I know it's been like.... well a few months anyway, since I've blogged. By the way, I enjoy the fact that we can make nouns into verbs so easily- it's very classy.... though really "Blog" "Blogged" and "Blogging" are not really the most attractive words, and it kind of makes me think of sloshing through a bog of thought- which might be like what reading my blog posts is like. Be sure to put a rubber boot on your brain- other wise your brain's sock might get soggy- and socks are never the same after getting sogged with bog.
Slightly more on topic: These past few months have been pretty busy what with learning valuable life lessons and such. Also Economics. I've learned some economics. Now, I want to tell you guys a story about a man with a lime, but I don't think I'll have time tonight, so, please everyone remind me to tell you in my NEXT blog post- which might be better anyway as the lime-man epic may still be unfolding, and it's best to tell a story all in one go I think. Oh- and all of you international readers of my ridiculously famous Public Internal Dialog can send me reminders in your native tongues if you'd like- except for the french. French tongues kind of gross me out. I'm sorry, but spit was not meant to be exchanged in that manner and if it was, then God wouldn't have given us individual mouths, but rather a large communal tank of spit attached to hoses which then extended down our throats and stirred with turbine engines. (Some people question my logic on that one, but you know, I feel like it's a matter of faith. You can't think about faith logically- and if you try to apply logic to what I believe I will be *forced* to act out in an irrational fit. Note however that this does not prevent me from shooting your beliefs down- but that's because my beliefs are correct, and yours aren't, and I have a LOT of circular thinking to PROVE it.)
But this raises the question about how politics should apply to society. ...... okay, now that I think about it.... that question really isn't raised at all. But we'll pretend it is, because I don't really know how to use segways when writing.
So, a lot of people get caught up on this whole taxation issue. Like "holy crap, I have a lot of taxes, I wish I didn't have so many taxes" or "holy crap, there are a few people with a whole lot of money. I wish we could tax them more", or even "holy crap, my school sucks- I wish more tax money was applied ensuring that I get a quality eduction!". Well, first of all, I would like to know when it became acceptable to start phrases off with praising the divine quality of deification. But also, I feel like there is a fundamental problem with this whole taxing situation- it just kind of seems.... so dependent on money and stuff. I don't really like money. I mean if someone is going to give me money, that's really nice and everything, but I never feel like the feeling of receiving money can offset all the bad stuff that comes with the idea of money.
First of all, the entire concept of money is to find a way to quantify "Utility" which is basically a politically correct way of saying "Happiness". To me, I feel like Happiness is one of those things that really shouldn't BE quantified. I appreciate Economics, and I understand a lot of the concepts, and I realize that through calculating Utility and applying some principles we can make better decisions..... if we can agree with the definition of "better decisions". That's what it all boils down to. Ultimately the problem with money is that it tempts us to simplify life down to one number and one goal. "Ohhhhh, wow you made a million dollars? Well damn, I guess you win the game"... "I have to get a job so that I can make money".
Now, I'm not against people working obviously- I think that people need to work in order to achieve a wholeness- but I don't think someone needs to Work for Money to be whole person. So why is it that everyone *needs* to make money so badly?
Well, First, most people like food. I find it laughable, but I would not be surprised if the majority of the country winced at the thought of going a day without food. Never-the-less, food is pretty important if you plan on surviving in a material sense-- we'll lump water in with food. I change my stance slightly on water- I obviously don't advocate for people to stop drinking water even for a day "just to try it out" or "gain a higher appreciation".
Onwards with the rant: The second reason we need money is housing. Query: why is housing so expensive? I mean we have a lot of land don't we? My opinion: This is a direct result of taxes. Now, I'm in support of most taxes, but not property tax, and I'll explain why in a bit.
The third reason we might need money is to better someone else's life- I believe that the three most common cases where this actually happens are: 1) Raising Children, 2) Supporting Elderly Parents,
Let's jump back to Housing for a second. Alright, so we have a lot of Land in the United States. The inconvenient thing about land is how different it is- and how those differences compute to a price. Obviously land is going to be more expensive in New York City and less expensive in the Montana country side. This is probably because Hannah Montana has ruined the name of a great state with her token Over-Optimistic-Soon-To-Be-Used-Up-Druggy-And-Everyone-Knows-It-Teen-Pop-Sensation-Mentality..... it also probably has a lot to do with the fact that NO ONE wants to live in Montana anyway. Still, we have enough land for everyone to own some land somewhere. Yet I would argue that no one *actually* owns land in the United Stats. People *rent* land from the government- and pay the government rent in the form of property tax. This is just gross. GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSS (like frogs on the play ground). It's even worse when you consider it is practically a crime to be homeless.... it's almost as if... the government were just trying to force us into a system where they could get money from us. Ooooooh wait. That makes a little bit of sense haha.
Basically here's what this entire thing boils down to (the tl;dr version):
The people on top really like not having to work. But in order for them to not have to work, they need people to work for them. They don't want their families to have to work either, so they encourage the people working for them to have families. Since the average person would probably just rather chill out and mess around with a hobby or talk with friends, the people on top need to motivate the bottom of society to work- so they charge us rent so that we need *at least* that much cash- and then they drill it into our minds that we need to have a family and kids. This obviously ensures them future workers, while also, conveniently dedicating the current generation to a life of servitude. Of course there are always those crazies that reject society- but it's pretty easy to get them hooked on alcohol, cigarettes and hard drugs. Cigs and booze give the people on top insane tax profits- so it's not like this segment of society is really dodging the bullet anyway. Hard Drugs are thrown in the mix to give legitimacy to the fear of the lower class. If the lower class was full of honest, hard working people who just hung out and had a good time then no one would buy in to society the way they do- but if we can get people scared to death of the slums then people will try REALLY hard to NOT get sucked into the slums.
Suggested solutions:
1) Don't get hooked on Drugs.
2) DON'T GET HOOKED ON DRUGS.
3) Don't become an alcoholic or a smoker- in fact, try to avoid relying on anything that the government charges a tax on.
4) Donate generously to schools- tutor kids and try to improve 3rd party sources of education- then vote to reduce property tax
5) Don't have kids. Lol j/k j/k....... but seriously.
