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Supreme Court schedules ‘conference’ on Obama’s eligibility

Supreme Court schedules ‘conference’ on Obama’s eligibility
February 18, 2011

In a stunning move, the U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled another “conference” on a legal challenge to Barack Obama’s eligibility to occupy the Oval Office, but officials there are not answering questions about whether two justices given their jobs by Obama will participate.

The court has confirmed that it has distributed a petition for rehearing in the case brought by attorney John Hemenway on behalf of retired Col. Gregory Hollister and it will be the subject of a conference on March 4.




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Watch: Rita Ora becomes tearful remembering Liam Payne

Ora pays tribute at the MTV Europe Music Awards, almost a month after the star's death.




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Rembrandt's Night Watch: Major restoration begins

After several years of painstaking research, the masterpiece's most extensive restoration begins.





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Nobody (even Jonathan Abrams) remembers sixdegrees.com anymore

I was just pointed to an article where Jonathan Abrams pretty much claims that he invented friend requests and possibly even social networking. He takes pride in his claim to inventing the idea of requesting and accepting friendships online. But because he’s been around it longer than anyone, he’s also getting sick of all the friend [...]




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<strong>GOP PREMORTEM</strong>

It is interesting to see how the GOP is struggling to keep the seats in the forthcoming elections. Rush Limbaugh is angry about a GOP pre-mortem comment. The main problem with today's conservatives is that they are not able to defend capitalism in a principled way. It could be the case that they hesitate to support capitalism due to their "pork" addiction... Here is a quote from Gary Shapiro's article, Clemson University Establishes a Think Tank Devoted to Studying the Moral Basis of Capitalism:

The Clemson institute, Mr. Thompson said, faces what he calls an "anti-capitalist bias" among most of the intellectual elite in America. "It began in the last the quarter of the 19th century and picked up steam," he said. "For well over 100 years, the cultural elite in universities have been opposed to capitalism and have set the terms of this debate, which is why the Republican Party in general and conservative intellectuals in particular have not been able to defend capitalism on moral grounds." (NYSun.com, 09/25/06.)


For more on GOP and the problems with conservatism, read C. Bradley Thompson's article, The Decline and Fall of American Conservatism. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Like the aging hippies of the New Left, compassionate conservatives reject the idea of basing morality on reason and instead embrace a morality grounded in feelings. They reject the possibility of a morality of self-interest and individual rights, and instead embrace a morality of self-sacrifice and governmental coercion. Despite all their loose rhetoric about applying “free-market” solutions to the plight of the poor, compassionate conservatives accept the moral premise of liberal-socialism: that you have a moral duty—a moral duty that will be enforced by the state—to love and support those who have needs greater than your own. (TheObjectiveStandard.com, Fall 206, Vol. 1, No. 3.)


Big Spenders


Related: My post, THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT IS DEBATED IN WALL STREET JOURNAL.




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CyberstarPay unites with iDenfy to ensure safe payments with remote identity verification

iDenfy's real-time document and live face-matching services will secure CyberstarPay's network.




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New Kickstarter, POLATAP: Premium bluetooth audio + battery kit for travelers

World's slimmest and lightest high-fidelity active noise cancelling Bluetooth earphones, portable battery that supports both iPhone and Android devices with built-in turbo charge cables, ultra-mini Bluetooth speaker. All three of these can be magnetically attached, combining into one simple and convenient package. This was the core concept behind the product they have developed.




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MoloLamken Releases 2023 Supreme Court Business Briefing

The national litigation boutique MoloLamken LLP is pleased to announce the release of this year's MoloLamken Supreme Court Business Briefing.




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LeGrand S. Redfield, Jr. Earns Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP®) from The American College of Financial Services

LeGrand S. Redfield, Jr., President of Asset Management Group, Inc, in Stamford, Connecticut has earned the designation of Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP®) from The American College. Unlike a general financial planning program like the CFP® or ChFC®, the RICP® delves much more deeply into the specific area of retirement income planning. It also trains advisers to plan for potential issues that can have a serious negative impact on a person's retirement plans.




