I recently told my 18 year old nephew that he should never do anything by the dark of night that he would not want on a webcam... because it probably is.
I doubt it will alter his behavior but maybe he won't be so embarassed or upset if something gets out.
A few years ago I traveled to Japan. One thing that struck me about the place was just how skilled the model and set builders for the Godzilla movies had been. Their work was obviously a finely crafted copy of the real locations. Minus the destruction obviously the area was near photo copy of scenes from various such Movies.
I have a great respect for the motion picture skills of the teams who did these movies. Their stories and plots may have been a bit hokey but they definitely did a great job in entertainment and the quality of their work was excellent
You are correct they pay something like 0.25% per annum. If you think that is paying dividends, or paying investors back for one of the biggest companies in the country...? I just can't see it myself.
At risk investments which carry very little risk should earn about 2% more than low risk Bonds. In tern these low risk bonds should earn about 2% more than the Discount Rate. Taking that number a minimal investment return should be at least 5% per annum. Few if any companies in the USA are doing that rate right now! Higher risk should translate into higher payments.
This produces a pinch in the economy where either the Interest rate must drop to match the 4% differential (Discount bottom at ~= -4) or earnings should rise in order of +4%.
For your not on tariffs and such, you clearly are getting the issue. This is actually a lot of why investors are not getting paid. If a Company makes money in the USA with our current tax and tariff situation, they are put out of business by foreign competition who is free from US Taxes! They must buy US Labor marked up 150% in order to pay the US Taxes and on and on. It is no wonder with us having essentially made earning a profit illegal in the USA that we are in trouble.
Watched Hillary Clinton on Lou Dobbs last PM. SCARY! When she starts getting the point...!
Just take note that M$ has a lot of "Partners" it can twist arms on to cause this money to appear to be from somewhere else. This behavior is an Empire that is collapsing!
For the "Free Trade" and "Capitalist" arguments out there. This isn't either. It is pure and simple Investment FRAUD. Investors are not getting paid, and the money is being spent to acquire power. This also brings up another falacy of the "Free Trade" and"Capitalist" arguments. Bluntly the super rich will spend any money they have to keep or acquire POWER. Money is not their object. You cannot entice them by better earnings or a freer richer world to make money in. They want CONTROL!
By the way I am a capitalist! I believe in the principal that investors should get paid for their investment. The problem with the American Economy right now is that Investors are not getting paid and it is hurting everything! Until we break the CONTROL Freaks in the board rooms of America of their control, nothing is going to get better for the Capitalists!
Sorry for the previous post but this is the Standard Operational Procedure(SOP) for MOST American Businesses at this time.
First my compliments to the author of the previous post. Obviously a person interested in a learned discussion. Secondly I would like to throw in a few more observations.
At Mile 282 on US I-65 in Alabama the KT Boundary is exposed in a Road Cut about 1/2 way up the cut. It is exposed frequently across Alabama. The following facts are observable by anyone looking at these sites.
[1] The site has contigious deposition of strata from well below to well above the KT Boundary
[2] The site has a crumbly rock/clay consistancy for some 20 feet below the KT Boundary
[3] The Rock is Sandstone for about 20 feet above and then is Limestone for about 60 feet.
[4] Above that mapping contigious strata are layers of coal, shale, and again limestone
All of these layers represent a contiguious geologic layering as they are essentially like pages in a book and of fairly consistent thickness over great distances. The presence of Limestone which has sea bed fossils brings into question exactly what we are seeing at the site. The reasons for this are multiple including the geologic age of the Limestone (Very Old) and the means of deposition of it (Sea Bed activity). I believe it would be quite fair to question very nearly any theory regards the KT Boundary. It is clear that the area was under the Ocean for a substantial period after the KT Boundary and it would appear that the KT deposition was fairly consistent with that event and possibly just one of many depositions layered this way. The fossil and other data from the KT Boundary area is inconsistent with any existing theory. The Limestone for example dates from early life times per Geologic Estimates about 600 Million Years. Yet it is above the KT Boundary.
