Fester's Den - uncle, anarchist, ladies man...
Everyone's favorite uncle. Everyone's favorite anarchist. Your uncle fester finally has his own blog. Dedicated to providing an outsiders look at politics, books, gold, pop culture, and goth culture.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Tom Smith And His Incredible Bread Machine
Here's an old poem about an entrepreneur and the government.
It was written by an engineer named R.W. Grant in 1966.
Thanks to the Whited Sepulchre for posting it:
This is a legend of success and plunder
And a man, Tom Smith,
Who squelched world hunger.
Now Smith, an inventor, has specialized in toys.
So, people were surprised
When they found that he instead
Of making toys, was BAKING BREAD!
The way to make bread he'd conceived
Cost less than people could believe.
And not just make it! This device
Could, in addition, wrap and slice!
The price per loaf, one loaf or many:
The miniscule sum of under a penny.
Can you image what this meant?
Can you comprehend the consequent?
The first time yet the world well fed!
And all because of Tom Smith's bread.
A citation from the President
For Smith's amazing bread.
This and other honors too
Were heaped upon his head.
But isn't it a wondrous thing
How quickly fame is flown?
Smith the hero of today -
Tomorrow, scarcely known.
Yes, the fickle years passed by:
Smith was a millionaire,
But Smith himself was now forgot -
Though bread was everywhere.
People, asked from where it came,
Would very seldom know.
They would simply eat and ask,
"Was not it always so?
However, Smith cared not a bit,
For millions ate his bread,
And "Everything is find," thought he,
"I am rich and they are fed!"
Everything was fine, he thought?
He reckoned not with fate.
Note the sequence of events
Starting on the date
On which the business tax went up.
Then, to a slight extent,
The price on every loaf rose too:
Up to one full cent!
"What's going on? the public cried,
"He's guilty of pure plunder.
He has no right to get so rich
On other people's hunger!"
(A prize cartoon depicted Smith
With fat and drooping jowls
Snatching bread from hungry babes
Indifferent to their howls!)
Well, since the Public does come first,
It could not be denied
That in matters such as this,
The Public must decide.
So, antitrust now took a hand.
Of course, it was appalled
At what it found was going on.
The "Bread trust," it was called.
Now this was getting serious,
So Smith felt that he must
Have a friendly interview
With the men in antitrust.
So, hat in hand, he went to them.
They'd surely been misled;
No rule of law had he defied.
But the their lawyer said:
"The rule of law, in complex times,
Has proved itself deficient.
We much prefer the rule of men!
It's vastly more efficient.
Now, let me state the present rules,"
The lawyer then went on,
"These very simple guidelines
You can rely upon"
You're gouging on your prices if
You charge more than the rest.
But it's unfair competition
If you think you can charge less.
"A second point that we would make
To help avoid confusion:
Don't try to charge the same amount:
That would be collusion!
You must compete. But not too much
For if you do, you see,
Then the market would be yours
And that's monopoly!"
Price too high? Or price too low?
Now, which charge did they make?
Well, they weren't loath to charging both
With Public Good at stake!
In fact, the went on better
They charged "monopoly!"
No muss, no fuss, oh woe is us,
Egad, they charged all three!
"Five years in jail," then the judge then said
"You're lucky it's not worse.
Robber Barons must be taught
Society Comes First!
Now, bread is baked by government.
And as might be expected,
Everything is well controlled:
The public well protected.
True, loaves cost a dollar each.
But our leaders do their best.
The selling price is half a cent.
(Taxes pay the rest!)
Friday, July 15, 2011
80% of Americans want higher taxes? They sure don't act like it
I saw an article today that parroted the claim by some democrats that “80 percent of people support higher taxes”. This is a lie. Perhaps its not the politicians who are lying, and it is the group of people they polled, but somebody is lying. For this post I am going to pretend that the statistic is accurate and 80% of people answered some pollster that they support higher taxes.
I know this is a lie because the actions of people betray their words. The other day I had a little back and forth about the mortgage interest deduction on income taxes. But why were we even discussing this? If the statistic is true 80% of those who qualify for this tax deduction don't take it. 80% of people with kids, simply don't claim those kids as dependents, and 80% of people refuse to take any other tax deduction, including their personal deduction right? So only 20% of tax payers take any sort of deduction. I mean you are not going to get thrown in a cage for overpaying, or not claiming deductions that you are qualified for, so I assume those 80% of people (I must be in the minority) don't claim any deductions. This is the only logical conclusion I can make when I hear someone claim they are for higher taxes, that at the minimum they don't take any deductions, otherwise I assume they are lying, perhaps they also donate to the treasury above and beyond, but it seems doubtful, that would take effort, but not taking a deduction when filling out the tax form is actually easier than claiming. Just fill out the EZ form and don't even claim yourself..
I know this is a lie because the actions of people betray their words. The other day I had a little back and forth about the mortgage interest deduction on income taxes. But why were we even discussing this? If the statistic is true 80% of those who qualify for this tax deduction don't take it. 80% of people with kids, simply don't claim those kids as dependents, and 80% of people refuse to take any other tax deduction, including their personal deduction right? So only 20% of tax payers take any sort of deduction. I mean you are not going to get thrown in a cage for overpaying, or not claiming deductions that you are qualified for, so I assume those 80% of people (I must be in the minority) don't claim any deductions. This is the only logical conclusion I can make when I hear someone claim they are for higher taxes, that at the minimum they don't take any deductions, otherwise I assume they are lying, perhaps they also donate to the treasury above and beyond, but it seems doubtful, that would take effort, but not taking a deduction when filling out the tax form is actually easier than claiming. Just fill out the EZ form and don't even claim yourself..
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Hoarders
The other day a friend on facebook commented on the show “Hoarders”. In this show they have a psychologist and a junk clean up crew come into a house and clean it up. She was upset because she did not feel as if the crew helped the people they cleaned up because they only spend about a week at the house and she didn't feel like this was enough time to address the deep psychological issues these people have.
While I agree that these people probably have mental issues that are not being addressed by the show, if you watch the show you will notice that almost all of the people who ask to go on the show have a legal issue surrounding the hoarding. These people are being pursued by code enforcement officers, by child protective services, by fire marshals, etc. They may not be getting the psychological help they need, but they are getting a reprieve from the evil government officials who would kick these people out of their homes, or steal their children away from them, etc. It may only be temporary, but if it gives them another year of peace from the bureaucrats then the show is doing a good service to these people.
While I agree that these people probably have mental issues that are not being addressed by the show, if you watch the show you will notice that almost all of the people who ask to go on the show have a legal issue surrounding the hoarding. These people are being pursued by code enforcement officers, by child protective services, by fire marshals, etc. They may not be getting the psychological help they need, but they are getting a reprieve from the evil government officials who would kick these people out of their homes, or steal their children away from them, etc. It may only be temporary, but if it gives them another year of peace from the bureaucrats then the show is doing a good service to these people.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
I own me - by The Neema V
Libertarian Rap by The Neema V
This is actually pretty well done, unfortunately it seems that as of this posting this is the only video on the You tube channel.
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