Tax Graph
This is from my good political nemesis Eric D. The Riddler to my Batman. The Liz Lemon to my Jack Donaghy.
So, what’s your input? What does this mean?
I have a question. What income puts one the top marginal tax rate? What does “marginal” mean?
Ask and ye shall receive. Check this out:
Don’t Talk to the Police
I’ve watched this I think four times now. I get something new each time.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4097602514885833865
Flying By
Second part of the Swords of the Prophet.
I’ve started to take off part of Thursday, sort of like a day off. I am caught up on my emails (except for a few which require me to be at the studio).
But back to this morning. I got up bright and early, put up a few Youtube videos but then went back to sleep. It was delicious. I’m like an old guy now. I use a heating pad. That thing keeps me toasty at night.
I’m forty. What oh what shall I do for my mid-life crisis? I’ve decided to have three small ones rather than one big one. Any suggestions? Nothing illegal or immoral please. Irresponsible is OK.
I headed down the studio to wrap up some business. Among other things, we finished up a booster draft (four of us played in that) for Magic. Loads of fun, I can’t wait until the next one.
What else? My main focus right now is to get projects booked for April.
While I was in Provo today I saw a guy holding a sign in the middle of a main thoroughfare: Abolish the IRS, Abolish the Fed. Of course, I stopped to see what was going on. He explained, “I got tired of doing nothing.” Just one lone guy doing the only thing he could think of.
My Congressman Rocks!
About five minutes of fishing on the Google and I found all the contact information I needed about my three representatives. Everyone has ONE congressman (for the House of Representatives) and TWO Senators (that represent the whole state in the Senate).
I found out that all three have offices in the same building, and it’s right near one of my well-trod routes in Provo. I doubt they spend much time there, but I do plan on making regular visits.
Thunderhawk Completed
Weeeeee!
Giddyup!
I understand it as follows:
The US Treasury takes in taxes (that’s the IRS). They also cut checks. When congress wants to give money to whoever, it is a check from the treasury.
When they are broke they do not have to stop. This is called deficit spending. Reducing the deficit means to “not overspend by as much as before”. When your personal household does this it means that they are overdrawing your bank account or writing bad checks.
But the Federal Government does not have to play by the same rules.
They order the Federal Reserve (a cartel of private banks) to create the money. The Fed does not have this money on “reserve”. There is no investment, no gold, no reserve, nothing that backs this up. There is a checkbook but no checking account.
The money enters the system. The total number of dollars available is increased. The checks are cut and the money is distributed to the organizations selected by Congress’s bill. These organizations get to spend the dollars at the value they have in 2009 (before inflation takes effect).
Then the money is deposited in banks where they get to lend it out at about ten times what was deposited.
The money later has to be paid back to the Federal Reserve with interest. The piece of the puzzle that I’m missing is “who gets the interest?”
This system creates an invisible crushing wave across the whole nation. You, the common man, feel its effects but do not quite understand what is happening. You are told that the country is in “recession” and are expected to accept this as part of life. Various parties are blamed.
I do not understand everything. But I do know this: my life is not my own. At any time a low-level bureaucrat from any number of state or federal agencies could bring down the might of Government on me. And don’t think it couldn’t happen to anyone. There are tens of thousands of pages of laws, code and regulations (most of this tax code). Have you read them?
I must pay income taxes. I must collect income taxes from my workers. The threat? Imprisonment or confiscation of my property. However, I recently got a little blurb in my Social Security notice saying that the program is likely to be insolvent by 2016 (PS- keep paying into it). Sounds like I’m a loser in the Social “Security” program. The short stick.
I do not trust government. I do not trust large corporations. I definitely don’t trust the media (any kind). The consolidation of power into monolithic blocks has the end result of crushing the common man. However, a corporation generally does not have a police force that will arrest and imprison you for not buying their product. They can be overthrown relatively easily by the masses.
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Enron is gone. The IRS is forever.
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I do trust my local community. The closer a government is to the people, the easier they are to change if there is a problem. It’s my opinion that my ward (congregation) could handle almost any problem. I know this because we do. A city is a good level of government in my estimation. This is where the lion’s share of tax revenue should be going (which it’s not). A State is the largest size goverment that there should be, with only a little tiny Federal level government doing some very, very basic things.
