time*treat's Blog

OAKLAND, Calif.—San Francisco Bay area officials will study a proposal to charge motorists a tax on every mile they drive in the nine-county region as a way to raise money for roads and public transit while reducing traffic and pollution from car emissions.

Members of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments approved going forward with further study of a possible Vehicle Miles Traveled tax on Thursday night, as part of a broader environmental review of several transportation options.

Under a proposal still in its early stages, drivers could be required to install GPS-like odometers or other devices in their vehicles and pay from less than a penny to as much as a dime for every mile driven. The idea could take a decade or more to be launched.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_21112190/officials-float-san-francisco-bay-area-mileage-tax

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2012/07/18/Driving-tax-considered-in-California/UPI-84661342636651/

(James Taggart speaking with Cherryl Brooks)

"He didn’t invent iron ore and blast furnaces, did he?”

“Who?”

“Rearden. He didn’t invent smelting and chemistry and air compression. He couldn’t have invented his Metal but for thousands and thousands of other people. His Metal! Why does he think it’s his? Why does he think it’s his invention? Everybody uses the work of everybody else. Nobody ever invents anything.”

She said, puzzled, “But the iron ore and all those other things were there all the time. Why didn’t anybody else make that Metal, but Mr. Rearden did?”

Atlas Shrugged, Part One, Chapter Nine

 

http://didntbuildthat.com/ 

From time to time, I post examples of where you (or the kids) can learn for free just as much (and at your own pace & schedule) as you can learn in public so-called school, all without the extra lessons in how to be a better leach & criminal. Sit. Watch. Listen.

Academics + (math, science, finance, etc) -- http://www.khanacademy.org/

Crash Course (subjects you'd normally sleep through) -- http://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse/videos

Periodic Table Videos (atoms, elements) -- http://www.youtube.com/user/periodicvideos/videos

Poetry & Prose (classic stories) -- http://www.ccprose.com/booklist

http://www.youtube.com/user/CCProse/videos

 

Next time local bureaucraps want to raise taxes or issue another school bond, fo' de chil'ren, tell 'em go jump in a shark tank.

A web connection gets you all the school the kids need and some school for you, too.

 

What's your lame excuse for failure, now?

P.S. I've checked all of these links. So far, none of them have asked for any demographic or financial info as a condition of their functioning. They have not even asked how I voted or whether or not I believe in man-made global warming.

http://www.isidewith.com/

96% Libertarian
76% Republican
18% Democratic
18% Green

Ok, gotta admit I didn't expect the Rep & Dem scores to be that far apart.

All this time, I thought I was a moderate.

... or rather, do you trust, believe, rely on it/them?

No Trespassing. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRumpledOne

Trashing Achievements
by Thomas Sowell

-- There was a time, within living memory, when the achievements of others were not only admired but were often taken as an inspiration for imitation of the same qualities that had served these achievers well, even if we were not in the same field of endeavor and were not expecting to achieve on the same scale.

The perseverance of Thomas Edison, as he tried scores of materials for the filament of the light bulb he was inventing; the dedication of Abraham Lincoln as he studied law on his own while struggling to make a living – these were things young people were taught to admire, even if they had no intention of becoming inventors or lawyers, much less President of the United States.

Somewhere along the way, all that changed. Today, the very concept of achievement is de-emphasized and sometimes attacked. Following in the footsteps of Barack Obama, Professor Elizabeth Warren of Harvard has made the downgrading of high achievers the centerpiece of her election campaign against Senator Scott Brown.

To cheering audiences, Professor Warren says, "there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You build a factory out there, good for you, but I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers that the rest of us paid to educate."

Do the people who cheer this kind of talk bother to stop and think through what she is saying? Or is heady rhetoric enough for them?

People who run businesses are benefitting from things paid for by others? Since when are people in business, or high-income earners in general, exempt from paying taxes like everybody else?

At a time when a small fraction of high-income taxpayers pay the vast majority of all the taxes collected, it is sheer chutzpah to depict high-income earners as somehow being subsidized by "the rest of us," whether in paying for the building of roads or the educating of the young.

Since everybody else uses the roads and the schools, why should high achievers be expected to feel like free loaders who owe still more to the government, because schools and roads are among the things that facilitate their work? According to Elizabeth Warren, because it is part of an "underlying social contract."

(rest of the article)
http://lewrockwell.com/sowell/sowell103.html

Except for the hole in your pocket. The Krug would love  this. 

Looks like we won't need that fake alien invasion after all, or at least not yet.

They Will Take Everything If You Don’t Stop Them.

At first glance a statement like this brings up thoughts of the government coming for all freedom seeking people. In actuality this is about your neighbors and those in your community that will ruthlessly mob up and literally storm your own home for what you have after a long drawn out disaster, perhaps sooner. It is a fact that most people in the United States, upwards of 99%, have little or NOTHING put away for emergenices. When chaos hits and a country's infrastructure crumbles into powder, so does the nation's ability to feed and sustain its citizens.

Self reliance and preparing for a rainy day or even for a full blown hurricane has become almost a taboo for many, and a total waste of time, money and effort for the others. While what a person does with their own money and time is their business, the same holds true for the person that sacrifices much to prepare for future mass disorder and total lack of purchasable necessities.

