Car Salesman

I've had a few buddies that have or currently sell cars.  It's a demanding, cut throat job (from my limited understanding). 

With limited understanding in mind, here's an in depth look at car salesmen from within the profession.  A journalist went 'undercover' in the industry for three months to get a glimpse of the profession.

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/article.html

Here's a short video about the article: Confessions of a Car Salesman

Taxed to Death

I remember hearing how middle class Americans wouldn't see tax increases under Obama?  Maybe I was mistaken?

I dismissed the notion when I originally heard it.  Democrats are notorious for raising taxes, not just on the rich, which actually decreases the velocity of circulation, but on the middle class and poor as well.  The trick, though, is to give you a cut in one area and then tax the hell out of you somewhere else. 

Our politicians are spending money in ways that are unfathomable.  I honestly don't think the politicians and bureaucrats responsible for this drunken spending binge have any concept of what money is.  None the less, a spending they will go.  TARP funds, GM bailout, Fannie/Freddie, GMAC, increases here, spendulus there and finally we're gearing up for Obamacare⁷.  This entitlement will be the granddaddy of them all.  In 20 years 100% of government spending will be taken up in entitlement programs Medicare, Medicaid and Universal Healthcare when it passes.  That doesn't include infrastructure, defense, or any other near and dear government programs.  Think about that for a second.

So how the hell do these retards spending OUR money plan to pay for Obamacare if they're not going to raise income taxes on the middle class?  Here's a list of proposed taxes in other areas^1&7:

• taxes on food items: such as soda, sugar based drinks, alcohol
• a possible VAT tax
• taxes on employer based health insurance

While these taxes aren't directly affecting your income, they will affect your disposable income as the price of goods go up.  And as taxes are applied to goods, whether VAT or otherwise, fewer of those goods will be purchased.  The result will be declining revenue for the Treasury and eventually the government will find new taxes to levy on all of us. 

Sometime later today, or possibly next week the government will release their proposed Obamacare bill.  Next week ABC will run their government propaganda machine straight from the White House⁸.  It's being promoted as a Special on Obamacare: "Questions for the President: Prescription for America".  What ABC has refused to do, though, is offer an opposing viewpoint to government run healthcare, such as Rick Scott's CPR.  Scott apparently contacted ABC about running a commercial during the time slot, but ABC refused. 

CPR has been running infomercials recently against government run healthcare².  Just today on their website is a post about the pending ABC News program⁵:

As the administration prepares for its health care program on ABC News, the one steadfast detail about their health care agenda is: no one knows the details. What we do know is a government-run health care system will increase health costs and crowd out private insurers, leaving American health care in the hands of bureaucrats and not doctors. Reports of partisan bickering and exploding costs are hindering the proponents of a government-run health care system. The incomplete budget score has left Democrats on the Hill doing anything they can to cut costs, except creating a plan that doesn't include a $1.6 trillion government-run health system.

http://www.cprights.org/2009/06/government-run-health-care-system-is-not-the-solution.php

Isn't it enough that the government is going to spend $2 TRILLION ⁴ dollars this year?  When is it enough? 

Even the AMA opposes government run healthcare⁵ .  That should be an eye-opener. 

 

Resources:

1. The AP: House eyes new taxes as senators pare health bill
2. Fox News: Health Care Infomercial Airs Despite Objections
3. CPR: Conservatives for Patients' Rights
4. USA Today: Benefit spending soars to new high
5. CPR: Government-Run Health Care System is Not the Solution
6. NSO: The AMA Opposes Government Health Plan
7. CATO: Intensive Obamacare
8. Fox News: ABC News Teams Up With Obama White House to Present President's Health Care Plan

Google Reader & Me

I was looking at my Google Reader trends this afternoon.  I do the most reading of news around 9 in the morning and it trails off by 11. 

From your 96 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 9,422 items, starred 38 items, shared 67 items, and emailed 36 items.

