No, the Fair Tax is revenue neutral: about the same amount of money should come to the Treasury as under the current system. Its not that everyone will pay less, its that it would make obvious to everyone how much taxes they pay. The theory is that this will make everyone more involved citizens (ie: voters). With all the hidden taxes we have now it isn't at all obvious how much taxes everyone pays. Right now people care less about the workings of government beyond what they can get for 'free' from it.
Exactly; this is like gun control laws. People determined to disobey this law will do so just as they ignore current employment laws.
they choose to employ them not just because they are cheaper labor
And everyone always gets wrong WHY they're cheaper: payroll taxes. The face value of illegal labor is only a little lower than the legal labor but behind the scenes not having to pay the additional taxes an employer has to pick up makes the difference HUGE. Yet another reason to go to the Fair Tax. Tax reform would go a LONG way toward taking care of the illegal worker problem all by itself without this half baked database idea.
because they do better work than the unionized workers here in the states
Oh no, not at all true all the time. The illegal workers the my HOA's maintenance contractor picks up at the day labor pool do extremely shoddy work. It all comes down to being ultra cheap which is how he undercuts all the other bids by at least half. Now if only the board would listen to the complaints more and look at the numbers less but that's another rant...
Talk about a list that you don't want to be mistakenly included!
Yes, but a FAKE list like this might be brilliant:
1. Identify 2nd/3rd highest ranking members in gangs 2. Post their names as rats on a website claiming to out undercover agents 3. Gang leader has them killed 4. Go to step 1 a few times 5. Post leader's name as supposed agent 6. Any remaining members kill leader
The resulting gang, much reduced in leadership and too paranoid to work effectively as a team, would be much easier to round up and the taxpayers would have a much smaller prison / court system tab.
Seriously, how much does stuff like this pique the interest of the next Goddard, or even the next rank-and-file NASA employee? Or maybe the next Branson, who is willing to spend a fortune of private funds on space-related activities (even if he does have a long-term profit incentive)?
The next Goddard or rank and file NASA employee would languish at said NASA these days. The era of fast moving government projects to explore space a la Apollo is past for the foreseeable future, we can only hope. Apollo had a fire lit under it (pun intended) because of the space race between the USA and USSR. New opportunities to get things done in a decent time frame are are BECAUSE of investors like Branson, not despite them. Long history shows the alternative fast developers to peacetime profiteers like Branson are wartime states, from sailing ships to rockets. Now are you really sure you want to bash him and his big bad profit motive given the alternative?
"Free market" implies that there is no single party or group that has control over a market
Admirably close but still not quite: a free market is one in which no one player has control of the supply AND all the players have the exact same information. A large part of what makes cartels effective is that they share information with each other that the rest of the market doesn't get to know.
It's a question of what ice really is. Is ice water at 0 degrees or less, or is ice simply a solid form of water?
You're thinking inside the box of the liquid form of H2O as the definitive substance just because that's how you typically encounter it. So instead think 'water' is the liquid state of H2O at whatever temp (and it can be far below 0C and still be liquid if its moving fast enough) and 'ice' is the solid version and 'vapor' is the gaseous state. The three states come about at different temperatures under different conditions in pressure and temperature. Now you'll see that your question's answer can only be the second choice.
I suppose technically this is correct since by its melting ice performs a cooling function. Be we don't really think ice as performing a melting function. Perhaps the more correct would be:
I guess you don't know much about genetics, do ya?:-)
It's a simple formula: calories in - calories burned = fat stored. If calories in - calories burned = fat stored * magic_genetics_modifier then you've invented energy creation from nothing or destruction without release.
In either case, the genetics excuse for obesity is incompatible with the conservation of energy. The genetics track really means some people have faster metabolisms and burn the calories or don't have as efficient a gastro system to extract calories from food. Other people have slower metabolisms or more efficient gastro systems to get every bit out. People in the latter group need to eat a lot less and/or find a way to burn off more (exercise). Convincing people of formula #2 above is just more helpless victim mentality.
