I hope most US slashdotters are not too rankled by this reality because this is what they voted for. Bush and Nixon, two presidents modern leftists love to vilify, HAVE NOTHING on the monster currently in office...NOTHING.
(1) Spending money on wasteful harmful shit, i.e. warfare (DoD, CIA, etc.), police state (FBI, NSA, etc.), drug war (DEA, etc.), etc.
Are you suggesting the US just eliminate these organizations or that politicians should adjust their directives through policy and doctrine? Because if it's the latter, then you're likely not going to affect any real savings as a percentage of the budget.
(2) Permitting the financial industry to extract such insane rents on everything by not regulating them.
I'm in the financial industry, neck deep in it, and we operate under oppressively redundant regulations; the cost of which we pass on to our clients who pass them on to you and the federal government through tax deductions. The problem is that regulations were written to benefit the largest and most politically influential banks.
In fact, Mitt Romney discusses this scenario very elegantly in his book. Too bad more people didn't read it, as this election will really have some consequences.:-)
(3) Subsidizing established industries, especially oil, nuclear, and agricultural subsidies.
Solar energy subsidies dwarf the above by near orders of magnitude. Do you think those subsidies should cease as well?
We could cut taxes by massive amounts if we halted all that waste, corruption, and exploitation.
We could do the above for the common good, but it is not enough *significantly* cut taxes. To do that would require cutting or eliminating entitlement spending. And besides, once a tax is levied, the imperative is to spend that money, not return it.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
I hear what you're saying, but disagree with your point of view. I would like to elaborate, but my responses are getting censored/modded out of the discussion by those that need to control the debate.
I don't agree with this characterization of his role at Bain because it is simply not accurate. I would encourage those reading this to not rely on politically charged rhetoric as their primary source of information about Romney's career at Bain.
He might know PDEs, but what does running a VC firm have to do with being qualified to be president? The two have almost nothing in common.
I could not disagree more! The character and success of the United States is all about "venture capital". Romney's got EXACTLY the right executive experience as a CEO and a state governor to get capital flowing again to US businesses helping them to increase payrolls and become more internationally competitive.
Will he be successful as president? Who knows. But he's a much better set of dice to roll in 11/2012.
Here we go. The hard and heavy wheels of destruction are starting to turn. Inevitable I suppose.
IMO, Romney is, intellectually and experientially, the most qualified candidate for US president that we've seen in the last two centuries. I'm not sure what kind of president he'll end up being, but he is certainly qualified for the role and infinitely more qualified than the current US president.
FWIW, I had the opportunity to work in fairly close proximity to the man back in 1994. Back then I got the distinct impression that he was generally the smartest guy in the room. But what really stands out in my memory was a meeting where various topics of quantitative finance were discussed...in detail. He was very comfortable with partial differential equations.:-)
You're not entirely correct. Short term capital gains occur when profits are generated on assets owned for less than a year. These gains are fully taxed as income. Long tern capital gains ( > 1 year) are taxed at a lower rate. In Buffett's case, he has owned his BH shares since they were created, so he just sells off enough shares throughout the year to cover A PORTION of his income needs.
Hello taiwanjohn, nice to meet you. I'm a "Fat-cat commodities gambler" here in Chicago. Have been in the business for over 20 years along with writing proprietary software for other "fat-cats" and "fat-cat firms" for even longer. I too pay taxes (a very large amount) and spend money in our economy just like you. So what industry and line of work are you in?
The programming has become so bad that when deciding on a cable tv package the only significant difference (for us) between the tier I ordered and the one above was the Syfy, Bravo and an extra c-span.
I ordered the lesser priced service specifically because I was no longer interested in that channel. So Syfy sucking has saved me $20+/month
It looks like I'll get my science fiction in print and from any number of the streaming services.
C'mon, get with the program! This is considered a failure because the house is republican controlled. If it were democratic controlled, then this action would have been viewed as a sweeping success. You know, the traditional double standard and all.
