Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, are now filthy rich.
They supposedly give a lot of their money to Democrat and (LOL) "progressive" causes. I don't hold that against them.
I think they deliberately lowered their Blogger/BlogSpot (their program that powers this site) search rankings so that conservative/libertarian voices will be muted. I don't hold that against them any more.
Their house, their rules.
Because they were allowed to get filthy rich, my world is a better place. I've taken on a new job in purchasing, and therefore I search the crap out of everything via Google. Sheet metal. ABS plastic.
Janitorial supplies. 1/4-20 hex cap bolts. Extruded aluminum F-channel. You name it, I'm looking for it, and Larry and Sergey help me out.
Here's why I'm writing this..... I got a weird-assed email from a Chinese vendor today, and it referenced some earlier conversation that was in Chinese.
20 years ago, this would've been a huge problem. I don't read Chinese very well. But I just went to "Google Translate", copied and pasted, and there you have it. It's not perfect, but it made sense. Here's what I got, kinda sorta. Mandarin Chinese is on the left, English is on the right. What everyone wanted to say, but couldn't, is at the top:
(Victor says that according to Allen Patterson, Frank is supposed to deal with Victor's next consignment shipment. Allen thinks you can work it out. This is probably Allen's way of dumping his responsibilities onto you. Please let me know you got this and send a return receipt. That way, the monkey is on your back.)
Just as an FYI, Frank (who speaks perfectly good English because he's from Missouri) later said that Allen Patterson shouldn't dump this problem at Frank's door, and that Allen and Victor should work it out through other channels, namely, some other vendor.
Larry and Sergey have done some good stuff. They've made some wise decisions about which fields of online....."stuff"....(sorry, I'm very old) to invest in, and which stuff to avoid.
But what if they'd been subject to FDR's "
Undistributed Profits Tax"?
This was a New Deal abortion that declared that if a big business didn't immediately plow its profits into dividends or wages, any profits could be taxed at up to 27%. (This is a tax rate that most of us would now kill for, so please up it to around 75% to put it in perspective.)
What if Larry's and Sergey's profits, every year, had been taxed at 75%? Well, they would have hidden the money, unless they had something they could immediately pump it back into. To hell with planning, to hell with putting some aside for a rainy day, and to hell with research and development. It Google couldn't invest it in dividends or wages, Obama was going to get it to spend on the Democrat Vote Farm.
What is Larry and Sergey were subject to the 90% tax rate that American Lefties always claim grew the Middle Class back in the 1950's ? (Nobody paid 90%, by the way. There were loopholes in the tax code.)
What if they'd been required, at gunpoint, to "give something back"?
What if Larry and Sergey had been forced to end "income inequality" by giving their money to Crack Whores?
What if Larry's and Sergey's money had been used to fund Obama instead of Google Translate?
I'd still be wondering what the hell Victor's email meant.
If there was such a thing as email.
If there was such a thing as the internet (and no, politicians didn't invent it).
If there was such a thing as a computer.
If there was such a thing as a cell phone.
The best way for us to get great stuff at a low price is to allow the Larrys and Sergeys to get filthy, stinkin' rich.
Good for them. And guys, thanks for inventing Google Translate. Or to put it into Mandarin Chinese....
谢谢,Larry和Sergey,发明了谷歌翻译