Climb to Glory: Happy Birthday Xth Mountain Division

 Life is quite funny as to how things come full circle.  In trying to come up with post material, and get outside the realm of only talking about politics, I am trying to connect with a personal past that runs through my family. Like many people my age, there is a significant chance that a family member fought in World War II, and for me, that was both of my grandfathers. 

My paternal grandfather was attached to the X Mountain Division and saw action in Italy.  Unfortunately, my pop-pop passed away when I was a mere age of five and I never really got much education from him.  I've been told by many that he was a gentle man with much patience and a extreme hunger for political knowledge.  My mother has often said that he would love today's media with its online blend and flair, its flexibility to dig, the competition that is created by talk radio, and of course the personalities.  I can vividly remember Saturday nights spent at my grandparents house when he would lay six inches away, in front of the mammoth Zenith television set.  He usually had the mono volume spiked up so the speaker rattled while he watched the McLaughlin Group.  I guess you can say that politics is hereditary, and it's a disease worse than cancer since it persists for generations.  (He unfortunately lost his battle with lung cancer). 

Yesterday when I threw "10th Mountain Division History" into Google, it returned the fact that today just so happens to be the divisions birthday (give or take).  Not only does the Xth have personal meaning to me through my families past, but as a skier, it also holds some modern day context as well considering National Ski Patrol and the Army's historical relationship.

From the link in the post heading:

"The history of the 10th Mountain Division is rooted in developments prior to the United States' entry into World War II. Influenced by the 1939 success of Finnish troops in warfare against invading Soviet units and by concern over escalating hostilities across Europe, individuals in the War Department and the military turned their attention to the status of military preparedness for winter warfare. Troops stationed at Fort Snelling, Minnesota had engaged in specialized training, yet no large-scale maneuvers had taken place. In May of 1940, the American Alpine club urged the Department of War to begin mountain warfare training and subsequently began advising the military on equipment necessary for mountain and winter warfare.

"Additional pressure for the development of elite mountain troops came from Charles Minot Dole (Minnie Dole), Chair of the National Ski Patrol Association of the National Ski Association. Dole believed the need for trained alpine soldiers existed and he emphasized the presence of skilled skiers in the US able to meet these special needs of the military. When the War Department created ski patrol unites within several existing divisions, the National Ski Association reviewed equipment and training and by the end of the winter the advisory relationship had become formalized.

"With the groundwork set, in November 1941, the government created the Mountain Winter Warfare Board to design and test winter equipment and transportation and the War Department established the 1st Battalion of 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment as a mountain battalion, Fort Lewis, Washington became the first home for the regiment and simultaneous with the US entry in WWII, recruits arrived for training at Mount Rainier. The National Ski Patrol continued its unique relationship with the military by recruiting experts in skiing and mountaineering for the US Army."

We say happy birthday to all of the Xth's vets this day and may you continue your "Climb to Glory."

Google Trends and the Sad State of Our Country

You know it's a sad state of American affairs when you see more people Googling Lindsay Lohan's rumored death than they actually Google the news and economics. This information is what greeted me this morning on my iGoogle home page's "Trends" widget box. 

Trends is a nifty thing to follow in your spare time and usually returns some interesting insights.  Perhaps, us news hounds know how to better retrieve what we're looking for than following the rumors of celebrity gossip?  Either way, I am often mortified that my fellow Americans still haven't woken up like us informed citizens and I hope they find the light sooner rather than later.

Boomers, China, & Rosevelt Theory

Honestly, there is nothing more powerful and stealthy in the US Military's arsenal than that of a ballistic missile sub. Turn one of those boats into a space for 154 cruise missiles and 60 special forces commandos, capable of disappearing for months on end, and then reappearing anywhere in the world without announcement, and that is what SOCOM refers to as "the tip of the spear."

Needless to say, when three boomers surface at roughly the same time, in roughly the same area, for no real reason whatsoever, someone is going to take notice. China happened to take notice of someone in the Navy playing a bit of Roosevelt Doctrine (walk softly and carrying a big stick.) For those that are mistaken that the cold war is over, it's merely shifted focus from the Red Russians to the Red Chinese, and unfortunately for the US, the Chicoms are better organized, better populated, and are on the correct side of potential economic warfare.

Unfortunately for the brain that is locked away in the Naval Warfare College that thought it a good idea to turn ballistic missile subs into cruise missile subs, his face will never be donned upon the Wheaties box, though it really should be.

