You are correct sir! I'm astonished by the number of people that look at ANY situation and that stock response is "Raise taxes somewhere", never lower them somewhere for equity.
I'm old enough to remember when we didn't sales tax in my home town. I was just a kid but I was flabbergasted when the stores started adding extra money to the cost of things over and above the tagged price. Now the bastards have gone berserk. There must be 4 or 5 separate tax districts in the town I live in now. I had to write tax software to handle sales and it is insane.
And if it's literally free, you eliminate massive overhead.
NOTHING THE GOVERNMENT "PROVIDES" IS FREE!/shouting
Great galloping $deity! Who is really that stupid?
The military is "free", right? You didn't get a bill for the latest military action did you? Oh wait, it costs a freaking fortune. If you pay taxes you paid for *some* of the military action. A great deal of the cost is simply being passed on to "the future" along with all the other "free" services delivered by the government.
There is no perpetual motion machine. There is no system that provides output without input and the government is a FAR from frictionless engine.
If you want to say that the current U.S. healthcare system is extremely screwed up, I agree wholeheartedly.
There are a number of serious problems with cost merely being one. As for ObamaCare, anyone who thinks that adding thousands of pages of new legislation created in secret meetings with the insurance industry and passed in late night voting will simplify healthcare and lower costs in the U.S. is a moron and every legislator that voted for it is a scoundrel and a thief.
Really? How? You damn sure can't do that with your residence.
In most, if not all of the U.S., if you make too much money selling a house, you can get hit with capital gains. But if you lose money, too bad.
In some states, merely moving out of state after a sale triggers a tax on ANY amount over the buying price.
I agree in general that these things might contribute, but I want to look at this through the lens of low income in the U.S.
1. Lack of proper nutrition. If the body is spending all it's food surviving there is little left to grow. It is well known thet the brain takes a lot of nutrition to grow.
Calories aren't the issue these days, it's crap carb calories. Low income = obese in America these days.
2. Lack of exercise. If you don't use the motor parts of the brain they may not grow.
I suppose, but running around is free, pretty much.
3. Lack of stimulating toys.
I'm old. When we didn't have any store bought toys, we played with sticks and tin cans and cardboard boxes and matches(!) when I was a kid in the 50s and early 60s. When bored enough, we'd dig holes in the sides of hills to make caves. I'm still amazed none of us died in a collapse.
4. Lack of stimulating play.
See the point above.
I'm not a Luddite by any definition. I've been coding for over 30 years. Grew up going to Radio Shack for surplus parts before Tandy made it into a retail toy store.
I grew up mostly as the only child of a single working mother. This whole issue is pretty complex.
I just know it irritates the hell out of me to be in a restaurant and watch a small child trying hard, and failing, to compete with it's mother's phone for attention.
Just seems wrong to me to charge people a fee for spending their own money.
A lot of this discussion would go away if the government didn't want unlimited power. It baffles me that people are constantly claiming that the U.S. doesn't have enough government.
Damn, folks, really?!? We have a massive, unpayable debt in the U.S. right now. Over 100 trillion once SS and Medicare/Medicaid obligations are figured in.
There are private companies that have this down pat. A friend of mine is a sysadmin for a company that "records the call for quality assurance" for clients ranging from banks to the DOD. Many, many terabytes of data acquired yearly. They accurately transcribe all calls to get CC info, health data, etc. They also analyse the calls for stress, etc. to judge the call center performance.
It's pretty un-nerving what they can do and this is just one company with home grown, or at least home modified software. I have no problem assuming that the government has this or better.
Only at big family dinners!
BTW, our church has no antipathy to divorce either, just recommends trying to work things out when possible, but no stigma.
My wife and I dated for about 3 weeks and decided to marry. We had about 10 attendees, mostly stunned relatives present. We had a total combined cash pile of $14.00. The wedding cost maybe $50, her small town family church was either free or really cheap and her father paid the bill. We never had a honeymoon (See the $14 point above!). We both are really into our religion, so I suppose that matches.
but I don't like the fact that someone I don't know can pick up, if they're a private citizen, one of these drones and fly it over my property.
She's probably just fine with the *state* peeping into your (not her) business. That's the very definition of a self labeled "progressive". Guns, drones, private (no tax man involved) monetary interactions between people, healthcare, retirement, etc.
These things are the bailiwick of the state only. You're too stupid to be allowed to make these decisions.
