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Doug Stanhope
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Other
- Hits: 1366
OK. Discovered this. He's Edgy. I mean by that too edgy for American media, but he seems to have a following in the UK. Which is fair, we've given the UK free reign to criticize the US. Think John Oliver. I like him, but really, if America is so fucked up, why are you here? Are things that much better where you came from? Care to tell us about it? Don't worry, I know...I know...
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Links: http://www.huckmagazine.com/art-and-culture/doug-stanhope-comedys-greatest-outlier/
If you like him there's a lot more.
This is for you...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Link of the day
- Hits: 1381
Link: http://www.vocativ.com/342192/tony-greenhand-stoner-gets-paid-7000-to-roll-spectacular-joints/
What with your crafty streak and all, this might be for you. Although I worry you'd just make them and smoke 'em.
Mapping Destinations
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Places
- Hits: 2929
And so it goes. Bought groceries, Dollarama, while generally I pack hunger along on my vacations the daughter has gotten a little loud with her complaining. I'm pretty much prepared on every level (except where I've left a little room for adventure, I expect he/she to be joining us.) Now to fix the car stereo (50 or so hours driving with only the daughter singing Taylor Swift songs is a bit much, I'm sure you'll agree), download some podcasts (she's being proselytized to the "think for yourself" camp), annotate my maps and we'll be off...
Where to go, where to go?
That's rhetorical, of course, I've trimmed the road trip from Tennessee to Utah, stopping in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, maybe a quick trip to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon (10 minutes should do it...), over to Nevada to check Vegas out (daughter is curious, I've been, but I'm curious about the thrift shops, imagining I'll come away with some real bargains on Lion Tamer and Band Major outfits...), then back through Idaho...
Where to stop, where to go, what to see?
Well, that's the purpose of the maps. And there are tens of thousands of places to stop, of course, thankfully we've covered Yellowstone a few times...
But I don't think she's ever been to Little Bighorn, Custer's Last Stand, the boy and I went, put history to the famous self-same phrase, and I want to share the same experiences with her that I shared with him...
This, of course, where I can, As Utah and Colorado (mostly) is new, our adventures will be unique to ourselves...And as these destinations are new I'm doing a little research to ensure no time is wasted...I'd like to do some rockhounding, what is there to find, I wonder? A little bit of searching and...
OK. So I'm going to have to narrow that down a bit, we've only a week or so (less transport), I'll be a bit selective...
No Fee Digging, that's for sure (there are some excellent fee digging sites in Nevada, for example, Opals, ranging in cost from $600 per person per day to a "mere" $70 per day to dig through tailings. To dig through tailings. Yeah. No.
But as you survey the map you'll see there's a lot of other options...
Then there's the Caves. Lots of Caves in Utah, the daughter likes caves, we should hit a couple...
And hot-springs. No vacation to the US is complete without hot-springs (the ones in the river on the North End of Yellowstone were a perennial hit with the kids).
Then there's the Smith Mansion in Wyoming and the Magic Underpants in Salt Lake City (souvenirs for the Boy, who can't join us).
There's Petroglyphs, we gotta see some of those. And the Pueblos. And the red-rock canyons, a few hikes for sure, there's Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park and Arches National Park and The Narrows and I'm already feeling a bit overwhelmed and we haven't even left...
Wealth Creates Jobs
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 1573
(This started as a conversation with the owner over lunch, discussing Brexit, he didn't understand, "But Rich People Create Jobs" he argued...I couldn't respond in person. He wouldn't understand.)
True, Wealth creates jobs, but not wealth in a person. Distributed Wealth creates jobs. Wealth in a single individual is wasted. One man or woman can only consume so much - and while the very principle of wealth favors superfluous and excessive consumption, even that generally has limits...
Allow me to explain. Wealth - given the scale - the orders of magnitude - that separate the rich from the poor - has it's limits. A poor person (not homeless) - has an apartment, a poor car, eats, well, basic food. This person makes maybe $15 or $20 an hour. He/She pays $1000 a month for an apartment, $200 a month for the car, another $300 for miscellaneous expenses, leaving a few hundred, maybe a thousand dollars, left over for "luxuries" like liquor, cigarettes, restaurants, pubs, etc. There is very little left over for saving. Usually nothing, but if you're a Temporary Foreign Worker you'll find a way, live 6 people in a single bedroom, eat 3 pounds of rice a day, whatever it takes. If you've been poor you know.
If your wealthy, and let me set an imaginary limit here: Ten Million Dollars a year.
Link: The top five executives at Shaw received a total of about $49 million.
Shaw Cable is a publicly traded company and so must disclose it's earnings. Privately traded companies don't have to. Imagine.
In any event you earn $10,000,000 VS 40,000 per year. The upper end of poverty in Calgary. You are earning 250 times what the well-to-do poor people of Calgary earn.
No matter how refined your tastes are you can't consume that much fine wine. Or cigarettes. Or food. Or housing. They (the rich) try, but it always fails. And so the remainder they throw in the bank, investment portfolios, the what-have-yous. Take expensive vacations abroad (but the income earned locally is now dispersed to other countries and disappears.).
At 250 times the earnings of the (relatively wealthy) poorest earners, they perhaps save or invest 8 million out of 10. Factor in Taxes, we'll pretend they pay the same rates as us, (they don't, they have opportunities to use loopholes and tax laws we'll never know of) maybe 4 million. This money disappears, "in reserve", perhaps invested locally (although usually not) - and it's presence is largely recorded on paper, not in the real world.
The poor, meanwhile, 250 people (minimum, some will have dependents, wives, children, others) will continue to pump almost the entirety of their earnings into the economy. The majority of their earnings are required for food, lodging, living, etc. There is rarely anything left over. Everything they earn is tangibly invested in the world around them. They pay more rent (250 times a thousand is easily greater than than the largest mortgage payment any rich person makes in Calgary), they spend more on food, they spend more on dining out and luxuries, more on maintaining their 250 beater cars, I could continue. You get the idea.
The investment in the economy - local and otherwise - is far, far greater by the poor than it is by the rich. The rich generally do harm to the economy - investments that speculate on housing drive up rents, that speculate on commodities drive up the cost of food, fuel and the necessities. This is straightforward and intuitive, it should require no explaining, but talk to a rich person and see how well they understand.
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