NorthSideSox72

I guess the only good news is that this was so far offshore. If a shallow 8.9 hit on Japan's main island, I'd think things would have been way, way worse.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 08:28 AM) Right, if it's going to be done, it has to be done properly, as to avoid total abandonment of a state, which is what occurred here. And it's sad that small non-profits like yours get hurt by this. I guarantee it didn't affect Amazon or Overstock whatsoever. Amazon and the like had a simple choice... either drop their affiliates in Illinios, or begin charging sales tax to all IL residents on purchases. They chose the former, because it hurts them less. Its exactly what they should have done. QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 08:39 AM) Isn't the problem that a lot of consumers are illegally avoiding taxes that they should really be paying? I won't act like I don't do that myself--on big ticket items, sales tax vs. shipping definitely factors in. But it's a legit problem. There is nothing illegal about it. As I understand it, if you order something online from a business in another state, its the same as when you buy something while travelling and they elect to ship it to you to avoid sales tax.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 08:24 AM) I'm not against such a tax, but it has to be done in all 50 states to keep things even, what was done here by the Gov. was create a void and cause Amazon and Overstock to just abandon IL. If this was enacted in all 50 states, they wouldn't be able to just abandon the state, but it's not...and they did. So he accomplished nothing as of now but to screw over a lot of small businesses, like I said from the start. I don't even know what you are arguing here...you sound pretty anti-small business, however. You don't seem to understand that, in effect, he accomplished NOTHING here other than hurting small business affiliates. I actually agree about 50 states. I can understand the argument that internet product sales have artificially eaten into sales tax base, and I'd be OK with this - but all the states have to do it (or most at least). As I understand it as of now, 4 or 5 do, with another handful considering it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 08:20 AM) BS. To do something like you guys are talking about, there would be a whole new agency created. Well that wouldn't be necessary. This is pretty clearly DOE-centered.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 08:08 AM) So a business that doesn't have a physical presence in Illinois and therefore doesn't employ many people in Illinois should get a significant taxpayer subsidy from the state of Illinois? Well, I'll give you an example. Remember a few days ago, discussion of my small not-for-profit came up? The wilderness travel co-op thing? We used Associate links with Amazon, REI and Moosejaw to fund our website costs, since we have no actual revenue. That typically generated us enough money to pay for server space and domain name, and a little software. Now we don't get that money to offset the cost. We can now do one of these things: --shut down the website --Add a website cost amount to what everyone pays in for trips --I can pay it out of pocket and just take the loss myself Now, my organization is just a co-op with no employees, no significant assets, etc. So the only people this effects are me and/or people in the co-op. But many of the other affiliates are people who run small businesses, and this will directly impact their bottom line in a much bigger way. I'm actually pretty lucky here, comparatively.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 07:59 AM) I think we're doing exactly the opposite. Oh come on now, I generally agree with you about the need for this, but let's not be ridiculous. More money has been spent on these efforts in the past few years than ever before. Its not enough, but we are not doing "the exact opposite".

