12 Links For You to Read, With Commentary.

Forbes - One Solution to California's Drought: Tax Water. The intent is to tax everything other than income in a time when most will not have any jobs.

The Mercury News - Opinion: Tax water to provide clean water to Californians whose supply is contaminated.  They want to tax the water and the air; but, they apparently cannot agree on the excuse, and that is all it is.

Fox - Taxing organic products could solve California water problem, experts say. Now they argue about taxing organic produce to solve a water problem? NOOO, to increase the price of organic so the majority of people can only afford non-organic.

Yahoo - Newsweek - Robert Reich: On Labor, Tragically, Trump Was Right.  The article points out that the wealthy are spending more and more to control elections and buy politicians which is why we are gutting public services like education and what workers are paid. We all know this, in fact, only one in ten even trust our businesses, banks or political leaders. This by the way is why there is an increase in propaganda to think about everything other than following the money.

MSN - Country Living - Parents Can't Figure Out Why This Student's Math Problem Was Marked Wrong.  They are intentionally destroying education for all but the well off who attend private school. Want proof? Read the article or answer this question, what is 5 X 3? I would say the answer is 15, nope according to how our children are being taught it is 3 X 3 X 3 X 3 X 3. In fact if your answer it is 5 X 5 X 5, you are wrong. Why are we teaching kids that math is harder than it needs to be? Oh, yeah, so they won't learn or like learning.

Fox - Mark Hamill donates to campaign to remove Donald Trump from Twitter. I like this, people are actually willing to donate money to someone else to buy a majority position in Twitter, rather than getting the stock themselves, to prevent our President from being able to speak directly to us. Hmmm. Why not just start a new site that works like Twitter and say that what makes your site different is that you don't allow the President on it or other people you don't like? The people who control this nation really still have not figured out how to control the internet; but, they are trying.

MSN - Business Insider - Trump reversed regulations to protect infrastructure against flooding just days before Hurricane Harvey.  I really enjoyed this one, they implied that Trump was responsible for the hurricane damage because he cancelled an executive order that Obama passed that has never been in effect and wasn't planned to be in effect by Obama.

Independent - Scientists think they have discovered the maximum age a human can live to.  Something I have written about before. People are not living to be older, the top age has not changed. The difference is people are not dying as young as they used to, like we have impacted childhood deaths and early deaths; but, not the extent of life.

Fox - Trump, GOP should keep DACA but scrap birthright citizenship. Why are people on the left and right both against making these people citizens? DACA didn't make anyone a citizen, yet the media acts as if these people were safer under the rule which wasn't a law and the right wants to say being born in America doesn't make you a citizen. It is all about creating two levels or more of citizenship and watch if accomplished only a few will get the right to vote.

Fox - House moves quickly to pass self-driving technology law.  Congress is moving right now to approve laws preventing states from making their own laws. Funny, I thought the Republicans were in favor of states rights. Hmmm. Oh, in addition, this is being done so that 150,000 self driving cars can be put on the roads by NEXT year.

Yahoo - The Independent - Donald Trump doesn't realise Ivanka 'isn't that impressive to people', says political analyst.  Well, expect to see more and more articles attacking Ivanka. I guess she was the next member of his family to get all negative attention. Isn't it great that with only 6 corporations owning 90% of all the media it doesn't matter who you read or watch in the corporate mainstream media because they all speak with one voice.

Washington Examiner - FEC Dems renew bid to regulate Internet, Drudge, 'not done fighting'.  Yep, the corporate Democrats want to regulate political speech on the internet because some Russians put ads on Facebook to the tune of $100,000. I wonder how many political ads the Democrats put on Facebook or the Republicans? It was a lot more. The elitists really do not understand the internet; but, they know they hate it. They hate it, free speech and democracy. They like control and monopolies.

Smart Cities and Automated Labor.

Curbed Los Angeles - City Council votes to dedicate $27M to Vision Zero, its plan to end traffic deaths.  Vision Zero, ever hear of it? Nope, you probably have not. It is a multinational plan, not a Los Angeles plan, not a state plan and not a national plan. It's avowed purpose is to make streets safer; but, it's real intent is to make the streets friendly to self-driving vehicles and keep personal vehicles out of the major cities. They don't tell you that. Here is a couple of lines from the article.

"Buscaino said he wants to prepare LA for driverless cars with a “smart streets” strategy, which could employ sensors, kiosks, and other tech designed for automated vehicles.

(It should be noted that if the streets were truly smart, they would also be dramatically reduced in size, as autonomous vehicles will not need as much on-street parking and the ability to share them would mean far fewer cars on the road.)" Yep, your tax money at work to stop you from using the roads."

Smart Cities Dive - Pump the brakes: Cities aim to eliminate traffic fatalities with Vision Zero goals. Some general information about which cities are instituting Vision Zero.

Los Angeles Daily News - Botts’ Dots, after a half-century, will disappear from freeways, highways. You know the little bumps that are used to separate lanes and remind you that you are crossing into another lane, they are going to get rid of them and thereby make it safer for self-driving cars and more dangerous for human controlled cars. Do you see the pattern to all of this yet?

FOX - Stan the robotic parking valet gets to work at Paris airport.

Yahoo - AFP - First robotic cop joins Dubai police.  Robotic cops do what they are told. Do you think repressive governments will use them to control people? Just think how many people Stalin, Hitler and Mau could have killed with no regrets and no push back from the police or soldiers.

MSN - Marketwatch - When Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg sound the same dire warning about jobs, it’s time to listen.  They ask a simple question, how will people find a sense of purpose when their labor is no longer needed. As the article points out, the issue of a laborless future is being looked at today by CEOs. For me the problem is that the majority people can't see it coming or be involved in the discussion until they do.

Reuters - Waymo working on self-driving trucks.  Waymo is part of Google.

The Kansas City Star - About half of all U.S. retail jobs could vanish due to computerization, analysis finds. The real issue of the future will not be a minimum wage, it will be any wage.

Daily Mail - Artificial intelligence will outperform humans in all tasks in just 45 years and could take over EVERY job in the next century, experts claim.  This is what is driving all of the changes you are seeing and you don't know it.

