This 'slow' coffee will give you the ultimate caffeine buzz | ||
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The pour-over coffee is one of the freshest brews around, and its popularity is rapidly growing despite the higher cost and longer brew time. Produced by Sam Rega. Additional camera by Graham Flanagan. Follow BI Video: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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A high-end call girl answers questions about her job, her clients, and her business model | ||
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We call her Allie, which is neither her real nor professional name. There was so much interest in Allie after the book came out that she agreed to field reader questions on the blog. They are paraphrased below, along with Allie's answers. Q. Can you tell us how you became an escort, and what your family thinks — or knows — about your occupation? A. My parents don't know about my work, or anything else about my sex life. I was a programmer when I decided to quit my job and become an escort. I was single and meeting people through a popular dating website. Finding someone "special" proved to be difficult, but I did meet many nice men. I had grown up in a repressive small town and I was, at that time, looking to understand my own sexuality. I have never attached my self-worth to some idea of virginity or monogamy, but I still had not really explored many of my desires. I was meeting people living alternative lifestyles, and, as I got to know them, the stereotypes that I had built up started to come apart. During this time I was in my mid-twenties, and I had an active sex life. One day I decided to enter the occupation of "escort" on an online instant messaging profile. Within seconds I had many responses, and after about a week of talking to a few people, I decided to meet a dentist at a hotel. The experience wasn't glamorous or nearly as sexy as I thought it might be. However, I came away from the experience thinking, "It wasn't bad." I began to think that if I just had one appointment a month, I could pay my car loan with it, and have a little extra money. Eventually, I chose to work as an escort exclusively. At that time, the reason I gave up my programming job was the free time. I was caring for a family member with a serious illness—the free time and money was a huge benefit. Q. Do you have any moral problem with what you do? A. I do not have a moral problem with having sex for money, as long as it's safe, and between consenting adults. However, I have always been concerned about how the social and legal issues may affect my future and the people that I love.
A. My clients are generally white, married, and professional males, between forty and fifty years old, with incomes over $100,000 a year. They tend to be doctors, lawyers, and businessmen looking to get away for a few hours in the middle of the day. Q. How many of your clients are married men? A. Almost all of my clients are married. I would say easily over 90%. I'm not trying to justify this business, but these are men looking for companionship. They are generally not men that couldn't have an affair [if they wanted to], but men who want this tryst with no strings attached. They're men who want to keep their lives at home intact. Q. What do your clients' wives know or think about them coming to you? A. I rarely got the opportunity to find out if the wives were okay with it, but I did see several couples, so I assume they were okay with it. Q. Do you know the real names of your clients? A. Yes. Always. I insist that they give me their full names and their place of work so that I can contact them there before we meet. I also check their identification when we meet. I also use verification companies, which assist escorts in verification of clients. These companies do the verification of the client and put them in a database so that when the client wants to meet with a girl for the first time, he doesn't have to go through the verification process again. For a fee, I can call in and they will tell me if the client has a history of giving the girls problems, where he works, and his full name. Q.What are your out-of-pocket costs? A. $300 to $500 a month for my online basic ads $100 a year for the website $100 a month for a phone $1,500 a year for photography If I was touring then there were extra expenses such as travel costs, hotels, and more advertising costs. Q. Do you have any regrets about your chosen profession? A. Being an escort provided me with many opportunities that I'm not sure I would have gotten if I had not been an escort. That said, my choice to become an escort had a definite cost associated with it beyond the advertising, photos, and websites. I believe it is close to impossible to have a healthy relationship while working. So it can be a lonely life. In addition, hiding my job from my friends and family proved to be difficult for many reasons. Q. How do you think prostitution would change if it were legalized? Would you want your own child to become a prostitute? A. If the social and legal ramifications were gone, I think that being an escort might be like being a therapist (I have never been a therapist, so