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The Inventsons "No Time to Fly" Premieres on National Comic Book Day

Prepare for an electrifying adventure! Inventionland's most creative family of makers and designers joins forces with Chipper, the whimsical idea cloud, in a thrilling race to save time itself in the much-anticipated prequel in the fourth edition of the comic book series.




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Salary Increase Budgets Projected to Remain Flat at 3% Again Next Year, Salary.com Survey Finds

Salary.com, the leading SaaS provider of cloud-based compensation data and analytics, today released the results of its eighth annual U.S. and Canada National Salary Budget Survey – revealing, for the eighth year in a row, that annual salary increase budgets are expected to remain flat at 3% for the upcoming year.




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World premiere: Viva Frida Kahlo – Immersive Experience

The first museum for immersive art in Switzerland is opening with a world premiere: Viva Frida Kahlo – Immersive Experience.




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GEMA files model action to clarify AI providers' remuneration obligations in Europe




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Manage Your Remote Team with PA Server Monitor

Power Admin's flagship product, PA Server Monitor, comes with the Active Directory Login Monitor, which helps companies monitor employees in remote locations.




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Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack: SpyHunter Emphasizes the Importance of Anti-Malware Remediation Solutions

The growing incidents of ransomware attacks like the Colonial Pipeline breach highlight the need for automated anti-malware remediation solutions such as SpyHunter.





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The Government Wants Your Retirement Savings


Why did Willie Sutton rob banks? "Because that's where the money is."

Why does the government want to tax your IRA and ROTH retirement savings? Because that's where the money is.

When the income tax first went into effect in 1915, the top rate was a mere 7% and fell only on those making $500,000 a year or more -- that's $13.5 million in today's dollars. The vast majority of Americans paid the lowest 1% rate.

Today, the federal income tax ranges from 10%-37% and that's on top of all the FICA withholding. Today's top rate -- more than five times higher than it was in 1915 -- falls on those making about $500,000.

Which means top rate-payers are paying 5.5 more income tax on about one-thirtieth of the income.

The lowest rate-payers are paying 10 times more on about the same fraction -- and that still doesn't count FICA deductions, which hit the poorest the hardest.

The income tax was sold by early 20th Century progressives as a way to sock it to the rich, but progressives made sure it become a way to sock it to everybody.

You can bet your bottom dollar -- if Congress doesn't confiscate that, too -- that today's "Billionaire Income Tax" is tomorrow's "Tax Your Middle Class Retirement Accounts Before You Even Retire."

Our government is too big, too unaccountable, too incompetent, and entirely dedicated to growing its own power. Anything that can't go on forever, won't.




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Friendly Reminder: "Prices don't drop when inflation eases"

Many people I talk to are eager for "prices to get back to normal", but that's not how inflation works. Medora Lee does a good job reminding us of that.

When talking about inflation, it's important to remember that inflation is a rate that measures how fast prices are rising. If the consumer inflation rate drops from its 40-year high of 8.6% in May, prices are still rising - just not as fast.

Consumers won't feel immediate relief even as the inflation rate slows because many of those elevated prices are likely here to stay, said Michael Ashton, managing principal at Enduring Investments in Morristown, NJ.

"The price level has permanently changed," said Ashton. "Until your wages catch up (to inflation), it will continue to hurt."

Even when inflation returns to target 2% levels, prices won't return to "normal" 2019 levels. Prices will continue to grow, but at a slower and more predictable rate.

"Once core prices go up, generally they don't come down," Roussanov said. "In the last 40 to 50 years, we've never seen deflation in core goods. Most durable goods and services don't really come down in price."

And deflation is more dangerous than inflation because it can lead to a total economic collapse. When people believe that their money will buy more in a year than it will now, they stop consuming and just wait.

Additionally, modest, predictable inflation is seen as a sign of a growing economy. It incentivizes people to spend money now rather than waiting, allows wages to increase either in line or above inflation to boost the standard of living and makes it easier for businesses to plan, according to the Federal Reserve and IMF.



  • Business & Economics

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Social media bosses could face &#163;10,000 fine for failing to remove knife adverts

Fines of £10,000 for social media bosses who don't remove illegal knife adverts are being considered by the government.




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Preparing Small Business Owners for Retirement

Small-business owners often are so busy working that they do not take time to plan for their retirements.

