Month: December 2019

The Bloom Box and Statism

The Bloom Box and Statism – CBS News: The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough?

“I like to say that the new energy technologies could be the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century,” [John Doerr from the big Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins] explained.[…]

Twenty large, well-known companies have quietly bought and are testing Bloom boxes in California. idnplay

Like FedEx. We were at their hub in Oakland, the day Bloom installed their boxes, each one costing $700-800,000.

One reason the companies have signed up is that in California 20 percent of the cost is subsidized by the state, and there’s a 30 percent federal tax break because it’s a “green” technology. In other words: the price is cut in half. www.americannamedaycalendar.com

The Bloom Box and Statism

From my selfish, I’ve-got-mine, coldhearted, stubborn, unrealistic viewpoint, I think the real story here is how the federal tax system is getting in the way of serious next-gen technology that could radically improve living standards. There’s the lede, buried as usual.

Don’t take this as something it isn’t. Don’t let someone tell you that a 30% cut in federal taxes has helped make this technology possible. If they say that, they’ve got their cause and effect mixed up. The government didn’t help anyone or help do anything.

A more accurate way of explaining it is 30% of the dollar cost the government aggressively imposes on individuals (and the organizations they own) who add economic value to human existence has been temporarily waived per conditional government approval. The line between economically feasible and a waste of money is thin enough that a third less in this expense makes a difference. This tech might revolutionize world well-being, and for some companies, a few hundred thousand bucks are part of what stands in the way.

Think about that for a minute. Think about the number of people with great ideas, promising implementations, and the willpower to face the risks. Think about the diverse level of interest in improving humanity out there, trying to make It work. Think about the thousands of decisions made each day, many with the weight of cost factoring in at the moment of truth. Most people can’t buy whatever they want; they have to spend wisely or go broke. This is no different from an organization designed to create and manufacture a product.

“This is affordable. Yes, we should do it.”

…or…

“We’d never make any money. No, we shouldn’t do it.”

I think of the untold, unpublished, unrecognized, uncountable mountains of “no” built up over the decades, a mute chain on human progress. I’m no utilitarian and I don’t think the critical determinant of any moral question is the amount, degree, or breadth of some positive outcome. But if those are the grounds upon which someone argues for the aggression necessary to enforce the tax system against people trying to voluntarily buy and sell goods and services, they have no legitimate reason to claim this statism made the Bloom Box possible. The government decided to let these people keep more of their money. That isn’t helping just like a robber isn’t helping you when he decides to leave the TV.

Actually, the robber analogy isn’t a great fit. The robber doesn’t normally return at an arbitrary time to claim your TV, knowing you will be held criminally responsible if you attempt to prevent him from taking it. Criminally responsible, of course, means specially-trained and well-armed people who have substantial legal immunity will eventually arrest, kidnap, and kill you for resisting their orders.

I predict many of the coercive collectivists known as politicians will praise this as an example of proper government policy. I predict I’ll vomit a little in my mouth every time I hear it, knowing that some dolt claiming to be a supporter of free markets and individual liberty will be on shortly to concede away the former by compromising on the latter.…

Unemployment Benefits – A Thought Experiment

Unemployment Benefits – A Thought Experiment – Jeffrey Carlson of Grand Rapids, Mich., a former insurance salesman and father of six, says he is motivated to find work, despite the $1,650 a month he collects in unemployment benefits.

That money does not go far given his rent, child support, utilities and credit card bills. Carlson, 44, said he has applied for numerous jobs with no luck and has spent $40,000 in savings. poker 99

Carlson, who made $50,000 a year before he was laid off, said watching Bunning and other senators debate whether to extend unemployment benefits was painful and infuriating. https://www.americannamedaycalendar.com/

“I paid into the system for 25 years and now I need it,” he said. “People are being put through the emotional heartache and anxiety of not knowing if it’s going to keep coming. There are too many people who need it and are depending on it.”

