I wish I could order so much gear that I don't even get around to using it AND get the purchase loan forgiven. This story is a case of blatant class warfare; Who care what IBM's revenue was last quarter in regards to what appears to be a school district's wild fiscal irresponsibility? IBM is not the bad guy here, the bad guy(s) are the school board who approved the budget to purchase the equipment in the first place and then totally failed to see that it was put to use.
but the fact that more than 90% of what the customer pays goes to middlemen
90% is a heck of a good deal for the originator compared to real physical goods examples in the world. Look at how much diamond miners in the Congo and Sudan are paid: they get not shot for digging up diamonds. Comparatively these Chinese guys, who work in an office and get company housing, are living like kings. I spent over a month in China last year and 30 RMB goes a long way; you can eat out on the local equivalent of cheap fast food all 3 meals and have plenty of change. And the Chinese are seriously frugal; I get they put 28 of those 30 in savings. They're not getting rich in a hurry but there are MANY more people in the world who need our concern, like the aforementioned diamond miners in the real world.
Furthermore, I thought that otherwise unwanted byproducts of gasoline refinement were used for making plastics. So isn't it good to use it up in plastics? What else can get done with the waste goo after refining?
Almost 100 years ago, actually: The Rural Electrification Act was in 1936. And it was heavily subsidized (read: taxpayer funded). So the question is, how much tax are you willing to pony up? When does high speed internet in the home, versus at the local library, become such a necessity that it warrants taxpayer funding? A good argument can be made for electricity in remote areas being taxpayer funded, even to such a hard core ecomomic free market proponent as myself, but I really think high speed internet in the home is in the luxury category. Dial up is annoying but it still works.
Depending on how much you paid for your server you actually can remove an entire bank's worth of RAM from some higher end models. You could hand over a small handful of modules from a still running and perfectly functioning server.
The vast majority of the new violations were instances in which telephone companies and Internet providers gave agents phone and e-mail records the agents did not request
How the heck is this a "symptom of this runaway federal power binge"? Sounds more like extremely poor data security management at the service providers. Meanwhile, there were 22 cases out of a thousand in the audit where agents asked for more than they were authorized to get. That's hardly a runaway binge. Next time, please rtfa.
What should stun you is that they not only bothered to investigate it themselves, they've admitted to the public that they've done it. Well, maybe it doesn't stun you because you're so used to it but more people than not in this world live in countries where this would never get investigated, nevermind released.
from my point of view there can only be a taxation for the transaction that actually involves real money
I realise that what you mean by 'real money' is 'legal tender' but there are any number of things that are used as money in the world that may or may not be a legal tender. The trick is trying to define where to draw the line between "handing over cash for physical goods" and "virtual world virtual transactions". There's no obvious clear cut answer that fits all situations between.
No, the phone has already been invented. The iPhone needs a killer app to keep from being a phone with an "up to 5 hours" battery, in which I (and probably a lot of people) have no interest. An SDK would let some clever person who doesn't work at Apple come up with something even the clever people there haven't thought of. Everything shown on the Apple site for the iPhone's software abilities (web browser, calculator, notes, clock, etc) are already done by other phones on the market now. So maybe the iPhone does those tasks in a more user friendly way; so what? Not enough to get many people to switch to such an expensive device. No, the killer app for the iPhone has yet to appear.
Since it's fiction, it works however he wants it to in his post. Feel free to write your own version in yours if you like another one better and, for even more fun, argue that your fiction is the one that's right. Happens all the time in certain other fictional subjects.
Instead of the normal 9 x 11 footprint of almost every other gaming book, Saga Edition looks more like a coffee table book, measuring a petite 9 x 9 inches.
Aren't "coffee table books" the really big ones? How is more petite more like a ctb?
Problem with that theory as applied to this. (It's a variation of "The Prisoner's Dilema")
Not really since the prisoner's dilemma requires that neither be allowed to talk to each other. In the world of state vs federal politics, the state governors meet annually and nothing at all prevents them from issuing a joint resolution to do x in response to the federal government demanding y. Well, all of them would have to successfully sell strategy x to all of their respective state legislatures but that's the step after.
Exactly; there are hundreds of thousands of quite knowledgeable amateur astronomers who will pour over these images. What a great way to find interesting things more quickly and with bandwidth fees your only budget. But I missed the link for 'submit your interesting findings here.'
said that he would ask Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to serve on his cabinet to deal with technology issues
Exactly which cabinet position is that, anyway? There is the general pool of advisors of this and that but the president's cabinet is a specific set of high level advisors and I can't think of which one might be in charge of tech issues. Is he thinking of making some new cabinet position for technology issues?
Are you sure that you understand the definition of the term "straw man"? If so, please tell me how I altered your argument to make it easier to refute.
Because I'm discussing illegals hired as illegals for cash. My example was one of cash hire of illegals making a strong competitive advantage for the employer. There is a pattern there. You're countering by bringing out an example where illegals breaking even more laws and stealing identities to pose as legal. That's a completely different discussion. I interpret your countering with a completely different situation to be a straw man type argument.
