Who'da thunk . . .

. . . the government would actually shutdown. Well, this isn't the first time. It happened during the Clinton administration.

AND Rob Kaplan (Harvard Business School) says the government ALREADY HAS shut down, and this for a number of reasons. One, particularly glaring one though, is that 'while President Obama's budget commission developed proposals to address budget issues, a lame-duck Congress declared a temporary victory by extending all tax cuts (even for the wealthy) as part of a deal applauded by both sides of the aisle that, in effect, simply kicked the can down the road.' Fans of tax cuts for the rich think that tax cuts eventually pay for themselves, even when the facts suggest otherwise. They are unwilling to even discuss the facts that underlie this premise.

Gannett reporter William Theobald learned from his sources exactly what a government shutdown would entail:
- The Internal Revenue Service would continue to process electronically filed returns and provide refunds (and take payments), but would not process paper returns and would not conduct audits.
- The Small Business Administration would not issue small business loans.
- The Federal Housing Administration would not guarantee mortgages. During the 1995 shutdown, 12 percent of mortgages were FHA-guaranteed. Now, 30 percent are.
- The national parks would close, as would the Smithsonian Institution (and the Cherry Blossom Festival parade in Washington would be cancelled).
- There is no hard estimate on the total number of federal employees who would be furloughed, but it would be in the "same vicinity" as when 800,000 people temporarily were laid off.
- The Veterans Administration would remain open because it is on a multi-year appropriations schedule.
- The Environmental Protection Agency would no longer be issuing new permits and would stop work on Environmental Impact Statements, which are required for many transportation projects.
- The Social Security Administration would continue to provide benefits for current recipients. The SSA has not finalized the rest of its plans.While President Obama's budget commission developed proposals to address these issues, a lame-duck Congress declared a temporary victory by extending all tax cuts (even for the wealthy) as part of a deal applauded by both sides of the aisle that, in effect, simply kicked the can down the road.
- Medicare would continue to pay out benefits, at least for the short term. If a shutdown lasted for months, the trust fund would run out of money and payments would stop.
- Department of Defense employees required to stay on the job would continue to earn money, but they would not be paid. A significant number of civilian DOD employees would be furloughed.
- The same general rules apply to the legislative and judicial branches of the federal government, but the OMB official said those two branches make their own plans.

Politics, ideology and questionable theory should not influence this process. When your representatives ask you to re-elect him/her, ask them why they don't take YOUR BEST INTEREST more seriously!!!



Oh yeah, hope you'll check out ANOTHER SHOT by Ray Jozwiak (that's me!)

You don't have to. . .

. . . travel to the record shops, the Best Buys, Targets, WalMarts or the mall. You don’t have to decide whether to pay cash, write a check or use your credit card. You don’t have to lug it home and leave it under the car seat, and go outside in the rain (or snow) to get it after you’ve dragged your groceries, dog food, dry cleaning and six pack in from the car, forgetting that it was even under that car seat. You don’t have to clutter your countertop with that pesky little receipt which you can’t decide whether to throw away, recycle or file, and that your usually leave on the countertop, only to move it back and forth between that countertop and kitchen the table (sometimes the dining room table, for variety) because you couldn’t make the aforementioned decision. You don’t have to add another plastic bag to your already monumental collection which occupies a prominent place in your kitchen, laundry or mud room which frequently find their way to the ocean only to asphyxiate some innocent little sea creature or sit for innumerable years in the trash heap at your local landfill. You don’t have to struggle with that indestructible cellophane wrapping and cut a 2 x 3/4 inch gash in the tenderloin part of your right (your left if you are right-handed) hand using a steak knife to break through, or scour the house for that little plastic ‘cd opener’ which you have so wisely stored in ‘A GOOD PLACE’ which, as we all know, is the place where you will never find it until you have absolutely NO NEED for it! Which, of course, will prompt you to search for a band-aid, which you meant to buy last trip to the grocery store but forgot because you didn’t write it on your grocery list after you used the last one (probably the last time you bought a cd). You don’t have to struggle with that permanent, impenetrable tape that they put at the top of the jewel case and that only comes off in ½ millimeter strips instead of all at once, if and when you can pry off a corner. You don’t have to find a space for it on that over-crowded book-shelf, cd rack or the bottom cupboard of your entertainment center which is already over-stocked with Barney videotapes and chick-flicks that you can only bear to watch once, even though you thought they were funny and that you’d like to own them (the chick-flicks, not the Barney tapes). You don’t have to jam up the cd player in your car because you forgot Dean Martin’s Greatest Hits was still in there and you forced it into the slot anyway to find now that you can’t listen to either of them, or any other cd for that matter. . . or discover that the batteries in your personal cd-man only have enough power to illuminate the display that shows you are low on battery power. . . or find that your cd changer in your stereo has changed. . . it now DOESN’T work (which leads you back to Best Buy, Target etc. above, but that’s another story).

All you have to do is:
purchase it online
download
sit back and listen

Bet you wouldn’t have it any other way!

ANOTHER SHOT by Ray Jozwiak (that's me!)

It's finally here. . .

ANOTHER SHOT

NOW AVAILABLE

Visit My Website - www.rayjozwiak.com

Not quite sure. . .

. . . how we can ever stop such ridiculousness as the Terry Jones/Koran-burning/Afghanistan riot/killing or whatever you want to call it.

The situation provides a vivid illustration of what can be achieved when ignorance and reactionary violence are combined. . . death.
Of course some parties involved not only have no objection to the resulting death, they actually welcome it.