But that is clearly a mistake, financial advisers say.

complete article




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Women-Owned Businesses Grow, Yet Gender Gap In Small Business Finance Remains

Much has changed since 1994 when the U.S. government implemented an initiative to spend at least 5% of its contracting dollars on women-owned businesses. Today, women-owned businesses in the U.S. account for approximately 9.4 million companies and generate more than $1.5 trillion in revenue nationwide. Although it has taken more than two decades to reach its goal, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced that small businesses  that are majority owned by women earned $17.8 billion in federal contracting dollars, which amounts to about 5% of the $400 billion budget for federal contracts.

complete article




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How to Create Your Small Business Retirement Succession Plan

When it comes to retirement and succession planning, a recent Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey suggests that business owners are not necessarily as prepared as they ought to be. Seventy percent of business owners surveyed say they do not have a formal written plan in place outlining what they will do with their business if they decide to retire or can no longer continue working.

complete article




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How to choose a retirement plan for your small business

Have you procrastinated about setting up a tax-advantaged retirement plan for your small business? If the answer is yes, you are not alone. Even so, this is not a good situation. You are paying extra income taxes every year that you could easily avoid. However, you still have time to set things right and line yourself up for major tax savings for this year and beyond. This column explains the basics about your tax-smart retirement plan options.

When you cut through all the technical details, you’ll discover that tax-advantaged retirement plans come in two basic varieties:

Defined-contribution plans, which come in several different flavors.
Defined benefit pension plans.

How to choose a retirement plan for your small business




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Amazon Business Prime Shipping Changes the Game for Small Business Procurement

Amazon Business Prime Shipping is a paid annual membership program, which enables registered multi-user business customers to take advantage of unlimited fast and free shipping. The program is currently available for Amazon Business customers in the United States and Germany.
Small businesses are often faced with the challenge of sharing passwords for authorizing procurement and shipping tasks. With Business Prime Shipping everyone in a business account automatically gets Business Prime Shipping.

complete article




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Nearly One in Seven Small Business Owners Not Confident About Retirement

Sixty-nine percent of small business owners have zero to little confidence they will be able to retire comfortably, Paychex found in a survey.

Thirty percent said they were somewhat confident, 21% said they were not at all confident, and 18% fall between somewhat confident and not at all confidentȒadding up to a total of 69%. Only 20% said they were very confident they will have enough money to retire comfortably.

Asked what could help improve their situation, 68% said being able to save more. Other ways they would like to receive financial help were assistance in converting a portfolio balance into monthly income, cited by 10%; guidance on investments and the appropriate savings rate, also cited by 10%; and retirement tools to cover a wide range of expenses, including health care, cited by 8%. Fifteen percent said that nothing would help them feel more confident about retirement.

complete article




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Tax Reform Provides Boost To Small Business Retirement Plans

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was signed into law by President Trump near the end of 2017 and it mostly took effect in 2018. While the TCJA impacts almost every single individual taxpayer to some degree, the changes also significantly impact corporations and small businesses. In some areas, the impact was purposeful and directed. However, in other ways, the TCJA will have both positive and negative secondary effects. One area that could see a secondary or unintended boost due to a new tax deduction (IRC § 199A) for pass through businesses is retirement plans with small business employers.

complete article




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Supreme Courts internet sales tax ruling may be a nightmare for small businesses

In the wake of yesterdays Supreme Court ruling, e-commerce companies are understandably both concerned and uncertain of their future. The 5-4 verdict overruled a 1992 precedent set by the case Quill v. North Dakota that only addressed mail-order businesses at the time, but it became a powerful legal bedrock for the e-commerce industry. It let companies without a robust physical infrastructure thrive during and after the dot-com boom by exempting purchases from sales tax, so long as the seller did not have a physical operation in the state where the customer resided. Now, following the court’s decision, states can start charging sales tax on internet purchases even when a retailer has no physical presence in that state.

A number of retailers, from Amazon to Etsy to Overstock.com, may be impacted. It is not necessarily because those corporations have been skirting sales tax collection, but some enable thousands of third-party sellers to do so, largely thanks to Quill v. North Dakota. In fact, Amazon, which last year started collecting sales tax in all 45 states that require it by law, may have a substantial amount of work to do to help its Amazon Marketplace sellers stay compliant.

complete article




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Supreme Court decision to allow more online sales tax worries small business groups

Small business advocates largely grumbled after the nation's highest court overturned a decades-old decision on online sales tax.

