StreetScooby

I think it's far more on display with blacks than any other culture in America right now. We are all engines of karma

And how liberals interpret that is not what the founding fathers meant, as I've corrected to the actual wording. The original intent of the Constitution can be assessed by reading the Federalist papers. While I haven't done so, I'm gradually working my way there. We are all engines of karma

As politically incorrect as it is to say this, blacks can be very racist based on color alone. But, when they do it, it isn't racism. We really need a new word to properly describe this, IMO. We are all engines of karma

Then along came America's Constitution that enshrined the right to the individual's pursuit. That's the context in which I'm having this discussion. We are all engines of karma

I think that was the author's point. We are all engines of karma

I read a really good article the other day regarding deductive reasoning vs inductive reasoning. The author pointed out that inductive reasoning is flawed in general, i.e., you can never number crunch your way to truth. Even more so today because data tends to be cherry picked to support the presenter's point. Deductive reasoning, on the other hand, has been the basis for most of the significant leaps made in man's understanding (e.g., Einstein's theory of relativity). But, deductive reasoning requires "principles" which can be agreed upon by parties. Right now, our society is incapable of producing policies based upon deductive reasoning because there isn't any agreement on the principles required for such reasoning. Perfect example - lots of people say it's imperative that government provide for the poorest. But, you never hear anyone talking about what responsibility those people should bear in return. I for one hold that your highest responsibility in life is to take care of yourself and your family, first and foremost. If everyone took that view seriously, and acted accordingly (of course, always in a civilized manner), alot of the problems our society is facing would no longer be as pressing. The point here - those government people speaking gibberish would argue they are meeting "truth in naming" requirements. But, you and I know they're not. Government officials are operating on "principles" different from other citizens. And, those operating "principles" tend to be overwhelming derived from inductive reasoning rather than deductive reasoning. We are all engines of karma

I think this article is spot on. Orwellian Doublespeak Dominates Economic Policy Not only can't people agree on what the data means, they've decided to start speaking gibberish. Pointless, and just another sign to me they don't know what they're talking about. ===================================== February 13, 2012 Orwellian Doublespeak Dominates Economic Policy By Bill Frezza While taking in my morning helping of news and commentary, I was struck by a certain similarity in every article touching on economic policy. It wasn't just the trampling of the Constitution, the abandonment of rational accounting principles, or the futility of the search for logic behind the proposals coming out of Washington that was so disturbing. There is nothing new about such sad developments. We long ago began to adapt to life without these bygone bulwarks against chaos. It was the progressive destruction of the English language that prompted coffee to come out of my nose. Without a common understanding of precisely what words mean, rational discourse becomes futile. We might as well babble gibberish at each other as we fall back to settling our differences swinging clubs. For example, what does "unemployment" mean? How can the official unemployment rate go down when millions of discouraged job seekers stop looking for work and the nation's labor participation rate takes the biggest plunge in history? Easy; simply stop counting people who drop out of the labor market. Numerous articles have pointed this out, but even sophisticated investors don't seem to be paying attention. When newspaper headlines proclaim, "Unemployment Down!" the stock market goes up. Smart stock buyers tell you that they know better but are betting on the trading behavior of people who don't. How's that for baking institutionalized ignorance into the market? Can you buy "insurance" to protect yourself from predictable, repetitive events like paying your cable TV bill? No? So exactly how did we get into this big brouhaha about who has to pay for "insurance" coverage to gain "access" to birth control pills? (I looked up "access." It didn't say "free stuff.") If compound obfuscation is your fancy, try "unemployment insurance." It's the only kind of "insurance" where your benefits can go up even when you are out of work and not paying any premiums. And if you stop looking for work as soon as you finish collecting benefits, you are no longer unemployed. Brilliant! What does "inflation" mean? I know what I have to spend when I go to the grocery store and stop at the gas pump. Yet the official inflation rate excludes food and energy. How can the assurances of government officials be so contrary to our everyday experiences? Grouch Marx explained it. "Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" The star word of this silly season is "fair." The top 10% of tax filers pay 70% of all income taxes while the bottom half collectively pay almost no income tax. Yet we are in a huge debate about increasing taxes on those already paying the most in order to decrease taxes on those already paying the least. And it's all in the name of "fairness." That was a pretty neat trick. Think how different the debate would sound if instead of "fair" we used the words "stick ‘em up!" While we're at it, do you know what your "tax rate" is? The most recent IRS data show that the top 1% of taxpayers fork 24% of their adjusted gross income over to Uncle Sam in income taxes. The next 1-5% cohort pays 16.4%, the next 5-10% pays 11.4%, the next 10-25% pays 8.2%, the next 25-50% pays 5.6%, and the bottom 50% pay a barely measurable 1.85%. In a progressive tax system, when you make more money you not only pay more taxes, you pay taxes at a higher average rate. Our current tax system may be impossibly complex, corrupt, and inefficient but it delivers exactly that result. So how did we end up in a shouting match about "millionaires and billionaires," enjoying a lower "tax rate" than secretaries when it's just not true? Better ask Obama's favorite billionaire. Maybe Warren Buffett can explain how someone that makes $200,000 a year is a millionaire. It gets better. Giving money to your friends and political donors to finance hare brained speculative schemes is called an "investment." How can that be? I don't know, ask the Energy Department. But rest assured, fair taxpayer, your money is as safe as the General Motors stock the White House bought on your behalf. Perhaps they salted away your shares in the Social Security "lockbox." God forbid we should invest our Social Security "accounts" in the stock market, which can go down, when we can entrust our "savings" to Congress, who has stolen them altogether. And speaking of speakers, is Congress "in session?" Better not ask the Speaker of the House. Don't you love all those "budget cut" announcements? When we cut the budget in my household, spending goes down. Only in Washington can a "budget cut" lead to higher spending. You have to look at the numbers to learn that what they are really doing is marginally decreasing the acceleration in the growth of spending. As a geek, I know a second derivative when I see one. Apparently, members of the press never took math. Train your eye to spot these language debaucheries, and send me your favorites. They have become so widespread that it makes you nostalgic for the days when we used to argue about what "is" is, or what carnal acts count as "sex" when the Commander in Chief claims he didn't have any. At least back then it was all good fun, speculating on the latest adventures of the presidential trouser trout as we watched our 401(k)s grow as fast as Pinocchio's nose. Today, it's not so much fun. In fact, it's getting ugly. It will get uglier still if we don't get back to speaking plain English to each other. We are all engines of karma

