RUSTIC FRAGRANCE OF MONEY?

Remember when a Google or dictionary search of the word "musk" would return:

"A substance with a penetrating persistent odor obtained from a sac beneath the abdominal skin of the male musk deer and used as a perfume fixative?"

Type "MUSK" now and you clearly know what you will get.

With wealth closing in on $300B there appears to be no stopping this entrepreneur.

Unlike many other billionaires, he has a favorable rating among regular humans, as if that matters one bit.

And now that he controls Twitter, and has an editorial reach that gives that treasonous pond scum in mar a lago nightmarish orgasms, is it any wonder financial minds think he will become the World's first Trillionaire?

One wonders what he will do with his wealth.

Will he help mankind move toward a more friendly union?

 

Will he help end poverty and homelessness?

How about fund a cure for all cancer and diseases?

 

Will he strive toward peace on earth, good will toward men, and women, and all other possible orientations?

Is it really his job to do any of the above?

It would be nice but don't hold your breath!

He will more likely strive toward making his second trillion.

But he answers the questions with an enigmatic desire to make us, all of us, citizens of the universe.

He wants his Space-X to enable humans to travel to the planets and beyond.

I would say that's a pretty lofty aim, but then again, in the time it took to write this piece, Elon Musk made another billion, so who knows.

Jealousy may make many conclude he is odorous, but an impassionate analysis might find him to possess the sweet smell of persistent success.

Enough Aid to Profitable Businesses!

I fully understand why people don’t want to give money away. And I especially understand why people do not want their money going to those who do nothing to deserve a handout!

The main difference between the liberal stance and that of the conservative is the amount of help if any those in need should get from government and how we define the group we consider to be in need.

On the one hand the conservative believes that everyone should have to work for what they get and if they do work but still do not get enough then it is their fault.

The liberal feels that if the person works for a living and still cannot get enough on which to live then either the employer or the government must step in and fix the problem.  Without one or the other our homeless population will grow and our overall quality of life will diminish.

But if the government steps in and fixes the problem with public funds, also known as our tax dollars then the two groups become opposite sides of an ongoing argument.

I personally do not want anyone who does nothing to get my money, either directly through a handout or indirectly through my tax dollars.

But I also understand the reality of America today and realize the dilemma would not be relevant were it not for the greed of our large multinational corporations and their smaller cousins in private business.

Family owned concerns are notorious for nepotism. If you work for such a firm and are not related to the owner you must expect little or no compensation for your efforts. This will be doubly painful when you realize a relative of the owner gets promoted for merely showing up to work!  Sadly I know this personally and all too well in all the jobs I ever had especially my last position!

Large corporations act in a similar fashion except they replace relatives with politically connected donors.  If you can do something for the corporation you will receive many perks in exchange for expected regulatory relief!  Don’t deliver relief; don’t expect any more free vacations or ‘no-show’ jobs for your spouse!

The funny thing about the ongoing fight between the liberal and the conservative is that we actually agree on the main premise!  We just don’t articulate who the recipient of our tax dollar really is, the politician!

One look at how much Congress has done since President Obama was sworn into office January 2009 will show any sane individual how much of our tax dollars have gone to pay the salaries and benefits of those who have done nothing but block progress.

They say the opposite of PRO-gress is CON-gress and they happen to be right!

While the conservative media drones on about the takers of the country being the lower middle class and the poor they skillfully neglect to point out just how little has been done by the highly paid members of the Republican Party over the last decade!

And corporations do not get a pass in this fight!  Walmart is the largest offender costing the American tax payer millions of dollars every year by not paying their workers a fair salary.  Now if the Walton family was hurting I would say they must be allowed to work things out but this group of greedy scions is listed as the wealthiest family in the history of the Earth!

When Walmart pays a worker a low salary and demands he or she work longer hours or overtime after clocking out or other scams they are causing those people to find other ways to feed themselves let alone their families!  Often these poverty stricken workers look to Uncle Sam for assistance in the form of food stamps.  And food stamps are paid for out of the general fund which is funded by our tax dollars.  A simple straight line of logic then shows that Walmart does not pay workers enough to live because they know that the government will pick up the slack!

