Posted by Joel
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:54:49 GMT
The most common issue my friends on the left take with capitalism and classical liberal economics is that of wealth redistribution. They talk of the empathetic pangs in their heart for all the poor people and how those with means have an ethical obligation to help them. Furthermore they think it is such an obligation that it must be done through force: i.e., voluntary charity or tithing is not enough. The money must be actively stolen from those who refuse to give, and redistributed against their will to people who did not earn it in what is by and large our national meritocracy.
Well, all right. Let's assume for a moment that we accept that pretense. There are still better ways to go about forced wealth redistribution than our current bureaucratic and ineffective welfare systems. I find this particular idea is actually very popular amongst the left, and I would like to share it with you now.
The idea is called the Basic Income. It is enacted through a mechanism called the Negative Income Tax. This idea was supported by Milton Friedman in his book Capitalism & Freedom. He also supported (failed) legislation to put it into effect but later critiqued the bill when it was understood it would merely be added on to existing welfare systems instead of replacing them.
The concept is simply this: Everyone pays a flat income tax, say, 20%. On top of that, it is agreed that 50% of the total federal receipts will be evenly divided amongst the citizens and redistributed.
In our current $13.8 trillion economy, 20% would result in $2.76 trillion in revenue. 50% of that amount is $1.38 trillion. Divide that by ~300 million people and you have $4600 mailed out per person. I'm assuming the other 50% would be used for military, police, and other various agreed upon social public services that are not in any way wealth redistribution.
What this means is that if you earned nothing you would receive $4600 to spend and pay no taxes, in effect having a negative income tax. If you earned $10,000, you would pay $2,000 of that to taxes and receive $4,600, resulting in a net annual revenue of $12,600. In this particular example, it evens out at an annual income of $23,000, meaning such a person neither gain or loses money to taxes ultimately. After that, the basic income becomes a fairly trivial addition to your income compared to the 20% in taxes you pay. The person who earns $1 million would pay $200,000 in taxes and receive only $4,600 as his basic income.
Obviously, the actual values here are debatable, but I think these numbers are reasonable. This money could be used in any way desired by the recipients. Someone living on the streets could use it to purchase food, clothing, health care, and shelter. Those working jobs could use it simply as extra comfort in addition to their income. It would help solve a regular criticism of the allegedly non-charitable free societies, that the poor would not be able to elevate themselves due to an inability to surpass a basic standard of living such that they have a mailing address and basic hygiene.
While I think most of the opposition to charity comes from people thinking they "already contribute" via taxes, even if we do force charity via taxation, this model is far preferable to the top-down bureaucratic methods.
The system is simple and elegant, so it is hard to manipulate or steal off the top. One major benefit is that it scales. If the economy booms, as it has very much so thanks to Friedman's ideas and all presidents since Reagan enacting them, the amount of the check increases. If the population increases, the number is further divided. It is completely fair and automatically adjusting, and gives even the poor an incentive to increase the GDP.
This system minimizes the perverse incentives of present supply-oriented systems. It encourages working and earning more money; you will always be taxed a simple and reasonably small 20% and you never lose the basic income. In the current system, getting a job means getting off welfare, which is a horrible incentive not to work. It also prevents the problems caused by attempting to support statistical outliers such as those with excessively expensive medical needs. Best of all, it would enact real change as people were actually able to buy what they need and succeed rather than letting it all get filtered through thieving pork barrel bureaucrats who violate people's decency by making them use food stamps or otherwise being wasteful instead of letting people purchase exactly what they wanted and needed. How they used it would really be their responsibility, but I'm sure it would help a lot of people succeed who don't have the chance in the current system.
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Posted by Joel
Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:47:00 GMT
In case you don't know, I am an active Twitter user. If you can't get enough Joel updates, you can find my account here:
http://twitter.com/joelmichael
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Posted by Joel
Sat, 09 Aug 2008 06:37:00 GMT
So, a couple posts back I wrote about an anime called Kaiba. I've been watching it religiously the last few months, and it is now complete. I know many of my friends would probably enjoy it, but have no idea how to obtain it. So, here is a post hoping to spread the show around.