These inconsistencies with existing theories need investigation as the area is one with a very substantial amount of data and has a very stable history geologically allowing the story to be read in order of events.
It can be safely said that the presence of the rocks above the KT Boundary are consistent with the continent being sunk below the ocean. Many rocks below this level hold the same data. The strata being so stable in deposition process showing large fairly even deposition layers calls into question exactly what happened to deposit the soft material and the KT Boundary. The sandstones above are similar to volcanic ash depositions.
What the United States is Suffering bears no resemblance to the Claim it is "Free Trade." We are in fact suffering a classical "Trade War." In a "Trade War" one group of people is tariffed to the exclusion of others, by a government rendering them unable to compete in the economy.
American Workers of all types as well as US Based Companies who do not off shore their operations are Tariffed by the US Government to a level that makes their products about 150% more expensive than their other world wide competition. The only thing unusual about this "Trade War" is that it was incited by the domestic government in the USA against its own people rather than the traditional form where the "Trade War" is against persons who are foreign to the taxing power.
For the claims that the USA increased its sales to India I would seriously question the numbers the government is pushing in the first place. They have proved that they are liars by claiming that the US Economy is Growing and Jobs are growing when Social Security Tax Collections say otherwise. (See the IRS Website for the details) Worse yet we have good data that the Trade Balance is actually worse than it was!
I believe the latest "National Georgraphic" issue may be worth some attention. Look at why it is cheaper to do business in China for another reason. The Word "Eco-Terrorism" comes to mind!
The Presidential Team arguing in favor of this is LYING folks. The USA should have made just to stay even with Per Capita levels of earning made an additional 9 Million Jobs already. The USA has LOST about 2.5 to 3 Million Jobs. Wages are down per capita by a wide margin. Unemployment is dropping because the average period of Unemployment is getting much longer and is exceeding the Government Benefits that Account for it.
The world economy is floating on the US Federal Reserve's printing presses and will collapse without this. Arguing that the Bush Administration is doing a good job is like arguing that getting hit by a truck improves the economy. (For the Morticians maybe!) It ignores the true level of damage done to everyone. Do not be fooled by their statistics. They have diminished the Income of Americans from world trade by nearly 50% by floating the dollar lower. This is reverse prosperty. (Cutting your pay gives you more work?!) It might appear to work but it is counter productive. They have alledged to have made the economies of Asia grow highly but I know from Family there that the Cost of Living in Asia has risen close to US Levels and wages have actually in most cases gone down! This is the formula for a world war... Well maybe those who believe that brings "Prosperity" will soon get to see what it really brings.
Seerprize Seerprize Seerprize (Like Gomer Pile USMC [Old US TV Show]) We couldn't have some Bush people telling lies now could we? Sheezam! The world must be coming to an end...? Look up in the sky its a bird its a plane... no its stuporman.
We now know that creative writing is the top college degree in the White House and possibly some other places as well.
I snap my fingers you will immediately panic and be sure that "they" are going to poison you and kill your children...
I am an American, I hear all the crap all the time about how people might have been disloyal or otherwise screwed up a job. I hear from employers this stuff about cost of employment etc
The problem with me believing any of it is just this. I have been an employer and I know what the game is. Employers are being horses asses. Rather than actually being loyal and team players they are trying to run slaves. They view anybody who does anything other than work all the time as trouble. In actuality they have no loyalty to workers what so ever. What they are seeking is a position of Extortion over them.
The sad fact is that it has nothing what so ever to do with earning a living or profit etc. It is in fact very counter productive. But then it is just like their obsession over holidays and vacations
Europeans and Auzies love their holidays etc. They produce just as much and have fun doing it. The Americans are in a death race. (I from and in the USA) Our productivity is rising dramatically 12.5% this year. Our wages are dropping and our employment is dropping. If we continue this much farther nobody here will have a job. We have to go to higher Vacations and Holidays etc just to keep our economy from collapsing from OVER SUPPLY OF GOODS.
