You don't need a crooked accountant. Just don't ring up cash sales and you're good to go, then write off the missing merchandise as shrink.
All these tactics are characteristic of being on the wrong side of the Laffer curve. To quote Princess Leia: "The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems slip through your fingers".
Pro Tip - if you have to resort to draconian measure to collect taxes you're probably taxing people too much.
Spending reductions are the first and best measure - tax revenues go UP when rates go down.
I agree with everything you're saying, except perhaps the implication that there is no real difference between the unelected communist government of Vietnam and western democracy. Hanoi's problem isn't just a "weak PR position". They're old school tyrants plain and simple. It's not like their people have the freedom to dissent or form opposition parties.
There is a world of difference here and it's important to acknowledge that.
Although his death is regrettable, everyone must still be prepared to face the consequences of their actions. The journals that published the articles he downloaded depend on subscription money to operate. People working for the publishers have families to feed, etc.. What he did was to damage their freedom to make a living under existing copyright law, which creates incentives for the journals to vet and publish the articles in the first place. I would argue that what Swartz did was to strike a blow against one of the pillars of science - independent peer review.
Unless you can invent a way for everything to be free (as in beer), which is another way of saying you think things should appear out of thin air, Swartz's actions amount to reducing the collection of freedoms available of everyone in the entire scientific journal ecosystem.
Hence we are more free under the current copyright system than we would be if people had no way of earning a living under current copyright law.
I'm fighting it tooth and nail because I AM part of the industry and have an inside view on what it means. Armchair idiots love looking at the abstracts but never have a clue about the reality of the issues. Data breaches are rare, incidents of actual patient harm as a result are virtually nil and enforcement should be focused on the people perpetrating the harm. If you wonder why health care costs keep rising look in the mirror because support for this sort of unproductive regulation is the primary cause.
HIPAA is the biggest waste of paper ever to come out of DC. It solves nonexistent problems with imaginary solutions an imposes a constant and never ending expense on providers, raising costs for everyone. It's a bureaucrat's wet dream because they get to beat someone with a stick and pretend they're helping people.
The ultimate in big government overstepping it's bounds.
Facebook could offer blowjobs and it wouldn't make me want to use it more. Their entire purpose it to get you to disgorge the most intimate details of your life to...a giant corporation. Zuck can take a flying fuck at a rolling donut.
No doubt the advent of tablets and mobile OS's has killed the niche. It's a shame because the last generation of netbooks were pretty decent. I love mine for travel since it was cheap enough not to be too much of a worry if it gets lost or stolen.
Sometimes a tablet just won't cut it, particularly when typing but clearly there isn't much money to be made in the segment.
Kind of like the term "useful idiot", huh? Besides, who "cracked down" on the ows hippies? They were simply left to rot in their little camps until it was clear that their only remaining purpose was to occupy public spaces and make a mess.
But it really takes an imbecile to believe that ows could spring into existence fully formed, complete with a slick web site and well orchestrated publicity. Perhaps the better term would be "McMovement".
All of these countries are a lot smaller than the US. People always point to South Korea as broadband heaven, but you're basically talking about wiring one big city as opposed to a huge continent.
The economic reality is that laying cable is expensive. Wireless is much cheaper to roll out. The market for wireless services is maturing, new tech keeps getting rolled out. As people get more internet centric, cable companies will become redundant and that's when prices will drop and service will rise. Besides, FIOS is already available from verizon - also a big wireless carrier - wherever they can make money from it. They're the biggest crossover company out there yet they always get ignored in these discussions.
Government schemes to speed up this stuff always fail because they don't make money.
What they need to ban is knowledge of how to commit violent crimes. They need to remove the words used to describe violence from our language so people can't talk about it and teach each other how to be violent.
Anyone with a bit of education knows that knowledge is power so we need to control knowledge. It's for the children.
Agreed. The conclusions are idiotic. Punching something isn't nearly as effective as bashing something over the head with a rock.
Look at all the things for which modern humans use their thumbs. It's a multifunction device and whether your talking tool use or weapon use, thumbs made our species much more likely to survive.
Considering the enormous expense and effort that went into obtaining those moon rocks, it's not surprising they were technically "loaned" rather than "given away" as you mistakenly assert.
