i am reminded of the differences between the u.s. & nazi cmd&control mentalities: even an american private would take the initiative to accomplish an objective when cut off from c&c, but the krauts would just sit there waiting 4 orders...
the day b4 this thread started, a friend sent me this article:
(From the N.Y. Times...)
Dreaming Out Loud: One Tiny Little Tax By DANIEL AKST
THINK of your economic life as a highway. It's decently paved. But thanks to the tax system, there are tollbooths all over, with rates so complicated you need an expert in the car with you to figure them out. Sometimes you drive well out of your way just to get around them.
Now imagine that a sort of tax-system E-ZPass comes along, enabling you to whiz through the booths without an accountant in the back seat. Suddenly, it's smooth sailing. President Bush has proposed a controversial tax plan and has made noises about wanting to overhaul our generally abominable income tax system. In recent years, people have suggested simplifying the tax code, adopting a flat tax or taxing consumption instead of earnings. Mirror, mirror on the wall, what's the fairest plan of all?
My vote goes to the Automated Payment Transaction tax, an efficient system dreamed up by Edgar L. Feige, a retired economist from the University of Wisconsin. His plan is so appealing that after he presented it at a conference in Buenos Aires in 1989, six Latin American countries, including Argentina and Brazil, tried it. But it was never intended for developing countries, and it's supposed to replace other income taxes, which create perverse incentives and impose heavy costs. In Latin America, his plan was simply piled on top of existing taxes as a new revenue source.
Doing such a thing ignores the plan's main appeal. Basically, Dr. Feige proposes to eliminate the entire federal tax system - including corporate, excise and estate taxes - in favor of a tiny tax on all financial transactions that would be automatically deducted from special taxpayer accounts resembling those of E-ZPass holders. (Drivers with E-ZPass have a little windshield gizmo that is automatically read when passing through a toll plaza; the toll is then deducted from their E-ZPass accounts, which are replenished periodically by credit card or check.)
In a stroke, the Feige plan would sweep away the Rube Goldberg system we've come to loathe: no deductions, no income tax returns, maybe even no Internal Revenue Service. The whole thing would raise the same amount of money as today's system does while saving hundreds of billions of dollars in compliance costs, tax evasion and inefficiencies, according to Dr. Feige.
I know about all the lobbyists with their own special interests, but let's just dream for an instant. No longer would economic players contort themselves to avoid taxes - mostly it wouldn't be worth it. And no longer could the government direct the economy through the tax code, which encourages people to do things they might not otherwise do. Most of these things - like buying overweight sports utility vehicles to get a light-truck deduction - are a bad idea anyway.
Instead, Dr. Feige would levy a little toll - just 0.6 percent - on the economic highway of life. This amount - the professor's conservative calculations mean we might get away with even less - would be split by payer and payee in any transaction, meaning on average you would pay 0.3 percent whenever you spent or received money. It would all be taken care of by your bank's computers when they paid your check or you withdrew cash. You'd hardly notice it - especially since even someone spending $100,000 a year would pay just $300 in tax.
But I said the plan is "revenue neutral." So where would the bulk of the tax revenue come from? Well, most of the value of transactions in a modern economy consists of financial dealings: sales of stocks and bonds, currency trading and the like. And these would be taxed. Financial services firms would scream, but even they would get some benefit. There would be no corporate income tax, after all, and while liquidity might be slightly reduced, some economists figure a small tax on financial transactions would cut speculation and dampen volatility.
Dr. Feige's plan would be quite progressive because most of the financial dealings that would supply the bulk of revenue are conducted on behalf of corporations and rich people. The plan wouldn't eliminate Social Security taxes (probably the least progressive kind), but there's no reason a higher rate couldn't be adopted to cover this. State taxes could easily be piggybacked.
In short, the Automated Payment Transaction tax offers fairness, simplicity, and efficiency. It may not be a free lunch. But it sure smells better than the one we eat now.
don't 4get the animated westinghouse logos on pittsburgh's norsside, from the '50s...
the sign was 6 or 8 circle Ws:
O O O
\/ \/ (imagine a circle around this;-)
---
in blue neon, with each element separately controlled to make an animation of every on/off combination/permutation, marching left2right, all night long;-)
l&c were sent by thomas jefferson on an expedition to explore & map the recently purchased louisiana territory, roughly the middle 1/3 of the u.s., & the drainage basin west of the mississippi rivier.
exactly, attat1! perps may b dumb, but they're not stupid: they know they have far less chance of facing an armed citizen in d.c. than in texas, or va., another r2c state...
