With sleeping cats
Friday, June 03, 2016
How About Teach Them To Honk Never?
Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but in my experience most people who honk the horn just do so to be assholes. If you live in a densely populated neighborhood where the houses go right up to the sidewalk, a few too many honking assholes can really ruin the blissful silence of the urban hellhole (which actually is pretty quiet most of the time). Sure there are good reasons to honk, I'd just put them at about 5% of actually honking.
Anyway, no worries. It's 2016 and we still don't have our automated cars, honking or no honking, which we won't have in my lifetime. That's one of my more unpopular opinions, for some reason, even though I'm pretty sure I'm powerless to affect the course of events on this one. Just don't think they're going to happen (yes, more automated, yes more cruise control plus, but no getting 95% of the way there isn't enough). I don't even worry about safety, though that depends on how you look at it. It won't be that hard to get them to not hit things, it'll be harder to get them to drive in such away that they don't cause accidents. It'll certainly be hard to make them so that people don't want to honk at them.
Anyway, no worries. It's 2016 and we still don't have our automated cars, honking or no honking, which we won't have in my lifetime. That's one of my more unpopular opinions, for some reason, even though I'm pretty sure I'm powerless to affect the course of events on this one. Just don't think they're going to happen (yes, more automated, yes more cruise control plus, but no getting 95% of the way there isn't enough). I don't even worry about safety, though that depends on how you look at it. It won't be that hard to get them to not hit things, it'll be harder to get them to drive in such away that they don't cause accidents. It'll certainly be hard to make them so that people don't want to honk at them.
Sometimes We Get Results
Or, at least, play a part.
Aside from yay team, it's important to remember that this isn't just some ideological thing, though it is that, too. It's a recognition that the retirement crisis is here and it's very real. I'd say there's a broad enough consensus (does not include zombie-eyed granny starvers) that however we get to the goal, society should be structured in such a way that the vast majority of people hit retirement age with some economic stability. The current system has not done that, and whatever Exciting New Ideas we can come up with for the ideal retirement program (obviously I'm partial to plans which rhyme with brocial maturity), we have a crop of people in retirement or entering retirement soon who have no hope of coming up with that kind of post-retirement income stream. The only way to keep them off the streets, or for the lucky few working them until they die, is to provide non-trivial across the board benefit increases.
And if you're worried Donald Trump's Social Security payment is too large (none of them are very large, so worrying about this is silly and the only people who claim to worry about such things are just using it as an excuse to not help anyone), you can just increase tax rates on rich people. That's the easy way to means testing, and how a progressive tax system is supposed to work.
Aside from yay team, it's important to remember that this isn't just some ideological thing, though it is that, too. It's a recognition that the retirement crisis is here and it's very real. I'd say there's a broad enough consensus (does not include zombie-eyed granny starvers) that however we get to the goal, society should be structured in such a way that the vast majority of people hit retirement age with some economic stability. The current system has not done that, and whatever Exciting New Ideas we can come up with for the ideal retirement program (obviously I'm partial to plans which rhyme with brocial maturity), we have a crop of people in retirement or entering retirement soon who have no hope of coming up with that kind of post-retirement income stream. The only way to keep them off the streets, or for the lucky few working them until they die, is to provide non-trivial across the board benefit increases.
And if you're worried Donald Trump's Social Security payment is too large (none of them are very large, so worrying about this is silly and the only people who claim to worry about such things are just using it as an excuse to not help anyone), you can just increase tax rates on rich people. That's the easy way to means testing, and how a progressive tax system is supposed to work.
Jobs
Not a lot of new ones, but unemployment rate is still nice and low.
Still we have a Fed that is constantly desperate to take away the punch bowl before the party has really even begun. It takes a long time to recover what was lost from an extended recession. People may have some jobs now, but they still got no money. As long as policy is made by people who haven't lived paycheck to paycheck in a long time (if ever)...
Still we have a Fed that is constantly desperate to take away the punch bowl before the party has really even begun. It takes a long time to recover what was lost from an extended recession. People may have some jobs now, but they still got no money. As long as policy is made by people who haven't lived paycheck to paycheck in a long time (if ever)...
Pastor Gerson Issues His Edict
Apparently he's having a hard time finding the One True Evangelical.
The man worked for W. He was part of the White House Iraq Group. I'm sure all the lectures about "a distasteful offering of incense to the emperor for the sake of the greater good" just means "but Trump will reject my incense!!!".
So much of what goes on in DC involves the tension between the people who actually run the country with some democratic legitimacy, and the people who think they should and/or do actually run the country.
The man worked for W. He was part of the White House Iraq Group. I'm sure all the lectures about "a distasteful offering of incense to the emperor for the sake of the greater good" just means "but Trump will reject my incense!!!".
So much of what goes on in DC involves the tension between the people who actually run the country with some democratic legitimacy, and the people who think they should and/or do actually run the country.
Thursday, June 02, 2016
Summer of Love
Occasionally I'm reminded of Whitewater. No, nobody can explain Whitewater to The Kids Today. Nobody ever knew what Whitewater was supposed to be about back when it happened. It was a small land deal in which the Clintons lost a bit of money and then there were blowjobs and the rest is history. Even if one imagines that this cool sweet money losing land deal was as corrupt as corrupt could be and that the Clintons were in on all of that sweet money losing corruption, it's pretty much "Tuesday" in the life of the Donald.
Wednesday, June 01, 2016
Has Somebody Been Reading This Blog?
Obummer is giving a speech on the economy.
.@POTUS: "time we finally made Social Security more generous & increased its benefits" so retirees get "dignified retirement they’ve earned"
— Jesse Lee (@jesseclee44) June 1, 2016
Probably the Best Part of Obamacare
While John Roberts incoherently semi-sabotaged it, the best part of Obamacare - and the part that its critics (myself included) probably downplayed the importance of at the time - was the Medicaid expansion. On one hand, yay Obamacare, on the other hand, I think there's a little lesson there...
Freedom Fighter
Obviously this guy has other quirks, but what is it about traffic tickets that drive people insane. Do the crime, pay the freaking $230 fine. If I ran the zoo I'd half the amount of the fines and double the number of tickets issued (roughly, anyway, point is to increase enforcement), but I doubt that'd make most drivers happy, either.
Sanders, who lives in Frisco, Tex., tried to beat a traffic ticket and lost. So when it came time to pay the $222.60 fine, he paid in cash. Two buckets full of pennies, to be exact. He dumped them on the counter of the municipal court clerk’s office. To judge from the video he posted, it was like someone hitting the jackpot, except a lot less fun.
America's Id
I suppose scamming students for profit is just what we call Capitalism these days, but you'd think running a scam (until caught) Veterans charity fundraiser might look "bad" for the Donald.
Nah, IOKIYAR and we all live in the grifter economy now.
But let's keep talking about Bernie Bros.
Nah, IOKIYAR and we all live in the grifter economy now.
But let's keep talking about Bernie Bros.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)