I also have a tendency to check RSS feeds more on Mondays, followed by Friday.

Last 30 days

 

Items posted = blue

Items read = orange

 

Time of day

 

Items posted = blue

Items read = orange

Day of the week

Items posted = blue

Items read = orange

I star the most from these three sites:

• NRA-ILA News
• Lifehacker
• Fox International

These are the most emailed sites:

• Engadget
• Lifehacker
• Cato Recent Op-eds

I shared the most from these sites:

• Lifehacker
• The Register
• NRA-ILA News

If you want to check out my shared items go to the link in the sidebar of my blog and select Google Reader Shared Items. 

Google Reader

Big Three Auto - ProCon.org

A colleague sent me a link to ProCon.org which hosts non-partisan data on the "Big 3" auto-makers alongside Toyota and Honda.  They have an excellent table that lists:

• US Market Share
• Global Sales
• Employees
• Revenue per Employee
• Average Hourly Wage and Benefits
• # of Legacy Employees
• Annual Cost of Legacy Employees
• CEO 2007 Compensation
• # of Plants (US)
• # of Brands (US)
• Income Before Tax 2007
• Federal Income Taxes Paid/Refunds Received in 2007
• Net Profit or Loss 2007
• Non-Auto Related Assets (millions)
• Links to 2007 Annual Reports
• Links to SEC Filings: 2007 Annual Report

Go check it out:  Big Three Auto - ProCon.org

An Armed Society is a Polite Society

There was an article on the Drudge Report today that states the United States is the most armed nation in the world.  I say "Hell, yeah, we are."  Now, out of the 50 states, where does Texas rank?  And how guns does the average armed American own?  You have to consider that many Americans don't own any firearms, so of those who do, what's the average? 
 
Justin throws the average.
 

U.S. most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people
U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.

 

Iran's Revolutionary Guard

There's no question that Iran is peddling it's influence on Iraq, supplying weapons and material to Shi'ite militants in Iraq, supporting Hezbollah and the Iranian government hates us to death.
What to do about it, then?

Well, the US has long had Iran on the list of nations that support terrorism. Sanctions long been in place, they've been declared part of the 'Axis of Evil' and plenty of UN fingers wagged in their face.

Now the Bush Administration is going to ratchet up the rhetoric a notch by declaring Iran's Revolutionary Guard, their largest military branch, a terrorist organization. Gee, I hope that doesn't scare them.

It's clear the American public doesn't have the stomach to take a hard-line stance against the totalitarian regimes of this world, so what, then, is the point of notching up the rhetoric? What exactly is declaring the R.G.'s a terrorist organization going to do for us? I would be floored if anyone (US, UN, NATO, France) actually flexed military power on Iran.

It's clear the world sees the West as a bunch of wussies because of our weak will and fast capitulation in the face of adversity.

The only reason I continue this rant is due to the fact that I don't see the 'end game' here on the declaration. It's just rhetoric. It's a waste of time. Anyway, I thought I would share my disgust with you.

See the original article [NY Times]: U.S. Weighing Terrorist Label for Iran Guards.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

People out there ACTUALLY believe this. Perhaps we should set them up in a warm and religiously open society like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia or the Sudan. Their independent, free wheeling liberal ideas and lifestyles will be welcomed with open arms. They'll no longer have to live so oppressed by the 'moral majority' in the West. They will at last have found their freedom.

Nothing to Fear from Bin Laden; Bush Is the Enemy in Edinburgh

A quote from The Independent, 5 August 2007 We have nothing to fear from al-Qa'ida. Christian fundamentalists are the real extremist threat. That's the message from the writers of a new play being shown at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival. […] The writers said that, while there is public discussion about the dangers of radical Islamic groups, the influence of the Christian far right is underestimated. "I've been very sensitive to extremists in other religions, particularly Islam, being demonised," said Badham. "I find the Christian right groups that are enormously powerful in our own culture a larger numerical threat than extreme Islam. […] Bush is from the religious right and he has the bomb; that terrifies me far more than the potential of other extremists to get their hands on nuclear weapons. In the religious right it is the self-appointed moral majority that sets its own rules, and anybody opposing them is labelled unpatriotic and shouted down."

