Police can only pull people for probable cause. If the state/municipality has no law regarding distracted driving (lost by a narrow margin in Texas last year) then guess what? They can't pull that person over. If they see them swerve, they might have PC. But if the person is driving slowly in the fast lane, but not slower than the minimum speed on that road/highway, once again, they can't pull them over.
Talk to your Reps/Senators/Whoever Makes Laws in your area, and soon enough you would see these people getting pulled over, but not until then.
"Grand Theft Auto: Myst"
In the most gorgeously conceived AND ultraviolent video game in history, you can open fire on passing cars with a bazooka while exploring universal archetypes!
By Jason Roeder
Feb. 2, 2005 | Objective:
Climb the ranks as a gangland sociopath by ruthlessly solving a series of intricate puzzles dispersed throughout the fantasy worlds of "Myst." But that's just the game's narrative dimension. Half the fun, of course, is exploration for its own sake, so if for some reason you're losing interest in, say, valves and knobs, just take a break from the storyline and wander. The realms of "Myst" aren't mere pixilated backdrops, but vivid and highly interactive landscapes. If you simply dash from screen to screen, you'll miss out on many of the game's treasures, not to mention some nicely situated sniping perches.
Start:
The game begins simply enough: You find yourself on an island. You don't know how you arrived in this magical place -- you've only been out of the joint three hours, and you hope to fuck you're not in Jamaica because you know way too many Rasta men with scores to settle. But unraveling the astonishing truth will take all your wits. Then, it will take the wits of smarter friends, and then it will take the wits of a shut-in who wrote a walk-through.
How did this game come about?
With the release of "Revelation," the fourth installment of "Myst," not to mention several derivative novels, the creative team at Cyan worried that the title had played itself out. For a jump-start, the company turned to collaborations with long-standing video game icons. Those early partnerships, however, failed to produce the desired synergy. In other words, there's a good reason you haven't played "Ms. Pac-Myst."
But the "Grand Theft Auto" and "Myst" series seem so aesthetically opposed. How did the programmers manage to integrate them?
Obviously, compromises had to be made. For example, if you've played "Myst" before, you know that go-go clubs are scarce and that there's no Little Havana, per se. Similarly, in "Grand Theft Auto," the only reason you might find yourself in a library is because you're hiding from the SWAT helicopter. Balance was key: Just the right amount of urban development -- followed by just the right amount of urban decay -- was needed to create a picturesque dreamscape that could also credibly be swimming in guns.
"Myst" is pretty much uninhabited, while "GTA" is all about the characters. How did they get around that?
To be honest, there wasn't any coherent, plausible way to populate "Myst" within the existing mythos. Instead, the game's creators took a bold meta approach. All the inhabitants of "Grand Theft Auto: Myst" are the virtual presences of players who attempted a previous version of "Myst" but gave up forever after 45 enchanting minutes. Without a directing intelligence to guide them, these "afterimages" eventually coalesced into a crude, benighted society -- prostitutes, drug lords, tourists.
What about Atrus?
For those of you unfamiliar with the name, Atrus is the architect of all the "Myst" realms. He's wise, avuncular, and needs your help -- a lot, and for free. The folks at Cyan wanted to keep him that way. Rockstar Games, which puts out the "GTA" series, wanted to go in a different direction with "Myst's" most important character. In the end, an agreement was reached: Atrus -- still wise, still avuncular -- would be recast as a harmless rare-book dealer who occasionally troubled players with small errands: picking up 700 kilos of rare books at an abandoned quarry, connecting a rare book to the ignition of a Russian mafia lieutenant's car, and so on. In addition, Atrus' ether addiction could be toggled on and off.
There's something so pristine and nonthreatening about "Myst." I'm worried that it will resensitize me to violence.
I know what you mean. There's that one-of-a-kind "Grand Theft Auto" moment when you've beaten
That was my first thought... 3D0 and their financial troubles. I even understand he spent his own money a few times to bail the company out, and gave up on it the last time.
