Friday, March 22, 2013

A ruling on the tariffs of Canadian sundials and birdbaths

I hope we can agree on the following statements.

1) The most fair trade of all is free trade.  All fair trade is free, and vice-versa.  If a certain industry or product line gets an exemption, the trade is no longer "fair".
2) Protecting industries from foreign competition merely rewards industry owners.  The net harm to purchasers is greater than the net gain by fat cats and their employees.
3) Congress gets itself elected by selling exemptions to the tax code.  Some of these are to reward contributors, while others are put in place to punish competitors.  Many of these exemptions can still be found, long after the original bribes contributions were paid, lingering around in the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule.  Nobody remembers why hamster wheels have a different import tariff rate than coffin handles.  You could turn a team of librarians loose in the Congressional Record for years, and they would fail to discover why javelins and jump ropes enter the country at different tax rates.

Go here and behold some of the tiny subdivisions that these Civil Service Lifers have invented to keep themselves busy and their contributors happy.  Can you imagine any rational excuse for Canadian sundials and Canadian birdbaths to be taxed at a different rate?

This is just one of the hundreds of thousands of queries and rulings that government trolls, hobbits, pygmies and elves churn out every day.  Enjoy.  And then lobby for a flat tariff.  1.5% should work nicely.  Think of the labor savings.  First person to lobby for an exemption gets crucified on the 50 yard line during the next Super Bowl halftime.

******

December 3, 1993

CLA-2-83:S:N:N3:113 892510

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 8306.29.0000; 9403.20.0010

Ms. Patricia A. Bielaski
Tower Group International, Inc.
128 Dearborn Street
Buffalo, NY 14207-3198

RE: The tariff classification of sundials, plant stands and birdbaths from Canada

Dear Ms. Bielaski:

In your letter dated November 16, 1993, on behalf of Metalcraft Spinning and Stamping, Ltd., you requested a tariff classification ruling.

The merchandise consists of painted aluminum articles on pedestal bases that will be displayed primarily on lawns and in gardens. Three samples were submitted with your request. One is a green sundial measuring approximately 21 inches high with an 11-inch diameter top and a 9-inch diameter base. The sundial is clearly ornamental in nature. The other two samples are plant stands which can be used inside or outside the home. They are designed to rest upon a floor or lawn, and meet the definition of furniture for classification purposes. One stand is green and the other is white. Both measure approximately 27 inches high with a 15 1/2-inch diameter top and a 12-inch diameter base. The plant stand can also function outdoors as a birdbath.

The applicable subheading for the sundial will be 8306.29.0000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for statuettes and other ornaments, of base metal. The rate of duty will be 5 percent ad valorem.

Goods classifiable under subheading 8306.29.0000, which have originated in the territory of Canada, will be entitled to a 2.5 rate of duty under the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA) upon compliance with all applicable regulations.

The applicable subheading for the plant stand and birdbath will be 9403.20.0010, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for other metal furniture, household. The rate of duty will be 4 percent ad valorem. Goods classifiable under subheading 9403.20.0010, HTS, which have originated in the territory of Canada, will be entitled to a free rate of duty under the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA) upon compliance with all applicable regulations.

This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Section 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).

A copy of this ruling letter should be attached to the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If the documents have been filed without a copy, this ruling should be brought to the attention of the Customs officer handling the transaction.

Sincerely,

Jean F. Maguire
Area Director

*******

We are paying people to interpret this shit.
Have a good weekend!!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Dear Elizabeth....

Dear Elizabeth.....

You seem concerned about an economic issue, and now that you're a senator, this is scary for all of us.



You got elected by standing up for the little guy.  Your idea of accomplishing this, as I understand it, is to throw a check and some food pellets in the little guy's mailbox every month, and also by interfering in the workplace to raise the little guy's pay to a level that is higher than his productivity. (This encourages more automation, outsourcing, unemployment, etc., but that horse has already been beaten to death elsewhere.)

Now....look at this, from The Austrian Economists site:


%
Households with:
Poor 1984Poor  1994Poor
2003
Poor 
2005
All 1971All 2005
Washing machine58.271.767.068.771.384.0
Clothes dryer35.650.258.561.244.581.2
Dishwasher13.619.633.936.718.864.0
Refrigerator95.897.998.298.583.399.3
Freezer29.228.625.425.132.236.6
Stove95.297.797.197.087.098.8
Microwave12.560.088.791.21.096.4
Color TV70.392.596.897.443.398.9
VCR3.459.775.483.60.092.2
Personal computer2.97.436.042.40.067.1
Telephone71.076.787.379.893.090.6
Air conditioner42.549.677.778.831.885.7
Cellular Telephone

34.748.30.071.3
One or more cars64.171.872.8 (2001)
79.5


These increases in productivity seem to have helped "the poor".  What the hell have you risked for the poor, Elizabeth?  Anything?  Ever poured your own money into R&D for something that might not work?

