I completely agree with this. Our MythTV box skips commercials completely without ever having to lift a finger. We have gotten so use to it, and we save so much time, we actually think something is wrong when we are watching live TV. That is also a testimony of how much live tv we watch... almost none.
Long ago, I heard that an advertiser said that advertising to people was like spraying pesticide on roaches. The more you spray them the harder it is. Well guess what, we are not roaches and we have our own pesticide.
Bigger Budget != Better Product
So agree with this. Where I work the IT Staff for one department is embarrassingly incompetent. I am not saying that lightly, I don't think they can do the work. They had a project, bought up hardware, consultants, and bloated software to the tune of $380k. Nine months later it did not work and they brought me in. I looked at what they did, started from scratch and built it by myself for nothing running on a PC in three weeks using Open Source Tools. I think it is safe to say this as well.
Lots of Money!=Result
but
Compenent people + adaquate funding==Result
Dang you. I was going to offer them my services to consistently think irrationally about their new products and produce sure fire loosers as is clearly their business model. Would have been big bucks for me for sure.
I think that the tax incentives issue is what really bothers me about Bush's statement. I am all for a global economy and competing on an equal playing field, but squandering tax money to help companies send jobs overseas really rubs me the wrong way. The same way that China needs to de-value their money.
Yes, love em and listen every day. You can even listen to the parts of the broadcast that you want rather than whatever is on at the moment with their archive. When I can I donate to their great service.
Microsoft has been taken over by marketing managers. I think even Ballmer himself is has a business and not techincal degree. They just don't get it. What built Microsoft in the first place (besides a couple of underhanded deals) was a bunch of young software engineers hyped up on soda standardizing interfaces and making tools that were easy for anyone to pick up and use.
If a person is trusted to make changes in a company that greatly affect the bottom line and they are wanting to make purchases in their area of expertise that facilitate their and the companies success, they should have the authority to spend the companies money. I have no problem with a check and balance system, but several VP's have already signed off on this. They see the financial big picture, so convincing some administrator who has no expertise and does not have access to the financial big picture is a waste of resources. Sad really.
Having just spent the last two days trying to make a maintenance agreement software purchase (that I have made without problem for the last 4 years), and still have not been able to because I am no longer trusted. I would say it is very very difficult to get this right, especially since I have root passwords to more than a dozen systems.
I can only guess their reasoning is that I need to be trusted to do the work, I should have all the access I need to do the work, but should have no actual work to do.
The Buffet quote is one target and illustrates the poor choice that fairtax is. And just to gall you I am writing this. You seem like someone who cannot stand to not have the last word. Guess we will see.
I am right on topic. If you are so passionately going to support something and try and influence peoples opinions, but they have very negative concequences, I have no problem using the same information over and over to give people all the facts to, in this case, discover that fair tax is a bad idea. You should be as responsible as to provide all this information.
What part of this phrase of the Buffet quote, "Frankly, I think that Bill and I should have a higher tax rate on the income we get" let you to your mis-guided flat tax analysis? It just is not a workable system.
Love you fair tax people. Fair tax is the worst idea ever. No poor person protections are going to make this a good idea, except for the very rich. Not even the rich elite think this is a good idea.
Warren Buffet had this to say about the Flat Tax (not the "Fair" tax idea, but close):
I wouldn't support it. We have, in my view, a taxation system that's much too flat already. If you look at the payroll tax--which is over 12% now, and that applies on the first $80,000 or $90,000 of income--Bill and I pay practically none of that in relation to our income. For the people that work for us, their tax rate in many cases is the same or even higher than my own, since the rate on capital gains and dividends was cut to 15%. What has gone on in this country in recent years is a huge benefit to the very rich and not that much relief to people down below. Frankly, I think that Bill and I should have a higher tax rate on the income we get. We pay less than half the rate that I was paying 25 years ago when I was making a lot less money. They have really taken care of the rich.
-- Fortune [fortune.com]
Just watched THX 1138 last nite. Movie set in the future about people having no rights and everyone spying on each other in a "utopian" society. Everything in the movie was driven by money and power. Favorite part is when they are "reconditioning" the main character and there is a new guy helping and he has no idea what he is doing. The torture of the main character, while the new guy was figuring out how to brain wash the main character was classic. This de-humanization and stripping of freedoms for power seems like what Bush would love to do. I don't want to live in that world.
