Obsessed? Addicted? Do I Care?

The answers are Yes, Yes and No.

So, what am I obsessed about? What am I addicted to? What don’t I care about? Oh come on. I know that most people that are reading this are either friends or family so you already know, but for anyone else that might be reading this I’m obsessed about Disney, I’m addicted to going there (Walt Disney World (WDW) in particular, although I won’t rule out going to the other parks), and I don’t care if you think I’m abnormal for being this way.

While I know there are some that think I’m crazy, and to an extent I am, I know that as bad as my obsession and addiction is, I want to assure you my obsession and addiction isn’t nearly as bad as it can be. Yes my friends I am far from being over the top. In fact I think it would be a safe bet that some that are reading this are in a far “worse” state than I’m in. You all know who you are.

How does my obsession manifest itself? I almost always wear something Disney. In truth I can’t think of the last time I wore something that wasn’t Disney related. Well fully dressed anyway. I do have a couple of bathing suits that have nothing to do with Disney. But I only wear them when my Disney bathing suits are in the hamper or wash. I have at least 3 Mickey Mouse (MM) watches, numerous MM pairs of socks, and a couple of MM ties, a MM tie clasp, and my dresser has a draw + of Disney tee-shirts, some of which are of my own design.

My biggest purchase has to be the purchase of membership in the Disney Vacation Club (DVC). DVC is the Disney version of a timeshare. My wife and I “own” (it’s actually a lease since membership does expire) at Disney’s Beach Club Villas and Disney’s Old Key West, two of Disney’s deluxe resorts. The only regret I have in buying into DVC is that we didn’t do it sooner. We love the resorts where we’ve stayed.

Beyond my wardrobe and DVC membership I am always perusing Disney related websites, with my favorites being tagrel.com, allearsnet.com and mousesavers.com. Tagrel’s is a forum type of site where members ask and answer each others questions about Disney. Beyond it being a forum to exchange Disney knowledge Tagrel’s is a community. I have met and have become close friends with many of the members there. Allearsnet has a forum, but more than a forum site it’s an on-line encyclopedia for people planning trips to Disney parks. Want to learn about the accommodations, dining, parks and things to do outside of the parks? Allearsnet is, in my humble opinion, the place to learn about these things. Mousesavers is sort of an on-line magazine that is constantly updated with ways to save money for your trips. Since I learned of mousesavers I have saved hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars because of the tips I learned there.

Oh yeah, there’s one other thing that will show my obsession. Inspired by this collage,

(picture collage used with permission of Gary Cruise)

I ordered my own set of vanity plates. If you’re on the road and see

 

give me a honk and a hi Mark wave.

Why am I addicted to going on trips to WDW? Have you ever heard the expression the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys? In a nutshell that’s the reason. When I go to WDW I turn into the 9 year old boy whose parents took him, two brothers and a sister on a cross-country camping trip to visit Disneyland back in 1966. When ever I’m at WDW I get to be a kid again where my only care is having as much fun as I want to have. Along with that, and maybe beyond that, is the world class service that Disney cast members (all employees of Disney are cast members) provide to all of their customers. Disney cast members make me want to come back time and time again. It doesn’t matter if you stay in one of the deluxe, moderate or value resorts when you stay at one of the Disney owned onsite resorts you are treated as a valued customer whose business is truly appreciated. That attitude is not confined to the resorts. It is found throughout WDW including all 4 theme parks. We in the community of Disney fanatics call that sharing the magic or spreading the pixie dust.

Why don’t I care if I’m thought of as abnormal for going to WDW time and time again (16 trips in total with another one forthcoming)? I guess it’s because I know what a great vacation going to WDW is. I can go to WDW on a 6 night, 7 day vacation, not set foot in one of the four theme parks, and have a vacation that anyone would envy.

What I don’t understand are people that ask incredulously “You’re going there again?” These are the same people that go to the shore, or the lake, or the mountains year after year and think there’s nothing strange about that. Well there isn’t anything strange about going to any of those places year after year and the same is true about going to WDW year after year. So if you don’t like or think it’s strange that I go to WDW time and time again, guess what? I don’t care.

Common Sense Economics

I want to talk a little about economics. Admittedly I am not an economist, but I’m also not an idiot. I like to think I have, at the very least, an average amount of common sense. Using that common sense is how I am going to discuss economics.

