Now this page is slightly different ... The material below started out on my Page 10 under the Wall Street section. But, alas, there's a size limit in what is allowed as to what is allowed in any one webpage; so easy enough, no big deal, I just removed the "odds 'n ends" and placed them here for you ... return is easy from the links below.
A SATISFIED TAX PAYER Attn: IRS
Enclosed is my 2001 tax return & payment. Please take note of the attached article from USA Today newspaper. In the article, you will see that the Pentagon is paying $171.50 for hammers and NASA has paid $600.00 for a toilet seat.
Please find enclosed four toilet seats (according to above article, the value is: $2400) and six hammers (according to above articke, the value is: $1029).
This brings my total payment to $3429.00.
Please note the overpayment of $22.00 and apply it to the "Presidential Election Fund," as noted on my return.
Might I suggest you the send the above mentioned fund a 1.5 inch screw." (See attached article where HUD paid $22.00 for a 1.5 inch phillips head screw.)
It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year.
Sincerely,
A satisfied taxpayer
BASICS OF ECONOMICS
- People cannot have all the goods and services they want. They must make choices.
- Making choices means weighing costs and benefits and thinking in terms if more and less, not just all or nothing.
- One kind of choice facing individuals and their government representatives is how to divide up goods and services among those who want them ... There are many different methods.
- People respond predictably to positive and negative incentives.
- Generally, trading happens only when everyone involved expects to gain by the trade.
- For people and for countries ... concentrating on what one does best and cheapest, and then trading with others, brings greater overall prosperity.
- When buyers and sellers interact, they form a market; the trading they do determines market prices.
- Prices are signals that people use to learn about supply and demand in the market.
- When sellers compete, prices fall and costs are cut. When buyers compete, prices rise and goods and services go to the buyer willing to pay the most.
- Institutions evolve to help market economics function. Banks, corporations, labor unions, a legal system and property rights are examples.
- Money makes it easier to trade, borrow, save, invest and compare the value of goods and services.
- When interest rates rise or fall, they balance the amount of money saved and the amount borrowed, changing how people choose among saving, investing for the future or spending today.
- Income for most people depends on the market value of the work they do or of the goods and services they sell.
- Unions can offset this market value in inflating the value of the work and the resulting income. Ideally, it is the free and open market that will function best … with some limitations.
- Entrepreneurs set up businesses and take risks in hope of profit.
- Investment in factories, machinery and new technology or in the the health, education and training of people can raise future standards of living.
- Government’s role in a market economy includes things like providing for national defense and making and enforcing laws. Most government policies have the effect of redistribution income.
- Costs of government policies sometimes exceed benefits, often because they are aimed at a goal other than economic efficiency, or it could be that those who benefit have more say than those who pay.
- Over all, income, employment, and prices are determined by the combined effects of all the choices made by the people, businesses, institutions, and government.
- Unemployment imposes costs on people and nations ... Unexpected inflation imposes costs on many people but benefits some others. When inflation leads people and organizations to use resources to protect against uncertain future prices, the economy can suffer.
- The Federal budget and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate policy broadly influence the economy.
FRUGALITY
from ... "Your Money or Your LIfe" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin"Enjoyment of the material world, isn't that hedonism? ... A hedonist might consume the juice of five oranges as a prelude to a pancake breakfast.
A frugal person, on the other hand, might relish eating a single orange, enjoying the color and texture of the whole fruit, the smell and the light spray that comes as you begin to peel it, the translucence of each section, the flood of flavors that pours out as a section bursts over the tongue ... and the thrift of saving the peels for baking.
To be frugal means to have a high joy-to-stuff ratio. If you get one unit of joy for each material possession, that's frugal. But should you need ten possessions to even begin registering on the joy meter, then you're missing the point of even being alive."
MONEY It can buy you a Book, But not Knowledge.
It can buy you a Position, But not Respect.
It can buy you a House, But not a Home.
It can buy you Medicine, But not Health.
It can buy you a Clock, But not Time.
It can buy you a Bed, But not Sleep.
It can buy you Blood, But not Life.
It can buy you Sex, But not Love.
So you see, money isn't everything. The best things in life can't be bought, and often we destroy ourselves trying.I tell you all this because I am your friend, and as your friend I want to take away your needless pain and suffering.
So send me all your money and I will suffer for you.
