Quote of the Day
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
Albert Einstein
Ginni Rametty: Big Blue's New CEO
Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate last year, is the new CEO of HP, a leading computer company headed a few years earlier by Carly Fiorina. I am a contrarian when it comes to politically correct achievements.
But of all high technology companies (and one which I personally worked for in a previously acquired subsidiary), IBM is the unquestioned Blue Chip of the Blue Chips. One of my dissertation committee members is a research fellow there. I have referenced the work of IBM research scientists in my own usability articles. My computer programming career began as an APL programmer/analyst; APL was a rapid prototyping interpretive language that was developed for use by IBM in the 1960's. I still recall my new employee orientation (as a DBA, not a programmer/analyst); they had a fairly secluded hotel/training complex in the New York woods several miles from the NYC airports. I have mixed feelings about my IBM experience which I won't discuss in this blog; let's just say IBM hires some very bright people like my former UH professor and myself, and then IBM hires (or inherits) other people I can't explain. For example, how can you explain the fact that some otherwise rational people in the US thought that Obama is or was qualified to be POTUS?
Nevertheless, I am far more impressed that one of the most prestigious corporations in the world has hired a female executive to be its CEO than, say, the qualifications of Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann to be President. Congratulations, Ms. Rametty.
A Brief Rant Over Gimmicky Tax Plans
I've made it clear what I think is part of a sound tax policy: "everybody must be taxed"; we need to balance income with consumption taxes; taxes must be simpler and broader.
One of my pet peeves is how everyone pays lip service to politically correct tax policy: "oh, a sales tax is regressive: we'll simply exclude a number of items or provide an advance tax credit"; "we can't eliminate mortgage interest or charitable tax deductions"; etc.
Briefly: I am not impressed with the regressive argument: it is patently counterproductive to shield people from paying some level of taxes (in fact, they do implicitly as taxes get passed on via prices of goods, inflation, etc.). Why is it that people's fair share means zero cost for government goods and services, but they are expected to pay for their room and board, and other bills. I think the better argument is that the tax reform is not a zero-sum policy where, say, the rich shift their own burden to poor people.In fact, this is basically impossible given the aggregate income of poor people: in many cases, the tax payments made by the wealthy exceed total income of poor people. Equal protection at least to some point is a preferred policy.
Second, mortgage interest deductibility: why is this so special? Why are some consumption taxes more equal than others? Canada doesn't allow this... Mark Perry has a post pointing up to 95% of all home mortgages today are either bought or guaranteed by the GSE's (Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae) or FHA, and American taxpayers are expected to spend over $200B on related charges. We need to get government out of the home mortgage industry.
We had today Rick Perry unbelievably suggest that taxpayers be able to choose which tax system they want to pay taxes under. under his cafeteria tax plan: oh, I wonder how this is going to play out. Maybe the 46% who do not pay any income tax under the current system will stick with the old system, whereas anyone who is at a higher tax bracket will of course choose his flat tax. GIVE ME A BREAK! The immediate conclusion is anyone would have to be an idiot not to choose the predictable choice--including figuring out your tax totals under either system.
Then Gingrich is trying to gain traction by lowering Perry's flat tax rates... All of these plans (including Cain's 9-9-9) are misleadingly similar, because you have all these special rules to minimize a regressive hit, etc.
Last year's Bowles-Simpson plan brought up things like simplifying tax rates, junking special interest tax gimmicks, etc.: it had a bipartisan commitment. Might I suggest instead of getting into a tax bidding war that the GOP candidates start by looking at a bipartisan agreement than President Obama has refused to acknowledge from the start?
Political Humor
"The guy who killed Gadhafi was wearing a New York Yankees cap at the time. So, for at least one Yankees fan, it turned out to be a pretty good October." - Jay Leno
[Qaddafi vehemently denied being leader of the Red Sox Nation.]
"A bank in Washington was robbed by two men in George W. Bush masks. Luckily, right afterwards two guys in President Obama masks came and bailed the bank out, so everything is fine." - Conan O'Brien
[The bank has been hit by a string of robberies. In fact, the bank security guards didn't even lift a finger the previous week when two men went to the counter and demanded the bank hand over all its cash. They said they were working for the IRS, and anyone resisting would be hit with an audit.]
"Rick Perry is now saying he thinks that Barack Obama's birth certificate is fake. I think Perry may have faked his driver's license." - David Letterman
[No: Rick Perry is demanding that Obama produce birth certificates and/or immigration papers for the White House gardeners...]
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
CCR,"Up Around the Bend". A PERFECT rock performance...
