http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wisebread/~3/326472641/patriotism-and-personal-finance-a-brief-walk-through-american-history

By Xin Lu

To all the Americans out there, happy Independence Day! I think this a great day to reflect upon how personal finance and patriotism is so intertwined in America. So I dug up a few tidbits from American history and summarized them here.

Before 1776

"No taxation without representation" is an iconic slogan that points to one of the main reasons why the American colonists sought independence from Britain more than 200 years ago. Simply put, the Americans were angry that their personal incomes was being taken without their consent. The first direct British tax on American colonists was spelt out in the Stamp Act of 1765, a law that required every newspaper, pamphlet, and other legal documents to have a British stamp upon it. Since the stamp costs money, it sparked outrage amongst the Americans because they had no need for this stamp and they did not want to pay for it. The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, but the later Townshend Acts imposed more taxes on many other goods, including tea. These new taxes led to more unrest amongst the colonists and British troops being sent to America. Eventually, the anger over the taxes led to the Boston Tea Party, and in response to this unrest the British Empire passed the Intolerable Acts which spurred the growth of the American Revolution and eventually led to the Revolutionary War. With this history, it can be argued that the American Revolution was all about the freedom of personal finances. The Americans wanted the freedom to spend their own money how they wanted, and do business without being unjustly taxed.

The Great Depression

The Social Security Administration was formed in the midst of The Great Depression by Franklin D. Roosevelt. In a famous speech now known as "The Four Freedoms" speech , he said this, "I have called for personal sacrifice, and I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call. A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. No person should try, or be allowed to get rich out of the program, and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation... If the Congress maintains these principles the voters, putting patriotism ahead pocketbooks, will give you their applause." The basic message was that if people did not want to participate in the Social Security program they would be unpatriotic. Roosevelt also outlawed the ownership of gold by private citizens except in jewelry, and basically allowed banks to print as many bank notes as they want without having to redeem it for gold.

World War II

During World War II, the general message was for Americans to be frugal with their money and support the war effort. A Disney propaganda cartoon called "The Spirit of '43" showed the good side as a thrifty and hardworking Donald Duck who paid his taxes, and the film explained that if you did not pay your taxes a good soldier out there would die. The propaganda message was that if you spent your money you would be helping the Axis powers and if you saved your money for taxes you would be helping your country. Many war bonds posters were also made to encourage people to invest in the war effort. In the present day, many of these colorful posters have become collectibles.

Now

After World War II, consumerism somehow became synonymous with patriotism in America. Americans are systematically encouraged to spend their money. In the fifties and throughout the era of the Cold War Americans were told to spend in order to be as different from communists as possible. After the Cold War, consumerism is already a big part of America's GDP. After the September 11 attacks in New York, the country slid into a recession and many companies created ads that linked spending money to helping America. Additionally, the Federal Reserve made it cheap to borrow money to encourage spending. Recently, homeownership was also touted as a way to fight terrorism and keep our country secure. This year, nearly every tax paying American is receiving a "stimulus check" that they are expected to spend to give a boost to the economy. President Bush said in a speech in February that "the purpose is to encourage our consumers. The purpose is to give them money …Consumerism is a significant part of our GDP growth, and we want to sustain the American consumer, encourage the American consumer…". The dominant message out there is that if you want to help your country, you must take out your pocketbooks and spend like there is no tomorrow.

I realize that this is a extremely abbreviated collection of American history, but I think it is interesting how the idea of patriotism affects the personal financial decisions of Americans. There is also a stark contrast to how taxes is viewed in the different eras of American history. At first it was a sign of oppression, but eventually it became a symbol of power, freedom, and patriotism. I feel that the current state of promoting rampant consumerism as patriotism is a bit irrational, but I guess propaganda always appeal to the emotion and not reason.

I know that some Americans also show patriotism by only purchasing items made in America, or refuse to travel abroad. Do you show your patriotism with your pocketbook? If so, how do you go about it?

Permalink | 1 comment | Xin Lu's blog | Channel: Personal Finance, Real Estate and Housing, Taxes

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Worked the Day Jobbe, spent a bunch of time in the small room, went out for a Mexican lunch, wrote almost 1,000 words on “The Forests of the Night”, hit the beach twice, once for sunshine and once for fireworks.

A good enough day. I shan’t need to send it to the Returns Desk after all.

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Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.

I decided to begin my Mars novel--tentatively entitled Focus--on July 1 for Novel_in_90. So far I've had two sub-par days and one all right day.

