It's My Blog

In the last couple of weeks we've seen two major events on the international scene, and so far President Obama is 0 for 2 on supporting freedom. Instead, both times he has come out in support of dictators.

With the Iranian Election, the Ayatollah sanctioned election was obviously and demonstrably rigged in favor of the incumbent anti-freedom, anti-western president Ahmadinejad and as such resulted in an uprising of freedom loving Iranians who wanted their candidate, Mousavi to have a fair shot at things. In fact, because the election was such a farce it actually pushed the Iranian people to question their entire form of government with a religious figurehead in control of the entire country. The resulting protests and demonstrations were awe inspiring if you happened to follow them on Twitter and Youtube. Obviously, the media didn't do much to cover them and the Iranian Government tried to squash all coverage.

Sadly, now it appears that the resistance has been crushed, with snipers shooting at random protesters, dissidents being hung in the streets, and the international community turning a blind eye to it all, it appears that the Ayatollah and his puppet Ahmadinejad are safe and sound. President Obama feels as though this is the correct outcome as he stated "we should let the Iranians sort this out" and made it a point that we should not interject our outside opinions on the affairs of a sovereign nation.

Next, we saw a situation develop in Honduras where the President of that country tried to sign an order into law that would in effect give him dictatorial powers overriding his nation's constitution and due process. The Hondurans obviously weren't going to put up with this so their military took control of the nation and the supreme court overturned the President's action and kicked him out of office. Ask yourself, wouldn't you hope that our military and supreme court would do the same? I know I would.

What did President Obama have to say? He condemned the actions of the Honduran military and said that "governments should never interfere in the democratic process" (the president was elected, so it was wrong to throw him out of office.) Well excuse me dear leader Obama, but if you try to make yourself a dictator, you can bet your ass that you're going to be thrown out of office. If our military and supreme court won't do it, there are plenty of us Americans clinging to our guns and our religion that will do it instead!

Labels: life, politics

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Posted by Tom on 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I can't help but laugh at CNN today. They have been covering the Socialized medicine bill and how the politicians are now saying they can cut the costs down to X dollars. I say X dollars because I don't know how low they are going to go. Earlier it was $1.6T, then it was $1T, and now the latest report is that the politicians have been working in a bipartisan way to reduce the costs to under one trillion dollars, yet still make sure that 97% of Americans are covered.

CNN is reporting this as if it's a completely factual and accurate statement. They have no clue what has been cut or what money has been raised to change the financing of this program, but who cares? Who needs details? The statists are telling us that they have reduced the cost, so they must have, right?

But wait, there's more! Call in the next 30 minutes, and you'll find out that it's spread over the next 10 years, so it's not really a trillion dollars, it's just a few billion per year, no worries!

That's what Obama needs. He needs to get Billy Mays to make his informercials from now on. They'd at least be entertaining then, in a gallows humor sort of way.

Oh and one last thing: the program still leaves 3% of Americans without coverage, that means about 10 million people. Guess what: there are less than that many people in America today who are both unable to get coverage and legally within the United States. So then, who is this program going to cover? Who knows, it's down to just $999,999,999,999!!!

Here's how to order!

Labels: life, politics

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Posted by Tom on 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I've been doing that myself, and man oh man it's like my brain has been opened up to reality for the first time. So far I've read "Atlas Shrugged", "The Voice of Reason", "The Objectivism Lexicon" and I'm halfway through "The New Left."

Rand, more than being just an Author, was a brilliant philosopher, and she invented her philosophy called Objectivism, describing it as such:
That's exactly right. I'm going to keep reading all of her books that I can get my hands on, this is great stuff.

Labels: life, politics

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Posted by Tom on 12:23 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I really wish we hadn't elected such a rookie as the POTUS.

A quick look at the twitter stream for Iranian Election News shows that a terrific thing is happening: an oppressive, totalitarian government is trying to silence their people, but using the technology of the internet the people are still making their voices heard.

It is obvious what is going on: the Iranian government rigged the election and is now trying to cover it up. America should lead the way and gather international support for the citizens of Iran to pressure the government to stop censoring, stop banning media coverage, to open up their activities to the eyes of the world. This is where Obama should do what all Democrats all say they're going to do in international affairs (but they never really do): build an international coalition to peacefully resolve an important conflict by applying pressure from all sides on the offending government.

Where is Obama on this? "We need to sit back and let the Iranians figure this out."

Great job, assclown.