This pretty much works for anything. Just figure out who are the Zealots for something and those are the people to watch. You cannot beat passion with money.
Anyone remember that computer generated comic from about 20 years ago called "Shatter"? One of the stories in there had a bomb that used a rat brain. Kind of weird that this is kind of close to that.
Well, that is just silly. How many time have you heard about how much Bill Gates is earning while doing nothing. (it changes, but last I saw was something like $250 every SECOND). Now you can just start down the list. Warren Buffet, Paul Allen,.... Guess you could stop after the top 5%, but guess what? They have something like 90% plus of all the money.
I agree with simplification. Just get rid of all the crap in the graduated system. Learn that you can claim more than one on your tax form so you don't give a free loan to the gov. Otherwise, at least tell people how much faster guys like Bill Gates will be earning per second. And how much poorer regular people will be.
Never did trust the DNC list. Some law changes and all those phone numbers are fair game.
I just built an Asterisk PBX and send all the "unknown" caller id's to voicemail. I believe there is even people working on a predictive dialer detector, and if that works you could send all those calls to voicemail as well. At any rate, just sending "unknown" calls to voicemail defeats almost all of these soliciting calls for me.
Scary. I took his class at the University of Texas and he would give you a buck for each typo you found. You still looking to make a buck? (just kidding)
Be careful with property. One thing that should also be said is that taxes can be a killer and they are due every year. If you owe 2.5% or 3% of the property value "every year" it could easily out strip any gain in the market over the same period. Alot of very successful people I know rent because of high taxes and the raping you get in interest (on a $100k house, throwing $2500 on taxes and $3000 down a hole and getting $1000 back at the end of the year). The standard of living may not be as good, but the costs are a wash (house appreciation, etc) after you figure in taxes and interest loses. They save until they can almost pay cash then they are set. But, I agree, no debt is the key.
Slashdot Mirror
I completely agree with this. Our MythTV box skips commercials completely without ever having to lift a finger. We have gotten so use to it, and we save so much time, we actually think something is wrong when we are watching live TV. That is also a testimony of how much live tv we watch ... almost none.
Long ago, I heard that an advertiser said that advertising to people was like spraying pesticide on roaches. The more you spray them the harder it is. Well guess what, we are not roaches and we have our own pesticide.
Bigger Budget != Better Product So agree with this. Where I work the IT Staff for one department is embarrassingly incompetent. I am not saying that lightly, I don't think they can do the work. They had a project, bought up hardware, consultants, and bloated software to the tune of $380k. Nine months later it did not work and they brought me in. I looked at what they did, started from scratch and built it by myself for nothing running on a PC in three weeks using Open Source Tools. I think it is safe to say this as well. Lots of Money!=Result but Compenent people + adaquate funding==Result
He won't even get a juice box.
Dang you. I was going to offer them my services to consistently think irrationally about their new products and produce sure fire loosers as is clearly their business model. Would have been big bucks for me for sure.
Republicans added a cabinet seat. As much bloat as they have added, I think they are only interested in control and power.
I think that the tax incentives issue is what really bothers me about Bush's statement. I am all for a global economy and competing on an equal playing field, but squandering tax money to help companies send jobs overseas really rubs me the wrong way. The same way that China needs to de-value their money.
John Smith. Prove that I am wrong.
Yes, love em and listen every day. You can even listen to the parts of the broadcast that you want rather than whatever is on at the moment with their archive. When I can I donate to their great service.
Microsoft has been taken over by marketing managers. I think even Ballmer himself is has a business and not techincal degree. They just don't get it. What built Microsoft in the first place (besides a couple of underhanded deals) was a bunch of young software engineers hyped up on soda standardizing interfaces and making tools that were easy for anyone to pick up and use.
But at least McCarthy was fighting something that needed to be fought.
If a person is trusted to make changes in a company that greatly affect the bottom line and they are wanting to make purchases in their area of expertise that facilitate their and the companies success, they should have the authority to spend the companies money. I have no problem with a check and balance system, but several VP's have already signed off on this. They see the financial big picture, so convincing some administrator who has no expertise and does not have access to the financial big picture is a waste of resources. Sad really.
Having just spent the last two days trying to make a maintenance agreement software purchase (that I have made without problem for the last 4 years), and still have not been able to because I am no longer trusted. I would say it is very very difficult to get this right, especially since I have root passwords to more than a dozen systems.