For those economic types who don't get it. Production can grow about 3% per year (against population) and be absorbed into the economy without displacements. If it grows faster than that the whole process then locks into a ratio of the Productivity Wages &population. In 2004 with 12.5% productivity growth and 3.5% population growth with a 3% slack the system got over pushed by 6.5% and the wages per person in the USA dropped by about 5.5% (See the US IRS Tax data if you doubt this.) The remaining slack of 3 years of this charged up over supply of goods came out in the near 50% slide in the value of the dollar and rising unemployment.
The solution here is to either print enough money for the goods to be taken up (Which will go into the unearned income of the CEO's) or to raise the wages of the working people or to increase their benefits such as holidays.
Raising wages or giving benefits actually ups company earnings because the market gets better. The problem here is that companies don't want employees to actually be free to enjoy their life. Sorry but Americans need to wake up to the reality here. (Look at CEO Pay if you doubt the ability to finance this exists)
The US Council on Economic Advisors frankly declaired "Trade War" against Americans the other day by saying that "Outsourcing was good for the American Economy." Recently I was pointing out to a friend of mine just how much the US Government refused to attend to the interests of the American People.
He pointed out that the Analog to the USA in the Star Trek series is the Borg. "Prepair to be assimilated, resistance if futile." Then he said, "They don't care about us, we have already been assimilated."
More to the point on "Free Software" or "Open Source." We who write code understand that software technology is very low level still. It is just really getting started. If we allow people to lock up the use of the most basic control technology here, we suppress the business and prevent innovation. This would be analogous to someone coming up with a technical language addition with the terms for a specific industry and means of using it and then by patient or copy right claiming that anyone who uses even the words is infringing.
To be most practical the policy of writing software for any business or individual using the M$ system is suicidal. If you actually begin to make much money, M$ is going to make you a deal. You will either sell out for a song, or their Indian/Chinese software shops will "Reverse Engineer" your product and blow you out of the market. If you fight in the USA you had better have billions for lawyers. Win there 10 or 15 years later they will have stolen your market and around the world you will have been destroyed. Alternatively you can go out of business. A less valuable app they want will simply be "given away for free."
Free Software tech is the only one where at least you are on par with M$ and don't risk the lawyers killing your business. Congress critters are you listening?
I guess my fellow US people just don't understand what is going on so I will try to clue them in.
In the 3rd world there are no wires and no good roads and none of the stuff you and we take for granted as needed. What exists is a blank slate to write the new tech on without having the existing stuff like in the USA to slow it down. As such Wireless Telephones are in every hand. Movie theaters in the cities are often many times the size of anything we have ever seen in the USA. In small towns them may be as little as a HD TV Set.
I myself in the USA have an old VHS TV Recorder/player. My family in the Philippines who live where electrical power is irregular to say the least and the only phone service is wireless have DVD and full edit ability. It is time American (USA) gets a clue. They also all have cell phones.
We are about to be seriously passed in tech areas if we don't get our political and social backsides up and start looking at reality. Internet in many areas of the world is via Sattelite or Wireless. The USA has the least penetration of Cell Phones. It has the most backwards tech in far too many areas.
For those who disagree with me on this I have a suggestion. Go out and SEE.
The movie business is better out there than in the USA. In the USA with our stupid management the movie business is just about out of business. In the rest of the world it is big business.
Also another clue the USA is 2.5% of the world population and doesn't even have the largest city in the Americas any more. There are at least 10 cities in the Americas larger than any in the USA. There is at least one city in the Americas which is larger than all but one of our states in population. American (USA) had better get a clue and fast. This world is not like in 1900. (When we were 11% of the worlds pop. and the largest nation on earth with the youngest fastest growing population. Now we are nearly the oldest etc.)
Yeah! Right! Overpaid! My Freedom and My Prosperity are not the problem. Your Poverty and your tyranny (Disfunctional "Democracy") are the problem. You don't solve the problem of your world with such thinking.
If low wages are a blessing to a nation India is most blessed with this.