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How would you feel if State Farm came and arrested you for not paying your premiums? Well, Social Security is like an insurance program. Only it is enforced with threat of fine and imprisonment.
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Your labor is your life. By the time you die you will have spent ten or twenty years in service to the federal government. The government (composed of men who swore this one thing: to uphold and protect the Constitution) will have taken away part of your life.
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Are you signed up for Selective Service? They can draft you into the military and spend your blood on foreign soil.
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Who is behind all this? I believe that if I pull back far enough, and put enough of the puzzle pieces together, there will be an empty space in the shape of something.
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For my part, I am studying and getting involved as much as possible. And what I do with this blog. But most importantly I’m voting Independent. It’s been a hundred years of pillaging under the two parties we have now. That they point fingers at each other is an elaborate charade in my estimation– both covering for the same fundamental regime. A two headed monster.
Now some comments by my good friend Eric D.
Have to take issue with one section:
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“When they are broke they do not have to stop. This is called deficit spending. Reducing the deficit means to “not overspend by as much as before”. When your personal household does this it means that they are overdrawing your bank account or writing bad checks.”
Its not writing bad checks, but spending using a credit card financed by other countries like China, Russia, and much of Europe buying US Treasury Bills. This is still potentially very bad should say China invade Taiwan and call in their debt because we act to defend that country. This actually isn’t a big a threat as it sounds as the Dollar is actually still a pretty good investment compared to most other countries.
“When they are broke they do not have to stop. This is called deficit spending. Reducing the deficit means to “not overspend by as much as before”. When your personal household does this it means that they are overdrawing your bank account or writing bad checks.”
Its not writing bad checks, but spending using a credit card financed by other countries like China, Russia, and much of Europe buying US Treasury Bills. This is still potentially very bad should say China invade Taiwan and call in their debt because we act to defend that country. This actually isn’t a big a threat as it sounds as the Dollar is actually still a pretty good investment compared to most other countries.
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However, we cannot simply stop deficit spending altogether, a lot of good programs would cease and the recession would certainly get worse. The deficit is a severe problem that needs to be fixed rapidly through some revenue increases (Cap & Trade program on CO2 emissions, raising the marginal tax rate on those that make more than $250,000, etc.) but mostly through the reduction of spending on bad programs. It is important to note that economic recovery significantly helps reduce the deficit as incomes rise. Reducing the deficit needs to be done quickly, but cannot be done immediately.
However, we cannot simply stop deficit spending altogether, a lot of good programs would cease and the recession would certainly get worse. The deficit is a severe problem that needs to be fixed rapidly through some revenue increases (Cap & Trade program on CO2 emissions, raising the marginal tax rate on those that make more than $250,000, etc.) but mostly through the reduction of spending on bad programs. It is important to note that economic recovery significantly helps reduce the deficit as incomes rise. Reducing the deficit needs to be done quickly, but cannot be done immediately.
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Unrelated, I know there is a lot of misinformation out there about the concept of raising taxes on the rich. When Obama talks about raising taxes on those people that make more than $250,000 by 3% most people think that means you have to pay 3% more on your entire income. Instead, its only raising on income above $250k. So if you make $350,000 the first $250,000 is taxed at the existing rate and you pay 3% more on the next $100,000. Bottom line is that if you are making $350,000 a year you are only going to pay an additional $3,000 in taxes or .085% more of your total income. Also please note that this rate only goes to the levels it was before Bush took over which if you remember the economy was spinning at a good clip at that time. Also keep in mind that is about 10% less than what the top tax rate under President Ronald Reagan.
Unrelated, I know there is a lot of misinformation out there about the concept of raising taxes on the rich. When Obama talks about raising taxes on those people that make more than $250,000 by 3% most people think that means you have to pay 3% more on your entire income. Instead, its only raising on income above $250k. So if you make $350,000 the first $250,000 is taxed at the existing rate and you pay 3% more on the next $100,000. Bottom line is that if you are making $350,000 a year you are only going to pay an additional $3,000 in taxes or .085% more of your total income. Also please note that this rate only goes to the levels it was before Bush took over which if you remember the economy was spinning at a good clip at that time. Also keep in mind that is about 10% less than what the top tax rate under President Ronald Reagan.