A truer friend than me you will never find.
CASH ONLY, PLEASE.
.
PROTECTING YOURSELF FROM STOCK SCAMS SEC offers information at ... Tips for Investors ... asking these questions:
- Is the stock legitimate? Check the SEC’s database and your state securities regulator - NASAA - that's the North American Securities Administrators Association.
- Who’s behind the pitch? Make sure the seller is licensed in our state.
- Is it too good to be true? Then probably it is. Remember now, just because it’s on the web doesn’t mean it’s legitimate. I’m on the web; am I legitimate? (just kidding)
RULES STUDENTS DO NOT LEARN IN SCHOOL In Bill Gates' book (Business @ The Speed of Thought), he lays out 11 rules that students do not learn in high school or college ... What he argues is that our feel good, politically correct teachings have created a generation of children with no concept of reality who are then set up for certain failure in the real world.
RULE 1 - Life is not fair; get used to it.
RULE 2 - The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
RULE 3 - You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with a car phone, until you earn both.
RULE 4 - If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.
RULE 5 - Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.
RULE 6 - If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
RULE 7 - Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try "delousing" the closet in your own room.
RULE 8 - Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
RULE 9 - Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
RULE 10 - Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
RULE 11 - Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
UNDERSTANDING HOW AMERICA WORKS ... If a woman burns her thighs on the hot coffee she was holding in her lap while driving, she blames the restaurant.
If your teen-age son kills himself, you blame the rock 'n' roll music or musician he liked.
If you smoke three packs a day for 40 years and die of lung cancer, your family blames the tobacco company.
If your daughter gets pregnant by the football captain you blame the school for poor sex education.
If your neighbor crashes into a tree while driving home drunk, you blame the bartender.
If your cousin gets AIDS because the needle he used to shoot up with heroin was dirty, you blame the government for not providing clean ones.
If your grandchildren are brats without manners, you blame television.
If your friend is shot by a deranged madman, you blame the gun manufacturer.
And if a crazed person breaks into the cockpit and tries to kill the pilots at 35,000 feet, and the passengers kill him instead, the mother of the deceased blames the airline.
I must have lived too long to understand the world as it is anymore. So if I die while my old, wrinkled ass is parked in front of this computer, I want you to blame Bill Gates, OK?
SECRET TO WEALTH AND SUCCESS After applying some simple algebra to some trite phrases and cliches, we see a new understanding can be reached of the secret to wealth and success; so note:
Knowledge is Power
Time is Money,... and, as every engineer knows:
Power is Work over Time.So, substituting algebraic equations for these time worn bits of wisdom, we get:
K = P (1)
T = M (2)
P = W/T (3)Now, do a few simple substitutions … Put W/T in for P in equation (1), which yields:
K = W/T (4)
Put M in for T into equation (4), which yields:
K = W/M (5).
Now we've got something ... Expanding back into English, we get:
Knowledge equals Work over Money ... What this MEANS is that:1. The More You Know, the More Work You Do, and
2. The More You Know, the Less Money You Make.Solving for Money, we get:
M = W/K (6)
Money equals Work Over Knowledge.From equation (6) we see that Money approaches infinity as Knowledge approaches 0, regardless of the Work done ... What THIS MEANS is … The More you Make, the Less you Know … Solving for Work, we get
W = M K (7)
Work equals Money times KnowledgeFrom equation (7) we see that Work approaches 0 as Knowledge approaches 0 … What THIS MEANS is … The stupid rich do little or no work.
Working out the socioeconomic implications of this breakthrough is left as an exercise for the reader.
SAFEGUARDING YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER This is only in the event that someone stole your social security number and is using it to open credit accounts. The crime is called "True Name Theft."
Here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know.
As everyone always advises, cancel your credit cards immediately, but the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them easily. Having to hunt for them is additional stress you WON'T need at that point.
File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where it was stolen, this proves to credit providers you were diligent, and is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).
But here's what is perhaps most important: Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security Number.
The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.
The numbers are:
Equifax 1-800-525-6285
Experian (formerly TRW) 1-800-301-7195
Trans Union 1-800-680-7289
Social Security Administration also has a fraud line at 1-800-269-0271Remember, keeping these numbers in your wallet (which was lost or stolen) won't do much good.
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Formula For Success: I BELIEVE + I CAN + I WILL = I DID.