> Tell you what - take a tour of what used to be the USSR some time... the vast majority of the ecological damage there [wikipedia.org] (esp. what used to be the Aral Sea) was done by a decidedly non-capitalistic government, hell-bent on a 'glorious revolutionary future'.
> What I think you were trying to say is that a Sales Tax is regressive when compared to an Income Tax that the poor do not have to pay.
That's exactly the way it works now. The poor doesn't pay income tax, but I remember reading somewhere that, say, smoking is much more prevalent amongst the poor, so the largest segment of tobacco tax comes from the people least able to afford it.
I used to live in California, and as I remember, the way sales tax was supposed to work is that basic necessities (which was food, but not, for some reason, fuel, which is vital to the working class) were not taxed but elective purchases were. I'm not sure how it works there now. I suspect everything is taxed at the maximum rate because that's the way things tend to progress. We don't have sales tax in Oregon and the people seem determined to keep it that way.
Right, unless it replaces an existing tax. I don't presently pay sales tax, but would trade income tax for sales tax, if there was no constitutional possibility of ending up with both.
But I see what you're saying. Taxing sales rather than income tends to promote savings, (which I think is a good thing) but fewer sales means less consumption, which leads to job loss.
Yeah, too bad sales taxes differ even on brick-and-mortar establishments here. Oregon has no sales tax. In California the amount of sales tax varies by county. This is going to be fun!
Not at all. He said he wanted to get back his passion for writing code. There's nothing like desperation for creating passion.
Now, you and I, we would play it safe and get another job first before quitting this one, because poverty sucks. But that doesn't build passion.
Alternate plan: Quit your job, register as an LLC in your state, and create your own product. Be careful to know enough of the business end (or know someone who does) that you don't waste your time writing something you can't, or don't know how to, sell.
Last I heard, Netflix streaming uses Silverlight, despite the completely lack (at the time) of support on any platform other than Winders. (Now there's Moonlight, but I suppose that will go away as well.)
So, I'm wondering what Netflix will switch to, and if anyone over there feels the slightest bit of embarrassment.
I think snowblower engines are 2-stroke. (You know, mix the oil with the gas.) This would create quite a bit more pollution than a conventional gas economy car, I think. Might be better to use a standard portable generator.
> Chicken and egg: what's the point of building a 'luxury sedan' that can't travel more than 300 miles because there's nowhere to charge it?
You can charge it at home. That's enough for a lot of folks, especially with a 300 mile range.
So, the chicken exists and the eggs are available at your house. If people are going to buy these things, the time to man up is now. If enough buy it, the eggs will be available on the road. If enough don't, it wasn't to be.
That's kinda what "commodity" means, unless your position is that Apple is more popular because they charge higher prices (which, now that I think of it, may have some merit), I don't see a downside. Yes, in a razor thin marketplace, there will be a few casualties. I personally don't work for any of those companies, and unlike the standard Apple fanboi, I don't have any interest in loving a product for its logo. (I reserve the right, based on experience, to hate a product for it's logo SAMSUNG. Sorry, did I say that out loud?)
PCs at the bottom may have gotten crappier, but there always was, still is, and always will be higher end, well built, high performance PCs if you want. And low end trash if you want. And that's a good thing. (And as the person who has to fix it, I tell the customer when they've bought a low end commodity product when they need to just replace it because it's not worth bothering with. I'm aware that's not terribly "green".)
And so, the completely bottom end shrink wrapped Android no-name devices (not just phones) are already pretty crappy. But you don't have to buy them. This (to come full circle) is why I have a list of features an Android device must have before I will consider it. And incidentally, the iPad fails on at least three of those.
What the product does is more important than who makes it. This is something none of the people who stood in line for the 4s will ever understand. (And they blocked the drive-thru at Starbucks so I couldn't get my coffee that morning. I try not to hate Apple, but it's my COFFEE.)
The point is, "fragmenting the market" is not interesting in this case.
