When people pay the FICA tax, that money goes to pay benefits for people who are already retired. If people think they are buying something for their own retirement, then they are mistaken.
Additionally, the Supreme Court has ruled that there is no contract -- Congress can change the rules whenever it wishes. For instance, if the Federal Reserve keeps printing money then there will be significant inflation; but Congress is not obligated to keep the automatic cost-of-living increase in SS benefits.
People are entitled to Medicare and Social Security, but they did not pay for the full future value of those programs. So if they get what they paid for, they'd receive much reduced benefits.
You apparently believe that retirees have an unlimited claim on the earnings of younger generations -- which they cannot have.
I was just reading a book about the pre-Civil War era. In the 1856 election, Philadelphia was the swing state. If John C Fremont had carried Pennsylvania plus just one more small state, like California with 4 electoral votes, then he would have been elected president instead of Buchanan. Of course, the Southern states were already talking secession even before 1856, and Fremont was a political incompetent who would have been a terrible president. But the point is that in a narrowly-divided country, one or two states will always be decisive.
I used to live in San Diego, and was actually rear-ended at a red-light-camera intersection.
Fortunately it was just a tap and didn't do much damage.
Unfortunately the other driver just kept going and didn't bother to see whether he caused damage.
My guess is that he didn't have a license -- probably suspended because he couldn't pay the outrageous fines levied for minor traffic offenses. If he'd stopped and a cop showed up, his car would have been towed -- and the towing and storage fees are more than anyone except the independently wealthy can afford.
In SoCal, if you lose your car, then you're likely to lose your job, and then your home or apartment. But the government needs the revenue from traffic fines, so it doesn't care.
I think we have become used to technology getting cheaper over time. But broadband Internet service seems to be getting more and more expensive. I think I'm paying Comcast about twice as much as what I paid my previous ISP, for essentially the same product. I would switch if I could, but there are no obvious alternatives.
In Minnesota, a teenage girl who had been vaccinated a few months ago, just died from influenza this past weekend. So the vaccine is not certain protection, and there is a slight chance that it will result in illness. Additionally, it is highly likely that most nursing home residents have been vaccinated, yet almost all of them are now reporting Type A flu outbreaks.
So it is not "dangerous, asinine, stupidity" for nurses to refuse vaccination. It is a rational choice based on current information. The vaccines aren't working.
In Minnesota, several hundred people are out of work because of the closure of paper factories. I imagine this is also happening in other states and provinces.
China (and Taiwan) have the cash to buy US technology, or hire people to steal it, because US economic policies discourage domestic manufacturing. (It is surprising that we still produce as much as we do, domestically.)
Or they could buy Treasury bonds. But maybe they already have all of those that they want.
If I knew my car had a "black box" that could record such information, I would try to find a way to disable it.
I know that I can be tracked with my GPS-enabled smart phone. I also know that I can leave the smart phone at home and get a "burn phone" if I don't want to be tracked. I have that choice, and I also want the choice as to whether my car is being tracked.
So, is this "black box" a separate component, or is it integrated with the engine control unit/module?
According to the New York Times, "Mr. Hungerford [the author of the report], a specialist in public finance who earned his economics doctorate from the University of Michigan, has contributed at least $5,000 this election cycle to a combination of Mr. Obama’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee."
Just in the last few days, an administrator at Gallaudet University was removed from her post and faces possible loss of her job simply for expressing her opinion on gay marriage. So much for free speech in the US.
There are no train stations near my front door, and even if there was it would not take me where I want to go or need to go.
Even if I was traveling several hundred miles, I'd still need personal transportation after I arrived. And even if I hired a taxi, it would have to travel on streets, roads, and highways.
So the answer to your question, Mr Coward, is: Yes, we do need more roads. Mostly we need more lanes on the roads we already have.
A couple years ago, after Exxon-Mobil reported record quarterly earnings, I went through the financial report and determined that XOM earned between 6 and 7 cents a gallon on all the fuel it produced. It had a higher profit margin on motor oils and other chemicals. But mainly its huge profits were generated by pumping millions of barrels of crude oil and refining many billions of gallons of fuel.
