expanded it. It can't keep going like it has been.....the people cannot work enough or buy enough to support it. It will eventually break, and Obama will break it quicker than anyone on the current scene. So....I'm left with a choice.....both bad, but one worse than the other. I will probably vote third party this election.....and I'm to the point that I don't care which one. It just won't be Dem or Rep. Their entrenced power needs to be broken.

So you believe in supply side/trickle down economics. The way I understand it is that is what we have now - with big corporations getting tax breaks (if not out and out subsidies) and they are making record profits. Yet the average Joe's salary is not increasing, the value of the average Joe's assets (mainly home) is fairly stagnant (with inflation included) and too many people are immersed in such debt they are a few paychecks away from financial disaster. Unemployment rate stats have been manipulated to appear better than they are but even padded they are beginning to increase. Foreclosures have doubled in a month. The war debt is staggering. China fucking owns us.

Obama wants to give the middle class (under $200,000 a year) a tax cut. McCain wants to continue tax cuts for the rich and big business. I'm middle class, so if it's tax me or Mr. Millionaire, I say tax fat cat Mr. Millionaire.

CEO's make ungodly amounts of money and even upper management get yearly bonuses amounting to more than the average employee's yearly salary. Currently, the wealth is going straight to the top...and it is staying there.

I'm right there with you on government being inept and prone to corruption but big business seems just as corrupt - only trade in 'inept' for 'greedy'.

I have yet to see trickle down work - under Reagan, under anyone. I don't have any hope left for big business redeeming itself, I guess I have a little hope left that an elected official might have some altruistic motives.

I have to disagree with your supply side/trickle down assessment of how I think. I just think that private citizens and privite companies should not be held hostage to government bureaucrats. Here is a link I refer to often when I want to find out anything about how our tax dollars work. It is fair and unbiased. Compare the two candidates, and you'll see that there's not much difference. You can also track net worth of households from past years, and tax ramifications on households. Hope you like the link....http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/index.cfm

We all have to pay taxes because we need a federal government and state and local governments to provide some things for the common good - national defense, roads, law enforcement, etc... Where that list ends will always be up for debate as will trying to achieve a fair tax rate.

Whereas it appears you have come to distrust the Dems as holding citizens and companies hostage to government bureaucrats I guess I've come to distrust Reps for favoring big business unreasonably while lining their own pockets all at the expense of the citizens.

So both parties are inept and corrupt, I guess maybe it's which offense a person finds worse that decides which is the 'lessor evil', lol.

And totally off topic, I am going home this weekend with the girls. My parents got a computer (this astounds but pleases me) so I am going to make them copies of all those photographs I scanned. Only towards the end I scanned whole pages of albums instead of each individual picture on the page....and I doubt either Mom or Dad will know how to edit, crop and save....so I have over 500 pages (there are over 1000 but not all have multiple pixs) to separate. Before Friday.

Have a good time in "missippi".....home is always nice to get back to. Be safe, enjoy, and try to get on their new computer and let me know how it's going. I'll bet you'll feel better after your visit!

Thanks. It's going to be hot, hot, hot and more hot with nothing to do but I need to go see them. It's gotten hard for them to make the drive over this way.

I don't believe that it matters which candidate is elected as far as the impact on me or anyone I know. It's really hard to care either way.

I hope a chance of scenery does make you feel better.

Hi, bammie. Seeing you makes me feel better! Even if it is a Monday. (It is Monday, right?)

Lol! Yes, it is. And I have a funny little story to tell...

I love stories, especially funny ones. I'm editing photos and checking back online inbetween pages - do tell.

I'm allowed to smoke outside on the deck at work "whenever I want to," but I think they'd rather I didn't for the most part. Today, while no one was in the office but me, I wanted to have a couple of puff so I grabbed the cordless phone and my pocket ashtray and went out on the deck.

When I go out there, I leave the door ajar so I can hear if anyone comes in. It was a bit windy and all of a sudden, my ashtray blew off the railing. I had to go down the stairs and around to get it. There are some plants growing up through the deck stairs so it's a little awkward using them, and I felt as though I needed to hurry in case the phone rang or if someone came in since I can only hear when I'm right next to the door.

Well, on my way down and through the little jungle I started to fall, but was able to catch myself. When I got to the bottom, on solid ground about a foot away from the lake.... I NEARLY FELL IN! I really did come pretty close to taking a swim, and I was kinda shook up, but it was pretty funny. :D

I hope that was funny enough for you and not a "had to be there" to be funny one.

I have to go make something to eat... and then eat it. I'll check back after to see if I got a chuckle or an eye roll. LOL

See how bad smoking is for your health?

I guess the promise of lots of free time at work to goof off online has not come to pass, eh? Are you comfortable now, like it's old hat doing this job and all the new has worn off?

I would have embellished a bit. In my scenario, the ashtray would have had a burning butt in it, falling in the bushes, and starting a fire. Rushing down the stairs to put it out, i would have actually fallen in the lake, which even though it's June, would be brutally cold. Clambering out of the water, I put the small fire out by taking off my wet clothing, and smothering it. Then, completely naked, I would have rushed back up the stairs, met the bosses wife who just came in, watched her eyes fixate on a special part, gasp, almost swoon, and then fall at my feet to worship at the altar.

Yeah, most of the newness has worn off. My two bosses are pretty psychotic at times - two of them giving me 20 tasks to do at the same time - but they are really nice. I'm not sure that Mrs. Boss has a concept of what's involved in some of the things she gives me to do, but she normally calls me a genius at least once a week.

Lol, you should make movies, baldar. I mean, literally, make a movie of that for us.

baldar77 wrote:

I would have embellished a bit. In my scenario, the ashtray would have had a burning butt in it, falling in the bushes, and starting a fire. Rushing down the stairs to put it out, i would have actually fallen in the lake, which even though it's June, would be brutally cold. Clambering out of the water, I put the small fire out by taking off my wet clothing, and smothering it. Then, completely naked, I would have rushed back up the stairs, met the bosses wife who just came in, watched her eyes fixate on a special part, gasp, almost swoon, and then fall at my feet to worship at the altar.

LOL! I am no writer, sir, nor am I a story-teller. You're lucky I didn't say only that I went down some stairs and almost fell in a lake.

Sassenach wrote:

Lol, you should make movies, baldar. I mean, literally, make a movie of that for us.

I second that! And if it seems like too much trouble, you can skip everything but taking off your clothes.

Bam..if I made a movie of this, could you get Mrs Boss to cooperate?

As you can see, I lied about going to cook something - not on purpose, mind you, but someone was in there cooking his dinner and got a little shitty with me, so I guess I'll skip dinner today.