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that states now have the power to force online retailers to collect sales tax in states where they do not have a physical presence, reversing a ruling from 1992 in a 5-4 decision. The move also revives a 2016 South Dakota law that required large, out-of-state e-commerce companies to collect sales tax, one that big e-commerce players fought. Some online retailers, such as Amazon.com, currently collect state sales tax on products they directly sell but do not collect taxes from many of the independent sellers on the site.

The decision removes the sales-tax savings that consumers could reap by making purchases online instead of buying from local brick-and-mortar shops. Although the move does help to level the playing field for physical small businesses, it also places new burdens on small online retailers.

complete article




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The Retirement Income Source 42% of Small-Business Owners Are Relying On -- and Why It is a Mistake

For most of us, that means establishing a nest egg in the form of an IRA, 401(k), or both. But a large number of small-business owners have a different sort of backup plan for covering the bills in retirement: their businesses.

An estimated 42% of small-business owners say that their businesses will serve as their personal pensions, so to speak, according to data from New York Life. But that's a dangerous proposition in several regards.

complete article




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5 things to remember when growing your small business

Small business optimism is at a record high. In this year’s Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index, business owners consistently reported positive attitudes about their current situation and their future.

Part of that optimism is due to the high availability of financing and access to credit that many small businesses need in order to grow. Indeed, many small business owners are taking the opportunity to use these and other cash flow management tools to expand their business.

complete article




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5 Ways Small Business Owners Can Start Preparing For Retirement

Small business owners are often so involved with the day-to-day operations of their business, many feel they don’t have the time to look down the road and plan for retirement.

And as a result, some entrepreneurs may never be ready to retire. According to a survey by Manta, one-third of business owners don’t have any retirement plan, and 75% of respondents to a BMO Wealth survey said they had “$100,000 or less” saved for retirement.

complete article




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Small-business Retirement Plan Limits Increased in 2019.

The benefit of working for a large company is gaining access to an employer-sponsored 401(k) – a critical tool that helps millions of workers save for retirement.

But if you are a small-business owner, you should know that you have several tax-advantaged savings plans at your disposal that allow you to sock away substantial funds for your golden years.

Better yet, the annual contribution limits for all of these plans increased in 2019, so now's a better time than ever to start funding one.

complete article




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5 Tips to Create a Retirement Plan for Entrepreneurs

Most working class Americans are employed by companies that either require or offer retirement savings options in the form of a 401(k), 403b), or pension plan. Because these contributions are automatically deducted from the employee’s paycheck, saving for retirement tends to be a rather painless process. Over time, the cumulative effect of regular monthly contributions leads to a nice sized nest egg that can be used in the retirement years.

But for entrepreneurs, the story is a little different. With no steady paycheck or employer-sponsored plans, many of these hardworking individuals forgo retirement contributions.  And though it may not seem like a big deal in the early years, this misstep can prove to be dangerous and irresponsible as entrepreneurs age.

complete article




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Which Small Business Retirement Plan Is Best?

What is the best retirement plan for a self-employed person? Which is the best retirement plan for a small business owner? More importantly, which is the right retirement plan for you – as a business owner and / or a self-employed individual? Choosing the best retirement plan for you and your personal financial goals will depend on a few factors. Those include how much you can save into a retirement plan, whether or not you have employees and when you are setting up the retirement plan. Is it during the tax year or when filing taxes? To name a few.

complete article




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Google Spent 2 Years Researching What Makes a Great Remote Team. It Came Up With These 3 Things

There can come days, however, when it all feels the same and very old.

That is when we steel ourselves and insist on being creative.

complete article




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A Guide to Small Business Retirement Plans

Running a small business or being self-employed can offer flexibility, freedom and control over your earning potential. While the perks are plentiful, there’s one thing thats usually missing when you own a small business: an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

Self-employed people do not have 401(k)s, and small business owners tend not offer them, citing the time and cost to set up and administer them. The good news is there are several other retirement plan options available to small business owners. If you have yet to begin saving for retirement as an entrepreneur, here is how you can change that.

