E-Commerce Tax

Ok, so the economy has been doing bad. We can go on for hours on the causes, the culprits and the results of many of the actions taken. One action trying to be done will automatically prevent new jobs, destroy thousands of current ones and cause any type of recovery we see now to go out the window. It's a law that would force you to pay sales tax on say anime figures you buy outside your own state.

I'm talking about the tired case of Quill vs. North Dakota, aka the e-commerce tax, or the "amazon tax." Looks as if two moronic politicians, Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Representative Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) want to try to unconstitutionally break a Supreme Court ruling that clearly states that you only pay sales tax if the business you purchase from is in the state you reside. I've already made my point clear and as of today, the great editors and staff at BusinessWeek.com put my comment on the front page for today.

Many Internet businesses have grown despite what the economy has thrown at them. My anime business has grown steadily as well despite me starting it in late 2006 and throughout this whole recession, my customer service has been creating a thriving company that hopefully soon I can create jobs with. New York already broke the laws of the land by having it where you have to pay the already inflated New York sales tax even if you don't live in NY!!

Because many rich scammers out there can't run their hedge funds anymore, the states are strapping for cash they once had from these legal Ponzi Schemes and that means your anime items, not just from me, but from every anime business or all products from all e-commerce businesses will cost more for you. Instead of doing the right thing, many states want to steal money from the average citizen by imposing this tax. Granted a very small universal tax should be a solution to accommodate the state's need and ours but...we all know that won't happen either because of states like New York who can't balance their budget even in an utopian society.

I know I'm sounding much like Code Geass's Lelouche but fighting this is a must for anyone who wants to see the economy continue to recover from such idiotic actions. Call your state representative or aid ebay.com and overstock.com in their fight against this. You can also add to the discussion on BusinessWeek.com along with me. Despite what naysayers think, many e-commerce sites, including my own already pay enough taxes to our state government. I cringe every time I have to impose the Suffolk County 8.625% sales tax on anime figures bought by my fellow New Yorkers. An besides, if my company grows and I add more employees, income tax comes into play and that's where the money should come from! Its a crime to begin with and there is no way this crime should be allowed to expand.

An Otaku on BusinessWeek

For the second time I once again grace the front page of BusinessWeek's website. This time, instead of poking fun at Secretary of Treasury Paulson, I got my own article up there. The article might not be anything of use for my fellow anime fans but in it I talk about how email is the number one form of communication between me and my customers, which is usually fellow otaku. Business has been getting rather busy but even so, I'm not answering phone calls like a maniac as seen in my day-job or in many other businesses. Granted, the anime fan demographic is that of people who are in this century and who would use email instead of a phone to answer simple questions.

Basically, we all know jobs could and should be kept here in the US (for those of us living in the US). I know many people, anime fans or not would love job opportunities to open up if major companies just keep their international staff internationally. Anyways, check up on the article if you'd like.

True Love Is Real

An interesting study came from my former college of Stony Brook University and was posted on CNN today. Looks like true love, or love that lasts a life time does indeed exist. Problem is only 10% of couples have it. My opinion is that the ego of the couple tends to fade the love fast and why you see so many people leaving their loved ones.
I most definitely fit in that 10%. Been dating my now fiancee Danielle for over 6 years and I love her more each day. I feel sorry for those who can't keep the love going. The secret is not that secret...just love the person you're with more than anyone else out there. That person should be your number 1 priority. Learn to get over any dislikes in habits and such. Both people in a couple should be able to like everything about the one they love and both should learn to submit any ego issues they have.

For all those losers in my senior year back in 2002 who tried to challenge this with me and Danielle....read it and weep. Most of those people who were a thorn in my side then I only knew from my senior year and like many in the town of Selden are living soooo sad lives., not my long time friends though. Still buds with them in Facebook and myspace (which wasn't around at the time) and also prove that a life of both submission and independence is actually the way to live and love.

...and that's my random 2 cents for the day ^_^.

Economic Solution

Submitted this to Business Week as a solution to the economic issues the US faces. I'll admit, my anime business is doing just fine in this economy, even with a much stronger yen so I'm not really feeling what everyone else is crying about. Yet, the economy needs help and it sure as hell doesn't involve what has been done; feeding the rich morons who started this mess in the first place. Here's what I suggested:

"If you think of the economy as a plant, its roots have been shortened and its sunlight has been taken away by the economies of India and China, excessive credit lifestyles fronted by the financial and educational system and the obviously pointless raise in home prices over the past 10 years. Thus, causing a dying "plant". Granted, parts of the economy are still growing and much of this is panic but there is a lot of work to be done. All the government has done is water the top of this "plant" by feeding the financial industry in hopes it will all trickle down. An obvious fail since all the banks have done is profit from the money and buy out their dying competitors (like my bank, WaMu, being bought out by Chase ).

Though I feel the basic fundamentals of capitalism is lost by ANY bailout, the bailouts will and have happened. Thus, to fix this mess with a bailout we must fix from the bottom, up.