re: police arriving 10min late...there was a case in d.c. in which some capitol hill residents tried to sue the police for not responding to their 911 report of an in-pregress break-in. the court decreed that the police have no duty to protect the public...
so glad u brought it up, f0dder;-) while the word "regulated" just sets lawyers & liberals salivating, the phrase "well regulated" in the 18th century actually means the ability to concentrate fire, which of course requires much practice to achieve such coordination, as well as much gunsight adjustment (regulation).
as to ur patently absurd opening statement, the 2nd amendment specifically states: "the right of the people to keep & bear arms shall not be infringed."
what part of "shall not be infringed" don't u comprehend?
despite the brady bunch's attempt to re-interpret "well regulated militia" as gummint entities (which ignores the original meaning), the term "the people" as used in all the other amendments refers to _all_ the people, and there is no reason to assume the framers would use the same term to refer to a subset of _all_ the people.
and i want the scroll bars on the right side: the left side is the right side for languages that read from left to right;-)
and i want to be able to read from the top window while typing in a lower one...insisting on the active window on top is fine for novices, but at least knowledgeable users should have the option...
xdarwin'll just have to do...
hey, the ultimate incentive 2 get liberals onboard is 2 remind them that the only name 2 appear at the top of every manned lunar lander is...
richard m. nixon
hey, anybody remember when bear took off to australia? 'bout 20 yrs ago, the chicken littles _were_ crying new ice age;-}
and what about the vostok ice cores? 4e5 yrs of co2 concentrations show the current run-up 2 300 ppm co2, as well as similar spikes 1e5 yrs ago, 2e5 yrs ago, 3e5 yrs ago, 4e5 yrs ago...
so if co2 is due 2 human burning of fossil fuel... obviously atlantis is no myth;-);-);-)
i'm tired of the guilt-trip shit, 2...if the icecaps r melting & raising sea level, worry about how 2 build dikes, not who 2 blame...
probably 4 the same reason girls r into cheerleading, line dancing, or any synchronized activity...perhaps it's a subconscious manifestation, similar to women living 2gether falling into synchronized menses;-);-);-)
and don't forget, the king's name is inscribed on _every_ lunar lander...yes, enshrined 4 eternity is the name of the greatest king: richard m. nixon;-)
i can't understand why this fact hasn't motivated the democrats 2 _demand_ a return mission 2 the moon;-);-);-)
sorry 4 the ot, but isn't jarjar the 1st reptilian alien that's _not_ evil? (npr recently had a guy talking about the 4-5 alien types who said the reptilians are all bad...anybody got a link? )
and not only is jarjar a good guy (if reviled;-) he embodies the philosophy that any random action always works out in your favor: eg, the battle scene;-)
yup, u rilly can't appreciate a modern car til u've experienced the thrill of mechanical brakes...i made sure my daughter drove my dad's '35 ford phaeton...she now appreciates power steering, as well;-)
no,no, after the plates were translated by joe, with the aid of the urim & thummim (xref: seeing stones/indian gold;-) the angel moroni conveniently reappeared & took them back...what? u expected hard evidence? religions don't need no steeking evidence;-)
ya gotta hand it 2 those wacky mormons: they sure know how 2 impress w/architecture...but isn't that the purpose of all steeples;-)
here in Our Nation's Capital(tm dave barry;-) they bought some land near where the beltway was going 2 b built (and ya gotta admire their long-term planning;-) so now travelers on the outer loop(counterclockwise, west-bound) cresting the rise @ the georgia ave. exit are treated to the angel moroni rising atop the main spire, appearing on the western horizon like a vision (as i'm sure he did 4 ol joe smith;-) and dominating the view for the entire 1 mile downhill stretch, until it disappears behind the CSX rr bridge over the beltway, where u can still make out the over-painted graffiti: "surrender dorothy" hey, anybody up 4 slipping some green gels over the temple's floodlites?;-);-);-)
and nothing exposes the ignorance of the anti-nuke morons like the fact that coal mining releases more radiation into the environment in 1 year than all the nuke power plants ever have...
Slashdot Mirror
wasn't he the bald dude on sttng?-)
> Let's install these in some of the more fundamentalist places of worship.
nah, they're into snake handling...now _that's_ entertainment;-);-);-)
humans need 2 invent god:
"Human beings suffer from a "centralized mindset"; they would like to assign the coordination of activities to a central command."
i am reminded of the differences between the u.s. & nazi cmd&control mentalities: even an american private would take the initiative to accomplish an objective when cut off from c&c, but the krauts would just sit there waiting 4 orders...
the day b4 this thread started, a friend sent me this article:
(From the N.Y. Times...)