Geek.com - Elon Musk: Automation Will Force Universal Basic Income. Must is one of the good guys; but, "conservatives" hate his idea. The money won't come from your taxes because you won't have a job.

The big question remains. What do we do as a society when we no longer need people's labor. It is a moral question and a structural one and if you don't think about it, you will not have a say in it.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/workplace/article153864894.html#storylink=cpy

Why Are You Paying Your Local Government to Track Your Movement?

Los Angeles is big, it is real big. There are 88 distinct cities in Los Angeles County, the City of Los Angeles is just one. Burbank, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, San Fernando, Lancaster are just some of the better known ones. The County of Los Angeles also includes areas that are not cities, we call them unincorporated areas. The County has about 11 million residents and encompasses about 4,750 square miles. That is more land mass than some states. It is in fact twice the size of Maryland.

Do you understand that your taxes are paying for a future where you are monitored all day by the government and private industry? Do you know that your taxes are paying to eliminate your jobs if you are in the transportation industry.

Let me explain. Right now towns throughout the United States are paying ten times as much to stripe their crosswalks so that self driving cars will know where the lanes are. There has been NO media reporting on how we are all spending more to paint the streets rather than pave them. Now you are about to take your sales tax and use it to pay to monitor your movements.

Soofa Bench Yes, a bench that allows you to charge your phone while tracking every phone around it and tracking the users.

Soofa Bench Information.  Here is a page from their website where they talk about data mining. If you think this is garbage, read how the City of Boston, of Los Angeles and New York are using these benches right now and you taxes are being used to pay for them.

Watch the video, it is 3 minutes long. It has the mayor of Boston talking to someone from Soofa on a bench installed in Boston and ends with the people of Boston being asked where they want their benches installed without once discussing price or how your tax dollars are going to pay for them.

There are other companies building these.

YouTube - EcoUnix - Smart solar powered Bench. 

This is all being done to create "Smart Cities.

YouTube - What is a Smart City? 

 A smart city knows when you leave your house, where you are going, when you get there and adjusts to give preference to some over others. It exists to make personal transportation, cars, harder to use for everyone but those who pay extra.

Here is some news for you, cities live off of sales taxes and parking fines along with fees for permits. Counties live off of property taxes, fees and fines. States live off of income tax, sales tax, fees and fines. The federal government lives off of income tax. The wealthy pay no more sales, fees of fines than the rest of us. You can only buy so many cars per year. Sales taxes fall more on the poor and middle class than on the wealthy. Income tax falls on them. They have to pay as they benefit. They don't like that which is why they are against income tax. It is also why 95% of all deductions only apply to the wealthy.

The people in charge want to monitor you and they want you to pay for it. That is why municipalities are using sales tax to pay for it when at the same time they are claiming they cannot pay for teachers or roads to be repaired. The working and middle class are paying to eliminate the 3.2 million jobs in transportation, your local taxes are paying to build the infrastructure to monitor and control you.

The Media, Trump and Not Discussing the Real News

Couchgate is the new media focus. Just like the boy who cried wolf the corporate media is once again demonstrating their bias and lack of relevance. A group picture in the oval office was taken showing Kellyanne Conway sitting with her feet underneath her on a couch. This made the news for two days and was presented as a scandal. How is this news? It isn't.

The thing about the corporate media is that they are globalist and they are monopolistic. A story this stupid should not have been covered at all; but, instead all the major publications talked about it. The corporate media will talk about garbage like this and spend almost no time investigating why anti-trust laws are not being enforced or how your tax dollars are used to subsidize private companies through grants.

Consider all the talk in the corporate media about Trump's taxes. How many times have you heard the corporate media show how much they pay in taxes? If you make over around $100,000 a year, you will pay over 30% in taxes; but, the corporate media doesn't pay that and neither do most companies because the vast majority of tax breaks are for larger companies. We actually promote monopolies by giving them tax incentives to consolidate; but, that isn't discussed in the news.

By the way, here is an article showing how Michele Obama sat with her foot on the chair in the white house.

Yahoo - The Wrap - Kellyanne Conway Puts Her Feet Up in Oval Office, Twitter Goes Berserk.

How Hillary Clinton Could Win and Why She Won't Do It.

The media and Hillary seem confused that working class people don't like or trust her. She says she will strengthen unions; but, they are already dead and we all know it. Closing the barn after the horse has fled is merely a hollow action. She looks down on the working class and calls them white racist men who are too stupid for their vote to count because they don't feel she will work for their interests too.

If Hillary were a real Democrat she would start by saying she is eliminating tax cuts for companies that outsource jobs. If she cared about American workers she would refuse to sign anymore trade agreements or promise that the agreements were for two years and that if they resulted in American job losses than the agreement would be voided. If she truly was a progressive then she would do what was done in the early 1900s and break up the monopolies (like Teddy Roosevelt did) and regulate business; but, it is hard to take that position when her husband deregulated and allowed the monopolies to come about while outsourcing jobs.

As much as the media, big business and Hillary want to avoid discussing jobs in America it is always what elections are about. It is the economy stupid. Instead of attacking people who are concerned about job losses and anti-immigrants and xenophobes tell them how you are going to motivate companies to create jobs in the United States for Americans.

She won't be doing those things because the multinational companies that are her donors don't want those jobs here, they want those jobs in countries where they don't have to follow environmental laws or pay taxes. The reason Hillary and the media have chosen to focus on social issues is because they will not get votes if they focus on the economic issues that affect us all. Sanders supporters focus was on economic issues and they know the difference.

The Single Most Important Issue Facing the World that the Media Will Not Address

We, the western world, is quickly approaching a period where we will not need many manual laborers. While think tanks such as the Brookings Institute are willing to discuss the issue, there is little if anything said by the mass media or even the alternative media. As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) increases, even jobs that were thought to be white collar, decision making jobs will disappear at a faster and faster pace.