EA though, for all of its bad publicity of late, was a huge name in games. he left in 1991, which I think was either bad timing, or showed his lack of vision.
The article states that 72 percent of the thefts of personal information for scams last year was done offline. That suggests that the number of thefts that occured is very heavily weighted to the side of "happened offline.":)
Careful there big fella. As we all know, Ignoring Cubium indicts you evil.
Re:Sounds like a piracy crackdown, not a ban.
on
China Bans 50 Games
·
· Score: 1
Er... China overran two cities in 4 weeks, then pulled it's troops out. From that point on, Vietnam had a larger force along the border than China, but neither side attacked in force. However, there have been several skirmishes and reports of sabatoge on both sides.
How does losing two cities in 4 weeks equal a butt whoopin?
You make a good point. The cops that make the news for breaking the law are a small fraction of the cops out there doing their job. No news crew is going to interview a police officer for writing a couple of tickets and breaking up a domestic disturbance, throwing the abuser in jail. Thanks not news.
You can, however, find all of the above on the tv show Cops, which has been around for quite a while.
I don't see anything wrong with your train of thought. I have also bought a copy of WinXP for gaming purposes. I run two boxes on a KVM at my desk... the WinXP box is only used gaming, and VPN to work when I have to work on Win code.
Like you, I also donate to OSS projects that I like, and in a much larger amount than the $150ish I paid for my WinXP.
I haven't bought/don't use any other MS products at home, and really don't plan to. If, for some reason I do, I'll pay for that as well.
Re:Sounds like a piracy crackdown, not a ban.
on
China Bans 50 Games
·
· Score: 4, Informative
That was in 1979... a full 4 years after Americans were completely evacuated, and SVN was overrun by NVN. The reasons for the invasion were Chinese claims of discrimination by the Vietnamese, the 1978 signing of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union led China to call Vietnam the Cuba of the East, and Vietnam's 1978 invasion of Cambodia being a threat. The invasion lasted four weeks, and was considered a punishment by the Chinese.
During the Vietnam conflict/war, China was instrumental in supplying the NVN with weapons and funding. My father's job in the USAF was to listen to Chinese pilots who were carrying military cargo to Vietnam... sometimes Chinese, sometimes Soviet.
Either that, or they approved of Bush's job in general. Most people agree that 1) we went to war with Iraq under misleading pretenses (faulty CIA information), and 2) that Saddam Hussein should have been removed from power (the arguement as to how continues).
There are other issues at hand. It would appear that the majority of Americans are ok with things like the PATRIOT act (I'm not one of them). Maybe if makes Joe Sixpack feel safer. The tax cuts seem to have made the majority of Americans happy as well.
Kerry didn't seem to relate well to Joe Sixpack, while Bush does seem to. What killed Kerry IMHO, though, was folks like Michael Moore jumping on his bandwagon.
Make sure you get the original Hummer, a technical marvel as far as personal transportation goes. The H2 is nothing more than a Tahoe with a different body.
Actually, we've only been a rehabilitation interested country for a short while. Rehabilitation, that is, in the sense of rebuilding the person and the belief values. James Johnston (San Quentin, Folsom, Alcatraz Warden) became noted because he didn't believe in chain gangs. Rather, he implemented work duty where prisoners were rewarded for their efforts. He began in 1913, but didn't gain real noteriety until 1933, when Alcatraz opened.
Before prisons (outside of the US.. our first prison was built in 1790), there were stocks/pillories (which we did have at one time), popular torture devices, and brutal treatment. Someone who lived before the 1900's would be amazed at the treatment of prisoners today.
The meetings will continue until we find out why nothing gets done around here
True story...
While working for AIM in the early 90's, I found myself in a team lead role. I was overworked before that and still carried that load, but this added a new dimension.. meetings. It got to the point where I spent at least half of my time in meetings and I was very frustrated. I mentioned it to my manager, his manager, etc...
