Whereas most entrepreneurs in Dalmo’s position develop a retching distaste for paying taxes, Dalmo doesn’t mind them much. “The tax system is good—it’s fair,” he tells me. “What we’re doing when we are paying taxes is buying a product. So the question isn’t how you pay for the product; it’s the quality of the product.” [...]
[5 Aug 2011]
The prison terms were suspended — not commuted — on the condition that Gladys donate a kidney to Jamie, who is seriously ill with diabetes and high blood pressure and receives dialysis at least three times a week. Gladys had long expressed a desire to donate a kidney to her sister, but to make that [...]
[2 Jan 2011]
So as far as markets are concerned I’m a libertarian, but I have enough expertise in politics and history to understand that a free market ends up as monopoly unless you force them to be free. One of a few quotes that jumped out at me in Andy Greenberg’s Forbes (long-ish) interview with WikiLeaks’ Julian [...]
[1 Dec 2010]
But when it comes to abortion I am the one that wears the pants in the decision because in the end it would be me going through the procedure. Even though my husband’s opinion and beliefs matter to me, I, as the one carrying the baby have the final say about my body and our [...]
[25 Nov 2010]
They don’t care that these mortgages wouldn’t have been available in the first place if the banks hadn’t found a way to sell oregano as weed to pension funds and insurance companies. Matt Taibbi just made me snort laugh. I know someone who actually did cut his weed inventory with oregano to boost profits. The [...]
[13 Nov 2010]
All my life I’ve heard Latin America described as a failed society (or collection of failed societies) because of its grotesque maldistribution of wealth. Peasants in rags beg for food outside the high walls of opulent villas, and so on. But according to the Central Intelligence Agency (whose patriotism I hesitate to question), income distribution [...]
[7 Nov 2010]
WARNING: The videos below contain a lot of profanity. It seems the Baracka Flocka Flames controversy has heated up since the October 26 publication of Prez N the Hood: A Hip-Hop Parody Stirs Up Issues in the New York Times (video below; article requires log-in). America’s foremost old cranky black man, Stanley Crouch, had nothing [...]
[31 Oct 2010]
But the Great Recession was different: It was triggered by a financial meltdown brought on by excessive lending, reckless risk taking, the implosion of an unregulated shadow banking system that assumed that short-term money would always be available — and ignorant and careless borrowing by people and institutions. The key paragraph from Who can magically [...]
[15 Oct 2010]
Washington is absolutely committed to the proposition that 9/11 came out of the blue. There’s no historical context. Because if you insist that there ought to be some historical explanation for 9/11 — which is different from saying that there is a justification for 9/11; there cannot be a justification — and you look for [...]
[2 Oct 2010]
Contrary to the popular narrative, most foreclosures were not on sprawling “McMansions” but rather on modest properties that were typically valued significantly below area median values at origination. One of the key findings from Dreams Deferred: Impacts and Characteristics of the California Foreclosure Crisis, a report by the Center for Responsible Lending. You can also [...]
[21 Sep 2010]