Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Life, Death & Cheating on Taxes

I'm sure you are very aware at this point that many of President Obama's nominees for key executive positions, including Cabinet positions, have been put under intense scrutiny for the fact that many of them seem to have trouble paying the correct amount of taxes. Before you go jumping to any conclusions, this isn't a hit piece on President Obama or an indictment of the way he is selecting nominees. There are many other good blogs which can provide meaty vitriol for even the furthest right-leaning conservative. I aim to raise a larger issue.

Is there anybody in a position of power in this country who doesn't cheat on his or her taxes? I suppose with so much money coming and going and so many investments to track it could be easy to lose sight of a few hundred dollars here or there. The problem is that many of these tax bills are reaching into six figures and for a system which must necessarily rely on the fiduciary responsibility of its key players, this is simply unacceptable.

Another issue this raises is why anybody could in good faith, intelligence and conscience continue to insist that giving the government more money is in everybody's best interest. The IRS is supposed to be the most ruthless, cunning, seriously accurate department in the entire U.S. government. How much money is slipping through the cracks and adding to the immense deficits we are expected to run in the next decade? Not just legal loopholes but simply money that was intentionally or unintentionally not paid to the government. Can we really trust the government to handle such large scale programs as taking over trillions of dollars or bank assets or running large-scale national healthcare for everybody? Count me as a skeptic. I used to believe in only three things: life, death and taxes. Now, I'm not so sure about that last one.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Bizarro World

Over the last few days something has really bothered me. No, it's not the economy or the lack of exciting NCAA Tournament games. What's really got me puzzled is just how many celebrities positively refuse to acknowledge the existence of anybody who has a camera unless it is held by someone on the red carpet.

So many celebrities will go to great lengths to keep from being photographed and I'm not just talking about at their homes. Whether it is to the grocery store or the park, they try to throw on their invisibility cloak and escape through the streets of Los Angeles or New York unseen. Perhaps I'm missing something, but living your life in a city built on celebrity probably isn't the best way to fly under the radar. Think you're going to go unseen in a city of 8 million people who all know what you look like? Then I've got a little bridge in that same city to sell you.

Don't get me wrong. 250 people crowding around Octo-Mom's SUV or dozens of cars driven by paparazzi clogging up Mulholland Drive are both out of control situations that deserve to see people cited by the police. But beating down a photographer on your way out of having a $50 salad at The Ivy? Give me a break. Drive a car with tinted windows to the closest fast food drive through if you don't want to be seen. It is very annoying when celebrities complain about all the attention they receive from paparazzi yet spend their time congregating in paparazzi hot spots like The Ivy, Mr. Chow, or shopping on Robertson. You can't have it both ways.

And speaking of hypocritical, what kills me is the whole premise in the first place. By nature, the job description of a celebrity is to be as popular as possible. Not only can the paparazzi make a celebrity more popular by artificially inflating his or her importance, but the sheer amount of attention a celebrity receives is directly correlated to how popular they are. The worst day of most celebrities lives is the day they leave the house to run errands and nobody cares enough to take a picture of them.

The fact is that, unless hounded to the degree specified above, a celebrity should be gracious when people are interested in his or her life. The only reason the paparazzi take pictures of celebrities is because they can sell them to media outlets. The only reason media outlets will pay for the pictures is because people want to see them. By definition the amount of money a star will make for a movie or show depends on how many people will want to go see them. If a star acts like a jerk and pushes away the media, fewer people will see their movie or watch their show, thus costing them money. Perhaps celebrities should look at playing nice with the photogs as an investment in their future. Oh, and the fact that someone actually cares about what they are doing; that sounds pretty good to me. If celebrities take that for granted, and keep dodging the flash bulbs, they may find that pretty soon there will not be any more flash bulbs to dodge.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Why Are We Afraid To Hurt?

America is becoming a pharmaceutical society. We now have pills for everything. From depression and anxiety to arthritis and restless legs, if you are not feeling well just head for the doctor and get a pill to make you better. There is almost nothing that cannot be treated whether it is physical or emotional.

How about a pill for financial concerns though? Unless I missed the part of President Obama's news conference where he announced a new breakthrough pill for lack of funds I am pretty sure such a pill does not exist yet. Many in America would disagree with me though. They seem to think it exists in the form of the many programs those in government are proposing to deal with our economy. Regardless of how irresponsible the behaviors were that got us into this mess, we seem to be equally irresponsible in assuming that there is some magical formula which will instantly get everything going on the right track again.

In our blind haste and our unreasonable desire to find a quick panacea we are actually making things immeasurably worse. Sure, unemployment may dip a bit and perhaps home values will go up a bit. But how much are we actually getting for our money and how much is it going to cost? We are spending $9.3 trillion over the next 10 years that we do not have. Our children and grandchildren will have to spend $2 to repay the $1 now. $18.6 trillion dollars is an unfathomable amount of money, which explains why it is so easy for our government to sign a few papers and spend it, while we sit back and let, nay encourage, it to happen. Let Congress and the President sign new legislation, receive our finance pill, and we will all feel better for a while. Sounds great, but what happens when the pill wears off?

This nation was founded on the idea that we work for what we get and life is hard. 68 years ago we went to war knowing full well that we had just been through 12 years of economic depression and things were not going to get any easier. They knew there would be pain and sacrafice and that there was no magic pill that would take that pain away. The brave men and women living at that time did what they did not because it was easy but because it was the right thing to do.

We now face tough economic times which are the toughest many of us have ever known. We must measure our temperament and do not what is easy but what is right. This means some Americans will lose their jobs. This means our 401(k) accounts will continue to sag. This means that we will not be able to lease those SUV's or upgrade our plasma televisions. It also means we must hold our elected officials to an even higher standard than we ever have before. We must be willing to feel the pain now to ensure it will not hurt this badly again. There is no magic pill and it is not coming anytime soon.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Here Goes Nothing

I guess it was finally time. I am now blogging and I'm only the 29,435,257th person to do so. What will make mine different? I'm not really sure. I have no idea what this blog will be. Perhaps it will be political, maybe sports related. Maybe it will be a stripped down Facebook page or maybe I will post this and never post again. Either way, I'm always willing to try new things and so here I am, a blogger.

I'm not looking to make money with this or become famous. I don't think I am the best blogger in the world, nor do I think I will be someday. I just know that I've got a lot to say and I need a forum in which to do so. My opinions are strong and varied. You never quite know what will pop up. Perhaps some thoughts on my favorite TV shows or my favorite sports teams. I might decide to ponder the latest news stories or social issues. I just might decide to rant about something that is on my mind.

My main objective is to be informative/entertaining. After all, nobody is going to read a blog unless they get something out of it, especially from a nobody like me. So I hope you enjoy what you will read. I encourage you to check back often, as I will try to post something almost every day. If you like it tell a friend. If you don't, tell an enemy. Just spread the word so that we can all get through this life together.