But wait, that's not all!!!
Efficiency and productivity increases help the little guys more than the help the big guys!!!  Mostly because there are more of them !!


I hope this has helped.  And don't feel bad.  As long as Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters are alive, you won't be the biggest idiot in Congress.
But Christ Almighty, you are so close.

Monday, March 18, 2013

We Can Pick Winners !!!!

Sometime around 1994 my daughter, The Aggie, selected Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez as her hero and the greatest catcher of all time.  At the time, Pudge was just a fat Puerto Rican kid with a great arm.
The Aggie was only 3 years old when she made this prophecy.
Pudge Rodriguez will soon be going into the Major League Baseball Hall Of Fame.  He is now regarded as one of the greatest defensive catchers of all time.



Sometime around 1986 The Aggie selected John Elway of The Denver Broncos as her quarterback.  At the time, Elway had a reputation as a so-so quarterback who couldn't ever win The Big One.
Elway went on to win two, count 'em, two Super Bowls.  He's already in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame.



When The Aggie puts on her prophecy hat and speaks Ex Cathedra about a game, I listen.  My money is often invested based on her advice.  The Aggie knows things.

Well, the apple didn't fall very far from the tree.  She ain't the only one who can pick a winner.

Back in December of 2010, I was trying to find this blog's Person Of The Year.  Based on the sheer godawfulness of the Obama Administration, I wanted to nominate a low-level government hack for this honor.  Someone who took his limited authority, magnified it, and used his power to make life as miserable as possible for the greatest number of people.  I wanted a politically correct numbskull of the worst possible sort.  I wanted a typical Obama Administration Democrat.

I settled on an obscure Justice Department attorney named Thomas J. Perez.  Here's why:


Tom Perez, the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division....now has completely severed all links between his lefty-ideological, artificially constructed world and the normal realms of common sense and logic. Several colleges wanted to institute a voluntary program to use the Kindle book-reading device for its class texts. Repeat: VOLUNTARY. But Kindle didn't have voice-activation gizmos (or somesuch) for the blind. Reports York: "The Civil Rights Division informed the schools they were under investigation. In subsequent talks, the Justice Department demanded the universities stop distributing the Kindle; if blind students couldn't use the device, then nobody could."
Yeah.  Outlawing college textbooks on the Kindle because the Kindle discriminates against the blind?  That's brilliant.  Statists across the land probably removed their hats to Mr. Perez as a gesture of respect.  
This is lunacy. Sheer lunacy. How does it hurt a blind student one iota if his normally sighted classmates use Kindle? Does that keep a blind student from getting the texts in braille or another blind-friendly format? No. Does that do a single smidgen of a fraction of a hemi-demi-semi-quaver to violate the civil rights of the blind person? Of course not. No, no, and no, no, no, no. The educational opportunities and/or experiences of blind students would be affected in no way at all if other students use Kindle

Now....I fully expected college parents to be out in the streets, banging pots and pans together, and purchasing every pitchfork and torch available to run this idiotic bastard out of Washington.



But no....
We are a nation of sheep.  If someone in D.C. claims that The Kindle discriminates against the blind, we follow along like a good little battalion of Nazi goose-steppers.
Think about it.  Can blind people "hear" a traditional book?  Can blind people hear the words you're now reading?  Does Thomas J. Perez think that traditional college textbooks have a set of lips and a tongue, like those magic books at Hogwarts?



Who knows.
We had an opportunity to save billions of dollars, billions of trees, and billions in transport costs.  Thomas J. Perez made sure it didn't happen.  I suspect some academic publishers had a say in his decision.  (Although I would never, ever, ever accuse someone like Thomas Perez of being a kickback-taking son of a bitch.  I wouldn't do that.)

Back to the point at hand.... I expected Assistant Attorney General Thomas J. Perez to take his award plus whatever he got from the publishing companies, and then slink off into lobbying sometime.

No.

Just a few hours ago, Barack Obama reached into the corrupt bowels of his Justice Department and nominated THOMAS J. PEREZ AS SECRETARY OF LABOR !!!!

It's almost too good to be true.  In a truly just society, Perez would be mopping up spills at Wal-Mart, but Barack and I were able to select this doofus as the person most worthy of recognition and honor.

Awesome.  I wasn't this proud when I guessed the winning score of The Cotton Bowl in 1996.  

Here's what The Teleprompter Jesus had to say about Perez in his nomination speech:
"If you're willing to work hard, it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, what your last name is - you can make it if you try," Obama said. "Tom's made protecting that promise for everybody the cause of his life."
Unless, of course, you want to save money on your daughter's college textbooks.  Then Perez is going to screw you, and screw you hard.

It's a great feeling, knowing that I, too, can pick a winner.


Picture of this corrupt bastard came from here.  
Now that The Aggie is of proper age, you'll be able to find her football picks on this site starting in August.