A Brave New World

On reading a review copy of George Orwell’s 1984 (published in 1949) Aldous Huxley, author of the 1931 book Brave New World, wrote some thoughts to Orwell about the themes in each of their books. 

Within the next generation I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.

Both Orwell and Huxley were very pessimistic about the future, the world we all now live in. But they each had a quite different view of the future. 

The website where I got the letter Huxley wrote to Orwell said this about the two approaches:

This 1949 letter from Aldous Huxley to George Orwell is from Letters of Note. While these two authors shared a dystopic view, they disagreed on how it would be realized. Not to put too fine a point on it, Huxley feared the carrot while Orwell feared the stick. 

I lean toward Huxley’s view of the future more than Orwell’s, but see trends toward both in our current society. If you get in the way of today’s society, you will be crushed, like in Orwell’s 1984. However the whole society is structured to keep us dumb and happy, as it was in Huxley’s novel Brave New World. 

One major way this works is by advertising—eighteen minutes of each hour of TV. How much do we watch?

The Nielsen Co.’s “Three Screen Report”—referring to televisions, computers and cellphones—for the fourth quarter said the average American now watches more than 151 hours of TV a month. That’s about five hours a day and an all-time high, up 3.6% from the 145 or so hours Americans reportedly watched in the same period last year. 

The data here is from 2009, but I doubt it has changed much. I find the figure of 5 hours a day incredible. Even including Internet resources like some the documentaries I have been sharing on the blog, I doubt I watch 10 hours a week. And when I watch, there are few or no commercials. My wife and daughter watch more, but since we do not have cable or broadcast TV what we watch is largely commercial free. 

If the 5 hour a day average is right, that means 90 minutes of ads every day. That is 32,850 minutes of ads in a year. How can we not be programmed? Children are particularly susceptible:

And according to Wright Institute child psychologist Dr. Allen Kanner, by the time an American child is three, they can recognize an average of 100 brand logos. By age 10, they remember between 300 to 400 brands, according to a Nickelodeon study.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/brandwashed-tricks-brands-use-kids-martin-lindstrom-2011-9?op=1#ixzz224EwRCNs

I urge you…no, that is not strong enough—I beg you to consider the brave new world we have entered. Is it the world you want to live in? 

If not, there are some things you can do. How about a walk in the cool of the summer evening? The town I live in, Idyllwild, has free weekly concerts. No doubt your town has something like this. We watch local baseball games. You can go to the movies… er… um… never mind about that. Have a game night. 

When you do watch TV, and I still do have some “guilty pleasures,” ask the right question. Instead of “What is best on tonight?” ask instead, “Is there anything worth watching on tonight.” If you are still watching cable, be sure to get a DVR and fast forward though all the commercials. If you set your DVR and start watching the show 15 minutes late, you will reach the end about the same time that the program ends. 

Babylon the Great wants you passive, fat, in front of the TV in a semi-mindless state. Do not be that person. Show initiative. You must be in the world, but Jesus said his followers would not be of the world. As the Philips translation of Romans 12 tells us. “Do not let this world squeeze you into its mold.” 

Leave Hollywood the Great.

Come Out Of Her My People

I have been saying you need to leave Babylon. Today Ted Pearce says it musically for me. 

Omnivore's Dilemna

An Interesting talk about Pollan's book, the Omnivore's Dilemna. Note that I do not agree with him about carbohydrates. 

Corporate Capitalism

This chart speaks volumes to me. The whole system is run by the large companies and for the large companies. It is more and more difficult to avoid "Babylon"-even at the grocery store. 

A Pox on Both Their Houses

A 15% tax rate makes me smileI would laugh too If I got such a tax breakI have never understood the hatred that the Right expresses toward George Soros, nor the hatred the Left expresses toward the Koch brothers. While both are politically active, it seems to me that it is their money to do with as they wish—even to spend it on politics. 

However, I recently read an article that a Facebook friend recommended about the new tax law just passed by the Kansas Legislature and signed by Governor Brownback. TaxFoundation.Org describes the law in this way:

On May 22, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (R) signed HB 2117 into law. This tax cut bill reduces income tax rates, increases the standard deduction, and eliminates some income tax credits. The legislation also exempts from tax some income of pass-through businesses. The tax reduction is estimated to be around $800 million annually beginning in 2014, totaling $4.5 billion over six years (see Table 1). By comparison, the state’s individual income tax brought in $2.7 billion in 2011.

On the surface this sounds great. Taxes in most states are too high. Government is bloated.  I think having one tax rate of 4.9% is better than the system currently in place in Kansas, all good as far as I am concerned. But the Devil is in the details. TaxFoundation.org describes some of the less mentioned parts of the tax law—in particular the exact meaning of the term "pass-though" business. 

In addition to the individual income tax changes, the new law changes the way pass-through businesses are taxed. These businesses (such as LLCs, S corps, partnerships, farms, and sole proprietorships) are generally taxed not under the corporate income tax, but rather on the income “passed through” to the tax return of the business owner. This income is thus taxed under the individual income tax.

I own such a business so I understand how such corporations work. The point is that these entities do not pay taxes, their shareholders pay taxes on their individual income tax forms, on a pro rata basis. So If I own 40% of a corporation that makes one million per year, I would pay taxes on $400,000. (I wish!) These corporations would give a capital return to the shareholders to pay their taxes. (This is not a dividend, as a dividend would be taxable.) 

Nothing wrong with such a structure. The taxes are paid, just differently. What is odd about the bill that was just passed in Kansas is that the average worker will continue to pay state income taxes on their wage income, but the well-to-do and the wealthy, if they structure their businesses correctly, will pay no state income taxes at all. I can guarantee that these businesses will be structured this way very quickly, if they are not this way already. So those who are employees will pay state income taxes, but those that employ them will not pay state income taxes. 

Why did I mention the Koch brothers at the beginning of this article? While this will not help David Koch as he lives in New York City, this will greatly benefit Charles Koch as he lives in Wichita, Kansas. 

Since Koch Industries is a private company, the second largest in America, the profits of the business are not known. It has revenues of $100 billion a year. (For full disclosure I need to add that my retail lumber yard buys from Georgia Pacific, a Koch Industry company.) 

Let’s do a little "back of the envelope" calculations. Charles Koch will show on his state income tax return for 2012 his share, 40% or so, of the money Koch Industries makes. This is because Koch Industries is a "pass through" company, a Sub Chapter S corporation. To be conservative let’s say it is 1 billion dollars even though a better guestimate would be much higher. Koch would then pay state income taxes of $64 million or so on this part of his return. This has to be on the low side of the taxes he pays currently to the state. 

One of the well-paid workers working at Koch Industries in Wichita will pay 4.9% of his income in taxes above $30,000. How much will Charles Koch pay in state income taxes for the billions in income Koch Industries will make for 2013? Zero, zilch, nada, nichevo. 

Charles Koch will probably save more in taxes from this bill than he will spend on the elections in this election cycle. I have no objection to Koch spending his own money on elections. But I greatly object to the taxpayers of Kansas giving Koch a tax break to do so. 

I suppose it could just be a coincidence that this will benefit Charles Koch and that he is spending $100 million or so on politics in this cycle. (The Kochs spent $10 million for the last year in Wisconsin. ) I suppose it could be a coincidence that the Republican governor Brownback has national ambitions. I suppose it may be an unintended consequence that this new tax bill in Kansas will benefit Charles Koch. I suppose. 

It does not matter whether it is the tax rate of 15% Soros gets for his off-shore hedge funds or this new tax break for Charles Koch. The whole system is corrupt. No matter who wins the election in November, we lose.