times really are rough

yet again NPR proves their usefulness by providing us this story about a struggling family (pictured below) in ohio that just can’t afford meat or even ice cream anymore. 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92592545

“The rising cost of food means their money gets them about a third fewer bags of groceries — $100 used to buy about 12 bags of groceries, but now it’s more like seven or eight. So they cut back on expensive items like meat, and they don’t buy extras like ice cream anymore. Instead, they eat a lot of starches like potatoes and noodles.”

late july update/fun facts

currently playing: Metroid Prime-Gamecube

currently watching: X-Files-Season 7

currently listening to: Broken Social Scene Presents Brendan Canning-Something for all of Us

just saw: The Dark Knight

slow couple of weeks…I was working in the KC yard running engines around with remote controls switching cars mostly late afternoons and overnights.  now i’m back on the yard supplemental board which i hung out on from mid april till late may and got paid to not work.  always nice.  i feel like a school teacher in the summer time. 

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I’ve been contemplating a move into a 2 bed apt because my rent is going up some $40/month at the end of august and a lot of 2 beds are over $50/month less.  i would probably have to give up my garage and possibly the in-unit washer/dryer.  but really i haven’t been thrilled overall with the place i’m at.  its older and the bills are higher than i like.  some places i’m looking at are even closer to work and i’d have more room too on top of cheaper rent so this might happen within a few months after my lease expires.

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you have no idea how hard it is to not post every day about the lunacy surrounding everything barack says and his enigmatic following.  Dear God help us all if he’s elected. 

Check this out-The newest IRS data is out on % of taxes paid by income classes (this article is really a must read for liberals who complain about social inequity): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121659695380368965.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The easiest way to read this is the top 1% of income earners pay 40% of all taxes.  The top 50% pay 97% of all taxes.  the bottom 50% pay less than 3% of all taxes. 

SO MR OBAMA….good luck raising taxes on the rich, they already pay most of the taxes as it is. The last time tax rates were as high as the Senator wants them — the Carter years — the rich paid only 19% of all income taxes, half of the 40% share they pay today. Why? Because they either worked less, earned less, or they found ways to shelter income from taxes so it was never reported to the IRS as income.

The way to soak the rich is with low tax rates(36% tax rate on rich now vs 70% when Carter was in office), and last week’s IRS data provide more powerful validation of that proposition.

and for you mindless Bush haters-Taxes paid by millionaire households more than doubled to $274 billion in 2006 from $136 billion in 2003. No President has ever plied more money from the rich than George W. Bush did with his 2003 tax cuts.

 

finally summer arrived

currently playing: Resident Evil 4-Wii Edition

currently watching: Curb Your Enthusiasm-Season 6

currently listening to: Radiohead-Hail to the Thief

in the past week i’ve gone to oceans of fun, played golf 3 times, and shot off a crap load of fireworks.  pretty good week i’d say.  it was sorta my vacation i guess since i’m not going to really go anywhere this summer.

but now back to work and since i posted last i’m back to going from KC to Jefferson City, MO and I dont know how much longer that will last.  I might be back in the yard by the end of the week which is fairly frustrating considering last summer this wasn’t an issue.  If nothing else my job will never be monotonous.

 

P.S. I’m gonna start looking for another church again.  i tried Jacob’s Well for a year and I’ve decided that it won’t work for me long term.  I think Abbie and I are gonna look together for one when she moves to Shawnee at the end of the month.  Not sure yet where we will begin on that.