2010 The Washington Post Company

Unemployment Benefits – A Thought Experiment

I don’t know the specifics and details of the federal-state unemployment insurance system. My brief glimpses of it from my job are unpleasant enough. However, assume for a moment that Mr. Carlson did indeed “pay into” a system for 25 years with the expectation that he would be able to withdraw from it when he needed the money.

Why the hell didn’t he just set up a private savings account, deposit the money there, and know it would stay safe no matter what happened? Having done that, he’d be assured of the following:

  • It would always be his money, rightfully earned.
  • It would be immediately accessible and traceable.
  • It would be easily inherited by his family if he died.
  • It would be available to use in case of an unexpected emergency and not limited to unemployment situations.
  • Given a large enough balance and a decent bank rate, he might earn substantial interest.

If the alternative to the above is a politicized, unaccountable, and completely out-of-his-hands system…why would anyone take the government option? How could you live knowing strangers are operating your safety net and are liable to change its terms and conditions arbitrarily? Why subject yourself to the spectacle of some hack grandstanding on your future a thousand miles away?

I can tell you a few reasons.

One, because the government option isn’t really an option. It’s based on a tax and taxes are not optional. You or your employer are forced to pay into the system. If those payments are not made, the fifty-ton bureaucratic paper grinder lurches into operation with the expressed ultimate intent of physically seizing individuals and their assets to punish noncompliance. That grinder is the sole reason why I pay taxes. I don’t want to be arrested and I don’t want my property stolen outright.

Two, because most people are counting on that state aggression to force participation. These folks either won’t or can’t save for themselves and are expecting the government option to provide where they cannot. They embrace the Sicilian Mafia phrase pagare tutti, pagare meno. Because those who would not voluntarily pay are threatened with violence if they do not, many people pay less than they normally would if they were acting responsibly. Since they don’t have to deal with hundreds of thousands of individuals gritting their teeth over the taxes and all they have to do is sign up for the money (often after receiving government-paid training to learn how to sign up for the money!), what’s not to like?

Three, because some people actually swallow the political swindle hook, line, and sinker. They are akin to the knowing group above, but differ from those folks because they trust the person claiming to represent them and they trust the talking heads filling in the rhetorical details. Flag-waving, democratic glory-blindness, or raw egalitarianism; not really important which one.

Four, because some people are simply too irresponsible, busy, ignorant, or shallow of thought to even consider a diversified savings plan. It’s just another vague thought-cloud in the back of their minds competing with their next case of Bud Light, what to cook for dinner inbetween picking up the kids and finding a plumber for the sink, whether human evolution is real, and what the heck is up with those brown foreign people fighting with each other all the time. Retirement and building an emergency fund? Oh, yeah, get right on that…mmm, reality TV…*slouch*

All the planning I do starts with the assumption the government will not give me a penny. Not a penny of the money it threatened out of me for decades and not a penny threatened out of anyone else.

Even excluding my sarcastic egoist anarchism, this doesn’t seem like such a radical concept. My confusion is doubled when people are already “paying into” a government system and therefore can already afford to set aside a portion of their money to take care of themselves. This isn’t even an unemployment thing. It applies to any situation where you face an uncertain future with a non-wealthy income.

Cigarette Taxes – Reuters via Yahoo! News: the U.S

Cigarette Taxes – Reuters via Yahoo! News: the U.S. would reap billions from $1 cigarette tax hike

Adding a $1 per pack tax to cigarettes could raise more than $9 billion a year for states, health advocates said on Wednesday, and a poll released with the study shows Americans would support such a tax.

I wonder if there will ever come a day when I or someone who shares my philosophical temperament will encounter a mainstream news article like the above and not immediately know how it will proceed. poker99

“An increase in tobacco tax rates is not only sound public health policy but a smart and predictable way to help boost the economy and generate long-term health savings for states facing deepening budget deficits,” said John Seffrin, chief executive of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. pafikebasen.org

Cigarette Taxes

I loathe these people. They take a laudable goal and fuck it up by advocating the violent redistribution of property as a way to achieve it.