Cyber is easy - simply no direct connect to the internet. Anything less is effectively nothing. Anything more is not needed.
Not that easy. I worked for a company that did just that. Air gapped completely. We sneaker netted the web orders, etc. back and forth between the internal system and the outside world. Huge pain in the ass, but secure.
When we had to be certified as PCI compliant by our auditors, they wouldn't. Said that the air gap was a security risk! Made us connect and go through the hoops with more firewalls, et al., to be certified so we could stay in business.
I will NEVER believe that they are more secure now than before. We checked the sneakernet data for SQL injection, ran AV, limited removable media to a few trusted and audited employees and so forth. But in the end, we had to get that PCI cert or our bank would refuse to do business with us.
Saying that the victim had a role in the incident isn't precisely "blaming the victim". Our attention and/or inattention during our activities play a role in the outcomes. It's true that no one deserves to be taken advantage of by some bastard, but it's childish to cry that no one should ever be at risk for carelessness either. Doesn't work with power tools, rock climbing or as any adult knows, interaction with other people.
No kidding. Who needs an earthquake when the power goes out at -30f.
Having said that, I moved here from the South some 25 years ago. I don't think I've had a power loss in the winter here.
We had them all the time from winter ice storms down South. I've lost power up here in the summer time many times from an hour to a week once in south Minneapolis. But thank God/Whoever, never in the winter.
Good point. I'm at an age where my friends are dying every year or so. As someone who has had to "close up shop" for some of them, it's a royal bitch to do when their online life can't be accessed. Stopping the mail, shutting down the online business, etc.
"Oh, they should have prepared for that in advance, as soon as they knew they were going to die". Yeah, well, perhaps in some fantasy world. No, the survivors clean up in real life.
To be sure, "Communism" is the perfect example of something that doesn't scale. Works OK for my family (sort of) but starts to become unworkable with two families.
Totally wrecks everything at scales larger than that. Astonishing idiocy to try and apply to a country.
Wrong about a few things. Health care isn't a Communist benefit. Oh, you mean forcing everyone to buy Obamacare. Not a "benefit".
border fences with guards who shoot to kill (Arizona, California border with Mexico)...
Wrong again on a couple of levels.
1. You may be too young to remember, but places like the USSR, East Germany and Cuba kill(ed) people trying to leave, not come in. And..
2. I know a border guard currently on duty. He is constantly told not to engage illegals and to stay away from specific parts of the border at certain times. And they spend a LOT of money and time giving health care, etc. to the illegals they catch
Not remotely similar to the referenced "border fences".
Slashdot Mirror
I've never had it explained to me. It seems to mean that people aren't getting as much free or cheap stuff from the government as they want.
If your definition of austerity is not getting enough of other peoples stuff, well, screw you.
TED Talk
I'm old enough to remember when we didn't sales tax in my home town. I was just a kid but I was flabbergasted when the stores started adding extra money to the cost of things over and above the tagged price. Now the bastards have gone berserk. There must be 4 or 5 separate tax districts in the town I live in now. I had to write tax software to handle sales and it is insane.
Thank your lucky stars they weren't insisting on Eunuchs programmers. And yes, I'm too lazy to make the obligatory Dilbert link.
And if it's literally free, you eliminate massive overhead.
NOTHING THE GOVERNMENT "PROVIDES" IS FREE! /shouting
Great galloping $deity! Who is really that stupid?
The military is "free", right? You didn't get a bill for the latest military action did you? Oh wait, it costs a freaking fortune. If you pay taxes you paid for *some* of the military action. A great deal of the cost is simply being passed on to "the future" along with all the other "free" services delivered by the government.
There is no perpetual motion machine. There is no system that provides output without input and the government is a FAR from frictionless engine.
If you want to say that the current U.S. healthcare system is extremely screwed up, I agree wholeheartedly.
There are a number of serious problems with cost merely being one. As for ObamaCare, anyone who thinks that adding thousands of pages of new legislation created in secret meetings with the insurance industry and passed in late night voting will simplify healthcare and lower costs in the U.S. is a moron and every legislator that voted for it is a scoundrel and a thief.
Actual conversation: "Oh, I can't believe those neighbors turned out to be such jerks. They seemed so progressive!"
Progressive taxes, progressive politics, etc. Never real thought about to *where* are we progressing.
In most, if not all of the U.S., if you make too much money selling a house, you can get hit with capital gains. But if you lose money, too bad. In some states, merely moving out of state after a sale triggers a tax on ANY amount over the buying price.