Evidently that worked. It also seemed other employees were complaining about their time spent in meetings. The obvious fix for this (you guessed it) was to form a committee made up of one member of each team in the company to represent the interests of their group. This committee (aptly named the Productivity Committee) would determine what the cause of all of the lost productivity was. My manager, who had obviously heard my complaint loud and clear, nominated me to represent our team.
In the roundtable meeting, I kept my head down, reading reports, while other representatives voiced their opinion. When the discussion got to me, I reluctantly said "This! This is why I'm losing productivity! Not only do I have to go to meaningless meetings, now I have to go to this meeting as well." That was all I said.
I'm not sure how long that committee lasted, but that was the only meeting of it I had to go to.
I think you're assuming you know what's in said contract. That contract might very well have a clause in it stating that the ISP reserves the right to deny service to anyone posting what the ISP's owners/directors consider objectionable material. If that is in fact the case (most service contracts have similar stipulations with some detail as to what might be considered objectionable) the the ISP was within every right to shut down the site.
You can freely enter into any contract you so choose, but be sure to read that contract. As a business owner, you're right... I do appreciate contracts being enforced. But contracts are rarely short, and usually very specific. I do make sure to read the fine print, and quite often make corrections to a contract before I sign it... it's the nature of business deals.
The real point is there is no detail as to what happened. I was merely providing a view from the other side. It is quite possible the ISP was within their rights to shut this site down, but we won't know until more details are released.
You might want to read here, here, and here if you're curious about The Planet's policies, especially the part that says threatening, obscene, indecent, defamatory or that otherwise could adversely affect any individual, group or entity (collectively, "Persons") under Compliance with Law, as a previous poster mentioned this site had some pretty strong backers and suggestions.
I understand your arguement, but I don't think you fully understand the parents'. On the one hand, it seems you think it's in the private company's "duty" to post what the website's owners want, regardless of content. After all, freedom of speech does not necessarily mean freedom from speech.
On the other hand, private enterprise is just that... private. Unless that company could be proven to have discriminated based on race, sex, age, or disability, they can allow/disallow anything they want. To force them to allow any/all content would be nothing more than oppressive. We not only have our constitutional rights, we also have a free market (with a few stipulations posed by the UCC). I, as the owner of a very small software shop, have the right to say no to RFP's from anyone I choose. To force me to do otherwise would be oppressive, and I would likely close up shop. As the business owner, I have the right.
..just maybe, it's a business decision, rather than
So what should we make of this? Government conspiracy, corporate arrogance, or the proper sanctioning of the mouthpiece of an oppressive regime?
It is strangely possible that some events occur without any government intervention. While it's quite possible, I have to say I really hate the spin added to this story, especially when it's even admitted that there aren't any real details as of yet.
In other news... Man misses light on way to work because of pedestrian in pedestrian crossing... could this be a government conspiracy? News at 11
The real problem is I think they will be too late in revising mortality estimates
I agree with you on all accounts except maybe this one. Having been a quantitative analyst, I've worked with quite a few actuarials. One thing I know about them is they're on top of their game. I would imagine as life expectancies rise, so will expectancies that actuarials use in calculating things like pricing insurance rates, calculating returns on variable annuities, and of course, calculating returns necessary to support the SS system.
I don't imagine any estimates would be exact, but then again, real life doesn't fit that model. George Burns drank scotch and smoked cigars and lived 100 years when the typical life expectancy was about 75 at the time. Both of my grandparents died (around the same time) before they hit 70. Some people get hit by a bus, etc....
Having said that, I do agree that both the average life expectancy and the qualified retirement age by the SSA will rise slowly. Historically, the QRA hasn't been grandfathered for the US population. Rather, it goes up for everyone... sorry 64 year olds, you have to wait another 3 years. If, in the future, there is a large jump in life expectancy through some miracle of medical science, we might see a grandfathered plan implemented. Something like that could be disastrous for SS.
Oh, and a p.s. Neither my fiance nor I am counting on SS benefits at all in our retirement plans. It'll be nice if it's there, but I, for one, am certainly not going to count on it. My assumption is that benefits in the future might wind up more like our welfare system. More for those that "need" it, possibly based on yearly income from retirement distributions. My $0.02.