Labels: life, politics

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Posted by Tom on 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I've been reading a lot of Ayn Rand and Objectivist literature lately and I stumbled across a very interesting article this morning that is an interview of Ayn Rand from, of all places, Playboy. Here's my favorite part:

PLAYBOY: What about other public needs? Do you consider the post office, for example, a legitimate function of government?

RAND: Now let's get this straight. My position is fully consistent. Not only the post office, but streets, roads, and above all, schools, should all be privately owned and privately run. I advocate the separation of state and economics. The government should be concerned only with those issues which involve the use of force. This means: the police, the armed services, and the law courts to settle disputes among men. Nothing else. Everything else should be privately run and would be much better run.

I couldn't agree more. And then there's this:

PLAYBOY: Would you favor U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations?

RAND: Yes. I do not sanction the grotesque pretense of an organization allegedly devoted to world peace and human rights, which includes Soviet Russia, the worst aggressor and bloodiest butcher in history, as one of its members. The notion of protecting rights, with Soviet Russia among the protectors, is an insult to the concept of rights and to the intelligence of any man who is asked to endorse or sanction such an organization. I do not believe that an individual should cooperate with criminals, and, for all the same reasons, I do not believe that free countries should cooperate with dictatorships.

Hell yes!

You should definitely read this article.

Labels: life, politics

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Posted by Tom on 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

What if someone said: "I would hope that a wise White man with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a latina woman who hasn’t lived that life."

What would you think?

Well, that's exactly how I feel when I see that these are the words of our newest supreme court justice:

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life."

- Judge Sotomayor, 2001



Awesome

Labels: life, politics

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Posted by Tom on 12:39 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

She's a lying traitor that has done her best to undermine this country at every turn, as evidenced by this latest development where it has been proven that she lied about her knowledge of intelligence gathering activities. However, she's still the speaker of the house. How can this be?

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Posted by Tom on 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

A little while back I posted on a couple of options plays with XRX and ZION, and I wanted to follow up on those.

XRX - Xerox
This stock did exactly what I thought it would do.

I sold half of the position at the first red arrow, and the other half of the position at the second red arrow. It took a little longer than I hoped to get to 6, but it worked out pretty good in the end.

ZION - Zions Bancorporation
I should have been more worried about the earnings! If you recall, I was confident that the earnings report would result in a price increase in the stock becuase it had already broken out of a long term trend line and it had broken out of an inverse head and shoulders pattern. Well... I shouldn't have been so confident:

As you can see, the price fell below it's neckline back to the point of the long term down trend on the earnings announcement, and now the neckline is acting as resistance. Instead of the target of 20, we're looking at 12.25. The options are currently worthless but if we break that neckline again they might gain some value.

Labels: options, XRX, ZION

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Posted by Tom on 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

So far that makes two states, South Carolina and Mississippi. If only we can keep this momentum going and get the idiots in Washington to pay attention!

An amendment that would implement the FairTax plan in South Carolina passed the state House Wednesday, offering hope of a reformed tax code.

Rep. Rex Rice (R-Pickens) introduced the amendment to S. 12 to further accomplish the bill’s goal of “maintaining and enhancing the state as an optimum competitor in the effort to attract businesses and individuals to locate, live, work, and invest in the state.”

“Eliminating the state personal and corporate income tax would create jobs and make it easier to live, work, and invest in South Carolina,” said Rice, a proponent of the FairTax.

Labels: life, politics

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Posted by Tom on 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Here's a Google map of all of the reported Swine Flu cases.

And here's a map you'll never see in the news:

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Posted by Tom on 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The news is ridiculous these days. The media are so far in the corner of the Democrats that you might as well just call them Ministries of Public Enlightenment. I've tried not to listen to much news because it simply drives a sane person crazy but there are a few things that I just can't help but remark about:

1) Arlen Specter has defected to the Democrat party (USSA) - This is great news. Now if he could just take the rest of the Republicans with him. I wish all Republicans at the federal level would just go ahead and call themselves what they really are: spineless (aka Democrat.) If they all turned into Ds then maybe we'd have a shot at fielding a decent competing party that stood up for life, liberty, and property rights.

2) Obama continues running against Bush - it's amazing that this guy just won't stop campaigning. The race is over! It's 2009! I mean not only is he releasing all sorts of top secret memos but in true campaign style he's *not* releasing the full memos. That's right, amongst all those "evil" acts as pouring water in the terrorist's face and putting the terrorist in a cage with a "ferocious" caterpillar, there were actually reports on the successful results of these interrogations. However, including the measurements of the successes of these "torture" sessions would have sent a mixed message, so Obama's propagandists took them out. Then they decided to go for a photo op in a 747 1000 feet above New York City.... the campaign continues...