The house is still in turmoil, and that's my excuse for the sub-par days. I moved furniture around again today, as well as doing some long-neglected gardening. And we have a new source of excitement.

It seems that Ben's girlfriend has introduced bedbugs from her dorm room. Ben found one at 3 am, and Louise has also been bitten. So we're putting tape traps everywhere, washing everything washable and putting it through extra long hot cycles in the dryer, which is supposed to kill eggs, and putting non-washable items outside in the hot sun. Hopefully this will work. Louise says her workplace is also infested, and that they're very hard to get rid of.

I have a four-day weekend. Woo!

As a result, what do I do? Watch a PBS story about Norwegian architects designing a multiplex in the United Arab Emerites (UAE). (The show is from my favorite series called Wide Angle, if you're interested.)

The design in Dubai is particularly fascinating; I've been following it for a few years. (Can't touch a architectural magazine/blog/group/website without some feature story on Dubai.) Then someone who I never talk to about architecture mentioned the buildings, and then secritcrush and I very briefly gabbed on the wackiness of architect David Fisher's proposed rotating building in--you guessed it--Dubai. (That's it below.)

So I thought it merited a least a short blog post.



You want the future, o SFF writer? It's here, baby. Underwater hotels and artificial islands as art sculptures. Oh, forget it; check it out here. Dubai is nuts indeed. But way cool.

No reason.

This is one of those posts where I whine.  I do not need cheering up!  I am dead serious about this.   I just want to whine.


Edited 6 chapters of Magic Strikes.  Hate it with the brilliant hate of a thousand stars, but that's to be expected at this stage.

Irritated the hell out of one of my BFFs

Brainstormed ideas for Club, a funny horror, with Jill who swore up and down she'll work with me on it

Downloaded Tabaxi race plug in for Oblivion, made a half-kitty girl, and sniped people from the dark using sneak skill

Watched Sheer Genius

Marinated steaks for tomorrow in Corona (4 steaks, one bottle of beer overnight, in the morning an hour before grilling, a handfull of brown sugar, salt, pepper, sprinkle, let stand for an hour, grill.)

Depressed as all get out.

There is a kind of weariness that periodically mugs me.  I used to get it at my other job too, a sort of exhasution from perpetual paranoia of failure.  No matter how much I try, I can't resist the habitual cycle of worrying that's particular to many Russians: what if I never make the list again, what if the third book tanks, what if the new series tanks, etc etc etc.  And running headfirst into the same worries time after time after time makes me really tired.  Tonight, I'm just tired.  

All my books are in my laptop.  

More importantly, I don't want to do anything.  I am completely and totally apathetic.  Maybe post novel ennui finally mugged me.

Well, no I lie, I want to watch Kaleido Star but Netflix just now sent it and it won't get here for awhile.

Delia & I are off to the wilds of Maine tomorrow, to a magical house over the water lent us by her oldest friend, for a lengthy and much-needed writing retreat: she to finish her revisions on The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen (sequel to Changeling) and I to try to finish a couple stories and start a script for a kids' play - oh, and finish that comic script! By July 15 we must make our way toOdyssey to teach, and from there proceed at a stately pace to Readercon. So don't look to hear from us for awhile: in Maine we will have access only to dial-up connection, mostly - and a good thing, too, or I would be spending every available minute for the next few weeks just playing with Wordle, a cool new toy that matociquala found for us:



This is of the opening and closing paragraphs of The Privilege of the Sword. Enchantment, thy name is Wordle.

Originally published at Deanna Hoak. You can comment here or there.

I bought the twentieth-anniversary edition of The Princess Bride and watched it with my kids this week, successfully introducing them to an integral aspect of geek culture.

And it took! (At least with my son–my daughter rightfully thought Princess Buttercup was useless.) Herewith my son doing an exceptionally cute Inigo Montoya. :-)

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Grade 4 / Math

How many cups are in 3 1/2 pints?


( Answer behind the cut.... )

Part forty-six in my ongoing retrospective as I read the fiction to the back issues of Realms of Fantasy and offer my thoughts, right up to the present.  This time around I'll be discussing the April 2002 issue.

This retrospective marks one of those milestone issues for the magazine, at least to me.  Why?  Well, we have a couple of firsts, and a couple of lasts this issue that are worth mentioning.  Let's start with the lasts.  This issue marks the last editorial we ran.  It also marks the last issue Rebecca McCabe appears in the masthead as Assistant Editor.  Fittingly then, the last editorial is written by none other Rebecca McCabe, which was her third editorial in the magazine.  In it, she addresses the rumors of missing manuscripts that had been directed toward her, and defends herself and her work over the course of almost eight years as assistant editor.  I found this goodbye to be both thoughtful and eloquent.

