Republic Rules - The U.S.A. is a great representative republic.

Here we go again… some economically ignorant Congressmen are jumping on the results of a recent report by the GAO that indicates companies try to avoid paying federal income taxes.
First, please remember that companies don’t really pay taxes… people do.  Companies pass taxes through as a cost of doing business.  Their customers pay the taxes.   […]

Read the rest of AGAIN: Taxing Businesses

In general terms, there are two prevalent types of governments.  Those where citizens have freedom from government interference and live in a state of mutually-rewarded cooperation with each other… and those where there is less freedom and many rules of conformity, which are commanded by a centralized authority.
Each has problems… but I choose the one […]

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With gas prices so high, there has been a new wave of conservation-oriented discussions… including debate of mandates in Congress.  But I don’t see very much ACTION.  Any actual progress made toward using our resources more effectively have been, I am sure, due to individuals making small changes in the way they do things.
First, let […]

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Or maybe I should say:  misery loves company.
It is the nature of many, if not most, things to have a cycle.  The economy expands and the economy contracts. Global temperatures go up and global temperatures go down.  Breathe in, breathe out.  Nature at work.  That’s just the way it is.
Anyone who expects the economy to […]

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An old Chinese philosophy describes well the give and take, the ebb and flow, the constant change yet mutual interaction of many aspects of our lives, our environment, our universe.  It has a symbol we’ve all seen:

I was reminded of this by an article of Starbucks and their recent announcement about closing many stores.  Starbucks […]

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Without getting into whether the time, money, and expense of the project are justified, the World Values Survey results were just released and indicate WE are pretty happy… 16th out of 80 countries… and are happier now than 25 years ago.  According to the director of the study:
“The country is not only prosperous; it ranks […]

Read the rest of The Pursuit of Happiness

I hate meetings… most are a waste of time.  Invariably, whatever “meat” in them requires only a fraction of the total time spent preparing, going to, participating in, and returning from them.  Horribly inefficient.  And very few people actually know how to run a meeting well… this should be a skill taught in school.
It seems […]

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We all know there is a distinct difference between high and low quality goods and services…

A tool that works reliably for years vs. one that breaks the second time you use it
The luscious taste of a home-grown garden tomato vs. a mass-produced, picked-too-early one
A road that is built well and rides smooth vs. a bumpy […]

Read the rest of Everyone Recognizes Quality

I could not believe what I was hearing:

In America, home of the FREE ENTERPRISE system that has made us such a great nation from the very beginning, there are now serious discussions about nationalizing oil refineries… not just wacko camera-seeking communists but an elected member of our Congress!
Right….
Like I trust our government to do a […]

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I’ve noticed a bit of a trend and it worries me.  It seems the expectation of tips, a gratuity to added to the price of a purchase, is expanding.
First, let me disclose my general approach to tipping.  At a restaurant, if the service is adequate, I’ll add about 15% to the check.  If the service […]

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