The reality is that in the future the way to get out of poverty will be in the arts or a highly skilled and technological job. IBM has a computer called Watson and it beat Jeopardy. There is a belief among it's makers that it could do a better job at decision making than humans. You may laugh; but, I want you to follow this link.

Watson2016 - Watson for President 2016. 

No, IBM isn't serious about having a computer run for President. It is researching people's reactions to the idea of important decisions being made by computers rather than people. Having said all that, this post is about jobs and people and how we will live in the future.

YouTube - Jim Mellon ** Human redundancy, what happens? Permanent unemployment? ** 2013. 

Now, we are constantly told that there just isn't enough money to pay to take care of people and the word used in Europe is austerity. We are told we cannot afford healthcare, pensions, social security, disability, food stamps or welfare. We are told that so much by the six media conglomerates that you might actually believe it; but, the real issue is slightly different.

Trading Economics - United States GDP.  The chart shows U.S. GDP since 2006 when the economy was barreling along prior to the crash. In 2006 the GDP was at 13,855 billion dollars for the year and it has gone up every years since except one. Today the GDP is at 17,947 billion dollars. That means the United States has actually increased it's GDP; but, we have not seen this result in higher paying jobs or more spending on public services. There is a reason for this, most of the money that has been made since the crash went only to the top 1% with the greatest majority of it going to the top.01% and their tax rates have been going down by a lot.

The facts are why the rich are panicking. What they really fear is that they have sent jobs overseas and now the only way to pay for services in this country is to tax them. Their choice is to instead hide profit overseas and call for the elimination of public services other than the police, fire and the military who they believe are needed to protect them. This is also why the same is going on in Europe.

Social Security, Pensions and Fewer Workers to Pay Taxes.

The media and the politicians who are owned by the wealthy are all telling us that we can no longer afford social security, welfare, public colleges at low cost or any other public expenditures that benefit the middle class, the working class or the poor. Yet, at the same time we are told that everything is fine and that the nation is actually making more money than it used to. If we used to be able to afford these things when the country had less wealthy than why can't we still afford them?

Here is what is really going on. The truth is that we can afford these things; but, because automation is going to continually reduce the number of workers needed, taxes will have to fall more on the few who are wealthy. We all know that since 2008 all the gains that have been made economically have gone to the top half of the one percent. That income inequality will only increase as we have fewer and fewer jobs.

I have previously written that people need to understand this trend so that we can have a real discussion about these issues. If you are wondering why the wealthy donors who used to support the Republican presidential nominee are turning away from Trump for Clinton or the Libertarian party, it is because they believe that the Clintons and Libertarians will weaken these social programs. Remember, Bill Clinton made major reductions to welfare during his term in office.

The Media Lies are too Obvious.

Fox - Trump trouble in the burbs?  Okay, so the newest article says that Trump is losing in the suburbs because those people prefer stability over change. Sounds reasonable; but, I have a question. From what we have been told, Trump loses with women, minorities, the young, the middle class, the rich, the educated and wins with racists. If that is true then one would need to assume that the only reason he won the primaries was because racist old white people are either the only people who vote or outnumber the middle class, the wealthy, the educated, women and minorities.

This blog has been around too long for people to accuse me of being a racist or an idiot. I have openly stated my support for the Occupy Movement and Bernie Sanders and it is all documented and time stamped and was said before Trump was even mentioned as running for office. This blog has always been about the lies that we are told, what is coming and what matters. We are seeing a consolidated media blitz against Trump and the real reason is not because of racism, companies that are against Trump have no problem with child labor in 3rd world countries. They only fear that they will be prohibited from outsourcing jobs and have to actually pay their fair share of taxes. That is what this is about and that is the same reason the "elite" or "establishment" feared the Brexit. It was the big banks that financed the Anti-Brexit campaign.

Cesar Chavez, Trump and Illegal Immigration.

I remember Cesar Chavez, heck we hold a holiday for him in California. I also remember Edward R. Murrow, the best journalist ever. Decades ago, Mr. Murrow did an investigative report about how Mexicans were treated on the farms in California. The wealthy use illegal immigrants to keep costs down by not paying them what legal Americans get for the same work. Nothing has changed.

Let me ask you a question, why are wealthy Americans paying to fight Trump on illegal immigration, because they care so much about them or because they make so much off of them. Follow the money every time and you will get the answers you seek 99% of the time.

Let's be clear, if I was poor and lived in Mexico, I would find a way to get her. Heck, My great-grandfather came here from Ireland to avoid being killed by the British because he had killed a English soldier and was part of the original Irish Republican Army. Having said that, who in their mind would be promoting more illegal immigration and who would benefit from it? It is because they are illegal immigrants that the people who employ them can pay them less. It is simple math, oh, and the employers don't have to pay Social Security, Workers Compensation or make sure that they have healthcare.

Firstly, I believe in community and nation. God, family and country. I am an American of Irish decent, I am an American first because this country took my family in. Secondly, if it were not for Mexican immigration, we would not have enough people to do our jobs and certainly not enough who we could live with without extreme problems. I don't shy from issues, would you rather have 12 million illegal Mexican immigrants or 12 million illegal Arab Muslim immigrants? Don't shy from the question, say it doesn't matter and let others judge whether you are right or wrong. Look to Brussels of England for your answer. Mexicans don't have their own version of the law, Muslims have Sharia law and enforce it on people in countries that do not and are democratic rather than theistic. They create their own laws within countries without a vote or any agreement.

So, what is the impact if we allow illegal immigrants to stay in this country on them? They will continue to get less than everyone else and not be made citizens, they will not even be second class citizens. Now, what would benefit illegal immigrants, only two things, either they get kicked out or are given the chance to be legal citizens. Trump has said that he will kick them all out and then allow them back in the country if they had not committed crimes. Is that better or worse for illegal immigrants? How come the people who are against Trump over this issue don't just want to give them all citizenship? Not a tough question, they want them here; but, they don't want to give them the same rights as citizens and want to be able to kick them out if they fight the system. That is the money and that is the truth.

