Muda69

Social Security's Winners and Losers: https://mises.org/wire/social-securitys-winners-and-losers

Kids Aren't Rushing To Get Their Driver's Licenses—and That's OK!: https://reason.com/2019/05/14/kids-arent-rushing-to-get-their-drivers-licenses/ Meh, a lot of kids today are happy to "spend time" with their friends via texting, chats, voip, etc. instead of actually you know, driving to each other's homes and being in the same room together. As a parent the only time it aggravates me is when your 20 year old child needs a ride somewhere because they are too lazy to get their license.

Mary Ann. The only real answer. What about Kirk versus Picard?

Dow drops more than 600 points as China trade war escalates: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/13/us-markets-react-to-china-trade-war-news-and-more.html Thanks Trump.

The New Green Serfdom: https://reason.com/2019/05/13/the-new-green-serfdom/

I dislike it. I never claimed otherwise. Glad to hear you actually learned something at a professional training event.

Now we all know this is not true, per your myriad of well thought out and reasoned responses on this very forum.

Legendary actress and singer Doris Day dead at 97: https://apnews.com/b9a04d9ab2ce4276b2f6bdb6b39af585 Truly an American Icon. She will be missed.

With New Tariffs, Trump Hikes Taxes on American Small Business Owners — Again: https://mises.org/wire/new-tariffs-trump-hikes-taxes-american-small-business-owners-—-again Taxes are Not Simply "Passed On to Consumers" It's important to keep in mind that taxes (i.e., tariffs) on goods are not simply something paid by consumers. There is a common misconception that business owners can just "pass on to consumers" higher costs. In fact, while consumers certainly bear some of the brunt of higher costs imposed by governments (or other factors) it is rare that any business facing competition will simply jack up prices in an amount equal to the rise in the cost of doing business. ..... Thus, when PBS reports, "U.S. retailers [must] decide between three options: absorb the cost of the tax, pass it along to consumers, or search for an alternative supplier from a country other than China," they're only sort of right. Yes, business could pass the cost along to consumers, but that if usually a prescription for lost revenue. It's true that businesses can attempt to replace Chinese-made goods with imports "from a country other than China," but if those other places provided goods as economically as China does, merchants would already be buying those other goods. By imposing new taxes, business owners must completely re-arrange their supply chains to deal with a completely unnecessary tax imposed by the US government. This, of course, means little to the wage-workers who think tariffs are just a way to stick it to the bad guys (whether they be evil American corporations or the "Red Chinese"). Wage-workers, who make up 90 percent of the population, are usually quite unaware of what it takes to run a business and get goods from producers to consumers. The "Seen vs. the "Unseen" Trump supporters apparently continue to imagine that high taxes "create jobs" so long as those taxes are called "tariffs." This is only true so long as we don't consider "net job creation." Naturally, a tax on foreign steel, for example, will create some steel jobs. That's the "seen." But what is "unseen" are all the jobs that were either lost or not created as a result of declining spending in other sectors. This is the result of every tax, including tariffs. In fact, as Fox News reported yesterday , In other words, consumers have less money to spend in the non-steel sector, and that means less job creation overall, and a declining standard of living for the overwhelming majority of consumers. But even this won't convince those who insist on supporting tax hikes in the name of "winning" against allegedly unfair foreign tariffs. The narrative they employ is one in which the administration's tax increase are only temporary, and the new taxes will be removed just as soon as all other countries buckle under US demands and remove all their own tariffs imposed on US goods. And they're all so sure this will happen so very soon. But just how far away is "soon"? One year? Five years? From the point of view of a small business, a year is a very long time when it comes to making payroll, paying the rent, and planning for the future. The blasé and arrogant attitude of the administration and its supporters toward business owners in this regard is shocking indeed. It is essentially this: "you business owners should just accept declining income and shrinking sales for years so long as its in the service of Trump's grand plan. And never mind the stagnant wages and lack of hiring that small business must impose on their workers in order to cope with the tax hikes. In the real world, though, people can't stop paying their rent for six months or a year while the Trump administration works out its tariff strategy. The fact that American tariffs are also unpleasant for Chinese firms is, I suppose, swell for nationalists who are more committed to hurting the Chinese than to helping the Americans. But the fact remains the nationalists are cutting off their noses to spite their faces, and the empirical evidence shows it. In this recent study from by Mary Amiti, Stephen J. Redding and David Weinstein on the 2018 trade war, the researchers found "the full incidence of the tariff falls on domestic consumers, with a reduction in U.S. real income of $1.4 billion per month by the end of 2018." And the picture is even more grim when retaliatory tariffs are considered, with this NBER report finding: Meanwhile, the Trump administration has already admitted defeat in rural America where the administration approved new subsidies to make up for the fact far revenues are down as a result of the administration's trade war. It's unlikely that any of this will hurt Trump politically with his base, though. Terribly economics often make great politics, and the fantasy that high taxes will make "America great again" is apparently very attractive to many.

https://www.cato.org/blog/when-hostility-russia-becomes-irrational Agreed. It is asinine to support a foreign polity that includes basically eliminating all communication with another global superpower.

After Losing Nearly $4 Billion Last Year, Postal Service on Track to Lose $7 Billion This Year: https://reason.com/2019/05/10/post-service-lost-2-billion-in-three-months/

Yep. Lots of major characters dying. So who is going to take out Daenerys in the season finale? Jon or Arya?

Sorry that I am not a party animal and am an introvert by nature. Are you a party animal Wabash?

Doesn't sounds like the "Constitutional Crisis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" that many Democrats are crying about.

That is not a caricature of Mr. Beal. However it is one of you, Gonzo. Here is another: and another: And another of your buddy Night Hawk:

No, it is not. Search the interwebs.

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I don't understand how words that I never actually wrote in the first place are now "mine" because I copy/pasted them into quote box on an internet message board.

1. Never have. 2. I avoid IT conventions like the plague. Most are boring and a complete waste of time/money. 3. I generally abhor the bar scene. If I want to drink alcohol I'll do it in the comfort of my own home or the homes of close friends/family.

Under exactly what kind of circumstances? And this is a serious question. I'll admit I am not a 100% prude when it comes to profanity, and I have let the occasional 4-letter word slip out on occasion. It almost always has had to with being angry, and I regretted uttering the world the moment it came out.

Generally agree, although Amtrak gets funding directly from U.S. appropriation bills, which the USPS does not. Instead the USPS get things like federal tax breaks, a monopoly on letter delivery, and cheap borrowing from the U.S. Treasury.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/05/f-word-once-taboo-unfortunate-national-habit/ I surely hope so. I frankly don't understand the casualness in which this word is used today, and I will often tune to something else if a youtube video I happen to be watching or a podcast I may be listening to starts to use the word with frequency.

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/save-usps-we-must-privatize-it I agree.