Reflections From a Murky Pond

In these difficult times it’s not especially surprising that some youth are looking towards a life of crime instead of a job on the right side of the law. It’s up to their parents to guide them in the proper direction.

Organized Crime? Which Sort, Son?

Admittedly, given the current circumstances, this can be a difficult prospect, but the shame of having a child become part of the government should outweigh the problems a parent might face convincing them to take a more honorable and ethical career path such as being a crack dealer, enforcer, or bagman 😆

It is ofttimes said that concept of justice and the law’s application thereof should be colorblind. Sadly, reality falls far short of this dream; too many people prove time and time again that they see, if not in color per se, Black and White quite well and judge according to that vision.

Little proves this point better than the response to the lawful executions of two men on September 21, 2011, one White and one Black.

In Texas Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed for the 1998 murder of James Byrd, Jr. This was a matter of little significance to the nation at large. Brewer was White and his victim Black.

In Georgia Troy Davis was executed for the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail. This was a media sensation and Liberals and Black grievance-mongers descended upon the area like locusts. Davis was Black and his victim White.

When a maelstrom of outcry to stop the Davis execution erupts from people such as: Pope Benedict XVI, Jimmy Carter, Al Sharpton, thousands of Liberals, and numerous supposedly anti-death penalty groups but not voice can be heard decrying the execution of Brewer it is impossible for the sane mind to believe that there is even any desire for “colorblind justice” in the minds of Liberals and their minority tenants.

Many people believe that Obama is a Muslim. His shills declare that he’s Christian. His choice of pastors is evidence that he’s a cultists of Black Liberation Theology. Yet some few of us think his religion is based upon personal spirituality.

One thing I find certain though; Obama is deeply committed to the core tenets of his chosen faith. 😉

And Thou Shalt Blame Bush For Thy Failings

Well…So many people gravitate to religions that make them feel good and Obama just found one with tenets he could work with.

The inability to learn from other fools’ mistakes is one of the hallmarks of the Leftists. Liberals and Progressive can and do stand among the wreckage of failed states and rant that America should do as they had done because it’ll work this time and it’s the right thing to do.

And so Americans get saddled with Obama, the poster man-child for this sort of “short bus” un-thinking, shuffling and jabbering away at all the “appropriate” talking points and whining for the same failed courses of action in order to keep his job.

But that’s the problem with universal suffrage; the lunatics and defectives who just can’t learn to differentiate between their delusions and objective reality keep trying to run the asylum and, when not controlled or culled, run it straight into the ground.

Obama and his coterie in the White House have finally submitted their initial draft of the American Jobs Act, though it doesn’t yet appear to have been formally introduced to Congress.

By any measure this is a late effort but, as usual for the Obama Regime, it’s not a better late than never situation – except possibly in the context of Obama keeping and his handlers keeping his own job for a few more years.

It’s largely (70% of it)  the buying of votes and retreaded Liberal wealth redistribution ideas.

Simply put, it’s $447 billion of up front spending allocations to be supposedly paid for over the course of a decade by tax increases, including taxing the carried interest, or profits-based compensation, of private equity managers, real estate investors, and venture capitalists as ordinary income, instead of more lightly taxed capital gains.

This is not going to spur business or employment. It will likely have quite the opposite effect due to what Carried Interest is and how it works.

Carried Interest:

A share of any profits that the general partners of private equity and hedge funds receive as compensation, despite not contributing any initial funds. This method of compensation seeks to motivate the general partner (fund manager) to work toward improving the fund’s performance.

Traditionally, the amount of carried interest comes out to around 20-25% of the fund’s annual profit. While all funds tend to have a small management fee, the management fee is meant to only cover the costs of managing the fund, with the exception of compensating the fund manager.

Carried interest is meant to serve as the primary source of income for the general partner. However, the general partner must ensure that all the initial capital that the limited partners contribute is returned along with some previously agreed upon rate of return.

What happens is that people running the fund, called the General Partners charge the rest of the funds’ investors, the Limited Partners a combination of maintenance fees and profit sharing. This is usually referred to as “2/20,” signifying fees of 2% of the funds’ assets and 20% of the funds’ returns above an agreed upon amount known as the “hurdle rate.” That 20% is what is the Carried Interest, meaning the General Partners’ carried or ongoing financial involvement in the fund.

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