It is unfair because other companies ARE required to pay taxes. It is unfair because groups of people are treated differently than individuals.
Why do we have different taxes for corporations and individuals? Just have every person (legal or physical) pay income taxes. And just like current income taxes, have them pay income taxes for any income earned abroad that has not yet been taxes at the same level as at home. And do the same for the person owning the company - have them pay income taxes if the taxes paid by the corporation were lower than those of the country where the owner resides.
This would also solve the problem of tax shelters - they wouldn't work now unless the entire company, including it's owners resided in a tax shelter (which is surprisingly not often the case, I guess tax shelters aren't all that good for actually running a company in.
It was you that claimed that what Israel is doing does not come close to what the Nazis did. I just pointed out that it comes quite close to the slightly less known masterplan of the Nazis - the one that was the reason for the whole WW2 - desire to take land to expand. It was not some minor feature of their leader or something that is ultimately unimportant - it was a planned ethnic cleansing of whole nations on a scale that would have made the Holocaust just a footnote. And it is remarkably similar to what Israel is doing now. Removing the current occupant from a land they took in war. And that is something that I consider an unmitigated evil.
I specifically wrote that it does not overlap with the Holocaust. If being compared to something the Nazis did offend people, then perhaps they should avoid doing those things.
Oh so the Palestinians in Gaza/West Bank are Israeli citizens with all the rights that come with that? Well if that's the case I apologize and retract all of my statements.
And if they attack from the nearly empty land where the settlements are the Israeli army can kill them without killing hundreds of civilians at the same time.
If the government refuses to prevent further attacks, then I can't see anyone objecting to an invasion. Just make sure that your first response to an attack isn't to bomb the government, so it has no way to even attempt to control the militants.
And regarding the justification of invading, just look at Afghanistan. They got invaded for perhaps harboring the guy that led the group that planned 9/11.
And were they annexed by Israel? From what I can see they were not - they are just being kept in a semi-occupied state for half a century while the inhabitants suffer.
Well the first thing could be to stop treating Palestinians like they weren't even human. Acknowledge that they are there and that there is a state of Palestine. Stop building settlements that mean that the Palestinians keep loosing more and more land the longer the 'peace process' goes on. Stop the blocade of Gaza.
And after that treat them like a state - if they attack you attack them right, occupy and annex the area they launched the rockets from etc. - they would be fully justified in doing that when in a state of war. But what we have now is just a state of oppression where the Palestinians in Gaza don't really have anything left to loose. So give them something to loose and take it away later if they keep acting like bloodthirsty idiots.
You're right in almost every thing you said. Except that there is no comparison. Just about every colonization in history included the extermination (or forced assimilation') of the people living in the area. The only difference is that this colonization is happening in a time when this behavior should no longer be acceptable. The same was true for the crimes of the Nazis - many nations had done the similar things they tried to do (Romans - Carthaginians, Europeans - Native Americans, Hutu - Tutsi). All those things were horrible crimes and should be acknowledged as such. But the same is true for the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians - it's a horrible crime, and it's happening in a time when crimes like that should no longer be ignored.
(Also: Why do you single out the Arabs for fabricating myths? Every religion does that.)
And that matters to the people living there how exactly? Sure they might know that Israel is just fighting for it's 'survival', but they still get bombed and blocaded. So they get angry and lash out at the people bombing and blocading them - and the easiest way to do that is to join Hamas or some other similar group. Do you see any alternative for individuals?
Israel likes to inflict collective punishment for actions of individuals on the whole region, then act like it's some big act of terrorism when the other side tries to do the same with vastly inferior resources.
But it's also important to offer the population an alternative. And the Palestinians don't really have one - even when Hamas has been quiet, Israel hasn't demolished any of it's settlements or let them have their own country. Hell, even trying to get recognition in the UN leads 'sanctions'. And this has been going on for half a century. So the people basically have the alternatives of: a) Be slowly strangled economically and have your land occupied. b) Be slowly strangled economically and have your land occupied while you at least get to try and kill some of the people doing it.
Now both alternatives suck, but many people will pick the second one just to try and get even. And I don't see them changing their behavior until they are given a third option.
It is quite similar to what the Nazis wanted to do. Not the Holocaust, but Lebensraum - they wanted to remove the 'inferior' Slavs from the land they wanted to occupy. Just like what Israel is trying to do now to the Palestinians (with none of the German 'efficiency').