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 11, 2011 -> 07:55 AM) I think we are in the midst of doing exactly that. But not quickly or aggressively enough to reap the big job benefits of being in front of the technologies.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 04:04 PM) I think another problem, which goes hand in hand with people voting/not voting, is that politicians are held at zero accountability. The worst that happens to them, if/when they break every promise they made while campaigning (and most do), is they don't get re-elected years later. The fact that they keep their benefits even if that happens is another story altogether, so let's not even get into that. But as it stands, they can openly lie about what they're going to do, get elected, do the exact opposite without having to answer for it until the next election cycle... In any other job...consider the job interview your campaign...if you promise you can do X, get hired and cannot do X, they fire you...not two years later...and not with full benefits...but immediately. If you campaign on X, and don't do X when elected, you should be immediately fired and replaced if you cannot show why. I understand that there are political barriers preventing some from doing what they promised to do, however, there ARE ways to track if they've tried or even bothered at all... Actually, some states, including Wisconsin, have Recall provisions for just this purpose. There are currently petitions being filed on a bunch of the GOP state legislators there (and some Dems too), such that they'd have to face an election again this fall.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 03:48 PM) By the way, step one is non profit organizations, if you want to start to build a resume. Then get into the boards and commissions if you can. Well I've actually been running a very small NFP for 20 years. But in terms of bigger stuff, I've done some volunteer work with various groups, though nothing regular yet.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 03:35 PM) Well, there are a few guys here who could probably have a decent future in politics. I am constantly amazed at the depth of knowledge some of you have. Definitely something a few should consider, and I think a lot of people would be better off because of it. Thanks! By the way I just increased your taxes kthxbye.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 12:09 PM) I will run a smear campaign using selectively edited SoxTalk posts to bring you down. LOL, believe it or not, I have given thought to the idea that if I ever did run for an elected office, there is always the chance someone could connect these posts to me and use them against me somehow.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 11:59 AM) NSS, would you ever consider running for political office? That's always been part of my plan. Not now though, a little later. Starting locally. We just moved to a new community, where we plan to raise our kid(s), so we'll be here a while. I need to take a few years to get involved in the community first (getting to know people, maybe volunteering for a commission or committee, etc.), then start toying with ideas of local office to run for.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 10:53 AM) Not saying which side is right or wrong, but there is a theory that would say he either needs the consequence of having baseball taken away from him or he needs to step away from it for a short time to focus on his problems. Again, problems like this are so complicated and different plans have worked for all sorts of different people. Understood. Its a tough call here. Part of me wants him penalized for acting like an idiot and putting people in danger, but part of me also sees that he's got an assortment of problems and needs good help.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 07:43 AM) Honestly it seems like the baseball field is the only place where he is at ease. It seems like everything off of the field is where he has problems. I agree. I think taking baseball away from him is probably a mistake. Better to get him help and have him still play.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 9, 2011 -> 01:06 PM) Sucks to see they cut Leesman. I thought he was pretty decent when I saw him pitch a couple days ago. Don't look at is as a cut. Barring injuries he had a zero percent chance of making the roster, he's still developing, he was only in big league camp to get a good look at him. He'll be in AAA starting, and the Sox still like him a lot as a prospect. Its just not his time yet. Same thing with many of those cuts. The only real "you sucked" cut was Harrell.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 10:06 AM) I know what you are saying, and I agree...I think his contention is that the system itself is messed up, despite the fact that they're doing nothing illegal. All that said, I agree with you (I believe it was you anyway) that said if the tables were turned and it was a different issue, the Democrats would be pulling the same exact sort of thing. We've seen this for how long in American politics now? Filibusters were used over and over and nobody had a problem with them, but then when the tables were turned, you heard about how filibusters were an abuse of the system, etc... This is the problem with a two party system...which was never the intention of our government. Sure, and the not-really-filibusters (virtual filibusters, whatever you want to call them) are something I find really stupid policy, I don't think that rule should exist, and I hope it dies as soon as possible. But, the GOP and the Dems are NOT abusing the system by using it - what they are doing is letting down the American people, and I think the single best way to fix that is for the American people to get more involved, more knowledgeable, and hold their delegates to government more responsible for their actions. I've said repeatedly, there are three big reasons why Congress keeps getting more dysfunctional. One is corporate interests having too much power, another is the current reality that big money wins elections, but the final and by far biggest reason is that the voters are failing miserably at their jobs. Its stunning what a small percentage of people vote, and just as stunning to me what a small percentage of those people actually bother to invest even a little time finding out who they are really voting for.