Recent content by HB Bear_IHB

I paid $4.27 for a gallon of regular in SF on a business trip yesterday. Diesel, though I didn't buy any, was $4.99.

I certainly hope Obama is the next President. I don't trust Hillary as far as I can throw her (and with hips like that, it ain't far.) John McCain is a neocon lackey and quite frankly I have had all the middle-eastern wars and Kristol, Rove and Norquist I can handle for a lifetime...

If you are invlolved in the generation of revenue, you might find the following pretty damned entertaining: <object width="325" height="250"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/youtube" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="325" height="250"></embed></object>

"more than 88% of the 330 housing markets surveyed showed price declines" These twelve words are the only part of this article that actually matter.

Thanks for taking the time to try and help me understand your perspective. I get your point that a dollar from capital gains has a head start, if you will , in its benefit to the economy, but a new dollar of investment seems like it has the exact same econmic benefit whether I pull it from a...

No_Such_Reality, But if I spend or invest my wages, won't they have the same net respective effects as if I did the same with my capital gains?

Again, I just don't know. I just don't see the difference in the difference of paying $1,000 less in tax becuase of a decrease in the tax rate or getting a $1,000 tax credit because I've got a kid or getting a $1,000 in food stamps or getting a $1,000 stimulus check from W or getting $1,000...

Nude, You know, I just don't know. From where I sit, monies don't have to be spent on the least fortunate for them to be considered welfare. I look at the $150 billion stimulus package, the Medicare drug benefit, exploration tax credits for the oil companies, the tax cuts for the rich and...

<em>Our current Republican leader is the exact opposite -- a social conservative and a fiscal liberal -- the worst of both worlds. It also explains much of his unpopularity.</em> Truer words never spoken. Of course the war hasn't made him any more popular, but that's a discussion for...

I put the responsibility for fiscal responsibility on the President. They may tweak the budget a little around the edges, but Congress essentially rubber-stamps what ever the President sends them as his recommendation. And even if one weren't to agree with that, consider the fact that the...

I've never understood the logic of having lower tax rates for capital gains than for wages. My family, as I am sure many of you do as well, enjoy income both from wages and from capital gains each year. The highest marginal rates we paid on what we W2'd was 33%. The highest rate we paid on...

correction, it's the RED states that are today's welfare queens.

Couple of interesting facts about the spending patterns of the Democrats and Republicans. First, Republican presidents have wracked up far more in decificit spending in both real and nominal terms on a per annum basis than the Democrats by a long shot. I don't know how the Republicans ever...

I live a little less than a mile from Brightwater and I have to agree with Nude, a low tide and a hot day make for some fairly-overwhelming, sulphur and thiol-laden stentch. My biggest complaint about Brightwater, however, has got to be the lot size--just can't get over how on-top of each other...

I've been too a few of the islands and here's my take. The big island is great if you're looking to power-lounge, catch up on your reading or as someone else put it, enjoy the lava/volocano. Oahu is pretty urban, lots and lots of resorts, some traffic, good nightlife--great place if you're in...