Let’s say that I have a product. It doesn’t make a difference what the product is so long as it is something that other people either need or desire. I know that I want to maximize my profit on this product. The question economically is how? Do I sell as many as possible? The logical way to sell as many as possible is to price my product at my costs. But that doesn’t maximize my profit. In fact there is no profit selling at cost. OK so let’s raise the price as much as possible. Well I am now maximizing my profit on each unit of my product, but I’m not selling nearly as many. So I’m still not maximizing my profit. In fact if my price is too high I won’t sell any at all. In order to maximize my profit I have to find the price that is somewhere between selling at cost where there’s no profit and pricing it so high that I’m not selling any at all where there is again no profit.

This is how the tax structure should work. Obviously if the tax rate is zero revenue to the government will also be zero. Conversely if the tax rate is 100% revenues will also be zero. Who is going to want to work if every cent they make is confiscated by the government? The optimum tax rate has to fall somewhere between zero and 100%. There is only one way to find out what that rate is and that’s to change the rates until the optimum rate is found.

Back in the 1980’s when the Tip O’Neill lead Congress and Ronald Reagan lowered the tax rates revenue to the treasury increased. In fact they more than doubled. This shocked many of the experts who expected just the opposite to happen. Unfortunately for every dollar that the treasury took in Congress spent two dollars, but that’s a different topic. Not only did revenues to the treasury increase, but employment went up as well. How could this have happened? The answer is pretty simple. When people are able to keep more of what they earn they are able to spend and save more. When they spend more demand for the products they want goes up thereby causing manufacturers and service providers to hire more people to meet the demand. More people being employed means there are more tax payers contributing part of what they earn into the treasury. If instead of spending more they decide to save what the government is no longer taking this is also good for the economy. More money being saved means lenders have more funds available to loan. More funds available to be lent means interests rates go down. When interest rates go down people and businesses are more willing to take out loans. Individuals use these loans to buy houses, cars and all sorts of products. Businesses use these loans to expand their businesses thereby producing more goods and services and hiring more employees to provide those goods and services.

Now let’s stop and think for a second. If lowering the tax rates does all of this good stuff what happens if tax rates are raised? Just the opposite happens. Treasury revenues go down and unemployment and interest rates go up and the economy contracts.

...Than For One Not Guilty Person to be Convicted

Here I go again. Once again I find myself sitting here about to complain. What is it this time? The Casey Anthony trial is the short answer. Actually it's not the trial itself or even the verdict. It's the reaction to the verdict. I know this trial was on T.V. and that thousands of people watched at least part of it (I am not among that number). However many thousands tuned in I doubt very much that anyone other than the jury, the judge, the prosecutors and the defense team heard and saw every piece of evidence that was presented.

It is painfully obvious that school systems across the United States need to bring back Civics as a core requirement. I was taught in school that our judicial system is set-up so that it is better for ten guilty people to go free than for one not guilty person to be convicted. This might sound stupid to most people and to a degree it is. It's stupid right up to the point where you're the not guilty person.

Juries do not find defendants innocent. They find defendants either guilty or not guilty. Just because a jury finds a defendant not guilty does not mean that the defendant was innocent. It merely means that the jury did not find enough evidence to convict.

All juries are charged with weighing all of the evidence and testimony that was presented to them and to come to a verdict based on that alone. If they are to come to a guilty verdict they must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. Take notice what that says. It doesn’t say up to a reasonable doubt. It says beyond. It means that before voting guilty a juror must know in their heart that the accused did the crime. No matter how heinous the crime it is not a jury’s job to see that the victim gets justice. That’s the job of the prosecutor. The prosecutor must present a case to the jury that convinces them so fully that they cannot possibly vote for acquittal.

When a trial begins the accused is to be considered not guilty by each and every juror. If after all of the evidence is presented and the closing arguments are made a juror is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did the crime then, and only then, should they vote to convict. They should not and must not vote to convict if they feel that the defendant probably did the crime. If you have a feeling about something you’re not convinced.

Since the verdict in this case came down on July 5, 2011 I have witnessed on social media outlets a backlash against the jury. People have been crying out that justice for Caylee has been denied. Their fury is misdirected. If their outrage should be directed at anyone in this case it should be at the prosecutors. The prosecutors didn’t present the jury a convincing enough case that left it with any choice but to acquit.

The day after the verdict juror number 3, Jennifer Ford, said on ABC News "I did not say she was innocent," but also, "I just said there was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be." Another juror, juror number 2 is quoted in the St. Petersburg Times as saying "everybody agreed if we were going fully on feelings and emotions, she was done”. “I just swear to God...I wish we had more evidence to put her away. I truly do...But it wasn't there." It is obvious that the jurors took their responsibility very seriously. And that is as it should be.