Now let's talk about the firsts.  This marks the first issue that my direct predecessor, Carina Gonzalez, appears in the masthead.  While she took over for Rebecca, and I in turn took over for Carina, Rebecca and I were and are listed as Assistant Editors (Rebecca started off as Editorial Assistant before being given the sexier title of Assistant Editor), Carina is listed as Editorial Intern.  Why this is, I don't know, but her responsibilities were similar to ours.  Either way, this issue marks an official passing of the torch.  What it also marks is the first time there has been a significant change in the editorial fiction department.  

To me, this is very important, which is why I feel compelled to go on at some length.  Shawna is the editor, and since the fiction is arguably the most important feature of the magazine, this magazine is a reflection of her tastes more than anyone else's.  But let's not forget that it was and is her tireless assistants who wade through the slush, and what we pass along from the slush is a reflection of our tastes.  What Shawna takes from our selections for publication isn't only what she considers worthy of the magazine, it's also where her tastes and ours intersect.  Those intersections can be viewed as glimpses into the tastes of her assistants.  And since no two people share the exact same tastes, the kinds of stories we've passed (and will pass) along to Shawna will sometimes differ.  I couldn't tell you all of Rebecca's slush survivors, but if I read an author bio and it mentions this is the author's first publication, or that before this publication the author only had small press credits, it's quite likely these authors were slush survivors.  Same thing goes for authors from Carina's era, and I've read a number of her slush survivor tales before I started these retrospectives.  And having read these tales, I can tell both Rebecca and Carina's tastes are somewhat different than my own.  Not better or worse, just different.  What this means (to me anyway) is that when these editorial changes take place, while the vision of the magazine remains Shawna's, subtle shifts in some of the fiction we publish will take place.  I mean, how can they not?  If Rebecca, Carina, and I all have somewhat different tastes, it stands to reason that Shawna's tastes will intersect with ours in different ways.  This in turn will lead to some different types of slush survivors being published, which will lead to a slight shift in the the flavor of the magazine.  Let me reiterate that these changes would be subtle.  Everything remains a story that Shawna likes, but a different assistant editor means that sometimes a different kind of story is being brought to her attention.  Let me be very clear here, as what I'm discussing can be a touchy subject if minterpreted.  I'm not talking about the abilities of the various editors, nor am I talking about the merits of the various stories we've passed along to Shawna that have been published.  I'm just talking about how different stories will ring the bells of different readers, and how this could influence the personality of a magazine.  It's certainly so for editors, so I don't see why it wouldn't be the case to a lesser extent regarding assistant editors.  As to who is better at their job and who pulled out the best slush survivors, well, you may feel free to debate such things among yourselves, but for the purposes of these retrospectives I have no interest in going down that road.  The last tidbit I'll mention before moving along (finally!) is that any subtle shifts in the magazine's personality probably wouldn't show up for some issues yet, since we always have stuff in inventory.

One other change I'll note is that in the masthead, Ryan Costa's brief run as Graphic Designer is over.  Replacing him is Jennifer Schneider.

Now, on to the fiction ...

The lead story is "Kallisti" by Richard Parks, which marks his eleventh appearance in the magazine.  This one is a piece of Greek mythology that deals with some of the key events leading up to the Trojan War, revolving most notably around Paris, Eris, and the Apple of Discord.  We also witness a chunk of the fallout based on Richard's ideas, and it leads to a twist ending that left me nodding my head.  I was expecting it, but was pleased nonetheless, since it struck me as the best possible ending and I was hoping the author would go here.

Following this we have "Hubris" by James Patrick Kelly.  This also deals with Greek mythology and at the same time is a cross with metafiction, as it becomes a cross between modern literature and a man's encounter with the Greek Muse.  Saying more would give too much of this one away.

After this we have "Honeysuckle Flowers" by Katya Reimann, a high fantasy tale set in the same universe as her trilogy of novels known as the Tielmaran Chronicles.  This one revolves around the tale of two lovers, and the woman is a witch.  The princess of their homeland is going to be married soon, and the lovers' lives are thrown into chaos by the arrival of her husband-to-be, who foolishly wishes to hunt in the Changing Lands, a magical land where no one returns from.  And his appointed guide into these lands is the witch's lover.  Things are made even more complicated by the fact that the witch has been summoned to attend the princess, which would force her to leave her lover.  Everything finally comes to a head in the Changing Lands in unexpected fashion.