And to throw more excrement in into the face of the American taxpaying public this wealthiest family in the history of the Earth PAYS LESS TAX THAN YOU DO!

If we could remove tax loopholes and start collecting the fair tax dollars from this corporation and so many other incredibly profitable ones the U S deficit would all but disappear!

So back to the original comparison between conservatives and liberals, we agree on more than either side realizes!  We just don’t point at the right culprit!

If all workers were paid enough money to live a modest but debt free life the U S government would be able to suspend most aid programs thereby lowering the tax on the dwindling middle class. But more importantly they would be able to start collecting revenue from an entirely new group of tax payers proud to do their part for the future of America!

We're Number Two! We're Number Two!

Nassau County Long Island won the Silver Medal!
Westchester took the Gold!
So what was the competition?
Could it have been a Jeopardy style game?
Was it a kind of real estate Olympics?
No, it was a list of the highest ranking neighborhoods in the country in terms of property taxes!
That's right, Nassau Country taxes it's residents an average of just under $9,000 per year for the pleasure of owning property there.
But for that money residents get, uh, wait a moment, hmmm.
Well we get lots of things.
Let's see, there are plenty of potholes to keep drivers on their toes!  That's actually a good thing because it makes it necessary to keep one's eyes on the road rather than texting or putting on make-up.
Critics will argue that we on the Island have very good schools and for the most part they would be correct.  But the argument has no place in this story wince School Tax is separate from and added to Town tax.
For years there have been politicians arguing that the 'downstate' area should secede from NY State and form the 51st star on the flag.  They even came up with a name, The Empire State.  After all the cool building is in Manhattan not Albany.
If the five boroughs of New York City were to team up with the two Island Counties we would actually have a very populated state.  Empire State would finally have two dedicated Senators and several new Representatives for lobbyists to grease.
And perhaps two stories that appeared in the news on the same day would have different endings.  Those stories were about the sky high and quite unfair property tax and the fact that while Long Island's poverty numbers remain constant they are still terribly high.
Jobs have left Long Island as the politicians continue to make stupid choices in their efforts to grab a personal spotlight.  One need only look at the woman in charge of Hempstead who must think her name includes her title to see the self-serving mind at work.
Supervisor Kate Murray has continued to block 'The Lighthouse Project.'  That development would keep a professional hockey team here (I use the term loosely.)
In fact any development of the ugly blighted area in and around the Nassau Coliseum has stalled while Murray claims she wants to be sure it will be good for the county.
But when it came to her well-off retired dad she never gave the county a second thought hiring him to a cushy high-paying do-little job that could have gone to any number of more qualified unemployed available tax paying Long Islanders!
Daddy Murray quit after the nepotism became known but the intent was evident and the pig's motive was out in the open.
Then there was Mangano voiding his predecessor's cap on severance for top cops by gifting them hundreds of thousand of our tax dollars to retire early!  Those of us who were laid off and forced into a sort of early retirement without as much as a penny truly appreciated that gesture!
The Long Island Railroad has been mis-managed for so long that we don't ever expect it to work!  If the weather forecast has rain in it the trains will be late! And the rain doesn't even have to be in New York!  Ever notice the trains are considered to be on time until they are over 6 minutes late?
I could go on all day with the idiocy of our so-called leaders in government but most if this is known.
The loss of tax revenue from the stalled Lighthouse Project; the gifts of bribe money to and probably from local governments; and the increased cost to ride the rails on Long Island taken together with the high property taxes and shameful poverty level are turning Long Island into a terrible place to live.
And as soon as housing prices stabilize and move higher watch the middle class jump ship and move to more friendly climes.  At that time there'll be plenty of open jobs for daddy Murray!
The county may not win another Silver medal but when it comes to poor value for the money they sure take the cake.