Dreaming Out Loud: One Tiny Little Tax
By DANIEL AKST
THINK of your economic life as a highway. It's decently paved. But thanks to the tax system, there are tollbooths all over, with rates so complicated you need an expert in the car with you to figure them out. Sometimes you drive well out of your way just to get around them.
Now imagine that a sort of tax-system E-ZPass comes along, enabling you to whiz through the booths without an accountant in the back seat. Suddenly, it's smooth sailing. President Bush has proposed a controversial tax plan and has made noises about wanting to overhaul our generally abominable income tax system. In recent years, people have suggested simplifying the tax code, adopting a flat tax or taxing consumption instead of earnings. Mirror, mirror on the wall, what's the fairest plan of all?
My vote goes to the Automated Payment Transaction tax, an efficient system dreamed up by Edgar L. Feige, a retired economist from the University of Wisconsin. His plan is so appealing that after he presented it at a conference in Buenos Aires in 1989, six Latin American countries, including Argentina and Brazil, tried it. But it was never intended for developing countries, and it's supposed to replace other income taxes, which create perverse incentives and impose heavy costs. In Latin America, his plan was simply piled on top of existing taxes as a new revenue source.
Doing such a thing ignores the plan's main appeal. Basically, Dr. Feige proposes to eliminate the entire federal tax system - including corporate, excise and estate taxes - in favor of a tiny tax on all financial transactions that would be automatically deducted from special taxpayer accounts resembling those of E-ZPass holders. (Drivers with E-ZPass have a little windshield gizmo that is automatically read when passing through a toll plaza; the toll is then deducted from their E-ZPass accounts, which are replenished periodically by credit card or check.)
In a stroke, the Feige plan would sweep away the Rube Goldberg system we've come to loathe: no deductions, no income tax returns, maybe even no Internal Revenue Service. The whole thing would raise the same amount of money as today's system does while saving hundreds of billions of dollars in compliance costs, tax evasion and inefficiencies, according to Dr. Feige.
I know about all the lobbyists with their own special interests, but let's just dream for an instant. No longer would economic players contort themselves to avoid taxes - mostly it wouldn't be worth it. And no longer could the government direct the economy through the tax code, which encourages people to do things they might not otherwise do. Most of these things - like buying overweight sports utility vehicles to get a light-truck deduction - are a bad idea anyway.
Instead, Dr. Feige would levy a little toll - just 0.6 percent - on the economic highway of life. This amount - the professor's conservative calculations mean we might get away with even less - would be split by payer and payee in any transaction, meaning on average you would pay 0.3 percent whenever you spent or received money. It would all be taken care of by your bank's computers when they paid your check or you withdrew cash. You'd hardly notice it - especially since even someone spending $100,000 a year would pay just $300 in tax.
But I said the plan is "revenue neutral." So where would the bulk of the tax revenue come from? Well, most of the value of transactions in a modern economy consists of financial dealings: sales of stocks and bonds, currency trading and the like. And these would be taxed. Financial services firms would scream, but even they would get some benefit. There would be no corporate income tax, after all, and while liquidity might be slightly reduced, some economists figure a small tax on financial transactions would cut speculation and dampen volatility.
Dr. Feige's plan would be quite progressive because most of the financial dealings that would supply the bulk of revenue are conducted on behalf of corporations and rich people. The plan wouldn't eliminate Social Security taxes (probably the least progressive kind), but there's no reason a higher rate couldn't be adopted to cover this. State taxes could easily be piggybacked.
In short, the Automated Payment Transaction tax offers fairness, simplicity, and efficiency. It may not be a free lunch. But it sure smells better than the one we eat now.
when i saw the picture i thought it looked more like a bowling ball;-)
ahhh, the wasted hours...i taught myself assembly on the 4a, using john dow's ed/assembler(written in basic, of course...is john still around?:-)
then there was clint pulley's smallC (clint, r u still there?-) but of course ya had 2 have the minimem module...
don't 4get the animated westinghouse logos on pittsburgh's norsside, from the '50s...
the sign was 6 or 8 circle Ws:
O O O
\/ \/ (imagine a circle around this;-)
---
in blue neon, with each element separately controlled to make an animation of every on/off combination/permutation, marching left2right, all night long;-)
yeah, but have they forced click2focus & active-on-top? the main reason i use xDarwin is point2focus...
l&c were sent by thomas jefferson on an expedition to explore & map the recently purchased louisiana territory, roughly the middle 1/3 of the u.s., & the drainage basin west of the mississippi rivier.
