winsor 187
jclalor 12
QuoteBut your statement implies you have seen proof that Bush/Cheney did violate international law. Please enlighten me.
When the last time they traveled abroad?
Amazon 7
Quote
QuoteBut your statement implies you have seen proof that Bush/Cheney did violate international law. Please enlighten me.
When the last time they traveled abroad?
Yeah.. that ain't gonna happen in their lifetimes... unless its to countries that were complicit in the Coalition of the Willing.
QuoteJust because I am equally underwhelmed by the current crop of bozos (no offense to bozos here) does not mean I think any more highly of the last group of cretins we put in charge.
Very nicely stated. The whole post actually.
My wife is hotter than your wife.
devildog 0
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/stanley-millionaire.html
QuotePORTRAIT Of A MILLIONAIRE
Who is the prototypical American millionaire? What would he tell you about himself?(*)
* I am a fifty-seven-year-old male, married with three children. About 70 percent of us earn 80 percent or more of our household's income.
* About one in five of us is retired. About two-thirds of us who are working are self-employed. Interestingly, self-employed people make up less than 20 percent of the workers in America but account for two-thirds of the millionaires. Also, three out of four of us who are self-employed consider ourselves to be entrepreneurs. Most of the others are self-employed professionals, such as doctors and accountants.
* Many of the types of businesses we are in could be classified as dullnormal. We are welding contractors, auctioneers, rice farmers, owners of mobile-home parks, pest controllers, coin and stamp dealers, and paving contractors.
* About half of our wives do not work outside the home. The number-one occupation for those wives who do work is teacher.
* Our household's total annual realized (taxable) income is $131,000 (median, or 50th percentile), while our average income is $247,000. Note that those of us who have incomes in the $500,000 to $999,999 category (8 percent) and the $1 million or more category (5 percent) skew the average upward.
* We have an average household net worth of $3.7 million. Of course, some of our cohorts have accumulated much more. Nearly 6 percent have a net worth of over $10 million. Again, these people skew our average upward. The typical (median, or 50th percentile) millionaire household has a net worth of $1.6 million.
* On average, our total annual realized income is less than 7 percent of our wealth. In other words, we live on less than 7 percent of our wealth.
* Most of us (97 percent) are homeowners. We live in homes currently valued at an average of $320,000. About half of us have occupied the same home for more than twenty years. Thus, we have enjoyed significant increases in the value of our homes.
* Most of us have never felt at a disadvantage because we did not receive any inheritance. About 80 percent of us are first-generation affluent.
* We live well below our means. We wear inexpensive suits and drive American-made cars. Only a minority of us drive the current-model-year automobile. Only a minority ever lease our motor vehicles.
* Most of our wives are planners and meticulous budgeters. In fact, only 18 percent of us disagreed with the statement "Charity begins at home." Most of us will tell you that our wives are a lot more conservative with money than we are.
* We have a "go-to-hell fund." In other words, we have accumulated enough wealth to live without working for ten or more years. Thus, those of us with a net worth of $1.6 million could live comfortably for more than twelve years. Actually, we could live longer than that, since we save at least 15 percent of our earned income.
* We have more than six and one-half times the level of wealth of our nonmillionaire neighbors, but, in our neighborhood, these nonmillionaires outnumber us better than three to one. Could it be that they have chosen to trade wealth for acquiring high-status material possessions?
* As a group, we are fairly well educated. Only about one in five are not college graduates. Many of us hold advanced degrees. Eighteen percent have master's degrees, 8 percent law degrees, 6 percent medical degrees, and 6 percent Ph.D.s.
* Only 17 percent of us or our spouses ever attended a private elementary or private high school. But 55 percent of our children are currently attending or have attended private schools.
* As a group, we believe that education is extremely important for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren. We spend heavily for the educations of our offspring.
* About two-thirds of us work between forty-five and fifty-five hours per week.
* We are fastidious investors. On average, we invest nearly 20 percent of our household realized income each year. Most of us invest at least 15 percent. Seventy-nine percent of us have at least one account with a brokerage company. But we make our own investment decisions.
* We hold nearly 20 percent of our household's wealth in transaction securities such as publicly traded stocks and mutual funds. But we rarely sell our equity investments. We hold even more in our pension plans. On average, 21 percent of our household's wealth is in our private businesses.
* As a group, we feel that our daughters are financially handicapped in comparison to our sons. Men seem to make much more money even within the same occupational categories. That is why most of us would not hesitate to share some of our wealth with our daughters. Our sons, and men in general, have the deck of economic cards stacked in their favor. They should not need subsidies from their parents.
* What would be the ideal occupations for our sons and daughters? There are about 3.5 millionaire households like ours. Our numbers are growing much faster than the general population. Our kids should consider providing affluent people with some valuable service. Overall, our most trusted financial advisors are our accountants. Our attorneys are also very important. So we recommend accounting and law to our children. Tax advisors and estate-planning experts will be in big demand over the next fifteen years.
* I am a tightwad. That's one of the main reasons I completed a long questionnaire for a crispy $1 bill. Why else would I spend two or three hours being personally interviewed by these authors? They paid me $100, $200, or $250. Oh, they made me another offer--to donate in my name the money I earned for my interview to my favorite charity. But I told them, "I am my favorite charity."
You stop breathing for a few minutes and everyone jumps to conclusions.
some of them have some sense...
http://www.commondreams.org/further/2011/11/18-2
QuoteTwo dozen members of the Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength were in D.C. this week begging the deficit supercommittee and other members of Congress to kill the Bush tax cuts and raise their taxes dammit because that's obviously how to help the economy. Wow. How dysfunctional is Congress that these guys had to come to them with this eminently reasonable argument? Video.