Coulton responds to every letter, though as the e-mail volume has grown to as many as 100 messages a day, his replies have grown more and more terse, to the point where he's now feeling guilty about being rude."
And now you've gone and slashdotted the poor fellow. Here come his 15 minutes and there goes all his prexisting fan base.
His pacemaker is a good example of how people can get "enslaved by technology".
The GP said he uses tech for fun and profit and this is your response? If life after needing a pacemaker doesn't include some fun then help the guy live it up a little, please. Just not with an iPod.
Company director Dr. Krause has spent over 40 years collecting sounds
First, I'd like to congratulate the good Dr on his foresight to begin collection 40 years ago. However, no matter what he's charging for this service a 40 year up front investment is a staggeringly risky move.
Note to the humor impaired: the above is an attempt at a business joke.
This whole idea is a misunderstanding of basic economics... Theft and fraud do not bring the price of goods up. When shopping carts are stolen from the supermarket it does not raise the cost of food
Well, good job on attending econ 101, bad job of falling asleep halfway through class. The costs associated with doing business, ie: making the item, transporting it, electric bill, checkout cashier's wages, etc, including the cost of shrinkage (theft) is already built into the price by the time it appears on the retail shelf. The price of a box of Pop-Tarts at your local grocer includes a small percentage built in to accomodate the expected loss of shopping carts from time to time. It isn't itemized, of course that would be too meticulous, but the proprietor has an idea of what he needs to make in markup to cover all those activities. To price otherwise will rapidly result in a bankrupted grocery store.
The retail cost of an item is not just what the factory pays for raw materials but a wide range of costs (including all the taxes the companies involved have to pay but that is another rant). It isn't even just what they think people will pay, since if that is too high, competitors will undersell and if its too low then you'll go out of business from not covering said costs.
Now I'm really worried. The Holiday Special also went straight to TV. And all you people complaining about Jar-jar obviously don't know Itchy and Lumpy.
I really don't care that smokers don't care that their polluting their own lungs and homes, and if the smoke in the air bothers at a public venue me then I know to move myself somewhere else. The only reason cigarette smokers REALLY irritate me is that in general they don't care one bit where they toss the ^%$# cigarette butts. Streets, sidewalks, flowerbeds, and now even old mattresses... the country is completely littered with the nasty things. I demand that all cigarettes sold be unfiltered so the remaineder little bit dissolves and washes away easily in the next rain.
I travelled to the UK for the first time this last January. At the hotel breakfast buffet there were some little containers labelled 'Marmite' in with the usual jams, butter, and such so I picked it up. I put it on some toast as I would some jam and took a bite. It was, bar none, the worst culinary experience of my entire life. Whatever you do, DO NOT eat the Marmite! It's so excruciatingly awful it must exist purely as a hidden camera type trick the Brits play on tourists.
Him deciding to value his volunteer time as if he were a contracted professional was probably out of line
If you volunteer at a nonprofit organization doing what you normally do for pay then you can usually deduct from your federal income the value of that time at your regular rates as a contribution. So when this guy got a buyout offer it's perfectly reasonable to expect him to quote back professional rates.
Besides, $49k to a serious presidential candidate is, what, less than 10 plates at an upscale donor dinner?
the past few decades have demonstrated empirically that huge corporations seem to do crummily at the whole security thing
It's also show that government beauracracies do just as poorly or even worse. So what is one to do? At least the corporations seem to waste a little bit less money doing security poorly.
Slashdot Mirror
No, the Fair Tax is revenue neutral: about the same amount of money should come to the Treasury as under the current system. Its not that everyone will pay less, its that it would make obvious to everyone how much taxes they pay. The theory is that this will make everyone more involved citizens (ie: voters). With all the hidden taxes we have now it isn't at all obvious how much taxes everyone pays. Right now people care less about the workings of government beyond what they can get for 'free' from it.