The series is 12 episodes long (about 4.8 hours), and you can download them all from torrents for a limited time. Later in this post I will tell you how to do that, but first I'll tell you why you should.
I will briefly try to explain the show and why I like it so much without giving too much away. I can guarantee this show is completely unlike anything you have ever seen before, even if you have watched anime before. Kaiba raises many metaphysical questions about the nature of the self, and how it is related to our bodies and our memories. It does so in a very intelligent way. In the universe of the show, there is technology which allows people to switch bodies or change their memories at will, so long as they can afford it. Bad memories can be removed, good memories can be purchased, and memories of others can be forcibly altered.
Second, the show is very artistic and romantic. Its theme throughout is love, which is explored in emotional ways. The artwork is unique. It is a bit reminiscent of older styles, but has some very vivid and modern qualities. The environments and situations presented are bizarre and fascinating. The characters are imaginative and different. The music is immersive and odd.
Third, the show is difficult but intentional. It is light on exposition and fills out details of earlier episodes as it goes along. If you enjoy solving puzzles and the delight of discovery, this show is full of that. At first, it may seem non-sequitur or random, but it isn't. The whole story is planned and completely well explained in the end, so long as you catch all the clues. Rewatching episodes is rewarding as you will catch some new thing you never understood before. You have to give the show your full attention.
Much of Kaiba is melancholic and tragic, but parts of it are very uplifting.
I'll tell you right now that if you aren't familiar with anime at all there are some things in it that might seem odd or uncomfortable to you. In episode 2 in particular there is some nudity from the back and sexual content, although it is not graphic. Japan has a different culture than ours, and this was shown on their public TV. It is nothing like pornographic. If the idea of animation as a wholesome, completely non-sexual affair is engrained within you, some elements of the show will probably make you unsettled. If you think of it with the open-mindedness of someone appreciating art, and have a sense of humor, you shouldn't have a problem.
Curiosity piqued? Here is how to watch it. The group who translated and distributes these episodes used special video formats to better support subtitling and other features, so you can't play the episode files using the playback programs built into your computer.
For Windows users, you'll have to download two programs:
Media Player Classic
and
CCCP, a codec pack.
For Mac users, you have to install one program,
Perian,
and restart your computer after installation. Then play the files in Quicktime.
To make it easier for you to get hooked, I'm making the first episode available for direct download in HD here: Download the first episode of Kaiba.
To get all the episodes, you can get a torrent of the full series here. These will be around for a limited time. You have a choice between:
High Definition (720p, 3.3 gigs)
and
Standard Definition (1.7 gigs)
Enjoy Kaiba!
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Posted by Joel
Sun, 22 Jun 2008 01:19:33 GMT
Recently, Sen Obama came under fire by the left for supporting a new FISA bill. Let me break down a few of the facts to start with.
- FISA stands for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was passed in 1978. This act defined the means by which government agencies can survey Americans. Relevant to the current situation, it requires that wiretapping (phone call surveillance) have a court warrant.
- The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, part of our Bill of Rights, reads: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
- The Bush administration authorized a program which they named the "Terrorist Surveillance Program". The details of the program are classified. They have stated that the program exclusively involves surveillance of calls, emails, and other online communications where one party is in America and the other is on foreign soil. They admit that in some cases, there has been surveillance of "purely domestic" calls; i.e., both participants were in America at the time. Officials say this was a mistake due to the logistical problems posed in determining the source of phone calls, and that the executive order still applies only to international communications.
- The White House says the President has the power to override FISA and the 4th Amendment due to the Constitutional title of "Commander in Chief". In that same press release, they also cite similar measures taken by past Presidents during wartime as legal precedent: "Signals intelligence has been a fundamental aspect of waging war since the Civil War, where we intercepted telegraphs, obviously, during the world wars, as we intercepted telegrams in and out of the United States. Signals intelligence is very important for the United States government to know what the enemy is doing, to know what the enemy is about to do." The White House also says that Congress and the Judicial branch have given them this authority.
