The End is Near-ish

So how is this "End of the World" thing gonna happen?  If I understand it correctly, the Mayans in their infinite wisdom have it figured tomorrow is "the day".  "Turn out the lights, the party's over".  It sounds rather silly to me, but then again, who knows?

If it turns out to be true I'd hate for my last meal to be a grilled cheese sandwich.  And I wouldn't want to spend my last day on earth rotating the tires on my car.  And why ruin my last day by balancing my checkbook or going grocery shopping?  To the contrary, I'm thinking about blowing all I have and then some on something really decadent.  Maybe I could drive my new Maserati to III Forks for a juicy, medium rare steak.

Do I dare chance it?  What if the Mayans were wrong?  I can't afford a new freakin' Maserati!

OK....OK....I'VE GOT IT!  We should be able to see this end of the world thing coming, right?  Wouldn't it start over in the western Pacific at the International Date Line?  Then it would work it's way around the world one time zone at a time.  Yeah, that's it.  By the time "the end" made it to Hawaii I would be behind the wheel of my new dream car.  By the time the lights went out in LA I'd be savoring my last bite of steak.  

As things got quiet in Denver I'd be assembling the kids and grand kidlettes in order to watch them open their Christmas presents.  Then we'd be off to the airport (no need for luggage....security should be a breeze!) where my private (rented) jet would be waiting to take us to maybe Paris....no....MONACO!  Wonder if we'd have time for a stopover in Switzerland?  I've never been there and it sounds pretty cool.

Hmmm....maybe I should have been accepting all those credit card offers I get every day in the mail that I've been pre-approved for.  We could've had one epic "Going Out With a Bang!" party.  Oh well, too late to worry about it now.

We could wind down the day in Singapore.  (Is that east or west of the IDL?  I'd better research it.)  Then we could sit and rest a while and thank God for all He's done for us and tell Him again what a great Boss he's been to us all.

Yep, I think I'll take today off work.  I have some shopping to do.  (But I'll keep the receipts just in case.)  *wink*

S

"Now you see it....now you don't."

I recently read that the Greek government, which we all know is an economic basket case, is about to finalize a treaty with Switzerland that will allow them access to the records and the money, estimated to be up to 20 billion Euros, that wealthy Greeks have parked in Swiss banks as a tax dodge.  This follows on similar treaties that Germany, Austria, the UK, and I believe the US, too (?) have negotiated, all to catch tax cheats and bring in more dollars, pounds, and Euros to the respective government coffers.

The problem is, however, that there is a lag time of many months after signing a treaty before it goes into effect.  The wealthy, some say with the help of their Swiss bankers, are using this interlude to move their money to new tax shelters being set up in wealth-friendly Hong Kong and Singapore.  In other words, it's still out of reach of the tax revenooers.

Here's my question:  In this country at least, the wealthy argue that their taxes should be cut dramatically because it is they and their money that create jobs.  If billions of dollars (some say TRILLIONS of dollars) are constantly on the move in this giant shell game of tax dodge, how is that creating jobs?

Somebody please 'splain it to me.  What little business acumen I have doesn't understand how this ultra-high-roller game is played.  Seems to me this is just making the case for those who argue "the rich get richer".  What am I missing?

S