Don't sweat it! AOL's news is comfortably left of center, so Huffpo won't be taking sides with the US, the west, Christianity or straight white males anytime soon.
Big corporations put their computers physically close to the stock exchange to have that nanosecond advantage for their automatic buying / selling machines. But that is obviously OK.
And we pay dearly for this proximity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Stock_Exchange
"The right to directly trade shares on the exchange is conferred upon owners of the 1366 "seats". The term comes from the fact that up until the 1870s NYSE members sat in chairs to trade. In 1868, the number of seats was fixed at 533, and this number was increased several times over the years. In 1953, the exchange stopped at 1366 seats. These seats are a sought-after commodity as they confer the ability to directly trade stock on the NYSE. Seat prices have varied widely over the years, generally falling during recessions and rising during economic expansions. The most expensive inflation-adjusted seat was sold in 1929 for $625,000, which, today, would be over six million dollars. In recent times, seats have sold for as high as $4 million in the late 1990s and $1 million in 2001. In 2005, seat prices shot up to $3.25 million as the exchange was set to merge with Archipelago and become a for-profit, publicly traded company. Seat owners received $500,000 cash per seat and 77,000 shares of the newly formed corporation. The NYSE now sells one-year licenses to trade directly on the exchange."
Slashdot Mirror
That's all I have to say. I wish I could say more...oh do I wish I could say more.
FWIW I think many slashdotters will find one of these reviews to be the funniest: http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Drivers-Windows-Driver-Foundation/product-reviews/0735623740/ref=cm_cr_dp_qt_hist_one?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0 Enjoy!
I hope most US slashdotters are not too rankled by this reality because this is what they voted for. Bush and Nixon, two presidents modern leftists love to vilify, HAVE NOTHING on the monster currently in office...NOTHING.
I'd like to pledge all of my future mod points to you mister...whoever you are.
(1) Spending money on wasteful harmful shit, i.e. warfare (DoD, CIA, etc.), police state (FBI, NSA, etc.), drug war (DEA, etc.), etc.
Are you suggesting the US just eliminate these organizations or that politicians should adjust their directives through policy and doctrine? Because if it's the latter, then you're likely not going to affect any real savings as a percentage of the budget.
(2) Permitting the financial industry to extract such insane rents on everything by not regulating them.
I'm in the financial industry, neck deep in it, and we operate under oppressively redundant regulations; the cost of which we pass on to our clients who pass them on to you and the federal government through tax deductions. The problem is that regulations were written to benefit the largest and most politically influential banks.
:-)
In fact, Mitt Romney discusses this scenario very elegantly in his book. Too bad more people didn't read it, as this election will really have some consequences.
(3) Subsidizing established industries, especially oil, nuclear, and agricultural subsidies.
Solar energy subsidies dwarf the above by near orders of magnitude. Do you think those subsidies should cease as well?
We could cut taxes by massive amounts if we halted all that waste, corruption, and exploitation.
We could do the above for the common good, but it is not enough *significantly* cut taxes. To do that would require cutting or eliminating entitlement spending. And besides, once a tax is levied, the imperative is to spend that money, not return it.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
Apparently Bertrand Russell was a fool. Who knew?
Any post critical of Obama is, by new definition, racist.
You forgot leftist! A Linux and Leftist circle jerk. Why am I still here? I guess I'll always check in.
Why haven't you moved to South Korea?
Best comment so far. Wish I had some points.
Ok that's strange. One of my responses was modded to 0, then to 1 and I still couldn't see it. Will have to figure out the settings.
I hear what you're saying, but disagree with your point of view. I would like to elaborate, but my responses are getting censored/modded out of the discussion by those that need to control the debate.
plundering companies for his own personal profit
I don't agree with this characterization of his role at Bain because it is simply not accurate. I would encourage those reading this to not rely on politically charged rhetoric as their primary source of information about Romney's career at Bain.