Now lets talk about Cesar Chavez again, what would he say? Hmmmm, he wanted everyone that worked on the farms to have the same rights, he wanted all that worked on the farms to be treated fairly and paid fairly. Remember what Kasich wanted for his state that was mainly agricultural, he wanted work visas with no benefits for the illegals, he represents the establishment view of immigrants, cheap labor with no rights. Think about it.

Bank of America $17 Billion Payment to Investors

This is going to be a short post, just something to think about. The banks have been fined billions by the government; but, just about all of that money went to pay off investors who bought mortgage backed securities. The banks gave out loans for more than they were worth and sold the loans. Now they are being forced to pay back the investors; but, the property owners get almost nothing. The gamblers get paid and the people who were duped into outrageous debt get nothing. Why didn't the property owners get paid first or at all? Because you don't matter, the same reason nobody went to jail for fraud in the banking industry or for fixing markets. They pay fines; but, not to the consumers, not to you and I. Oh, and their fines are tax deductible, if you steal someone's purse or rob their home, do you get to deduct court fines from your taxes. I bet not.

Planned Economic Crash Courtesy of the IMF - Wikileaks Proves It

WikiLeaks - IMF Internal Meeting Predicts Greek 'Disaster', Threatens to Leave Troika.  WikiLeaks has released the transcript of a conversation which was had between two International Monetary Fund (IMF) heads regarding Greece, it's bailout and Brexit (the British vote on leaving the European Union). I know most Americans don't follow these things; but, this post is not about the EU or the Greece bailout, it is about something much bigger.

WikiLeaks - The Transcript.

Here is a quote from the transcript, "VELKOULESKOU: They want to finish that mission ideally by the 8th of April, so just a week. Or by the 12th or the 13th. Remember on the 6th and 7th of April they want to have this Washington Group debt meeting on the sidelines of the EWG [Eurogroup Working Group], and then.... "  Basically, they are saying that the Greece decision has to be completed before discussing American debt in Washington; but, the two things are unrelated as the debt that is held is EU debt, not American. So you have to ask yourself what is the real connection.

The same person then discusses how they need to wrap up the negotiations because people in Greece are questioning the Income Tax Credit, not tax reform. Who do you figure gets the credit, the rich or the poor and why would the IMF want to give tax breaks when they also want to cut pensions and other benefits?

What becomes clear from the discussion is that the IMF plans on creating an economic "event" in order to get Greece to do what the IMF wants and that they can pick the time when the event will occur. It is also clear that this economic event will effect not just Greece and Europe; but, also the United States and probably all western nations. What I find really interesting is that none of the mass media has picked up on this story to any great degree. This is odd as the timing of the event is somehow related to the refugee question and the vote by Britain on whether or not it will stay in the EU.

Here is what I want my readers to take away from all of this. It is an admittance by the IMF that they plan economic crashes to achieve political policies that are based on providing less support for the middle class and poor and more tax breaks for the wealthy. Sort of sounds like what the west did after the last big crash, they gave tax breaks to the wealthy and increased taxes on everyone else while reducing government benefits and most people thought these things were accidents. Nothing in the global economy is ever an accident.

Jobs, Taxes and Infrastructure.

I recently received a comment from a reader asking which candidate I favored and which policy Kool Aid I would drink. While I do not support any of the candidates, I would like to see either Trump or Sanders win and would prefer Sanders. Obviously Trump and Sanders are vastly different so it is not their personalities or their policies that makes me prefer them. In fact, I don't think either could change the laws as neither would have their parties support. The fact is that it is easier to pay off and control a party then it is to control every politician. A Trump Sanders presidential showdown would tell the politicians that voting only the party line will not get them elected.

The biggest issues facing the United States are our long tern health are not gay marriage, abortion or even immigration. Lets look at the individual issues facing the country and talk about how the two parties view them as neither will solve them.

JOBS

Since the Reagan era we have seen an increasing push to ship jobs oversees for slave wages (some actual slave workers in China) and avoiding environmental and safety laws and any regulation. It should be noted that these same companies are failing to pay taxes and keep the money oversees. While shipping jobs oversees the nation has seen an attack on wages in this country. The leading factors in this are increasing automation, "subcontracting" and financial manipulation by the finance industry. Most of the presidential candidates were part of the problem that caused these things in the first place, Trump and Sanders were not. Trump is a "realist" and would tell you this is the game we are playing and we need to play it smarter. Sanders would say we need to change the rules.

Let us look at the Republican parties answer to these questions. The vast majority of the party wants to eliminate income tax, eliminate regulations and allow more educated immigrants to come over and take jobs away from citizens. The Democratic party has given up on trying to change these things and are just looking to slow down the changes. Neither is putting forward plans for changing the game in any significant way and that is what is needed. The next wave in job destruction in America is going to be self-driving trucks.

Huffington Post - Self-Driving Trucks Are Going to Hit Us Like a Human-Driven Truck.

Huffington Post - Self-Driving Trucks Will Actually Be Great For Truckers, For Now.

Please read the articles in the links. The biggest job in 29 states is trucking and that is going to go away with self-driving trucks. While this new technology will require someone to build the trucks, it will not be Americans. The estimate is that these self-driving trucks will become common in about 5 years, not forty. All of the people running for president know this and they have no solution. Well Marco Rubio thinks we should be cheaper than machines, he also wants to eliminate the minimum wage. I guess if we require self-driving trucks to have a human on board, the human will only get $5.00 an hour. That is not a solution. His other idea that we all become welders is equally ludicrous.

The idea that eliminating taxes on the rich will increase job creation in the United States is equally ludicrous.. If it is cheaper and easier to build in China then the companies will continue to and they are increasingly automating their businesses. If employees in China cannot compete with automation at $1.00 an hour, how can Americans? If the United States eliminated any wage guarantees and all regulation, it still wouldn't bring the jobs back because the companies already have the industrial capability in China. We need to change the laws that make it profitable to ship jobs oversees.

TAXES

There are two, equally dumb, approaches to taxes that the Republicans want to initiate. While some believe we should cut the taxes on the rich others are calling for a flat tax; but, both believe we should cut the total amount of taxes going to the government and thereby reduce government services. I should point out that at least Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders want to decrease military spending. The Democratic party calls for increasing the tax rate for the rich; but, doesn't seek to eliminate all the deductions which just means that some very profitable companies will continue to pay no taxes. Whether they don't pay 35% or 40% is irrelevant when the taxes are not being paid.

