Steve's Live From Las Vegas

In Nevada there is a proposal on the ballot in November to institute a margins tax on Nevada businesses. The proceeds will, according to the proposed statute, be deposited in the State general fund and used for K-12 education. One can argue against (or for) such a tax, but that’s not why I think I probably will vote for it. I am a Realtor, and today at our monthly agency business meeting someone brought up this tax. It is, the person said, to be a tax on entire gross business income, and further will not necessarily be used for education. So, unlike most people, including, I’m sure, those who signed the petition to have it enacted, I read the entire proposed act. It isn’t easy, but I really did do that. And I learned a thing or two.

The first thing that I learned was that, in fact, under the proposed statute, a business will be taxes on the exact same income which is taxed by the Federal government. yes, the first line of Section 24 does indicate that the lesser of 70% of total gross receipts reported to the IRS or the results of a formula (it doesn’t matter what the formula is for this argument) will be used as the starting point of computing taxes owed. Well, first off, 70% isn’t 100%, but that isn’t the big lie. As I read through Section 24 I discovered that any allowable deductions on a Federal level will also be allowable deductions for purposes of the proposed tax. Anyone who can read can find out the same thing by simply reading the proposed statute. Or, put simply, the notion that we will be taxing small businesses to death is simply a lie. There is also a provision, right up at the top of the statute, that any business with gross revenue under one million dollars is exempt. So if you gross $999,999.99, you pay zero margins tax, even if half of that is profit. That sounds like the sort of argument made against this proposal, and logically it is. However, my statement has the virtue of being verifiably true. As to where the proceeds go, well, the act says to education. If people fight to redirect other general fund monies away from education, then this proposed statute can’t stop them. So, hey, that statement from this morning is true.

The person who made the statements also made a point about being cynical and bitter. Cynical and bitter enough to believe things that aren’t true? The fact is that our government is just about exactly as greedy as we are, which says a lot about those people who think that the government is nothing but a bunch of greedy income snatchers, in my not so humble opinion. But, who cares about education anyway? Hell, Bugsy Siegel didn’t go to college, and he’s a local hero! (Hey, Steve Wynn did, and look at him, huh?) Here’s my answer:

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics for February 2014, here are the unemployment rates for various levels of educational attainment:

• Not a High School Graduate — 9.8%
• High School Graduate, no college — 6.4%
• Associate’s Degree, or at least some college — 6.2%
• Bachelor’s Degree or higher — 3.4%

Just finishing High School makes you 1/3 less likely to be unemployed. And if you’re employed, you’re paying taxes, buying things, and generally keeping the economy moving along. You are not collecting unemployment, and probably not on food stamps or other type of public assistance. Paying for education is a great investment for a society to make, and a business owner should be more aware of that than anyone, since unemployed people make lousy customers, what with their general lack of disposable income. Want to cut your chances of unemployment by another third? See above and finish college. All four years worth, that is. But that’s another argument for another day.

For today, barring some true reasons to oppose the margins tax popping up, I’m likely to vote for it if only in revenge for being lied to. I just can’t stand being lied to.

Later,

Steve

By the way, you can read the proposed statute yourself right here.

I was 14 when some friends asked me if I’d heard about that group from England with all the long hair. I hadn’t, but I didn’t admit it. I memorized the names as quickly as I could (John, Paul, George, and Ringo if you didn’t know.) When I was 20, they broke up. In the meantime they had more influence on my generation than anything else, so far as I can see. The Rolling Stones, given that they’ve had decades to do it in, have developed a lot more variety in style and musicality. They are great, but that’s a different post. I actually hadn’t thought about The Beatles in a long time. Then I watched that Grammy tribute and it brought back a lot of memories. My title here is “Let It Be.” I didn’t like the song all that much when it was first released on the album of the same name. Like the rest of the album, it suffered a great deal from Phil Spector’s overproduction. When the bootleg album “Cum Back” was released, it was basically versions of all of the tracks on “Let It Be” without Phil Spector’s tinkering. Even then I didn’t like enriching copyright stealers, but I did go to the Popular Culture Center at Bowling Green State University (I travelled at least two blocks to get there) to listen. Even though the sound quality on that album is awful, the arrangements were much more personal and, well, a heck of a lot better. Once I heard “Let It Be” without Spector, I liked the song a lot, although I never knew how it came to be written. Then I heard the story alluded to during the Grammy tribute, and subsequently looked it up for myself. It’s really touching as a story. Here’s Paul stressed out by the tensions within the band, what with all that John and Yoko stuff, and he has a dream where his mother Mary appears and tells him that it will be alright if he can just “Let It Be.” Damn. According to a Wikipedia article, “Let It Be” is one of the best songs ever. Rolling Stone ranked it #20 on the “Top 200 Songs of All Time” list they published a few years ago. Could be. It certainly is poignant, now that I know the story. But just consider: if John Lennon hadn’t been such a shit, that song might never have been written. Hey, silver lining!

