Now I can understand the media’s interest in candidates’ tax rates because the media loves anything that suggests scandal or outrage.  But I do not understand why any manly, Republican one percenter wannabe would be concerned that Romney’s tax rate of 15% is more than half that of Warren Buffet’s secretary.  Much of Romney’s income is from capital gains while Warren Buffet’s secretary’s income is from…well, work.  And isn’t work what you do only when you’ve run out of other options?

Even a caveman knows that a low tax rate on capital gains is part of the Republican holy grail.  It is their sacrosanct belief, if not empirically demonstrable, that a low capital gains tax is an essential component of the “trickle down” economic paradigm: the more money the one percenters have, the more trickles down to the 99 percenters.  (Similarly, if you are not good during the year, Santa will not be visiting you at the end of the year.)

So how is it that a working class hero like me, whose income includes no capital gains, has a tax rate of 7.5%?  That’s half of Romney’s!

Well boys and girls, while I view the trickle down paradigm as the economic equivalent of Santa Claus, no one can deny that the tax code has more holes than Swiss cheese.  And I’ve availed myself of a few of those holes (which girlie economists call “tax expenditures” but which normal folks call “incentives”) to shield a significant amount of income.  In this millennium, it’s not how many pounds you can bench press that makes you a manly man, it’s how much income you can avoid paying taxes on.

Perhaps the biggest hole I’m pouring money through is a deferred compensation account.  Each month, I defer 20% of my gross salary into an account made up of five (currently) mutual funds I’ve selected and have complete control over.  At any time, I can sell some portion of it and invest the proceeds into another fund or direct future income into a new fund.

Technically, however, I never received this money, so it disappears from the “taxable income” box of my W-2.  That’s better than David Copperfield because what he does is an illusion but the disappearing income is real.  When I retire and begin withdrawing from the account, I will pay taxes on that income but by then I’ll be in a lower tax bracket.  (Don’t confuse tax bracket and tax rate or you’ll have to write “potentate” 100 times.)

About another five percent of my gross income escapes taxes because it is for “medical” expenses. This includes my insurance premiums and all my co-payments for drugs, doctors, etc.

I make those co-payments with a debit card preloaded each year with a certain amount which is deducted in equal installments over the year from each paycheck.  If I don’t use the amount I set aside, I lose the balance but I’m good at projecting those health expenses.  (Last year, I had eleven dollars left but I used that up during the three month grace period that extends through the first quarter of the new year.)

So at the end of the year, a good 25% of my income has disappeared for tax purposes.  Besides an IRA, I don’t have any deductions other than the standard deduction and personal exemptions.  But that still results in my paying only 7.5% of our “real” income to the gooberment.

Without the deferred compensation and medical accounts, my tax rate might probably be as bad as Warren Buffet’s secretary.  Too bad Susie has no way to shield her retirement income or maybe I could drive that tax rate down even more.

Do I think this is fair?  Does anyone think the tax code is “fair?”  It is what it is.

I’ll leave it to the historians (like Newt Gingrich) to pontificate how a very simple tax code grew into a convoluted monstrosity that, like the Energizer bunny, goes on and on and on.

That’s my cue for me to segue into my philosophy about the income tax. It should be nothing more than a method to raise revenue.  No one should receive special consideration.

The income tax began that way.  But then it mutated into a cancer because the usual suspects (which means everyone but anarchists) decided to use the tax code for all sorts of “engineering:” economic engineering, social engineering, etc.

The tax code has become the preferred way for special interests to encourage or discourage whatever they want to through the power of gooberment.  Let’s encourage home ownership by allowing a deduction for mortgage interest.  Let’s encourage charity by giving a tax deduction for it.  And on and on and on.  I’m sick of all the do gooding and moralizing in the tax code!

I want to see a flat rate tax with no deductions for anything and which makes no distinction between types of income.  Only when two folks with the same income pay the same tax will there be true tax equity because all deductions are nothing more than subjective value pronouncements no different from “I like garlic fries.”

But a flat rate tax with no deductions is too straightforward…

Why? To protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

For decades, the music and motion picture industries have been crying “wolf” ad nauseam that the latest technological advance will bankrupt them.  The “wolf” these days is the Internet.

I wonder how many of you remember the 1984 Supreme Court decision of “Sony vs. Universal City Studios?” (“Sony” and “1984″ are the big hints if you think about what technological gizmo was big then.)  The vote was just 5-4 in favor of Sony.

Give up?  It was the “videotaping is copyright infringement” case.  The motion picture industry had taken the stance that videotaping a TV show violated their copyright.  Had there been just one more vote in favor of their stance…. (I believe that today’s Supreme Court has the five votes to support the motion picture industry, so it’s lucky the case isn’t being decided today.)

But the Supreme Court ruled that taping a TV show for personal use, without commercial use or gain, did not violate copyrights. Hollywood predicted its demise. But of course that didn’t happen.