- In order for the NSA to fulfill the order they required and requested cooperation from telecommunication companies ("telecoms"), such as AT&T.
- As a result, a number of legal cases have arisen against these companies.
- The new bill essentially has two parts: it reiterates the warrant requirement, and it grants retroactive immunity to all the telecoms that helped the NSA for privacy infringement.
- Obama has said he approves of the primary purpose of the new bill, but will try to strip telecom immunity from it when it reaches the Senate.
It is uncertain if Obama will support the bill if he fails at removing the immunity element, but he implies that he will. Given the "compromise" nature of the bill, he is unlikely to be successful in doing so, leaving some to suggest he is either naive or trying to give a token gesture to the bill's opponents.
Is warrantless wiretapping by the Bush administration illegal? The answer is actually, "yes and no". The law here is contradictory. It is illegal according to the 4th Amendment. It is illegal according to FISA. But, as the White House points out, their actions also have legal precedent, and Congress and the judges did in fact allow them to do this. The legality is therefore unclear.
The purpose of reintroducing the same FISA law is to make it more contemporary, as new law tends to take priority over old law when conflicts exist.
The telecoms should be granted immunity. They were merely helpless participants in all this. When an authority comes to you asking that you break a law, can that same authority then punish you for doing so? No. If a policeman were to order you to steal, and then took you to jail for it, that would be called entrapment.
These corporations were likely merely trying to do whatever they could to avoid malfeasance. They have been put in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.
As for the core of the idea, I think surveillance should be limited to warrants like the Constitution sets out. If you can't determine probable cause, you shouldn't be monitoring someone. The same rationale for monitoring people without warrants could be used to extend to monitoring everyone. Protecting the privacy of American citizens who are not suspected under due process is an essential right.
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Posted by Joel
Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:09:00 GMT
So, I've actually watched a few anime series lately. Aside for the excellent Miyazaki films, and the mainstream Death Note, I haven't watched much anime since sophomore year of college, having become disenfranchised with the direction anime was going, and perhaps just growing out of it. However, I still have a fascination with the work of some of these imaginative Japanese artists.
The one that stands out for me is Masaaki Yuasa. I was first exposed to him by my friend Justin who gave me a copy of Mind Game. I felt like this movie was one of the most impactful movies I'd ever seen, despite its goofy title. It was at once hilarious, horrifying, and life-affirming. The climactic scene is so powerful it still stands as a significant metaphor in my mind for fighting against the inevitable.
I watched another movie of his, the purely surrealist and mostly dialogue-free Cat Soup. You can watch this one on Google video, if you're curious.
Somewhere along the line I realized he was making new TV shows. I watched Kemonozume, his most recent completed show. While the premise was excellent and there were some great moments, ultimately, this series had a tacked-on ending I didn't really like.
The newest show, Kaiba, is incredible. It asks a lot of questions about the nature of memories and the soul. It takes place in a sci-fi universe where memories can be traded or removed, and where you can have your memories transferred from body to body. All of it is woven around a love story with engaging characters. Figuring out the nature of the universe has been very entertaining for me, as Masaaki likes to challenge his audience. The best part is, unlike, say, Evangelion, it doesn't seem to be a bunch of thrown-together randomness which is ultimately impossible to solve, but is rather a very cohesive universe. If you're into arty, thinking stuff, you'd probably really like it.
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Posted by Joel
Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:41:28 GMT
So, life hasn't been bad the last few months. For the most part, I've been spending the time fairly routinely involved in work and entertaining myself via various vices. Easily the worst of them is time spent on Reddit reading the various articles posted there and commenting on them.
This election has been a catalyst for my first true venture into understanding my political stances, and as such I've been doing a lot of reading and discussion. I have no firm upbringing, as my parents disagreed on a lot of political issues. My friends as well, growing up, were pretty diverse in their political leanings. So this particular election, with all the important stuff going on in the world right now, has forced me to do what I can to understand our history and where we should probably be going.
