Kevin & Brittany's Blog

Computer Management

2008-03-19T01:35:00.000-08:00

2008-03-13T01:44:00.000-08:00

Are the Oil Companies' Profits Truly "Obscene"...?

2006-05-21T23:12:00.000-08:00

In the Letters section of the Wall Street Journal, a reader wrote in to comment on the so-called “obscene profits” of the oil companies, particularly Exxon. What he notes is that the media are not reporting the truths behind these so-called “obscene profits”:

The media can begin with a simple analysis of their number one villain, ExxonMobil Corp. It would find that in 2005 ExxonMobil reported net income from downstream operations, including gasoline marketing, totaled $3.9 billion in the U.S., an increase of $1.7 billion over 2004. During 2005, ExxonMobil also reported U.S. petroleum product sales of 2.9 million barrels per day. Assume the entire increase in profits of $1.7 billion represents nothing more than corporate greed. If so, the press could calculate obscene profits at a maximum of 3.8 cents per gallon.

At 3.8 cents per gallon, 18 gallons per fill-up, one fill-up per week, 52 weeks per year makes one’s contribution to obscene profits less than $3 per month. But let’s give ExxonMobil, operating in a capital intensive industry, some reprieve since its increased profits can arguably be attributed to growth, productivity, capital expenditure, operational efficiency, and other factors.

Should I be irate about corporate greed of perhaps a penny per gallon when filling my tank or, instead, concerned about having a gasoline supply to drive to work? Keep it quiet, but I am willing to pay ExxonMobil even more in profits for my economic freedom. Most Americans, if provided the truth about big oil, might agree.

Robert D. Rieke, Ph.D. Dallas

Source: Wall Street Journal, Letters to the Editor, May 22, 2006

Political Hypocrisy and the High Cost of Gasoline

2006-05-14T16:27:00.000-08:00

In his weekly column, Thomas Sowell notes the hypocrisy of current politicians regarding high gas prices:

The very politicians who have piled tax after tax on gasoline over the years, and voted to prohibit oil drilling offshore or in Alaska, and who have made it impossible to build a single oil refinery in decades, are all over the television screens denouncing the oil companies. In other words, those who supply oil are being denounced and demonized by those who have been blocking the supply of oil.

Furthermore,

The government collects far more in taxes on every gallon of gasoline than the oil companies collect in profits. If oil company profits are "obscene," as some politicians claim, are the government's taxes PG-13?

In the early 20th century, the A & P grocery chain became renowned for both its low prices and its high quality. Its profit rate never fell below 20 percent during the decade of the 1920s. That's a higher rate of profit than the oil companies make. The relationship between prices and profit rates is not as simple as media hype or political demagoguery claims.

Source: “Is thinking obsolete?”, Thomas Sowell, May 10, 2006

George Will on John Kenneth Galbraith’s “The Affluent Society”

2006-05-04T00:19:00.000-08:00

In commenting on his passing this week, George Will presents a venerable argument against John Kenneth Galbraith’s “The Affluent Society”:

“The Affluent Society” was the canonical text of modern liberalism’s disparagement of the competence of the average American. This liberalism — the belief that people are manipulable dolts who need to be protected by their liberal betters from exposure to “too much” advertising — is one rationale for McCain-Feingold. That law regulating campaigns embodies the political class’s belief that it knows just the right amount of permissible political speech.

Who Pays the Majority of Taxes in This Country?

2006-05-04T00:08:00.000-08:00

There has been much speculation regarding exactly who pays the majority of taxes in this country. Most of the time it is felt that the rich do not pay their fair share and that the tax burden is principally borne by the middle class:

New IRS data released last month tell a very different story: In the aftermath of the Bush investment tax cuts, the federal income tax burden has substantially shifted onto the backs of the wealthy. Between 2002 and 2004, tax payments by those with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) of more than $200,000 a year, which is roughly 3% of taxpayers, increased by 19.4% — more than double the 9.3% increase for all other taxpayers. Between 2001 and 2004 (the most recent data), the percentage of federal income taxes paid by those with $200,000 incomes and above has risen to 46.6% from 40.5%. In other words, out of every 100 Americans, the wealthiest three are now paying close to the same amount in taxes as the other 97 combined.

There is also this...