How to Set Up a Project
We are now booking projects for April. I have a number of specials going. Details:
Getting a Quote
As a general rule of thumb it costs $500-1200 per 1000 points in an army. This is if we provide everything (models, assembly, and painting). This varies based on a number of factors, mostly the quality of painting you choose.
As a general rule of thumb it costs $500-1200 per 1000 points in an army. This is if we provide everything (models, assembly, and painting). This varies based on a number of factors, mostly the quality of painting you choose.
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If you just want painting, cost is about half of that. If you just want assembly and painting (ie you are sending your models unassembled) the cost is about $350-800 per 1000 points in an army.
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This is a generalization and applies to whole armies. It doesn’t work reliably for single models!
You can download a generic sheet with exact prices for your army here. You do not have to fill this out yourself. I will be happy to work from an emailed list. This is how to fill it out:
You have three options to get a quote:
A) Fill out the sheet yourself This spreadsheet will auto-calculate all costs associated with your commission. If you are providing and/or assembling your own models you will naturally zero out those totals.
B) Send a list of what you’d like done. What models need assembly? Cleaning? What models are you providing? What models would you like us to provide? I’ll send back a detailed quote.
C) Call me and I will set everything up over the phone with you. 801 372 8545.
A) Fill out the sheet yourself This spreadsheet will auto-calculate all costs associated with your commission. If you are providing and/or assembling your own models you will naturally zero out those totals.
B) Send a list of what you’d like done. What models need assembly? Cleaning? What models are you providing? What models would you like us to provide? I’ll send back a detailed quote.
C) Call me and I will set everything up over the phone with you. 801 372 8545.
We have several specials available. Only one can be applied.
1) Level 2—models can be given a basic paint job. Save 30% off painting.
2) Artistic License—we decide completely how a project is painted and based. Save 10% on painting.
3) Combine Level 2 and Artistic License. Save 35% off painting
4) Tank Factory—ten tanks painted for $400, assembled for $200. See below for details. Can be combined with Artistic License.
Scheduling a Project
This project will be scheduled officially for completion in 25-35 days. If you need your project for an event (like a tournament), please make that known, we can often accommodate that.
To schedule a project, we need the following things:
1) The models (or a list of models to be acquired).
2) A deposit as indicated on the Project Breakdown spreadsheet
a. Pay by phone with major Credit Card 801 372 8545
b. Pay via Paypal to bluetablepainting@gmail.com
c. Pay by MO (see website Service Guide for details)
3) The Instructions .doc sheet filled out and returned.
Terms of Service
I would recommend that you look over our Service Guide .
Minimum Run Size
Generally speaking, Levels 2-4 are reserved for whole units of models or vehicles/monsters. Levels 5-6 are for individual hero types.
Contact Information
If you want to contact me for any reason:
Email at bluetablepainting@gmail.com
Phone number is (801) 372-8545
Facebook ID is bluetablepainting
Google Chat ID is bluetablepainting
Thanks,
Shawn
PS- if you have any problem with the spreadsheet, just let me know—I can send the quote as in-line text.
Tank Factory Special
· $400 for painting ten tanks
· $700 for painting twenty tanks
· $200 for assembly of ten tanks
For this special we need some leeway with color scheme. A complicated pattern or type might cost more.
How fast can we get it done?
Generally, a 3-4 week turnaround. Unless you send the models, then that takes less time.
Large tanks, like a Land Raider or Necron Monolith, count as two tanks.
A Baneblade counts as three tanks. Assembly is $90—the Baneblade has something like 250 parts.
Small tanks, like an Ork warbuggy, count as half a tank.
Exposed crew, dozer blade, unusual upgrades, or set of chaos spikes count as a regular trooper, at $4 for painting, $2 for assembly.
Tau Piranhas and Land Speeders count as regular tanks. They are smaller but are not less time-consuming to paint.