I call myself a moderate today. In college I would have identified as a libertarian, and I still lean that way, but I've come to understand more of the utility of government and not react to it reflexively. I've also gained a lot more respect for interventionist foreign policy, particularly after listening to noted anti-theist Christopher Hitchens.
This has disturbed a lot of my friends who nowadays are all fairly standard leftists. In many ways I feel unable to have discussions with some of them -- at least a few of them entertain the idea that 9/11 was a Bush administration conspiracy, which makes further levels of discourse difficult.
I've been (very slowly) reading Alan Greenspan's weighty book in which he covers the history of the last century or so from a very informed economic perspective. It gives great insight into the various presidents, and their motivations and ideas, and proposes where he thinks the world is going. It also paints a much clearer picture of the oft-misunderstood Federal Reserve system and what the Chairman's role is in it. I would recommend it to anyone who has an insatiable penchant for trying to understand the big picture.
My dad increasingly tries to keep me grounded and focused on my own life. I've been trying that more lately, perhaps because I've seen my increased focus on the Other take a toll on my personal goals. I don't think it's entirely without merit, as I think being an informed citizen is a personal goal, but it's true that I need to put the more tangible aspects of my own life first, and stop spending so much time focusing on these intellectual pursuits.
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Posted by Joel
Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:26:40 GMT
(I wrote this a few weeks ago while in a rare mindset, but decided to wait and see if I would still want to post it later. Tonight, I feel like posting it.)
Just realizing, looking at my blog tonight, how many gaps in time there are, and how much I leave out. Really, the only reason I don't blog regularly is laziness. I should clarify that, if it isn't obvious, I got shaken off my fitness routine after moving from Marc's place, which was where my gym was. Which is why, six months later, I'm still about the same level of fitness as when I last posted my progress.
I've been thinking of taking the whole fitness thing seriously again but have honestly been pretty lazy about finding a gym that fits within my routine. I know my productivity has increased dramatically with time, and yet I still look around and see such a lazy person when I think of what I really have to do.
I've gone out in the city a number of times to dinners and shows and clubs and bars, played Guitar Hero and Rock Band for the first time, tried playing Eve Online with Goonfleet for a while (I've now quit). Dad visited SF for a few days, twice during the last six months. Mom has also come up twice, with Anne once. I have even had a girl or two on my mind for the first time in a while. That's probably surprising to me because for the year I was in San Jose I barely ever saw any.
And then, you've got to consider all the stuff I don't dare mention in this blog. Man, there was a time when I was younger I wrote too much in these things. And I still catch myself doing it. Every time I look back a year or so I think "My God, why did I write that on the internet? That's there FOREVER now!" My natural recourse is to delete the blog, keeping it in my private records, not posting at all for a few months to a year, and when I feel the urge to blog again, start a fresh one.
This blog only goes back a while, but I've been blogging since I was around 14 years old, in 1996. Simply updating some webspace I got from our ISP with an HTML page I coded up. Heh, I've been doing geeky stuff on the internet since I found out about it. I have them all still, all except one year which is lost forever. I deleted the only copy because I spent the year fawning over some girl, airing my family and romantic business online, being overly dramatic. But now, I really wish I hadn't lost it. Even though I can't stand to read my old blogs because they're so embarrassing. Maybe when I'm 50 I'll look back fondly, I don't know.
I don't know if life will ever feel quite as passionate as it did back then. But I'd say it's getting better. To discount that things are getting better is to fail to acknowledge how bad they've been.
This weekend we did karaoke, that was a lot of fun. It was the Affinity team, at Kamna's place. Afterwards we went to a club, but I like a complete dork had my laptop still with me because I hadn't been home since work, so I went home shortly after arriving.
(And this part, I wrote tonight.)
More people than I think have probably Googled me and read through this thing, and my Twitter messages, and so many other things. I don't know what to say besides that this blog seems like a poor description of who I am. Maybe I'll change that. Maybe I won't.