One final footnote to this story: Just last week, the Department of the Treasury released its tax receipt data for March 2006. Tax collections for the past 12 months have exploded by 14.4%. We are now on course for a two-year increase in tax revenues of at least $500 billion, the largest two-year increase in tax revenue collections after adjusting for inflation ever recorded. So why are the leftists complaining so much? George Bush’s tax rate cuts have been among the most successful policies to soak the rich in American history.

Source: “How to Soak the Rich (the George Bush Way),” Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2006

The High Cost of Windfall Profits Taxes

2006-04-29T00:40:00.000-08:00

Jonathan Williams, an economist at the Tax Foundation in Washington, highlights some often-missed facts when politicians call for windfall profits taxes on oil industry earnings:

The last time this country experimented with such a tax was the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act of 1980. According to a 1990 Congressional Research Service study, the tax depressed the domestic oil industry, increased foreign imports and raised only a tiny fraction of the revenue forecasted. It stunted domestic production of oil by 3% to 6% and created a surge in foreign imports, from 8% to 16%.

Politicians calling oil companies “greedy” is more than a little ironic. Tax Foundation studies have shown that state and federal treasuries profit handsomely from oil industry sales. The average American motorist pays taxes of 46 cents a gallon on gasoline, of which 18.4 cents a gallon goes to the federal government. States and localities pocket the rest.

The nation’s energy companies are already providing a “windfall” of taxes. According to Department of Energy data, from 1977 to 2004, federal and state governments extracted $397 billion by taxing the profits of the largest oil companies and an additional $1.1 trillion in taxes at the pump. In today’s dollars, that’s $2.2 trillion—enough to buy a Toyota Prius for every household in the nation. In fact, oil companies have paid in taxes more than three times what they earned in profits during those 28 years.

As the oil industry brings in record profits, it also pays record taxes that average 39% worldwide, even after accounting for special deductions and credits. That compares with a 33% average tax rate for other industries. In 2005, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil paid more than $158 billion in total worldwide taxes. This gargantuan tax bill nearly equals the entire economic output of Iran and surpasses the total gross domestic product of 150 of the 184 countries ranked by the World Bank.

Source: “Crude Economics,” Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2006

Increased Demand and Decreased Supply...

2006-04-28T00:25:00.000-08:00

The Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer provides insight on the subject of the dramatic rise in gas prices. His opinions are totally unoriginal and perfectly on the mark.

Underreported Progress on Earth Day...?

2006-04-23T20:58:00.000-08:00

New York Times columnist John Tierney noted the following Sunday (April 23, 2006) in his regular weekly column:

“Most air pollutants have declined sharply in recent decades, and the amount of forest land hasn’t been shrinking at all — it’s been fairly stable since 1920 and has actually grown in the last decade. But cheery facts like these don’t get much attention in environmental studies classes or Earth Day events. Earth Day has traditionally been the occasion for apocalyptic predictions: global famines due to overpopulation, cancer epidemics from synthetic chemicals, cities destroyed by accidents at nuclear plants, species wiped out by deforestation, crippling shortages of energy... While Europeans have been reveling in their moral superiority in adopting the Kyoto Protocol, the United States has been pushing technologies that involve less pain but more gain, like new nuclear power plants and methods of sequestering carbon... These programs have gotten little attention. (I managed to find a total of one newspaper article devoted to the methane project). But if you add up the projected annual reductions in carbon dioxide from these efforts, the total is greater than what Europeans are planning to cut through Kyoto, according to David Victor, the director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford University.”

Genetic Link Found for CFS

2006-04-23T00:43:00.000-08:00

“Chronic fatigue syndrome appears to result from something in people's genetic makeup that reduces their ability to deal with physical and psychological stress,” the Associated Press reported Friday.

Al Gore's Scaremongering...?

2006-04-19T23:41:00.000-08:00

In an April 20, 2006 editorial appearing in the Los Angeles Times, Jonah Goldberg sheds a little bit of light on former Vice President Al Gore's current scaremongering...

The United States Lags behind in Broadband...

2006-04-19T19:39:00.000-08:00

According to an April 12, 2006 story in the Wall Street Journal, the United States ranks 12th among developed nations in high-speed Internet access. "The U.S. continues to lag behind rich nations in Europe and Asia in adopting high-speed Internet connections, a critical form of technological infrastructure, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S. ranked 12th among industrialized nations... Iceland overtook longtime leader South Korea for the top spot. Countries in Northern Europe filled seven of the top 10 spots, underscoring how the region is leading the way in taking up this pillar of modern infrastructure."