I can only guess their reasoning is that I need to be trusted to do the work, I should have all the access I need to do the work, but should have no actual work to do.
The Buffet quote is one target and illustrates the poor choice that fairtax is. And just to gall you I am writing this. You seem like someone who cannot stand to not have the last word. Guess we will see.
I am right on topic. If you are so passionately going to support something and try and influence peoples opinions, but they have very negative concequences, I have no problem using the same information over and over to give people all the facts to, in this case, discover that fair tax is a bad idea. You should be as responsible as to provide all this information.
What part of this phrase of the Buffet quote, "Frankly, I think that Bill and I should have a higher tax rate on the income we get" let you to your mis-guided flat tax analysis? It just is not a workable system.
Love you fair tax people. Fair tax is the worst idea ever. No poor person protections are going to make this a good idea, except for the very rich. Not even the rich elite think this is a good idea. Warren Buffet had this to say about the Flat Tax (not the "Fair" tax idea, but close): I wouldn't support it. We have, in my view, a taxation system that's much too flat already. If you look at the payroll tax--which is over 12% now, and that applies on the first $80,000 or $90,000 of income--Bill and I pay practically none of that in relation to our income. For the people that work for us, their tax rate in many cases is the same or even higher than my own, since the rate on capital gains and dividends was cut to 15%. What has gone on in this country in recent years is a huge benefit to the very rich and not that much relief to people down below. Frankly, I think that Bill and I should have a higher tax rate on the income we get. We pay less than half the rate that I was paying 25 years ago when I was making a lot less money. They have really taken care of the rich. -- Fortune [fortune.com]
Just watched THX 1138 last nite. Movie set in the future about people having no rights and everyone spying on each other in a "utopian" society. Everything in the movie was driven by money and power. Favorite part is when they are "reconditioning" the main character and there is a new guy helping and he has no idea what he is doing. The torture of the main character, while the new guy was figuring out how to brain wash the main character was classic. This de-humanization and stripping of freedoms for power seems like what Bush would love to do. I don't want to live in that world.
This pretty much works for anything. Just figure out who are the Zealots for something and those are the people to watch. You cannot beat passion with money.
Anyone remember that computer generated comic from about 20 years ago called "Shatter"? One of the stories in there had a bomb that used a rat brain. Kind of weird that this is kind of close to that.
I thought this was suppose to be an easy system with no loop holes. Does not sound like it.
Well, that is just silly. How many time have you heard about how much Bill Gates is earning while doing nothing. (it changes, but last I saw was something like $250 every SECOND). Now you can just start down the list. Warren Buffet, Paul Allen, .... Guess you could stop after the top 5%, but guess what? They have something like 90% plus of all the money.
I agree with simplification. Just get rid of all the crap in the graduated system. Learn that you can claim more than one on your tax form so you don't give a free loan to the gov. Otherwise, at least tell people how much faster guys like Bill Gates will be earning per second. And how much poorer regular people will be.
People with money do not need to spend it. They make money with money and do not need to spend it so they get weathier.
... alot.
For regular folks, your taxable rate would go up
How about a graduated income tax rate and drop all the sales tax and special interest stuff. (real estate loop holes, tax shelters, etc).
Never did trust the DNC list. Some law changes and all those phone numbers are fair game.
I just built an Asterisk PBX and send all the "unknown" caller id's to voicemail. I believe there is even people working on a predictive dialer detector, and if that works you could send all those calls to voicemail as well. At any rate, just sending "unknown" calls to voicemail defeats almost all of these soliciting calls for me.
Perrys Handbook for Chemical Engineers
Scary. I took his class at the University of Texas and he would give you a buck for each typo you found. You still looking to make a buck? (just kidding)
Be careful with property. One thing that should also be said is that taxes can be a killer and they are due every year. If you owe 2.5% or 3% of the property value "every year" it could easily out strip any gain in the market over the same period. Alot of very successful people I know rent because of high taxes and the raping you get in interest (on a $100k house, throwing $2500 on taxes and $3000 down a hole and getting $1000 back at the end of the year). The standard of living may not be as good, but the costs are a wash (house appreciation, etc) after you figure in taxes and interest loses. They save until they can almost pay cash then they are set. But, I agree, no debt is the key.