Posted by Haltse on July 31, 2009 – 2:30 pm
Like nearly every Gov scheme,that’s what we call them in UK English but scam may be a more fitting term for my adopted country, those that already behave sensibly have to subsidize those adults stupid enough to buy too much car or house.
I would love to spend more time with my kid, work less and hell yes I would like to have a larger house and faster car. I don’t. I bought a sane car that gets 30+mpg, oh wait have 2 cars that get 30mpg. An affordable ( under 1/2 the loan I could have gotten) house whose valuation had been hit,hard. Sadly we earn to0 much to get a reduction on the loan. Earn too much for EVERY frigging thing we’re asked to fund for people that claim through no fault of their own that they couldn’t possibly save or live in a smaller place or drive a vehicle with sub 20″ rims.
There is a rational argument for one of us to quit working, and the other to take a job with 50% of the wages because it’s as near as dammit to breaking even. Hell I should just quit altogether judging by the liberating feeling one has from being out of work.From Newsweek
This theory has played in showrooms, where consumers like Ellen Ribitzki of Ringwood, N.J., recently traded in her General Motors sport utility vehicle for a Santa Fe Hyundai. Though she and her husband are currently unemployed, she called the deal too good to pass up. “We do a lot of traveling and that engine light kept flashing on and off,” she says about her old SUV. “It was a good incentive.”
Posted by Haltse on February 16, 2009 – 7:44 am
BBC NEWS | Business | 850 jobs go at Mini car factory
The UK has a cradle to grave welfare state that may, arguably look after the body, but the real damage is done to the mind.
“I’ve worked here for three-and-a-half years and now I’m being sacked for no reason. I’ve been used.”
What else did they think they were doing? Of course they were used that’s the whole bloody point. Rather than being people that are in , at least illusory, control of their lives the opposite seems to be the mindset.
Posted by Haltse on January 4, 2009 – 1:07 pm
During my early life in the UK the tax rate for individuals earning over 20k was 83% and if the money came from investments or dividends another 15% was added onto it meaning for ever 100 you earned you could keep 2.
It’s at this point I disagree with Mark Cuban and his insistence that taxation has minimal to no effect on those starting a business which may hold true for a 5 – 10% swing in either direction but at 83% I seriously doubt it. Several , small, very small, ventures that Creddy and I considered were impractical to enact because the local town, county and state permits made it prohibitively expensive relating to the expected return. E.g you have spare herbs from a hydroponic garden and you may make say $1200 extra a year, er no not legally you can’t:) Yeah I know it’s not the big league but come on it’s not legal to offer surplus from your garden.. Grr anyway rant off:)
Public wants taxes that hurt the rich | Politics | The Observer
“People had assumed that this group were more than competent and it must have been deserved. There is now a feeling that these people have been responsible for others losing their jobs.”
Posted by Haltse on December 2, 2008 – 11:56 am
Don’t get me wrong there has to be consequences for carrying a loaded firearm into a nightclub that is discharged. Like a hole in the leg, pain and maybe the end of your athletic career. Still that’s not good enough we really have to show em:) Shame that the same zeal doesn’t apply to those that enforce the laws
Hospital suspends worker who failed to report NFL star’s gunshot – CNN.com
Bloomberg, who has long fought against illegal gun ownership, said public figures “make their living because of their visibility. They are the role models for our kids, and if we don’t prosecute them, to the fullest extent of the law, I don’t know who on Earth we would. It makes a sham, a mockery of the law.”
One word answer…..
Spitzer.
Posted by Haltse on November 25, 2008 – 6:06 pm
Having seen too many cases of “if you don’t do anything wrong you have nothing to worry about” I encourage you to read this. Law enforcement has over taken the concept of peace officer. Any interaction can quickly go wrong if you forget whose really the boss so disgression being the better part of valor and all there’s practically nothing to do about it but stay inside keep the yard tidy:)
Unwarranted Violence by William Norman Grigg
Under existing judicial precedents, a police officer cannot be held criminally or civilly liable for failing to come to the aid of an individual citizen whose person and property are under criminal attack. However, police agencies across the country routinely discipline police officers who fail to fill their quota of traffic citations.
This may at first glance seem to be a spurious comparison. But consider it in light of the principle of opportunity cost as applied to the time budget of the typical patrol officer: Should he organize his time in such a way that he can be available to help a victim of violent crime, or in the best way to take advantage of “hot spots” for traffic violators, thereby making his quota and enhancing his prospects for lucrative overtime?
A given officer can be in only one place at a given time, after all, and each hour spent trolling for inattentive drivers represents an hour taken away from the task of “serving and protecting” the local population.
