lame
According to the CIA World Factbook website, the U.S. is at the bottom of the list of national balance sheets.
This is the list…
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February 25, 2008
September 7, 2007
August 15, 2007
The biggest lawsuit ever filed
South Carolina Inmate Jonathan Riches Hits Michael Vick With ‘$63,000,000,000 Billion Dollar’ Lawsuit Alleging Al Qaeda Ties. (more…)
August 11, 2007
China’s use of extortion diplomacy
On August 9, 2007 an very significant event in international relations past us by with very little mention in American media. On this day, while we were reading about trapped miners and broken bridges, Beijing threatened to crush the world’s economy if it didn’t get what it wanted. (more…)
July 29, 2007
What we pay for a gallon of gas
More infomation and similar graphics can be found at the official EIA website.
Crude Oil - the monthly average of the composite refiner acquisition cost, which is the average price of crude oil purchased by refiners.
Refining Costs and Profits - the difference between the monthly average of the spot price of gasoline or diesel fuel (used as a proxy for the value of gasoline or diesel fuel as it exits the refinery) and the average price of crude oil purchased by refiners (the crude oil component).
Distribution, Marketing Costs and Profits - the difference between the average retail price of gasoline or diesel fuel as computed from EIA’s weekly survey and the sum of the other 3 components.
Taxes - a monthly national average of federal and state taxes applied to gasoline or diesel fuel.
July 28, 2007
Death and Taxes on shaky ground
Benjamin Franklin once said, “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Well Mr. Franklin, you might have been wrong about one of these.
From the WorldNet Daily:
The Internal Revenue Service has lost a lawyer’s challenge in front of a jury to prove a constitutional foundation for the nation’s income tax, and the victorious attorney now is setting his sights higher.
“I think now people are beginning to realize that this has got to be the largest fraud, backed up by intimidation and extortion and by the sheer force of taking peoples property and hard-earned money without any lawful authorization whatsoever,” lawyer Tom Cryer told WND just days after a jury in Louisiana acquitted him of two criminal tax counts.
“There are three points that are important,” he told WND. “There’s no law making the average working man liable [for income taxes], there’s no law or regulation that allows the IRS to contend that earnings are 100 percent profit received in exchange for nothing, and the right to earn a living through any lawful occupation is a constitutionally protected fundamental right, and it is exempt from taxation.”
“The Criminal Investigation Division and Department of Justice both responded only with ‘your position is frivolous.’ I had never stated a position, so how could they know whether it was frivolous?” he said. “Imagine my sending you a bill for $1,000 and when you call me and ask what the bill was for I simply said, ‘that position is frivolous, just write the check and send it in.’”
“The IRS lets Wal-Mart sell a trillion dollars worth of goods, but they can back out their cost of goods [before being taxed,]” he said. “The IRS considers, in the case of a Wal-Mart wage earner, 100 percent of what he takes in is profit.”
“But he’s using his life, energy and work lifespan, and depleting it as he goes,” Cryer told WND. “[Working] is a God-given fundamental right that is protected under the Constitution and can’t be taxed any more than exercising freedom of speech.”
So the courts have outlawed taxes. If only we could figure out a way to outlaw death, then we would be on to something!
July 11, 2007
Catch the gravy train to success! Buy a politician!
Michael Brush wrote “Why politicians are worth buying” on MSNMoney. Here is a quote:
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Companies that give money to political campaigns have better-performing stocks, according to a new study, than companies that don’t contribute. It’s no small gap, either. Corporations that give the most have beaten the market by 2.5 percentage points a year over the past 25 years.
This gives me all sorts of ideas. Maybe I should start a mutual fund that only tracks donating companies. Maybe I should invest in a mutual fund that donates to campaigns. Maybe there is bit of corruption in our fine system of governance. Or maybe I should research this more… (more…)
June 29, 2007
Booming Afghanistan investment opportunities
MSN money writes, “It doesn’t take a genius to soundly thump the market. Sometimes, it’s as simple as finding a stable, century-old dividend distributor to invest (and reinvest) in.” With this sage advice in mind, it didn’t take long for the Incontiguous Brick to find a real gem of investment opportunity. (more…)
June 15, 2007
Geologist vs. Economist
Let me tell a little story…
Once upon a time a man said something scary and nobody listened. (more…)