There is an Acid Test for what works and what does not work in the world. If things get worse doing something it is wrong. Sorry for your Communist Friends("Socialist") but their stuff doesn't work.
To be fair, the so called "Capitalist" stuff of today in far too many cases is nothing but a renaming of Massive Fraud. There is nothing Capitalist about it. Capitalism holds that investors get paid for their investments, the fact of 1% Discount Rate at the US Federal Reserve puts the lie to the idea that what is going on is capitalism.
To be fair to the Indians, this actually is not their problem. It is a domestic US Problem. A trade war by the US Congress against the Americans. I know this may be a bit confusing so I will explain
If India placed a tariff on US goods/services that caused them to be marked up by 150% (Total Price 250% of Cost)we would clearly say India had a "Trade War" going against the USA. Yet this is in fact what the US Government has done to the US Citizens. Their goods suffer this Tax while none of their competition must pay it.
There is a profound effect here that Indians must recognize as a threat to them. This situation is actually not so much helping India though some may win, it is mostly something that threatens to destroy your economy as well. It already is hurting the America's (Not US) a great deal. This situation rather than being a benefit threatens your survival. You should want the US Workers to earn More. You should want to end the situation where parties enter the US Market and essentially LOOT it being tax advantaged over the US Citizens.
Re:Magnusson Moss Warranty Act
on
Hack Your Car
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· Score: 3, Insightful
We Americans might have some other reasons to have and do what we do that the EU and Asian Types don't think about. While I am not personally a fan of the extremely big cars, you might just take note that we don't live in Europe or Asia.
When my wife who is from the Philippines was processing her papers to come here, I told her to get some training in driving a car. She said, "No I will just walk to the store and where I want to go." I countered, it is 8 km from my house to the nearest substantial store, you need to learn to drive. I do not live in the West USA, I live in a fairly populated area of the East in Madison County Alabama.
We Americans are likely to have to use our vehicles to haul furniture, and large items that EU types and East Asians are likely to have delivery services for. We are also likely to live where travel in the order of 150 km on a daily trip is not uncommon. (Yes I do know the Miles to Km conversions) I am also 1.88 m tall. I do not fit well in one of those little tin can cars that the world thinks I should use. I do own a large Nissan Quest Minivan. It is much more pleasant than my Honda Civic which is my other car. The economy in gasoline usage is about 22mpg city and 30 mpg Highway on the Nissan and about 32 mpg Honda Civic and about 40 mpg highway. My work is about to have to make me take a Transcontinental Trip. At my Size and carrying some luggage etc I need a larger vehicle.
I don't here too much about EU types having to travel say 3,000 km in 3 day with a wife 2 kids and luggage on board. I also don't hear about you buying plywood and lumber for building onto your property very often.
There is another point that the EU types and the East Asians miss when they start dumping on NASCAR and Monster Trucks and Drag Racing etc. (I am not a racing fan) Very nearly every innovation in efficiency or safety in Automotive Transportation has arisin from such types as the NASCAR Racers. It is their "Tweeking" that has brought about the new technology. These are the Tech Scientists on the Cutting Edge who brought about the prosperity of modern society. Resenting them is just plain IGNORANT.
EU Types also live in a world with streets built for horse and donkey tech. Their major cities do have some modern streets but London, Paris and many others are mostly narrow streets incapacitated for modern transport. The USA on the other hand was generally built to handle this. The comparison of our world and your world is simply not to understand that they are as alien as seperate planets. The reason we have brought the world cars, aircraft, farm tractors, and a lot more is because we don't think like the EU types. We don't live like you do and this is not to say that you are wrong for your world. It simply is to say that you are wrong about our world.
Our weather is quite different from yours. The comments about Airconditioning is a good example. I live in Alabama. Our weather finds that in the Spring, Summer and Fall I am subject to having the temperature in my car reach 80 Deg C in the mid day. Opening the windows finds the exterior temperature reaching between 35 and 40 Deg C. The Relative Humidity is often 95% or higher. This just doesn't happen even in southern Europe. You may get as hot but for the most part your Heat Index is much less. Also at your Humidity conditions a wet cloth cools you adequately. Here it just gets you sticky and hotter. In the winter I am subject to having my windows fog up not from temperature but from Humidity conditions and Air Conditioning is a Safety tool then! These conditions are not solved by opening windows.