Posted by Haltse on November 25, 2008 – 11:24 am
“Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads”
The industrial revolution is still spinning. We’re stuck for the most part with a work week, physically showing up and covering the costs of maintaining ourselves in food and transport outside of the house. For many of us it makes little to no sense given that our jobs are hunting ideas on the antipodes of our mental planes ( oh I just won a Private Eye Pseud award:P)
So the big plans from our new Saviour in chief? Newer versions of the same old ways. Much as I dislike state mandated jobs I can at lease express a preference for the kind of boondoggles that I like. Where’s a decent broadband plan? Where’s the “iPhone in each pocket” speech? We’re so in love with tangible structures that even if you could prove 100% that schools could be run remotely , cheaper with higher grades and none of the lose of their precious “socialization I doubt we’d ever see such a thing. This looks more like a way to keep on living as we have rather than looking forward to something that may look like change:)
My usual reservations about the energy issue is that mandating technology or favoring it with tax policy can kill off truly innovative stuff. There’s a reason we have ethanol in gas and it’s not because it’s good for anything other than those that happen to grow the raw material.
How about getting rid of all the regulatory crap that has us traveling to “beg” permission to modify or uses the items as a trip reduction method?
Now were did we put all those engineering graduates?
Posted by Haltse on November 23, 2008 – 3:19 pm
Who is always in charge?
Why is that entity never to blame?
Why is the cure for the failure of of that entity an excuse to give them more money and power? Really really puzzling. The reason I need to write things like this is I’m getting worse at discussing them because it’s hard , really hard to get it across in person. I’m tired of being in MPG or environmental debates with people whose cars are less efficient than mine.
It’s a bS argument because it’s nowhere near as simple as they make it out to be. Let’s tax fuel more so people will use less of it. After all poor people don’t have cars ,fuck em. That’s not my experience with my less well off rural friends that can’t afford much in the way of efficient cars and end up driving the motoring dregs. Still it beats walking four miles to store or taking kid to sitter, dr etc.
Person is on min wage/ tips. Fuel prices = higher food prices say another 10-12 a week. That’s a couple of meals , few hours sitting or something useful that a person working 40-60 hours a week may want. Only ear thhis shit from people with jobs that could readily afford it.. you know I wouldn’t mind paying.. well fucking do so. Save $1 a gallon each time you fuel and donate it to something tangible to help the people ,you’re so eager to take money out their pockets , rather than hurting others to feel good about yourself. Sadly no we’ll take that money and give it to state to make the Soylent Wheels for our slow backslide into steam. I’ve driven a lot of cars made by nations rather than private companies and boy do they suck! Put it this way I’d not be surprised if they added in flotation devices as a requirement from the Senator from Massachusets.
LewRockwell.com Blog: That Private Jet Non-Issue, and Political Thinking
I am sure that Henry Waxman truly believes he can run an auto company or any other company when, in truth, he only can run his mouth. One reason that Congress really wants this bailout is that people like Chris Dodd and Waxman want their chance to be acting CEOs and show everyone how to build “green cars.” Of course, anything which is built under their direction will be horrible, an overpriced and heavily subsidized piece of garbage that no people in their right minds would buy.
Posted by Haltse on November 19, 2008 – 9:55 am
Yeah we really need another President that believes any means necessary to hold onto central power is justifiable. 
That protectionist tariffs are a good thing and that arresting people that oppose you peacefully was valid. How can one get such a great reputation in history for just the words and not the actions?
Can Lincoln’s playbook help Obama in the years ahead? – CNN.com
# There are several similarities between the two politicians
# Historians say Obama can use Lincoln’s strategies to help him lead the country
Posted by Haltse on November 4, 2008 – 10:08 pm
I’m lucky that I never had a horse in this race I find both sides odious. I find the propositions can be even worse. People that claim to be religious would rather spend 73 million dollars on making sure other people have less rights than they want to enjoy.
Preachers that get up daily and tell us that $20 a month saves a life , you know that life is life one could go as far to call them pro-life crowd? Yep rather than having two men or women be recognised by the state ( big problems with that but going to ignore that for now;) ) they would condemn 3.65 million people to an early death just to stop two people expressing a civil commitment. What the fuck is wrong with you sick bastards? That 73 million was just for the CA marriage amendment by the time you add in the other states it’s quite a bit higher. That’s pretty much evil right there. In some ways it’s a good thing we substituted naked aggression for the paper substitute because they really would act out their malevolent fantasies again and again as they have done throughout history. We call this progress;) Anyway to a post from a rather good UK blog that captures in many more words than Mencken did.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
H. L. Mencken
Now over to.
Samizdata.net
Many will find the glee of the statist left over the next few days and weeks hard to endure, but to be honest I have been walking around with a grin all day. Finally the era of gradualism is over and the masks are going to come off. The USA has voted for statism and it is going to get exactly what it voted for at a juncture in history where it will very quickly be impossible to hide the cost of those votes.
Obama is not the start of a new era, he is the death knell for the old one.