3) Run for cover, it's the swine flu - in all the hysteria over the new flu outbreak the media is trying to scare the shit out of us all, with help from members of the Obama administration, using mainly statistics from mass deaths in Mexico from a particular strain of the flu. I can only assume that the purpose of all of this fear is to assert that we have to act and we have to act now, I mean now that the financial crisis is over (hahahaha, right) Obama has to have another crisis to use. So now we have this flu, Obama and his propagandists will push on full force for communist medicine. Have you stopped to ask yourself this though: why is it that nobody has died in America even though we have a lot of cases reported? ... could it be that the reason so many in Mexico are dying is because they have nationalized health care? Could it? You won't hear the media ask this question.

Labels: economy, life, politics

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Posted by Tom on 3:44 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Or more accurately, should I hold or should I sell?

Here are a couple of positions I've entered recently and now I'm faced with the age old dilemma of trying to pick the best time to take profits and exit the position. You want to "ride the winners" so you don't want to sell too soon, but you also don't want to get overly greedy and watch the profits evaporate on the pullback. So, that being said, let's take a look at the positions:

XRX - Xerox
This stock is hammering out a bottom and has generated a clear reversal signal in the upward breakout of a triangle pattern. As a result of those signals, when the price was $5.30, I went ahead and bought MAY 09 6 CALL @.20, fully expecting the price to reach and exceed $6 before options expiration in May.

(click for larger image)

The reasoning for this is that $6 is still below the longer term descending trend, so the price shouldn't meet resistance before then. In addition, there is an earnings report coming out on the 24th, which may cause the price to gap in one direction or the other. Currently, the price of those calls has gone up to $0.45, or a profit of $25 per option contract (ignoring commissions.) There is nothing on the chart to indicate that the target of $6 will not be met soon, which would raise the price of the options further. There is indication though that the price won't go much above $6 if the resistance holds true. At this precarious point it's hard to know what's going to happen, so should you play it safe or gamble on the breakout?

Here's what I'll probably do: when the price of XRX makes a new high right around the $6 range I will liquidate a percentage of my position to cover the initial cost of the investment, not to exceed 50% of the calls. Then I'll hold the rest of the calls through earnings and hope for the gap up to break the long term declining trendline. If I am wrong and the stock gaps down on earnings (bouncing off the resistance) then I won't lose any money, but I also won't gain any.

ZION - Zion Bank Corporation
This stock has completed an inverse head and shoulders breakout and retracement and is headed for the sky. As such, I bought call options on the retracement when the price was $12.50: MAY 09 17.5 CALL @.35. This company is also coming up on an earnings release, but since the stock has already broken out of a pattern and a down trend I'm not really worried about it. Even if the stock goes down on earnings I think it will have the strength to quickly rebound.

(click for larger version)

Again, there is no reason to believe that this current uptrend will reverse, but the question is: which target should I use? The target of the H&S breakout is $19, but if you look at the more long term downward trend breakout and use Fibonacci retracement levels, there is also a target at $20 (38.2%) and $25 (50%) so where should I liquidate the position to maximize profits?

What I will probably do is simply cut it 50/50 and sell half of my calls when the stock price reaches $19 for a profit of $250 per call. Then sell the rest of the calls when the price reaches a new high or if it miraculously reaches $25. If the new high was somewhere around say $21, that would be a profit of $400 per call, and if it actually does make it to $25 that would be a profit of over $700 per call.

If I'm totally wrong about both of these stocks then I will have lost my initial investment in calls of about $20 each. When you look at the potential upside and the probability of it happening, the investment is well worth it. Even if I'm only right now and then, the overall profit will far outweigh the loss. Not all of my picks have been winners so far but most have them have either covered their initial cost or made a pretty good profit. I hope some of my current picks will work out to be homeruns but that will only happen if I ride the winners.

Labels: options, XRX, ZION

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Posted by Tom on 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

In my previous post I included a video that clearly demonstrated the stark difference in the CNN coverage of the Chicago Tea Party and the reality of the situation as filmed by people who were there. Youtube has now removed that video citing "copyright" claims of CNN. Yeah, I'm sure that's why they took it down. Funny how you can find thousands if not millions of clips on youtube from Fox News posted by liberal lackeys like Media Matters.

Labels: politics

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Posted by Tom on 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

and of course, you'll never see this on the news:


I love how the stooge called the protesters "right wing extremists" and completely ignored the sign right next to her that said "Republicans suck too."