Consider: Apple is the only company (with the death of psystar) that can make and sell a Macintosh. So, there's the Mac, and then there are a plethora of Windows PCs manufactured by hundreds (maybe thousands) of companies, from huge name brands to individual mom-and-pops.
So the Mac marketplace is absolutely cohesive, and (just incidentally) high margin.
And the Windows PC marketplace is about as fragmented as a marketplace can possibly be, and is on as slim a margin as could possibly be managed.
So, I guess that this means that Apple is the winner and has the most market share. Oh wait...
Point, again, being, that mere fragmentation is not exactly the death knell that Apple believes (or pretends to believe for marketing reasons).
Many have made the point that Apple would make a serious dent in the PC marketshare if they'd only allow clones. The reason they do not is not because it would "fragment the marketplace" or lead to insurmountable support issues, but simply because, when you sell a boutique device, you can charge boutique prices and reap boutique profits. Which is a different way of making your point -- that they don't want to be the most popular, they just want to make the most money.
Well, they're both Android. In another thread, I mentioned that the lack of the marketplace is pretty much a deal breaker, if that's what you're talking about. The Nook Color will boot off its SD card, which makes it a lot easier to install a full featured copy of Android. The Fire lacks an SD card.
The point is, when you're talking about what is rapidly becoming a commodity item, (android tablets) the issue becomes more and more what the individual features are than how many units have been sold. After all, if we're just going on how popular something is, we'd all own ipads.
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> Tell you what - take a tour of what used to be the USSR some time... the vast majority of the ecological damage there [wikipedia.org] (esp. what used to be the Aral Sea) was done by a decidedly non-capitalistic government, hell-bent on a 'glorious revolutionary future'.
Similar to what's currently happening in China...
ZPG. Wow. Deja-vu!
> What I think you were trying to say is that a Sales Tax is regressive when compared to an Income Tax that the poor do not have to pay.
That's exactly the way it works now. The poor doesn't pay income tax, but I remember reading somewhere that, say, smoking is much more prevalent amongst the poor, so the largest segment of tobacco tax comes from the people least able to afford it.
I used to live in California, and as I remember, the way sales tax was supposed to work is that basic necessities (which was food, but not, for some reason, fuel, which is vital to the working class) were not taxed but elective purchases were. I'm not sure how it works there now. I suspect everything is taxed at the maximum rate because that's the way things tend to progress. We don't have sales tax in Oregon and the people seem determined to keep it that way.
Consider it a small rebellion. I'm tired of the topic and I suspect I'm not alone.
we'll finally get some warm weather here.
Oh... (waving hand dismissively) Macs.
Right, unless it replaces an existing tax. I don't presently pay sales tax, but would trade income tax for sales tax, if there was no constitutional possibility of ending up with both.
But I see what you're saying. Taxing sales rather than income tends to promote savings, (which I think is a good thing) but fewer sales means less consumption, which leads to job loss.
Yeah, too bad sales taxes differ even on brick-and-mortar establishments here. Oregon has no sales tax. In California the amount of sales tax varies by county. This is going to be fun!
Not at all. He said he wanted to get back his passion for writing code. There's nothing like desperation for creating passion.
Now, you and I, we would play it safe and get another job first before quitting this one, because poverty sucks. But that doesn't build passion.
Alternate plan: Quit your job, register as an LLC in your state, and create your own product. Be careful to know enough of the business end (or know someone who does) that you don't waste your time writing something you can't, or don't know how to, sell.
Quit your job. You'll find motivation. Maybe not right away, but definitely when money gets tight.
Just don't pass your time with WOW. You'll starve to death.
Last I heard, Netflix streaming uses Silverlight, despite the completely lack (at the time) of support on any platform other than Winders. (Now there's Moonlight, but I suppose that will go away as well.)
So, I'm wondering what Netflix will switch to, and if anyone over there feels the slightest bit of embarrassment.
