Best of Week: Writing a short story

Back in 8th grade, I wrote a few paragraphs about a fictional character- Rose Watkins. The idea came to me in study hall, and I wrote a short page for an assignment. Even now, after two years and three computers, I still have that file. I opened it up to see if I could use it. I was surprised because I had forgotten what my story was like. I eventually ended up keeping just two and a half sentences from the original, but it told the same story, but better.

The story is about Rose Watkins, a sixty-something retired, widowed, and wealthy lady, who realizes one night that she wants to do something more than eat nice dinners before she can't anymore. I'm not sure what she'll do- neither is she. I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun for both of us.

Anyway, if I was able to take the best part of my old story, I'm looking forward to repeating the process.

What if?: Consumpton Taxes

I read The FairTax Book this weekend (Boortz, Linder), and I have to admit that I like heir idea. I'll summarize:

No income taxes. No capital gains taxes. No Alternative Minimum tax. No corporate taxes. The federal government would fund itself off a 23% national retail sales tax for goods and services, and April 15th becomes "just another spring day." The plan is that not penalizing the highest earners unequally would stimulate the economy, and, above all, keep taxes fair.

What if this actually happened? Support for the bill (HR 25) is limited, but what if it passed?

First, companies that have moved overseas to escape US tax evisceration would come home. With no taxes on gains, everybody with offshore anything- bank accounts, corporate headquarters, manufacturing plants- would come back home. Additionally, America's underground industries - estimated at 1.5 Trillion a year- would be taxed too, every time they went to Wal-Mart or bought a car. And, above all, Americas richest 10% wouldn't be paying, on average, 46% of their gross earnings to the government(with payroll taxes included). Everyone pays 23%. Fairness. Make it happen!

Without the current withholding scheme, everyone's pay would increase. People could invest ALL their earned money, not just the remaining 65%. Then, after the money grows, it's taxed when it's spent. Imagine what that would do for the economy- banks would be stuffed with cash, so interest rates could fall. More people can afford to buy homes. Viola! Housing crisis solved.
People could start a buisiness! Invest in the stock market! US Economy is on the rise!

There's another added benefit that the book didn't address directly, but it also helps the US: 80% of US hundred dollar bills are held overseas. This change would make that money subject to tax again when it's spent. This reality has one obvious effect: the Dollar would drop about 25% compared to other national currencies, in exchange for us having more of them.

There's certainly more that would happen, but I'm not an expert... yet.

Connection: Heart of Darkness and Slumdog Millionaire

Today I saw Slumdog Millionaire, and it was similar to HoD. In the early section of the movie, in the slums, the children are frequently beaten by... well, anyone, simply because they are slum children. In fact, some Hindus run in to the slum, beating anyone they can with sticks and burning houses(if you can call it that) hecause they dislike the Muslims.

In HoD, the Company's agents comandeer the workforce of the natives, simply because they didn't understand them and thought that they were justified in forcing labor from the locals.

Here in Northbrook, it gets easy to fall into the unconscious belief that this kind of discrimination and poverty doesn't affect us, but seing the same kind of racial violence in a modern setting helped me 'feel' the other, less fortunate souls in the Heart of Darkness