yup, i saw that, 2...2 bad u can't do a grep on hardcopy;-)
i'd love 2 do a synthetic timelapse...maybe morphing images in bryce...but i'll have 2 wait 4 santa 2 bring me a g4...this 366mHz iBook's 2 slow;-)
exactly, attat1! perps may b dumb, but they're not stupid: they know they have far less chance of facing an armed citizen in d.c. than in texas, or va., another r2c state...
re: police arriving 10min late...there was a case in d.c. in which some capitol hill residents tried to sue the police for not responding to their 911 report of an in-pregress break-in. the court decreed that the police have no duty to protect the public...
so glad u brought it up, f0dder;-) while the word "regulated" just sets lawyers & liberals salivating, the phrase "well regulated" in the 18th century actually means the ability to concentrate fire, which of course requires much practice to achieve such coordination, as well as much gunsight adjustment (regulation).
as to ur patently absurd opening statement, the 2nd amendment specifically states: "the right of the people to keep & bear arms shall not be infringed."
what part of "shall not be infringed" don't u comprehend?
despite the brady bunch's attempt to re-interpret "well regulated militia" as gummint entities (which ignores the original meaning), the term "the people" as used in all the other amendments refers to _all_ the people, and there is no reason to assume the framers would use the same term to refer to a subset of _all_ the people.
and i want the scroll bars on the right side: the left side is the right side for languages that read from left to right;-) and i want to be able to read from the top window while typing in a lower one...insisting on the active window on top is fine for novices, but at least knowledgeable users should have the option... xdarwin'll just have to do...
hey, the ultimate incentive 2 get liberals onboard is 2 remind them that the only name 2 appear at the top of every manned lunar lander is... richard m. nixon
hey, anybody remember when bear took off to australia? 'bout 20 yrs ago, the chicken littles _were_ crying new ice age;-}
and what about the vostok ice cores? 4e5 yrs of co2 concentrations show the current run-up 2 300 ppm co2, as well as similar spikes 1e5 yrs ago, 2e5 yrs ago, 3e5 yrs ago, 4e5 yrs ago...
so if co2 is due 2 human burning of fossil fuel... obviously atlantis is no myth;-);-);-)
i'm tired of the guilt-trip shit, 2...if the icecaps r melting & raising sea level, worry about how 2 build dikes, not who 2 blame...
probably 4 the same reason girls r into cheerleading, line dancing, or any synchronized activity...perhaps it's a subconscious manifestation, similar to women living 2gether falling into synchronized menses;-);-);-)
and don't forget, the king's name is inscribed on _every_ lunar lander...yes, enshrined 4 eternity is the name of the greatest king: richard m. nixon;-)
i can't understand why this fact hasn't motivated the democrats 2 _demand_ a return mission 2 the moon;-);-);-)
i'd love 2 c the chronosynclastic infudibulum on the big screen...but do the movie rights still belong 2 the jerry garcia estate?
sorry 4 the ot, but isn't jarjar the 1st reptilian alien that's _not_ evil? (npr recently had a guy talking about the 4-5 alien types who said the reptilians are all bad...anybody got a link? )
and not only is jarjar a good guy (if reviled;-) he embodies the philosophy that any random action always works out in your favor: eg, the battle scene;-)
yup, u rilly can't appreciate a modern car til u've experienced the thrill of mechanical brakes...i made sure my daughter drove my dad's '35 ford phaeton...she now appreciates power steering, as well;-)
no,no, after the plates were translated by joe, with the aid of the urim & thummim (xref: seeing stones/indian gold;-) the angel moroni conveniently reappeared & took them back...what? u expected hard evidence? religions don't need no steeking evidence;-)
ya gotta hand it 2 those wacky mormons: they sure know how 2 impress w/architecture...but isn't that the purpose of all steeples;-)
here in Our Nation's Capital(tm dave barry;-) they bought some land near where the beltway was going 2 b built (and ya gotta admire their long-term planning;-) so now travelers on the outer loop(counterclockwise, west-bound) cresting the rise @ the georgia ave. exit are treated to the angel moroni rising atop the main spire, appearing on the western horizon like a vision (as i'm sure he did 4 ol joe smith;-) and dominating the view for the entire 1 mile downhill stretch, until it disappears behind the CSX rr bridge over the beltway, where u can still make out the over-painted graffiti: "surrender dorothy"
hey, anybody up 4 slipping some green gels over the temple's floodlites?;-);-);-)
are point2focus & scrollbars on the right(left;-) side...xdarwin lets me, but i still have 2 put up w/ the finder:-p
and nothing exposes the ignorance of the anti-nuke morons like the fact that coal mining releases more radiation into the environment in 1 year than all the nuke power plants ever have...