Who Pays Taxes and How Much

2006-04-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

"Currently, the 1% of American households with the highest incomes -- those earning an average of about $1 million a year -- pay about 31% of their income in federal taxes, including payroll tax and income tax, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The 20% of households with the lowest incomes -- those earning an average of about $15,000 a year -- pay less than 5% of their incomes in taxes."

"That tax system is modestly more progressive today than it was a quarter-century ago. In 1980, households in the bottom 20% of the income distribution earned 5.7% of all income and paid 2% of all federal taxes; in 2003 -- the most recent data available -- they earned 4.2% of all income and paid 1% of all taxes. Meanwhile, the highest earning 20% of households earned 45.8% of income in 1980 and paid 56.3% of all taxes. In 2003 those high-income households earned 52.2% of income and paid 65.7% of taxes."

Source: "Taxes: Who Pays, and How Much?", Wall Street Journal, April 15, 2006

Kevin with Paul in NY

2006-04-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

This shot with Paul Orenstein was taken just outside Gotham Bar and Grill in New York City in early January 2006. Brittany and I had just finished lunch with Paul and would be heading back to Alaska the following day.

Still More Positive Findings regarding Vitamin D Supplementation

2006-04-17T15:07:00.000-08:00

According to the April 2006 edition of Shape magazine, “getting 1000 international units (IU) of vitamin D per day could/your risk for colon, breast and ovarian cancer in half...” (pg. 147)

Another Testament to the Sorry State of the Current US Tax Code

2006-04-16T23:31:00.000-08:00

Chris Edwards, Director of Tax Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, noted in Sunday’s edition of the Washington Post (April 16, 2006): “After winning control of Congress in 1994, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) called for fundamental tax reform, saying the tax code was ‘overly complex’ and ‘indefensible.’ Virtually every GOP leader since then has echoed the call for reform, without ever coming close to delivering. Since the mid-1990s, the number of pages of federal tax rules has soared by 64 percent, the hours Americans collectively spend complying with the tax code each year has surpassed 6 billion, and the annual cost of complying has more than doubled to $265 billion. The only winners: tax lawyers and accountants. H&R Block has tripled its revenue since 1995 as the share of taxpayers needing professional expertise has grown. Middle-class households are struggling through the thicket of tax rules related to children, home ownership and retirement plans, while even low-income families need outside help to figure out all the special tax benefits that apply to them.”

Co-Founder of Greenpeace Says the Country Needs to Rely More on Nuclear Reactors for Our Energy Needs

2006-04-16T23:16:00.000-08:00

Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace and chairman and chief scientist of Greenspirit Strategies Ltd., provides an influential argument regarding the need for increased use of nuclear reactors to meet our energy needs. It is indeed very interesting that the former co-founder of Greenpeace would be making such an argument.

Recent Remarks on Global Warming from MIT Atmospheric Scientist

2006-04-16T00:44:00.000-08:00

In an April 12, 2006 editorial appearing in the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Richard Lindzen, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT, makes some rather remarkable statements regarding global warming. In particular, he notes that it should be puzzling to most citizens of industrialized nations that “Everything from the heat wave in Paris to heavy snows in Buffalo has been blamed on people burning gasoline to fuel their cars, and coal and natural gas to heat, cool and electrify their homes. Yet how can a barely discernible, one-degree increase in the recorded global mean temperature since the late 19th century possibly gain public acceptance as the source of recent weather catastrophes? And how can it translate into unlikely claims about future catastrophes?”

His answer is rather surprising coming from someone with such a scientific reputation: “The answer has much to do with misunderstanding the science of climate, plus a willingness to debase climate science into a triangle of alarmism. Ambiguous scientific statements about climate are hyped by those with a vested interest in alarm, thus raising the political stakes for policy makers who provide funds for more science research to feed more alarm to increase the political stakes. After all, who puts money into science — whether for AIDS, or space, or climate — where there is nothing really alarming? Indeed, the success of climate alarmism can be counted in the increased federal spending on climate research from a few hundred million dollars pre-1990 to $1.7 billion today.”

Dr. Lindzen then makes one of the most remarkable indictments of the scientific community supporting the current view of global warming: “But there is a more sinister side to this feeding frenzy. Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their grant funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves libeled as industry stooges, scientific hacks or worse. Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science that supposedly is their basis.”

