Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Taxes/VAT/Allin/Massasoit/KC

According to an AP story 47% of all American households will pay no taxes. The combination of income levels and a variety of tax credits has created that situation. Conversely the top 10% pay 73% of income taxes collected by the federal government. I guess this means “The Rich” are already taxed. To pile on the bottom 40% actually make a profit from federal income tax by getting more money in tax credits than taxes they owe. They get a check!

The Tax Foundation has also reported that tax day this year was April 9th - the point at which we have paid our obligation to the government and will now me earning for ourselves. How encouraging.

With half not paying any taxes maybe that Value Added Tax (VAT) may have some legs especially if it is high enough to finally eliminated personal income tax or set the taxable level at $50,000+.

Michael Graham in The Herald had a nice article in which he mentions some attacks by union thugs on Tea Party members. Seems these incidents get little or no play.

Didn’t take long for the blog first think later group to show their stuff after two interesting things happened locally - an election and Massasoit College coming to town. I would think JP would be gracious enough to toss verbal kudos Wayne Perkins way for his behind the scenes hard work to get Massasoit into downtown Middleboro. I and others may have issues with Mr. Perkins but in this instance he certainly earned a pile of points. Nice job.

Mark seemed to feel the election results - meaning Allin losing - is on a par with the Visigoths sacking Rome. To quote: "The old guard wins the day. More years of the same thinking that got us where we are today." That just degrades those who voted for others. Allin made a great showing and will be back. When I am lounging at Island Terrace in a few years Allin will probably be on his third or fourth term on the BOS.

The influence of blogs? They are virtually all opinion pieces but what strikes me is the lack of research that goes into the opinions. Opinions with little facts and those that are used are often questionable. Even a little something on the sidebar regarding casinos and oxygen. Repeat a lie often enough it becomes a truth.

I remember “back in the day” when some TV stations had weather girls and they’d do the weather while wearing a bathing suit. Now we have meteorologist but they don’t wear bikini’s or Speedo’s. Might help.

Spirit Airlines got attention with their proposal for up to a $45 charge for a carry on. Now Spirit is a quite small regional but has the youngest fleet of any national carrier. Spirit is also the largest privately held airline with 29 Airbus aircraft.

Just got back from the Red Sox series in KC. This is a great ballpark with nice seats for a reasonable price. The atmosphere has a distinct minor league feel to it with silliness between innings and the scoreboard constantly encouraging fans to “get loud.” But then I saw the idiot move of the year. They have a mascot called “Slugger” who roams the stands. Late in game one he wandered into the section next to us with the Sox trailing. This section had a passel of Sox fans including several who had enjoyed a significant number of adult beverages. Slugger decided to have some “humor” and approached one rather inebriated Sox fan and removed his cap and pretended to wipe his butt with it. This is tantamount to flashing the wrong sign to a Crip or Blood. Needless to say arrests ensued and Slugger lost his tail and was drenched in beer.

6 comments:

Suo Mynona said...

***Used Alpo****

At the BOS meeting meeting last it was sad that the Health Officer had to start talking about people not cleaning up after their dogs. I saw three people allowing their dogs to defecate at Oliver Mill park the other day in the span of 45 minutes.

I am out on Pratt Farm frequently and do not see many people carrying their plastic bags. What gets me is the sign that says "NO UNLEASHED DOGS" in the parking lot that all too many people ignore.

I hate when people say "Don't worry he doesn't bite" as the dog is growling and and bearing its teeth. Many people are phobic about any unleashed dog.

In public places dogs should be on a leash and their warm digested Alpo away in a bag by their owners.

(get this (LMCAO) my word verification for this post is "mut mate" -- all one word of course)

chica said...

Dogs are a worse problem in my neighborhood when people allow them to do their duty on my lawn and that just increases the destruction factor. I have confronted two individuals who just don't seem to get it as they get quite defensive about their doggies.

North Slope Rigger said...

Great pictures. I heard all about "Slugger."

drive-by said...

I'm thrilled that the college is coming. Chances are they will give some Microsoft oriented, C#, and GWT courses that I need with the changing technology that would be assets in my job. Hard to compete with the sharp techno kids in their 20s and 30s. Thank you Wayne Perkins.

Looking more and more like Palin will be the first official Tea Party candidate. Bad news for the Repubicans because she will split the vote against Obama. Wish there really were a time machine so I could go back to 11/08 and change my vote. More change than I bargained for.

LMAO said...

Casinos and slots are now a done deal. The revenues are there for the state and jobs are going to be created. Now a pile of money will be going to our coffers rather than Connecticut and R.I.

Wonder if the tribe will ever get to build here or elsewhere?

bogofree said...

The Middleboro casino is still hanging around. Like trying to get dog mess out of the bottom of your sneakers. Seems that one week it is on life support and the next on the fast track.

Dog mess. One of my duties is to go around our yard (fenced in) and clean up after our mutts. This is not a complicated job and one for which I am highly qualified. Just look at this blog and you realize I know a lot about s**t. I remember reading many years ago about someone who started a business about cleaning up after the dogs business. Turned quite profitable.

I wonder if the Tea Party will become a formal party as they just appear to be an activist group for which politicians will vie for support - providing they think it will be advantageous. Not sure about that.