my knowledge is obviously limited). Like most escorts, a therapist sells his or her skills by the hour. A therapist also has to meet people for the first time not knowing who is walking in the door. Many have their own offices and work alone. In addition, the session is generally private and requires discretion. I imagine that many times therapists have patients that they like and some they don't. A therapist's revenue, like almost all other occupations, probably increases if the client feels that the therapist likes them. I don't mean to imply that I have the skills of a trained therapist, or to in any way demean what they do; I'm just observing some obvious similarities. If I had a child, I would hope that they would feel empowered, and have the opportunity to do whatever they desire to do, and that they would be in charge of their own sexuality. This job has its downsides, though, and can take a high toll on a person. I know that it's made many aspects of my life and my relationships more difficult. So, like any parent, I would always want more for my child than I had for myself. Q. So are you in favor of legalization? A. I feel that prostitution should be legal. If a couple meets for dinner and a bottle of wine, and have sex, that's a date. If they meet for dinner and a bottle of wine, and have sex, with money in an envelope left on the dresser, that's illegal. I realize that there are women in prostitution who are there because they feel like they have to be. These women work in a different part of the industry than I did. Many have drug or abuse issues, among other problems. I think, instead of spending time and finite resources on arresting and criminalizing these women, we should spend our resources on making sure that these women have other opportunities and a place to go for help. The women who don't want to be prostitutes shouldn't have to be, and they should be able to get the help they need. Women who want to be should be able to. I feel that no one should have to take a job to make a living that is against his or her own moral judgment. Q. How would legalization affect your business model? A. I'm sure it would cause me to lower my rates. I'm sure more people would take up prostitution as a profession, and I am sure more men would partake in the activity. That said, legalization does not remove all the barriers to entry. The job still would have a huge negative stigma associated with it, both for the escorts and the clients. In countries like Canada, enforcement of prostitution laws is extremely lax, and while rates are lower, they aren't wildly different. So there would still be men out there afraid of their wives finding out, and I still wouldn't want to share my job title with my family. Q. Dubner and Levitt wrote that you have some economics training. Has that informed the way you think about your occupation? A. Sure, here are some examples: Dinner with friends = opportunity cost Perfect information = review sites Transaction cost = setting up an appointment Repeated game = reputation Product differentiation = not a blonde Seriously, I wish I had known then what I know now. Excerpted from "When To Rob A Bank...And 131 More Warped Suggestions And Well-Intended Rants" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Reprinted with permission from William Morrow, Copyright © 2015 by Steven D. Levitt & Dubner Productions, LLC. SEE ALSO: 10 lessons from 'Freakonomics' that will blow your mind Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Q. What kind of clients do you have? Here's how Rand Paul wants to change the economy | ||
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The economic platform of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) is chock full of his libertarian convictions, with top billing for tax cuts, a deep reduction in federal spending, and a balanced budget. But the staunch proponent of small government has had to curtail some of his rhetoric as he tries to reach a more mainstream audience in his 2016 bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Here's a look of Paul's stances on taxes, federal spending cuts, social security, regulation of the federal reserve, energy and economic freedom zones. TAXES Like many GOP contenders in the 2016 race, Paul wants a flat tax, which he has advocated for in federal budget proposals in 2012, 2013 and 2014. When Paul first launched his presidential campaign last month, his website featured a detailed proposal, "The Fair and Flat Tax," also known as the "EZ Tax." This detailed plan was taken down on April 8, the day after Paul's campaign kickoff, and replaced with a more version of the plan that lacked specifics days later, according to the Washington Post. The initial proposal, that was stored in Google's cache and closely mirrors what the senator has previously discussed, shows Paul's vision for a single, flat tax rate of 17%. He has claimed this would yield a $700 billion loss in tax revenue each year. Paul advocates taxation on an individual for wages, salaries and pension payments. However, investment income including capital gains, dividends, and interest would be tax free for an individual. Those taxes would be levied on the business level.
