Wednesday, September 1

Shhh, I'm not here *again*.

MargaretWV!! That was you! Thank you for letting me know, and for joining in. I wasn't sure who it was, but I always love having you come hang out on the front porch with us. My apologies if I sounded harsh (obviously, if I'd known it was you, I wouldn't have). I've seen so many great blogs go south when people begin posting comments anonymously, and didn't want to see that happen here. I will remember to give the benefit of the doubt in the future (I do forget about the blogger thing not having a space for the name the way haloscan does.) Anyhow, thank you for joining in the conversation and sharing your insight!

Your point about Buffett being a value investor is well taken. I'm sorry. I honestly didn't mean my reference to him as a speculator to be a smear, but if it is, please let me go on record for saying that wasn't my point. Also, I knew he'd invested in Coca-Cola- but did not know he'd bailed them out of trouble. Privately funded support and rescue of public companies! Someone tell the airlines about that? *grin* I love it. That's the kind of personal motivation that makes a free market work. Very cool.

I also really like that he has set up a scholarship fund. You know, though, if he thinks he's got "too much" money (as he said in several interviews) from these tax breaks, well, why not set up several more? His money, directly invested in the futures of students and other people willing to improve their lots in life will go much farther than if it's put back in the Federal coffers and filtered to the end recipients through real estate overhead, staff, paperwork and regulations...

Ah, Distribution of Wealth... oh, another hot topic. (I should probably start a separate blog, eh?)

Alrighty, I just typed up a huge blog (it's still growing as it sits there in my Word document), but would y'all share your thoughts on the concerns over this "growing inequality in income distribution" with me? I am curious to see how tax cuts play an important role in this issue (is it an issue? is it an issue the gov't need to be poking around in?) as far as you see it.

ARGH!!

Can't... type... without... stating... opinion... hurts to... try...

There- the post is saved. I am committed to paper. Before I share (go off? depends on your pov, I suppose), though, I would like to hear what y'all think. Just... well, y'all know.

Ok- I am fast running out of opening paragraph words, so I guess I'd better make the most of this last one, eh? We had a beautiful, relatively arid day here today! The boys and I went to the beach with the Wonderful Neighbor and her girls, and our Wonderful-Other-Neighbor-Who-Moved-Over-The-Scary-Ass-Bridge also came with her girls. We were there for three hours and everyone had a fabulous time. James got to swim- his week was made. Wonderful Neighbor and I waded into the water, cringed mightily over the really nasty floating thingies and random nibbling creatures in the water- and tried fervently to remember being children and just not caring what the water looked like. (BTW, I can't do it- I just can't remember! I'd like to think I always had sense... but, oh, YUCK!) I think swimming at this particular beach is just as gross as swimming in the Great Salt Lake in Utah, really. Still, the kids had a blast and nobody got cut or scratched so there was no ER visit... it was a good afternoon. And we need to get aqua socks!

The weather tonight is... *shivver with delight*... slightly chilly! Mmmm, it feels GOOD! It's not quite cardigan weather, but it's getting there! It just hit me tonight, though- can y'all "smell fall" out here? We haven't smelled it yet, and I just realized we might not! That's a strange concept, really. Either way, I am going to grab my book, get a fresh cup of coffee, and go read out on the back porch. This is a night that's just too pretty to stay inside looking up census data! Go, enjoy your evening! I'll see y'all tomorrow!

~Dy

2 comments:

Stephanie not in TX said...

Don't you DARE give up opinionated political blogging.

Financial inequality and tax cuts. I don't know if the government has a role in "fixing" the financial inequality problem. I'm inclined to say no, of course not, but I haven't really thought it through yet.

As for the tax cuts ... do you know what we did with our tax cut? We used it to keep my husband's company from going under. It was right on the verge. That tax cut saved us. It enabled us to keep afloat long enough for the money to start coming in. Now the business is out of debt and is employing other people. Yes, that tax cut played a direct role in creating jobs for other people. Only a few jobs, yes, but there are many other small businesses that did the same thing. It all adds up. So we "rich" business owners took our tax cut and made it possible for other people to be employed and earn money.

James Lileks had a great post on that. I'll see if I can dig it up.

Anonymous said...

Dy said: Privately funded support and rescue of public companies! Someone tell the airlines about that? *grin* I love it. That's the kind of personal motivation that makes a free market work. Very cool.

James Goodnight and John Sall (or is it John Goodnight and James Sall?) of Cary, NC, invested much more in Midway Airlines than the government did. They weren't sure they'd ever recoup their investment; they just liked the idea of investing in a hometown business. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough. The amount of capital needed to compete in the airline industry boggles the mind.

I enjoy your blog, and have printed some of your entries to send to my mom.

Elizabeth B. in NC