Irregular Folks

It’s my party and I’ll ruin my economy if I want to

menand — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:51:14 +0000

The cash for clunkers is a popular program in the same way that teenagers whose parents are out of town are suddenly popular when they throw a party at their house. The problem is the hoards of people that show up trash your house and never talk to you again. The idea that the cash for clunkers program is stimulating the economy because it has encouraged the purchase of 50,000 cars is as shortsighted as the four-eyed freckled freak who thinks things are starting to go his way at Anywhere High. It turns out more people are trading in their American cars for Toyotas and those used American cars are forced into the scrap pile rather than left on the used-car market as a trickle down subsidy to the low- to mid-income Americans who can’t afford new cars even with the exhorbitant government subsidy. It would be a trickle down subsidy too since a flood of used cars on the market would drive down the price. So, let’s all congratulate the Obama administration and the rest of the Democrats for this wasteful, REGRESSIVE tax on America’s poor and America’s future as we prepare to pump another $2 billion into this bad idea. Sunday night is coming and the party will be over and we’ll all be stuck with summer jobs working to pay for the damage wrought by the teenaged party crashers who are better seen as fleeting friends rather than sound investments in future social growth. Disclaimer: this post is not auto-biographical, I swear.

If I wanted to move to Seattle, I’d move to Seattle

Flippy — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:00:59 +0000

Tennessee Mockingbirds Get Their Chance!

flibbish — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:11:39 +0000

Mockingbirds across the Great State of Tennessee are singing a glorious song in celebratory anticipation today, as the state Senate prepares to vote to recommend that a statue in Al Gore’s image be erected on the state Capitol grounds. Wouldn’t you be excited to crap on Al’s head too?

Oh, I really hope that the statue is in the likeness of him about to plug in the Internets! Or of him reviewing the Tennessee voting breakdowns in 2000. Or of him making out with Tipper. There could be a statewide vote of Al’s stiffest position! Wouldn’t that be great?!

“Michael’s Special Italian Sandwich”

flibbish — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:45:30 +0000

I admit that my customer service standards are quite high. I expect prompt, courteous service from anyone in the service industry – from toll booth operators to hotel greeters to waiters in fancy restaurants. When you decide to make your living from serving me, I expect you to serve me well. Today, I add hygiene to my list of minimum customer service standards.

It appears that two winners who were working at a North Carolina Domino’s were just having a little revolting fun recently when one video recorded the other “worker stuffing cheese up his nostril and waving salami under his rear end [while] making sandwiches.” Nice. Real nice.

The woman who videotaped her Domino’s colleague defile some poor, unsuspecting customer’s food says she’s learned her lesson. You have to watch this video. The woman’s mother reports that she told her daughter, “You’re 31. You’re not 16.” Excuse me, but I even expect a 16 year old food service worker to refrain from encouraging a workmate from shoving cheese up his nose and then placing it on my sandwich. Again, I have very high standards.

Artifacts of Regulation

menand — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:33:18 +0000

Good discussion in class last night. Learned a few things that are useful to think about while witnessing Obama’s proposals to cap executive pay. President Clinton campaigned on capping executive salaries at $1 million and he delivered on this campaign promise by limiting corporate deductions on salaries to $1 million. This change is found in IRS code Section 162M. The result? Since 1993, very few executives at publicly-traded companies receive salaries above $1 million. Instead, they receive very large “performance-based bonuses.” Fast forward to 2009 when it is discovered AIG paid its executives big bonuses. It makes you wonder whether the outrage would have been the same if they received the same or most of the bonus money as salary — a plausible scenario in the absence of the 1993 change to the tax code. President Obama should know (he probably does) that you can’t really cap executive pay anyway, there will be some alternative way for the market to match value with compensation. If we could successfully cap pay, it would be a disaster for productivity and would cripple the economy’s ability to rearrange and reorder itself on a constant basis to match the right set of talents with particular challenges. The last thing AIG needs is a talent vacuum and nothing to woo top performers to come on board. And then there’s Barney Frank…

McDonald’s Needs to Evolve

Flippy — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:35:34 +0000

Some angry people in Utah shot up a McDonald’s when they switched over to their breakfast menu in the early hours of the morning. You’d think they’d get it by now and give us what we want: breakfast in the afternoon!

Higher Learning

Flippy — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:23:25 +0000

Maybe Obama is right… our education system is suffering.

Commander-in-Comedian

Flippy — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:21:14 +0000

So last night, President Obama compared his meager 129 bowling score high at the White House bowling alley to the Special Olympics.

I’ve got to admit, a lot of people are going to be offended by this… but this makes me like him a little. I’m thinking Joe Biden writes his material.

Barack Obama’s Teleprompter’s Blog

Flippy — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:09:34 +0000

Why could I think of this?

The real lesson from Natasha Richardson’s accident

Hannah Solo — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:13:16 +0000

According to the New York Post, Natasha Richardson was gravely injured in a skiing accident. This is a tragedy and in no way do I want to make light of it.

I do however, want to point out that I have wrecked while skiing without a helmet innumerable times and luckily, I’m still live. The difference is that I refuse to ski in the east (U.S. or Canada) where they try to pass off ice as snow.

The real lesson from her accident is this—skiing is dangerous, so don’t take the unnecessary risk of skiing in the east.