Other oil companies that do not have their own crude oil reserves, and buy all the crude they need for their refineries, have had up and down quarterly results over the last couple years. Some lost money, some broke even, but none have earned any huge profits from refining. The ones that have done best are the ones that can process the cheaper grades of crude; but it takes a huge capital investment to upgrade refineries so they can use those cheaper grades.
Quoting from Monday's WSJ: "The government says it has already made a profit on the emergency funds injected into banks at the time of the financial-industry bailout, and the Fed has fully recouped money spent on acquiring toxic assets from troubled companies.
The Treasury, which invested $245 billion in more than 700 banks, has so far collected $264.7 billion from its bank programs.
The New York Fed, meanwhile, has fully recouped $72.7 billion in loans that were used to buy toxic assets and has reaped gains of more than $5.2 billion so far."
on the other hand:
"Treasury still hasn't outlined a concrete strategy for exiting other large financial-crisis investments, such as those in mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and lender Ally Financial Inc. The government remains in the red on its investments in Fannie and Freddie, which have received $188 billion in taxpayer support. The U.S. continues to hold sizable stakes in General Motors Co. and Ally that it spent $68 billion on and may not fully recover."
So, if one is going to discuss bailouts and whether the money might be better spent on space exploration, let's be clear who or what has been bailed out.
Slashdot Mirror
When people pay the FICA tax, that money goes to pay benefits for people who are already retired. If people think they are buying something for their own retirement, then they are mistaken.
Additionally, the Supreme Court has ruled that there is no contract -- Congress can change the rules whenever it wishes. For instance, if the Federal Reserve keeps printing money then there will be significant inflation; but Congress is not obligated to keep the automatic cost-of-living increase in SS benefits.
People are entitled to Medicare and Social Security, but they did not pay for the full future value of those programs. So if they get what they paid for, they'd receive much reduced benefits.
You apparently believe that retirees have an unlimited claim on the earnings of younger generations -- which they cannot have.
Not true -- women and minorities will be hardest hit.
The "study" did not take impartial data, then construct a hypothesis. Instead, "evidence" was constructed to support a pre-determined conclusion.
No actual research was involved.
I was just reading a book about the pre-Civil War era. In the 1856 election, Philadelphia was the swing state. If John C Fremont had carried Pennsylvania plus just one more small state, like California with 4 electoral votes, then he would have been elected president instead of Buchanan. Of course, the Southern states were already talking secession even before 1856, and Fremont was a political incompetent who would have been a terrible president. But the point is that in a narrowly-divided country, one or two states will always be decisive.
GE sent NBC on its downward spiral, and Comcast's partial ownership didn't lead to any improvement.
Now GE is out of the picture, and we'll know who to blame if NBC doesn't fix its problems.
The ocean is filled with fish. And these fish are constantly urinating and defecating.
I used to live in San Diego, and was actually rear-ended at a red-light-camera intersection.
Fortunately it was just a tap and didn't do much damage.
Unfortunately the other driver just kept going and didn't bother to see whether he caused damage.
My guess is that he didn't have a license -- probably suspended because he couldn't pay the outrageous fines levied for minor traffic offenses. If he'd stopped and a cop showed up, his car would have been towed -- and the towing and storage fees are more than anyone except the independently wealthy can afford.
In SoCal, if you lose your car, then you're likely to lose your job, and then your home or apartment. But the government needs the revenue from traffic fines, so it doesn't care.
I think we have become used to technology getting cheaper over time. But broadband Internet service seems to be getting more and more expensive. I think I'm paying Comcast about twice as much as what I paid my previous ISP, for essentially the same product. I would switch if I could, but there are no obvious alternatives.
If you read the sfgate article, it clearly says that this product would be a substitute for diesel.
It would certainly make more sense to give scientists greater influence over policy, than it is to let journalists have this power.
In Minnesota, a teenage girl who had been vaccinated a few months ago, just died from influenza this past weekend. So the vaccine is not certain protection, and there is a slight chance that it will result in illness. Additionally, it is highly likely that most nursing home residents have been vaccinated, yet almost all of them are now reporting Type A flu outbreaks.