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 09:55 AM) Our system allows Walker's smash-and-grab bills to become the law of the land. It allows him to legally f*** over the majority of the state in favor of a select few. Having to wait 4 years to *hopefully* elect someone to fix his disastrous policy isn't exactly a comforting thought for those he's trampling over right now. The system allows for these abuses. That, to me, says there's something wrong with the system. I'm not going to pretend I have the remedy, though. They aren't abuses at all. They are legally enacted policy (probably). You are abusing the term abuse here.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 09:32 AM) I'm still not sure what Obama/Congress are waiting for. Is there any pending legislation for something like this? Well, its not that Congress has done literally nothing for this. There has been some investment, but its a small fraction of what it needs to be. Furthermore, you have a large majority of Congress (all GOP and a fair share of Dems) who refuse to find the money from the obvious places - oil subsidies, and absurdly narrow and useless business tax breaks. Without finding that money, and with the big squeeze on discretionary spending (since we've chosen to ignore the elephants in the roomof Medicare, Soc Sec and Defense), its a tough competition for that cash. But the other thing is, some of this stuff can be done smartly without necessarily spending money. For example, back when there was the instant big tax credit thing going on with cars, they made it for ANY car. Well that was just stupid. They could have made it an even larger incentive, but said it had to be a model manufactured in the US. Would have done more good here. Something similar can happen with, say, credits for various energy saving home changes, or high efficiency vehicles. Tax credits only apply to cars manufactured here. That brings more jobs and more technology here, instead of going overseas, and the demand for those skilled scientific and engineering jobs would make a nice funnel from the colleges.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 08:58 AM) The system is allowing Walker to get a law passed that redefines "public interest" as "whatever Walker wants" so that he can sell state energy assets without bidding for however much he wants. Oh and he just happens to be largely backed by energy conglomerates. It's also allowing him to redefine the Milwaukee voucher system to take money away from poor students and give it to wealthy students. I'd say the system is pretty f***ed if it allows such egregious abuses. That's not the system that's the problem. That's Walker, doing things he pretty much said he'd do. I personally think a lot of his antics are bad too, but he's acting (with the legislature) within the way the system should work. Fortunately, now that the moderates in WI have seen just how extreme he really wants to be, and just how into corporately corrupt he is, he's very likely to get voted out next election. None of the things you mentioned are systemic abuses. They are s***ty policy.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 08:42 AM) I think this pissing contest will go for a re-vote after it spends some time in the courts...then it will pass. The fact that the republicans did this, and the fact that the democrats "fled" the state shows how f***ed up our political system is, across the board. This is no way to do business in government...then again, I guess it is...once again business as usual. I don't think the system is f***ed up at all - I think the PEOPLE in it are f***ed up. In fact, I think we're seeing how the system actually works pretty damn well, and that the interest level of the people is increasing nicely. Its the actual politicians involved that are the problem. I still think this whole episode will end up having a positive effect on the politics in WI in the future.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Mar 9, 2011 -> 06:55 PM) For all you NIU fans, in his last game, Jake Anderson dropped 33 in a losing effort for Iowa State against Colorado. We'll be back next year. Ugh, fell just short AGAIN. I've never seen an ISU team have so many close losses in conference. How many games were they tied or within a basket or two, at the end of regulation? Looks like 8. 8 games is a huge potential swing. But the team will be very different next year anyway, with guys graduating.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 08:13 AM) I wouldn't be surprised at all if the maneuver was approved by the courts eventually. Well, at the very least, it appears the legislature specifically and clearly broke a rule about 24 hour notification. So I'm guessing it goes back for another vote if contested in the courts.

Fun charts for illustration of where we are at with jobs... 4 week moving average of initial claims over 40 year period seems to show this recession not a lot different than 82-83, or another from the 70's. Then there's the churn data, turnover in jobs, that show the number of layoffs and lost jobs is similar over time, but the total hires and openings, while increasing lately (which is good), is still on an overall slight downward trend in the past decade (that's bad). But then there is the really scary one - percent job losses over time, showing the depth and, more importantly, length of the recession (this is the one that scares the bejeezus out of me). My personal viewpoint is, the recessions are longer and have shallower recoveries because we don't accelerate out of them into sustainable growth areas - we grow into service too much. Need to invest in getting us in front of cutting edge technologies, getting us innovating, building and exporting... THEN let the other countries with lower cost of manufacture take those industries secondarily. We're just skipping part of that entirely.

Bad news, the new UE claims weekly number jumped back up, and more than expected, to 397k (expected 388k). Good news is, even on a spike, it stayed below 400k. Next week, if it goes back down again, I'll start to feel pretty good about it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2011 -> 08:02 AM) If this is something that gets people involved, it is a good thing, no matter what the outcome. I know I spent a day on this stuff in class over what was happening in Indiana. Talked about the issues, looked as the bills as they stand right now, and talked about how it affects the kids in schools. I agree. I think now we'll see the courts involved. I'm pretty sure the WI legislature broke some of their own rules here, so this may get sent back. Also, I am not sure the fines on the Senators will stand. Lots of interesting stuff going on.