Small Business Retirement Plan Basics

complete article




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How Small Businesses Can Prioritize Network Security In The Remote Work Era

Remote work was already on the rise before Covid-19 forced many employees to transition to working from home. Today, as many organizations continue to operate remotely due to the pandemic, how can business leaders address the array of security challenges their companies face?

Network security should be top of mind for businesses of all sizes across a variety of industries. While the list of companies experiencing major security breaches in recent years includes some well-known enterprises, addressing security threats is an especially hefty challenge for small businesses—particularly if those businesses lack the resources to implement strong controls and educate staff.




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An extremely apologetic post

So. I did something stupid. I'm really sorry. 

The last blog I wrote, about how I had been here for almost three weeks, turned into news - and not in a good way. Man Flies 12000 Miles to Defy Lockdown sort of news. And I've managed to mess things up in Skye, which is the place I love most in the world.

So, to answer the questions I'm being asked most often right now:

What were you thinking? Why come back to the UK?

Because like so many other people, my homelife and work had been turned upside-down by the COVID-19 lockdowns. I was panicked, more than a little overwhelmed and stuck in New Zealand. I went to the UK government website (https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice), trying to figure out what to do, and read:
I've been living in the UK since 2017, and all of my upcoming work is here - so 'you are strongly advised to return now' looked like the most important message. I waited until New Zealand was done with its strict lockdown, and took the first flight out. (And yes, the flights and airports were socially distanced, and, for the most part, deserted.)

Why go to Skye? Why not go somewhere else?

When I landed the whole of the UK was under lockdown rules.  I drove directly to my home in the UK, which is on Skye. I came straight here, and I've been in isolation here ever since.

What were you THINKING?

I wasn't, not clearly. I just wanted to go home.

Would you leave New Zealand again, knowing what you know now?

I got to chat to some local police officers yesterday, who said all things considered I should have stayed where I was safe in New Zealand, and I agreed that yes, all things considered, I should. Mostly they wanted to be sure I was all right, and had been isolating, and that I would keep isolating here until the lockdown ends, and to make sure I knew the rules. Like all the locals who have reached out to me, they've been astonishingly kind.

Since I got here Skye has had its own tragic COVID outbreak – ten deaths in a local care home. It's not set up to handle things like this, and all the local resources are needed to look after the local community. So, yes. I made a mistake. Don't do what I did. Don't come to the Highlands and Islands unless you have to.

I want to apologize to everyone on the island for creating such a fuss. I also want to thank and apologise to the local police, who had better things to do than check up on me. I'm sure I've done sillier things in my life, but this is the most foolish thing I've done in quite a while.








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Remembering Earl Cameron (1917-2020)



I'm taking a Social Media Holiday right now. It seems to be helping. But I couldn't let this pass...

In 1996 we filmed the original Neverwhere television series (which I wrote for Lenny Henry's company Crucial Films who made it for the BBC). One of the most inspiring moments for me was when Earl Cameron came in and auditioned to play the Abbot of the Black Friars. He was a legend back then, 25 years ago. Watching him audition at an age when most people were already long into retirement was an honour and a treat. He got the part, not because he was a legend, not because he was an icon, but because he was so good, and his interpretation of the character became, for me, definitive. It was the one I put into the novel.

Earl had been a trailblazer as a performer on film and on television in the 1950s and 1960s. He had come to the UK from Bermuda during the Second World War, as a sailor, and had stayed, and become an actor. He was one of the first UK actors to "break the colour bar", one of the first black actors in Doctor Who, a mainstay of cinema and television, always acting with grace and moral authority. Now we were fortunate enough to have him and his compassion and his gentle humour, acting away in monkish robes in muddy cellars, chilly vaults, and deserted churches, all over London.

In 2017, BBC Radio 4 (in the shape of Dirk Maggs and Heather Larmour) did a glorious audio adaptation of Anansi Boys, and it did my heart so much good to see Earl Cameron over 20 years on, and to catch up and to reminisce about the Neverwhere cold and the mud. He played a dragon in Anansi Boys. He was 100 years old then. (That's us, in the studio hallway, in the photo above. It was taken by Dirk.)

