Innocent Bystanders

Fleeing Taxes December 30, 2018

The Census Bureau recently released the state population totals from 2010 to July 1, 2018, so we can get a sense of migratory patterns in the US. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that there seemed to be an exodus from high-tax states to lower-tax states, but their graphics were wanting.

So here are a couple of charts.

First, we look at population change vs. the total individual tax burden (income, property, sales, and excise taxes) as provided by WalletHub.

While there are obviously other factors at play (economy, marijuana, weather, proximity to DC and CA, etc.) there’s a fairly decent trend suggesting that people are motivated to move to places with lower taxes.

But what about the business environment? Does that correlate with population movement as well? (Business tax burden taken from recent report by the Anderson Economic Group).

Oh yeah:

Ignoring North Dakota, which has obviously had its fortunes boosted by oil (Why do we have high business taxes? Because we can!), there’s a pretty clear trend of people moving to friendlier business climates.

If Everything is Hitler, Then Hitler is Everything December 29, 2018

…including a musical performer.

Somehow I missed this 8 1/2 years ago when Michael posted it. I’m reposting it in case you missed it as well:

Hitler Sings “Movin’ On Up” (May 10, 2010 – Michael)

To the East Side.

Which would be Russia. That did not work out so good for Hitler. Not in winter.

Napoleon Bonaparte could have told him about that. Don’t invade frickin’ Russia in the winter!!! It sucks there!!!!!!

Duh.

Found at the blog of the all-time most awesome member of the Mustelidae family on the internet — S. Weasel.

FYI, she’s on our blogroll if you want an easy way to check her out on a regular basis, as I do. The perspective of an American weasel in darkest England is not to be missed.

Don’t be put off by the fact that the blog is B/W. It’s an artsy-fartsy thing because S. Weasel is, well, artsy-fartsy. She actually is a serious graphics professional who has done artsy shit for money. She thinks about stuff like how her blog is branded. That’s just the way she is. She’s not really a moron like us, but don’t hold that against her.

More Than 40% of Web Traffic Isn’t Human December 27, 2018

How much of the internet is bots and automated viewers, rather than real people?

A lot, apparently:

How much of the internet is fake? Studies generally suggest that, year after year, less than 60 percent of web traffic is human; some years, according to some researchers, a healthy majority of it is bot. For a period of time in 2013, the Times reported this year, a full half of YouTube traffic was “bots masquerading as people,” a portion so high that employees feared an inflection point after which YouTube’s systems for detecting fraudulent traffic would begin to regard bot traffic as real and human traffic as fake.

Of course, you can tell that the content here at IB is genuine, organic, sincere; totally human in all aspects.

Because if we were run by bots, we’d have more freaking posts.

Venezuela Fire Sale December 26, 2018

Back in December of 2006, I wrote this (at my old, shuttered site):

From Yahoo:

Emboldened by a resounding re-election, President Hugo Chavez pledged to shake up Venezuela with a more radical version of socialism and forge a wider front against the United States in Latin America.

What can we expect from this “radical version of socialism?” More nationalization, perhaps? Chavez tells us not to worry:

The president insists he is a democrat and will continue to respect private property — though he has boosted state control over the oil industry and has said he might nationalize utilities.

The only thing I’ll nationalize will be the oil industr…wait, the only two things I’ll nationalize will be the oil industry and the util…hold on, the only three things I’ll nationalize will be the oil industry, the utilities, and a paper mi…darn it! the only four things I’ll nationalize will be the oil industry, the utilities, a paper mill, and a valve fact…crap! the only five things I’ll nationalize will be…

I don’t own any factories in Venezuela, but if I did, I don’t think I’d be very comforted.

Today Ace has a 12-year-old update on Venezuela and Chavez’s (and Madura’s, by extension) “respect” for private property:

Maduro nationalized the oil industry, kicking out foreign operations who knew what they were doing and replacing them with Socialist goons who didn’t. He put a lot of soldiers into position to oversee the operations, because he deemed them loyal.

But soldiers don’t know anything about oil drilling either.
…
Venezeula nationalized-socialized the oil industry to kick out foreign owners, and wound up selling a huge chuck of their oil fields to a foreign owner (Russia. -ed.)for a song.

The standard socialism progression:

• Nationalize a few industries in the public interest
• Nationalize more industries to subsidize losses on the previously nationalized industries
• Nationalize everything to stay afloat for a bit longer
• Economic collapse
• Sell off industries to private or foreign entities to stay afloat just a bit longer
• Wait until private industries recover and become profitable before repeating

To those who claim “real” socialism has never been tried, I can only say:

“Real” capitalism has never been tried. There’s no such thing as a textbook-perfect economic system. Every economic system will be sullied by compromises and corruption.

But capitalism appears to have the most resilience to compromise and corruption, since economic power is more decentralized. It also aligns more with human ambition and against human indolence.

Writin’ Don’t Mean No Thing December 26, 2018

If you’ve ever wondered why discourse is devolving, or why progressives seem completely uninhibited in redefining words and discarding english, you should read this article:

It all starts with the “Usage Wars,” a somewhat arcane but fiercely political battle over the English language that’s been raging for decades. …

In one corner are the conservative Prescriptivists, who believe that the English language is a tool, and as such, can be used in a variety of contexts both more and less effectively.
…
At this point, we must take stock of those who oppose the aforementioned brands of Prescriptivism: the liberal Descriptivists.
…
…the Descriptivists’ primary belief is that correct usage is determined by the way human beings use the language. In short, it’s unacceptable to correct an errant phrase, as long as it is uttered by a native speaker. By implication, any form of Standard Written English would be impossible to attain.

I hadn’t known there was a formal opposition to Standard Written English, and I’m stunned to find that balkanization of our writing (which naturally influences our speaking) is considered desirable by, well, anybody who values communication and the art of writing.

How, you may ask, could this philosophy be perpetuated in our schools and society?

…such a philosophy can only endure for decades if its proponents wield a potentially career-ending weapon. Banishing rival pedagogies from an English classroom is relatively easy once your case includes accusations of Prescriptivist elitism, especially when some of its adherents seem to actively embrace the snobbiest stereotypes.

The race & class cards, weaponized.

Naturally.

Little Drummer Boy December 25, 2018

Full warning: This is “Little Drummer Boy”.

But like you never heard it before.

Your Brain is Not the Boss* December 21, 2018

This fellow Derren Brown does Amazing Kreskin-type stuff, but I think he takes a few more risks:

He has more videos at his YouTube channel.

*Yet another terribly dated Firesign Theater reference, though I think the actual quote is, “Your brain may no longer be the boss.”

Partypotty December 19, 2018

Oh sure, sounds great.

Until Compos Mentis shows up.