And Some Love for Mormon Singles . . .

So my post a few weeks ago focused just on Mormon Mommy Blogs, but I acknowledged that I enjoy reading many blogs. Though the focus of that post was just on Mormon Mommy Blogs, I felt bad that to focus on it was to marginalize single people in the church, something that happens (intentionally or not) all too often.

But karma sometimes is a true principle. LDS single people are getting a documentary made about them!



If you want to donate, here's their website.

More Corporation Idiocracy

Let's try this again, for those smart people. Because all of the comments on this blog entry didn't actually address the question I wanted my smart economist friends to answer.

Left and right, Democrat and Republican are false dichotomies.

It's really corporations vs. little people. Because they don't even pay as many taxes as illegal immigrants. And we keep rewarding idiots for their mistakes, and at our own expense!

That issue is what I want you all to address? Am I wrong?

Also, relevant from Calvin and Hobbes, and for a good laugh too:

Mormon Mommy Blogs

I didn’t blog about this when it first hit, but thought it worth mentioning. There was a very interesting article on Salon.com about Mormon Mommy Blogs a few months ago. I think you should all read it.

No seriously. Go read it.

Without reading too much into things, I did like this article’s response, that perhaps this is one way that LDS women can “let their light so shine,” so to speak.

My sister-in-law Robin even posted a response to the salon article that really made me smile (and also made me want to have some of that special Wyoming honey).

To those of you on my blogstalk list who qualify, I think, as Mormon Mommy Bloggers, thanks. I very much enjoy reading your blogs, even if I don’t comment as much as I should.

But my blogstalk list isn’t just Mormon Mommy Blogs. I have a variety of blogs that I read, from Feminist Mormon Housewives to a friend that I’ve had since middle school, even if he doesn’t update his blog (we still play Dungeons and Dragons together, so it’s all good). And I enjoy them all. It’s true that Mormon Mommy Blogs do give a bit of insight of how life can be quite blissful even when things are as complicated as they can be as recently married families with young kids usually are. Nevertheless, I appreciate all of the blogs that I read, because they are a glimpse into many lives, all of which are complicated to one degree or another. Except TAMN's, of course. (Although, I think Seriously So Blessed has gone defunct, which makes me sad.)

So to all of you whose blogs I read, thanks! Today, however, a special shout out goes to those Mormon Mommy Blogs I read, namely to Rebecca (my sister), Rachel, Robin (sisters-in-law), Elizabeth (cousin), Beth (sister-in-law’s sister-in-law, how extended family is that?), and Haylee (my best friend’s wife).

Budget Woes, Or "Of the 1%, By the 1%, and For the 1%"

So, I’m all for hardworking Americans to keep their hard-earned money, but when times get tough, shouldn’t they have to pay their fair share? Because it sure seems that they aren’t.

So over the last thirty years, the rich have gotten richer. Like, way richer.
And their tax rates have gone down steadily since WWII. And the super rich? They’ve recoved quite nicely from the recession.

Also, corporations end up paying no taxes. Wait, what? Yes yes. I know that we should tax businesses as a low rate, otherwise they, and their jobs move elsewhere (although, that seems to happen a lot anyway). But should they not be paying their fair share? I don't care if our corporate tax rate is 35%, if they don't actually pay it, then what is the tax rate of 35% for?

The Daily Show - I Give Up - Pay Anything...
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So, with the imminent arrival of a federal government shutdown, what is congress doing? Well, apparently duking it out over whether we should really kick the poor when they’re down or let ideology trump practicality.

I mean, it’s not like the Republicans have been acting sane over the things they want to cut? I mean, was it necessary to have an “emergency” session to cut funding to NPR?

Seems there aren’t a lot of options here. You can either:
1) Cut spending.
2) Raise taxes.
3) Do both.

The question is where to cut spending, or how to raise taxes.

As far as cutting spending, I think we should go after the things that actually take up the supermajority of the budget, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the Military. At least Representative Ryan mentioned going after Medicare. He may have done it poorly, ill-timed, and badly planned, but at least he talked about it. And at least this discussion is actually making Obama be serious about cutting the budget, like he wasn’t at the State of the Union Address, as shown by the beautiful youtube video.


But we shouldn't cut funding to certain things. Like Sesame Street.


In any event, all the actual discussion of cutting budgets is doing to me is reassuring me that my political status on facebook should remain “a pox on both your houses.” I watched a George Carlin skit years ago about the end of the American Dream. You can go youtube it if you want, but it’s George Carlin, so there’s a lot of swearing. Basically, he goes all conspiracy theory on how we can choose between Democrats and Republicans to give us the illusion of free choice, and in the end, it’s the rich and the corporations that actually control everything.

I don’t think he’s right. I’m certainly not thinking that the corporations and rich are a shadow government. But part of me thinks he’s not exactly wrong, either. He also said “Conservatives say that if you don’t give the rich more money, they will lose all their incentive to invest. As for the poor, they tell us they’ve lost all incentive because we’ve given them too much money.” Good comedians are good precisely because, sometimes, they hit the nail right on the head.

It also reminds me of this excerpt from the Gospel Principles manual. “All of us should be willing to serve, no matter what our income, age, or social position. Some people think only the poor and lowly should serve. Those people are called Republicans. Other people think service should be given only by the rich. Those people are called Democrats.”

Oh, sorry, that was my editing. However, that was the editing going on in my mind while I read it live in Priesthood a few weeks ago, when I took this picture on my iPhone precisely because I edited it in my head while reading it live.



So I’m sorry. We should cut spending. We should also, however, raise taxes. When the going gets tough, I think the wealthy should pay more taxes. And the going got tough a few years ago. This has also been proposed. But it’s not going to happen. We argued about that last year when deciding to extend the Bush tax cuts. (Krugman argues quite convincingly in that piece that "sacrifice is for the little people.") So the rich don’t have to pay higher taxes. However, I’m not exactly sure they’re in touch with reality anymore. Heck, I’m not sure our senators are all in touch with reality anymore.

Basically, it seems that whatever happens, the poor are the ones that get the short end of the stick. And it keeps getting shorter. I'm beginning to agree with George Carlin that the choice between Democrats and Republicans is a false dichotomy.

A pox on both your houses, Democrats and Republicans.

However, I’m no economist. Thoughts from you, my smart friends?