I guess CNN is so bitter because of this:
Total viewers Wednesday from 8:00 to 11:00 PM:

FOXNEWS 3,390,000
MSNBC 1,210,000
CNN 1,070,000
CNN HEADLINE 909,000

Viewership for specific shows:

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,980,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 3,239,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,947,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,740,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,401,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,185,000
COMEDY DAILY SHOW 1,777,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,499,000
COMEDY COLBERT 1,446,000
CNNHN GRACE 1,336,000
CNN KING 1,292,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,149,000
CNN COOPER 1,021,000

Source: Nealz Nuze

Labels: politics

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Posted by Tom on 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I believe America is controlled by Banking interests who's method has been for the last two centuries to keep the people in a form of indentured servitude through taxation, debts, and inflation. I have come to this hypothesis after reading through books about the development of the Constitution and about the philosophy of Patrick Henry and other Anti-Statists. I will continue researching and logically analyzing history to see if this hypothesis is correct.

Food for thought though: Thanks to Ronald Reagan, our economy had a great run of 20 years or so and many Americans became more prosperous and more wealthy than at any previous point in history. This represented a threat to the Aristocratic class that enjoys most of the economic and political power in this country, so they devised a plan to smack us all back down to the level of slaves like they had enjoyed for so long. This plan included laws to force local and regional banks to lend money to people who couldn't ever expect to pay it back (indentured servitude,) it included ramping up the prices of commodities through overzealous government regulation, it included easing restrictions on large banking institutions so that they could trade debt in ways they had never done before, and finally it included Trillions of Dollars in paper money being used to "save" the very banks that caused all of this, under the guise of crisis.

Apparently not enough Americans had fallen for the bait of collateral and ability free loans to satisfy these bankers, so they had to ramp it up a notch by manufacturing this "crisis" and requiring the Federal Government to print massive amounts of money. Now, instead of a few unwise Americans being in crushing debt because of bad decisions, we are ALL in massive debt due to bad government, and impending inflation will reduce our ability to pay it off.

Sadly, "crisis" is something they've used for hundreds of years, dating back to the revolutionary war, to push through policies that are direct attacks on Liberty. In fact, during the formation of the Constitution, the radically centralized and non-republican new government was deemed totally necessary to prevent "crisis." The crisis they were referring to was farmer revolts by people who couldn't pay their massive debts to banks who had drastically inflated the currency of the day yet wouldn't accept payment in the form of paper money. Sounds eerily familiar, doesn't it?

Labels: economy, life, politics

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Posted by Tom on 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Will anything get better? In case you haven't noticed, or if you only watch CNN or NBC, etc, there have been many massive protests across the country today to protest the tyrannical and oppressive federal government. The protesters include Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Independents, and everyone else. The protesters are the people who I like to call the "producers" as opposed to the "takers" who feed off of the average hard working American, and who all politicians cater to.

Now, while I think this is great and I wish I wasn't on a business trip so I could have gone to the one in my town, I do pause to wonder what good is actually going to come of this? Are people going to wake up and realize the liberty that we've forfeited over the last 100 to 200 years? Sure, the pace has quickened in the last 6 months as we've all been committed to perpetual indentured servitude but this erosion of our natural rights has been going on for a long time. Are we going to revolt and overthrow/dissolve the federal government? Or are we just going to elect another round of corrupt Republicrats who are still going to steal our lives and our loves, just under the guise of different causes?

It's time for a little lesson courtesy of Patrick Henry, the American Nostradamus:

"What, sir, is the genius of democracy? Let me read that clause of the bill of rights of Virginia which relates to this: 3d clause: — that government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community. Of all the various modes and forms of government, that is best, which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured against the danger of mal-administration; and that whenever any government shall be found inadequate, or contrary to those purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.

This, sir, is the language of democracy — that a majority of the community have a right to alter government when found to be oppressive. But how different is the genius of your new Constitution from this! How different from the sentiments of freemen, that a contemptible minority can prevent the good of the majority! If, then, gentlemen, standing on this ground, are come to that point, that they are willing to bind themselves and their posterity to be oppressed, I am amazed and inexpressibly astonished. If this be the opinion of the majority, I must submit; but to me, sir, it appears perilous and destructive. I cannot help thinking so. Perhaps it may be the result of my age. These may be feelings natural to a man of my years, when the American spirit has left him, and his mental powers, like the members of the body, are decayed. If, sir, amendments are left to the twentieth, or tenth part of the people of America, your liberty is gone forever…"

The Federal government has become exactly the monster that Henry feared. We must act now to reverse this course. Hopefully we can avoid bloodshed, and hopefully we can avoid going down this road again.