You forget to take into consideration the notion of how long a person is able to work, which is what the SSA sets for benefits.
In my lifetime, the age has gone from 62 to 67 (over a period of 33 years). Currently, the average life expectancy in the US is 77.43 years for the total population.
That would suggest the IRS thinks you should work until you've hit 86.5% of your life expectancy. If people were to live until 200 years old, the SSA simply wouldn't give you any benefits until you hit the ripe old age of 173.
In the price per page comparison's I've seen, the Canon's are about the same. It seems they waste a bit more ink than HP's do, evening out the analysis between the two.
Find one Democratic President who's spent more money he didn't have than any of the last three Republican Presidents. That would be...noone. Oops.
Based on what exactly? As a percentage of income taxes earned? Collected? In dollar amount?
There have been plenty of Presidents on both side of the spending issue, and both sides of the party issue, who caused the US to spend more than it earned. Most notable was F. D. Roosevent. Many argue that his overspending to rebound from the Great Depression was fruitless, and what really pulled the U.S. out was WWII.
The first time the U.S. showed any real deficit spending was during WWI, when Woodrow Wilson (democrat) was President. Beginning in 1942, the national debt tripled in size (due to WWII spending) which was under FDR... a democrat. Between that time and 1982, however, the deficit and national debt stabalized, until Reagan (republican) got a hold of it. Clinton (democrat) was instrumental in reversing the trend of deficit spending to his credit. However, it's fairly easy to remember the actions of one recent former President and forget the actions of those before him.
Historically, however, the democratic party has been a proponent of raising taxes, as it has also been a proponent of funding government agencies (welfare, medicare, etc..) while the republican party favors backing off of those plans, though hugely unpopular.
Most of it is just soapboxing though. Currently the democrats in congress pick on Bush (who makes himself an easy target for sure) and his current spending habits. At the same time the democrats have been pushing to increase spending as well.
Slashdot Mirror
Police can only pull people for probable cause. If the state/municipality has no law regarding distracted driving (lost by a narrow margin in Texas last year) then guess what? They can't pull that person over. If they see them swerve, they might have PC. But if the person is driving slowly in the fast lane, but not slower than the minimum speed on that road/highway, once again, they can't pull them over.
Talk to your Reps/Senators/Whoever Makes Laws in your area, and soon enough you would see these people getting pulled over, but not until then.
Can't outlaw burritos
In some area's, DWUB (Driving While Under the influence of a Burrito) is already illegal.
"Grand Theft Auto: Myst" In the most gorgeously conceived AND ultraviolent video game in history, you can open fire on passing cars with a bazooka while exploring universal archetypes!
By Jason Roeder
Feb. 2, 2005 | Objective:
Climb the ranks as a gangland sociopath by ruthlessly solving a series of intricate puzzles dispersed throughout the fantasy worlds of "Myst." But that's just the game's narrative dimension. Half the fun, of course, is exploration for its own sake, so if for some reason you're losing interest in, say, valves and knobs, just take a break from the storyline and wander. The realms of "Myst" aren't mere pixilated backdrops, but vivid and highly interactive landscapes. If you simply dash from screen to screen, you'll miss out on many of the game's treasures, not to mention some nicely situated sniping perches.
Start:
The game begins simply enough: You find yourself on an island. You don't know how you arrived in this magical place -- you've only been out of the joint three hours, and you hope to fuck you're not in Jamaica because you know way too many Rasta men with scores to settle. But unraveling the astonishing truth will take all your wits. Then, it will take the wits of smarter friends, and then it will take the wits of a shut-in who wrote a walk-through.
How did this game come about?
With the release of "Revelation," the fourth installment of "Myst," not to mention several derivative novels, the creative team at Cyan worried that the title had played itself out. For a jump-start, the company turned to collaborations with long-standing video game icons. Those early partnerships, however, failed to produce the desired synergy. In other words, there's a good reason you haven't played "Ms. Pac-Myst."