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Posted by Joel
Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:29:23 GMT
Almost forgot, my birthday was January 19th (as usual). So, I'm now 26. It's been a very important year for me and I've changed a lot as a person. I sincerely feel like I've matured so much in the past year, more than any other year, but I still see I have a ways to go. The path feels much more identifiable, though, and I think I'm going about things correctly for once.
To celebrate, I got together some friends, and we went to Nihon, a "Japanese whisky lounge". Altogether ten of my friends showed up, many of them from Zurb: Mark Otto and his girlfriend, Aiden and Gianna, Robert, Andres, Ryan, David and Katie, my roommate Megan. It had some great food and drinks, and was expensive, but my friends graciously picked up the tab, much to my distress.
It was a real pleasure to have so many of my friends around, and to even realize for the first time how many friends I had here in the Bay. It's amazing, considering how difficult and lonely life was for the first year or so I was here.
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Posted by Joel
Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:08:00 GMT
I haven't updated in a while so I'll give you a brief run-through of what's happened in my life.
The most important thing to happen to me is that my company, Affinity Labs, was acquired, by Monster. To be blunt, it means I made and will continue to make a considerable amount of money due to the stock I held in the company. You're likely curious as to the exact amount but I'm not sure how appropriate it is to give that information out. It's a life milestone of sorts, and with it has come a lot of varying emotions and experiences. I always feel bad when I know I've been boasting, but at the same time I want to celebrate my success with my friends and family.
And that should transition elegantly to the next two things, Christmas and Thanksgiving. For Christmas, I went back to the Chicago suburbs to spend time with my dad and step-family, as well as my childhood friends, mainly Hans, Bill, and Dave. I spent some great time with Katie and also Matt as well. New Years Eve was actually a fairly great one in recent memory and I'm really glad to see how my friends are turning out, and I miss them a lot.
Thanksgiving I went to LA. My grandfather, fully aware he is not long for this world due to his ailing health, has been very appreciative of us. I want him to feel good about his family, so I'm going to do what I can to visit him this weekend for his 80th birthday party.
Aside for these events, my life has consisted of fairly enjoyable, stress-free, and productive work days. In my off hours I like to study politics, the economy, and finance and discuss them with my geeky friends online, and sometimes actual people I know, although they typically aren't as interested.
I was a Ron Paul supporter, and still think he's a good man. However, I ultimately am maintaining my Democrat registration and will vote for Obama in the primary. If it comes down to it I will vote for Hillary in the general. My key issue is the Iraq and Afghanistan occupation. I will try to go into more detail on my re-evaluated political positions, having been focusing on them so much during this election. I'd like to make more focused posts on this site, and not just discuss my life.
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Posted by Joel
Sat, 20 Oct 2007 19:40:22 GMT
Sorry about that previous post (which is now deleted). I know it was rambling and nonsensical. I'd had a bit to drink and started writing the kind of post which has not been my style in a while. While it's true I've been trying to approach disputes from a more cooperative, dialectic standpoint, that's really all that needs to be said on the matter. There is still plenty of need to cut throats.
Here is a summation of the last month (which is much more appropriate). Work has been going pretty well. There have been some big changes in the staff, most notably Aiden joining the company as an interaction designer. Together we have been trying to get a lot accomplished within Affinity that needs to be done.
I went to my cousin Scott's wedding up in Seattle. It was a really great wedding, casual, short, and comfortable. Very much his style. They had little Miis on top of their cake.
A number of us, Robert, Aiden, Sam & Bruce, Gianna, went to see Patrick Wolf. I was really impressed by his very gay show. There have been comparisons drawn to Bowie. He knows how to entertain. Hooliganism followed.
I've left the two IRC channels I spent the most time in. One of them was over a banning dispute and the other was because I felt kind of in the mood to leave IRC. I know I've left IRC "permanently" before only to return, but I feel surprisingly content without my usual crutch.
Our WoW 5v5 team is doing even better, now making it up to a 1741 ranking. I made a video of one of our matches.
I've really been appreciating the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows. It's a great everyday album.
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