Then we have "The Rose in Twelve Petals" by Theodora Goss.  I actually attended the Odyssey Writing Workshop the same year as Theodora (or Dora, as many of us call her), back in 2000.  I believe that she is the first Odyssean to crack the pages of Realms of Fantasy.  There have been a ton of Clarionites (Clarioners?) published in the magazine, but the Clarion workshop is far older than Odyssey.  So this is kind of cool for Odyssey, as it was less than ten years old at the time.  Of course, you deserve the whole story behind this one.  Dora did indeed attend Odyssey, but she also attended Clarion in 2001.  In fact, if memory serves correctly, Shawna actually discovered this story while teaching at Clarion that summer.  She read Dora's story and liked it so much she decided to take it for the magazine.  This was her first published story, so it's a pretty good way to break in!  But it gets better.  "The Rose in Twelve Petals" was also selected for inclusion in Year's Best Fantasy & Horror 16, edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling.  Dora has certainly been one of the magazine's biggest discoveries, as she's since gone on to publish a host of short stories, and she's been nominated for both the Nebula and World Fantasy Award.  As to the story itself (he said, treating it like an afterthought!), it's a very unusal retelling of Sleeping Beauty.  As you might expect, it's told in 12 parts, and the rose plays an important part.

Next up we have "Field of Angels" by Lauren Halkon, a bizarre high fantasy tale that deals with warring factions striving for the possession of various angels.  It's a tough one to describe beyond that, so I'll simply steal Shawna's editorial caption for this one: "Is it a fair trade--the food of the spirit for the hunger of the soul?"

Now we turn our attention to "The Djinn Who Lives Between Night and Day" by Bruce Holland Rogers, which marks his third appearance in the magazine.  This one is a short tale, and there isn't much to say about it except that it deals with a djinn whose actions are so ambiguous he might be evil, or he might be good.  It's really left to the reader to decide.

Finally we have "The Veil Beyond the Veil" by William Shunn, which marks his second appearance in the magazine.  This one takes an unusual look at the afterlife, as a woman finds herself being reincarnated again and again.  But usually the greatest changes is that she keeps coming to life in different worlds.  Wild stuff.

So that wraps up this issue.  And my favorite story?  I'm a big fan of Homer's Illiad, so I'm going with "Kallisti" by Richard Parks.  Next time I'll get into the June 2002 issue.  Until then ...   

                   

JibJab and their sendable greeting cards are another time waster for me.  Sigh.

Here's the kind of birthday card I imagine Albert Camus might have sent Sylvia Plath, if Albert looked like me, and if he really didn't care about Sylvia's mental health (or lack of it).

I'm not sure what disturbs me more, the kitty or the odd disjointing of my jaw. 

The video hung up on me a couple of times.  I had to hit replay to make it all the way through.  Maybe JibJab was getting pounded on their end, or maybe I have a crummy connection.

Bacon chocolate chip cookies with maple cinnamon glaze.



AND NOW YOU GET A POLL! Poll #1217411
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Bacon Chocolate Cookies

Check out Colleen Doran's post about her "Riverside" auction piece! What a nice person she is.

Here's what looks to be my schedule for Shore Leave 30:

Friday:
9-10pm: Pocket Books preview -- Hunt
10pm-12am: Meet the Pros -- Hunt/Valley Foyer

Saturday:
11am-12pm: Boogie Knights concert -- Valley
12-1pm: "The Sky's the Limit: 20+ Years of TNG" -- Salon A
1-2pm: "eBook Post-Mortem" -- Salon E
3-5pm: "Doctor Who: The Quality of Leadership" -- Salon A
Masquerade halftime (after 9pm): Boogie Knights concert -- Hunt/Valley

Sunday:
11am-12pm: "Myriad Universes: Star Trek Does What If?" -- Hunt
12-1pm: "S.C.E.: Corps of Engineers -- Salon B
1-2pm: an hour with Keith R.A. DeCandido -- Salon A

I'm thrilled that they gave us two hours for QoL....

Phoooey!

Phooey, phooey, phhoooey.  Phooey.  Phooey!

Bleh.

Phooey. 

Over in her blog, aeriedraonia asked why ebooks aren't any cheaper than paper books. And I explained:

Because the only difference in cost for an ebook is the PPB, also known as "paper, print, and bind," and the cost of freight. However, the publisher has the additional costs of prepping their files for a bazillion ebook formats, and having someone check those files, because the last thing you can do is kick it out the door and have it screw up. "I paid eight dollars for this ebook and it doesn't even look right! It has dropped text and weird formatting and what are these fonts OMGWTFBBQ!!!!"

