As IF Times

link OPINION Blog | The Dallas Morning News.

Since I”m an average person,  let’s chronicle my activities on a recent day to observe the tax exposure we all face on a typical day.  Some of the activities are one-off, but the majority are things the average person faces every day. 

Morning.

Radio alarm goes off and it happens to be an advert for a financial institution reminding us that the deadline for retirement account contribution is upon us.  We are encouraged to contribute in order to save taxes.  Turn on the light switch and am concious that tax is assessed on our electric bill.  Turn on shower and of course, tax is applicable on water and utility bill.  Brush teeth and note tax paid on purchase of toothpaste as well as mouthwash rinse.  Question whether to brush only on alternate days, but quickly reject notion.  Make some coffee, from taxed beans but at least do not pay the tax if purchased from Starbucks.

Jump into car to head downtown, mentally noting the tax paid on the purchase of car, the insurance and of course repairs from time to time.  Notice  that I’m low on fuel, so pull into gas station to fill up.  Note that price paid per unit of fuel is MAINLY tax.  Driving downtown, make mental note that roads are a result of gasoline and property taxes.  Park in parkade which has a new parking surtax just recently imposed by the city. 

Just before the morning meeting, I check stock prices on blackberry, which also requires a tax on cell phone bill.  I notice some trading positions are moving, so I effect an execution with broker, which also triggers a transaction tax.  As the morning progresses, I get a call from  son who informs me that he will need a flight back home after the school term.  Purchasing the airline ticket online yields a cost number of which  about 20% is tax and surcharges.

Afternoon.

Lunch time rolls around and I purchase something simple from the kiosk in the building, which of course requires a tax payment.  While I’m eating, some sauce drips onto white shirt.  Annoyed, I go to purchase a shirt to change into, which has requisite PST and GST charges.  During the afternoon, I get a call from my accountant reminding me to get my tax documents together for this tax year so that I can pay, what else, income tax.  I’m of course aware that his services come with a tax attached to it.  Later on in the afternoon, someone makes note of my unkempt appearance so I proceed to my barber to get a haircut, which of course includes a service tax.

Evening.

On way home, I drop by the supermarket to pick up a few things for the house and by now am very aware  of every taxable item on the list.  When I’m home, there is a message on answering machine from friends about meeting up at the Richmond O-zone, a site set up for the Olympics which are in town and of course which we are being taxed to support.  Naturally, I elect to go and purchase tickets, which of course have a tax on them, as will the food and drink consumed during the evening.  I finally get home in the late evening and check the mail, most of which are pesky bills with taxes attached to them.  Tired from a day of tax paying, I thumb through a magazine purchased earlier at the supermarket which of course, I’ve paid tax on.

This started off amusing, but wound up being depressing.  I fall into bed and as it happens, the exact same radio ad about retirement account contribution is on again.  Someone’s gonna get a hurt real bad.

link Obesity? Big Feet? Blame Darwin – WSJ.com.

In my opinion, an interesting article on some theories of human evolution.  Most of the discussion is about physical transformations and adaptations, but little is said about mental development.  If you had to guess, based on some of the theories put forth in the article, much of our thought processes must be linked somehow to tribal instincts as well.

Consider the propensity for people to rally around “heroes” in any field, be it entertainment, sports or politics.  There seems to be a natural urge to follow behind some figurehead, many of whom if analyzed logically, would be irrational choices.  Maybe there is some primitive urge on the part of people to coalesce as a tribal unit that’s at play here.  It may go a long way to explain some of the absurdities of some of today’s modern “heroes”.  There is of course the more simpler explanation that we gravitate to and support people who most resemble ourselves or aspired image of selves.  

While this may be valid for sports figures, it’s hard to stretch this explanation to cover political figures, especially with the dismal records most have.  Really, John Edwards aspirants? In the case of Barack Obama, one could argue his “differentness” attracted support among visible minorities.  If such is the case, why wouldn’t  non minorities vote for exclusively for the white guy?  Clearly in politics, “sameness” may not be the uniting glue of support.  Economics and quid pro quo may be  more determining factors. 

Is delusion a part of human evolution?  Do people suspend their individual power of reasoning against all evidence to support a tribal leader? In earlier times, maybe, since information would be harder to obtain than in our modern times.  Presumably, anyone now can get access to the facts on any issue and come to a rational conclusion, yet there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  An obvious example is the state of pensions in the United States, or perhaps for that matter, in Canada.  When the numbers are crunched, there is no possible way that public pensions will be able to pay out monies owed to beneficiaries when the time comes.  Yet, people willfully support candidates that tell them otherwise.  On the one hand, theory of evolution says that organisms will adapt for survival, but in the example just mentioned, people are consciously ignoring a fatal conclusion.  Maybe somewhere in the gene pool, some lemming DNA got thrown into the mix.

Modern western society may celebrate the individual in advertising and culture, but really, it appears as if we can’t really escape our evolutionary pull.  Groupthink is still in the genes.

Kids and Killer Hot Dogs? 3 Tips to Prevent Choking on Food – On Parenting usnews.com.

Sounds reasonable.  I suppose hot dogs as a dangerous food for kids can rank right up there with such hazards as running with scissors or playing with firecrackers.   The real question is at what age range do the warning labels apply on this newly labelled death food?  Presumably, nobody is stupid enough to feed hot dogs to children until they have teeth, so that would exclude the under 1 year crowd.  At some point, the parents  have to take their eyes off the kid when he’s eating, because if they have to monitor every chew up until they feel it’s safe for junior to eat unsupervised, the parents may want to stay with the pablum or should consider getting the kid tested for IQ deficiency. 

I mean if the kid hasn’t mastered bite, chew, swallow by the age of 10, the odds are high that long division will be a challenge and saving for college is probably unnecessary.   No doubt, upon the heels of this recommendation from the American pediatric group, a veritable phonebook sized list of hazardous foods will be released to worried parents.  In the legal world, this creates another opportunity, because if some ill fate should befall someone’s child resulting from eating food items on this list, well, let’s just say someone’s kids will be going to college.

Has anyone noticed the eerie resemblance that kids these days bear to domesticated pets?  They both live in controlled environments, have regimented food and receive over the top fawning and preening.  Our western society is raising bubble kids, children who live in protected cocoons until some vague time of adulthood when they are allowed to go into the world.  Like domesticated pets though, many of these kids are unable to fend for themselves once out, depending on parents for the most mundane things.  Can you imagine if in nature, birds were not taught to fend for themselves and instead hung around the family nest?  You’d have birds nests the size of trampolines and you certainly wouldn’t park your car under one of those.

It’s very ironic that parents of kids today are themselves the tail end of the baby boom, people who were given lavish attention and nurturing during their time as kids because of the post war mentality of their parents.  This generation was also about drugs, free love, do what feels good yada yada yada, but now themselves are hovering over their own brood like over-bearing  nannies.

Back to the hot dogs;, while we don’t feed food to kids shaped like grapple hooks, to all of a sudden post warning labels on hot dogs after decades of consumption is nannyish in the  extreme.  What are we supposed to eat at ball games? Kibble? All I can say is, if this warning takes hold, lots of ears, snouts and eyelids will go to waste.  I guess there’s always baloney.