Shiny Pennies and a Bee
Reading my blog feeds this morning, there were three or four that really grabbed my attention. First, eBay Ink posted eBay Inc Reports Third Quarter 2008 Results. Apparently revenue was up. While I found that news a little relieving for the sake of my ePeeps, I’m going to have to dig into that article again more attentively, because at first glance I don’t understand how that worked out at all – what with all the firing ten percent of their workforce while spendng a bazillion dollars to aquire more companies, the down economy and all those pissed off sellers. But maybe I’m just jumping the gun to Q4.
Second, Psychohistory published several excellent posts about the economy and politics after the debate last night. The kind of posts I usually skip over because A) try as I might, my eyes glaze over as soon they hit words like ‘dividends’, ‘preferred paper’, and ‘balance sheet’ (mathity-math-math-math) and B) I’m swinging the emotional pendulum of bored, frustrated and non-plussed by the election and the constant stream of ranty opinion posts/status updates I come across daily only make it worse.
If saying I read a blog with posts I don’t read sounds confusing, let me clarify. I read Psychohistory because it also talks about Linkedin, eBay, Coin Collecting and the occasional fun Battlestar Galactica review/spoiler/commentary. All good stuff in my book.
The reason he was able to pull me into two opinion posts on polictics AND money math was by the clever use of SNL. Because as soon as I saw Financial Advice for the Current Market Conditions: Don’t Buy Stuff You Can’t Afford, I immediately got busy hunting the interwebs for the video version.
During which I read through his other posts and found myself thinking a couple of thoughts that included, ‘damn, if everything doesn’t come down to marketing’ and ‘that tax stuff he’s talking about actually makes sense’. huh. scary.
Why the Liberal Political Engine is Working in 2008
The liberals have learned, and learned well from the mistakes in 2000-2004. They can’t defeat the conservative economic agenda of the past thirty years without killing the names of the heroes of those years. Clinton made this compromise, but while it preserved him even in the face of the 1994 Republic Congressional wins, it didn’t make the party stronger. As recently as 2004, people were talking about a permanent Republican majority. (Yes, it wasn’t that long ago).
Problems with Obama’s Tax Cut = Tax Cut Accounting
By using tax credits, Obama can state, with a straight face, that he isn’t going to raise taxes, he’s just going to redistribute the burden more fairly. And technically, he’s correct.
However, if you treat tax credits as entitlement spending, then you see that what he actually could do is radically increase the tax burden on the country, but cancel out a large volume of transfer payments from the spending side of the equation. So it looks like the tax burden has stayed the same. It looks like spending has not increased.
There are really big things I agree and disagree with on both parties. But primarily, I operate from the belief that true freedom is not just the endowment of choice, but the responsibility to chose. (I read the Road to Serfdom in college, and it’s stayed with me ever since.) Anything that takes away a person’s choice is something I’m inherently against. Which is my main problem with the Democratic Party. (And yes, McCain, Palin, Abortion, BIG RED FLAG FOR ME.)
It’s not that I think Democrats don’t mean well or that we shouldn’t try our best to make life fairer and better – it’s that I think there are an awful lot of choices that government shouldn’t be making for us. At. All. But it often seems we find it easier to make things the Government’s responsibility, instead of our own. And that feels lazy.
Whatever your bent, I think we all share in a common desire to do good and make the world a better place. I’m not sure at all how the pieces are going to fall in the next 20 days, but I am sure it’s scary to me either way. So I just have to remember that no matter who we elect, he can’t do his job without help from a whole lot of other people from a whole lot of other places; and to have faith that we’ll all do our part to keep this country on track.
As we like to say in our house a lot lately: Just get in there and FIX. IT!!
P.S. Is it a lot to try and cram two videos into one post? I hope you’ll bear with me. Because during this morning’s SNL hunt, I found the Most Awesome Super Surprise Villian in the History of THE WORLD – and I know that you know I would not be me if I restrained myself from sharing this:
© 2008 – 2010, jules.maas. All rights reserved.
Yikes! Sorry for the delayed response to your comments, Adam & Rose. (Rose, yours was hidden in my spam comments queue for some reason, and I only just saw it.)
Adam, thanks so much for the encouragement! I really do love your blog (and ALL your topics), especially yay! for the new Battlestar update last Thursday. W00t!
Really great points, Rose. You know I adore and respect you, and I especially appreciate you caring enough to speak out on the issues from the other side.
I agree that there alot of things in the world that shouldn’t be run by the government. However, there are some that are government’s responsibility to provide – without removing choice – and this year I really believe the democrats have alot more to offer where it comes down to:
providing a basic plan of health (to me, this is NOT an option – it is a RIGHT – and if done properly, we as citizens can still have a choice of dr/hospital/treatment -without the current class system we have — aka you have a job, you’re healthy, you can have health insurance…. if not, poop on you!)
providing education (no, throwing money at this problem isn’t going to fix it, but having national standards of excellence, eliminating bad teachers and fostering compitition in additon to providing opportunity for students, teachers, and parents alike will.)
protecting our right to privacy (I’m sorry, but I still can’t forget the Bush Administration / Republican Movement on things like Patriot Act, Guantanamo Bay Prisons, Warrantless Wire Tapping, and the proposal of the 700 Billion bailout that we’re now paying for. All these scream at me that my country is quickly moving toward a heck of alot more facist ends…. that scares the HELL out of me)
Yes, I agree that some of the Democratic proposals do involve spending more money (on things like healthcare) but in the end – if people are able to go to to the doctor when they sprain their ankle – rather than having to wait to go to the emergency room b/c it’s gotten so bad it’s festering with gangreen and has to be removed – over the long term, we will SAVE. This is going to have to involve a big big change in our thinking as a nation – and it can be done….
Ok Enough preaching. Otherwise, yeay for you on ecclectic blogs.
I’m glad my eclectic mix of topics appeals to you… the wonderful serendipity of a personal blog.
This is a great post.
Adam