But the "Grand Theft Auto" and "Myst" series seem so aesthetically opposed. How did the programmers manage to integrate them?
Obviously, compromises had to be made. For example, if you've played "Myst" before, you know that go-go clubs are scarce and that there's no Little Havana, per se. Similarly, in "Grand Theft Auto," the only reason you might find yourself in a library is because you're hiding from the SWAT helicopter. Balance was key: Just the right amount of urban development -- followed by just the right amount of urban decay -- was needed to create a picturesque dreamscape that could also credibly be swimming in guns.
"Myst" is pretty much uninhabited, while "GTA" is all about the characters. How did they get around that?
To be honest, there wasn't any coherent, plausible way to populate "Myst" within the existing mythos. Instead, the game's creators took a bold meta approach. All the inhabitants of "Grand Theft Auto: Myst" are the virtual presences of players who attempted a previous version of "Myst" but gave up forever after 45 enchanting minutes. Without a directing intelligence to guide them, these "afterimages" eventually coalesced into a crude, benighted society -- prostitutes, drug lords, tourists.
What about Atrus?
For those of you unfamiliar with the name, Atrus is the architect of all the "Myst" realms. He's wise, avuncular, and needs your help -- a lot, and for free. The folks at Cyan wanted to keep him that way. Rockstar Games, which puts out the "GTA" series, wanted to go in a different direction with "Myst's" most important character. In the end, an agreement was reached: Atrus -- still wise, still avuncular -- would be recast as a harmless rare-book dealer who occasionally troubled players with small errands: picking up 700 kilos of rare books at an abandoned quarry, connecting a rare book to the ignition of a Russian mafia lieutenant's car, and so on. In addition, Atrus' ether addiction could be toggled on and off.
There's something so pristine and nonthreatening about "Myst." I'm worried that it will resensitize me to violence.
I know what you mean. There's that one-of-a-kind "Grand Theft Auto" moment when you've beaten
That was my first thought... 3D0 and their financial troubles. I even understand he spent his own money a few times to bail the company out, and gave up on it the last time.
EA though, for all of its bad publicity of late, was a huge name in games. he left in 1991, which I think was either bad timing, or showed his lack of vision.
The article states that 72 percent of the thefts of personal information for scams last year was done offline. That suggests that the number of thefts that occured is very heavily weighted to the side of "happened offline." :)
Careful there big fella. As we all know, Ignoring Cubium indicts you evil.
Er... China overran two cities in 4 weeks, then pulled it's troops out. From that point on, Vietnam had a larger force along the border than China, but neither side attacked in force. However, there have been several skirmishes and reports of sabatoge on both sides.
How does losing two cities in 4 weeks equal a butt whoopin?
You make a good point. The cops that make the news for breaking the law are a small fraction of the cops out there doing their job. No news crew is going to interview a police officer for writing a couple of tickets and breaking up a domestic disturbance, throwing the abuser in jail. Thanks not news.
You can, however, find all of the above on the tv show Cops, which has been around for quite a while.
I don't see anything wrong with your train of thought. I have also bought a copy of WinXP for gaming purposes. I run two boxes on a KVM at my desk... the WinXP box is only used gaming, and VPN to work when I have to work on Win code.
Like you, I also donate to OSS projects that I like, and in a much larger amount than the $150ish I paid for my WinXP.
I haven't bought/don't use any other MS products at home, and really don't plan to. If, for some reason I do, I'll pay for that as well.
That was in 1979... a full 4 years after Americans were completely evacuated, and SVN was overrun by NVN. The reasons for the invasion were Chinese claims of discrimination by the Vietnamese, the 1978 signing of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union led China to call Vietnam the Cuba of the East, and Vietnam's 1978 invasion of Cambodia being a threat. The invasion lasted four weeks, and was considered a punishment by the Chinese.
During the Vietnam conflict/war, China was instrumental in supplying the NVN with weapons and funding. My father's job in the USAF was to listen to Chinese pilots who were carrying military cargo to Vietnam... sometimes Chinese, sometimes Soviet.
