... as the average 'rich' person provides many jobs that are 9-5 to various interchangeable people and the average 'rich' person provides the society with the actual fruits of the work of the business - products and services...
The 'rich' do not create jobs, they are created by demand for products or services. A 'rich" person is not going to hire people for jobs just because they have money or out of the goodness of their heart. They invest their wealth where they think there will be enough demand for a product or service to make a profit. Otherwise they quickly become not rich. In the US around 70% of our economy is based on consumer consumption and the vast majority of that is by people who are not wealthy. As the wealth disparity increases in this country people who are not rich have relatively less to spend therefore creating less demand especially for things that are not the basics. That doesn't help a wealthy person who wants to open/expand a business.
Yes, the nominal tax rate for corporations is high in the US but in practice, especially for larger corporations there are usually enough loopholes to reduce their tax rate to less than half the nominal rate. How much federal income tax are corporations like General Electric and Exxon-Mobil paying after all in recent years?
I don't care that much if the Afghani's want to fight amongst themselves as long as the keep it within their borders. That's not something we in the US can fix regardless of how much we want to.
Mirrors would work but they might be considered an eyesore from Earth. I think a string of solar power stations strung around the equator of the Moon may end up being the best solution. You have to remember that the surface of the Moon is a relatively high radiation zone and I'm not sure you would even want to expose plants you are growing to it. Building underground is where we need to start until we have better ways to deflect the radiation. Perhaps one of the first industries that should be set up on the Moon is building solar cells.
But we're arguing over details that will be figured out in the fullness of time.
Unlike orbital habitats* the Moon does have some gravity (0.1654 g). I'm not sure we know yet how much of a difference that much gravity will make. It's worth finding out.
*I know there is microgravity in orbit but it might as well be zero for this discussion.
Any growing of plants for atmosphere or food (or anything else) will have to be done mainly under grow-lights. Nearly all of the moon has 2 weeks of sunlight then 2 weeks of darkness. Few if any plants will grow under such conditions. They need a way to provide electric power 24/7. Maybe solar power arrays spread out around the moon feeding into a common grid or an orbital power station or two. Perhaps a nuclear reactor.
Otherwise I agree with you. The next big space project should be establishing a permanent base on the moon that is working on developing the resources of the moon and becoming as self-sufficient as possible. The moon is the proper base to build and launch the missions to explore the rest of the solar system.
... but it is damn fine proof that most of the predictions were fucking FUD!
No, it's just proof that you and most people don't understand the time scales involved in those predictions. Many of them are coming true faster than the original predictions predicted.
The "continental" ice sheet on Antarctica is melting, particularly in Western Antarctica. And the rate is accelerating. But Greenland is still ahead for now. It is the sea ice around Antarctica that has grown some.
Are you talking about the IPCC? If so their predictions of sea level rise have always been very conservative and have understated how much sea level will rise.
One thing to keep in mind is that the cycle of glaciations and interglacials are apparently driven largely by Milankovitch cycles, that is variations in the various orbital cycles (eccentricity, obliquity, axial precession, apsidal precession and orbital inclination) of the Earth. These various cycles have different periods so there are times when they match up to increase the effect and other times when they tend to cancel each other out. This graph shows expected insolation at the top of the atmosphere at 65N for the period from 800,000 years ago to 800,000 years in the future. It appears the present time is one of those times when the cycles are canceling out to some extent which may account for the extended interglacial period we appear to be in. That said, the temperature of the present interglacial peaked about 8,000 years ago and has been on a very slow downward trend since then which would be expected to continue in the absence of the present unnatural increase in greenhouse gases.
The Sun is definitely not ignored by climate scientists. You can't explain the rise of temperatures in the first half of the 20th Century without taking into account the increase in solar radiation. Since then the solar radiation level has been relatively steady and so is not much of a factor. So when people yell "Oh, it's the Sun!" the scientists say "No it isn't." you interpret that to mean that they are ignoring the Sun but they aren't, it's just not that significant a factor in the past 50 years.
How about if all of the sales taxing districts got together and created an internet clearing house for sales taxes. The seller could send the pertinent information to the clearing house and get back an answer as to how much tax to charge. The seller then collects the tax and sends it to the clearing house which distributes it to the various taxing districts. It could be based on zip codes.
The states that have a sales tax should get together and create a internet clearing house for collecting sales taxes. Base the tax rate on the zip code the order came from. So when you place an internet order the outfit you are ordering from sends a packet containing the dollar amount, a code for the class of item you are ordering and your zip code and the clearing house sends back the tax to be charged with the seller collects and sends on to the clearing house with distributes it to the various taxing authorities.
How much of Obama's "avalanche of spending" is due to the fact that he put thinks like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Medicare Part D back in the budget instead of keeping them as supplemental expenditures like Bush did? Maybe he's just being more honest about it.
Every species is either a transitional species or an evolutionary dead end. It appears that sometimes evolution proceeds at a faster rate than at other times but proceed it does and so everything that stands the evolutionary test of time is a transitional species.
Part of that bill included not allowing local public radio and television stations to spend money they get from the Feds on programming from the CPB. Since a large share of their programming comes from the CPB this would hurt the local affiliates immensely.
Slashdot Mirror
... as the average 'rich' person provides many jobs that are 9-5 to various interchangeable people and the average 'rich' person provides the society with the actual fruits of the work of the business - products and services ...
