To be precise, you'd spend about half a million to get to the point where they spring the space opera story on you. Once you've been suckered that far, there's a very strong psychological incentive to keep believing them, rather like the suckers who've fallen for the 419 scams.
Our constitutional protections don't help much when the court is subverted by a criminal organization with a lot of money to spend on subverting the process. Read about the case, and brace yourself for what you'll find out about how a court can be corrupted in a small town.
That's not what the IRS has to say, and they're the authority (in the US) on what is and is not a religion.
No, they're not. They're the agency that has to triage whether they can afford the litigation to fight it when an organized crime operation decides to sue them, and in the case of scientology, they caved in.
Google for "IRS and Scientology". There's something very odd going on there, and it looks like the cult found something they could use to blackmail the IRS commissioner at the time.
He was explicitly threatened with being killed in Jail, during his trial. It doesn't take a gang of scientologists to make this happen, just a bit of money.
Read up on what Keith has gone through. Scientology is a very dangerous organized crime operation.
What keeps the perp from stealing your identity, freezing your record, and then using the ID number they give him to loot your accounts while you're locked out?
Who invested the capital in building public works, clearing slums and generally improving living and working conditions?
Does the name "Henry Ford" ring a bell?
As the productivity of labor increases, competition amongst employers for labor also increases. Upshot: you have to offer higher wages, better working conditions, etc, or you won't be able to operate your business, because people will work for your competitors instead.
It's my right to give my earnings to whomever I wish, whether I do it before I die, or do it in my will. It's not the rights of the recipients that are attacked by inheritance tax, but the rights of the giver.
The idea of inheritance is at the root of one of the oldest of human institutions, that of aristocracy.
The problem of aristocracy isn't inheritance per se, it's the idea that people can be property. Serfdom is an evil thing, whether it's inflicted by a nobleman or by an elected legislature.
Why do you (plural) always feel the need to blame everything on socialism?
Oh, I don't blame everything on socialism, just the bulk of the damage that governments have done to their countries' economies in the twentieth century. Many other problems are caused by entirely different forms of superstition.
You've made it clear that you regard a person's earnings as the property of the state, to be granted or withheld from the wage-earner at will. That is the antithesis of liberty.
I can freely walk down the street without carrying an ID and not fear being detained.
Legally, that's correct, and you can thank Edward Lawson for fighting all the way to the supreme court to establish the precedent. Lawson was illegally arrested for declining to show his ID when a police officer decided that he was the wrong color for the neighborhood he was walking through.
That's not alpha-male management style, it's beta-male with something to prove management style. What you could also call the Napoleon complex. Bill Gates is a revenge-of-the-nerds type, who doesn't have the character to behave decently when he's in a position of power.
You might consider Estonia, Poland, or any of several other formerly-communist countries. Estonia in particular has a rational tax system that's let them grow their economy at a very quick pace.
Sorry, I'm not quite following your phrasing here. Are you for or against the government getting one last shot at looting personal wealth, after taxing someone all his life?
I disagree. The floods of cash they've made from catching IBM's fumble, and then applying illegal tactics to drive Lotus and Wordperfect out of business masked the fundamental problems that are now biting them on the ass.
That book was a very interesting read. Before I read it, I was convinced that MS shipped crap because they just don't care. After reading it, I'm convinced that they really do ship the best products they're capable of. That's what's truly pathetic.
Slashdot Mirror
To be precise, you'd spend about half a million to get to the point where they spring the space opera story on you. Once you've been suckered that far, there's a very strong psychological incentive to keep believing them, rather like the suckers who've fallen for the 419 scams.
-jcr
Or make up any other term he cares to, he's not going to fool anyone.
-jcr
Our constitutional protections don't help much when the court is subverted by a criminal organization with a lot of money to spend on subverting the process. Read about the case, and brace yourself for what you'll find out about how a court can be corrupted in a small town.
-jcr
That's not what the IRS has to say, and they're the authority (in the US) on what is and is not a religion.
No, they're not. They're the agency that has to triage whether they can afford the litigation to fight it when an organized crime operation decides to sue them, and in the case of scientology, they caved in.
