pat o family.... online....

2003-12-30T19:04:00.000-06:00

"Not all those who wander are lost."
~J.R.R. Tolkien ~

Basketball season finished.. yeah... good season, ended up in first in one league, and second in the more competitive 'southside catholic' league. Blogging could have made the organization of the seasons 2 leagues plus practices a hell of alot better.

Had a awesome time over thanksgiving with the bro and sister, AND learned how to make 'imovies' with the powerbook... Now I need to update my website so that I can get movies on it!!!... That plus playing catch with michael at least every other day are the 'life goals' for the next couple of months. Its probably sad that I have to set these kinda goals...but if I write em down I tend to do em.

BTW, great article in fortune this month by Warren Buffet about the combined effects of the fiscal and trade defecit... Going to also try to write down my three month view on investing(for myself just so that I can look back and see if anything I said makes any sense. Here goes.

I believe more than ever on shorting some 'net stocks'(especially netflix). Going long international Bonds(getting benefit of higher yield AND US currency devaluation), NOT US domestic bonds. Want to also start shorting baby bells.

2003-12-26T10:01:00.001-06:00

o.k.... had a bunch of political type discussion in the last 2 weeks. I am absolutely supprised that the support for bush is so strong. So why do I dislike him so?

I am not a good enough writer to put down the difinitive arguments pro or con... so I think I'll just put in the good commentary that I read, especially wrt the economy.

A good blog I like is...
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http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17452

Suppose that you actually liked a caste society, and you were seeking ways to use your control of the government to further entrench the advantages of the haves against the have-nots. What would you do?

One thing you would definitely do is get rid of the estate tax, so that large fortunes can be passed on to the next generation. More broadly, you would seek to reduce tax rates both on corporate profits and on unearned income such as dividends and capital gains, so that those with large accumulated or inherited wealth could more easily accumulate even more. You'd also try to create tax shelters mainly useful for the rich. And more broadly still, you'd try to reduce tax rates on people with high incomes, shifting the burden to the payroll tax and other revenue sources that bear most heavily on people with lower incomes.

Meanwhile, on the spending side, you'd cut back on healthcare for the poor, on the quality of public education and on state aid for higher education. This would make it more difficult for people with low incomes to climb out of their difficulties and acquire the education essential to upward mobility in the modern economy.

And just to close off as many routes to upward mobility as possible, you'd do everything possible to break the power of unions, and you'd privatize government functions so that well-paid civil servants could be replaced with poorly paid private employees.

It all sounds sort of familiar, doesn't it?
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- bottom line is when does the average blue collor worker start caring that the bush administration...

- has increased the fear of trade... and has responded with protectionism for bra's, steal, and agriculture.
- has run a huge deficit, partly buy putting a very ineficient tax cut in ( I am in favor or tax cuts...but ones that give the majority to the rich, while the health care costs skyrocket, which is a increased tax on the poor and middle class) and at the same time abolishes the inheritance tax... so that the rich can pass on thier wealth...

Need that buffet article...

2003-12-26T10:01:00.000-06:00

o.k.... had a bunch of political type discussion in the last 2 weeks. I am absolutely supprised that the support for bush is so strong. So why do I dislike him so?

First I have never believed in the 'trickle down' theory. I don't believe that the tax cuts that bush imposed where done optimally(too much to the rich... who will just invest more.. not reinvigorate the economy. A good blog I like is...
--------------------------

ttp://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17452

Suppose that you actually liked a caste society, and you were seeking ways to use your control of the government to further entrench the advantages of the haves against the have-nots. What would you do?

One thing you would definitely do is get rid of the estate tax, so that large fortunes can be passed on to the next generation. More broadly, you would seek to reduce tax rates both on corporate profits and on unearned income such as dividends and capital gains, so that those with large accumulated or inherited wealth could more easily accumulate even more. You'd also try to create tax shelters mainly useful for the rich. And more broadly still, you'd try to reduce tax rates on people with high incomes, shifting the burden to the payroll tax and other revenue sources that bear most heavily on people with lower incomes.

Meanwhile, on the spending side, you'd cut back on healthcare for the poor, on the quality of public education and on state aid for higher education. This would make it more difficult for people with low incomes to climb out of their difficulties and acquire the education essential to upward mobility in the modern economy.

And just to close off as many routes to upward mobility as possible, you'd do everything possible to break the power of unions, and you'd privatize government functions so that well-paid civil servants could be replaced with poorly paid private employees.

It all sounds sort of familiar, doesn't it?
---------------------------------------------------

- bottom line is when does the average blue collor worker start caring that the bush administration...

- has increased the fear of trade... and has responded with protectionism for bra's, steal, and agriculture.
- has run a huge deficit, partly buy putting a very ineficient tax cut in ( I am in favor or tax cuts...but ones that give the majority to the rich, while the health care costs skyrocket, which is a increased tax on the poor and middle class) and at the same time abolishes the inheritance tax... so that the rich can pass on thier wealth...

Need that buffet article...

2003-12-02T21:10:00.000-06:00

Finished up with Homeland Security!!! Finished up with advisory board for MCI!!! No more travel to DC, which is a good thing.

And... finally, both annie and I have finished the 5th book of harry potter, all 870 pages....Reading it aloud to each other definitely slowed us down(we started in august I think).

Still can't 'upgrade with blogspot, now it at least tells u that u can't do it....I was getting a complex. Lots of other hosters out there....

later

2003-11-30T19:46:00.000-06:00

Second time I have wrote a blog... got confirmation that its been published only to then realize it didn't happen... hmmm

Fun stuff in the last week, Basketball is OVER. Anne's team came in 1st in one league and second place in the other.

Had an awesome time with bro and sis and families at michigan... Made a imovie of it, now I have to get a web site up that allows that... Not just pictures :-)

Getting web site up + playing catch with micheal every other day are 'life goals' for the next 2 months. Kinda sad that I gotta write em down, but I do em better if I do.

later

2003-11-22T13:44:00.000-06:00

o.k., now that I have given both urs and pete this address, I have ton's of preassure. She told me that there better be something witty on this site. Looking at my past blogs...I am pretty sure that no one would ever mistake me for being witty. By the way, Pete, Urs and Adrian thanks for coming all the way out to chi for the 12th and last going away party. But keep in mind some time in dec for the 1st annual xubsers xmas ball(dinner and drinks at shaws). Talked to Scotty, he is in, so is jane and joanne.....

later

2003-11-16T15:26:00.000-06:00

Friday night, played a bball game that went into double overtime... down 6-0 at halftime we tied them up in the second half, and then won it in the second overtime. All the girls played hard AND GREAT. Had a couple of them(and some of the fans in the stands with some tears).. way fun

Came back the next morning and won the championship 18-12 in a fun game(not nearly as tense as the night before). Everyone then got trophy's and I got a nice plaque. Way fun. Made coaching the whole season way worth it!

Girls then went downtown with buschie and gram mar...

2003-11-12T20:40:00.000-06:00

just had another 6th grader bball game.. won again!!!! We got 6 points to open the game, then they got 12 (that was scary) in a row... then we got final 13 points... wierd... and hard on the heart... btw, just realized that blogs are the way to keep track of practices, inform people of games, show some pictures... Would have been a great idea...darn, sorry the season is over :-)

Did I play catch with Micheal today?? No, but in my defense I played bball with him yesterday... every other day is probably a bit more realistic!!!

2003-11-11T19:31:00.000-06:00

first blog post!!!!!!! Lets see, gotts start getting back to work.. to easy being off and surfin all day(at least thats what patti says :-)