(Full credit goes to Yahoo News and AK Fan for the link, it's a good read).

Holy Taxman, AK FAN!

A nameless buddy of mine (who we shall call AK Fan since he didn't want me to sarcastically disguise him as ObamaFan) runs a family business. We had the following conversation pertaining to unemployment insurance earlier this week:

AK Fan: Just got a letter from the state. They are upping the taxable wage base on
unemployment and workers comp. I believe it was $8000 last year now its
10k.
Me: unbelievable
AK Fan: But effective 1/1/11 it's 13k
Me: All these taxes and fees. HOLYSHIT!
AK Fan: And effective 1/1/12 it's 16k
Me: That's a 30% increase! Honestly, we're bankrupting ourselves!
AK Fan: And a new penalty for the mis-classification of workers is $5000 per
unreported worker per report and reports are quarterly. So, it's up to $20k
per year for an unreported employee. Crazy.
Me: Holyshit, that's crazy!
AK Fan: Social handouts sucking $$$$ from productive business
AM me: Yep. Nothing more.


The sad thing is, it's not just unemployment tax and workers comp. Most people don't realize that employers have to match your Social Security Tax as well. So, what is 7.65% of your gross taxable wage, your employer kicks in 7.65% as well. That's for every employee! What's worse is, that starting this year, with the new tax/health care, you will see a new line item called "medical benefits paid by employer" on your W-2 form. This is the portion of your health insurance that is funded by your employer that you don't really see. Now, no one is currently taxed on that, but we know how the government operates on the boiling frog method (for those who don't know what that is, you boil a frog by putting it in a pot of cold water and slowly turning up the heat).

From working in accounting, we see taxes for all sorts of stuff, on top of your normal income taxes. In all honesty, the associated fees with business make business almost not worth while.

If we took a normal LLC, run out of one's home or perhaps a small owned or leased office, here's a short list of taxes and assesments one would see. We'll also assume that there are a few employees and there aren't any private contractors.

1) Fed Tax
2) State Tax
3) Local Tax
4) Sales / Use Tax
5) Personal Property Tax
6) Real Estate Tax
7) Registration Fees
8) Regulation authority Fees
9) Worker's Comp Insurance
10) Unemployment Insurance
11) Compliance examination fees
12) Incorporation Fees
13) Employer's portion of FICA

To think, like we discussed above, in one way or another, these taxes and fees find their way into paying for every worth while program (roads, schools, military) and every worthless program (social security, medicare, medicaid, and food stamps). That sucking sound we hear, is the continued economic "recovery."

RIP George Steinbrenner: Enjoy your Tax Free Death

Lucky Steinbrenner! I wish I could pick such a timely and fast paced death. While that statement is pretty distasteful, it is unfortunately the truth for the majority of the people on earth. No one really wants to die, but we all hope and pray that our return to the dusts of the earth is always quick and fairly painless. Certainly, if you happen to kick the bucket in 2010 it has the added bonus of being tax free!

Before I continue, I do want to offer my thoughts and prayers, apologetically to the Steinbrenner family. As a humbled Oriole's fan, the Steinbrenner family has my support and condolences in mending their broken hearts.

Mr. Steinbrenner was able to live out two completely American dreams through hard work and determination. He was a self made millionaire and accomplished the prestige associated with owning the most prominent franchise in all of America's Pastime. Having bought the Yankees for a measly ten million dollars in 1973, it's estimated that the team is worth over one billion dollars, a one hundred fold increase. During that time, Steinbrenner won seven World Championships, countless pennants, and saw a massive change of baseball.

Of course, George gave players breaks, broke their careers, and was the quintessential capitalist of baseball. He opposed salary caps, probably despised the "luxury tax," and all the while "hired minorities and fired white managers." (Limbaugh from today's program) It shows, that when the free market is allowed to invest in itself, it can achieve nothing but greatness, even if it is dubbed the "evil empire" for doing nothing but win over the last 40 years.

Unfortunately, in today's world, we see the free enterprise attacked at every angle, in an effort to create a class division and pit us against one another. Perhaps the economic recovery would get this nation moving again if it were allowed to follow the Steinbrenner business model: Pay your employees who perform, well enough to motivate them to achieve great things, sanctions and regulation be damned.

So Mr. Steinbrenner, enjoy your peace, your baseball, and may your heirs enjoy the continued winning tradition of firing / hiring Billy Martin.