Impartial_Observer

Bernard Arnault was briefly the richest man in the world, displacing Jeff Bezos late last year. He's the head of LVMH, which is the umbrella for many high end brands, Louis Vitton, Tag Heuer, Moet, Christian Dior, Givenchy, etc. In other words built an empire on expensive crap that people don't need. He didn't build a better mousetrap, he built a mousetrap with hip and trendy logo on it. What does this actually tell us about the financial woes of the world? Bill Gates created a product that people wanted. He took the computer from the backroom with the geeks and put it in the living room for grandma and grandpa. Bill Gates is one of the wealthiest people in the world, he's also quite liberal. We've often heard him rail on the want for higher taxes and more social programs. But a couple of things bother me about this. Number one, why hasn't Bill Gates written a check to the US Treasury to pay more? I have no doubt Gates and MS for that matter have an entire battery of lawyers and accountants to in fact keep from paying any more in taxes than they absolutely have to. So why is it that one of the riches men in the world who often lobbies for higher taxes would act in this seemingly contradictory manner? To his credit he is a VERY charitable man, his foundation donates millions to worthy causes around the world. Why is this? It's quite simple, he, like so many understands if the money goes to the government it will be squandered. The vast majority of the money will be eaten up by the top heavy bloated bureaucracy. And what's left over, they'll screw it up. Why are successful people demonized rather than celebrated. I say good for them. VOC can complain about them all she wants, but these uber rich dudes/dudettes didn't get that way by accident, they've been hungry, they've been driven, and they've worked incredibly hard.

This is the dirty little secret that the hacks in the mainstream media are COMPLETELY missing. The courts are being changed and that will be Trumps lasting legacy. He's appointing young and seemingly bright lawyers. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/12/9/20962980/trump-supreme-court-federal-judges

Contrary to popular belief, yield does NOT mean stop. Yes I agree, if you will impede a car already in the roundabout, you need to stop, i.e., yield to that vehicle.

My guess is the same people that feel the need to stop before entering a roundabout.

I was the same way with Making a Murderer, I just couldn't get into it.

Star of pre-prime time TV.

I watched this a couple of weeks ago, interesting.

Not me, between the noise of the mower and my noise cancelling JBL cordless cans, I couldn’t hear her yelling if she was standing in my ear. Mowing time is my sanctuary.

My mom and I used to watch Emergency every week when I was small. Oddly enough over the weekend one of those clickbait links that show up at the end of articles online was "what ever happened to Dixie McCall?" I saw Emergency on the list which reminded me. I didn't realize it was on seven years. Pretty cool link, I'll check it out more as time allows.

That's funny right there, I don't care who you are. A down stroke on this says way more about the voter than the poster.

Amtrak is the poster child for all that is wrong with government intervention into free markets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak Founded in 1971 as a quasi-public corporation to operate many U.S. passenger rail services,[1][2][3] it receives a combination of state and federal subsidies but is managed as a for-profit organization.[4] Amtrak's headquarters is located one block west of Union Station in Washington, D.C.[5] Another 19th Century relic that has probably outlived it's usefulness. Of course I still have customers who hand write checks and use a Paymaster, so I guess the taxpayers will continue to dump money down that bottomless pit as well.

Semantics, it’s a privately owned entity with government subsidies. It has a long and storied history of mismanagement, bleeding cash, and an increasing dependence on the taxpayers. Who do I talk to about getting subsidies for my business?

Same as any business, to make money.

I personally would love that, but I doubt it. History says it's Faulkens, I tend to agree with Bob, good chance the IHSAA has it's first female commissioner.

I still have the first three on vinyl, I'd have to do some searching on CD's of the later albums. I loved the early albums.

Great read. Never got the chance to see Zeppelin live, was able to catch Robert Plant at MSA back in 85.

That makes perfect sense: London has nearly 9 million people Paris has over 2 million people Their roads were designed for horses Easy Jet does the same thing for about 65 bucks, but you'll have to use binoculars to get the same view, it does appear to go by slightly slower from 35,000 feet though. Yea about that high speed rail in the US.... I'm not arguing the merits of train travel, I love ya man, but I don't think it's my place to subsidize your ticket.

I'm not going to lie, I'm a little disappointed Maxine Waters didn't make the tournament team. She would have added a lot of entertainment value. Does anyone think Nadler suffers from a touch of Napoleon Syndrome?

Been going on since the summer, they have updated the parental behavior section of their school handbook though.

Usually when he's got nothing, just the shoot me thingey.

I disagree with Dean Wormer, fat, drunk, and stupid is a way to go thru life. Honestly DE, I tried to engage you, I've raised valid business concerns as well as taxpayer concerns, you refuse to answer any of it, you just want me to watch a stupid video. I don't know jack squat about passenger rail, but it's not hard to figure out. In order for mass transit to work, you have to have masses, which do not exist in flyover country. There used to be a bus stop in every little berg and a train station in every other little berg. Seymour was founded on a RR crossroads and named after the engineer who opted to locate the crossroads where it is, instead of in the already established town of Rockford. But those days are gone. Two income homes, an extensive interstate system, cars that become more reliable every day, safe predictable air travel, passenger rail just does not make business or logical sense, regardless of what some youtube video says.

I ain't going to lie, we are taking advantage of the situation. Mrs IO and myself did some math last night, with college knocked out for the kids, we can shorten our terms at a lower fixed rate and save ourselves a substantial amount over the life of the mortgage, not to mention losing about 3 three years of payments. It's a no brainer. If we were a little closer to retirement, I'd probably go the full amount and get a little more serious about a house in south Florida.

Plenty of studies on the economic impact of licensing, bottom line it costs the consumer more because it restricts the labor pool. Some studies indicate that licensing is particularly harmful to the lower income segment of the population. The OP is certainly an example of this. Young single mom and can't get a job based on some arbitrary law. Licensing comes in all shapes and sizes, for instance look at plumbers, you can have a large plumbing firm all working under the umbrella of the owners license. That doesn't guarantee your crapper isn't going to back up just like it did before they sent a flunkie out to fix it the first time. Then they're marriage licenses.....that panned out well. What is really interesting to me is as union membership has fallen dramatically, licensing requirements have risen dramatically.

Political theater. As I have stated since this began, it's all a foregone conclusion. Weren't you paying attention in 1998?