Instead of giving the money directly to the banks, the people in foreclosure should be given the money to keep their homes for at least one year but as a lesson learned in the needless housing price increase and terrible credit lifestyle, the value of their homes and all homes should be then dropped back to their real values. For example, a home here on Long Island went for $90K in 1998, it now costs $300K. Chances are the current owners bought it for about $300K and are risking foreclosure. The value of their home and homes in the area should be then dropped back to say $100K but they can still live in it. No more should they be allowed to refinance, a price to pay to keep their homes. T he money given to this group obviously goes back to the banks since that's who the money is owed to, thus ending the financial industry's complaints about not getting their money. This also restarts the dead residential real-estate industry since the average income should be able to now afford the average house with at least some sort of decent down payment.

Like any extra income that comes to any company, it gets taxed. This should be the same for banks and the financial industry. They should be taxed heavily on this "extra money" if they do nothing with it. The same would go for me if my company's profits increased. If the extra cash flow is simply held by the banks and not put into loans for businesses, payrolls, new home owner loans and new industries, then most if it needs to go right back to the government to use for Health Care and local government infrastructure. The same tax burden should come down to companies that continue to outsource, manage horribly and those who give their execs far too much bonuses. Those bonuses along with dividends should be taxed more. This allows the money to boomerang back to government to lessen the burden on the value of the US dollar and the overall taxpayer burden.

There should be one more, slightly bigger stimulus package like we had. The average person who qualified for the first one should be given on average of $500 a person (instead of the $300 of the first one). This will give a boost to all areas but like with the money given to those in foreclosure and then the banks, if it's not used for any growth by the receiving people or businesses, it should be taxed more.

One other area that needs to be taxed heavily is the college education system. Most people are forced into a debt lifestyle that starts with a college education that as of lately doesn't return its overpriced value. College is needed of course but tuition needs to be dropped across the board and the truth that you can make money with and without college should be more common knowledge. Heads of college administrations who have been living very fine off the overpriced and underachieving education should see their days in heaven come to a stop by being taxed for their extremely hurtful wealth.

Last but not least is indeed more spending in the green industry movement. America needs to be the forefront of invention and innovation and we are sitting on a gold mine that just needs to be dug. Industries heavily outsourced need to be heavily taxed and if they join in with new green companies in keeping workers here, keeping innovations here and the re-installment of quality in US products, then the economy will flourish and they should then be rewarded with tax breaks, the incentive that got them outsourcing in the first place. The national debt should then be tackled. Once that is done, the US dollar should be backed by gold again and the FED should be abolished with all the banks and companies given their own chance to succeed or fail without the strings of the hard working American citizen attached.

In short, the solution is to feed the economy from the bottom up and those at the top who do not utilize the help given should be taxed to make sure the ends justify the means and all areas benefit. Trickle-down economics has been long dead and in a world where one's say and presence is more available in the age of the Internet, more can be done if the average person is given the torch and not the wealthy who have obviously tried to set the whole place on fire. "

There is more that could be said and can be done to fix the economy, but most of us can agree the actions done thus far is just the rich covering their own asses. I'm someone with a good chance of being rich with all that's on my plate at the moment but I know I wouldn't mind giving a bit more back to the average income earner since it is the average consumer who fuels my business in the first place! Other companies and the rich should realize that if the average middle class consumer goes, so too does their businesses and their wealth. The economy only works if all the cogs in the system are working.

College Education Gets an "F"

Not much of a surprise to many, all colleges in 49 out of all 50 states got a big "F" for lack of affordability. The only state to pass was California with a pathetic C-. One of the cogs in the current financial/economic meltdown is indeed the ridiculously priced college education. There is a serious problem when the cost of "higher-education" is practically a mortgage without a house. My previous posts about college shows that I'm not too fond of the terrible ROI and over-exaggeration of college's importance in our society but there is many good that a college education can do. That potential is completely shattered by the same greed that realtors and banks had over the past decade in which has absolutely decimated our economy. The blatant theft done by the housing and financial industry has only crept up over the past 30 years and of course rushed on up in the past 5 years; but college education's thievery has been in a constant grow for over 80 years.

Many news stations have been reporting this and there are many numbers that are going around but this can be certain; the pricing of homes, oil, electricity and college education MUST drop to accommodate the average working salary or no amount of bailouts will be enough to fix the economy because the cause of it, seen right here is just simply pampered by bailouts.

Obama to Cancel Bush's Stem Cell Ban

 
In yet another batch of great news to come from the recent election win of Barack Obama, it appears that Bush's old ban on stem cell research will finally be lifted.  More on it from CNN here.

This will of course upset the very white, very conservative and very angry part of this country that for all too long has had their cultist say in things.  I hate to come back from my lack of blog posts with such a bashing but it had to be said.  The conservative part of this country are just the western equivalent to the extremeist islamic terrorists of the mid-east, but mind you, like anywhere else, it's not the whole group of people. 