Which is not to say that the ebook isn't slightly cheaper to make, and that savings should be passed on to the consumer. But on a per-unit basis, that's about thirty cents on a mass market paperback (remember, the publisher only sees about fifty cents of that $8 cover price).

Would it make that big a difference to you to see an ebook selling for thirty cents less than the paper book? Probably not. So the publisher takes the thirty cents because their bottom line needs all the help it can get, and it makes no difference to their sales.

Had a pretty good, if exhausting lesson today and came out of the ring feeling reasonably competent...and saw Co-Owner of Stable riding Pop Art in the outside ring. As Co-Owner and Pop Art are off the the Olympics next week, you can imagine that said riding was...impressive. Even if you didn't know what Dressage was, you'd know.

It took nothing away from my accomplishments. But lord, did it remind me of how long a road I've to go!

Will be offline for most of the weekend, so will take this opportunity to wish everyone in the US (and our expats) a good and safe Independence Day. Celebrate Appropriately-- Speak Your Mind!
-------------------------
And for those of you with a hankering for Stuff To Read, from wheatland_press:

From now until Monday July 7 (at midnight Pacific Time), if you buy any two Wheatland Press titles at the regular price, you'll get one copy of any volume of Polyphony free.

Just order as usual using Paypal and in the comment box of the order form for the second title, indicate which volume of Polyphony you would like to receive.

http://www.wheatlandpress.com

I might add, in passing, that while P1-5 are excellent volumes, Polyphony 6 has my story "Fire Rising in the Moon," as well as a bunch of other nifty and cool stories, and I won't be at all offended if you get it for free.... ;-)

That novel meme.

I'm just going to list the ones I've actually done some work on (as opposed to being a collection of "things" in an idea folder).

( All eleven of them... )

I just treated myself to a facial. I'm not usually big on the putting-of-stuff on my face, but wooo, I needed it, and it was great. Part of the facial is a neck, shoulder, and arm massage, and that was wonderful.

Why the self-treat? Because I got paid this week! It was very nice to see the boost in my earnings on the new job. The first two paychecks were scrambly-scrambly with different additions and subtractions, but this was the first one that's "standard"; i.e. all my deductions for retirement, health insurance, and parking were taken. So this is how much I will get paid each month, and it is a little more than my mental calculation was coming up with, so that is very nice.

Of course, I figured out where the extra is coming from. I used to get paid every two weeks. This meant that twice a year I had an "extra" paycheck in a month. Since I'm now paid once a month, it's as if two whole paychecks are split into 12 pieces and I get one piece each month. That adds up to just about the extra amount over what I was estimating.

Researching an SF story, but my brain just shut down on the science involved. I think I'll follow the BF's example and get me to bed.

Also, This seems like a nifty networking site for readers and writers of fantasy. A sort of Facebook for fantasy geeks :-)

EDIT: for those of you on the other side of the Pond headed into Independence Day Weekend, I hope you have a super holiday.

# of queries read this week: 108
# of partials requested: 1
genre of partial requested: urban fantasy



Dear Authors:

I wasn't really sure what to write today. I fear my thoughts may have already moved on to the holiday weekend (indeed, much of publishing seems to have taken a 4 day weekend), which may possibly be free of query-reading, though I might still end up taking a look at a manuscript or two. But I was thinking earlier (before my thoughts had flown) about how much easier it is to send an electronic query as opposed to a snailmail one -- no visits to the post office (though now one can print stamps from online), no stamps, no SASE, no paper required. But sometimes I wonder if it's made it *too* easy. The number of queries I get that are completely inappropriate for me (e.g. how-to-books, self-help books, etc.) is much higher than it ever used to be when we only had paper submissions to review. Every week I get queries that haven't even been spell-checked. Or are addressed to the wrong person (the one I just read today was emailed to me but the opening of the letter included another agent at another agency, address and all -- oops). Sure, all these things used to happen with snailmail too, but never so frequently, at least in my experience. I don't tend to hold that sort of thing against a person, but I may be more forgiving than some agents on those fronts, so please, slow down -- it really won't take all that long to check the guidelines, proof your query, and make sure all is in order. You never know when even something that small may have an effect. The devil's in the details, as they say.

Happy 4th of July to those of you who celebrate it. I hope you enjoy the company of friends and/or family, and the weather allows for a cook-out or three. To those who aren't celebrating this holiday, i hope you have a good weekend too.