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Odds 'n Sods:
Thanks to T.C. for sending us this YouTube link: Glenn
Beck interviews GAO Comptroller Walker on the Social Security Timebomb--America;'s
$53 Trillion Debt.
o
o o
Anyone planning on putting together a 12 VDC power
system to energize their small electronics and battery charging trays should
first read the
low voltage connection basics primer over at the Appropedia. OBTW, for
anyone that wants to standardize 12 VDC connectors, I recommend Anderson
Power Poles rather than the bulky and unreliable cigarette lighter plugs
and jacks. (The latter are not designed to handle high current, and they tend
to pop apart unexpectedly.)
o o o
We have been having fun here at the ranch, going through a
reprint of the 1897 Sears Roebuck mail order catalog. It certainly illustrates
the devastating effect
of long term currency inflation. Can you imagine buying a brand new Winchester
Model 1894 .30-30 rifle for $13.98 (add $3 for the takedown model), or $12.95
for a Colt Single Action Army .45 revolver? Or how about 35 cents for a 26"
hand saw, or $1.90 for an entire wooden barrel of cut glass dishes--36 pieces,
including a pitcher? (Add 25 cents for up to 500 miles railway freight.) Of
course, in
those days an average working man made less than $2 per day. See
the Inflation
Calculator for
some comparisons with today's prices.
o o o
John T. forwarded us this: BofA's
awesome Countrywide tax break--Brace yourselves, taxpayers of America. You're
going to help Bank of America finance its $4 billion
buyout of Countrywide. I anticipate that the credit collapse will eventually
spawn numerous taxpayer-funded bailouts, some of them measuring in the hundreds
of
billions
of dollars. Knowing the way that things work in DC, I conclude that this means
both higher marginal tax rates, and a higher capital gains rate. This
is just one more reason to shelter most of your assets in tangibles.
For the most part tangibles are not taxable until you sell them and
realize a profit. And, thankfully,
land and houses are not taxed by the Federal government.