What if we only gave tax cuts to companies that either increase overall wages or created more jobs in the United States? If they don't do either of those things, then we increase their taxes. We also need to eliminate all of these free trade agreements that are only hurting American workers.

INFRASTRUCTURE

We all know that our roads, bridges and industrial capability needs to be rebuilt. We need to spend on these things so that we can make us able to compete with foreign countries. Rebuilding our infrastructure will also create jobs in America. The Republicans are not even willing to transportation funding and have consistently held up fixes to the Transportation fund. Sanders would push for more funding of infrastructure.

ANSWER

My answer to the question I was asked is that I will vote for whoever will support and promote the policies I have outlined above.

The Autonomous 18 Wheeler and the Economy

Salon - Robert Reich: America’s economy is a nightmare of our own making. A good article about what went wrong with the economy and the lies that we believed.

Yahoo - Business Insider - Here's how much income is taxed around the world. There is a lot of money and time spent trying to convince people to hate income taxes; but, they always end up missing the point and cheating the numbers. Income tax is only one tax, property tax, sales tax, value added taxes (used in Europe). If you lessen one tax, you must make up for it by increasing other taxes. All taxes other than an income tax are harder on people who have less money to begin with. The income tax is the fairest tax because it taxes people based on how much they have benefited from their society and the infrastructure that their society has invested in. I personally believe in a flat income tax, that is a tax where everyone is taxed at the same percentage.

TruckYeah - Freightliner Just Revealed The First Real Road-Legal Autonomous Big Rig. It even has it's own license plate and is legal in Nevada. This is not decades off, it is not years off, it is legal and in effect now.

Yahoo - Business Insider - Aide to California state attorney accused of running an occult police force claiming to be 3,000 years old. The supposed police force was called the Masonic Fraternal Police Department.

Taxes and Manipulation by the Media

The old and retired Pimpernel is still following the news; however, now I will have a little more time. For the past few years I have been following the financial newspapers and watching how they spin things to benefit their master, the moneyed interests. Financial publications know that the average American and most of the middle class do not follow what they write. It is a publications job to know who their viewership is.

Forbes Magazine - Demographics

Forbes claims to have slightly more than 6 million readers. This is about 2% of the population and more or less double what the other financial magazines and the Wall Street Journal have according to Forbes. Basically the top 1% read Forbes. Who do you think the top 2% consider to be affluent? Forbes assumes 1/4 of their audience self identifies as affluent. That is about 1 and a half million people. We have a population of about 350,000,000. If you want to know what the 1% believe, you have to read what they read. Whatever you read in financial publications is meant to placate the 1%, not you, so read it understanding their target audience.

CNN Money - Who actually benefits from Obama's 'Middle Class Economics'.

President Obama has called for some changes it tax laws. Personally, I am for a flat tax on income that has no deductions, Nixon favored this and so do I. Pay as you benefit, no need to charge a higher percentage to those who do well, charge them the same percentage regardless of how much they make; but, no deductions. Live within your income.

Now President Obama wants to decrease taxes on the middle class. The article says it will help married people and people with kids while taxing the wealthy and it says this is a bad thing. Is it a bad thing?

Taxed For Every Mile, How Many Times Will I Say I Told You So

CBS Los Angeles - Sen. Introduces Bill To Test Out Taxing Motorists For Every Mile They Drive. Years ago I wrote about this and days ago I mentioned it again. There are no accidents. The long term plan is to charge everyone for every mile they drive, that is the plan and mentioned that years ago. I talked about how it was being tested in Oregon and Washington state later. Now two senators in California have introduced a bill in California to do just that on a "voluntary" basis. What a lie. It may start voluntary; but, it will end up mandatory. I wrote about how it will happen at least once and have mentioned it many times.

If we all fight it, they will not be able to pass it and they know that so they will divide and conquer and you will be in favor of it for electric and hybrid vehicles. Do you remember when people who bought hybrids could use the carpool lanes even when they drove by themselves and then they stopped being able to do that, you had to have bought your car before a certain date. New hybrids do not get that right. They just wanted to get people to buy hybrids to prime the industry.

A problem I face when I know what is going to happen is that I can never really be sure if I have discovered the intent or merely see how a thing will evolve and be used down the road (excuse the pun). Be that as it may be, this is what is coming and then some more things. Oh, I forgot. Remember a couple of days ago when I posted an article about how the Federal government was going to allow states to charge for the use of the interstates when they had never been allowed to before? Think maybe this is a coincidence? It is not, it was planned. They did not come up with this bill in two days, it takes longer than that, it takes a lot of thought to write a bill; but, if you introduce it to soon then the fact that we are all being played becomes obvious to any who bother looking and understand how these things are done and maybe has done them too.

The news report goes on to interview a person who bought a hybrid to save gas. They claim they already pay enough; but, it is obvious they pay little to maintain the roads because they have a hybrid. They pay less than people who do not have hybrids because they use less gas; but, in reality hybrids are heavier and take a heavier toll on the roads. That is just a fact. This is how you are being set up, most people do not own hybrids and will find it unfair that people who do, don't help maintain the roads they ride on. Heck, the average hybrid owner has more money than the average guy owning an average car, that will come up at some time as it must if we are to allow them to divide and conquer.

Lets get back to the article that I posted a couple of days ago about how it was now going to be legal for states to tax people for riding on the interstate. How could they possibly charge people for miles traveled if some of those miles were on the interstate? Answer is, they couldn't legally. See the pattern yet? I have some very smart readers, some very smart readers in particular and I know a lot about transportation as should be obvious. I can smell the future by looking at the infrastructure, the roads and inroads. Another poor pun. I like puns, they are the lowest form of humor and I always shoot for that.