The illegals were all using stolen SSNs and working as though they were legal to work
From MSNBC coverage of the story: Since 1997, Swift has been using a government pilot program that confirms whether Social Security numbers are valid. Company officials have previously said one shortcoming may be in the program's ability to detect when two people are trying to use the same number
There is no evidence at all to support your claim of "the plants... still found it preferable to hire illegals". Instead we find all evidence of the illegal workers being clever enough to scam the system and none that there is a corporate level decision to hire illegal workers for any reason at all.
Why yes, I am an economist
So am I, BA Economics, CSU, 2000, which is where I learned to recognise cheap straw man arguments like yours.
FairTax has no bearing on income distribution; people rish and poor are going to continue to spend the same amount of money on the same items they buy right now. And you're ignoring that every time a low income person who has fallen off the official IRS tax rolls buys something retail they are paying all the corporate taxes embedded in the price - they just don't know it. Ask those people and they'll tell you they pay no taxes. They're being conned by the current system. The greatest power of the FairTax is to arm everyone, low income to high, with the knowledge of the taxes they are already paying .
change the current tax code so that pay stubs had to show 'employer contributions' to FICA
Yeah, so all the people (almost everyone I know) who think they didn't pay taxes last year because they got a refund in April will suddenly start looking at their pay stubs? The only thing people care about at paycheck time is the part that says 'Pay the amount of...'
It also favors the people with the most, most highly disposable income
'Disposable income' is income you have extra to go out and buy new stuff with... what else does a sales tax target??? You have it perfectly backwards. The ONLY people the Fair Tax benefits are people who choose to put some money in a savings account and not buy a new stuff this week - whether that's $20 or $2000 they both benefit. Don't resort to class warfare to argue against an idea that's good for everyone.
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Which school board? The one 15 years ago that approved the equipment and then let it get stolen
From 15 years ago are the bad guys, unless they've lost the records of who was on the board back then too.
Well, "honorable" lawmakers, how many of your teacher's pensions are in IBM stock?
60.6% of IBM stock is held by institutions such as pension funds according to their latest report.
I wish I could order so much gear that I don't even get around to using it AND get the purchase loan forgiven. This story is a case of blatant class warfare; Who care what IBM's revenue was last quarter in regards to what appears to be a school district's wild fiscal irresponsibility? IBM is not the bad guy here, the bad guy(s) are the school board who approved the budget to purchase the equipment in the first place and then totally failed to see that it was put to use.
but the fact that more than 90% of what the customer pays goes to middlemen
90% is a heck of a good deal for the originator compared to real physical goods examples in the world. Look at how much diamond miners in the Congo and Sudan are paid: they get not shot for digging up diamonds. Comparatively these Chinese guys, who work in an office and get company housing, are living like kings. I spent over a month in China last year and 30 RMB goes a long way; you can eat out on the local equivalent of cheap fast food all 3 meals and have plenty of change. And the Chinese are seriously frugal; I get they put 28 of those 30 in savings. They're not getting rich in a hurry but there are MANY more people in the world who need our concern, like the aforementioned diamond miners in the real world.
Furthermore, I thought that otherwise unwanted byproducts of gasoline refinement were used for making plastics. So isn't it good to use it up in plastics? What else can get done with the waste goo after refining?
Almost 100 years ago, actually: The Rural Electrification Act was in 1936. And it was heavily subsidized (read: taxpayer funded). So the question is, how much tax are you willing to pony up? When does high speed internet in the home, versus at the local library, become such a necessity that it warrants taxpayer funding? A good argument can be made for electricity in remote areas being taxpayer funded, even to such a hard core ecomomic free market proponent as myself, but I really think high speed internet in the home is in the luxury category. Dial up is annoying but it still works.
remove the RAM with out turning off the machine
Depending on how much you paid for your server you actually can remove an entire bank's worth of RAM from some higher end models. You could hand over a small handful of modules from a still running and perfectly functioning server.
The vast majority of the new violations were instances in which telephone companies and Internet providers gave agents phone and e-mail records the agents did not request
How the heck is this a "symptom of this runaway federal power binge"? Sounds more like extremely poor data security management at the service providers. Meanwhile, there were 22 cases out of a thousand in the audit where agents asked for more than they were authorized to get. That's hardly a runaway binge. Next time, please rtfa.
I must admit I'm stunned
What should stun you is that they not only bothered to investigate it themselves, they've admitted to the public that they've done it. Well, maybe it doesn't stun you because you're so used to it but more people than not in this world live in countries where this would never get investigated, nevermind released.
from my point of view there can only be a taxation for the transaction that actually involves real money
I realise that what you mean by 'real money' is 'legal tender' but there are any number of things that are used as money in the world that may or may not be a legal tender. The trick is trying to define where to draw the line between "handing over cash for physical goods" and "virtual world virtual transactions". There's no obvious clear cut answer that fits all situations between.
