It Ain't Easy...

So now the HRC campaign is up in arms about MSNBC commentator, David Shuster's, quit that the Clinton campaign had "pimped out" 27-year old Chelsea by having her place phone calls to celebrities and Democratic Party "superdelegates" on her mother's behalf. If the Clintonites are going to bring Chelsea into the world of politics, they have to accept the unpleasantness that comes with the territory. When Chelsea was a teenager, the comments about her looks were definitely out-of-bounds. But now, if they're gonna have her play in the muck, they have to expect her to get dirty.

And, really, to say that someone involved with Presidential politics is being "pimped out" is hardly the worst thing that can be said about them, no?

Bar Stool Economics

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until on e day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20."

Drinks for the ten now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "But he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man . "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I did!"

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible

Freedom of Advertising

Ahhh, summer is over and college students across the nation are free to make an ass out of themselves in the name of "free speech". Colorado State University's school paper's editorial board took the deeply philosophical position of "F*** BUSH". The Board claimed that the headline-sized "article" was meant to foster student discussion of the freedom of speech. More like the freedom to be a jerk-wad. It should be noted that another article on the same page appears to be critical of Hillary Clinton and her health care plan.

Fallout from the Bush expletive has been visited upon the paper. Not because of University sanctions (the University is prohibited by law from penalizing the paper or its staff) but in the most American way possible -- Capitalism. As a result of the paper's need to express this intellectual point of view, it has lost approximately $30,000.00 in advertising resulting in pay and budget cuts. I guess this will teach studets about freedom of speech: Maybe the government can't prohibit stupidity (unless it endangers public safety) but the market can and will punish such asinine proclamations and that's America at work.

For more on this item, click HERE.

Getting Gassed

Gasoline prices are now around $3.35 around the Chicago suburbs. Why? For once, it's not OPEC's fault. The price per barrel has remained relatively stable at around $60 give or take. So what's with the price spike? Essentially it comes down to the oil companies' refusal to invest in their own infrastructure and pocketing the profits.

British Petroleum has had some wide spread oil pipeline breakdowns. Many oil refineries in the United States are working undercapacity because of shut downs caused by faulty facilities. Would a government mandate ordering the oil companies to spend on upgrading and maintaining their infrastructure violate a "free market"? Not really when you consider the protections and natural monopolistic natures of the oil industry. It's not like local mom and pop stores can just jump into the market and threaten Amoco's niche. Even the local gas station owners are feeling the squeeze as the oil giants continue to extract every dime out of a nation obsessed with oil consumption. The small franchise ower is finding that the parent companies are bent on cannibalizing their off-spring.

Bill O'Reilly writes a very level-headed article about the oil companies' failure to maintain their facilities. Even the most hardened liberal will be hard pressed to find fault with his analysis. Additional information about the current price spike can be found here.