“We have irrefutable evidence that raising the tobacco tax lowers smoking rates among adults and deters millions of children from picking up their first cigarette,” Seffrin said in a statement.

Pragmatism: It Can Justify Anything

The groups also surveyed 847 registered voters and found 60 percent favor raising the tobacco tax to help state budgets while 38 percent were opposed.The survey, with a margin of error of three points, found that 72 percent of voters opposed increases in state sales and 80 percent rejected higher gasoline taxes.

Democracy: Danger In Numbers

“Each year in the United States, smoking-caused disease results in $96 billion in health care costs, much of which is paid by taxpayers through higher insurance premiums and government-funded health programs such as Medicaid,” the report argues”Indeed, higher Medicaid costs are one of the reasons states are facing budget difficulties.”

OBVIOUSLY WE CAN’T STOP TAXING OTHERS TO PAY FOR THOSE TREATMENTS. THAT WOULD BE MEAN AND HEARTLESS.

Rather, let’s just order cops to threaten imminent bodily harm, abduction, and detainment against those retailers who won’t collect the tax and who, after their permission to make a living is revoked, continue to operate their businesses. Let’s send strangers violently into the lives of people who have done nothing wrong and command them to raise their prices with the express intent to cut down on their sales. All of that is fine and dandy, isn’t it?

“It is disheartening the report’s authors are suggesting legislators position tax increases as a way to address health issues while the report clearly describes tax increases as a way to fix budgets and score political points with voters,” Philip Morris USA said in a statement.”The report neglects to mention the fact that cigarette tax increases rarely generate all of the revenue they are projected to raise — creating more budget problems down the road.”

Copyright Š 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

And bringing up the rear: the inevitable half-hearted, nutless whining by Industry. Utterly devoid of principle and morally gutted by years of lies, the best they can offer is “I disagree, that plan wouldn’t quite work so well.” I once had some sympathy for these cretins; no more. Not when they say shit like:

In addition to violating many trademark laws, counterfeit cigarettes are almost always sold without the appropriate federal and state excise tax. The counterfeit cigarettes purchased from G.J. Smokes bore no genuine tax stamp. As a result, the applicable excise taxes were not paid.

If you actively advocate the economic destruction of your products, how the fuck am I supposed to care about another buck imposed on top of each pack? Other than the unthinkingly reflexive tea party hordes, why would anyone else give it a second thought unless it was their own habit gored by the government ox?

Big Tobacco is functionally absurd.…

How Dare You Call It Socialism!

How Dare You Call It Socialism! – Short of making the most difficult economic changes, however, there is the matter that even blue-dog Democrats ought to be able to handle without flinching: establishing the government as employer of last resort.[…]

There is no natural rate of unemployment. But there is a natural – that is, fundamental – right to work. The social and economic costs of unemployment – lost income, crime, broken families, physical and mental health problems, interrupted educations, shattered retirements, social unrest – ought to be plenty to make providing full employment a slam dunk for politicians supposedly in tune with their constituents. pokerasia

How Dare You Call It Socialism!

Why, it’s simply beyond the boundaries of polite discussion! The government employing everyone? Silly reactionary, don’t you know that socialism only exists when the state does everything? https://pafikebasen.org/

Once again, Meteor Blades demonstrates he knows jack shit about economics.

Where Can I Find A Nice White Leather Sectional Sleeper Sofa Online ?

Where Can I Find A Nice White Leather Sectional Sleeper Sofa Online ? – Furniture increases your house value, and it does give your living room a touch of luxury and comfort, which has appreciated by family members and especially guests. It has become more important that you have to take care of living room for family and guests. You can check out this detailed guide for buying the best sleeper sofa online here.

Where Can I Find A Nice White Leather Sectional Sleeper Sofa Online ?