The 'rich' do not create jobs, they are created by demand for products or services. A 'rich" person is not going to hire people for jobs just because they have money or out of the goodness of their heart. They invest their wealth where they think there will be enough demand for a product or service to make a profit. Otherwise they quickly become not rich. In the US around 70% of our economy is based on consumer consumption and the vast majority of that is by people who are not wealthy. As the wealth disparity increases in this country people who are not rich have relatively less to spend therefore creating less demand especially for things that are not the basics. That doesn't help a wealthy person who wants to open/expand a business.
Local governments cost far less to buy than the Federal government
.
Yes, the nominal tax rate for corporations is high in the US but in practice, especially for larger corporations there are usually enough loopholes to reduce their tax rate to less than half the nominal rate. How much federal income tax are corporations like General Electric and Exxon-Mobil paying after all in recent years?
If I had mod points you'd get a +1 Insightful for that comment.
I don't care that much if the Afghani's want to fight amongst themselves as long as the keep it within their borders. That's not something we in the US can fix regardless of how much we want to.
Trichinosis.
Third, he didn't appear on some ship claiming mission success.
In an interesting coincidence Bush's Mission Accomplished speech was on May 1, 2003. Now, one of the mission's is finally accomplished.
Mirrors would work but they might be considered an eyesore from Earth. I think a string of solar power stations strung around the equator of the Moon may end up being the best solution. You have to remember that the surface of the Moon is a relatively high radiation zone and I'm not sure you would even want to expose plants you are growing to it. Building underground is where we need to start until we have better ways to deflect the radiation. Perhaps one of the first industries that should be set up on the Moon is building solar cells.
But we're arguing over details that will be figured out in the fullness of time.
Yes, look at Donald Trump. He bankrupted a casino for gods sake.
Unlike orbital habitats* the Moon does have some gravity (0.1654 g). I'm not sure we know yet how much of a difference that much gravity will make. It's worth finding out.
*I know there is microgravity in orbit but it might as well be zero for this discussion.
Any growing of plants for atmosphere or food (or anything else) will have to be done mainly under grow-lights. Nearly all of the moon has 2 weeks of sunlight then 2 weeks of darkness. Few if any plants will grow under such conditions. They need a way to provide electric power 24/7. Maybe solar power arrays spread out around the moon feeding into a common grid or an orbital power station or two. Perhaps a nuclear reactor.
Otherwise I agree with you. The next big space project should be establishing a permanent base on the moon that is working on developing the resources of the moon and becoming as self-sufficient as possible. The moon is the proper base to build and launch the missions to explore the rest of the solar system.
Don't you think the power of the laser would burn off anything that happened to settle on the lens?
... but it is damn fine proof that most of the predictions were fucking FUD!
No, it's just proof that you and most people don't understand the time scales involved in those predictions. Many of them are coming true faster than the original predictions predicted.
The "continental" ice sheet on Antarctica is melting, particularly in Western Antarctica. And the rate is accelerating. But Greenland is still ahead for now. It is the sea ice around Antarctica that has grown some.
Are you talking about the IPCC? If so their predictions of sea level rise have always been very conservative and have understated how much sea level will rise.
One thing to keep in mind is that the cycle of glaciations and interglacials are apparently driven largely by Milankovitch cycles, that is variations in the various orbital cycles (eccentricity, obliquity, axial precession, apsidal precession and orbital inclination) of the Earth. These various cycles have different periods so there are times when they match up to increase the effect and other times when they tend to cancel each other out. This graph shows expected insolation at the top of the atmosphere at 65N for the period from 800,000 years ago to 800,000 years in the future. It appears the present time is one of those times when the cycles are canceling out to some extent which may account for the extended interglacial period we appear to be in. That said, the temperature of the present interglacial peaked about 8,000 years ago and has been on a very slow downward trend since then which would be expected to continue in the absence of the present unnatural increase in greenhouse gases.
The Sun is definitely not ignored by climate scientists. You can't explain the rise of temperatures in the first half of the 20th Century without taking into account the increase in solar radiation. Since then the solar radiation level has been relatively steady and so is not much of a factor. So when people yell "Oh, it's the Sun!" the scientists say "No it isn't." you interpret that to mean that they are ignoring the Sun but they aren't, it's just not that significant a factor in the past 50 years.
How about if all of the sales taxing districts got together and created an internet clearing house for sales taxes. The seller could send the pertinent information to the clearing house and get back an answer as to how much tax to charge. The seller then collects the tax and sends it to the clearing house which distributes it to the various taxing districts. It could be based on zip codes.
The difference being that is an actual Cheney quote. If you can find a quote where Obama actually spoke those words I'll send you $100.
The states that have a sales tax should get together and create a internet clearing house for collecting sales taxes. Base the tax rate on the zip code the order came from. So when you place an internet order the outfit you are ordering from sends a packet containing the dollar amount, a code for the class of item you are ordering and your zip code and the clearing house sends back the tax to be charged with the seller collects and sends on to the clearing house with distributes it to the various taxing authorities.
How much of Obama's deficit is because of reduced revenue because of the recession and high unemployment?
How much of Obama's "avalanche of spending" is due to the fact that he put thinks like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Medicare Part D back in the budget instead of keeping them as supplemental expenditures like Bush did? Maybe he's just being more honest about it.
Every species is either a transitional species or an evolutionary dead end. It appears that sometimes evolution proceeds at a faster rate than at other times but proceed it does and so everything that stands the evolutionary test of time is a transitional species.
Personally I'm in the oblate spheroid camp.
Part of that bill included not allowing local public radio and television stations to spend money they get from the Feds on programming from the CPB. Since a large share of their programming comes from the CPB this would hurt the local affiliates immensely.