Our conditions are vastly different here on so many issues that you simply don't know what is going on. While I know persons who love NASCAR and it is most definitely a very popular sport in Alabama (Number 1 or 2) it is hardly the "Obsession" that you think.
Being from Alabama I think you simply don't have a clue as to what is going on either. This isn't some Hick sport of the ignorant t
You hit it he is just trying to put out enough FUD to satisfy a Government Contract writer. Bluntly the data is there and the facts are there the M$ system is a "Anti-Security" system with so many holes and so many examples of it's failings that I suppose you just have to laugh at it being compared to the scurity of Linux.
However this illustrates the one "Open Source" project that needs to be done which is to begin the "Documentation Project" so that we can get Linux passed the Government Types and make M$ actually have to face the reality
Somebody who wants to write me to get together to start this paulnoel@knology.net is my email
Yes I can! Even the Act is an oxymoron. But then so is the "Department of Homeland Security" and the "Central Intelligence Agency." Of course nobody noticed when the US Defense Department was called on to actually defend the USA on 9/11/2001 and after we found out it was not the "Defense of the USA" they were talking about. Why it wasn't their job to do that!
To be a bit more serious for a moment the/. community needs to demand the US Congress forbid the transmission, storage or processing of a long list of Personal Identity Data and Records to Jurisdictions which do not honor All of the warrants of our State Courts. This of course closes the "Outsourcing problem once and for all because no other country honors our State Warrants completely. In fact most Nations don't honor any of them. This is quite essential because the prosecution of "Identity Theft" has no value if the custody of the data is beyond the reach of our courts routinely.
The story here is a bit more simple than a lot of people may think. His Highness Sir Bill of the Gates trapsed off to India recently trying to stick his finger in the dike to prevent Linux from taking India. He got met by a few problems. http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6609 http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6254
So he got mad and released the Source code http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Windows+Source+Co de&ei=UTF-8&fr=fp-tab-web-t&n=20&fl=0&x=wr t to a few people in India to try to cork Linux back in the bottle. http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=5767 Those Indian Pirates did him in as was to be expected... This is why outsourcing to India is not wise. The climate there is a bit hostile to property rights. But those Ignorant Arrogant Americans keep on foolishly thinking that things are just like back home when they deal there. I apologize to anyone who thinks I am talking out of court when I shoot at the Asian Pirates with such remarks. I was raised around about 10 people who had a cumulative total of about 450 years experience dealing in India and China. The behavior over there is just something I know about. I have had to deal in South East Asia and in the USA with Asians and found that this information was extremely correct.
Linux is absolutely essential to dealing with these people. It completely destroys the value of their "Pirate" mentality. It allows US Programmers to work with these people without fear of the Indians or Chinese using source code as an "Advantage" to crush the Americans. (EU people too!)
I find it most amaizing that Americans always think that this ethical issue in not so. Frankly it is the reason Asia does not absolutely SWAMP the US out of consideration. It hobbles them economically. If they corrected this problem their native natural resources plus massive population would make the USA assume a 2.5% share of the world market and power rather than its much higher station. I for one would love for them to finally get this together because I know that it would be good for all if they did. It would for example end the war problems there.
Well now they are down to rhetoric, the facts have abandoned them. Frankly I love the claims about Microsoft and Security. M$ OS can best be described as an "Anti-Security System." It is the destroyer of all security.
The IRS Tax Collection on Social Security tell a story that the Bush Administration does not want out. Please note that the July-Oct and Oct-Dec stats are not in the report because the Bushies are delaying their posting to keep the facts from coming out. The Economy isn't cooking folks it is falling bad. Remember it must rise 3.5% per annum to keep static. The simple fact is that we are in deep trouble
When you read these stats, be sure to go back to 2000 and project forward at 3.5% per annum to see where the ZERO line should be! That tells the whole story. We are cutting the slices of the steak thinner and thinner.
