I was watching Schoolhouse Rock videos on YouTube when I came across the following:
Author Archive for Elliot Lee
I’ve been reading Ron Paul’s The Revolution, and have already mentioned what it says about gold. Today I’d like to quote a bit about what Paul says regarding the income tax. Essentially, he believes we should completely abolish it, and replace it with nothing, not even a sales tax– and after reading his argument, I fully agree. It would eliminate about 40% of government revenue . . . which would make the government’s budget about the same as it was in 1997! Think about that.
The income tax implies the “government owns you, and graciously allows you to keep whatever percentage of th fruits of your labor it chooses. Such an idea is incompatible with the principles of a free society” (78). As Frank Chodorov puts it: “It is like saying that the slave is free because he is allowed to do anything he wants to do (even vote, if you wish) except to own what he produces” (79).
Ron Paul does not sit around and vote “No” on everything. Although he wants to eliminate the income tax completely, that is currently impossible, so he tries to at least “make dents in the edifice in the meantime.” Thus, he makes lots of proposals, such as the proposal that, “for all those whose income consists largely of tips, that income in the form of tips be exempt from income taxation. I have proposed that America’s teachers be granted tax credits, thereby increasing their salaries. I have proposed that people with terminal illnesses be exempt from Social Security taxes while they struggle for their lives. (There is surely no moral justification for taxing people who are trying to maintain their very lives.)”
These are moral and sensible tax breaks, unlike the subsidies specific business interests currently receive from the government. It’s a complex issue, and Paul is careful never to make overarching generalizations. The ideal, however, would be to abolish the income tax and replace it “not with a national income tax, but with nothing.” The federal government is currently funded by:
- Excise taxes
- Corporate income taxes
- Payroll taxes
- The individual income tax
- Miscellaneous other sources
Abolishing the individual income tax “would cut government revenue by about 40 percent. I have heard the breathless claims about how radical that is– and compared to the trivial changes we are accustomed to seeing in government, I suppose it is.” I love that line: compared to the trivial changes we are accustomed to seeing in government, abolishing the income tax would be radical. “But in absolute terms, is it really so radical? In order to imagine what it would be like to live in a country with a federal budget 40 percent lower than the federal budget of 2007, it would be necessary to go all the way back to . . . 1997″ (80). Paul continues: Continue reading ‘Eliminate the Income Tax Without Adding a Sales Tax’
I mentioned this book previously. Bought any gas lately? How about food? Do you think prices are going up by only a few percent per year?
Consider this, from page 144:
…the “inflation rate” itself, which is tracked using the Consumer Price Index (CPI), tends to be measured in a misleading way. Ask the average American if he thinks prices are going up by only a few percent per year, as the official figures would have it. So-called core inflation figures do not include food or energy, whose prices have been rising rapidly. (emphasis mine)
Do you own any gold? I’m considering looking into it. With the Fed cutting rates even more today, I don’t think the dollar will be worth much in the future.
Think about this, and please, refute it if you can:
When the Fed artificially lowers rates, it misrepresents economic conditions and misleads people into making unsound investments. Investments that would not have been profitable beforehand suddenly seem attractive in light of the lower interest rates…In the short run, a false prosperity takes root. Business expands. New construction is everywhere. People feel wealthier. This is why there is always such political pressure on the Fed to lower rates around election time: the prosperity comes in the short run, and the painful correction comes much later, well after people have cast their votes. (145, emphasis mine)
This is the sort of thing that makes me want to be an economics major. Then I’d be able to say whether this is true with some authority and judgment. For now, I have to rely on what I learned in high school, college introductory microeconomics, and intuition. And all of what I know indicates that Ron Paul is right. It’s scary… but if it’s true, the only way out is to stop the Fed from manipulating the money supply. Continue reading ‘Gold in Ron Paul’s The Revolution: A Manifesto’
In episode 141 of Security Now!– the latest episode– Steve Gibson highly recommends watching some of the keynotes from RSA Conference 2008. This is a reminder to myself to watch some of them when I have time. Here’s a link: RSA Conference 2008.
Recently, Facebook released Facebook Chat. Here’s what it looks like:
It was inevitable. Gmail has had built-in Chat for a long time now. Continue reading ‘Welcome to Facebook Chat’
This is one of the funniest videos I’ve seen in a long time.
It’s an engineer’s guide to cats! These cats have varying aspect ratios and leaping capabilities.
Actually, I’m allergic to cats, but it’s a funny video clip nonetheless. I challenge you to make a “An Engineer’s Guide to __________” video! Continue reading ‘Funny Video Clip: An Engineer’s Guide to Cats’
Today I’d like to tell you about Petey. He’s a 12-year-old boy suffering from muscular dystrophy. It’s fatal, but Jason Marshall is helping him to live a happy and fulfilling life by being his full-time one-on-one aide. I blogged about Jason Marshall back in October.
To get around, Petey uses a power wheelchair. This requires a special van in order to transport him and the wheelchair, but they don’t have one.
Jason can’t afford the van for Petey on his own, because he makes a small salary, sacrificing his time as an act of service. Petey has a single mom with nine children, so they can’t afford the van either.
We have freedom, so we should help to give Petey freedom.
I read about this from Eric Holmlund, who challenged his readers to blog about this fundraiser. Jason has put together a package of over $2,000 worth of digital products donated by internet marketers to help with the fundraiser. If you give the standard donation amount, you can download the products as a gift for your contribution. You can give any amount and it will be 100% tax deductible as a charitable donation. Continue reading ‘Jason Marshall and Petey’
The following is a paid review:
I was asked to review Software security, a website offering software security articles. The first thing I noticed when I saw the site was the simple, clean layout design. The top of the page has the heading “software security @web articles”, with the second part in a blue color. Then there’s a generic red background with some navigation links on it: home, submit articles, free content, and contact. Overall, it looks like a typical template for a content website, and doesn’t seem particularly original. I would suggest improving branding with a more unique name, instead of using only general terms like “software security”.
I’m reading Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody, and on page 221 it says this:
We walked over to one of the little broken-down tables and pulled up a couple of creates and started a game of Coon King as all th eteenagers stood around looking. … All that evening I sat playing Coon King and thinking…
I Googled it but couldn’t find it. What is Coon King? Continue reading ‘Coon King Card Game?’
I sat down to do some Java programming for a school project when I went to check my email first. Turns out my mother has “tagged” me with an internet meme, to post 7 things about myself you wouldn’t guess. (A meme is “any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another” - Wikipedia.) She didn’t include the instructions in her post, so I went back a couple levels to see what the original meme stated.
Continue reading ‘Meme: 7 things about me you’d not likely guess’
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