It's Working for Cigarettes...

Cigarettes are taxed heavily in the United States. Every couple months a new tax is levied in an effort to curb their use and help pay for the costs to society.

So here's a question...Why not tax junk food in the same way. US obesity rates are at all time highs and the negative affects to society are clear to see. I have less space on the subway or in an airplane seat...sorry, couldn't help myself. But all kidding aside, junk food is directly linked to health problems which cost society money (side note: maybe we should give tax credits for gym membership/gym use?) Certain types of diabetes are almost entirely preventable with moderate amounts of exercise and a healthy diet.

Congress has already begun thinking about this with their proposed "soda tax." Does it go far enough? Does this line of thinking go too far?

We already charge people for engaging in activities that are harmful to society. Police give tickets for running red lights, speeding and not using your turn signal. Alcohol is taxed heavily. It's not too much of a stretch to start taxing ice cream, fast food and candy in the same way.

This post was inspired by Maxim's "The 7 Stages of Being Fat"

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Cuban's Got it Right

Most people outside of Texas, and more particularly Dallas don't have a favorable opinion of Mark Cuban. Let's face it, he's a nusance to the NBA and gets away with it because he has billions of dollars. BUT it's hard to deny that he's a very smart man. You don't make billions of dollars if you're not. He often writes on his blog the BLOG MAVERICK on a wide variety of topics. In this particular clip from a post he wrote yesterday I couldn't agree more with what he is saying. He articulates a number of my opinions perfectly.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READ (even if you don't like economics)!

Some Thoughts on the Economy

"Our government doesn’t know the difference between an investor and a speculator or trader. If we did, we would understand that we should tax the trader/speculator more heavily than the investor.

The investor allows entrepreneurs access to capital and allows them to work with it and build businesses, which in turn build employment and do great things for the economy. The trader/speculator pushes companies to make more money now rather than invest in doing the right thing for the company. The trader/speculator dominates the stock market today, which in turn puts pressure on public company CEOs to cut jobs and play games with their financials in order to give the appearance of stability in a far from stable market. The investor understands the bigger picture and is ok if profits fall for several quarters or even several years as long as the company will maximize its return over the long run.

The government should raises taxes significantly on profits from short term capital gains on the sale of public stocks, indexes, commodities, futures held for 24 hours or less and extend the length of time required to qualify for Long Term capital gains and reduce the tax rate on Long Term gains. This will discourage flash trading, ETFs that move markets purely on cash inflows rather than fundamentals and also reduce the amount of speculation on commodities. It will also reward companies that act in the financial interests of long term holders and their employers. I think the impact on the economy would be far fewer layoffs as CEOs find themselves with more shareholders who think long term rather than short term. Believe it or not, there are shareholders who are fine with companies not beating their numbers if the company is making progress towards a clearly defined goal. I don’t care if the P/E of the stocks I own is 14 or 20. I want the companies investing in being a great company rather than trying to make traders of their stock happy. Most CEOs give great lipservice to this approach, but they are so focused on marking to market their own personal stock portfolios, they emphasize stock performance over doing the right thing for the company. Taxation can change the focus on public companies and stock trading. That would be a great thing for the economy."

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Burka, Burka

Say it twice in a row. Are you enjoying it as much as me? Burka, burka. It reminds me of what the road runner would say after he screwed over Wiley Cayote.

Anyway, i found some more interesting burka stuff...enjoy.

The Burka laptop cover...very important for the hardcore perverts out there. There's nothing quite like masturbating in public...BUT with some privacy.

Eating with a Burka is very difficult. Especially spaghetti!

And then just because it sounds like burka, burka I bring you a clip from Team America. Durka, durka, durka

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The Burka Bikini?

I'm pretty sure even Muslim people find this a little crazy. The Burka Bikini is a head to toe swimsuit for Muslim women. How are they able to call it a bikini? It's anything but...

I prefer this kind of bikini....

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Found this funny

via digg

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Cat vs. Aquarium

Via Funnyordie.com

Cat vs. Aquarium - watch more funny videos

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The "Who Cares" Syndrome

There are still people out there who will remain nameless who feel that they should use status updates and twitter posts to actually write what they are doing at that exact moment. Before you post a status update or tweet (I HATE THAT WORD and CAN'T BELIEVE I USED IT) you should ask yourself:

a) Is this funny?

b) Would I care if someone else wrote it?

c) Does this relate to anyone else?

If the answer isn't "yes" to any of these questions then DON'T POST IT!

I could care less if you are walking through the airport or washing your car. I care even less if you can't fall asleep or are cleaning your room. Do you want a response? I get it, your a little bored and think posting something all of your friends and pseudo friends can see is like talking or connecting with them but it's not.

Imagine if you could just as easily hire a plane with a banner behind it. Would we have millions of planes flying around with meaningless banners that read, "Doug is...Changing his underwear" Actually, that might be incredible. New thought process; Let's subsidize plane banners and kick start this economy.

Apparently some Bengals fans are ahead of the curve and already hired a plane to drag a banner. This is great! http://digg.com/d311tWx I would be fed up too if I were a Bengals fan.

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