That was not the first time the music and motion picture industries have engaged in the hysteria of technological Armageddon.  It happened before the VCR, it has happened since then, it is happening now with the Internet, and it will continue happening.  They will never stop crying “wolf” because they have the campaign contributions to convince many in Congress that the technological shadows they see are wolves.

Here’s a nice history of their “wolf” shouts through the decades and why SOPA is not the answer.

What I find…interesting…is that “small government” Republicans are too often enthusiastic about using the power of government in a sledgehammer way.  That’s what SOPA is…a sledgehammer.

A few days ago, the Justice Department shut down a major website involved in piracy.   So it is clear that existing laws and mechanisms are adequate.  But the motion picture and recording groups believe that there is no level of collateral damage that is unacceptable to protect their interests.  Which is why the wanted to stop the VCR.  And why they brought SOPA to willing sponsors.  (You don’t think anyone in Congress actually wrote the bill?)

Fortunately, it looks like SOPA is on its last leg.  Already, prominent Republicans who initially supported it have come out against it, such as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who withdrew his name as a sponsor of the Senate bill.  The backpedaling began after the “blackouts” by well known Internet sites.

Think about this: why did all those Congressional folks who initially supported SOPA support it?  Did they not know what was in the bill?  If they did not, why did they support it? (Big cash contributions to their reelection campaign?)  If they knew what was in the bill, why are they no longer supporting it?  (Hint:  same reason cockroaches run when a  light is turned on.)

Some folks might say:  ”this shows the system is working.”  I’d say it sounds like the Captain of the Costa Concordia, whose excuse for leaving his ship is that he tripped and fell into a lifeboat.  Riiight….!

Unfortunately, the motion picture and recording industry groups are like the Terminator:  they’ll be back!

I suspect the return rate on the PCB Sweepstakes is a closely guarded secret.  As is how many entrants actually purchase something in the misguided hope that entries with purchases go into the drawing while entries without  a purchase go into a shredder.  But my enquiring mind wants to know!

Based on anectodal “evidence,” I believe the return rate is poor.  I don’t know anyone who has returned their entry.  At least, no one who will confess to it.  Apparently, there is a social stigma to admitting you returned a PCB Sweepstakes entry.

In fact, I can’t even find anyone to admit they at least opened the envelope.  C’mon now, what happened to intellectual curiosity? Well…at least curiosity?  I opened the envelope and found a piece of very…interesting…information.

So why am I not returning my entry? (Besides the aforementioned social stigma?)  Because of the math…

It may cost just 44 cents for a chance to win $1,000,000 a year for life, but not all chances are equal.  If you won’t go to a casino and place a bet at the roulette table on red (or black) or even (or odd), wagers which offer  a 50-50 chance of winning, then you definitely do not want to wager 44 cents with PCB’s Sweepstakes.  Because…

Your “chance” of winning is one in 1.2…billion.  That’s right – billion.

How do I know that? Because that’s what PCB says it is in the fine print and I’m one of those folks who likes to read the fine print.  After all, the fine print is how they…bugger…you.  (That choice of terminology is for my many UK readers.)  Buggery is not a crime when it happens through the fine print.

What I found particularly…interesting…about that math is this math: the 2010 census reports there’s only about 310 million people in the U.S.  OK, the Census undoubtedly missed many folks:  survivalists living underground, illegal aliens (Klingons, Romulans, Vulcans, etc.), anarchists, Michelle Bachman supporters, and Utah polygamists living behind walled compounds, to name a few.

Let’s be ultra-conservative (just this once) and allow that the Census missed 25% of the population and that it is really 400 million.  How is it that your chance of winning the PCB Sweepstakes is 1.2 billion to one? That suggests there are three times as many numbers as there are people in the country!

Now wait a minute…!  I only received one entry with one number.  Did other folks receive more than one entry or number?  If so, is it because they ordered the microfiber cleaning towels set for a surprisingly low price plus shipping and handling?

If everyone in the country, including children, received just one number (hey, I just realized – my wife did not receive an entry…at least not yet), then where are the remaining 800 million numbers needed to make the probability of winning 1.2 billion to one?  Is PCB sending entries out of the country? How unAmerican that would be!

It’s bad enough that call center jobs are going to people like “Peggy.”  We don’t need some destitute Third World furriner winning $1,000,000 for life, especially when we all know it is paid for by those folks buying the microfiber cleaning towels set at a surprisingly low price plus shipping and handling.  Or is PCB allowed to create 1.2 billion numbers but only mail out less than a quarter of them?  Enquiring minds want to know!

Potentially, this scheme is worse than Madoff’s.   Most of his victims had millions and were just being greedy. With PCB, we’re talking about the 99 percenters, many of whom are probably seniors buying the microfiber cleaning towels set at a surprisingly low price plus shipping and handling in hopes of winning that sweepstakes so they can stop eating dog food, despite Herman Cain’s pronouncement that if you’re poor and/or unemployed it’s probably your own fault.

