Taxing the Rich

My liberal friend writes: If the so-called liberals as you claim were so successful in redistributing the wealth in the USA then we would not have 5% owning over 60% of the wealth, would we? The facts speak for themselves, the rich are keeping most their money by writing the tax code in their favor, then redistributing the tax money taken from the middle class and lower class back to themselves by funding wars constantly, the money for the wars ends up in the pockets of a few billionaires that own the military industrial companies. That is the simple truth, just follow the money and the truth will be revealed, not the Republican blogs you read, they are all false information.

I say:

I did not say that redistribution of wealth was working or that it is a worthy goal. I said liberals WANT to redistribute wealth. In liberal Utopia, everyone has the same of everything. There are no rich or poor people. That Utopia can never exist, of course, as long as a few humans have differing numbers of brain cells to rub together.

It is simply not possible to tax “the rich” and have everyone else avoid the tax. Let’s say the “rich” are business owners (including stock holders), and corporations.

Think about it from either the viewpoint of a government trying to collect taxes, or from the standpoint of an owner (a rich person). If you are the government, you can levy taxes on “the rich” whenever you want and in any amount you want, but what happens next? When you tax a corporation, they simply pass the increased cost of doing business on to their customers. The increased tax is paid by consumers, not big corporations. If you are the company owner, you will try everything you can to avoid the tax, and failing all else, you will pass it on to the consumer. Therefore, ALL taxes eventually end up as increased costs to consumers, period.

As you pointed out, there are many loopholes, so some of the taxes are not paid. Thank goodness! If the taxes were paid as the feds want, prices would be even higher to consumers for everything.

The bottom line is that the entire idea of redistribution of wealth is bankrupt. It can’t work in a society where any semblance of capitalism exists. It is a liberal pipe dream of “equality” that has no chance whatsoever of becoming real. Oh, they will keep trying, and it will fail again and again. You have said many times that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. That’s how capitalism is designed. It is a system for UNEQUAL sharing of wealth according to effort. It can’t work any other way in this lifetime.

If you really want redistribution of wealth, there’s a system for that. It’s called Communism (which is a system designed for EQUAL sharing of poverty).

You May Now Kiss the Bride

“You may now kiss the bride.”

Thus ended the whirlwind romance of the past two months, and thus began my life with my new wife, Robynne. Our lives were now joined. We were partners in that legal and mystical way that only marriage can create.

Though we had met briefly at a social gathering more than a year before, we did not speak during the interim until a couple of months ago. Now, we were getting married!

Most of her family was at the wedding. There were siblings, in-laws, nieces, nephews, and other kids. Sadly, our parents have all died, so they were there only in spirit.

We had BBQ, visited, played games, and said our vows. As they say, “A good time was had by all.”

We used the traditional vows of about 100 years ago: “Do you, Robynne, take this man, Steven, to be thy lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to love, honor, and obey him, and to keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?”

The “obey” part drew an open-mouthed gasp from her sister who was standing next to her. There was an audible surprise from the crowd, as well. Those who know Robynne said she would never agree to “obey” anyone.

At the appropriate moment, she said, “I do."

Our marriage and partnership began. I’m committed to this marriage lasting “until death do us part,” like most marriages of 100 years ago.

BTW, she is taking my name, and will now be called Mrs. Robynne Alexander. That's another tradition we're respecting and honoring. Maybe all the traditional stuff doesn't matter; maybe it does. We'll see. Either way, I enjoy the "kiss the bride" tradition.

Stock Market Myths

One of the hottest topics in the mass media today is High Frequency Trading (HFT). Part of the reason for this is a book called Flash Boys, by Michael Lewis. Lewis suggests that the stock market is "rigged" or "manipulated," and that High Frequency Traders are making a fortune by cheating other investors.

Both of these ideas are, well, wrong.

HFT traders try to enter the market a fraction of a second before others using complex mathematical algorithms. They profit from the smallest possible move in prices. Contrary to the claim this hurts other investors, it actually helps them. HFT traders are having a big impact on markets - commissions and spreads are much less than a few years ago.

For example, in the 1980’s it was common to pay a commission of $20 or more to buy 100 shares of a well known stock, and the spread was often 10 cents or more. Today, I pay one dollar commission, and the spread is a penny or less.

Thanks to HFT traders competing for fractions of pennies, spreads are very tight, commissions are low, and the average investor benefits from this. HFT traders compete with each other, not with average traders.

There is one group being hurt by HFT – banks and financial institutions. Perhaps that is why they are making such a stink about it. Commissions and spreads are going down, and that cuts into bank profits. Meanwhile, it helps average investors. As a practical matter, do you really care about a penny or less in the prices of stocks you buy? I don’t.

Lewis’s book also suggested that the markets are “rigged.” This is also wrong.