Google for "IRS and Scientology". There's something very odd going on there, and it looks like the cult found something they could use to blackmail the IRS commissioner at the time.
-jcr
He was explicitly threatened with being killed in Jail, during his trial. It doesn't take a gang of scientologists to make this happen, just a bit of money.
Read up on what Keith has gone through. Scientology is a very dangerous organized crime operation.
-jcr
What keeps the perp from stealing your identity, freezing your record, and then using the ID number they give him to loot your accounts while you're locked out?
-jcr
Do you have your own hat?
-jcr
So, there's a decision in the sixth district that's at odds with an existing decision by the US supreme court.
-jcr
Who invested the capital in building public works, clearing slums and generally improving living and working conditions?
Does the name "Henry Ford" ring a bell?
As the productivity of labor increases, competition amongst employers for labor also increases. Upshot: you have to offer higher wages, better working conditions, etc, or you won't be able to operate your business, because people will work for your competitors instead.
-jcr
But one ancestor's labors?
It's my right to give my earnings to whomever I wish, whether I do it before I die, or do it in my will. It's not the rights of the recipients that are attacked by inheritance tax, but the rights of the giver.
The idea of inheritance is at the root of one of the oldest of human institutions, that of aristocracy.
The problem of aristocracy isn't inheritance per se, it's the idea that people can be property. Serfdom is an evil thing, whether it's inflicted by a nobleman or by an elected legislature.
-jcr
Why do you (plural) always feel the need to blame everything on socialism?
Oh, I don't blame everything on socialism, just the bulk of the damage that governments have done to their countries' economies in the twentieth century. Many other problems are caused by entirely different forms of superstition.
-jcr
Well, you have to admit he's got skills since he pretty much wrote Microsoft's basic compiler.
Ever heard of a guy named Paul Allen?
At any rate, if you'd ever read that compiler, you wouldn't be so impressed.
-jcr
You've made it clear that you regard a person's earnings as the property of the state, to be granted or withheld from the wage-earner at will. That is the antithesis of liberty.
-jcr
I can freely walk down the street without carrying an ID and not fear being detained.
Legally, that's correct, and you can thank Edward Lawson for fighting all the way to the supreme court to establish the precedent. Lawson was illegally arrested for declining to show his ID when a police officer decided that he was the wrong color for the neighborhood he was walking through.
-jcr
It's a States Rights issue.
No, it's a human rights issue.
-jcr
and very few Paparazzi have committed fraud.
-jcr
I'm getting pretty tired of seeing the word "pretexting". What they did was LIE, and commit FRAUD. No need to make up new words for an old crime.
-jcr
Your question is fully biased and I am pleased to blow it.
Yep, you sure blew it all right. Your answer shows that you have no respect for human rights.
-jcr
That's not alpha-male management style, it's beta-male with something to prove management style. What you could also call the Napoleon complex. Bill Gates is a revenge-of-the-nerds type, who doesn't have the character to behave decently when he's in a position of power.
-jcr
Sarkozy has been consistently involved with intimidation
Sounds like a smear to me. Got any proof?
BTW, Royale was on the record threatening violence if she lost, and lo and behold! Cars are burning again as we speak.
-jcr
they'll never even come close to an economic superpower.
Japan did it, and so can the French. They just have to give up on socialism.
-jcr
You might consider Estonia, Poland, or any of several other formerly-communist countries. Estonia in particular has a rational tax system that's let them grow their economy at a very quick pace.
-jcr
suppressing inheritance taxes
Sorry, I'm not quite following your phrasing here. Are you for or against the government getting one last shot at looting personal wealth, after taxing someone all his life?
-jcr
I disagree. The floods of cash they've made from catching IBM's fumble, and then applying illegal tactics to drive Lotus and Wordperfect out of business masked the fundamental problems that are now biting them on the ass.
-jcr
That book was a very interesting read. Before I read it, I was convinced that MS shipped crap because they just don't care. After reading it, I'm convinced that they really do ship the best products they're capable of. That's what's truly pathetic.
-jcr