Um, because it's a luxury sedan, and because of the cultural mojo from the "it's an electric car!!!!" bumper sticker? (Just a guess.)
I think snowblower engines are 2-stroke. (You know, mix the oil with the gas.) This would create quite a bit more pollution than a conventional gas economy car, I think. Might be better to use a standard portable generator.
> Chicken and egg: what's the point of building a 'luxury sedan' that can't travel more than 300 miles because there's nowhere to charge it?
You can charge it at home. That's enough for a lot of folks, especially with a 300 mile range.
So, the chicken exists and the eggs are available at your house. If people are going to buy these things, the time to man up is now. If enough buy it, the eggs will be available on the road. If enough don't, it wasn't to be.
Simple. Pull a trailer stuffed full of marine batteries.
> The bottom end doesn't have to be complete shit.
Yes, it really does. That's why it's the bottom end. They have to have something to sell on the shopping channel. You don't have to buy one.
Hey, deja vu. Have we talked about this before?
Yes, you're right. I still think there was a "yes men" somewhere... Probably not The Tick.
Doesn't look anything like a spaceship.
BLUE. SCREEN. OF. DEATH.
Nuke them from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Just wonderin'
That's kinda what "commodity" means, unless your position is that Apple is more popular because they charge higher prices (which, now that I think of it, may have some merit), I don't see a downside. Yes, in a razor thin marketplace, there will be a few casualties. I personally don't work for any of those companies, and unlike the standard Apple fanboi, I don't have any interest in loving a product for its logo. (I reserve the right, based on experience, to hate a product for it's logo SAMSUNG. Sorry, did I say that out loud?)
PCs at the bottom may have gotten crappier, but there always was, still is, and always will be higher end, well built, high performance PCs if you want. And low end trash if you want. And that's a good thing. (And as the person who has to fix it, I tell the customer when they've bought a low end commodity product when they need to just replace it because it's not worth bothering with. I'm aware that's not terribly "green".)
And so, the completely bottom end shrink wrapped Android no-name devices (not just phones) are already pretty crappy. But you don't have to buy them. This (to come full circle) is why I have a list of features an Android device must have before I will consider it. And incidentally, the iPad fails on at least three of those.
What the product does is more important than who makes it. This is something none of the people who stood in line for the 4s will ever understand. (And they blocked the drive-thru at Starbucks so I couldn't get my coffee that morning. I try not to hate Apple, but it's my COFFEE.)
The point is, "fragmenting the market" is not interesting in this case.
Consider: Apple is the only company (with the death of psystar) that can make and sell a Macintosh. So, there's the Mac, and then there are a plethora of Windows PCs manufactured by hundreds (maybe thousands) of companies, from huge name brands to individual mom-and-pops.
So the Mac marketplace is absolutely cohesive, and (just incidentally) high margin.
And the Windows PC marketplace is about as fragmented as a marketplace can possibly be, and is on as slim a margin as could possibly be managed.
So, I guess that this means that Apple is the winner and has the most market share. Oh wait...
Point, again, being, that mere fragmentation is not exactly the death knell that Apple believes (or pretends to believe for marketing reasons).
Many have made the point that Apple would make a serious dent in the PC marketshare if they'd only allow clones. The reason they do not is not because it would "fragment the marketplace" or lead to insurmountable support issues, but simply because, when you sell a boutique device, you can charge boutique prices and reap boutique profits. Which is a different way of making your point -- that they don't want to be the most popular, they just want to make the most money.
Well, they're both Android. In another thread, I mentioned that the lack of the marketplace is pretty much a deal breaker, if that's what you're talking about. The Nook Color will boot off its SD card, which makes it a lot easier to install a full featured copy of Android. The Fire lacks an SD card.
The point is, when you're talking about what is rapidly becoming a commodity item, (android tablets) the issue becomes more and more what the individual features are than how many units have been sold. After all, if we're just going on how popular something is, we'd all own ipads.