Tony Island Blog - Sane Thoughts for an Insane World

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! I stole this graphic from a Wall Street Journal online article : Gee, I guess the rich do pay their taxes and basically ours. Go down to the middle class and approximately 97.1% of taxes paid are paid by these two groups. It's high time we re-balance this tax paying act and spread the tax base. And before you all post comments suggesting that I'm "rich" ... please don't bother. I'm in the yellow box all the way through. Your thoughts? Raise taxes on the rich? How high should it go - till they contribute 75% of revenues? Share your thoughts below! And click a rating button to let us know how you rate this post! Thanks for reading Tony Island Blog!

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! As you may have heard by now, Netflix, the DVD rental-by-mail company, has decided to restructure its pricing plans to separate the DVD rentals from the streaming option. Previously, for as low as $9.99/month, you were able to have unlimited DVD rental (though only one home at a time) and unlimited streaming. Now, starting in September, 2011 for current members (immediately for new members), the unlimited 1 DVD plan is $7.99/month and the unlimited streaming is $7.99/month. Together, it will be $15.98. This is a rather large jump to say the least. The increase caused thousands of subscribers to flood the Netflix blog with feedback - much of it against the pricing changes along with threats to cancel memberships. I'll take a different viewpoint though (don't I always?) - I think it makes a lot of business sense to do this. By separating the income streams for DVDs and unlimited streaming, Netflix will have the cash flow needed to bet...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Have you caught Fran Drescher's new show Happily Divorced , playing on TV Land (Weds, 10:30p ET)? I started watching it a few weeks back - it has its moments. It's not quite as funny (yet) as The Nanny, but I'll give it time. The first season of The Nanny was a tad uneven, too. It takes a bit for the writers to "find" the characters and their story lines. Once they do, I feel the series will be almost as funny as The Nanny was. The reason I say "almost as funny" is that there isn't the bevy of characters that The Nanny had. All of them were funny and could hold their own scenes. While I like the casting of Fran's parents (though nothing can be beat her mother and grandmother from her previous series), I'm a bit turned off by her husband. He just doesn't quite gel for me. I know it would have been thought of as "The Nanny II" if they brought back all the old characters, but at least we would know ...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! Just saw this posted on Facebook, so I thought I'd get it out there fast. It's the first Ron Paul advertisement of the 2012 election cycle. It's a great ad...check it out and leave a comment! Thanks for reading Tony Island Blog! 

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! President Obama held a news conference this morning in which he spouted more hot air that sounded good, but, when examined closely, is the same ole, same ole. Basically, the (evil) Republicans are holding him back from making a grand cut in the deficit (upwards of $4 trillion over the next so many years). He's willing to cut the budget and reform entitlements "if only" the (evil) Republicans would allow him to raise taxes, mostly by letting the Bush tax cuts expire in the "outlying years". By making all these reforms, the President, with absolutely no evil plans to expand goverment, would be able to continue making investments in America such as job re-training, "infrastructure bank" and student loans, among many other Progressive initiatives. Of course, all of these intiatives are outlined in the Constitution, thus justifying the President's spending of taxpayers money on them. The President was pummeled by reporte...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! While you would think that a right-leaning blog such as Tony Island Blog would whole-heartedly support a "balanced budget amendment", in this case, you would be wrong. I am currently reading a book (review forthcoming) that, among many issues, outlines and supports a balanced budget amendment ("BBA"). There are eleven sections (when the book was published) to this proposed amendment, some of which contain definitions of various terms used in the amendment. While the idea of a balanced budget amendment gives my heart the "warm fuzzies", my logical head tells me it's not the way to go. So, without further ado: Here are my 5 reasons against any constitutional balanced budget amendment: 1) The Constitution should not be filled with economic amendments - Our Constitution elegantly outlines our (limited) form of government. It doesn't contain economic theories or definitions and neither should any proposed amendme...

Welcome to Tony Island Blog! This clip is a few years old, but I only found it the other day. Boy is Rep Maxine Waters a real nut - or, maybe, she's just honest? What an asinine thing to say. Yet she keeps getting re-elected. Her constituency is really out of step with the rest of country. Play the clip below, then share your thoughts by leaving a comment. Thanks for reading Tony Island Blog!