Get Your Kicks . . .

Mostly this category is what I use to describe current things along Historic Route 66, but I thought that readers might enjoy a view of Route 66 in its prime. The photo is from Albuquerque New Mexico in the 1960s. The Interstates were coming, but hadn’t yet made the road obsolete. It is posted on the MCM Revival page on Facebook.

The picture can also be accessed here.

Route 66, Albuquerque New Mexico, Late 1960s Photo: Ernst Haas

Writers of Southern Nevada is proud to present Writing for Love, February 12, 2014 at the Downtown Cocktail lounge in beautiful Downtown Las Vegas Nevada. Meet authors! Hear readings! Maybe get a book signed! Mingle and enjoy cocktails with actual writers of romance and erotica, just in time for Valentine’s Day. This is the first in a series of events by Writers of Southern Nevada which will feature various genres and venues as it progresses. Plan your evening now, and I’ll see you at Writing for Love!

When I was in grad school one evening one of my fellow grad turned out to be a former roadie for Bruce Springsteen. That made me perk up my ears when The Boss came on the radio, but I never really listened to all of the lyrics. I liked the songs, and Clarence Clemons ranks as one of the finest tenor horn players ever, but beyond admiring the fact that he was telling stories about growing up in New Jersey, I never dug into the actual words. Then lately a satellite channel I listen to gave heavy airplay to Born to Run. Because I heard it over and over, and because the quality of the sound is a lot better than what I listened to in the 80s, I was able to hear the poetry along with the music. And, holy buckets, I do believe that Springsteen might be one of the best poets of the last century. Here’s an example verse from Born to Run:

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
Girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the street tonight
In an everlasting kiss

I really think that William Carlos Williams would appreciate his fellow New Jerseyite’s words. That is one heckuva stanza, and no mistake. So, my apologies, Bruce, for not realizing before just what a good writer you were. Of words, I mean, and not just music.

Lately they’ve switched to rotating Thunder Road heavily. Okay by me!

S.

That poem is all copyright by somebody else. It’s just here as an aid to a review. Please don’t steal it.

Back in 2010 I called the Nevada Senate race for Ried in May. In 2012 I called the Presidential race for Obama in January. If you don’t believe me, search the “politics” tag and you’ll see them there, unchanged since they were posted. This year I’m not feeling so bold, so this is mostly going to be a vague sort of “in general” prediction. There will be a lot of idiosyncratic races this year, so with the exception of what I’m going to put in my next paragraph, I’m not ready to call anything yet.

That said, in Nevada our Governor is a man named Brian Sandoval, and Governor Sandoval is so popular that whoever the Democrats run against him will be doing it for the practice. In other words, I’m calling it for Sandoval right now. Me and everybody else, of course. I don’t endorse, I just predict. Outside of that race, and some inner city races in Las Vegas and a few rural races Outstate, it’s not so easy. The Democrat will win District 1, yo, and the Republican will take District 4.

Now for the “in general” and “vague” stuff. Unless the Republican party changes quite sharply, there will be much disappointment over the results of this midterm election. I don’t mean that they need to “abandon their principals.” I mean that they should come down off of their ideological high horse and look at the world as it exists. In some parts of the country there is no longer a majority ethnic group. Know what that changes? Instead of griping about a governor named “Smith” or “Rockefeller” you get to gripe about a governor named “Sandoval.” And heck, nobody even gripes much about our guy in particular. Because, you see, most of the people in Nevada live in a multiethnic soup. Amazingly, though, the stores stay open, the roads still get fixed, the water still flows from the taps and the power is reasonably reliable. The only difference is that you have to keep your complaints about “them” down, because “they” are “us.” I know that makes the hard core conservatives that the Republicans have been catering to see patriotic spots before their eyes, but that’s the way it is in the most populous areas of the country now. And the way it will be everywhere in a couple of decades. If you don’t like it, well, I feel sorry for you. You might as well not like Nitrogen — you have to keep swimming through it anyway.

More specifically, when you try to “appeal to hispanics” you entirely miss the boat. You know what “hispanics” actually are, right? They’re just people. Some of us are Vikings, some are English, some are Russian, some are Mexican, but all in heritage only. What any people want is just what plain old “anglos” want, and that is food on the table, meaningful employment, a chance that things are going to get better, and basic respect as a human being. The way to appeal to “hispanics,” “asians,” “african americans” and anyone else is to quit worrying about ethnic voting blocs, because they don’t exist. As soon as you say you’re trying to appeal to “them,” you’re separating them from the normal social processes of America, and that’s where you fail. If the Republicans can accept people without categorizing them, they might have a chance. But if they feel the need to “appeal to ________, including Women,” then they’re in for a let down.