Paul's plan would allow low and middle income workers to receive an exemption from the Social Security payroll tax. His plan would also eliminate the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax, which both target high income earners. FEDERAL SPENDING Paul's proposal for multi-billion dollar tax cuts is coupled with drastic decreases in federal spending. In past budget proposals that he presented to the Senate, Paul called for cutting the president's cabinet by a quarter through the elimination of the U.S. Departments of Education, Commerce, Housing, and Urban Development and Energy. He did provide contingency plans for key programs overseen by these departments - Paul would transfer nuclear energy programs to the Defense Departments and maintain the Pell Grant program, currently under the auspices of the Department of Education. This May, Paul took aim at the Department of Energy in his "Waste in U.S. Government" report and noted the department spent $13,000 for treadmills in February. "Why does the Department of Energy need the Cadillac of treadmills?" Paul asked. Those treadmills were ostensibly used to qualify federal nuclear materials couriers who have a running requirement. Paul has taken similar pot shots at the Department of Commerce. "I don't think anybody'd notice it. I think no one would notice it was gone," Paul said of the agency in remarks this March at Bowie State University. Paul also advocates for cuts in entitlement programs like welfare, food stamps, Medicaid and child nutrition. However, when it comes to defense spending, Paul has changed his tune. He previously proposed cuts in military spending but this March, in the lead up to his 2016 announcement, Paul proposed a $190 billion influx (a 16% increase) to the Pentagon's budget over the next two years. SOCIAL SECURITY Paul has called for the partial privatization of Social Security, a program he previously referred to as "a Ponzi scheme." He proposes the gradual increase of the retirement age for Social Security recipients and promotes means testing benefits to reduce payouts to high income retirees. Paul is also an advocate of reforming the Social Security disability trust fund, which is set to run out of money in 2016. In January, Paul complained that "over half of the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts," according to a recording by American Bridge, a liberal tracking group. Paul later clarified that "there are people who are truly disabled, so the program should first of all prioritize those who are truly disabled." THE FED Sen. Paul has followed in the footsteps of his father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), in claiming the Federal Reserve System wields too much autonomy. Unlike other government agencies, the Fed is subject to only a limited auditing process. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is restricted from a comprehensive examination of the central bank for fear a review would jeopardize the independence of the institution. But Paul wants more than just a review of the Fed's numbers and wants GAO commentary on the institution's processes and activity. "The Fed’s currently operates under a cloak of secrecy and it has gone on for too long," Paul said in January. During his career in the House of Representatives, the elder Paul introduced The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 that called for a comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve System. When Rand Paul entered the Senate, he reintroduced his father's bill as the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2013, dubbed the "Audit the Fed" bill to push for Congressional oversight of the Fed. With Republican control of the House and Senate, Paul's measure is likely to gain traction and he included his "Audit the Fed" effort as part of his presidential campaign platform. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has blasted Sen. Paul's crusade to regulate the Fed. "Audit the Fed is a bill that would politicize monetary policy and it would bring short-term political pressures to bear on the Fed," she said in February. ENERGY An advocate of the Keystone XL Pipeline, the Kentucky Senator has called for bolstering the oil and gas industry. "You have to be thinking about where is the job creation right now, it's in the oil and gas industry," Paul said on CNN in 2014 after President Obama's State of the Union address, which included a proposal for a "smarter tax" on fossil-fuel industries in favor of support for the renewable energy sector. Paul, who hails from a state that serves as one of the nation's top coal producers, has also accused Obama of launching a "war on coal" by new coal reduction measures in the administration's climate change agenda. In spite of this, in 2008, before his Senate career, Paul actually called coal "very dirty" and "one of the least favorable forms of energy." When he ran to represent Kentucky in the Senate in 2010, Paul touted the state's coal production and urged a decrease in Washington interference in the industry and increased prominence of the state and local government in regulation. Paul's staff has denied he flip flopped on coal. "Sen. Paul is and always has been a proponent of energy freedom, and that includes the use of coal, which is an abundant, affordable and reliable Kentucky resource. He has sponsored or co-sponsored at least 25 bills to save and protect coal jobs in Kentucky," Paul adviser Doug Stafford told the Washington Examiner. ECONOMIC FREEDOM ZONES To combat poverty in distressed economies, like Detroit, Michigan, Sen. Paul presented a plan in 2013 for "Economic Freedom Zones," areas of reduced taxes. This proposal was a reaction to President Obama's plan for federal funding to boost economic revitalization in "promise zones," or cities hard hit by the economic recession.
Paul's plan offers widespread reduction in taxes to attract business capital and new residents to these areas. Economic Freedom Zones are defined as bankrupt municipalities plagued by high unemployment and high poverty. Taxes for individuals living in these zones would be reduced to a single, flat rate of 5%. The corporate income tax would similarly be lowered to a single, flat rate of 5%. The payroll tax would also be reduced by 2% for the employer and employee. Capital gains tax would also be suspended and any charitable donations made by residents in the zone would be eligible as tax credits not merely tax deductions. Paul's plan would also reduce the regulatory burdens on businesses in the area, fast track visas for qualified immigrants wishing to start business in the zone and free up Title I funds from the Department of Education to flow to private schools, so students in distressed public schools could seek better educational opportunities at private institutions. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's how President Obama starts every morning  | ||
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