This won't affect illegal immigrants working
Exactly; this is like gun control laws. People determined to disobey this law will do so just as they ignore current employment laws.
they choose to employ them not just because they are cheaper labor
And everyone always gets wrong WHY they're cheaper: payroll taxes. The face value of illegal labor is only a little lower than the legal labor but behind the scenes not having to pay the additional taxes an employer has to pick up makes the difference HUGE. Yet another reason to go to the Fair Tax. Tax reform would go a LONG way toward taking care of the illegal worker problem all by itself without this half baked database idea.
because they do better work than the unionized workers here in the states
Oh no, not at all true all the time. The illegal workers the my HOA's maintenance contractor picks up at the day labor pool do extremely shoddy work. It all comes down to being ultra cheap which is how he undercuts all the other bids by at least half. Now if only the board would listen to the complaints more and look at the numbers less but that's another rant...
Talk about a list that you don't want to be mistakenly included!
Yes, but a FAKE list like this might be brilliant:
1. Identify 2nd/3rd highest ranking members in gangs
2. Post their names as rats on a website claiming to out undercover agents
3. Gang leader has them killed
4. Go to step 1 a few times
5. Post leader's name as supposed agent
6. Any remaining members kill leader
The resulting gang, much reduced in leadership and too paranoid to work effectively as a team, would be much easier to round up and the taxpayers would have a much smaller prison / court system tab.
Seriously, how much does stuff like this pique the interest of the next Goddard, or even the next rank-and-file NASA employee? Or maybe the next Branson, who is willing to spend a fortune of private funds on space-related activities (even if he does have a long-term profit incentive)?
The next Goddard or rank and file NASA employee would languish at said NASA these days. The era of fast moving government projects to explore space a la Apollo is past for the foreseeable future, we can only hope. Apollo had a fire lit under it (pun intended) because of the space race between the USA and USSR. New opportunities to get things done in a decent time frame are are BECAUSE of investors like Branson, not despite them. Long history shows the alternative fast developers to peacetime profiteers like Branson are wartime states, from sailing ships to rockets. Now are you really sure you want to bash him and his big bad profit motive given the alternative?
FTFA: Gliese 581 is, as astronomical distances go, relatively close: only 20 light-years away.
From the poster: Doesn't it take like, 100 years for radio signals to go that far?
Please report to remedial physics class.
"Free market" implies that there is no single party or group that has control over a market
Admirably close but still not quite: a free market is one in which no one player has control of the supply AND all the players have the exact same information. A large part of what makes cartels effective is that they share information with each other that the rest of the market doesn't get to know.
It's a question of what ice really is. Is ice water at 0 degrees or less, or is ice simply a solid form of water?
You're thinking inside the box of the liquid form of H2O as the definitive substance just because that's how you typically encounter it. So instead think 'water' is the liquid state of H2O at whatever temp (and it can be far below 0C and still be liquid if its moving fast enough) and 'ice' is the solid version and 'vapor' is the gaseous state. The three states come about at different temperatures under different conditions in pressure and temperature. Now you'll see that your question's answer can only be the second choice.
In Soviet Russia, ice melts YOU!
I suppose technically this is correct since by its melting ice performs a cooling function. Be we don't really think ice as performing a melting function. Perhaps the more correct would be:
'On Faraway Planet, you cool off ice!'
I guess you don't know much about genetics, do ya? :-)
It's a simple formula: calories in - calories burned = fat stored.
If calories in - calories burned = fat stored * magic_genetics_modifier then you've invented energy creation from nothing or destruction without release.
In either case, the genetics excuse for obesity is incompatible with the conservation of energy. The genetics track really means some people have faster metabolisms and burn the calories or don't have as efficient a gastro system to extract calories from food. Other people have slower metabolisms or more efficient gastro systems to get every bit out. People in the latter group need to eat a lot less and/or find a way to burn off more (exercise). Convincing people of formula #2 above is just more helpless victim mentality.
Coulton responds to every letter, though as the e-mail volume has grown to as many as 100 messages a day, his replies have grown more and more terse, to the point where he's now feeling guilty about being rude."
And now you've gone and slashdotted the poor fellow. Here come his 15 minutes and there goes all his prexisting fan base.
His pacemaker is a good example of how people can get "enslaved by technology".