He died, yesterday, aged 102, nearly 103. The world is a lesser place without him in it. 




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***** Aircraft and Private Jet Charter - Premier Aviation UK Ltd ... (rank 25)

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***** Prime Air – Your Foremost Supplier of Aircraft Parts (rank 22)

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Bentham's mummified corpse, like Lenin's, remains fresh in appearance

It’s almost comforting that such invidious fluffy-minded sludge as this is floating around, as it seems, like religion, to keep the middle-brows hypnotized by “beautiful sentiments” which are so vague as to keep them from actually getting together and doing anything. It’s sort of weird to hear this weakly Marxist social-democratic pap which used to be shouted from the rooftops now being whispered in a low monotonous whine. The author avows his fealty to Jeremy Bentham, not Marx, and calls it utilitarianism not Marxism, but there are many illegitimate fathers along this line of thought.

The root of the idea is that, now that neuroscience has supposedly made it possible to actually identify what makes us happy, the idea of happiness has become quantifiable, and hence a program of providing the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people has become objectively possible. However, the author does not make the slightest effort to apply these wonders of modern science to actually determining what the alleged sources of human happiness are. The neuroscience tack is really just a defensive ploy to ward off the eternal charges that utilitarinism is simply a euphemism for an authoritarian imposition of values. As for espousing his positive program for what constitutes human happiness, it is simply the usual liberal middle-class canards, with not surprisingly a socialist edge: more time to spend with family, a decent wage for everyone, blah blah blah. But he seems to make two pretty criminally unsubstantiated assumptions: one is these sources are essentially the same for everyone, or at least could be under certain conditions, and the other is that they do not inherently conflict with anyone else’s.

I say under certain conditions could be, because in evaluating our current society he seems to privilege envy of other’s material well-being as the principal determinant of happiness. His theory is that above a certain level of material subsistence people are motivated primarily by status-seeking and the desire for a high rank within their social group. Therefore, the increasing wealth of the society will not increase happiness because people measure their well-being relative to the group, not by their absolute prosperity. This is always been a flaw in the concept of the “war against poverty”; I’m not sure it’s much of an argument for socialist economic redistribution. But actually if you read his section on the value of income taxes carefully, he doesn’t even seem to be arguing that they are useful insofar as they can be redirected to the less prosperous, although he does evidently believe that a certain amount of money contributes more to the happiness of a poor person than to a rich one’s. Rather, he seems to think that taking money away from the properous is valuable in and of itself, because it will supposedly make them less focused on the “rat race,” more family-oriented, etc., etc. In short he seems to be advocating a net impoverishment of society.

All of which may be consistent with the program of a good little socialist, but does not necessarily accord marvelously with his own evidence about the supposedly quantified happiness of humanity. The research that he cites non-specifically supposedly indicates that people’s feeling of happiness has not risen in the last half-century, but he does not cite anything which indicates that it has necessarily declined. He cites rising rates of depression and crime as presumably implicit indicators of greater unhappiness, but he does not seem to acknowledge the possibility that in our hyper-medicated and surveillance-based society perhaps people simply report depression and crime more. In any event, if roughly similar numbers of people today as in the ‘50’s report themselves happy (and we believe them), despite the increase in prosperity, that might perhaps indicate that happiness is not fixed to material well-being. Which may be consistent with his general point, but not with his idea of increasing happiness by manipulating income levels.

And even if it did, it seems rather difficult to countenance any social program predicated upon appealing to one of humanity’s most depraved instincts, namely envy. The author acknowledges that his ideal of taxation is mainly motivated by the desire to pander to people’s envy, but he seems to think that their envy will be sated by the loss of prosperity of those around them and that after that point there will be no more. So the envy of the less prosperous will be satisfied by the losses accrued by the more prosperous, which will somehow not be counter-balanced by the chagrin of the more prosperous at the prospect of seeing their status diminished. Very logical.

