Just Some More Lies From the Media

My9NJ.com - Vein Scan Payment System Launched. So some young people created an app that lets you verify your identity using a vein scan of your palm. Now, New Jersey is looking to expand it's use. The best part of the video is where the person claims that you don't have to use the technology if you don't want to. They completely ignore the fact that you will have to use it in the future.

Huffington Post - JPMorgan Exec Blythe Masters To Advise Wall Street Regulator. This shows just how corrupt our government is. The head of commodities for J.P. Morgan is going to advise government regulators on overseeing the commodities market. This is at the same time that J.P. Morgan is getting out of the commodities market as I had previously written about. She was in charge of the group at J.P. Morgan that was manipulating the commodities market.

YouTube - The Young Turks - A Great Way To Save USPS, But Will It Happen?. I know I just wrote about USPS wanting to become a bank for people that don't have bank accounts; but, I liked this video presentation.

YouTube - The Young Turks - John Elway, Don't Give Me Your BS On Social Safety Nets. It really irks me how some people are so selfish and self-centered. Social Security is not a gift, we pay into it. Unemployment Insurance is just that, insurance and we pay into it in case we someday need it, it is not a gift. The hypocrisy goes deep, we have just reduced food stamps; but, will not support raising the minimum wage. I personally have not made the minimum wage in 30 years, in fact, I make way above it and even with alimony and fees and blah, blah, blah, I still take home enough to have food and a roof over my head (although I no longer own the roof and rent). Lets look at this in easy to understand terms. Would you rather live in Canada which has nationalized healthcare and takes care of it's poor or in Mexico? What do we wish to become?

YouTube - The Young Turks - The Daily Show Exposes 'Retarded' CEO Comments. I have grown increasingly disappointed in Mr. Schiff, his fiscal beliefs are simply stupid. He believes that we should eliminate the minimum wage and a reporter asked him if he would be good with people making $2 an hour, she could have said $2 a day and his answer would have been the same. He said he was good with that. She asked who he thought might only deserve $2 an hour and he said the mentally retarded.

YouTube - The Young Turks - Income Inequality ROCKS, says 'Shark Tank' Host Kevin O'Leary. 85 people in the whole world own as much as the bottom half of the population or roughly 3.5 BILLION people. By the way, many of those 85 people inherited their wealth and did nothing to create it.

If I were young, I would be screaming and yelling about the raw deal you are being given. The media tries to say it was the baby boomers or the illegal aliens or the Chines or whoever. Nope, it is the 85 people that have everything. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates actually made their money, not inherited wealth, personal brilliance and hard work and risk. I don't begrudge them what they have earned and admire them; but, I do begrudge people who have lied and cheated and stolen like J.P. Morgan.

There is a statistic being thrown around by a number of neo-conservatives that around 45% of the people don't pay income tax. It is the dumbest statistic that one could use. How many two year old's pay taxes? How many homeless pay income tax when they don't have an income other than what they can beg or recycle cans for? Anyone with a working class or middle class job knows that they are paying taxes and should know that they pay a higher percentage in taxes than the wealthy.

Personally, I am for a flat income tax. It could be 10% or 15% or whatever. If you make a $100,000, you pay $10,000. If you make $1,000,000 then you pay $100,000. Simple and requires no accountants. You pay as you benefit from society. Oddly enough I believe many on the far right would agree with me, though many would prefer to end income tax. Our taxes have given literally trillions in dollars to banks and other companies and they often pay $0 in taxes. Personally, I would rather feed the homeless than see my tax dollars go to bankers who ruined this economy and then used our taxes to pay themselves multi-million dollar bonuses. Does that make me a Communist, a liberal or a left winger? When did rationality and concern for the country as a whole stop being patriotic? Do you know what you call it when one person or a small family owns everything, you call it a monarchy.

UPDATE: You know what? Mr. Schiff could not have angered me more. What an idiot. To say that mentally retarded people are only worth $2.00 an hour really irks me. Actually, the mentally retarded do excellent at a number of jobs, especially jobs that require repetitious activity. When I was young and needed a job, I went to work in a cabinet making factory. Two employees, me and the owner. At the end of the first day, I got a 20% raise. I quit the job at the end of a week or two even though I was offered another raise. You will love the reason I quit. I spoke to the owner and said that we could hire people with mental deficiencies, get a tax break and that they made great employees. I thought they could do the simple things in assembly. As a craftsman I was assembling things that anyone could have. My value was in the use of the tools and my precision which saved on waste product. He told me he didn't want to be around retards and I quit. I didn't want to be around people like him who didn't care about others.

I believe we should match people to their abilities and wants. I met a young man once with a unique situation, he cannot see how the pieces fit together to achieve a goal. At least that is how it was explained to me and you know what, he is an amazing young man, very talented, very polite and very intentionally amusing. I have been thinking about what job would he best suited to for years. I thought about it and thought about it and concluded that he would be perfect for someone who was creating assembly lines and wanted to know what the smallest part of the job was that anyone could do. People pay a lot of money to create assembly lines and I have met some of them. What would having someone like him be worth when it could save you millions in design costs and redesign costs? I bet he would deserve more than $2 an hour; but, they would still only want to pay him that. They are not concerned about the value we contribute, they are concerned about how little they can give in return.

I think we need to create a situation where people can succeed, where the average person can get a fair return on their work investment. I have worked for over 40 years and gave up my health to do so. I did it because I thought it was best for my family. Economics is about supply and demand and there is no longer a demand for humans because of robotics and technology. They no longer need people like me and you, or so they think.