The problem right now is that the West Bank and Gaza are in a kind of limbo. They aren't part of Israel (so the inhabitants don't get any rights as citizens) and they aren't allowed to become a separate state (if they try they get bombed and 'settled' some more). So Israel should decide what it wants to do, not just keep killing civilians whenever some religious idiots decide to fire of more rockets. If it wants the land,it should give the inhabitants citizenships and enforce it's laws - not by bombing innocents but by actually occupying and policing everything. If it does not want to do that it should get out of the area completely. Not just say that they left and leave the hundreds of miles of fences and checkpoints everywhere so the people can't even go to work without being harrased.
What does that have to do with anything? Does one side (well one side and people vaguely similar to them) being brutal to their people entitle the other side to slaughter even more of those people?
I'd make it so that they have to pay the H1B worker at least as much as the highest salary in the company (and any parent companies). After all, if there are no workers with that level of skill available the skill should be extremely valuable as a result (supply/demand). And since they did manage to find a CEO, the new worker should get more then the CEO.
What about laws? Are Microsoft Ireland employees allowed to transfer the data if it's against the laws of Ireland? If they are not, then replacing them won't change anything - the new employees won't be allowed to do it either.
If I'm unable to (legally) get something I truly need, then yes. And I don't think the prices in the stores would increase all that much - other countries would be happy to sell food to the US for less than it would cost to grow/pick it with legal US workers.
Why are the laws of supply and demand suddenly forgotten when it comes to paying workers? If you're having a hard time getting someone to pick your crops then offer more money.
Correction: They are performing jobs that others don't want AT THAT PAY. Offer 100$/hr to scrub toilets and you'll get plenty of candidates for the job.
There is another problem here - auto translation. The people talking to the bot could have been thinking they are reading the computer translated text of a human.
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It is unfair because other companies ARE required to pay taxes. It is unfair because groups of people are treated differently than individuals.
Why do we have different taxes for corporations and individuals? Just have every person (legal or physical) pay income taxes. And just like current income taxes, have them pay income taxes for any income earned abroad that has not yet been taxes at the same level as at home. And do the same for the person owning the company - have them pay income taxes if the taxes paid by the corporation were lower than those of the country where the owner resides.
This would also solve the problem of tax shelters - they wouldn't work now unless the entire company, including it's owners resided in a tax shelter (which is surprisingly not often the case, I guess tax shelters aren't all that good for actually running a company in.
Now that plane just has to disappear and we can all start worrying.
It was you that claimed that what Israel is doing does not come close to what the Nazis did. I just pointed out that it comes quite close to the slightly less known masterplan of the Nazis - the one that was the reason for the whole WW2 - desire to take land to expand. It was not some minor feature of their leader or something that is ultimately unimportant - it was a planned ethnic cleansing of whole nations on a scale that would have made the Holocaust just a footnote.
And it is remarkably similar to what Israel is doing now. Removing the current occupant from a land they took in war. And that is something that I consider an unmitigated evil.
I specifically wrote that it does not overlap with the Holocaust. If being compared to something the Nazis did offend people, then perhaps they should avoid doing those things.
Oh so the Palestinians in Gaza/West Bank are Israeli citizens with all the rights that come with that? Well if that's the case I apologize and retract all of my statements.
And if they attack from the nearly empty land where the settlements are the Israeli army can kill them without killing hundreds of civilians at the same time.
If the government refuses to prevent further attacks, then I can't see anyone objecting to an invasion. Just make sure that your first response to an attack isn't to bomb the government, so it has no way to even attempt to control the militants.
And regarding the justification of invading, just look at Afghanistan. They got invaded for perhaps harboring the guy that led the group that planned 9/11.
And were they annexed by Israel? From what I can see they were not - they are just being kept in a semi-occupied state for half a century while the inhabitants suffer.
Well the first thing could be to stop treating Palestinians like they weren't even human. Acknowledge that they are there and that there is a state of Palestine. Stop building settlements that mean that the Palestinians keep loosing more and more land the longer the 'peace process' goes on. Stop the blocade of Gaza.