Who Are These People?

Okay... so Matt Drudge had found several interesting articles. My unwelcomed opinion precedes the link to the articles and quotes.

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Don't Speak Spanish? Get Out!
Here we have a guy in Florida who's losing the lease where he runs his business because he doesn't speak Spanish. As wrong as the landlord is (in my opinion), he does have the right as a private business owner to impose his will. I can only imagine the furor if the tables were reversed here?

Geoff Oldfather: English-speaker says landlord's message is clear [http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2007/aug/05/no-headline-05sgfcol]

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Pelosi's Liberal Taxers Levy Taxes on Big Oil
Next we have my favorite liberal, Nancy Pelosi, vomiting non sequitur sound bytes. The House, in its infinite wisdom, decided to approve a tax on oil companies. Now, you might think this is a good idea, but it's just another way of the government to tax us.

This article left me fuming. These libs have decided to FORCE private industry to find new fuel sources. In this day and age who wouldn't LOVE to be the first to market with a revolutionary new fuel source? Any company with such revolutionary technology would be infinitely rich. But it hasn't happened. And as novel as it is to pour corn syrup into your paperweight Prius, this country is run on oil. Why? Because it is the most effective fuel source we have. Period. You can't haul trailer loads of goods around the nation with a Prius. It takes big rigs, trains, and ships - and they don't run on hugs and hope, people. So learn to love oil until someone comes up with a better alternative.

Below I've posted one of Pelosi's comments. Some how by taxing oil companies we're being futuristic? I don't know, I never quite understand what she's getting at.

House Approves Taxes on Oil Companies [http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070805/D8QQNQM00.html]

"We are turning to the future," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

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Bloggers Want to Unionize. Why? Who's Exploiting You?
Okay... somewhere along the line folks like Susie Madrak came to the misguided conclusion that they're entitled. They're entitled because the life they've chosen for themselves is fraught with little idiosyncrasies that we just don't understand. But, have no fear, if we pay them for their lifestyle choice, then everything will be alright.

If bloggers can make a living blogging about politics (or whatever), then good for them. If not? Then get a real job and go get some exercise! What I truly don't understand here is who these idiots want to organize against? Blogging in itself is a hobby or a personal choice. It's not as though you work in a factory with poor conditions. You CHOOSE to spend hours on the internet writing about things no one asked your opinion on. So, if you unionize, who are you unionizing against? Seriously, have you thought this through? Or maybe Nancy Pelosi is going to pay you to blog with the taxes from the Big Oil?

In the first quote below, Susie Madrak uses two of the words I most despise in the same sentence: "feel" and "entitled." I can't stand people basing decisions on feelings and the only people who are entitled to anything are veterans. Apparently blogging is too tough for her. The use of a mouse is wearing out her neck and shoulder. Really? I don't even know what to say.

Bloggers Consider Forming Labor Union
[http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070806/unionized_bloggers.html?.v=2]

"I think people have just gotten to the point where people outside the blogosphere understand the value of what it is that we do on the progressive side," said Susie Madrak, the author of Suburban Guerilla blog, who is active in the union campaign. "And I think they feel a little more entitled to ask for something now."

Madrak hopes that regardless the form, the labor movement ultimately will help bloggers pay for medical bills. It's important, she said, because some bloggers can spend hours a day tethered to computers as they update their Web sites.

"Blogging is very intense -- physically, mentally," she said. "You're constantly scanning for news. You're constantly trying to come up with information that you think will mobilize your readers. In the meantime, you're sitting at a computer and your ass is getting wider and your arm and neck and shoulder are wearing out because you're constantly using a mouse."