Off on tangent

I had to stop to allow a dozen penguins cross the street to get to Lake Michigan this morning. Yes, it is another cold one today. We will be lucky to hit double digits today. Such is winter in Wisconsin.

You can tell it is cold out there. No longer do we have that nice scenic, fluffy snow on the trees view. We have the Arctic, freeze your balls off view. There is a difference. The landscape is jutted with ice. It lacks the smooth flow of a fresh snow fall. The snow makes a different sound under your feet when it is really cold. It makes this harsh crunching sound, like you are stepping on styrofoam. And the ice creaks at every step.

With the cold weather, I was bit surprised at how many people braved the low temperatures to go out and cast their vote. I found it amusing how the local paper covered the elections. How many people were calling it a "historic moment" or "how important it was" to get out and vote. People, this was a primary. You weren't voting anyone into office. They just advanced to the next stage. Kinda like American Idol. The real vote comes in April when some city officials will be up for election. Then November. Got it? Good.

The smart people in the 6th District chose to have me favorite jailbird Michael McGee go into the next round. At this point, this neighborhood needs to stop all of their complaining. If they want to ignore that the man is in jail, believe he was railroaded, framed, would be free if he was white, etc. they can. But they cannot bitch about having no one represent their community. You have your chance to do something and you choose to continue to support a thug. Well done. As long as you listen to the race baiters, you will never succeed in life. You will be suppressed by the very same people you expect to help you. McGee isn't helping his community. He is helping himself. Wake up and smell the coffee.

There has been one small comment that has had me thinking. One that is wrong. One that shows the candidate has no clue what she is talking about. A candidate that should know better. A candidate whose own daughter is in the industry. Hillary Clinton made these two comments in Wisconsin and Ohio.

"I saw a sign over here - someone has a t-shirt on, tax hedge fund dealers,"
Clinton said Monday, "well in this economy we are going to have a fair tax
system again. A Wall Street investment manager, a hedge fund dealer, should not
pay a lower percentage of taxes on his 50 million dollars worth of income.”

"We also have to reward work more," Clinton told a small group of Ohio residents today. "and by that, I mean, I have people in New York working on Wall Street as investment managers, as hedge fund executives. Under the tax code, they can pay a lower percentage of their income in taxes on $50 million dollars, than a teacher, or a nurse, or a truck driver in Parma pays on $50,000. That's very discouraging to people."

Well, first the person in the shirt- if they exist- has it wrong. A hedge fund dealer would be a person who sells the hedge fund, trying to get people to invest. They would make good money but not the big money that a hedge fund manager makes. That is where the real coin is.

But look at the other things she says. That "hedge fund dealer should not", or "they can pay a lower percentage". Ok, what you are saying that they are not necessarily paying less, but they could it they had a number of deductions. That it is possible for them to pay less with the current system, not that it actually happens.

But there are two more inferences here that highlight her ignorance of the finance industry. First, the comparison of making $50k vs $50 million. One is paying thousands in taxes while the other is paying millions in taxes. They each help each other with what they do. The "teacher, nurse, or truck driver" help with the hedge fund manager in terms of education, health care, and getting goods to the stores so they can be purchased. On the other hand, the hedge fund manager is making their investments grow, giving them more money than they had. In the big picture, they help each other.

The other thing Hillary is trying to say is that hedge fund managers do not work as hard as the truck driver, etc. No, they are not working 9 to 5 or 8 hour shifts. They are usually working 12-18 hour days and each day of the week. They need to know what is happening in the world's financial markets. They live and breathe their job. They cannot afford to be away. Their reward is money. Sure it is a lot, but it isn't like they are fatcatting, laying around the office doing nothing. If they do not provide returns, they will not be managing anyone's money.

Seeing how she has mad investment skills in the futures market and her daughter works for a hedge fund, you would think Hillary would know better to research her comments before enciting class warfare.