I think there's wide sentiment that predictions coming from "alarmists" simply aren't adding up. In my mind, the biggest argument is over the "solutions" being imposed on us by government. I think it's widely agreed that those solutions will have little impact other than to give governments more money, and power over our lives. We are all engines of karma

It's no longer about the rule of law, that provides for blind justice, it's about what Obama thinks is best. We are all engines of karma

Had to track down the article I last read about the employment numbers. John Crudele has been writing alot about unemployment reporting for years now. Here's his latest article:

In Westchester County, NY, their interpretation of the Castle Doctrine requires you to leave the house, if at all possible. So basically, it's the robber's castle while he's in there... We are all engines of karma

Haven't the French figured this out? We are all engines of karma

Agreed, good news. We are all engines of karma

Can I ask where you got this from? We are all engines of karma

I read this article. The thought that struck me is now that the US is making it much more difficult to migrate, Canada seems to have become a preferred place. We are all engines of karma

That chart raises more questions than it answers. Where are you getting that government employment is going down? We are all engines of karma

Yep. As you said earlier, the law needs to be blind. The law also needs to be written in such a way that it stays blind to race. If the blindfold needs to be lifted in order to asses, the law hasn't been written properly, IMO. We are all engines of karma

The latest figures on this show just how fabricated that number is. Apparently, alot of the movement is due to a huge number of people dropping out of the workforce. That's my understanding at this time. We are all engines of karma

Wow, what an interesting observation. I hadn't noticed that. I personally don't view people in categories. Absolutely. We are all engines of karma

I think we can all agree there is a balance to be found here. I would agree that Obama is driving it away from where it should be. We are all engines of karma

Not sure I agree re: Hispanics. There's alot of Hispanic labor in the area where I live. As a rule, these folks work hard, and value family first and foremost. Compared to where they came from, they are doing markedly better (why else would they endure to get here?). Wrto blacks (haven't you heard, African American is out of vogue now?), and Native Americans, not sure why that's the case. There are very successful black people in my company. They work hard, are professional, and are widely respected (and it has nothing to do with their skin color). We are all engines of karma

I'm curious to see your sources on this. And largely liberal. What school did you go to? My view is the problem with our education system is due to a liberal philosophy that doesn't hold the individual accountable. Obama being the prime example, IMO. Other than our quality of life, and the fact that America is the greatest country this planet has every known. Why else do so many people want to come here? We are all engines of karma

Why is that? Just curious. We are all engines of karma

As some of you may know, Paul Krugman is a noble prize winning economist, and former adviser to Enron, who writes a column for the NYTimes. Full disclosure here, I think he's a joke. In a column today, Money and Morals, he makes the following statement: I found this to be a pretty shocking statement. Every single person around me has worked their ass off in life. No one has inherited their position or money. Does anyone else find this statement to be as jarring as I did? We are all engines of karma

What does that mean? We are all engines of karma