Not every sofa in the market, which has manufactured from the leather are not sustainable, and they smell bad within a couple of years due to the use of leather. The comfort level decreases before the mentioned duration, and it is not something new the market. poker asia

Those who have a family of six or above have to think for all of them and buy a sofa which can fit their requirement. Almost every family blessed with elders who need extra care and living room is where seniors spend their most of the time, so you have but a sofa that can fit them for longer periods as well. You can also check household and healthcare product reviews here. www.benchwarmerscoffee.com

I will not deny that you may find it difficult to find the best sofa for the family and guests unless you know where to explore, so today we will show you where you can find the durable and modern sofas.

Furniture Where Can I Find A Nice White Leather Sectional Sleeper Sofa Online For Less than $3000

Improve Your Home’s Interior With These Easy Tips

Improve Your Home’s Interior With These Easy Tips – You may have several ideas in your mind about what you would like your home to look like. The difficult part is knowing how to take those ideas and make them the reality. You can use the tips below to begin making the changes to your home that you have dreamed about.

Whenever you are choosing wall colors for a room that doesn’t have a lot of natural light in it, it is wise to choose lighter, natural colors. A lighter colored wall will distribute light around a room more evenly given the room a brighter look than if you used dark or bright colors. idnpoker

Have a theme in mind. Is there a specific color scheme you rather enjoy? Do you have a fondness for retro furniture? Deciding on a theme before you even begin your planning phase can save you a lot of time and effort. Make sure you know what you’re going for before you start planning for it. https://www.benchwarmerscoffee.com/

A great interior design tip is to always be aware of space when you’re designing. If you go crazy with a room it might end up getting cluttered. No matter how nice looking and well decorated a room is, if there isn’t enough space to move around no one will even bother to go in it. Thinking to purchase a sewing machine for beginners then check here for our best recommendation HomeTronix.

Every room needs a focal point. A focal point adds a highlight to any space and serves as the basis for all other design decisions in the room. Any other features, furnishings and accent pieces in the room should draw attention or enhance the focal point, not compete with it in any way.

Improve Your Home’s Interior With These Easy Tips

If you are designing a new kitchen in your house, it is beneficial to contact a professional contractor. Your ideas might involve electrical and plumbing work that is beyond your scope of expertise. By contacting a professional, they can help you to outline the exact project so it is done right and within budget.

When using more than one color of paint in a single room, keep the combination of colors in the same family. In other words, a red can be paired with a pale orange or a blue with a nice violet.

Colors that are closely located on the rainbow really complement each other, rather than clashing.

When you are decorating, keep the room’s purpose in mind. Think about the people who use the room and what the room is used for. Your bedroom should be designed to meet your individual needs, while the rest of the house must reflect the needs and wants of your entire family.

If you have a favorite painting, you may want to use it as the focal point of your room. This way, it will draw the most attention. Pick your room’s color scheme to match your painting so that it your painting will be accepted by the entire room. This is a great way to make that painting stand out!

Neutral colors are great to use in any room of your house as they can match almost any design or color. These colors include beige, taupe, black and white and are a very good type of shade if you are decorating with a contemporary style. Incorporate these colors if you want to be on the safe side with your color scheme.

Use vinyl adhesive stickers to decorate a child’s room. Because you may not want to redo your child’s room each time they go through a phase (trains? dinosaurs? superheroes?), vinyl stickers are a great solution. Available in practically every design from words to numbers to athletes and more, they allow you to stick them semi-permanently to any wall, but easily remove them when your child finds a new passion.

Try using the 2012 color of the year in your rooms. This year, the chosen color is, “Tangerine Tango.” This warm orange has a lot of depth to it and it looks sophisticated. It combines red’s power with yellow’s friendliness. You can easily incorporate it into your art, walls, carpet, furniture, and more.

Now that you have the knowledge, you can get started making your dreams a reality. It can be easier than you may have once thought. Start using the tips above and make your home into the place you have pictured it to be. Soon, you will have the dream home you have thought about for so long.