For one thing, the NE might be appropriate for passenger rail, but it has shown the ability to be profitable up here and therefor is not an issue.
Plenty of people want to ride in trains here, they did up until WW2, when the auto lobby began to dismantle the trainsit system, and they'll come back if given the chance.
The auto lobby never did anything of the sort, that is urban legend. Trains went out of business because the were overregulated and people were slowly switching to car travel.
Nobody wants to ride in trains here. Why spend all that time cooped up when you can have total freedom on the road? If you're in a rush you can take a plane. We use our railways for freight here, not passengers, and the amount of freight we move around on rail per ton/mile is higher than any other country in the world.
So, your 'hypothetical' $40K a year employee in the U.S. would be losing about 30% of his income to federal and state taxes, plus sales taxes on the remainder (going with your method of calculation here), bringing the total tax burden to a par with the British system. Except the American has to pay for his own health insurance, from a private company, who will provide much shittier service, almost guaranteed.
Overwhelmingly, most Americans get health insurance through their employer. Brits have to pay to, through taxation. And our heart disease and cancer deaths per 100,000 are quite a bit lower than yours.
Our taxation burden is a bit lower than Britain's is.
Oh, and the American doesn't get public transit, either.
We have the best transit system in the world, it's so advanced you can go anywhere you want day or night in complete climate-controlled privacy listening to whatever you want and running over ignorant Eurotwits in tiny cars.;)
I stated in another message that due to the structure of the Korean tax system, the cost of a broadband subsidy per taxed income is marginal at best given all the other governmental expenses on a 9.5% total tax rate.
I would love for our tax rate to be 9.5%. If you would like to subsidize American broadband then you would either have to increase taxes or decrease services to cover it.
Also, I would consider other facets to penetration besides percentage of population with internet in their homes, like countrywide infrastructure. Internet is ubiquitous in Korea, and in the States it's disproportional, concentrated in homes and offices. An example: the last time I was home, September 2003, I had only three internet options: Starbucks at the bank, Starbucks a mile down the road, and the adjacent Kinko's (and this is in an LA suburb). I would expect this to be worse once outside a major urban area. Now in Korea, I have ten at least ten PC rooms in within a five minute walk from my house.
This might be due to a difference in culture. I don't see any reason why there wouldn't be more internet cafes here, other than the demand really isn't there.
There's nothing wrong with accepting that some things are better outside the ol' US of A, and there's also no need to justify this by arguing double-taxation or hidden costs. We aren't #1 in everything (cellular services immediately come to mind), so we don't need to be defensive by beating Koreans up for one of the few things they did right.
I never said we did everything right, but we do do some things right. The US is bashed everyday on/. , sometimes rightly, but let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. The US has not done everything wrong and it is far from the technological backwater that it's presented to be on this site.
Yeah, those are the numbers I have. You have a country of 290 million people achieving the third highest internet penetration rate in the world, that's none too shabby.
American also more PC's per capita.
Not that there isn't room for improvement, though. There always is.
If there was an 11 billion dollar government program to increase broadband penetration, then it doesn't cost each person in SK 30 bucks a month. It costs them 30 bucks a month plus that portion of their taxes which is going to subsidize broadband.
In the US we could pay nothing in broadband and have it be completely subsidized by the government. But we'd still be paying for it through taxes.
What worse about subsidization, even if you don't use broadband you have to pay for it, depending on how their taxation scheme works.
I am all for increasing US's broadband connections but it's not all bad here, there is far more internet penetration and PC's among the populace here than in SK.
Well gee, if he was sooo much smarter than the curriculum then he shoudln't have to cheat now should he? This kid and this article highlight what is wrong with the US education system in general (as well as Slashdot).
Geometry is pretty simple logic from what I recall, potty mouth. I use that everyday in my IT job.
Your dismissal of what should be an easy application of logic and quite useful in many situation highlights what's wrong with the US education system. Like I said, in India they kick our asses at math regularly, but some people think knowing how to plug a printer cable in makes up for all that.
Well if you were too smart for school then you shouldn't need to cheat in the first place.