Fortunately, we now have a new consumer protection agency, born of the financial meltdown,  which I’m sure is investigating PCB’s fuzzy math.  And maybe, just maybe, all of those folks who bought the microfiber towel sets at a surprisingly low price plus shipping and handling will get a refund.  (They may have to wait a few years, just as I did before collecting $18.04 from the credit card foreign currency conversion fee litigation which began in November 2007 and which I finally received a few weeks ago. )

Please complete my PCB Sweepstakes poll!

Never having been to the United States, I had to rely on “reputation.”  And the state with a reputation that appealed to me was…Florida.  The land of sun, sand and surf.  Just like the Philippines!

And so I ended up in the Sunshine State.  On the Suncoast of the Sunshine State, a/k/a Tampa Bay.  Florida Presbyterian (now Eckerd) was at the southern end of Pinellas County, which is a peninsula on a peninsula.  The western  and southern portions of the college bordered the water.

My undergraduate college

But even the Suncoast winters were too cool for me.  So what did I do? Why, move north, of course.  To Gainesville, home of the University of Florida… Gator Country.  I didn’t live there long but long enough to see ice and a snow flurry or two. WTF?

My problem with Hogtowne, as I understand it was once called, is that the city revolves around the University.  If you’re not a student or otherwise associated with UF, there is not much of another professional class.  Nor am I comfortable around talking heads whose lives are based on theory.  There is only one reason for theory – to act upon it and change the world! (And since I’m now too old for the latter, I have no use for the former.)

A friend suggested I’d like where her parents lived – Tallahassee.  Yes, there were not one but two state universities.  However, they were balanced by the fact that it is also the State capital.  So there’s a large professional class not associated with the universities.

Coincidentally, my Master’s is in Public Administration.  So if I want to work in my field, what better place than the political center of the state?

Consequently, I moved to Tallahassee in 1981.  And because of my job, I still live in…Tallahicky.

Now, Tallahassee is about 125 miles northwest of Gainesville.   So  I’m going north again.  Towards the snow! But 125 miles can’t be that much colder, can it?

Oh yes it can! I’ve experienced many freezing days in this part of the Sunshine State.  It isn’t as bad as the Midwest or the Plains, but cold is expected in those places.  We do not expect cold in Florida!  Folks move to Florida for the sunshine, as I did.

Last week, we had two back to back days of freezing.  Tuesday was in the 20s!  If anyone had warned me that I’d see 20s in Florida, I’d have gone to college somewhere else.  Like Las Vegas.

I still do not understand why Vegas was not on my radar in 1970.  By that time, I’d been going to the illegal Manila casinos for a good two years.  Vegas has sun.  Vegas has sand.  Vegas has surf, even if only in hotel pools.

Plus, Vegas has a huge Filipino population. Which means, there’s Filipino restaurants, grocery stores, etc.  It’s a mini-Philippines in the U.S.

Sometime in 2013, between March and September, I’ll not be working anymore.  I’ll be able to live where I want.  Maybe I’ll go “home”…to Vegas.  Assuming I don’t go to a Third World country.

For whatever reason, I’m a fan of martial arts films, especially the samuari ones.  ”Kill Bill I”, with it’s many bloody fight scenes, is easily the film I rewatch most.

Asia has enjoyed martial arts films for decades.  Which is why films like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Hero” are among my favorite foreign films. They mix martial arts with a decent plot.  When, I wondered would American film makers get in on the …action?

It looks like the answer is: 2012.  Because martial arts boosts box office appeal in Asia, where there’s a much larger audience and going to the movies is still prevalent.  Martial arts films there are still what westerns once were in the U.S.

When I talk about martial arts movies, I mean the ones with humans fighting. But that’s apparently not a requirement in Asia.  Kung  Fu Panda 2 broke the weekend opening box record in China.  The thought is hard to…bear.  (But then, pandas are Chinese.)

So it wasn’t that much of a surprise to read in The Wall Street Journal that many 2012 American films will feature martial arts.  The first…blow…was in December.  In the new Sherlock Holmes film, our hero goes mano a mano with his evil rival in the film’s climax.

Other films with “name” stars will follow in displaying their martial arts skills.  Ryan Goslin is in “Only God Forgives,” which appears to be “Death Wish” in Bangkok.  Leonardo DiCaprio is a martial arts assassin in a film (which has planned sequels) based on the novel Satori.  Keanu Reeves, who displayed his dexterity in the Matrix series, has finished 47 Ronin.  (Ronin are samurai unattached to any warlord and often mercenaries.).  Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu (the villainess in “Kill Bill I”) also have completed their martial arts contribution – “Man with the Iron Fists” which was filmed in Shanghai.

I hope that if this American martial arts trend continues it will, as the more “modern” Asian films have, give equal attention to women. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Hero”, among others, had women in prominent roles.  Here’s one of my favorite fight scenes, featuring two women, from “Crouching Tiger.”

Here’s Uma Thurman Kung Fu fighting in the bar scene “borrowed” from “Crouching Tiger” with a special soundtrack from Fatboy Slim

Let’s not forget that Jet Li has been Kung Fu fighting for years:

2012…? Bring it on!