One of the more egregious presumptions of utilitarians is that non-utilitarian social systems somehow aren’t concerned with seeking the greatest good for the greatest number of people. On the contrary, that’s the defining problem of practically every social and political theory I can think of, and they all either seek or claim to have found the answer—whether such a solution exists, I have my doubts, but that’s why I’m a skeptic about politics. This is a handy trick by utilitarians: they say “I believe in the greatest good for the greatest number of people.” Which is practically begging the question: “As opposed to whom?” It’s useful because it tends to conceal the fact that their real agenda is generally somewhat more specific, and tends to consist in the autocratic notion that one or two measures of social living can be authoritatively determined to be the sources of happiness, and then divided up in a centralized fashion. Those that are the most insistent on the idea of liberty are generally those that are the most skeptical about the possibility of the notion of happiness being either quantitatively defined or generalizable. In other words, only indviduals can determine their own sources of happiness.

For the author, on the other hand, the fact that certain stimuli trigger certain areas of the brain at the times when test subjects profess pleasure has solved the problem of determining happiness. Of course, as mentioned, he never really bothers with the results that those studies have yielded. Somehow the fact that he considers envy to be a principal element of human happiness does not place very severe limits on the harmoniousness of individual happiness. Nor does it constitute a tyranny of the majority, because he claims that in an ideal utilitarian society the happiness of the most unhappy would be considered of pre-eminent importance. Of course, at the beginning of the article he cited the equal importance of each individual’s happiness as the fouding tenet of his theory, but I’m sure it all sorts out in the end.

Among social factors responsible for unhappiness, he cites divorce and unemployment as of pre-eminent importance. Of course, rates of both divorce and unemployment in the crassly materialistic and religious United States are much lower than in the much more overtly utilitarian-embracing Europe, but it would be a bit embarassing for him to admit this after avowing that all traditional value-systems outside of utilitarianism and “individualism” are dead.

Personally the question of the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people doesn’t exactly compel me constantly, although the issue of personal happiness tends to impose itself intransigently. I would have thought that evolutionary biology would have provided an adequate explanation of this, as well as the recurrence of what we call altruism. But such an idea of course suggests that happiness, whatever that is, is not really the point of our little existences, and that the more imperious competitiveness of life will ultimately subvert all of these little trifles of pleasure and pain. But in the meantime, we have these debased statistical notions of happiness to amuse us in an idle hour.

It seems to me that if one’s “objective” measure of happiness is electrical stimulation in the cerebral cortex, the most efficient utilitarian solution to the problem of human happiness would be strap everyone onto hospital gurneys and stimulate the “happiness” part of their brain all day long. If one does not wish to be this deterministic about it, perhaps one should allow more latitute to individuals to discover their own conception of happiness. Personally, I have found happiness generally to be an idea for the unhappy and something rarely spoken of by the happiness; mention of practically guarantees that it is not present in the environment where it is uttered. I don’t deny that what you might call love is the real bridge between personal happiness and moral obligations, and the only true means by which the desires of oneself and of others are united, but such a sentiment can never be mandated; it is entirely resistant to intellectual compulsion. Utilitarianism, which sometimes does a decent job of faking morality, is nevertheless ultimately predicated on the pleasure principle, and hence is wholly inadequate to uniting the moral and the pleasurable except when love truly pertains. In that case, of course, political theory is entirely superfluous, which is why this is all a waste of time.

p.s. I don’t claim that people’s behavior necessarily reflects what really would make them happy, but presumably it does at least reflect what they consciously value. Hence, if I were the author I would have been a bit skeptical of using the results of “surveys” of what people claim to value when the results don’t correlate with their behavior, i.e. they claim that spending time with family is most important, but they spend a disproportiante amount of time working (at least according to him). So either people are not really being forthright (consciously or unconsciously) in responding to surveys, or there is not actually a problem of priorities. In either case, he’s way over-valuing surveys as a guide to what will make people happy.




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AVG Clear (Remover) 24.11.9615

AVG Clear eliminates all the parts of your AVG installation from your computer, including registry items, installation files, user files, etc. AVG Clear is provided by AVG and is the last resort to use if you have a problem removing your current AVG whether it's a failed repair, reinstall or complete removal. [License: Freeware | Requires: 11|10|8|7 | Size: 15 MB ]




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Remove hyperlink in LO writer

  1. Select "Internet Link" from Character styles.
  2. Right click Internet Link and select Edit style
  3. In the tab Font Effects, click the button Reset to Parent.