Listen, I'm not for abortion and really neither are the scientific groups involved in stem-cell research but we have to grow up as a nation and see a blessing in science when its right there in front of us.  The cure for cancer and many other illnesses is staring us in the face but because of dark-ages old thought, it has been prevented. Abortion is wrong in my opinion if the sex that lead to the conception was a mutual agreement, if the pregnancy is far too late in progression, or if the pregnancy doesn't endanger the mother.  I'll leave it at that and hopefully the amount of hate mail below won't be so much, but what can I do; there are still people in this modern age who believe in talking snakes, who are stubborn as mules, and who will cut their nose off despite their face.  Remember, umbilical cords also have stem cells and if we don't act quickly in this research, many more people will be living needlessly short lives because some 2000+ year old cult wanted them to supposedly meet their maker sooner then later.

New Bailout Plan Passes

Looks like as of a few minutes ago, the House of Representatives passed the new, revised $700 Billion bailout plan 263-171. Though much better than the ridiculous plan proposed by Paulson and Bush, still I bet some people will be questioning if this will be a plan for them or just the 1% of the country that has more than $100,000 in the bank. I listened in to the hearing and I was glad to hear the house actually bashing Wall Street CEOs for their obvious mess ups (lets not forget the greedy Realtors who bumped up house prices beyond anyone's reach). I didn't get to read the entire new bill that I believe can be read at house.gov but stuff like pushing for more money into green businesses for new jobs, the hope of credit flow to small and private businesses (not just the idiots on Wall Street), tax breaks for business owners who keep jobs here, tax breaks for many homeowners, and renegotiations for homeowners in trouble seem to be what is needed. Thankfully they claimed that this will erase those CEO "golden parachutes" but we'll see about that in the coming months. The FDIC limit increase I feel is not really necessary since again, only 1% of Americans even reach the old $100,000 mark in the bank, but at least the horrible bottle-feeding, trickle down economics plans of Bush and Paulson was somewhat stopped. This maybe shows that this country is not a communist/socialist country as of yet but it sure is coming close to with the minority rich still having too much of a say over everyone else. I'll admit I got a bit of worries about this but I was about to pack my bags for Japan if the first bill passed. If McCain comes into office or if Obama blows it...I'll have to rethink that plan again.


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Chuck Gaffney (Me) on BusinessWeek.com

Looks like my comments about the US economy got me on the front page of businessweek.com! My anime business and my old health business got me to realize different sides of the financial spectrum and as some of you know, many of us (including myself) were furious about that now failed Paulson $700 bailout plan that was going give the crooks who stole from the US the money back. I know this isn't really otaku related but I would assume that man of you can't avoid the news on it so I''m extra happy to see that my comments got me to the front page of the biggest business site on the web. You have to be living under a rock to not know that the US economy is in the crapper. Caused by the nepotism between Wall Street and the government, greedy Real Estate agents and loan sharks and an overpriced and overrated college system that teaches everyone to be worthless 9-5 cubical-slaves, this economy was just a house of cards that was ready to fall. All isn't doom and gloom though; one of my anime wholesalers, Diamond Comics did a report on the increase in sales anime and collectible goods and the turnout at the New York Anime Festival 2008 sure doesn't show signs of a recession there. Thankfully the internet has given all of us a voice and I'm very humbled and honored that I'm featured on the front page of one of the biggest business sites in the world. I of course commented about the incompetence of Treasury Secretary Paulson. Here's my entire comment:

"Secretary of Treasury Paulson was the CEO of Goldman Sachs, turned the company's $30 Billion debt into $100 Billion. The guy is not even qualified to count your cash as a teller at any bank let alone come up with anything that deals with money or in this case, have the US taxpayers write him a blank check. The guy hardly qualifies enough to flip burgers since there would need to be someone there to make sure he doesn't miscount the orders!"

Link to the comment here.

Blogger is Finally Fixed

Holy frecken ass-crackers! For some of you that were wondering... yes this blog was down for exactly one week. Why, should you ask? Because Blogger goofed up last Friday. There has been so much news going on and I've been sitting like a middle-class person at the recent financial hearings. So glad to be back. I was sick last weekend with the flu and my webhost kicks the bucket the same time blogger got clogged yet they denied that they didn't work for one week. Anyways, today is a huge day since I'm taking the train now for New York Anime Festival 2008. More on that and FREE Death Note II: Last Name Tickets!!

Monsters Everywhere in the News: Bigfoot Found, Montauk Monster, Chupacabra Chase

Some of you might have heard of all the weird things that recently been going on in the past few weeks. At the end of July there was the now famous Montauk Monster that washed ashore only an hour away from my home over in Montauk, Long Island. View my other blog post on it if you dare to keep reading on this raccoon/pig/turtle/WTF is it?

Now, just two days ago a Texas deputy catches video of what appears to be the Chupacabra. History channel's Monster Quest recently had a report on the creature with actual bodies that have been kept and tested on so its only a matter of time before this once legendary creature becomes a part of the real list of animals. Check out the video here. Head from one of the bodies found below.

If that's not all, as of two days ago apparently two hunters in Georgia found a dead body of Big Foot and they have it in a freezer. To hopefully calm the scepticism I also have, there is going to be a news conference tomorrow apparently on this whole this so maybe this is actually legit. Alleged picture below:

With the Internet age well embedded in our culture and daily lives, information and technology has brought things to a point where we could finally solve these riddles but it also means if any of this is to be real, much more has to be done to prove to us because the Internet has made it so easy for hoaxes to be done and spread.