The article doesn't say what subject this kid cheated on did it? I don't remember... if it's math or science then slashbots should be ashamed of themselves.
Slashdot Mirror
For one thing, the NE might be appropriate for passenger rail, but it has shown the ability to be profitable up here and therefor is not an issue.
The auto lobby never did anything of the sort, that is urban legend. Trains went out of business because the were overregulated and people were slowly switching to car travel.
I can go whereever I want to in the country, basically with a car. I don't know of any trains that can do that.
Like I like to take nice country drives and end up at parks. With a train it would be a terrible hassle.
Yes it's ton * miles. Sorry.
You transit nutcases are completely off your rocker. 90% of US roadway expenses are paid for by user fees. The other 10% comes from local taxes.
Nobody wants to ride in trains here. Why spend all that time cooped up when you can have total freedom on the road? If you're in a rush you can take a plane. We use our railways for freight here, not passengers, and the amount of freight we move around on rail per ton/mile is higher than any other country in the world.
Shareholders and CEO's aren't legally able to vote?
I would love for our tax rate to be 9.5%. If you would like to subsidize American broadband then you would either have to increase taxes or decrease services to cover it.
This might be due to a difference in culture. I don't see any reason why there wouldn't be more internet cafes here, other than the demand really isn't there.
I never said we did everything right, but we do do some things right. The US is bashed everyday on
What statistics?
Every once in a blue moon taxes are returned to their rightful owners... the taxpayers. Just because it rarely happens doesn't mean it's impossible.
And I'm happy where I live too. Did I say you weren't happy where you live? What does that have to do with anything?
Incidentally the internet came into being as a byproduct of the war machine. But you probably knew that.
Yeah, those are the numbers I have. You have a country of 290 million people achieving the third highest internet penetration rate in the world, that's none too shabby.
American also more PC's per capita.
Not that there isn't room for improvement, though. There always is.
Or we could let taxpayers keep more of their money. Let the people who want to use broadband pay for it. Don't pretend this is an either-or situation.
If there was an 11 billion dollar government program to increase broadband penetration, then it doesn't cost each person in SK 30 bucks a month. It costs them 30 bucks a month plus that portion of their taxes which is going to subsidize broadband.
In the US we could pay nothing in broadband and have it be completely subsidized by the government. But we'd still be paying for it through taxes.
What worse about subsidization, even if you don't use broadband you have to pay for it, depending on how their taxation scheme works.
I am all for increasing US's broadband connections but it's not all bad here, there is far more internet penetration and PC's among the populace here than in SK.
Nah, our women are 10X better looking. They're only a shade fatter on average.
You can get plenty of non-hot-dog type food in the US. Your argument is bogus... you can get vegetarian meals here too.
Dentistry is much, much more reasonable than health care here in the states. I think I pay 1 dollar a week for dental care rather than the 25$/week.
Yeah but that doesn't mean the quality of the food is bad, it just means it's bad for you.
As the subject says. Is it *that* slow of a day?
Well gee, if he was sooo much smarter than the curriculum then he shoudln't have to cheat now should he? This kid and this article highlight what is wrong with the US education system in general (as well as Slashdot).
Geometry is pretty simple logic from what I recall, potty mouth. I use that everyday in my IT job.
Your dismissal of what should be an easy application of logic and quite useful in many situation highlights what's wrong with the US education system. Like I said, in India they kick our asses at math regularly, but some people think knowing how to plug a printer cable in makes up for all that.
It's a shame really.
Well if you were too smart for school then you shouldn't need to cheat in the first place.
The article doesn't say what subject this kid cheated on did it? I don't remember... if it's math or science then slashbots should be ashamed of themselves.
So some kid is too dumb or lazy to actually learn something in school and for that he's a hero? No wonder computer jobs are moving to India.
If you can't do geometry... that's pretty damn sad.
No wonder they're moving computer jobs to India.
Cambridge is shit... it's just a bunch of spoiled brats.
Slashdot and it's hive-minds are obsessed with this man.
If flights are subsidized then you really aren't paying less at all, are you? Worse, you might be paying for flights when you don't even like to fly.