Labels: life, politics

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Posted by Tom on 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

So I don't have time to make a video but I wanted to post a quick update on my EBAY options. If you recall, I purchased puts on the touch of an upper trendline expecting the price to fall. Unfortunately, the price entered a flag formation which is a sign of a trend continuation rather than reversal. So, I countered by purchasing calls converting my original long puts position into a long strangle. As you can see by the chart below, I was correct, and I ended up making a slight profit (30%), instead of an outright loss.

(click for larger version)

Labels: economy, options

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Posted by Tom on 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

So, I haven't been posting much lately other than Stock Option stuff. Honestly, the news has been so bad lately and politics has been so ridiculous that I just have nothing to say. I mean how are you supposed to talk about calculus when everybody in the world is still debating that 1+1=3?

For example, take a look at this video:


Now take a listen to the news. All they can talk about is how the massive deregulation of business has led to this "crisis." In fact, it is obvious that the problem was, and always has been, government intervention into the free market. Then when a part of the government said "hey wait, we need to reign in this government intervention" another part of the government said "oh no way, there's nothing at all wrong with this system!" and now those people are in charge of "fixing" the mess we're in. Now, I admit, there were some dumb deals going on between banks. Credit default swaps were too good to be true, and they did end up biting the banks. However, the only reason they were ever profitable was the housing bubble, and the only reason the housing bubble happened was government intervention into the free market.

The key point here is that the government does nothing but screw the people. No matter what they say, no matter who's in charge, the government does nothing but make a mess and then later down the road they blame someone else for doing it and say that they're going to save the day now if we just give them some more time (votes.)

Long story short, I'm done with the government. I have reached the point that I think we just need to disband the federal government completely. I might even go so far as to say that we should have no government at all but I think we can at least start with having only state and local government. One of these days I hope people realize that we don't need the government, we've been tricked into thinking we need them to take care of us. The government takes care of us like a farmer takes care of hogs: he keeps them alive just long enough to lead them off to slaughter. That is our future if we keep the government running.

Labels: life, politics

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Posted by Tom on 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Tonight at 8:30 is "earth hour" where we're all supposed to plunge ourselves into total darkness in the name of global warming. So, I'll have all my lights on, the TV, and the stereo. I might even go idle my car.

Labels: life

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Posted by Tom on 3:57 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

One of my Twitter followers asked me to read a book which he had written, titled "Publicani." I've been reading some pretty heavy non-fiction lately whether it be history or more recently stock market and derivative analysis so I figured this would be a welcome reprieve. Also, as much as I fly from place to place, I go through books really quickly so new material is always welcome. That being said, in the spirit of full disclosure I was provided this book for free, with the simple request that I write an honest review upon completion.





In short: I really enjoyed this book. The theme centers around the universal struggle for freedom and liberty in a post-modern world where the term "thought police" has gone from metaphor to an actual existence in the form of a government agency. Like all government agencies it has an innocent sounding name and a purpose that aims to improve the "common good." Following a scientific breakthrough allowing the physical transfer of intelligence between people, the government has decided that certain individuals with "brains to spare" are to become "volunteer" donors to such important members of society as politicians, military leaders, ambassadors, and select researchers. This is all for the good of the nation of course, but it has some severe consequences for the donor, especially if they don't comply.

You see, as with all "voluntary" government programs, if you dare to not cooperate, you suffer the consequences. "Publicani" takes us through this scenario time and again through the eyes of many characters who are the enforcers and the enforcees... and sometimes both. This book manages to play this scenario out while engaging in many intentional parallels with the current politics of the day, and I think this is why it was so enjoyable to me. The underlying theme throughout is simply this: If one of us can be enslaved, then we are all slaves. For this theme alone this book is worth reading, but the story is very interesting without being overly wordy. I finished the book in about three hours and I think it was time well spent.

Finally, I think this book offers some perspective to those of us who don't really see the significance of what is happening in the United States today. In the book an extreme circumstance is at hand: the government forcibly ravages your brain. However, is that not indirectly what the government is doing now? If you are a very successful, highly educated businessman who deals in Intellectual Property, you are punished by this government as being an "evil, greedy, rich" person. With this justification, the government promptly taxes you at every turn: the highest income tax rate, capital gains taxes on your investments, property taxes on your car and house, sales taxes at the local and state level, energy taxes on your electricity and gas, the list goes on and on until you die and they then take half of what you had left!

So in the end, the fruits of your intelligence are taken from you. In Publicani, they just go straight to the source. In real life, we're almost there.

Labels: books, life

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Posted by Tom on 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post