Friday, March 17, 2017

You Have A Spending Problem


Anyone who has ever made a budget knows that if you are spending more money than you're making, you have to figure out how to reduce some of those expenditures. This means listing everything you spend money on in any given month and then deciding which expenses are necessary and which are not. At some point, if you're going to disrupt the pattern of over-spending, you will have to start eliminating some unnecessary expenses and reducing others.

For your average family, this usually means eating out less, going on fewer vacations, not buying new clothes as frequently, and maybe even dropping your cable or satellite TV service. Obviously different families and even the various members of those families would probably prioritize the importance of those expenditures differently. But ultimately, the final decision lies upon the the head of that household; the person who earns the money and then turns around and spends it to keep that roof over their heads. That person has to make a difficult decision which no matter what, will piss off at least one member of their household.

When you aren't the person writing the checks or paying the bills online, cringing as you watch that number in your bank account change from black to red, it's difficult to comprehend the importance of these decisions. It's easy to get used to all of the luxuries you have and begin thinking of them as something you are entitled to.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Trump's Ever-Elusive Tax Return


Is it really a shock to anyone that Trump is choosing so far to not release his tax return? Look at how he has been treated by the media and everyone on the left who oppose him. It doesn't matter what he does, they dig and dig until they find one little thing to criticize him about, then they blow it out of proportion, making it out to be breaking headline news, worthy of immediate impeachment. If they can't find anything, they just make stuff up!

Sure, every other president in recent history has released their tax returns. But they did it voluntarily; not because it was a requirement. None of those former presidents had anything even close to the wealth of Trump, so there is hardly even a fair comparison between them. Also, none of those men were ever run through the gauntlet by the media in the way that Trump has been. Even if they had been, social media wasn't around to help spread the newest absurd fabrication of a story among millions of low information voters within minutes of hitting "publish."

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

A Day Without A Woman; Protesting The Protest


The need for women is no more or less essential than the need for men. Mothers are no more important than fathers. Wives are no more important than husbands. However, I don't hear any men threatening to stay home to protest the fact that they are much more likely to die or be injured in workplace accidents (because they are more likely to take the dangerous and higher paying jobs). I don't hear men threatening to stay home because they are much less likely to have custody of their children if they get divorced. Or even the fact that men are much more likely to commit suicide.

Advocates for the “Day Without A Woman” protest are quick to point out that women are less likely to speak up at work, ask for raises, or negotiate starting pay. And they're right, at least on those points. But how is that the fault of men? And how does it help for those women to stay home today?