Liss Is More

Lotta ins. Lotta outs. Lotta strands in old Duder's head.

Switching to Tumblr

I am moving to Tumblr as my blogging platform.  I have switched before, and come back to Posterous.  But right now it seems that Tumblr has some real momentum so I am going to give it a longer look.

I will be moving my domain to Tumblr, but you can visit this Posterous site anytime by going to lissismore.posterous.com

See you on the other side.

The recession is so bad...

My neighbour got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

Wives are having sex with their husbands because they can't afford batteries.

CEO's are now playing miniature golf.

Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.

A stripper was killed when her audience showered her with rolls of pennies while she danced.

I saw a Mormon with only one wife.

If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.

McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer.

Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America.

Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learnt their childrens' names.

My cousin had an exorcism but couldn't afford to pay for it, and they re-possessed her!

A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico.

A picture is now only worth 200 words.

When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.

The Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.

And,finally................ ..................................................................................................

I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hotline.

I got a call-centre in Pakistan, and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.

via zerohedge.com

An Open Letter to Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett
Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway
Omaha, NE

Dear Mr. Buffett,

I have been a follower of yours for many years.  Your investing acumen is legendary and inspirational.  And, as an intermittent investor in Berkshire Hathaway, you have made me money.  So I read with interest your OpEd piece, "Stop Coddling The Super Rich",  in the NY Times.

I am disappointed in what I read.  While it may be commendable to suggest that you are willing to pay more taxes, I am at a loss to understand why you don't just send more money to the Federal Government if you think this is the right thing to do.  Why must there be a legislative event, such as the change in the tax rate, as a prerequisite for you paying more than the minimum amount?

According to you, you paid $6.9 million in federal taxes last year, which amounted to 17.4% of your taxable income.  If I do my math correctly that means that you reported a taxable income of nearly $40 million.  Why don't you just send in an additional $10 million or $20 million?  Why do you need an act of Congress?

You also mentioned talking to your "mega-rich friends" about their tax bills.  Why not organize a citizens response to the debt crisis with your rich friends and write some big checks to the federal government?  You could easily come up with hundreds of millions of dollars each year to help "share the burden".

When you agree to donate most of your fortune to several charities you were rightly accorded acclaim for this gesture.  The value of your fortune at that time was over $40 billion.  I wonder, given your missive in the NY Times, why you do not just donate this money to the US Government?  Why is it that you would "gladly" pay a few million dollars more in taxes, but you sequester tens of billions of dollars where they can not be touched by the federal government?

Actions speak louder than words.  I would have more respect for your position if you were organizing actual payments to the federal government rather than pontificating on what Congress should do.  Write a check.  Get your friends to write checks.  You are a trustee on the Gates Foundation - get them to write a check.  

Walk the walk, Mr Buffett, and your words will ring truer.

Respectfully,
Michael Liss

Google vs Apple just got a little more interesting: Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. & LIBERTYVILLE, Ill., Aug 15, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Google Inc. /quotes/zigman/93888 GOOG -2.88% and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. /quotes/zigman/3019788 MMI +56.29% today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.
via marketwatch.com

HT: Dave Winer

We Have Made Some Terrible Mistakes In The Past 40 Or 50 years

We have made some terrible mistakes in the past 40 or 50 years. We have gone from being the only creditor nation in the world to being the largest debtor nation in the history of the world. We have created huge excesses.

You don’t just wake up one day and say okay that’s over, that’s fine, let’s move on to the next thing. We are going to have to take some pain, admit our mistakes, have some bankruptcies, cut spending with a chainsaw at the government level. It’s not going to be fun. The more we put it off, the worse it gets.

via jimrogers-investments.blogspot.com

It's gonna hurt.

Posterous theme by Cory Watilo