1. Lack of proper nutrition. If the body is spending all it's food surviving there is little left to grow. It is well known thet the brain takes a lot of nutrition to grow.
Calories aren't the issue these days, it's crap carb calories. Low income = obese in America these days.
2. Lack of exercise. If you don't use the motor parts of the brain they may not grow.
I suppose, but running around is free, pretty much.
3. Lack of stimulating toys.
I'm old. When we didn't have any store bought toys, we played with sticks and tin cans and cardboard boxes and matches(!) when I was a kid in the 50s and early 60s. When bored enough, we'd dig holes in the sides of hills to make caves. I'm still amazed none of us died in a collapse.
4. Lack of stimulating play.
See the point above.
I'm not a Luddite by any definition. I've been coding for over 30 years. Grew up going to Radio Shack for surplus parts before Tandy made it into a retail toy store. I grew up mostly as the only child of a single working mother. This whole issue is pretty complex.
I just know it irritates the hell out of me to be in a restaurant and watch a small child trying hard, and failing, to compete with it's mother's phone for attention.
A lot of this discussion would go away if the government didn't want unlimited power. It baffles me that people are constantly claiming that the U.S. doesn't have enough government.
Damn, folks, really?!? We have a massive, unpayable debt in the U.S. right now. Over 100 trillion once SS and Medicare/Medicaid obligations are figured in.
That ain't enough already? Jeez.
It's pretty un-nerving what they can do and this is just one company with home grown, or at least home modified software. I have no problem assuming that the government has this or better.
Only at big family dinners! BTW, our church has no antipathy to divorce either, just recommends trying to work things out when possible, but no stigma.
One took our advice, lived together for a couple of years and appears to have a great marriage. We're watching to see how the other one does.
That was 36 years ago.
PornoTube
Thanks Obama
but I don't like the fact that someone I don't know can pick up, if they're a private citizen, one of these drones and fly it over my property.
She's probably just fine with the *state* peeping into your (not her) business. That's the very definition of a self labeled "progressive". Guns, drones, private (no tax man involved) monetary interactions between people, healthcare, retirement, etc.
These things are the bailiwick of the state only. You're too stupid to be allowed to make these decisions.
In the same way that light isn't light if no one sees it? I disagree.
Cyber is easy - simply no direct connect to the internet. Anything less is effectively nothing. Anything more is not needed.
Not that easy. I worked for a company that did just that. Air gapped completely. We sneaker netted the web orders, etc. back and forth between the internal system and the outside world. Huge pain in the ass, but secure.
When we had to be certified as PCI compliant by our auditors, they wouldn't. Said that the air gap was a security risk! Made us connect and go through the hoops with more firewalls, et al., to be certified so we could stay in business.
I will NEVER believe that they are more secure now than before. We checked the sneakernet data for SQL injection, ran AV, limited removable media to a few trusted and audited employees and so forth. But in the end, we had to get that PCI cert or our bank would refuse to do business with us.
Saying that the victim had a role in the incident isn't precisely "blaming the victim". Our attention and/or inattention during our activities play a role in the outcomes. It's true that no one deserves to be taken advantage of by some bastard, but it's childish to cry that no one should ever be at risk for carelessness either. Doesn't work with power tools, rock climbing or as any adult knows, interaction with other people.
Having said that, I moved here from the South some 25 years ago. I don't think I've had a power loss in the winter here.
We had them all the time from winter ice storms down South. I've lost power up here in the summer time many times from an hour to a week once in south Minneapolis. But thank God/Whoever, never in the winter.
Until then, neener, neener!
"Oh, they should have prepared for that in advance, as soon as they knew they were going to die". Yeah, well, perhaps in some fantasy world. No, the survivors clean up in real life.
Totally wrecks everything at scales larger than that. Astonishing idiocy to try and apply to a country.
border fences with guards who shoot to kill (Arizona, California border with Mexico)...
Wrong again on a couple of levels.
1. You may be too young to remember, but places like the USSR, East Germany and Cuba kill(ed) people trying to leave, not come in. And..
2. I know a border guard currently on duty. He is constantly told not to engage illegals and to stay away from specific parts of the border at certain times. And they spend a LOT of money and time giving health care, etc. to the illegals they catch
Not remotely similar to the referenced "border fences".
But for the most part, the days of stupid seem to be at a lull.
Citation needed