Economics, General

Who’s foreclosing in your neighborhood?

I saw this interesting link in the NY Times

http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/how-to-find-foreclosures/?nl=your-money&emc=your-moneyema4

On my browser you have to click on “show search options” to get the drop-down menu. I wasn’t interested in finding a particular foreclosure property, just in getting an idea of the economic health of my neighborhood. We look good, but the surrounding communities have got some problems. It would be interesting to try looking a through a set of quarterly snapshots to see how the maps change over time.

General

Who’s Watching What

I was just watching Once Upon a Time in the West , a very good Sergio Leone Western. Henry Fonda, as Frank, plays an excellent psychopath. But as I was watching the commentary, some film historian said it was an oddity why Leone showed Frank meeting the widow at the ranch, then jumps to Mesa Verde where Frank meets the railroad baron then jumps to the ranch where the other characters are and then jumps  to a love scene with Frank and the widow, back at the ranch. Why the film historian thought the love scene was back at the ranch, I don’t know. I thought it was rather obvious that the love scene was taking place in Frank’s Mesa Verde camp and not back in the ranch’s bedroom, which had already been reviewed in detail.

Economics, Politics

Fair is Fair

I heard someone ask the other ” What was fair?”. They were referring to the ‘tax cuts’  and the idea of letting the high income folks move back to the pre-Bush rates while the lower income folks stayed at the Bush rates. Was this ‘Fair’?

In my view, letting higher income earners pay taxes at a higher rate commensurate with the higher income is more than fair.  One of the primary reasons these people have such a high income is because the government has built an infrastructure that provides for them. We have regulatory agencies that provide a a safe and stable commercial environment.  We have troops stationed around the world, fighting in foreign countries, trying to maintain a safe and stable political environment.  Our government manages to maintain a safe and stable personal environment for most of its citizens, allowing them to direct their energies to personal growth and achievement rather than to day-to-day survival (I said most.) This all requires an infrastructure paid for by our taxes.

Over the past few years,  the national infrastructure has become suspect. Debts and deficits have risen because no one seems to think they should pay for all this infrastructure, and so, the infrastructure is weakening.

TAANSTAAFL.

What is fair is that the folks whom benefit the most from this infrastructure pay the most for it. And it isn’t like anyone who makes more than another should  take home less than someone who makes less. Additional taxes are applied to the the monies earned over and above the threshold level. Someone making $1,000,001 pretax is still taking home more after tax than someone making $1,000,000 pretax.  Until the infrastructure is repaired, those that have reaped the benefits of the past should continue to make it right for the future.

The ones trampled by the infrastructure shouldn’t be expected to pay for it. Effectively, they can’t pay for it.  The infrastructure should provide the all of society the opportunity to grow and prosper and it doesn’t always catch everyone equally. I am sure that most people would rather make $1,000,000 a year and pay some taxes than make $10,000 a year and not have to pay taxes.

So let the ones who profit from our society pay for it.  Not only is this fair;  it is equitable.

General

Synchronicity

I was just watching the Colbert Report where Julie Taymor was his guest, talking about the new movie she just directed – The Tempest. Once the Report was over I  put on a  “Behind the Scenes” DVD –  a TV series the Penn and Teller did on creativity in 1992. This episode was about Theater and Penn introduced the episode featuring Julie Taymor  directing a play – The Tempest.

Geek Stuff, General

The Equation of Time

I was looking at my calendar and noticed that the Winter Solstice is coming up Dec 21. Then I noticed that the time of sunset on the solstice is not the earliest  amongst the days nearby. And the time of sunrise is not the latest. Indeed, looking over the various sunrise and sunset times, it turns out that the earliest sunset was in the period of December 3-10 – 16:37  in Colorado Springs – and the latest sunrise occurs from December 31 – January 10 – 7:18. But the Solstice is still the shortest day, longest night of the year. (9:26, 14:34 hrs). Most peculiar, one would intuitively think that the shortest day would have the latest sunrise and the earliest sunset.  Something was wrong and I needed to find out.  So I went to Google.  

It turns out that others have noticed this phenomenon before and have an explanation of it. I like this explanation – he said analemma. The US Naval Observatory was not quite as detailed but did summarize it nicely- Declination and The Equation of Time.

I still have a hard time visualizing the spacial relationships. What I need is a picture – no… no…  doesn’t help…

Economics

Inside Job

I saw Inside Job a few weeks ago and Krugman is right, you will boil.

The financiers raped the world economy and walked away with it.  We’ve put the wolves in charge of the hen house and opened the doors.

Why the Irish political establishment isn’t in the dock right now charged with criminal malfeasance would be beyond understanding if politics wasn’t involved.  (Ireland didn’t get into the movie, but it followed the same pattern. )

The sheer scale of the numbers continue to boggle the mind.  And all we have seen is the tip of the iceberg.

Economics

Moody

Why is Moody’s still in business? Or Fitch ? Or Standard and Poor’s? Any Credit Rating Agency that rated those mortgage CDO’s as AAA?  Why is anyone subscribing or paying for their services? Why are they even listened to?

At the very least, any investment plans that require investment in high quality securities should specifically exclude ratings from those firms, and any others involved with that debacle.

Economics, Politics

VAT

I have seen some talk about implementing a Value Added Tax in the US. The VAT taxes at each stage of the production process.  The manufacturer pays a VAT, the wholesaler pays a VAT, the retailer pays  a VAT and the consumer pays a VAT. The final price  of a product includes the VAT.  I have seen the VAT in other countries and sometimes I even remember to send in the forms to get my tourist refund. The major issue with a national VAT in the US is that it will require a constitutional amendment to implement and I don’t see that happening.

On general principle I don’t want the VAT to cover Food, Health, Shelter or Education (once the item  is identified as such- we don’t know the lumber is part of a shelter until it actually goes into a shelter. Food is interesting – is it going to a food prep service (reseller) or to a final consumer?  Everything else, services and goods, can be covered by the VAT, although I suppose an argument can be made that Newspapers should also be exempt, but they will be extinct soon enough.

But if that unlikely event does happen, how does that work with the state taxes? If the national VAT is 20%, would goods in NH sell with a 20% premium and goods in NJ sell at + 27% and Chicago at +31%? I favor  the idea of making a flat national VAT  and splitting 50% of the take with the local jurisdictions. The States, Cities, Counties and RTAs can figure out how to split it up. And what about all those excise taxes and surtaxes? Those hotel users have to pay more than their share.

One of the side benefits of a VAT is the option to get rid of the penny. If posted prices include VAT, the retailers can set their prices to nice round numbers and we won’t need pennies anymore. Hooray!

The Thoughts and Luminations of Jack Heneghan