People who think markets are rigged simply don’t understand them. Markets work exactly like a farmer’s market or a cattle auction. The owner of a stock offers it for sale, and people bid. The highest bidder buys the stock if the seller agrees. That’s all. It’s no different from buying and selling anything else. Got a car to sell? Put an ad on the Internet or in the newspaper. Someone makes a bid, and if you like the price, you sell the car.

The price of a stock will stay at exactly the same level until someone decides to buy or sell. There is no “them” setting prices. The only thing that moves the price of a stock is buying and selling.

I realize this is not as juicy as the story about rigged markets and front running by HFT traders, but that's how it is. Real life is usually not so dramatic as stories about it.

Inflation is a Bad Thing

If you have been watching any TV or reading any popular web traffic, you have seen claims that the "target" inflation rate of the FED is about 2%. There is much more to the story than that.

There are two definitions of "inflation." Money supply inflation refers to the amount of cash/dollars in the economy. With the FED pumping in $50 Billion per month, money inflation is already underway big time. Then there is price inflation. That's the rise in prices of good and services that we experience when we shop. That, too, is well underway - especially for groceries and gas.

The FED and government propaganda machine would have us believe that price inflation is about 2%. You and I know that it more like 10% or more. For example, at my local store, bananas were 49 cents/lb last year; this year they are 69 cents/lb. Grapes were $1.50; now they are north of $2.00. Gasoline was $3.25 or so; now, it's $4.25.

The FED's Janet Yellen testified recently that they are seeking a 2% target for inflation, as if that's a good thing. The current TV "economists" seem to think that there is some magic inflation figure that must be maintained.

I say that the lower inflation is, the better. Can you think of a reason you'd like to pay more for the stuff you buy next month than now? How would inflation benefit you? The answer, for anyone with two brain cells to rub together, is quite simple: Inflation does not benefit you and me at all. Inflation, in any amount, is a BAD thing.

You won't hear this sort of sacrilege on TV or in The New York Times, but it's so obvious I thought someone should say it. Sooo, Just sayin'...

70th Birthday

I miss my mother. I miss her especially today. It’s my birthday. I used to call her on my birthday and say, “Thanks for my life.”

She’d always hem and haw and say something like, “It was a pleasure,” but I know better. It couldn’t have been an easy birth. I weighed over 9 pounds, and she was 5’2”, and small-framed. I was the only child she ever had. She wanted more, and eventually adopted a little girl.

As kids go, I suppose I was easy to rear. I got good grades in school, and never made much trouble. I only got sent to the principal’s office once. During one of the bathroom breaks, I and some other boys stayed in the restroom longer than we should.

We knew we were dawdling, but we said to each other, “It’s the boy’s room. She (the teacher) can’t come in here.”

We were wrong about that. Mrs. Steele (an appropriate name, I thought) was about 50, and hard as…well, steel. She came bursting through the door, grabbed a couple of boys by their ears, and took them out. Everyone else followed quickly. We all got a spanking in front of the whole class, and we all went to the principal’s office.

After that, I peed much quicker than I can today at age 70.

Wherever you are, Mom, today is my birthday. Thanks for my life.

Liberal Language

I stepped into the elevator with a nice looking older lady. She was dressed nicely, and I remarked, "You look very nice. Where have you been?"

"I'm coming back from a celebration of life," she said.

"What's that?" I asked.

Eventually, I discovered that it was the liberal, new speak, politically-correct term for a memorial service, or the even older term, a funeral.

So, I knew she was a liberal. Liberals do that. They always want to be seen as "progressive." That means moving away from anything that was traditional, time-honored, cherished, a part of what they consider conservative or old. That's why they don't like The Constitution of the United States. It's an old document.

They even do it to their own ideas. Remember global warming? They kept that only a few years. Now it's climate change. Remember the terms nigger, negro, blacks, coloreds, people of color, African-Americans? Not to worry; there will be a new, more progressive, term along any time now. Obamaists?

Scientists & Engineers

A scientist conducts experiments and measurements to find out how things work. An engineer calculates physical phenomena, builds stuff, and makes accurate predictions.

You have probably heard the phrase “scientists and engineers.” It’s usual to lump them together. I distinguish engineers from scientists, because scientists are usually looking for answers to unknown phenomena; whereas, engineers work from knowledge and calculations.

A scientist may be trying to figure out the relationship between temperature and viscosity of a new substance. An engineer works with situations where the relationships are already known. A scientist wonders what will happen if you add one chemical to another. An engineer can calculate how many trucks a bridge can hold without collapsing, or how many appliances you can plug in before the circuit breaker shuts off.  An engineer uses measurements to build and predict.

Engineers sometimes become scientists, and vice versa. Both use a lot of math and physics. All engineering and science is basically physics – the study of our physical world.