But, we should probably also remember that even the the EPA falls under the executive branch, Obama is probably not telling them how to run their day to day business.  Not to derail the conversation, but how in the hell did such an overwhelmingly powerful organization come under the discretion of t...

Well when I say "free" nights, I'm just talking about nights that I obtain through spending and collecting points and then redeeming said points. Not sure if this is the same "free" you're talking about. That's what I mean as well... trying to redeem nights with my Holiday Inn (...

Here's an interesting one: http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Why-did-a-Train-Carrying-Biofuel-Cross-the-Border-24-Times-and-Never-Unload.html I will admit that the EPA has been doing some strange things lately, the E15 (15% Ethanol) fuel thing comes to mind.  But, we should probably ...

I've had bad luck actually redeeming my hotel rewards points.  Even when I get enough for a free night there are so many restrictions I'm not allowed to stay in any city you would actually want to vacation in.  For example, Miama, Vegas, or NYC are completely off limits to free nights.  On the other...

It's not all roses, however.  It looks like it was linked to inflation, but the AMT still hits people making what I consider to be lower middle class income in the NY area: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100348786 Median household income in NY county is $67,204:  http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/3...

This one is fun... It's always interesting to challenge our fears with statistics:

Am I right in thinking this still hasn't been fixed? The only info I can find is articles from last year saying that of course it will get fixed like it always does or recent articles about how the change will slow down everyone's refunds. Hello! What refunds? An extra 28+ million middle class peop...

At the federal level, discussions of who should pay what tax on which income always turn silly because the government doesn't actually need the money anyway. Taxes are just a tool to reduce inflation and create a demand for the currency. But right now, inflation is incredibly low and demand for dol...

Storm, Just because the principal has been taxed doesn't mean income derived from the borrowing of that principal to others should not be taxed.  I've wrestled with this one, but let's pretend it's not money for a second. Let's say you purchase land.  You can't depreciate land, so you've used after...

I disagree.  If capital gains taxes were charged before gains were even realized the government would soon own every dollar produced by capital flows.  You can't just double, triple, quadruple, or quintuple tax the same income over and over again and expect anyone to invest money any more.  The sma...

This is a contrived analogy designed to produce an emotional response. 1. You work, make money, and pay taxes (some of the lowest in the first world, I might add). 2. You already paid taxes on the $10M net worth when you earned it in the first place, so why should you pay taxes twice?  The inherita...

I've been very happy with Ooma.  Consumer Reports ranks it the best VoIP provider on quality and reliability.  However, I purchased it in 2009 when there was $0 monthly fee for life, so basically as long as the Ooma VoIP box doesn't break I will have free phone service.  Now if you buy an Ooma Telo ...

If you subscribe to the tea party strategy of "starve the beast" you're also looking pretty good because the US is now collecting only 17% of GDP in revenue where we historically have collected 19%. But that's only because we're in a recession or a tepid recovery.  It will even rebound to...

Good article on Business Insider about how the GOP is winning: http://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-are-winning-2013-1 tl;dr - One of the main goals of the GOP platform has been to make the Bush tax cuts permanent - 99% Mission Accomplished! If you subscribe to the tea party strategy of "...

The problem is separate taxes on capital gains, pure and simple.  1. You have $0 in net worth and work your ass off 70 hours a week to earn $450,000 a year and you pay 35% (now 39%) in taxes. 2. You are unemployed and sit on your ass drinking cocktails at the beach with a $10M net worth collecting ...

The geekdesk is basically a standing/sitting desk with a motor that allows you to easily raise and lower the platform to whatever height you want.  The larger model supports up to 335 pounds of weight on the platform, so there are quite a bit of mechanical parts that go into designing a motor and ge...

I don't think the two parties are capable of doing anything together, much less conspiring to keep 3rd parties out by becoming more partisan... The system is already rigged to keep 3rd parties out because of the 5% popular vote margin required for a 3rd party to receive federal financing.  It's also...

CBO: ADDS $3.9 TRILLION MORE TO DEFICIT... Yes, but to be fair, extending any of the Bush tax cuts would have done the same.  The spending cuts were sequestered so if you're looking at it in isolation it sounds bad... I still think we should sequester all spending cuts for at least a couple years u...

It appears that the description of the $429 chair is "Steelcase Amia Work Task Chair", while some of the slightly more expensive ones in the $600+ range are called "Steelcase Amia Chair."  Is it possible that the "work task chair" is a cheaper, not as good model?

I've started to have a shoulder issue due to poor posture and a poor seating arrangement (unadjustable arm rests) in my current chair. It may be a wonderful chair, but you might want to check into whether that statement above is true, and even it is, whether a new chair is going to remedy things. T...

I'm about to take MT's advice and buy a Steelcase Amia chair.  They are a bit more expensive than my previous office chairs, but I'm thinking it's worth it as I've started to have a shoulder issue due to poor posture and a poor seating arrangement (unadjustable arm rests) in my current chair. My que...

Hold up, didn't you acknowledge earlier that both tax increases and spending cuts would be bad for the economy? So why were you hoping that Obama pushed harder for a bill that raised taxes and cut spending--both things you acknowledge are bad? Shouldn't you have been happy with the deal we got, in ...

I disagree that they were willing to throw 99% of us under the bus to attack the rich. Do you have even a shred of evidence to support this assertion, or is this just your feeling?  Because I can dig up quotes from Obama promising no deal unless the wealthy pay more. Right, Obama said he wouldn't s...

So an entire economy is held hostage by a very small minority of economically-illiterate shitheels in DC because we have no separation of economy and state. The sheer irony is that raising taxes won't increase or decrease revenues as it will stay fixed at 19% of GDP as it has for the last 60 years....

Again, you seem to only hold a single party responsible for this mess.  It takes two to tango.  A single party is incapable of NOT reaching a deal (in most cases). I get what you're saying, but lets be honest here.  One party in DC is crazy and its not the Democrats.  I'm not to the point where I'm...