Source: “Climate of Fear,” Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2006

The Sorry State of the Current US Tax Code

2006-04-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

Newsweek columnist Robert Samuelson paints quite an unfortunate picture of the current US tax code in this column. A few of the key points that Mr. Samuelson makes in this article are: (1) “compliance with the current tax code costs about $150 billion annually for taxpayers to comply, a figure roughly equal to all household spending on electricity ($121 billion in 2004); (2) the current tax code is so complicated that about 60 percent of taxpayers rely on professionals to do their returns; and (3) it creates perpetual uncertainty, because Congress constantly tinkers with tax provisions (since 1986, there have been 15,000 changes).... By making the tax system more confusing and less conducive to economic growth, it sows public cynicism and discontent.”

Transnationalism

2006-04-09T01:40:00.000-08:00

John Leo of US News covers some interesting political territory in his article on transnationalism. Even though the article deals primarily with immigration reform, the issue of transnationalism is certainly a political principle that exceeds the boundaries of discussions on immigration.

Kevin & Brit at Phantom of the Opera in NYC

2006-04-03T02:43:00.000-08:00

Late December 2005. The show was fantastic!

Global Warming...?

2006-04-02T00:39:00.000-09:00

George Will's article in the Washington Post on the subject of global warming is one of the best in recent memory. It is a very concise summary of some of the contradictory statements and remaining questions regarding this phenomena.

Christmas in New York

2006-01-09T15:45:00.000-09:00

Sorry for the fuzziness of this photo. It was taken on December 26th, 2005 by a friendly tourist at Lincoln Center in New York City. :-)

Online Inflation Calculator

2005-09-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

The following is an extremely valuable tool. It is a web site that acts as an inflation calculator. It was posted on Walter Williams' web site last week. (Walter Williams is a nationally syndicated columnist and an economics professor at George Mason University.) This inflation calculator allows one to be able to see clearly the difference in prices/costs in relation to the inflationary effect over specified periods of time.

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

It is also a handy tool for battling against media reports (frequent reports, unfortunately) which hype the current costs of things like a barrel of oil, a gallon of gasoline, or a loaf of bread and constantly use the adjective "record" to describe such prices, e.g. “… a barrel of oil set another record price today..." etc.

As we learn from Mr. Williams' web site (as well as Newsweek and many others), the supposedly record prices for a barrel of oil during the past month (August 2005) were actually not the most expensive barrels of oil in the history of the US when we bring in the factor of inflation-adjusted dollars. The most expensive barrels of oil were actually produced from 1980 through 1981. By today's standards, a gallon of gasoline would cost $3.16 when it was brought to market during this time. We may be quickly approaching that price here in September, but in August the price of a gallon of gasoline was definitely not a record as is often reported within the major media news outlets.

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

2005-09-04T17:59:00.000-08:00

The following is a brief introduction into a condition with which Kevin has been suffering for many years:

Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) consists of a group of distinct disorders that affect the nerves in the brachial plexus (nerves that pass into the arms from the neck) and various nerves and blood vessels between the base of the neck and axilla (armpit). For the most part, these disorders have very little in common except the site of occurrence. The disorders are complex, somewhat confusing, and poorly defined, each with various signs and symptoms of the upper limb.

True neurologic TOS is rare and is caused by congenital anomalies (unusual anatomic features present at birth)… Symptoms include weakness and wasting of hand muscles, and numbness in the hand.(1)

Oftentimes there are multiple neurological problems associated with those who suffer from thoracic outlet syndrome:

Neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (N-TOS) is often confounded by related diseases such as cubital and carpal tunnel syndromes, myofascial pain syndrome, and spinal stenosis; therefore, evaluation of surgical decompression of the thoracic outlet as an effective treatment has been difficult.(2)

Kevin underwent a double-scalenecomy in 1997 (in New York) -- a removal of two neck muscles -- to relieve the problem. Unfortunately, it was an unsuccessful procedure.

Kevin also suffers from radial nerve entrapments. He was first diagnosed with this neurological compression in 1991 by an orthopedic surgeon in Anchorage, Alaska, a diagnosis that was later confirmed by an orthopedic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale. (More info on RNE will be published soon.)

1. NINDS Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Information Page. National Institutes of Health. 2005, Washington, DC

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/thoracic/thoracic.htm
2. Altobelli, G. G.; Kudo, T.; Haas, B. T.; Chandra, F. A.; Moy, J. L.; Ahn, S. S., Thoracic outlet syndrome: Pattern of clinical success after operative decompression. Journal of Vascular Surgery 2005, 42, (1), 122.