Conservatives and tax cuts. It’s like an obsession with these people. Whenever there is extra money collected from taxes the conservatives can’t wait to reduce taxes and give it all back. This seems to make some sense when there is a surplus, assuming the market economy is properly allocating resources, which for them is an article of faith, they never present statistics showing the market is producing optimal outcomes. But, what is really surprising is that they believe tax cuts are also the answer when times are tough and there is a recession. What better way is there to stimulate the economy than to give back some of the money the government has taken in as tax revenue? Needless to say this raises the question of how one could possibly think that reducing taxes will stimulate the economy. During a recession small businesses and large ones are stockpiling money, they are not investing because they are afraid about surviving in the short term. The same goes for individuals. When I’m concerned about my job, the first thing I’m going to do with that 100$ is to put it in the bank and save it. Last thing I would do would be to go out and spend it, unless I absolutely must. And yet they still argue that tax cutting is the best way to stimulate the economy. What can you possibly say about people who propose the same treatment regardless of the circumstances? In good times cut taxes, in bad times cut taxes. In other words the solution to all problems of government is to cut taxes, and it easy to see that this makes no sense. They will counter that liberals want to raise spending when times are good, and also when times are bad. But, it was the liberals that reduced the deficit when they were in power. It was the democrats under Clinton that also trimmed the deficit in the US. So the idea that liberals just spend is nonsense. They do however tax the wealthy and corporations more than the lower and middle class.

The market. What is the market? The modern economy is heavily influenced by government expenditure, the whole military industrial complex is directly funded by the government, and in all advanced countries it is directly funded by the state, what then to make of the argument that the market knows best. Defense contractors may be private companies but they are publically funded, and the same goes for colleges and universities, all publically funded. So when conservatives argue that the government should not be involved in the economy you have to take it with a grain of salt. What they really mean is that the government should not be involved in providing health care, or in educating people, or even in taking care of prisoners, and increasingly should also not be involved in policing. The funded of resource extraction, high tech, and industrial production are all presumably good things for the government to be involved in. There is no mythological free market, and there never has been. The mantra, “the market knows best” is clearly a ruse deployed when needed.

Crime and the scapegoats. A staple of the conservative diet is the demonization of marginal figures in society. First, there are the criminals who liberals treat with kid gloves. They should be executed if serious criminals, and otherwise imprisoned for longer sentences. Moreover the marginal and poor figures in society are cheating and taking advantage of government largess. Needless to say they never delve to deeply into the actual amount of money that people on social assistance receive.

The value of work. Whether someone is producing something useful like a widget, or merely serving coffee, the conservative believes that they are producing goods for society. Their work is creating social value, and they are being taxed on part of that value. The taxed portion is taken by the government and used to support people who do not work. Thus the resentment that I’m working while other people live off the fat of the land. Needless to say government taxes are collected from many sources not just personal taxes. As well, many people get back a large portion of their taxes, and in fact are paying very little. Finally, if your one of those poor souls serving coffee you might appreciate that your tax money can be used to buy a cup, thus facilitating your continued employment, on a scale writ large that means that all those people complaining about being taxed, are often dependent for the these government expenditures for at least part of their income.

Sometimes I wonder have I made the right choices in life.
The fact is that you can always second guess every decision that you make, should I have gotten this cereal instead of that one. But the reality is that you should never second guess your decisions.

On a ride back from Montreal I heard that the father of this Venezualan guy became a lawyer at the age of 53 or 60 or something like that.

So its never to late to become a lawyer.

In Montreal to pick up my American Passport

I got to montreal yesterday, and this morning I went to the Consulate to pick up my passport, and Erika's. It was really fun to finally get it. Looking through the book you could tell that there is a lot more money in the USA then there is in Canada. The passport was really fancy.

At the back of the book there was an indication that I had to file a tax return at least declaring that I had no income in the USA during that year, so I guess there is something to the fact that as a US citizen you have to give some indication of whether you are liable for taxes or not.

Tonight I watched a movie called, defiance, in fact it was a pretty straightforward movie. It showed a group of jews hiding in the forest from the Nazi's, and there sympathizers.

I was of course emotionally moved by watching the movie. I felt that it showed that at least some jews did not just sit back and let the Nazi's kill them, some of them at least faught back.

I thought the director did a good job, showing the characters to be simple people motivated by a desire to surive. Although it was in many ways a typical american movie, in the sense that there was no responsibility attributed to any forces.

Although the fact that even the russian partisans and communisits hated jews seemed to be a very appropriate thing to point out. I like the line where the brother Zus says what are jews good for except dying.
It was pretty clear that everyone was out to get them.

It's quite a hike to come here from Toronto. I guess the 5-6 hrs drive is really something else.

Now that I have the passport I can apply to work as a JAG which should be really fantastic if I can get hired. I will also take the civil service test as soon as I have a chance.

Saturday morning.

It is now saturday morning, well just about the end of it. Within 20 minutes it will be noon. I woke up a bit late but I feel like I got alot more sleep then I've had this past week.

My plan for today is to meet my friend. Contact some places that are looking for new apartments, and do some other stuff related to job hunting.

I think its best to set up a map or plan for the day so that I can get everything done that I want to.

This is my new room. I rather like it, but alas I might have to move at the end of the month.

What am I thinking about these days? Well to get a job as a lawyer at a law firm I will have to do quite a bit more networking. What is networking? I guess its meeting with people with an eye towards getting ahead.

These are some of the pics of my cool new room. I has a fireplace, which doesn't actually work. It also has two lights above the fireplace that give a nice ambiance. There is a huge mirrored closet. And plenty of shelf space. But the highlight is clearly the really high ceilings which make the room feel much bigger than it actually is.

Here are some pics of it.

Also on thursday night I went to a martial art class for the first time in 4 years. Again it was Taekwondo. But, much to my shock there were no koreans in the class the night I went. I kept asking asian looking classmates if they were korean and the replies I got back were negative. Finally, before leaving I asked this elderly blackbelt, and sure enough he was vietnamese. With a smile on my face I shook my head, and said where are all the koreans?

The most fun during the class was the sparing. I was doing drills with this lanky young white guy, who seemed a bit tentative. For the sparring in the middle of the class I switched to this chinese guy who was also a white belt, and had a very similar build to my own. His kicks were certainly much harder then the young guys, and also we were quite similar both in terms of build and also in terms of fitness level. After kicking each other for a bit we were both fatigued.

The hardest part of the class was the bouncing on the toes, that really required a lot of energy and my legs were just not there by the end of it. But time flew by and the massive amounts of sweat confirmed that it had been a great workout, and fun too!