Nobody complained, or very few, when buying a hybrid no longer got you a free pass on vanpool lanes. Nobody will complain when people who buy hybrids are "allowed" to voluntarily pay a per mile tax for using the roads. Once they make the law mandatory for all hybrids, nobody will complain or at least not enough. They want to see what percentage will voluntarily do it anyways and it will be more than you think, they picked the right crowd. They voluntarily bought hybrids and paid more to save the earth. They also tend to be more affluent.

Once the first two steps are complete, we will all be given the opportunity to pay our mileage tax or a gas tax, that will lead to more people buying hybrids. Finally, all travel taxes will be based on mileage each year and now lets think the infrastructure that would be needed to accomplish such a thing. You would have to be able to require every vehicle to have some sort of tracker and be able to record their movements. Fortunately, that infrastructure is already in place. Remember when I wrote about how just about all local roads are now under the Federal government as part of the national highways system, oh, and that was done in order to bring in universal wi-fi which conveniently allows the FCC to monitor all roads under existing law?

Maybe once again, I was just lucky in being able to tell you years ago how this was all going to develop. My ex did tell me that I had lost my once incredible mental abilities, her words, not mine. I still think she was wrong; but, sometimes I wish she was right. Problem is, even she wouldn't tell you that today. It is a voluntary program that allows people who own hybrids to help pay for the roads, who could be against that? How much money would you donate towards stopping this bill?

More Dumb News to Think About

Variety - Neil Patrick Harris, Harvey Weinstein, Bryan Cranston Lobby for Broadway Tax Incentive. Tax breaks are the least capitalistic thing that the government does. Do we really need to give people a tax break of $15 million to put on Broadway shows and why are we giving this tax break to people who make movies?

Yahoo - New York Times - Tech Firms May Find No-Poaching Pacts Costly. Steve Jobs was not a capitalist, he was a cheap, selfish, self absorbed jerk. In addition to sending 1 million jobs over to Communist China (where numerous "employees" committed suicide because they couldn't take working for Apple), he was also making illegal agreements with others in the tech industry to prevent his American employees from working for other tech companies.

BBC - The people with ‘animal powers’. Another article about how it is okay for humans to become animals. This is not science fiction, this is now and it is evil. It is man attempting to become his own God and only becoming less than we were created.

Huffington Post - Getting Walmart Workers Off Food Stamps Would Cost Customers Barely Anything. Pretty much the same numbers I arrived at when I wrote a post about this months ago.

Huffington Post - 'Gospel of Jesus' Wife' Papyrus Is Ancient, Not Fake, Scientists And Scholars Say. Simply put, they found document fragments that were written 600 to 800 years after Jesus died that claimed he had a wife. The researcher involved determined that the fragments were in fact from 600 to 800 after the death of Jesus and said that they were not "forgeries". She did not claim that they were true; but, that is the impression that the media would like you to take. There is a reason the bible was put together and that was so that the churches that had been visited by the apostles could show the letters and writings that they had been given by the apostles to be consistent and have a history. The apostles sent letters to the churches at the time that Jesus died as the word spread and these churches treasured the letters and could attest to the fact that Paul or Peter was known by them, that they knew the letters were authentic, that is not true for "The Gospel of Mary". I am continually fascinated by the stupidity that will claim that Jesus did not exist and was married, pick one or the other.

Some More Media Misdirection at Fox

This is the third version of this blog and still goes back 4 years. I don't even know how much I wrote the first few years because I destroyed the past; but, the stats say I started the blog in 2007. I find it amazing that I have been writing this blog for 7 years and still find news to write about. I find it even more amazing to know that there are people who have been reading it for that long. I also find it odd that I have been giving sermons for about 3 years. My mother used to say that I began talking at 9 months and never shut up.

As I look forward to retirement this year, I am constantly thinking about what I want to do next. Firstly, there is a good possibility that I will move back into the Mojave desert, I like the desert and it is good for my arthritis. I am also considering putting my doctorate to use and teaching; but, recently I had a new idea. I am thinking about doing a radio show in the desert in the early am when nobody is listening. I would basically talk about the same things I talk about in this blog; but, take calls from other night dwelling desert rats and the random trucker. I have already found a channel that will put on such a show for a relatively modest amount and the truth is, it is cheap enough that I can make it my hobby without having to rely on advertisers or contributions, sort of a self funded deal.

I think that might be fun. Pulling into a radio station in the middle of the night in the dark of the desert, spewing my nonsense and take on the news and letting people who don't have a life themselves call me and give their opinion. To me that seems sort of a romantic ending to my life. I remember what Raymond Chandler said about Philip Marlowe, he said he always saw him living in some drabby little apartment, doing sad jobs for sad people or something to that effect and always being truthful to himself. I like that, I think there is honor in just telling your truth and not worrying about whether or not you personally benefit. As for preaching, I never felt the passion for it, I have been told I am good at it and enjoy it when I am doing it; but, I have always felt that I am a place setter waiting for the permanent assistant preacher to show up. LOL.

Now to some stupid reporters.

Fox News - Kristen Bell tweets 'rich people should pay higher taxes'. The lovely actress Kristen Bell tweeted (I actually used that word) that rich people should pay more in taxes and Fox News brought on someone to ridicule her. The first thing the person said was that if she wanted to pay more taxes than she could make a gift. They said the same thing about Warren Buffet when he suggested the same. Rather than addressing the issue that Ms. Bell raised, they deflect and seek to make the issue about her.

I will start with Ms. Bell's comment and tell you why she is mistaken in her presentation. The problem is not the tax rate, it is the deductions. Over 98% of the tax code is deductions for the wealthy that do not apply to the rest of us. What she should have said is that we should eliminate all tax deductions, then, the wealthy would actually have to pay their taxes. Why should someone who actually works for a living pay a higher tax rate then someone who inherited their money? By the way, Ms. Bell and Mr. Buffet work for a living and are quite good at what they do. Fox doesn't want to talk about tax deductions because the average person doesn't advertise on Fox; but, the grand scoundrels of the finance industry do.