Either that, or they approved of Bush's job in general. Most people agree that 1) we went to war with Iraq under misleading pretenses (faulty CIA information), and 2) that Saddam Hussein should have been removed from power (the arguement as to how continues).
There are other issues at hand. It would appear that the majority of Americans are ok with things like the PATRIOT act (I'm not one of them). Maybe if makes Joe Sixpack feel safer. The tax cuts seem to have made the majority of Americans happy as well.
Kerry didn't seem to relate well to Joe Sixpack, while Bush does seem to. What killed Kerry IMHO, though, was folks like Michael Moore jumping on his bandwagon.
Make sure you get the original Hummer, a technical marvel as far as personal transportation goes. The H2 is nothing more than a Tahoe with a different body.
Actually, we've only been a rehabilitation interested country for a short while. Rehabilitation, that is, in the sense of rebuilding the person and the belief values. James Johnston (San Quentin, Folsom, Alcatraz Warden) became noted because he didn't believe in chain gangs. Rather, he implemented work duty where prisoners were rewarded for their efforts. He began in 1913, but didn't gain real noteriety until 1933, when Alcatraz opened.
Before prisons (outside of the US.. our first prison was built in 1790), there were stocks/pillories (which we did have at one time), popular torture devices, and brutal treatment. Someone who lived before the 1900's would be amazed at the treatment of prisoners today.
The meetings will continue until we find out why nothing gets done around here
True story...
While working for AIM in the early 90's, I found myself in a team lead role. I was overworked before that and still carried that load, but this added a new dimension.. meetings. It got to the point where I spent at least half of my time in meetings and I was very frustrated. I mentioned it to my manager, his manager, etc...
Evidently that worked. It also seemed other employees were complaining about their time spent in meetings. The obvious fix for this (you guessed it) was to form a committee made up of one member of each team in the company to represent the interests of their group. This committee (aptly named the Productivity Committee) would determine what the cause of all of the lost productivity was. My manager, who had obviously heard my complaint loud and clear, nominated me to represent our team.
In the roundtable meeting, I kept my head down, reading reports, while other representatives voiced their opinion. When the discussion got to me, I reluctantly said "This! This is why I'm losing productivity! Not only do I have to go to meaningless meetings, now I have to go to this meeting as well." That was all I said.
I'm not sure how long that committee lasted, but that was the only meeting of it I had to go to.
I think you're assuming you know what's in said contract. That contract might very well have a clause in it stating that the ISP reserves the right to deny service to anyone posting what the ISP's owners/directors consider objectionable material. If that is in fact the case (most service contracts have similar stipulations with some detail as to what might be considered objectionable) the the ISP was within every right to shut down the site.
You can freely enter into any contract you so choose, but be sure to read that contract. As a business owner, you're right... I do appreciate contracts being enforced. But contracts are rarely short, and usually very specific. I do make sure to read the fine print, and quite often make corrections to a contract before I sign it... it's the nature of business deals.
The real point is there is no detail as to what happened. I was merely providing a view from the other side. It is quite possible the ISP was within their rights to shut this site down, but we won't know until more details are released.
You might want to read here, here, and here if you're curious about The Planet's policies, especially the part that says threatening, obscene, indecent, defamatory or that otherwise could adversely affect any individual, group or entity (collectively, "Persons") under Compliance with Law, as a previous poster mentioned this site had some pretty strong backers and suggestions.
Why... Sealand of course!
Note, that site has a link to a great picture of Sealand here.
I understand your arguement, but I don't think you fully understand the parents'. On the one hand, it seems you think it's in the private company's "duty" to post what the website's owners want, regardless of content. After all, freedom of speech does not necessarily mean freedom from speech.
