I wouldn't mind paying taxes if I got benefits equal to my payments.
Each year I like to calculate how many seconds I supported the entire U.S. government. That is, the entire military, every welfare recipient, congressman, social security recipient, etc. Last year the entire weight of the federal government was on my shoulders for a little over 19 seconds. Believe me, it was one heavy load.
There is an entire category of companies that don't pay taxes on profits, they're called S-corporations. Profits (or losses) flow throw to the employees and the employees pay income tax on the profit or deduct the losses. Many tech start-ups and medical group practices use this form of incorporation.
However, even S-corps still pay federal, state and local taxes. They pay the employers contribution to social security, medicare, unemployment taxes at state and federal levels, health care taxes (in some states), property taxes, personal property taxes, sales taxes and use taxes. Even M$ and Cisco pay all of these, so the government still ends up with a lot of $.
"All men are created equal".
In a free society, I interpret this to mean that all people have (or should have) equal opportunity. It does not mean all people have equal ability or will have an equal outcome.
One word describes electric vehicles - wimpy.
Americans buy a car for reasons other than getting from point A to point B. Witness the success of the Ford Valdez (or rather Explorer). The day teenagers start cruising the strip in battery powered vehicles is the day they will be manufactured in large enough quantities to be anything other than a curiosity.
Why would bacteria that can survive gamma rays, vacuum, extreme temperatures and everything else that space can throw at them, evolve into something as wimpy as a human?
Let engineers write the patents and establish a peer review process for approval. Patents and the patent process can serve a useful purpose as a filter to separate and recognize truly great ideas. Well written and informative patents are a technical resource and building blocks for new ideas and inventions. However, this resource is severly limited by allowing lawyers to write the patents. Having suffered through the patent process several times, it's painful to recall how the lawyers took months to mangle my ideas in legal jargon until they were unrecognizable and unreadable.
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I wouldn't mind paying taxes if I got benefits equal to my payments. Each year I like to calculate how many seconds I supported the entire U.S. government. That is, the entire military, every welfare recipient, congressman, social security recipient, etc. Last year the entire weight of the federal government was on my shoulders for a little over 19 seconds. Believe me, it was one heavy load.
There is an entire category of companies that don't pay taxes on profits, they're called S-corporations. Profits (or losses) flow throw to the employees and the employees pay income tax on the profit or deduct the losses. Many tech start-ups and medical group practices use this form of incorporation. However, even S-corps still pay federal, state and local taxes. They pay the employers contribution to social security, medicare, unemployment taxes at state and federal levels, health care taxes (in some states), property taxes, personal property taxes, sales taxes and use taxes. Even M$ and Cisco pay all of these, so the government still ends up with a lot of $.
"All men are created equal". In a free society, I interpret this to mean that all people have (or should have) equal opportunity. It does not mean all people have equal ability or will have an equal outcome.
Strictly speaking - a windmill grinds grain. A windgenerator creates electricity.
One word describes electric vehicles - wimpy. Americans buy a car for reasons other than getting from point A to point B. Witness the success of the Ford Valdez (or rather Explorer). The day teenagers start cruising the strip in battery powered vehicles is the day they will be manufactured in large enough quantities to be anything other than a curiosity.
Why would bacteria that can survive gamma rays, vacuum, extreme temperatures and everything else that space can throw at them, evolve into something as wimpy as a human?
Most of what I've learned since leaving school was done while sitting on the can. It's the only place you can go for uninterrupted contemplation.
Let engineers write the patents and establish a peer review process for approval. Patents and the patent process can serve a useful purpose as a filter to separate and recognize truly great ideas. Well written and informative patents are a technical resource and building blocks for new ideas and inventions. However, this resource is severly limited by allowing lawyers to write the patents. Having suffered through the patent process several times, it's painful to recall how the lawyers took months to mangle my ideas in legal jargon until they were unrecognizable and unreadable.