Since I clearly see which side of THIS argument is the correct one - NEITHER side - I won't belabor any point here at all.
I only want to use it as another opportunity to repeat what I believe to be a lesson learned, or more importantly, a preventative measure to such nonsense-induced tragedy - EDUCATION.

Take the time to LEARN. I mean real objective LEARNING. This would and should entail the consultation of MULTIPLE sources (and not merely or exclusively one or another 'holy' book), discussion (objective, non-emotional discussion) followed by some REAL thinking. . .

although I wonder now if the number of human beings truly capable of such educational endeavor is, of late, dwindling. . .

Coming April 5th - ANOTHER SHOT

by Ray Jozwiak

Some divine. . .

. . . musical chops from Mr. James Carter, this fine Sunday morning. . .



That saxophone had to be smokin' by the end of this solo. Does anyone know the name of the gentleman to James' right? (looks like Phil Woods, possibly) Watch the video twice, but keep an eye on that man the second time. His reactions to the solo are very entertaining.

Coming April 5th - ANOTHER SHOT

by Ray Jozwiak

More money. . .

. . . issues. (Root of all evil? Maybe not ALL, but MANY!)

The Wall Street Journal ran an article last week about why it's a 'BAD IDEA' to tax wealthier folks at a higher rate.

A former economic forecaster for California, said that the state was overdependent on its wealthier citizens. Upon encountering a group protesting state spending cuts whose signs said "We Love Jobs!", this forecaster thinks THEY are missing the real problem. California, he says, depends upon the top 1% of 'earners' (important choice of words on his part, don't you think?) for almost half of its income tax revenue. That's the guys making more than $490,000 per year.

But do you know why this forecaster thinks that's a PROBLEM???? It's because theses unfortunate 'earners' have "especially volatile incomes." They are the state's most unstable income group, according to this financial wiz. (Such a sad story, isn't it????)
He further 'justifies' his argument by stating that New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois being the states most heavily reliant on taxes from the rich are now among those with the biggest budget holes.

The top federal tax rate—which applies to joint filers reporting $379,000 in taxable income—is still twice as high as the rate for joint filers reporting income of $69,000 or less. But alas, as they've grown, the incomes of the wealthy have become more unstable. That unconscionable growth of income, read GREED, is how we got into this economic mess in the first place. Between 2007 and 2008, the incomes of the top-earning 1% fell 16%, compared to a decline of 4% for U.S. earners as a whole. But they didn't tell us about the rise on the other side of the 'mountain.' As they've grown, the incomes of the wealthy have become more unstable. (I think I'm gonna cry!) Because today's highest salaries are usually linked to financial markets—through stock-based pay or investments—they are more prone to sudden shocks. Again, I think our problem here is obvious and this 'street' dog is barking up the wrong tree.

Many republicans advocate a flat tax in California to reduce volatility and keep high-earners from leaving the state. Instead of a steeply disproportionate income tax rate, a flatter, broader tax rate would help stabilize the most volatile of California's revenues, they say. The other camp says, and I think rightly, that the volatility problem can be solved by making sure citizens are fully employed and decently paid. Progressive tax systems are the best way to equalize the rising riches at the top and rising poverty at the bottom. Flattening the tax system only adds to income inequality.

So in short, the Wall Streeters and conservatives would prefer a different system. . . tax the poor people whose incomes (if they have incomes) are not as 'volatile' as the rich people and, VOILA!!! Problem solved.

Is it me or is something wrong with that picture??????????



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Coming April 5th - ANOTHER SHOT

by Ray Jozwiak

Rambling. . .

. . . about everything

It's supposed to rain all day and if the day looks anything like yesterday, it's going to be an awful, depressingly, gloomy affair through which it will be difficult to stay awake and soberly engaged in a professional capacity. Gaddafi is saying that western leaders should resign, not he. Strange dude, man. I always thought the actor Stewart Margolin bore a resemblance to Gaddafi. He's the guy that appeared on the Rockford Files in the 70s with James Garner, as the character Angel. I think he should be cast as the Libyan leader should anyone decide to make a movie about that troubled North African nation. My wife asked if I might be interested in seeing the stage production of the Addams Family, prospect of which I have been, up until this point, somewhat lukewarm. She left a browser open on the laptop last night that involved the current touring production of that show and I must say, I was attracted. Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth (who are in it on Broadway) are quite funny in the scenes I watched. Of course, as usual with me, when pondering the prospect of a remake of something from my childhood, I search YouTube to watch the old versions. Wish Nathan and Bebe were in the touring company. And, as quite often occurs, I find that the original is really not quite as wonderful as my perception would have me believe. The Addams Family printed cartoons, of course, the exception to this rule. The television show, case in point. I love John Astin and Carolyn Jones and Jackie Coogan. Somehow, the YouTube episode I briefly viewed moved at a fast and jerky pace, at least faster and jerkier than I remember, making it look like an old silent movie WITH sound- if THAT makes any sense. And the laugh track, as all laugh tracks, was hideous. I fell asleep before I could look at clips from the movies with Raul Julia and Angelica Huston. I KNOW they're great though. I'm thinking about my music and ANOTHER SHOT and how difficult marketing what I do actually is. As Capt. John Quincy Taggert says in Galaxy Quest - NEVER GIVE UP!. . . but I think it's time to give up this blog for now.

Coming April 5th - ANOTHER SHOT

by Ray Jozwiak