An interesting historical perspective:

In 1913, exactly a century ago, the United States was a flourishing, economically advanced country. Its real output per capita was the world’s highest. It produced a great abundance of agricultural products and was a leading exporter of cotton, wheat, and many other farm products. Yet it also had the world’s largest industrial sector, producing as much manufactured output as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom combined. It brought forth new technological marvels almost daily, and its cities featured well paved and lighted streets, automobiles, modern sewerage and water-supply systems, central electrical-supply systems, skyscrapers, street cars, subways, and frequent intercity train service. During the preceding fifty years, its real income per capita had grown by about 2 percent per year, on average, and its total real output by about 4 percent per year, on average. All races, classes, and regions participated in this progress. In 1913, the rate of unemployment was 4.3 percent, and the price level was roughly the same as its average during the nineteenth century.

Yet the United States in 1913 had no federal income tax, no central bank, no social security taxes, no general sales taxes, no Securities and Exchange Commission, no Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, no Department of Health and Human Services, no National Labor Relations Board, no federal this, that, and the other as far as the eye can see. Except for restrictions on Chinese and Japanese immigration, nothing but perfunctory health examinations impeded the free flow of foreigners into the country, and hundreds of thousands arrived each year, mostly from Europe. All governments combined spent an amount equal to about 7 percent of GDP; the federal government’s part amounted to only about 3 percent of GDP. Local governments were the biggest actors in terms of regulations and expenditures. The average American had no regular contact with the federal government aside from the postman and little or none with the state and local governments aside from the school teachers and the public streets. The country was on an official gold standard. Gold and silver coins circulated as normal media of exchange, and gold certificates issued by individual commercial banks, as well as their checking accounts, served the public for making larger transactions.

A commenter adds this useful info:

One of the justifications for the income tax was the Progressive desire to outlaw alcohol. Prior to the income tax, taxes, fees and imposts on alcohol and drugs provided a large part of Federal income. In order to outlaw alcohol with the 18th Amendment, two steps were required.

1) A source of revenue to replace the revenue from alcohol. Enter the income tax.

2) A way to prevent the Senate from acting in the interests of the states they represented. The 17th Amendment place the Senate under the popular vote, changing Senate allegiance from the states to the people, who were already represented in the House. This removed the moderating influence of the Senate originally intended by the Founders. Obamacare would have never passed if Senators still represented state interests instead of popular vote.

Via Tacky Raccoons

This highly satisfying video was posted up at It Ain't Holy Water.  Moral: just because you are hot chit in a desert land, doesn't mean you should run over the foot of one of New York's finest.  Bad call, towel head.

Best beaches of the world right here.

Always wanted to go to Tasmania, and this does nothing but up the ante.

Wineglass Bay is one of the most secluded, remote beaches in the world and consistently ranked as one of the best and most beautiful. Its fame for seclusion is well-earned, as the walk to the beach through woodlands takes about an hour, but is very much worthwhile. Wineglass Bay is actually located near Hobart, Tasmania, an island off the southern tip of Australia.

Times, they are a changing

Good timing on this video.

Between where I live and where Wirecutter lives is the medium sized valley town of Stockton.  It's a typical small city around here, with lots of newish suburbs, some bad areas, and a struggling downtown that the town fathers have tried to revive over the past five or ten years by sinking lots of money into.  Looks a lot better now, I have to admit, than it did when I first started traveling there for business back in the 80's.

Today, the town of Stockton declared bankruptcy.   Perhaps this is the best way to get out from under their obligations, but it still is going to mean a tough couple of years for those who work there.

A pundit had this to say about the whole situation:

   "The underlying driver of Stockton's insolvency is CalPERS, the state retirement system. The system is mired in corruption and is one of the main drivers forcing Stockton and other California cities toward bankruptcy. State pension costs have risen from "$611 million in 2001 to $3.5 billion in 2010" even as fund managers have made a series of poor investments and manipulated figures to cover up losses.

However state law says payments to Calpers are mandatory meaning Stockton can not reduce its payments to the system except in bankruptcy. Judge Klein did suggest that changes in the city's obligation to CalPERS could be part of bankruptcy proceedings. "

Let's hope Stockton can bounce back, and perhaps even show the way for similar cities how to solve the seemingly unsolvable problem of civic and public insolvency.  

Via Roger, the real king of France, this amazing map.   The correlation is quite telling, I'd say.

Tough little chicks like this must drive the Muzzies crazy.   From the mountains and the dust, looks like this is taken in the Stan.  

Via Ninety Miles.

A view inside a nuclear reactor.  I wonder what it looks like inside the Fukushima reactors these days?

An interesting view on why Dell Computer wants to go private.

   "There’s a good reason Dell (DELL) wants to go private and back out of the traditional PC business: Because it thinks selling computers based on Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows operating system is quickly becoming a dead end. Forbes points us to a recent proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission where Dell outlines the risks of remaining a private PC manufacturer and paints a very grim picture for the PC industry overall.

One big reason that Dell wants to go private is that it reportedly plans to reinvent itself by developing a computer the size of a USB stick that’s capable of giving users access to every major operating system, from Windows to Mac OS X to Google’s (GOOG) Chrome OS. Given its own dim view of the PC industry, and of the market for Windows-based PCs in particular, it isn’t surprising that Dell seems willing to take such a big risk in overturning its traditional business model."

It takes mighty huevos to completely turn over your business model this way, but I guess in the computer industry, that is what it takes to survive for very long.  Good luck to Dell.

Pretty cool picture of the Yosemite backcountry from Sentinal Dome.  One would think that this just has to be the last significant snow of the year, but then again, Global Warming/Climate Change/ Al Gore's farts just might change things.

Does not Slim Whitman look like he could be Jim Carrey's father?

Mondays, they're like that.

Freckles, they are good.