Take that in your eye you Statistics cookers! These are the raw real numbers and they tell a stunning story. The story of a Trade War against the American People disguised in cute words, where we tariff the American People out of business while leaving the rest of the world to pick their bones.
I have some good news. You are mistaken about this being capitalism. It isn't! You can still love capitalism and hate this!
Capitalism is where you invest money and if it pays off you receive a return on your investment either as interest or dividends or as property in some form or another. Honestly what is going on has nothing to do with this. Investors are not getting paid and Interest is essentially gone as well. Property is disappearing as fast as it has ever gone in history or faster. So this isn't capitalism
The reality is quite simple. There is a Trade War by the US Congress against the American People. India and China are not at fault. They are merely opportunists who are taking what comes to them. The US Congress is tariffing the US Labor to a level that causes about a 150% markup. Because no other labor in the US Market or Goods or Services pays this tariff, the situation is definitionally a Trade War.
While suffering this Trade War US Labor has been led to believe that it was suffering foreign attack. In reality the US Government was spending their money like a drunken sailor. (Apologies to drunken sailors here) The reason US Labor is too expensive is simply that it is burdened down with this spending but is not protected by the one who is doing the spending.
The behaviour of CEO's under the current tax laws which have essentially outlawed Capitalism and earning a profit in the USA is quite expectable. These guys cannot earn money and pay dividends or the USA will tax them out of existence. The alternatives are to treat the company like your own private cookie jar or to go out of business. (Not very pretty options)
In this environment Capitalism has no chance. For with all the tarrifs on labor the amaizing reality is that US Labor earns profits. When it does, the US Corporate Income Tax punishes them for doing so. For if one earns for his employer more than about 2.25 times the cost for freight on import for goods and or services there is a definite Tax Incentive to Export the job. This leaves US Workers in the Damned position that if they actually earn money (As capitalism is supposed to reward) for their boss, they actually cause themselves to be fired! If they don't earn money than any reason to keep them on the payroll fails to exist. The only safe zone is the modest level where freight protects the trade by making an advantage for the local population.
For those in the rest of the world this has terrifying potential as well. For what happens is that US Labor being the Cheapest Labor on Earth (Per UNIT OF PRODUCTION) now finds itself having to discount sale its products into your markets driving your wages down as well. If the USA enacts measures that compensate for the Taxes Domestically, the great efficiency differentials of US Capital absolutely wipe you from the market.
The effect is that this Trade War against US Labor Crushes world wide labor. It has disrupted the economies of Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa. The result has been the collapse of many governments and social systems. The resulting situation threatens all civil order. This is in no small part a CAUSE OF THE WAR ON TERROR.
Islamic Forces are gathering force because of this underlying world wide trade war, which the National Geographic refered to as "Slavery." Frankly this policy is the greatest expanision of Slavery in the history of the world. The Circumstances in Central America have the USA seeing the greatest Illegal Immigration Flood in its history. It should be noted that what Americans know as the "Irish Potato Famine" was in fact a Trade War of "Free Traders" in England of exactly the same type policy and effect. It caused a flood of refugees then.
India's great economic troubles post world war II were also from such a "Free Trade" policy set. These "Free Trade" policies were justified and encouraged by the "Old South" of the (CSA) US (1861-1865). They even said that the "Economy will collapse" if they stopped. Actually the Economy Collaps
I would like to ask what sort of contract is usual and customary for employment there. What penalties do you suffer if you take work and then have to leave or choose to leave early?
What sort of Agency Fees are usual for taking work?
What Overtime, Sick leave and Vacation terms to you generally get?
What is your level of INCOME TAX on your wages? How much of your wages go to support the Elderly, Infirm etc (Social Security Type Taxes)
What sort of Retirement Benefits do you get?
Whad does your employer have to do if he lays you off or lets you go from employment?