The point is there needs to be a legal framework in place so such expenditures are protected. The only way to spur private space exploration is to make it possible to profit from it. Otherwise it's simply a huge waste of money - what benefit does humanity derive from, say, letting the hyper rich shoot themselves into orbit for a short while?
Extraterrestrial resource extraction could mean endless supplies of things like rare earth minerals needed for high tech manufacturing. You do like cheap computers and cell phones, don't you?
Remember that the next time some idiot starts blathering about the need for gun control. Freedom can be dangerous. The most dangerous thing of all is an idea.
Take away people's ability to defend themselves, then take away people's ability to educate themselves. The last hurdle is taking away people's ability to think for themselves.
"1984" was a warning, but a lot of governments seem to be using it as an instruction manual.
If you've done nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide. Now show me your identity papers and PICK UP THAT CAN!!!
Euros are so used to being "subjects" rather than citizens they don't understand that freedom means you shouldn't have to submit to constant surveillance.
Exactly. Nuclear weapoms have saved more lives than people could possibly imagine, simply by making all out war between the major powers unthinkable.
And regardless of how many died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, far more lives were spared from the hideously destructive ground war that would have occured had the US been forced to invade Japan. The military junta ruling Japan was training childred to fight with sharpened sticks and would have gladly sacrificed them to protect themselves.
Never in history has peace resulted from merely wishing for it. Peace only exists when a nation is sufficiently strong to defend itself.
Incandescent bulbs keep looking better and better. I was using CFL's before congress basically mandated them because they last a long time, but hate the fact that they create mini superfund sites every time you break one. The polymer described does sound like it has the potential to be toxic as hell if it burns.
New technology is great but it would be even better if congress would stop shoving this stuff down our throats.
Slashdot Mirror
You don't need a crooked accountant. Just don't ring up cash sales and you're good to go, then write off the missing merchandise as shrink.
All these tactics are characteristic of being on the wrong side of the Laffer curve. To quote Princess Leia: "The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems slip through your fingers".
Pro Tip - if you have to resort to draconian measure to collect taxes you're probably taxing people too much.
Spending reductions are the first and best measure - tax revenues go UP when rates go down.
I agree with everything you're saying, except perhaps the implication that there is no real difference between the unelected communist government of Vietnam and western democracy. Hanoi's problem isn't just a "weak PR position". They're old school tyrants plain and simple. It's not like their people have the freedom to dissent or form opposition parties.
There is a world of difference here and it's important to acknowledge that.
A fool and his money are soon parted....
Although his death is regrettable, everyone must still be prepared to face the consequences of their actions. The journals that published the articles he downloaded depend on subscription money to operate. People working for the publishers have families to feed, etc.. What he did was to damage their freedom to make a living under existing copyright law, which creates incentives for the journals to vet and publish the articles in the first place. I would argue that what Swartz did was to strike a blow against one of the pillars of science - independent peer review.
Unless you can invent a way for everything to be free (as in beer), which is another way of saying you think things should appear out of thin air, Swartz's actions amount to reducing the collection of freedoms available of everyone in the entire scientific journal ecosystem.
Hence we are more free under the current copyright system than we would be if people had no way of earning a living under current copyright law.
Unfortunately this is no joke. The chinese government uses the book "1984" is an instruction manual instead of as a warning.
I'm fighting it tooth and nail because I AM part of the industry and have an inside view on what it means. Armchair idiots love looking at the abstracts but never have a clue about the reality of the issues. Data breaches are rare, incidents of actual patient harm as a result are virtually nil and enforcement should be focused on the people perpetrating the harm. If you wonder why health care costs keep rising look in the mirror because support for this sort of unproductive regulation is the primary cause.
HIPAA is the biggest waste of paper ever to come out of DC. It solves nonexistent problems with imaginary solutions an imposes a constant and never ending expense on providers, raising costs for everyone. It's a bureaucrat's wet dream because they get to beat someone with a stick and pretend they're helping people.
The ultimate in big government overstepping it's bounds.
Facebook could offer blowjobs and it wouldn't make me want to use it more. Their entire purpose it to get you to disgorge the most intimate details of your life to...a giant corporation. Zuck can take a flying fuck at a rolling donut.
This.
You know, you could possibly get her both...
I like my tablet but I couldn't do without a computer. I'd go cheap laptop as a single device solution.