The speed of sound in steel is very roughly 5000 meters/sec
So if you fire said steel pole out of a rail gun with a 10,000m/sec muzzle velocity the pole would come out -500 feet long?
The killer app is the phone
No, the phone has already been invented. The iPhone needs a killer app to keep from being a phone with an "up to 5 hours" battery, in which I (and probably a lot of people) have no interest. An SDK would let some clever person who doesn't work at Apple come up with something even the clever people there haven't thought of. Everything shown on the Apple site for the iPhone's software abilities (web browser, calculator, notes, clock, etc) are already done by other phones on the market now. So maybe the iPhone does those tasks in a more user friendly way; so what? Not enough to get many people to switch to such an expensive device. No, the killer app for the iPhone has yet to appear.
How do you know time travel works like that?
Since it's fiction, it works however he wants it to in his post. Feel free to write your own version in yours if you like another one better and, for even more fun, argue that your fiction is the one that's right. Happens all the time in certain other fictional subjects.
How exactly would $350,000 help substantiate his loony idea better than $35,000?
The wealthier you are the more other people take you seriously.
Instead of the normal 9 x 11 footprint of almost every other gaming book, Saga Edition looks more like a coffee table book, measuring a petite 9 x 9 inches.
Aren't "coffee table books" the really big ones? How is more petite more like a ctb?
Problem with that theory as applied to this. (It's a variation of "The Prisoner's Dilema")
Not really since the prisoner's dilemma requires that neither be allowed to talk to each other. In the world of state vs federal politics, the state governors meet annually and nothing at all prevents them from issuing a joint resolution to do x in response to the federal government demanding y. Well, all of them would have to successfully sell strategy x to all of their respective state legislatures but that's the step after.
Exactly; there are hundreds of thousands of quite knowledgeable amateur astronomers who will pour over these images. What a great way to find interesting things more quickly and with bandwidth fees your only budget. But I missed the link for 'submit your interesting findings here.'
said that he would ask Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to serve on his cabinet to deal with technology issues
Exactly which cabinet position is that, anyway? There is the general pool of advisors of this and that but the president's cabinet is a specific set of high level advisors and I can't think of which one might be in charge of tech issues. Is he thinking of making some new cabinet position for technology issues?
I betcha that the Russians are running scared that Soloway will really start to talk
And I bet that as long as they stay in Russia they really don't care except to be a little happier that a major competitor is out of the picture.
and would make the Queen angry in Canada
But she so rarely drops by that it doesn't really make much difference.
Are you sure that you understand the definition of the term "straw man"? If so, please tell me how I altered your argument to make it easier to refute.
Because I'm discussing illegals hired as illegals for cash. My example was one of cash hire of illegals making a strong competitive advantage for the employer. There is a pattern there. You're countering by bringing out an example where illegals breaking even more laws and stealing identities to pose as legal. That's a completely different discussion. I interpret your countering with a completely different situation to be a straw man type argument.
The illegals were all using stolen SSNs and working as though they were legal to work
... still found it preferable to hire illegals". Instead we find all evidence of the illegal workers being clever enough to scam the system and none that there is a corporate level decision to hire illegal workers for any reason at all.
From MSNBC coverage of the story:
Since 1997, Swift has been using a government pilot program that confirms whether Social Security numbers are valid. Company officials have previously said one shortcoming may be in the program's ability to detect when two people are trying to use the same number
There is no evidence at all to support your claim of "the plants
Why yes, I am an economist
So am I, BA Economics, CSU, 2000, which is where I learned to recognise cheap straw man arguments like yours.
Several times I've been told "nobody does assembler anymore"
By people who think there aren't going to some day be new processors and chipsets wanting BIOSes written?
FairTax has no bearing on income distribution; people rish and poor are going to continue to spend the same amount of money on the same items they buy right now. And you're ignoring that every time a low income person who has fallen off the official IRS tax rolls buys something retail they are paying all the corporate taxes embedded in the price - they just don't know it. Ask those people and they'll tell you they pay no taxes. They're being conned by the current system. The greatest power of the FairTax is to arm everyone, low income to high, with the knowledge of the taxes they are already paying .
change the current tax code so that pay stubs had to show 'employer contributions' to FICA
...'
Yeah, so all the people (almost everyone I know) who think they didn't pay taxes last year because they got a refund in April will suddenly start looking at their pay stubs? The only thing people care about at paycheck time is the part that says 'Pay the amount of
It also favors the people with the most, most highly disposable income
'Disposable income' is income you have extra to go out and buy new stuff with... what else does a sales tax target??? You have it perfectly backwards. The ONLY people the Fair Tax benefits are people who choose to put some money in a savings account and not buy a new stuff this week - whether that's $20 or $2000 they both benefit. Don't resort to class warfare to argue against an idea that's good for everyone.