How much does your country pay as a percentage of its Domestic Product to Defense Costs? How about Welfare/Social Benefits Costs?
When your kids go to school do you have to buy their School Books? Does the School System provide bus transport to school? Does your School System provide Internet Hookup for the kids?
What kind of National System do you have to support the Hurt and Injured Workers in your country? What level of care do they get? What kind of Pension do they get?
When floods or famine take an area, does your nation provide for the rebuilding of the homes and businesses? Are your rivers generally well controlled to avoid catastrophic flooding?
What is the condition of repair of your roads? How many miles(Km fine) of roads to you have paved in your country?
How much money does your government spend on Research and Development of new technology?
If someone reading this doesn't get the point about the great differences between the US and India they are blind. I will let the Indian answers speak for themselves generally. The simple fact is that if Americans chose open competition with India without trade barriers, they will find their system of retirement and benefits for the community essentially looted out by India. The reason is simple. India has 1% retirement load and no real system to handle it. The USA has 30% and an expensive System to handle it. To make the USA compete head to head here is like trying to run a foot race with a hot shot college kid when you are 45! It doesn't matter how good you were, you are not going to win against the young athlete.
The USA is in a Trade War, not with India but with a Government who is determined to sabotage the US Worker by forcing him to markup his labor more than 150% (a lot more than that but this is the first cut) while expecting him to hold his own against those who don't support either their own defense adequately or the social support of the USA. Sorry but it is true! The Trade War is by the US Congress against the American People. India is not to blame.
So I now go on to a few more questions
When you go to work and train to use the M$ tools on the job, how much do you pay for your access to software and updates? Americans pay about $2,000 a year!
How much do you pay for M$ latest XP version and.Net?
How much does a computer cost you to set up and begin learning to use it?
The point here~ is that M$ and others are setting these people up to compete against Americans selling them Software on their "market" prices rather than ours. We often pay as much in the USA as 10 times or more for the same tools
This is something we all need to be aware of because this is what is destroying the US Market. For Indians who think they are winning, they are not. When this ends up with the USA losing its IT business, India may have it but the money will not be there because the US Market will be damaged. It is not in the interest of India or the US what is going on
I would suggest you check out the US IRS website. You have to go to:
"Tax Stats"
"Statistics by Topic"
"Individual Tax Statistics"
"Collections"
"Treasury Department Gross Tax Collections: Amount Collected by Quarter and Fiscal Year, 1987-2003. "
You just might get a shock!
The reality must be noted in the Payroll Taxes which were not affected by the tax cut. Note that they should be rising about 3.5% a year to account for population changes. Also note that the cost of the programs covered by this tax is going to rise >10%/annum for the next 15 years! Bluntly the collections are Flat, the average US Worker is getting about 3% less this year than last year and we are in trouble DEEP!
But then I don't lie for the Administration. If you really want to get the point, not that the just released data in this report ends in June 2003. They have not released the data for later obviously for Political REASONS
The simple fact for those who don't understand is that we are slicing a shrinking pie thinner!
For Graduates this is a forecast of trouble! As to paying to get a college degree, that is getting seriously questionable. If one considers the lost income to get it and the cost of the study and books etc, one finds that most college degrees NEVER PAY OFF ANYMORE. A simple rule of thumb is that in order to pay off a Degree, the increased income must be double in annual salary the cost. That might seem not quite right but remember taxes and compounding of money come into play. It is pretty much of a finance rule.
This is actually the real serious issue that as Americans desperately push education their government is undermining the results and shortening the pay off period. About 5 years ago we passed the profitability line and now we are going on "belief" and not on fact.
Slashdot Mirror
The bill can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d108:4:./t emp/~bdaevj:: It is HR 2735
An Honorable Intention stated for sure.
I recently told my 18 year old nephew that he should never do anything by the dark of night that he would not want on a webcam... because it probably is.
I doubt it will alter his behavior but maybe he won't be so embarassed or upset if something gets out.