Posted by Haltse on October 13, 2008 – 6:23 pm
I’ve argued with people in the past that to use a quote is agree to the defense of it’s inclusion. I’ve never been amused by those trying to wiggle out of a comment by stating it’s not their words so .. Cough BS. So while I don’t agree on the latter paragraph as being accidental, e.g the military picking up where the system failed since I believe that it’s there to benefit from such, the rest is pretty much what the US looks like from here.
America the Banana Republic: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com
Now ask yourself another question. Has anybody resigned, from either the public or the private sectors (overlapping so lavishly as they now do)? Has anybody even offered to resign? Have you heard anybody in authority apologize, as in: “So very sorry about your savings and pensions and homes and college funds, and I feel personally rotten about it”? Have you even heard the question being posed? O.K., then, has anybody been fired? Any regulator, any supervisor, any runaway would-be golden-parachute artist? Anyone responsible for smugly putting the word “derivative” like a virus into the system? To ask the question is to answer it
Posted by Haltse on September 25, 2008 – 12:14 am
50% of the population believe that the most effective personal transport is to be bought from non domestic manufacturers. Ignoring that most of the large builders have US plants it’s still a pride thing. Hey we’re kind of a democracy so let’s take that as a WIN for not wanting US cars. Doesn’t matter you’re going to pay for them anyway. Not only does Detroit make of the highest depreciating vehicles but it’s been tossing them out with massive incentives which further lower their value.
Doesn’t matter. You’re still going to be paying for them.
We’re giving money to GREAT AMERICAN COMPANIES like GM to make products that the USA doesn’t use for the most part. Thanks EPA .
General Motors is investing $445 million to build an engine plant and upgrade an existing vehicle assembly plant in Thailand. The new 14,492 m2 (156,000 ft2)
facility will be GM’s first diesel engine plant in Southeast Asia and
will provide four-cylinder diesel engines for use by Chevrolet in
Thailand and other global markets and brands.
Finance Or Refi Daily
General Moneyhole
and for the love of Chrysler what are you doing back , again. Ford has some interesting cars overseas, GM has some neat small diesel powered cars in other markets it’s the USA that won’t let them fill the roads with small efficient cars , or even let them try. Maybe it’s time to let them drive off into the sunset so we can free people up to work on things that we actually want to buy. If there’s not a MASSIVE luxury tax imposed on foreign cars in the near future I will be quite surprised because it’s the only thing that will get people back to the home market.
A $25 Billion Lifeline for GM, Ford, and Chrysler – FlowChart (usnews.com)
Detroit desperately needs the help. Many analysts expect all three domestic car companies to face a life-threatening crisis if the U.S. car market, down about 20 percent so far this year, stays in the doldrums. GM and Ford could start to run out of cash by the second half of 2009, a precursor to declaring bankruptcy. Chrysler’s finances are now private, but its sales are down even more than at Ford and GM, and it may be starting to bleed its corporate parent, Cerberus.
Posted by Haltse on September 24, 2008 – 6:24 pm
Can this smart man be this stupid? Of course not but he’s hoping you won’t notice that. Which body mandated that loans had to be given to those that couldn’t afford them? This is a man that believes society can be made just by stealing , at the point of a gun, showing concern for his cash cow’s feelings suggests that no it’s not stupidity just, for the want of a less polarizing term , evil.
McCain suspends campaign, calls for Obama to do same – CNN.com
He said struggling homeowners must be taken care of in any economic recovery plan — and that taxpayers should “not be spending one dime to reward the same Wall Street CEOs whose greed and irresponsibility got us into this mess.
Posted by Haltse on September 2, 2008 – 5:05 pm
This Saturday I attended one of my meetup groups. Actually it’s about the last meetup group I make an effort to attend since it’s really great to hang around with non theists and libertarian types. I don’t play well with other atheists , specially those that align themselves as humanists. Oh hell surely I can’t be against humanists? Well ok, maybe I should have said most of them.
Here’s my objection.
Republican god is mean , insane and listening to his words proves that they are not fit to lead.
Democratic god is nicer, rational and while not the best situation it’s possible to support someone for president that talks with invisible men. This is an inconsistent view for people that claim a reality based view to hold. Oh well I’ll return to that in part 2.
While Hungary was never as hard line as some of the other countries in the Soviet bloc, even trying to get out from under them in the mid 50’s, the conditions were still atrocious in relation to the USA at the time. What follows not an exhaustive list, it’s anecdotal from a guy, Tames Birilov, that was born there and was there, –really- there with a chunk of the wall to prove it at the time it fell down.
Read More »
Posted by Haltse on September 1, 2008 – 6:55 pm
The Republican party are falling over themselves to point out that this week they should be Americans first re the weather system on the gulf coast. I’m sorry .. no. YOU DON’T. It seems to me that suggesting that you have the best interests of the nation at heart yet , are fit to lead, possess the moral authority to tell us how you will use the money stolen from us for our own good. Maybe they should be more Republican because anything else suggests that even they don’t buy their own line of bullshit.