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Trembling Blue Stars

Robert Wratten was a heartbroken guy.

For a few years, in the late 80s, early 90s, he was in the Field Mice, the beloved jangle-pop outfit signed to Sarah Records. When they fell apart, Wratten and his girlfriend and bandmate, Annemari Davies, formed Northern Picture Library, and continued to write rather melancholic songs, but with a certain duskiness and lonely chill rather than the peppy twitchiness and innocent twinkle from before. (Their first LP, Alaska, is very good.)

Northern Picture Library ended when Wratten and Davies split, and thus Trembling Blue Stars was born. (I see your breakup album and raise you a breakup band!)

  
The first album, Her Handwriting, is a monument for the forlorn, the devastated, sometimes in an uncomfortable way. Admittedly, many of the musicians from this era, from this general grouping, were rather downcast, dark, and meek, but what Wratten made stands apart, perhaps because it's boldly... adult, not concerned with obscuring its vulnerability. And he seemed keen to revel in his smooth craftsmanship, his adept songwriting. There's a maturity, conflicted, pained as it is, that beckons through a confident voice and a tender humanity. I find these records moving, particularly with songs like "The Rainbow," a sweet trip-hop song that poignantly features—and celebrates—Davies.
 




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Antonio Resines Recibe el Premio de Honor en el IV Festival Internacional de Cine de Hellín

El IV Festival Internacional de Cine de Hellín (FECHE) se prepara para tomar el centro del escenario cultural del 16 al 22 de noviembre, convirtiéndose en un faro de actividades cinematográficas en la provincia de Albacete. Con una oferta que va más allá de las proyecciones de cine, el festival promete días repletos de cultura […]

Artículo publicado en : Antonio Resines Recibe el Premio de Honor en el IV Festival Internacional de Cine de Hellín




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Ferrari remplacerait PPDA sur TF1 : &quot;des gages donnés à Nicolas Sarkozy&quot; ?

Canal+ a confirmé le départ de sa journaliste vedette. Cette dernière aurait été contactée par TF1 pour remplacer Patrick Poivre d'Arvor à la présentation du journal de 20h. Des commentateurs voient dans ce changement des "gages donnés" à Nicolas Sarkozy...




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Vijesti :: Od petka obavezna zimska oprema na vozilima

Autor: Redakcija 031 Naslov: Od petka obavezna zimska oprema na vozilima
Postano: 13.11.2024. 13:51 (GMT 1) Od 1. studenog vozači moraju imati upaljena dnevna ili kratka svjetla, a od 15. studenog moraju imati i zimske gume.

U petak, 15. studenog stupa na snagu zimski režim na cestama, što znači da limeni ljubimci moraju imati i zimsku opremu.

Uređeno je to novom Odlukom o obveznoj zimskoj opremi. U zimske dionice javnih cesta ulazi 839,2 km autocesta i 1.863,3 km državnih i županijskih cesta te 68,1 km državnih cesta za tranzitni promet iz trajektnih luka Vukovar, Osijek, odnosno luke i rafinerije Sisak.

Vozači su u zimskim uvjetima prije uključivanja u promet dužni očistiti snijeg i led s vozila. Ako vas u prometu 'uhvate' bez zimske opreme kaznit će vas sa 132,72 eura.


Foto: Pixabay.com/Ilustracija




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Događaji - najave i recenzije :: Predstavljanje knjiga "Suvremeni hrvatski haiku - Nova antologija" i "Dosje i druge priče"

Autor: knjizaraNOVA Naslov: Predstavljanje knjiga "Suvremeni hrvatski haiku - Nova antologija" i "Dosje i druge p
Postano: 13.11.2024. 14:09 (GMT 1) Društvo hrvatskih književnika i Klub knjižare Nova pozivaju Vas na predstavljanje knjiga "Suvremeni hrvatski haiku - Nova antologija" i "Dosje i druge priče".

Na predstavljanju sudjeluju: Nikola Đuretić, Tomislav Maretić i Mirko Ćurić.

Predstavljanje će se održati u Klubu knjižare Nova (Trg Ante Starčevića 4, Osijek) u subotu, 16. studenoga u 11 sati.

Radujemo se Vašem dolasku!