And as of right now, my prediction is that such is what is going to happen in this election cycle. The Republicans will not get it this time, and they’ll not do nearly as well as they’d hoped to do. I’m not a member of a political party. I already assume that people are people (including, for the record, redneck Tea Party members) so it’s not an issue with me. But it will definitely have an effect on this year’s election results.

I don’t mean that there will be a huge Progressive/Liberal resurgence in 2014. Just that the Republicans will not take over the Senate, and may lose some seats in the House. <—– This paragraph contains my actual prediction!

Later,

Steve

When I am watching a movie, unless it is absolutely top-notch, one of the very best, I deconstruct the story. The timing, structure, pace, that sort of thing. I did not deconstruct Frozen.

Someone asked in a comment who I hosted with because this blog seems to load quicker than most. I agree. I added a link to my hosting service over on the right side, right above the one that says “Ads.” I use server101, an Australian hosting company with a mirror site in San Diego, California. They do load quickly, they are reasonably priced, and they have good customer service. This is, for the record, an unsolicited and unpaid plug.

The big holiday season is here, and this year it seems even odder than usual. For one thing, of course, there is the very rare convergence of Thanksgiving and Chanukah, which is sort of cool even though I’m not Jewish. I’m not Christian, either, though, but I like Christmas, so I’ll just point out for my Jewish friends that good turkey stuffing contains some bitter herbs, if you get my drift. Talk about a combo made in Yid heaven, huh? But the other unusual thing about Thanksgiving is that it is almost at the very end of November. It’s the 28th, which is only three days from the last of the month. In fact, it can not get any later, because if it tried it would be the fifth Thursday, and that doesn’t work. This has led some to suggest that Thanksgiving be permanently moved to, say, the third Thursday, so that Black Friday could be gotten underway in a more timely fashion. Uh, yeah. What’s Thanksgiving for again? Something about being grateful for what you have? Y’know, a gift given with love is a great gift, even if it isn’t what you first had in mind, and even if you didn’t go out on a frosty Thanksgiving evening to buy it by braving a crowd of determined shoppers. Geez, guys, give it a rest, will you? I live in a 24/7 town, and I would never tell anyone when they could or couldn’t sell anything, but I do wonder if those frantic shoppers have any idea why we have Thanksgiving in the first place. It’s not like we need an excuse to be gluttons, is it?

On Saturday comes the “official” start of the Christmas season, when every small town Santa will be putting on the red suit and schlepping down main street saying hello to the kids. This is an excellent thing, so far as I can tell. I think it’s great to have a season of being generous and forgiving, of parties and presents and of good cheer. The Romans thought so, too, which is why they celebrated Saturnalia over the solstice, in ways not all that different from the way we celebrate Christmas. In fact Jesus’s birthday is in the Spring sometime, but the Mass celebrating that birth was moved to coincide with Saturnalia in order to draw people away from Pagan gods. Like Saturn for example. December 25th was Mitra’s day, Mithra being a sun god that some Romans worshipped. It didn’t hurt Mithra that his day came in the middle of Saturnalia, and it hasn’t hurt Jesus any either. But as to Jesus being the reason we celebrate this time of year, well, no, it isn’t, but nice try. The fact that being generous and forgiving meshes well with “what Jesus would do” is a real bonus, though, I’ll give you that. As far as celebrating Jesus’s birthday goes, there’s no reason for a Christian not to, but one might be aware that everyone, even I, was born. That’s no big deal. Maybe there’s some other holiday you should be more concerned about? Uh, sure, maybe, right?

Personally, I’d prefer that stores start plugging Christmas maybe Thanksgiving week and no earlier. I’d also prefer that people keep in mind that there are a lot of holidays this time of year (even my Pagan friends celebrate Solstice or Yule) and that most of them urge people to be loving, generous and forgiving. Nobody is against you because they don’t call out your special holiday; zero clerks give a Pagan a “good Yule.”  For that matter, I’ve never heard a single “Good Kwanzaa, although my not being black might have something to do with that. This is a great time of year to let go of ourselves to the extent that we accept each other’s foibles and silly religious stories (any one you don’t believe in is silly, isn’t it?) Doing so won’t kill us, but it would make the holidays a lot easier to get through, don’t you think?

Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Ho Saturnalia, Good Mithra’s Day, Good Yule, Good Kwanzaa, and last but not least, Happy New Year 2014!

That oughta cover it.

Just saw Thor The Dark World. I know, little slow on this one. Good story, well told. And what I’d call a happy ending.