And after that treat them like a state - if they attack you attack them right, occupy and annex the area they launched the rockets from etc. - they would be fully justified in doing that when in a state of war. But what we have now is just a state of oppression where the Palestinians in Gaza don't really have anything left to loose. So give them something to loose and take it away later if they keep acting like bloodthirsty idiots.
You're right in almost every thing you said. Except that there is no comparison.
Just about every colonization in history included the extermination (or forced assimilation') of the people living in the area. The only difference is that this colonization is happening in a time when this behavior should no longer be acceptable.
The same was true for the crimes of the Nazis - many nations had done the similar things they tried to do (Romans - Carthaginians, Europeans - Native Americans, Hutu - Tutsi). All those things were horrible crimes and should be acknowledged as such.
But the same is true for the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians - it's a horrible crime, and it's happening in a time when crimes like that should no longer be ignored.
(Also: Why do you single out the Arabs for fabricating myths? Every religion does that.)
And that matters to the people living there how exactly? Sure they might know that Israel is just fighting for it's 'survival', but they still get bombed and blocaded. So they get angry and lash out at the people bombing and blocading them - and the easiest way to do that is to join Hamas or some other similar group.
Do you see any alternative for individuals?
Israel likes to inflict collective punishment for actions of individuals on the whole region, then act like it's some big act of terrorism when the other side tries to do the same with vastly inferior resources.
But it's also important to offer the population an alternative. And the Palestinians don't really have one - even when Hamas has been quiet, Israel hasn't demolished any of it's settlements or let them have their own country. Hell, even trying to get recognition in the UN leads 'sanctions'. And this has been going on for half a century.
So the people basically have the alternatives of:
a) Be slowly strangled economically and have your land occupied.
b) Be slowly strangled economically and have your land occupied while you at least get to try and kill some of the people doing it.
Now both alternatives suck, but many people will pick the second one just to try and get even.
And I don't see them changing their behavior until they are given a third option.
It is quite similar to what the Nazis wanted to do. Not the Holocaust, but Lebensraum - they wanted to remove the 'inferior' Slavs from the land they wanted to occupy. Just like what Israel is trying to do now to the Palestinians (with none of the German 'efficiency').
The problem right now is that the West Bank and Gaza are in a kind of limbo. They aren't part of Israel (so the inhabitants don't get any rights as citizens) and they aren't allowed to become a separate state (if they try they get bombed and 'settled' some more). So Israel should decide what it wants to do, not just keep killing civilians whenever some religious idiots decide to fire of more rockets. ,it should give the inhabitants citizenships and enforce it's laws - not by bombing innocents but by actually occupying and policing everything.
If it wants the land
If it does not want to do that it should get out of the area completely. Not just say that they left and leave the hundreds of miles of fences and checkpoints everywhere so the people can't even go to work without being harrased.
What does that have to do with anything? Does one side (well one side and people vaguely similar to them) being brutal to their people entitle the other side to slaughter even more of those people?
Are the rockets even targeted? And if they are, are they accurate enough that knocking it off course is a good thing?
I'd make it so that they have to pay the H1B worker at least as much as the highest salary in the company (and any parent companies). After all, if there are no workers with that level of skill available the skill should be extremely valuable as a result (supply/demand). And since they did manage to find a CEO, the new worker should get more then the CEO.
And that's kind of the point - selective enforcement of laws.
What about laws? Are Microsoft Ireland employees allowed to transfer the data if it's against the laws of Ireland? If they are not, then replacing them won't change anything - the new employees won't be allowed to do it either.
But is Microsoft Ireland the same corporation as Microsoft US?
If I'm unable to (legally) get something I truly need, then yes. And I don't think the prices in the stores would increase all that much - other countries would be happy to sell food to the US for less than it would cost to grow/pick it with legal US workers.
Pay me enough and I'll work in the fields.
Why are the laws of supply and demand suddenly forgotten when it comes to paying workers? If you're having a hard time getting someone to pick your crops then offer more money.
Correction: They are performing jobs that others don't want AT THAT PAY. Offer 100$/hr to scrub toilets and you'll get plenty of candidates for the job.
And I'm sure the Native Americans were thrilled about being able to set those immigration laws.
It's the capitalism we've got. The theoretical perfect capitalism would function without bribes, but then so would the theoretical perfect socialism.
There is another problem here - auto translation. The people talking to the bot could have been thinking they are reading the computer translated text of a human.