So it is not "dangerous, asinine, stupidity" for nurses to refuse vaccination. It is a rational choice based on current information. The vaccines aren't working.
In Minnesota, several hundred people are out of work because of the closure of paper factories. I imagine this is also happening in other states and provinces.
Incidentally, trees are a renewable resource.
China (and Taiwan) have the cash to buy US technology, or hire people to steal it, because US economic policies discourage domestic manufacturing. (It is surprising that we still produce as much as we do, domestically.)
Or they could buy Treasury bonds. But maybe they already have all of those that they want.
If I knew my car had a "black box" that could record such information, I would try to find a way to disable it.
I know that I can be tracked with my GPS-enabled smart phone. I also know that I can leave the smart phone at home and get a "burn phone" if I don't want to be tracked. I have that choice, and I also want the choice as to whether my car is being tracked.
So, is this "black box" a separate component, or is it integrated with the engine control unit/module?
Anonymous Cowards sure are great at cowardice.
According to the New York Times, "Mr. Hungerford [the author of the report], a specialist in public finance who earned his economics doctorate from the University of Michigan, has contributed at least $5,000 this election cycle to a combination of Mr. Obama’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee."
Just in the last few days, an administrator at Gallaudet University was removed from her post and faces possible loss of her job simply for expressing her opinion on gay marriage. So much for free speech in the US.
There are no train stations near my front door, and even if there was it would not take me where I want to go or need to go.
Even if I was traveling several hundred miles, I'd still need personal transportation after I arrived. And even if I hired a taxi, it would have to travel on streets, roads, and highways.
So the answer to your question, Mr Coward, is: Yes, we do need more roads. Mostly we need more lanes on the roads we already have.
A couple years ago, after Exxon-Mobil reported record quarterly earnings, I went through the financial report and determined that XOM earned between 6 and 7 cents a gallon on all the fuel it produced. It had a higher profit margin on motor oils and other chemicals. But mainly its huge profits were generated by pumping millions of barrels of crude oil and refining many billions of gallons of fuel.
Other oil companies that do not have their own crude oil reserves, and buy all the crude they need for their refineries, have had up and down quarterly results over the last couple years. Some lost money, some broke even, but none have earned any huge profits from refining. The ones that have done best are the ones that can process the cheaper grades of crude; but it takes a huge capital investment to upgrade refineries so they can use those cheaper grades.
I recommend Glen Cook's novel "Passage at Arms", first published in 1985.
Obama will not start two major wars.
However, because of him, millions will die in the wars that America will not be able to deter.
We can only hope that the dead will not include millions of Americans.
That would quickly lead to 800 people out of work, since the call center could be easily moved to another city or state.
If I was managing a call center, that's what I would do if the employees voted to unionize.
Some Republican donors were foolish enough to have given $570,000 to this fraudulent site?
Compare this to the Democrat side, where even greater numbers of totally brainless donors have been giving over $100 million per month.
Who is really being hoodwinked?
Quoting from Monday's WSJ:
"The government says it has already made a profit on the emergency funds injected into banks at the time of the financial-industry bailout, and the Fed has fully recouped money spent on acquiring toxic assets from troubled companies.
The Treasury, which invested $245 billion in more than 700 banks, has so far collected $264.7 billion from its bank programs.
The New York Fed, meanwhile, has fully recouped $72.7 billion in loans that were used to buy toxic assets and has reaped gains of more than $5.2 billion so far."
on the other hand:
"Treasury still hasn't outlined a concrete strategy for exiting other large financial-crisis investments, such as those in mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and lender Ally Financial Inc. The government remains in the red on its investments in Fannie and Freddie, which have received $188 billion in taxpayer support. The U.S. continues to hold sizable stakes in General Motors Co. and Ally that it spent $68 billion on and may not fully recover."
So, if one is going to discuss bailouts and whether the money might be better spent on space exploration, let's be clear who or what has been bailed out.