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In addition to the other ways in which you failed, here is how marginal tax rates work - aka progressive tax, aka tax brackets. If they filed as people instead of as companies, it would be about $50k taxes on $280k.

They didn't even make it into the 35% bracket, which starts at over $300k.

http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/federal-income-irs-tax-brackets.html

to pay an ever-increasing tax burden so that perfectly able older, wealthier people can enjoy taxpayer-financed retirement and health care for 20 or 30 years

According to my retirement analyst, the average person has the equity in their home and less than 60k in savings at retirement (also see: http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/average-retirement-savings-by-age.html). It's also almost impossible for people of that age to get affordable individual medical insurance. By these accounts, your questions are flawed. Granted, I agree that there is a lot of over spending - like for the "wars" - but not everything is wasted monies.

As for progressive tax rates, the top rate in the US is currently 35%, but no one - not even corporations - pays that. It's almost always quite a bit less. Hell, my official bracket is 28%, but my effective rate after deductions is 21%. In fact, corporations often pay little or no federal income tax. From http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/business/economy/03rates.html?_r=1 :

A Government Accountability Office study released in 2008 found that 55 percent of United States companies paid no federal income taxes during at least one year in a seven-year period it studied.

I'm not really trying to argue with you, merely pointing out that it's not as simple as you portray.

I really hate it when people act as if buying the PS3 plus signing up for a credit card is buying a PS3 for $100 cheaper.

Applying for a new credit card is not a cost free operation. Your credit has value, and if you really want to, it's easy to find credit card promotions that give sign up incentives, including just cash. It normally costs credit card companies 80-200 dollars just to sign up a new customer (source).

It's the same as if I signed up for a $100 cash incentive to sign up for a Bank of America credit card, and used that to buy an Xbox 360 Arcade and claimed I bought an Xbox 360 for only $99. Only in the case of Sony, they're making money from you both on the future sales of PS3/Blu products as well as on future use of your credit card.

Just because something is convienent doesn't make it a good idea.
Trivial security demands that authentication be separate from authorization.
Using the ID as a bank card or a house key, or a car key or a trowel doesn't make sense.

Just carry cash instead of these other items. That's even more convienent, right?
http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/pay-cash-for -everything.html

3 words. stupid, stupid, stupid.

This is false. You are not allowed to deduct time spent or professional services donated to a non-profit or charity. I don't have time to look up actual tax code, but the google search "IRS Rules donate in kind" returned this among many links: This Link

If you don't have thousands to invest, forget about stocks, mutual funds, etc. -- There are some great ways to earn ridiculous percentages on small amounts of money. See this site to get started. I'm in on the Bank of America deal where they give you $100 after two months just for opening an account, with additional 'Keep the Change' rewards for using your debit card. Keep your eyes out for similar incentives. Key Bank is offering a free 1 gig iPod nano for opening a checking account, etc.

Other than small things like that, just live frugally, pay off your debt as soon as possible, and start investing for your future as soon as you can. Remember that the miracle of compound interest works best for you the sooner you start putting away. Want to retire by age 50? Start saving now! A great option for young people in the low/no income tax bracket is a Roth IRA. You put the money in at your current tax bracket (low if you're a student with little income) and it grows tax free until you take it out. You mentioned you'd like to have access to your money if you need it -- with a Roth IRA, you can take out your principal (though not any capital gains, unless it's for a house) any time you want without penalty.

More young people should think about their financial future, though for too many a never-ending cycle of credit card debt seems to be the norm. Best of luck to you.