The guest talks about how Ms. Bell is a "savvy" social media user and self promoter whose film "Veronica Mars" is not doing to well. What his comments have to do with the issue of taxation is beyond me; but, then maybe he didn't really want to talk about tax disparity. We should understand that his comments are just bitter over her talking about taxes at all. The fact is that the Veronica Mars movie did not have to make a dime and did. It didn't have to make any money because it was already paid for by the fans of the show who did not invest in the film; but, financed it just to see it get made. I wrote about this when it came out, nothing new on my part. As to being a self promoter, Ms. Bell is not very good at it. In fact, she has gone after the paparazzi for taking pictures of people's children and is making a lot of enemies in the process.

The next part of the conversation is really interesting. The interviewer says that we should consider where these taxes are going when discussing taxes. Hmmm. I can tell you where a lot of it is going, it is going to pay for killing people in other countries and buying weapons. It also goes to the banks. He doesn't really talk about that.

The next game by the interviewer is to say how maybe we should ask what the right rate is, again this is true misdirection. What does it matter what the rate is if nobody pays it. It is the deductions that people should be focused on, not the rate.

The truth is that the whole report was garbage by a station that claims to be balanced and logical. Is the question of whether or not the tax rate appropriate to be decided on whether or not Kristen Bell wants to promote a movie? Is the most balanced and fair manner in which the issue of tax rates can be addressed or is it merely a character smear to avoid the real issues. Fox is completely insincere, pandering and prostituting themselves for the wealthy.

Lets try this, lets talk about how much the wealthy did not pay in taxes, the total valuation of all the deductions that the wealthy and businesses took last year. It is a fair question. What if I told you that American businesses had more in deductions than they paid in taxes, would that interest you? What if the reality was that for ever $100 you made in wages you paid $17 in taxes and got $3 in tax deductions; but, the wealthy paid only $19 in taxes for all income; but, got a tax deduction of $10? Would that seem fair or equitable to you?

Here is the biggest shame. We send the children of the poor to die in wars to profit the war machine (just as the great soldier and former president, Eisenhower, warned us of, and we pay the taxes to send our children to die. We pay to have our children die protecting the interests of oil companies that don't even pay their taxes.

The tax code is corrupt and it is not designed to benefit workers, it is designed to benefit owners. I don't want to tax people, I want to tax income and I don't care who it goes to or how they earn it, I want people to contribute to this nation proportionately to how they benefit from this society. A sales tax doesn't do that; but, an flat income tax does if it has no deductions. If you don't benefit from living here then you shouldn't have to pay. It is a very simple philosophy and the person who introduced it to me was Richard M. Nixon. Yet, that famous anti-communist and Republican was the first to introduce the idea that I know of.

Rabid "liberals" hate Nixon because of Watergate. The fact that Kennedy had help getting elected from the Mafia or that Johnson kept us in Vietnam doesn't seem to bother then as much as Nixon does. Nixon believed in the middle class and no president has since him.

3/19/14 and News, juicy, intriguing news just like momma used to make

The Telegraph - Fire-sale of US Treasuries is a warning of acute stress across the world. Some nation is selling off it's US Treasury bonds, if they are selling, who will be buying from us when sell them this Friday?

The Street - U.S. Government Ceding Control of Key Internet Body. I have been writing about ICANN for years and years and saying that they were controlled by the Federal Government. I have been called a fool and conspiracy theorist for saying it and I have been told that nobody controls the internet by systems people. Please show me the number of shows people like Jesse Ventura have done about ICANN or where people like Alex Jones have talked about such things, I am patient and will wait. Nope none of these clowns have talked about it until now and how we are "giving up" our control of the internet. The truth is that we are not giving up control over anything, we still own the 13 computers that control how the internet works and are the only ones that can bring down the whole thing and restart it.

ABC News - Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops. I understand beat cops not being brilliant; but, from them come the detectives. If the beat cops are not allowed to be smart than who will become detectives, Sherlock Holmes was smart. Can you become a detective without having been a cop? No.

Myfoxny.com - 'Smart' houses to become a reality. 50 billion devices connected to the internet in a world with 7 billion people.

CNBC - Raise the minimum wage, we slow hiring: Businesses. I am willing to debate the effect on hiring of people if the minimum wage is increased; but, the articles are pure propaganda and silly. You hire people because you believe you will make money off of them, not because they are cheap. That is just stupid. Imagine the same companies saying that if metal costs increase 5% they will stop using metal. Think about that. I detest threats; but, I know how to respond to them. I will agree to not support increasing the minimum wage if the same companies that took the survey promise to increase hiring by 10% next year. We have given trillions in taxpayer dollars to the banks and businesses and have they haven't hired anyone.

Huffington Post - Reuters - Fed Trims Stimulus By Another $10 Billion. Lets keep an eye on Friday and see what happens as countries dump billions in treasury bonds and the Federal Reserve buys fewer, who will buy the remaining ones?

Corned Beef and Todays News

As my readers may or may not know, I am of Irish decent. There is a little English in me; but, we don't talk about that much. LOL. In fact my ex was Finnish, French, English, American Indian and a whole bunch of other things. I used to joke that she had destroyed the purity of my bloodline when we had kids. In reality I consider myself American and I consider my ex and my children to be American. Having said that I will on occassion celebrate my Irish heritage in odd ways. I do not drink beer and no longer drink scotch so I am left with food.

Unfortunately, food was often scarce in Ireland and potatoes kept the country alive for a long time. Ireland has a long history of using fish; but, it never traveled well within the country. After the English took over Ireland, they also took all the beef. What was left was root vegetables and the worst of all beef cuts, which was used for corned beef. They were cooked by being boiled as it used less wood for the fire and a meal could be made in one pot. When the world gives you lemons, you learn to make lemonade and the Irish found spices and boiling made the food edible and okay.

Anyways, I have been feeling better and getting back into cooking from scratch. I decided that with Saint Patricks day coming up I would go old school and boil myself a corned beef. I went to the store and found some a 2 1/2 pound piece of corned beef for $4 and took it home to prepare. I didn't expect much; but, I had picked the best cut I could find and dutifully boiled it for about 3 hours. I intended to cut it extra thin and pair it with pastrami for sandwiches. That is not going to happen, it came out perfectly tender and delicious. I hate to say it; but, it is the best corned beef I have ever cooked. If I could have cut it thinner it would have been even better in a sandwich.