The main conundrum with the vast majority of the population is that they have come to totally expect everything provided for them by someone else, human or machine. This "serve me, as I am the only one that matters" attitude is more than an epidemic in the United States and many other countries. As individuals of ALL ages lose the basic skills of self reliance, and more importantly the desire to do any task for themselves, a ticking time bomb becomes more pronounced for when these services breakdown.

http://lewrockwell.com/rep3/10-things-to-defend-yourself.html

http://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-preparedness/they-will-take-everything-if-you-dont-stop-them-ten-things-you-must-do-to-defend-yourself_07132012

 ... and (nom, nom, nom) your little dog, too.

... to the extent that American "banks" (and any other financial outfits) and "safety" belong in the same sentence.

For those of you who aren't yet at the point of "Can't Truss It" ....

http://money.msn.com/personal-finance/the-359-safest-banks-in-america-investinganswers.aspx?page=0

 

I don't see 1st Nat'l Mattress anywhere on the list. 

We would all laugh at a man who, sinking in millions of dollars in house payments, car loans, and credit card bills, decided to fix his problem by looking for spare quarters lurking behind the cushions of his sofas.

Likewise, we should shake our heads at the way the state of California—with a budget deficit approaching $16 billion and hundreds of billions of dollars in unfunded pension and retiree medical benefits—is stepping up tax collection to help plug a hole caused by its chronic overspending.

http://reason.com/archives/2012/07/13/californias-food-truck-shakedown/print

 

There have been many articles & lists posted before related to businesses leaving CA.  Like most* libs and bureaucraps who don't recognize/care about the long-term consequences of actions, the ones in California aren't scared, they'll bravely blunder forward, confident their victims will forever take the abuse.

*Most, because gems like Shmuck Schumer's EXPATRIOT Act show some of them DO know who the real wealth producers are. The ticks don't want you wearing long-sleeves, but they really hate you leaving the forest.

**

Cleared of all crimes, yet is required to pay a fee for the CHANCE to get his property back.

After a jury acquitted him of all charges, he went immediately to the impound lot to retrieve his automobile. He was told he would have to pay $1200 not to get his car, but to request a hearing to challenge DC's initial decision to take his car -- an amount later reduced to $800.

http://thenewspaper.com/news/38/3840.asp

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/115536.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/10/us-wallstreet-survey-idUSBRE86906G20120710

Just so you know, if you take your money out of the  stock market and park it in a "nice, safe,  bank CD", you've just sent it back into the financial markets , unless you bank at Bailey Building and Loan. 

Denise Rich, the wealthy socialite and former wife of pardoned billionaire trader Marc Rich, has given up her U.S. citizenship - and, with it, much of her U.S. tax bill.

Rich, 68, a Grammy-nominated songwriter and glossy figure in Democratic and European royalty circles, renounced her American passport in November, according to her lawyer.

Her maiden name, Denise Eisenberg, appeared in the Federal Register on April 30 in a quarterly list of Americans who renounced their U.S. citizenship and permanent residents who handed in their green cards.

By dumping her U.S. passport, Rich likely will save tens of millions of dollars or more in U.S. taxes over the long haul, tax lawyers say.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/48142231/#48142231

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/09/entertainment-us-usa-immigration-deniser-idUSBRE8680MN20120709

Well, it must have been an accident, because no one's trying to leave the USA, right? 

People had better get familiar with the Pareto principle fast or the ticks are going to get real thirsty.

The National Futures Association on Monday froze the funds of the Iowa-based brokerage Peregrine Financial Group, Inc, which does business as PFGBest, after discovering an estimated $220 million shortfall in PFGBest's customer accounts. The NFA had said in an affidavit that Wasendorf "may have falsified bank records."

Wasendorf, 64, is reported to be in a coma after a suicide attempt Monday morning, according to a complaint filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday that accuses Wasendorf and Peregrine of fraud.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/10/us-broker-pfgbest-document-idUSBRE8691F520120710

PFGBest missing $220MM in client funds, founder attempts suicide.

Attempts? Some people can't do anything right.

Regulators seized operations of the Chicago futures brokerage PFGBest on Monday (July 9, 2012) as they investigate more than $200 million in customer funds that may be missing.

The action occurred hours after the firm’s chairman, Russell Wasendorf Sr., tried to kill himself outside the firm’s headquarters in Cedar Falls, Iowa, said a source close to the company. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier said Wasendorf, 64, was taken to University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City, where he was listed in critical condition.
...

The National Futures Association, which has regulatory power over the industry’s brokerages, said that while the firm asserted it had $225 million in an account with U.S. Bank, a review showed that only $5 million was on deposit.

The money was part of $400 million in customer funds the firm was required to keep in segregated accounts, the NFA said.
...

PFGBest told customers their funds had been frozen and clients would be allowed to liquidate open trading positions, but would not be able to withdraw funds or make new trades until further notice.

http://www.suntimes.com/business/13689539-420/200-million-missing-after-pfgbest-chairmans-suicide-attempt.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/pfgbest-missing-220-million-in-client-funds-founder-attempts-suicide/article4401803/