He might know PDEs, but what does running a VC firm have to do with being qualified to be president? The two have almost nothing in common.
I could not disagree more! The character and success of the United States is all about "venture capital". Romney's got EXACTLY the right executive experience as a CEO and a state governor to get capital flowing again to US businesses helping them to increase payrolls and become more internationally competitive.
Will he be successful as president? Who knows. But he's a much better set of dice to roll in 11/2012.
LOL. We did not share an office. I, along with a dozen or more other people, attended a handful of meetings which he also attended.
Here we go. The hard and heavy wheels of destruction are starting to turn. Inevitable I suppose.
:-)
IMO, Romney is, intellectually and experientially, the most qualified candidate for US president that we've seen in the last two centuries. I'm not sure what kind of president he'll end up being, but he is certainly qualified for the role and infinitely more qualified than the current US president.
FWIW, I had the opportunity to work in fairly close proximity to the man back in 1994. Back then I got the distinct impression that he was generally the smartest guy in the room. But what really stands out in my memory was a meeting where various topics of quantitative finance were discussed...in detail. He was very comfortable with partial differential equations.
You are wrong...as usual
Great, so we can't tax rich people because they will dodge taxes?
No! You can't tax rich people TOO MUCH because if you do, then capital flight will occur.
You're not entirely correct. Short term capital gains occur when profits are generated on assets owned for less than a year. These gains are fully taxed as income. Long tern capital gains ( > 1 year) are taxed at a lower rate. In Buffett's case, he has owned his BH shares since they were created, so he just sells off enough shares throughout the year to cover A PORTION of his income needs.
Hello taiwanjohn, nice to meet you. I'm a "Fat-cat commodities gambler" here in Chicago. Have been in the business for over 20 years along with writing proprietary software for other "fat-cats" and "fat-cat firms" for even longer. I too pay taxes (a very large amount) and spend money in our economy just like you. So what industry and line of work are you in?
Once they get to Sweden, the Liberty Media "hunters" will have no problem tracking this poor bastard.
http://www.libertymedia.com/capital-trueposition.aspx
The programming has become so bad that when deciding on a cable tv package the only significant difference (for us) between the tier I ordered and the one above was the Syfy, Bravo and an extra c-span.
I ordered the lesser priced service specifically because I was no longer interested in that channel. So Syfy sucking has saved me $20+/month
It looks like I'll get my science fiction in print and from any number of the streaming services.
C'mon, get with the program! This is considered a failure because the house is republican controlled. If it were democratic controlled, then this action would have been viewed as a sweeping success. You know, the traditional double standard and all.
Don't sweat it! AOL's news is comfortably left of center, so Huffpo won't be taking sides with the US, the west, Christianity or straight white males anytime soon.
Big corporations put their computers physically close to the stock exchange to have that nanosecond advantage for their automatic buying / selling machines. But that is obviously OK.
And we pay dearly for this proximity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Stock_Exchange
"The right to directly trade shares on the exchange is conferred upon owners of the 1366 "seats". The term comes from the fact that up until the 1870s NYSE members sat in chairs to trade. In 1868, the number of seats was fixed at 533, and this number was increased several times over the years. In 1953, the exchange stopped at 1366 seats. These seats are a sought-after commodity as they confer the ability to directly trade stock on the NYSE. Seat prices have varied widely over the years, generally falling during recessions and rising during economic expansions. The most expensive inflation-adjusted seat was sold in 1929 for $625,000, which, today, would be over six million dollars. In recent times, seats have sold for as high as $4 million in the late 1990s and $1 million in 2001. In 2005, seat prices shot up to $3.25 million as the exchange was set to merge with Archipelago and become a for-profit, publicly traded company. Seat owners received $500,000 cash per seat and 77,000 shares of the newly formed corporation. The NYSE now sells one-year licenses to trade directly on the exchange."
Because they (the government) seem like they have such an enormous small dick complex.