Our elders knew lots of ways to use the worst and cheapest things and still make good meals. Heck, ribs used to be budget food. As we enter tougher economic times we should try and remember how our parents and grandparents made due with what they had. Oh I boiled it with a red potato, a white potato and a carrot. Those will taste fantastic tomorrow.

CNN - Assange to SXSW: We're all being watched. The title speaks for itself.

CBS - DC - Massive Police Hunt For Bank Robbers Shuts Down I-270. You cease having a right to privacy the moment you travel. Whatever happened to probable cause?

Now the fun stuff; but, to understand what is happening you have to read them in order.

Yahoo - Reuters - Fannie, Freddie could send $179.2 billion to taxpayers: White House. It turns out that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the holders of over 60% of all mortgages and they themselves are owned by the Federal government, are not only returning all their bailout money ahead of schedule; but are also on track to make the government a tidy little income stream profit. The bailout cost taxpayers about $187 billion and they are about to repay approximately $202 billion. In addition to paying us back, over the next ten years they should pay the government back about $179 billion in profit. Just imagine, with that return we could fully fund Social Security for a very long time.

Bloomberg - Westhus Reaping Fannie Windfall to Rival Big Short: Mortgages. Okay so when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac looked like they would go bankrupt, a few knowledgeable investors bought up their preferred stock (which do not have voting rights, they are more like company debt than ownership). So the people that bought the preferred stock now know that there is a big payday coming to the Treasury and they want the money themselves. The Treasury has common stock and that allows it to vote on how and who gets paid when profits are made. It should be noted that Preferred stock does not usually share in the profits as much as the common stock which is now owned by the Treasury.


Finance & Commerce.com - Bill would eliminate Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. The first two stories show that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are about to make $179 billion for someone and it should go to the taxpayer; but, private money wants it first. That is a lot of money on the table which might explain this move. Some congressman are now looking to fast track the idea of selling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while still keeping the government on the hook if the mortgages fail. Selling off all the value and keeping all the risk. These people are criminals. What is particularly interesting to me is how quickly the idea of selling off the stock came up after it was determined that the stock had value and our representatives willingness to guarantee our taxes to pay off any losses even once the stock is sold.

I believe the creation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was a mistake. I believe it allowed the cost of housing go up more than it otherwise would have and I do not believe the government should be backing up any loans. I also don't believe in corporate subsidies or tax deductions. I believe everyone should pay the same percentage of their income regardless of how it was earned in the year it was paid to them. Now that we are past all of that, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do exist and were going to go bankrupt and the taxpayers bailed them out.

Isn't it funny how right after it was announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would pay a return to the Treasury (the taxpayers who bailed them out), the fight became over who in private finance would steal the profit from the taxpayers and keep it for themselves and neither of the last two articles really showed any concern over the value of this asset to taxpayers.

Don't trust the mainstream media, they are nothing other than a puppet for the wealthy. And don't trust the alternative media as they tend to be busy trying to sell you stuff like gold that has no real value. We are flooded with garbage, lies and deception so that the wolves can take advantage of the sheep and we are told we deserve to be taken of advantage of because people are sheep, it is all a lie to fulfill greed and selfishness with a justification our abusers like.

Being Home and News

I have been away from home for the past few days to see my new grandchild. I could have driven home each night; but, decided to rent a hotel near the hospital. I stayed at a nice hotel, had some lovely meals and took care of a lot of business (including getting my cars maintenance done), best of all, I got to hold my grandchild and she is lovely. Having said all that, it sure is great to be home. I came back exhausted, I just don't travel as well as I did when I was younger. While I was gone I saved some links to news stories I thought might be of interest.

Yahoo - The Exchange - Wealth rebounds — but mostly for the wealthy. The bottom line is that the total wealth of the nation has increased since the financial crisis; but, all the increases only went to the wealthy and the rest of us lost out, there has been no trickle down and no job creation. There has only been a transfer of wealth to those who caused the financial meltdown.

NBC Bay Area - NASA Admits to Selling Discount Fuel to Google Execs. Bottom line, Nasa was selling jet fuel to Google at half price. The question is not why Google would buy the fuel; but, why NASA would sell it to them at half price. To really understand that we would have to know what Google was doing for the United States.

Yahoo - Business Insider - Scientists Scanned A Woman's Brain During An Out-Of-Body Experience — And What They Found Was Amazing. Another case of garbage science trying to prove a point. A woman who claims to be able to cause herself to have out of body experiences has a brain scan while going through an episode and some "scientists" extrapolate that her brain activity is therefore the same as people who have a near death experience. One glaring problem, aside from the fact she was not dying, is that if the two things were the same then we would see the same parts of the brain activated during a near death experience; but, we do not because the near death experience has been recorded in people with NO BRAIN ACTIVITY.

Reuters - Man called Bitcoin's father denies ties, leads LA car chase. I love this story, someone managed to find the guy behind Bitcoin; but, he says he cannot talk about it. In addition, the people who actually worked with the person who created Bitcoin say they never met him and all communications were electronic. Doesn't it make you wonder why, if it is true. My answer is simple, this guy was merely feeding information to some programmers so that they would create Bitcoin and then use it to test out how people would use an electronic currency.

Mail Online - It's very hard to know why people go to food banks, claims Tory welfare minister Lord Freud
. A great example of how dissociated the wealthy are from the rest of us. One of the people responsible for taking care of the poor in England cannot figure out why people might go to food banks.

Bloomberg News - Global Debt Exceeds $100 Trillion as Governments Binge, BIS Says. I find it interesting that global debt is up 40% since the crash and yet the debt is claimed to be government debt at a time when governments are providing less and less services to it's citizens. Where did the money go.

Bloomberg News - Carney Faces Leadership Test as Currency Scandal Snares BOE. The central Bank of England (similar to the Federal Reserve) has been caught fixing financial markets again.

Well, I am exhausted and going to bed. Have a great week.