The obvious question to close off this series is “How can Sweden afford those benefits?” Of course a part of that answer it through relatively high taxes. But how high is that? Sweden does have the highest top marginal rate … Continue reading InDepth – US vs Sweden Post #6 – Taxes & Closing Thoughts
I am a writer. I don’t know why I am obsessed with that craft, but I have to put my thoughts into words and get them out there. It’s not that I am seeking fame or fortune. I think I … Continue reading Being A Writer
I know I am using a dated phrase when I say “Pitchforks at the castle”, but I imagine you get the idea. It is when we serfs are fed up with the actions of the landed aristocracy and demand change. … Continue reading Pitchforks At The Castle… It’s About Time.
There seem to be all kinds of people who are trying to figure out why we have gotten into where we are in this world. Some point to one thing, some to another. In my opinion, for what its worth, the reason below is one of the primary causes of our current madness. [They say] Capital was for capitalists — everyone would be better off that way! LOL. What really happened was as predictable as it was grim — capitalists took all the capital they could possibly get their hands on, plundering society after society, and hid it in treasure chests buried around the … Continue reading The Other 90%
“Time is money” is a well known phrase in the world today. If we expend time on behalf of our employer we expect to be paid for it. That seems to be a very American thing, my time is worth money is perhaps a bedrock of our capitalist society. Another tradition is overtime pay. That says that I will give you a certain number of hours a week of my time but if you intrude into my private life portion you must pay more for it. One of the things the Obama administration did is to make sure that employers are paying … Continue reading Time Is Money…
241 years ago we were part of the Great British Empire. We were loyal, although complaining, citizens. Then we chose to go our own way and eventually after a four year rebellion got our way. We still have common bonds with GB but we are also markedly different. One of the major differences is that we are a nation of immigrants and Great Britain is a nation embedded in aristocracy. We until recently have a classless nation. We don’t hold people in higher esteem just because of what name they have. America became known as the land of opportunity. A place where … Continue reading About Brexit and the British.. And How We are NOT Like Them
With this post I will conclude my discussion about what might make the wealthy among us seem so callous to others needs. The source for these posts came as a surprise to me. Here is some more quotes from that article. A UCLA neuroscientist named Keely Muscatell has published an interesting paper showing that wealth quiets the nerves in the brain associated with empathy: If you show rich people and poor people pictures of kids with cancer, the poor people’s brains exhibit a great deal more activity than the rich people’s. (An inability to empathize with others has just got … Continue reading What Wealth Does To Your Soul – Part 2
Call them the invisible rich. How do they do it? Sure, money like that sometimes comes from an inheritance or another fortuitous break, but more likely it’s the result of diligence, smart choices and, well, deferred gratification. SOURCE: Wealth-building secrets of the millionaire next door – Yahoo Finance. Wealth-building secrets of the millionaire next door It seems like there are thousands of articles and books lately to tell you how to become rich. But do any of them actually have anything unique to say? I am not going to go into the details about the above article other than to … Continue reading Common Sense…..
The U.S. government and Switzerland have reached an agreement that could expose Americans who have used Swiss banks to avoid paying taxes…. The crackdown began in 2009 after a whistleblower notified U.S. authorities that UBS, the largest Swiss bank, was enabling Americans to evade taxes. UBS settled the case later that year. It turned over account records on 4,500 U.S. customers and paid a $780 million fine SOURCE: Swiss, U.S. reach deal on outing tax evaders – CBS News. I have absolutely no sympathy for those caught trying to hide their wealth in swiss banks in order to avoid paying … Continue reading Swiss, U.S. reach deal on outing tax evaders
The difference between our rich and poor grows greater every year. Our distribution of wealth is getting more uneven all the time. . . . A man can make a million over night and he is on every page in the morning. But it never tells you who give up the million he got. You can’t get money without taking it from somebody. – 1 June 1930 Will Rogers As Will points out here the difference between the rich and the poor has always been greater than many of us would like to see but I really don’t think … Continue reading Taking It From Somebody….
I am adding a new category starting with this post. It is entitled “The Shrinking Middle Class”.
Here is one of the reasons why I am doing that. It is well into the Fall season here in the Midwest and soon all the outside work will be over. That means about five months of pretty much staying in the “cabin”. To ward off cabin fever I usually try to take on a special project for each in-door season. The project this year will be to learn as much as I can about the history of the middle class and the possible causes of its recent decline. ” Continue reading “The Shrinking Middle Class….”
via Jack Welch: I was right about jobs report – Oct. 9, 2012. Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, had previously contributed content to Fortune, but following critical coverage of his comments on the jobs report and tenure at GE, Welch said in an e-mail Tuesday that he was terminating his contract with Fortune. In his WSJ op-ed, Welch suggests that the reaction to his criticism of “the ruling authorities” was something he would expect in Soviet Russia or Communist China. “Nope,” he wrote, “that would be the United States right now, when a person (like me, for instance) suggests … Continue reading All Rich Guys Think They are Infallible….
I guess I am still fixated on the post from yesterday about how so many very sparsely populated States in the U.S. now have so much power. It seems that our country is quite out of balance right now as a result of past decisions. Maybe it is time to revisit some of that stuff. Being that I am the fool who rushes in where angels fear to tread I will take a stab at this. If you want to call this the Walters’ Doctrine go ahead. I will take the blame for all of it. Here is my list … Continue reading How About Some Changes….
There is a great tendency all over the country now to be high brow. More people should work for their dinner instead of dressing for it — Will Rogers This quote caught my attention because for the last few months I have been watching the PBS series “Downton Abby”. Here is how Wikipedia describes the series: The series is set in the fictional Downton Abbey, the Yorkshire country house of the Earl and Countess of Grantham, and follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants during the reign of King George V. The first series spans the two years before the Great War beginning with news of the … Continue reading Dressing For Dinner…
The difference between the rich and the poor grows greater every year. Our distribution of wealth is getting more uneven all the time. A man can make a million and he is on every page in the morning. But it never tells who gave up that million he got. You can’t get money without taking it from someone. – 1933 Will Rogers This is one of the most provocative quotes I have in my collection from Will Rogers. Given the statistics that show in the last ten years that the wealth of the 1%ers has more than doubled while … Continue reading Its Got To Come From Somewhere….
RJ's Corner - Having My Say 