No doubt the advent of tablets and mobile OS's has killed the niche. It's a shame because the last generation of netbooks were pretty decent. I love mine for travel since it was cheap enough not to be too much of a worry if it gets lost or stolen.
Sometimes a tablet just won't cut it, particularly when typing but clearly there isn't much money to be made in the segment.
Kind of like the term "useful idiot", huh? Besides, who "cracked down" on the ows hippies? They were simply left to rot in their little camps until it was clear that their only remaining purpose was to occupy public spaces and make a mess.
But it really takes an imbecile to believe that ows could spring into existence fully formed, complete with a slick web site and well orchestrated publicity. Perhaps the better term would be "McMovement".
All of these countries are a lot smaller than the US. People always point to South Korea as broadband heaven, but you're basically talking about wiring one big city as opposed to a huge continent.
The economic reality is that laying cable is expensive. Wireless is much cheaper to roll out. The market for wireless services is maturing, new tech keeps getting rolled out. As people get more internet centric, cable companies will become redundant and that's when prices will drop and service will rise. Besides, FIOS is already available from verizon - also a big wireless carrier - wherever they can make money from it. They're the biggest crossover company out there yet they always get ignored in these discussions.
Government schemes to speed up this stuff always fail because they don't make money.
Capitalist free markets for the win!
I love how they always cite "europe" as an example as if all countries there were similar.
krugman is a political hack who is only relevant to others who can't do simple arithmetic.
What they need to ban is knowledge of how to commit violent crimes. They need to remove the words used to describe violence from our language so people can't talk about it and teach each other how to be violent.
Anyone with a bit of education knows that knowledge is power so we need to control knowledge. It's for the children.
I'd really like to know how you can make it worse than by letting psychotic religious fanatics take over large swaths of the country.
Agreed. The conclusions are idiotic. Punching something isn't nearly as effective as bashing something over the head with a rock.
Look at all the things for which modern humans use their thumbs. It's a multifunction device and whether your talking tool use or weapon use, thumbs made our species much more likely to survive.
Considering the enormous expense and effort that went into obtaining those moon rocks, it's not surprising they were technically "loaned" rather than "given away" as you mistakenly assert.
The point is there needs to be a legal framework in place so such expenditures are protected. The only way to spur private space exploration is to make it possible to profit from it. Otherwise it's simply a huge waste of money - what benefit does humanity derive from, say, letting the hyper rich shoot themselves into orbit for a short while?
Extraterrestrial resource extraction could mean endless supplies of things like rare earth minerals needed for high tech manufacturing. You do like cheap computers and cell phones, don't you?
Remember that the next time some idiot starts blathering about the need for gun control. Freedom can be dangerous. The most dangerous thing of all is an idea.
Take away people's ability to defend themselves, then take away people's ability to educate themselves. The last hurdle is taking away people's ability to think for themselves.
"1984" was a warning, but a lot of governments seem to be using it as an instruction manual.
If you've done nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide. Now show me your identity papers and PICK UP THAT CAN!!!
Euros are so used to being "subjects" rather than citizens they don't understand that freedom means you shouldn't have to submit to constant surveillance.
Lulz. All the while grinding the economy into the dust.
Forcing millions into poverty is nothing as we go forward to our bright, shining future, comrades!
end of story
Exactly. Nuclear weapoms have saved more lives than people could possibly imagine, simply by making all out war between the major powers unthinkable.
And regardless of how many died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, far more lives were spared from the hideously destructive ground war that would have occured had the US been forced to invade Japan. The military junta ruling Japan was training childred to fight with sharpened sticks and would have gladly sacrificed them to protect themselves.
Never in history has peace resulted from merely wishing for it. Peace only exists when a nation is sufficiently strong to defend itself.
No real strings attached if they go bankrupt. You think the people running the company don't know that?
The .gov should stay out and let the markets decide who wins because then it costs the taxpayer nothing.
Not to mention that we developed anti-melting chocolate technology during WW2 called "M&Ms".
Incandescent bulbs keep looking better and better. I was using CFL's before congress basically mandated them because they last a long time, but hate the fact that they create mini superfund sites every time you break one. The polymer described does sound like it has the potential to be toxic as hell if it burns.
New technology is great but it would be even better if congress would stop shoving this stuff down our throats.