"It's a Las Vegas economy where regular Americans put their money on the table and the richest 1 percent own the house. And if the 1 percent happen to lose money, the 99 percent bails them out – covers their losses and then stands by watching while the house does it all over again." - Patriotic Millionaire Robert Johnson, former chief economist of the U.S. Senate banking committee.
http://www.commondreams.org/further/2011/11/18-2
stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding
QuoteQuotePossibly protecting the innocent? How can you attack these people like they have committed a crime against you when you can't even identify them specifically, and list the deal/deals that they have done that wronged you. Go ahead, list them and the specifics I will wait.
I work with a bunch of them... and play with a lot more... yeah.. innocent
Go on BELIEVING
Some of themn realize that change is coming.... some of them know how good they have it... some of think they deserve it because they are just that much better than everyone else... yet many of them... like George... were born with that silver spoon in thier mouth.
Those who protect them decry class warfare..... DUUUUUUDE.. you better learn... that they have been practicing it already and are the big winners so far, and are laughing all the way to the Swiss and Cayman Banks.
how about your buddy Polosi and her insider trading deals. the left is looking more corrupt every day and you sit their on your ass and support them. look in the mirror.
SkyDekker 1,141
Quotehow about your buddy Polosi and her insider trading deals. the left is looking more corrupt every day and you sit their on your ass and support them. look in the mirror.
Nothing illegal was done. Unethical yes, but not illegal. Just capitalists making as much money as they can.
Why are you against capitalism?
QuoteQuotehow about your buddy Polosi and her insider trading deals. the left is looking more corrupt every day and you sit their on your ass and support them. look in the mirror.
Nothing illegal was done. Unethical yes, but not illegal. Just capitalists making as much money as they can.
Why are you against capitalism?
no i believe in capitalism, just don't like hypocrits like Polosi and her supporters for not calling her out on it. If it is illegal for us it should be illegal for them.
Amazon 7
QuoteQuoteQuotehow about your buddy Polosi and her insider trading deals. the left is looking more corrupt every day and you sit their on your ass and support them. look in the mirror.
Nothing illegal was done. Unethical yes, but not illegal. Just capitalists making as much money as they can.
Why are you against capitalism?
no i believe in capitalism, just don't like hypocrits like Polosi and her supporters for not calling her out on it. If it is illegal for us it should be illegal for them.
DUUUUD.... its so terrible to watch BUTT HURT in action.. because you as a good capitalist wannabe.. cain't figure out a way to do it as well.
Quote
Most people, probably 90%, are not willing to work hard enough or make the commitments it takes to be that successful. It isn't easy nor should it be.
+1
We are all engines of karma
shah269 0
There is one thing to be WORTH a cool "Mill" and it's another thing to be making that per year.
Please understand the difference.
Further more there is nothing wrong with making money, that's how we live that is life.
However one should not be making money at the detriment of society.
How should I rephrase this....it's one thing to make money and do it in an ethical legal manner where by the economy grows but it's another to just rape the rewards of a quick $100 mill and run for the hills.
And at the moment the old school guys who made money long term are now gone and what you are left with is a bunch of thugs who think they are above the law....and thus far i have to agree....they are above the law and as such are making a killing based on your income.
Please understand the difference.
Further more there is nothing wrong with making money, that's how we live that is life.
However one should not be making money at the detriment of society.
How should I rephrase this....it's one thing to make money and do it in an ethical legal manner where by the economy grows but it's another to just rape the rewards of a quick $100 mill and run for the hills.
And at the moment the old school guys who made money long term are now gone and what you are left with is a bunch of thugs who think they are above the law....and thus far i have to agree....they are above the law and as such are making a killing based on your income.
Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.
The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!
The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!
Forgive me for going all Godwin on this, but invading Iraq seems to pin the meter.
It seems that when Germany invaded Poland some time back, they went to great lengths to stage an attack by Poland on Germany beforehand. Why? Because invading a sovereign nation without a clear cassus belli is a clear violation of quite a laundry list of international laws, and even the Third Reich had the good taste to pretend they were on the legal high ground.
When we went into Iraq, it was because of a stack of allegations from dodgy sources with clear agenda.
Weapons of Mass Destruction? Give me a break! If you want WMDs, we have more of them than anyone else on the planet - and we are the only country that has taken the opportunity to use every variety (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) ! If anything, that would have given Iraq cause to invade the US of A!
We are a signatory on the Geneva Accords, which forbids torture. Anyone who thinks waterboarding is not torture can undergo a couple of sessions and get back to me. When I was trained in interrogation, waterboarding was among the things that was expressly forbidden (and some of the stuff we could do was pretty nasty).
Don't get me wrong, even though the Hague Accords forbid using a .50 BMG against personnel, if I am being overrun and all I have on hand is an M-2 and an endless belt of ammo, I will be likely to melt the barrel without a single warning shot. I do, however, know that I am in violation of international law by using such means to save my life.
My greatest objection to the last administration was not their blatent violation of international law, it was their gross incompetence. The Bush administration seemed to have a version of the Midas touch where everything turned to shit.
Just because I am equally underwhelmed by the current crop of bozos (no offense to bozos here) does not mean I think any more highly of the last group of cretins we put in charge.
The Bush administration may not have had the capacity to comprehend the law - which might form the basis of a convincing defense - but they publicly broke laws left and right.
BSBD,
Winsor