The GP said he uses tech for fun and profit and this is your response? If life after needing a pacemaker doesn't include some fun then help the guy live it up a little, please. Just not with an iPod.
Company director Dr. Krause has spent over 40 years collecting sounds
First, I'd like to congratulate the good Dr on his foresight to begin collection 40 years ago. However, no matter what he's charging for this service a 40 year up front investment is a staggeringly risky move.
Note to the humor impaired: the above is an attempt at a business joke.
This whole idea is a misunderstanding of basic economics...
Theft and fraud do not bring the price of goods up. When shopping carts are stolen from the supermarket it does not raise the cost of food
Well, good job on attending econ 101, bad job of falling asleep halfway through class. The costs associated with doing business, ie: making the item, transporting it, electric bill, checkout cashier's wages, etc, including the cost of shrinkage (theft) is already built into the price by the time it appears on the retail shelf. The price of a box of Pop-Tarts at your local grocer includes a small percentage built in to accomodate the expected loss of shopping carts from time to time. It isn't itemized, of course that would be too meticulous, but the proprietor has an idea of what he needs to make in markup to cover all those activities. To price otherwise will rapidly result in a bankrupted grocery store.
The retail cost of an item is not just what the factory pays for raw materials but a wide range of costs (including all the taxes the companies involved have to pay but that is another rant). It isn't even just what they think people will pay, since if that is too high, competitors will undersell and if its too low then you'll go out of business from not covering said costs.
the article says they're going straight to TV
Now I'm really worried. The Holiday Special also went straight to TV. And all you people complaining about Jar-jar obviously don't know Itchy and Lumpy.
They hate it when other people are having more fun than they are.
"Hey, no fair getting laid twice a week! My husband barely wants me once a month!"
Umm, so... do I sense someone projecting here?
No matter how crappy or buggy the game, it would get good reviews from the rags and web sites
That's why the only games review site worth reading is UK:Resistance.
I really don't care that smokers don't care that their polluting their own lungs and homes, and if the smoke in the air bothers at a public venue me then I know to move myself somewhere else. The only reason cigarette smokers REALLY irritate me is that in general they don't care one bit where they toss the ^%$# cigarette butts. Streets, sidewalks, flowerbeds, and now even old mattresses... the country is completely littered with the nasty things. I demand that all cigarettes sold be unfiltered so the remaineder little bit dissolves and washes away easily in the next rain.
Do yourselves a favour and try some Marmite.
I travelled to the UK for the first time this last January. At the hotel breakfast buffet there were some little containers labelled 'Marmite' in with the usual jams, butter, and such so I picked it up. I put it on some toast as I would some jam and took a bite. It was, bar none, the worst culinary experience of my entire life. Whatever you do, DO NOT eat the Marmite! It's so excruciatingly awful it must exist purely as a hidden camera type trick the Brits play on tourists.
Around 75-80mph, my car shimmies and shakes ... $200 to improve a car ...
Umm, there's a thing called a "wheel alignment" and another called "tire balancing" and both together should cost less than $200.
Him deciding to value his volunteer time as if he were a contracted professional was probably out of line
If you volunteer at a nonprofit organization doing what you normally do for pay then you can usually deduct from your federal income the value of that time at your regular rates as a contribution. So when this guy got a buyout offer it's perfectly reasonable to expect him to quote back professional rates.
Besides, $49k to a serious presidential candidate is, what, less than 10 plates at an upscale donor dinner?
I'm not typing in those damn numbers every 108 minutes!
Sounds like an opportunity for a LEGO Mindstorm project...
And lets face it ... we all just want to smack pompous people.
It's pompous to want to smack pompous people, so:
*SMACK*
the past few decades have demonstrated empirically that huge corporations seem to do crummily at the whole security thing
It's also show that government beauracracies do just as poorly or even worse. So what is one to do? At least the corporations seem to waste a little bit less money doing security poorly.
unless the attacking aliens ionize the atmosphere to such a degree that even radio won't work!
Then we'd be forced to rely on amateur smoke signals. Talk about low bandwidth...
There's no such law to that effect. But there is plenty of tort.