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FBI, IRS Raid Home of Sen. Ted Stevens
A while back we discussed the corruption investigation aimed at Alaska Sen. Ted "series of tubes" Stevens. A number of readers sent us word that the home of Sen. Stevens was raided earlier today by agents of the FBI and the IRS. The focus of the raid was a remodeling project at Stevens's home and the involvement of VECO, an oil company.
The government PAYS people that live in Alaksa to live there.
Seriously ?
Seriously.
The money collected from other sources (notably north slope oil pumping and transport) are far more than the state government needs for its own function.
Rather than finding new ways to waste it, the more-than-slightly libertarian-leaning politicians decided to do away with other taxes - notably income and property tax.
But they still had a big surplus. So they decided to distribute it to the citizens. Even a libertarian can support this as a move in the right direction, since most of the money comes from selling off a resource "owned in common by the citizens of the state". If the government sells it, the citizen-owners should each get their share of the proceeds, right?
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
He was screwing up more than just the jargon. He was screwing up the entire explanation of how the internet works. At any rate, that little rant of his is just what made him funny. That doesn't change the fact that, in spite of having now idea what he was talking about, he was the one spearheading legislation capitualiting to big telecoms on getting rid of net neutrality. I think that's what has most slashdotters angry at him, and given the audience it's pretty expected and reasonable.
As a career choice. People who want to be in politics are probably the last people you want in charge. I say we double the pay for every single elected position in the country, halve the term periods, and appoint people (meeting certain criteria, 25 years old, HS diploma, US citizen) to every single position based on a lottery system at whatever level (local, state, federal) the position is for. Power corrupts, absolutely, and those seeking power are probably already corrupt. Things would be a lot more effective if average people whose friends and neighbors have a vested interest in whats going on were in power. And with shorter term limits, even if someone terrible got appointed, they wouldnt be there for long enough to do all the much damage. Not to mention they would probably focus more on the job at hand. How much time do politicos spend on their re-election campaigns vs actual work?
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
The stock market exploded with reagonomics and interest rates plummeted and inflation was finally under control.
More money for the wealthy means lower interest rates so businesses can hire more and expand as loans become cheap. It also helps joe sixpack refinance his home which goes up in value as more can afford. Infact the housing hike that hit so much of the nation was because of Clinton's low interest rate policy borrowed from republicans.
What happened in the 1920's was the result of unregulated loans for stocks where you could buy a stock with only a a fraction of the up front cost. Great way to gain alot of wealth fast but once they go down then your pretty much screwed. That is illegal today.
What happened in the late 1980's was related to computer problems and the banks not having enough money for some bad savings and loan scams. Again more reagonomics can fix this as more banks have money but competing agaisnt hte government for money is bad as the banks favor the government. Right now they have alot more in capital so a repeat is not close to what happened in the late 80's. IT had nothing to do with reagonmics.
The more money people have the more jobs are created and the fact that after 9-11 we had not had a serious recession confirms that giving businesses low interest rate loans and wealth insurances more jobs.
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