On the other hand, private enterprise is just that... private. Unless that company could be proven to have discriminated based on race, sex, age, or disability, they can allow/disallow anything they want. To force them to allow any/all content would be nothing more than oppressive. We not only have our constitutional rights, we also have a free market (with a few stipulations posed by the UCC). I, as the owner of a very small software shop, have the right to say no to RFP's from anyone I choose. To force me to do otherwise would be oppressive, and I would likely close up shop. As the business owner, I have the right.
It is strangely possible that some events occur without any government intervention. While it's quite possible, I have to say I really hate the spin added to this story, especially when it's even admitted that there aren't any real details as of yet.
In other news... Man misses light on way to work because of pedestrian in pedestrian crossing... could this be a government conspiracy? News at 11
So nobody clued in that this was a hoax?
The pictures were actually from a publicity shoot in 1985 for the initial release of Windows.
The real problem is I think they will be too late in revising mortality estimates
I agree with you on all accounts except maybe this one. Having been a quantitative analyst, I've worked with quite a few actuarials. One thing I know about them is they're on top of their game. I would imagine as life expectancies rise, so will expectancies that actuarials use in calculating things like pricing insurance rates, calculating returns on variable annuities, and of course, calculating returns necessary to support the SS system.
I don't imagine any estimates would be exact, but then again, real life doesn't fit that model. George Burns drank scotch and smoked cigars and lived 100 years when the typical life expectancy was about 75 at the time. Both of my grandparents died (around the same time) before they hit 70. Some people get hit by a bus, etc....
Having said that, I do agree that both the average life expectancy and the qualified retirement age by the SSA will rise slowly. Historically, the QRA hasn't been grandfathered for the US population. Rather, it goes up for everyone... sorry 64 year olds, you have to wait another 3 years. If, in the future, there is a large jump in life expectancy through some miracle of medical science, we might see a grandfathered plan implemented. Something like that could be disastrous for SS.
Oh, and a p.s. Neither my fiance nor I am counting on SS benefits at all in our retirement plans. It'll be nice if it's there, but I, for one, am certainly not going to count on it. My assumption is that benefits in the future might wind up more like our welfare system. More for those that "need" it, possibly based on yearly income from retirement distributions. My $0.02.
You forget to take into consideration the notion of how long a person is able to work, which is what the SSA sets for benefits.
In my lifetime, the age has gone from 62 to 67 (over a period of 33 years). Currently, the average life expectancy in the US is 77.43 years for the total population.
That would suggest the IRS thinks you should work until you've hit 86.5% of your life expectancy. If people were to live until 200 years old, the SSA simply wouldn't give you any benefits until you hit the ripe old age of 173.
I've "boycotted" Marvel my whole life... where do I sign?
In the price per page comparison's I've seen, the Canon's are about the same. It seems they waste a bit more ink than HP's do, evening out the analysis between the two.
Find one Democratic President who's spent more money he didn't have than any of the last three Republican Presidents. That would be...noone. Oops.
Based on what exactly? As a percentage of income taxes earned? Collected? In dollar amount?
There have been plenty of Presidents on both side of the spending issue, and both sides of the party issue, who caused the US to spend more than it earned. Most notable was F. D. Roosevent. Many argue that his overspending to rebound from the Great Depression was fruitless, and what really pulled the U.S. out was WWII.
The first time the U.S. showed any real deficit spending was during WWI, when Woodrow Wilson (democrat) was President. Beginning in 1942, the national debt tripled in size (due to WWII spending) which was under FDR... a democrat. Between that time and 1982, however, the deficit and national debt stabalized, until Reagan (republican) got a hold of it. Clinton (democrat) was instrumental in reversing the trend of deficit spending to his credit. However, it's fairly easy to remember the actions of one recent former President and forget the actions of those before him.
Historically, however, the democratic party has been a proponent of raising taxes, as it has also been a proponent of funding government agencies (welfare, medicare, etc..) while the republican party favors backing off of those plans, though hugely unpopular.
Most of it is just soapboxing though. Currently the democrats in congress pick on Bush (who makes himself an easy target for sure) and his current spending habits. At the same time the democrats have been pushing to increase spending as well.
What, A Modest Proposal but targeting the elderly?