A few years ago I traveled to Japan. One thing that struck me about the place was just how skilled the model and set builders for the Godzilla movies had been. Their work was obviously a finely crafted copy of the real locations. Minus the destruction obviously the area was near photo copy of scenes from various such Movies.
I have a great respect for the motion picture skills of the teams who did these movies. Their stories and plots may have been a bit hokey but they definitely did a great job in entertainment and the quality of their work was excellent
You are correct they pay something like 0.25% per annum. If you think that is paying dividends, or paying investors back for one of the biggest companies in the country...? I just can't see it myself.
At risk investments which carry very little risk should earn about 2% more than low risk Bonds. In tern these low risk bonds should earn about 2% more than the Discount Rate. Taking that number a minimal investment return should be at least 5% per annum. Few if any companies in the USA are doing that rate right now! Higher risk should translate into higher payments.
This produces a pinch in the economy where either the Interest rate must drop to match the 4% differential (Discount bottom at ~= -4) or earnings should rise in order of +4%.
For your not on tariffs and such, you clearly are getting the issue. This is actually a lot of why investors are not getting paid. If a Company makes money in the USA with our current tax and tariff situation, they are put out of business by foreign competition who is free from US Taxes! They must buy US Labor marked up 150% in order to pay the US Taxes and on and on. It is no wonder with us having essentially made earning a profit illegal in the USA that we are in trouble.
Watched Hillary Clinton on Lou Dobbs last PM. SCARY! When she starts getting the point...!
Just take note that M$ has a lot of "Partners" it can twist arms on to cause this money to appear to be from somewhere else. This behavior is an Empire that is collapsing!
For the "Free Trade" and "Capitalist" arguments out there. This isn't either. It is pure and simple Investment FRAUD. Investors are not getting paid, and the money is being spent to acquire power. This also brings up another falacy of the "Free Trade" and"Capitalist" arguments. Bluntly the super rich will spend any money they have to keep or acquire POWER. Money is not their object. You cannot entice them by better earnings or a freer richer world to make money in. They want CONTROL!
By the way I am a capitalist! I believe in the principal that investors should get paid for their investment. The problem with the American Economy right now is that Investors are not getting paid and it is hurting everything! Until we break the CONTROL Freaks in the board rooms of America of their control, nothing is going to get better for the Capitalists!
Sorry for the previous post but this is the Standard Operational Procedure(SOP) for MOST American Businesses at this time.
First my compliments to the author of the previous post. Obviously a person interested in a learned discussion. Secondly I would like to throw in a few more observations.
At Mile 282 on US I-65 in Alabama the KT Boundary is exposed in a Road Cut about 1/2 way up the cut. It is exposed frequently across Alabama. The following facts are observable by anyone looking at these sites.
[1] The site has contigious deposition of strata from well below to well above the KT Boundary
[2] The site has a crumbly rock/clay consistancy for some 20 feet below the KT Boundary
[3] The Rock is Sandstone for about 20 feet above and then is Limestone for about 60 feet.
[4] Above that mapping contigious strata are layers of coal, shale, and again limestone
All of these layers represent a contiguious geologic layering as they are essentially like pages in a book and of fairly consistent thickness over great distances. The presence of Limestone which has sea bed fossils brings into question exactly what we are seeing at the site. The reasons for this are multiple including the geologic age of the Limestone (Very Old) and the means of deposition of it (Sea Bed activity). I believe it would be quite fair to question very nearly any theory regards the KT Boundary. It is clear that the area was under the Ocean for a substantial period after the KT Boundary and it would appear that the KT deposition was fairly consistent with that event and possibly just one of many depositions layered this way. The fossil and other data from the KT Boundary area is inconsistent with any existing theory. The Limestone for example dates from early life times per Geologic Estimates about 600 Million Years. Yet it is above the KT Boundary.
These inconsistencies with existing theories need investigation as the area is one with a very substantial amount of data and has a very stable history geologically allowing the story to be read in order of events.
It can be safely said that the presence of the rocks above the KT Boundary are consistent with the continent being sunk below the ocean. Many rocks below this level hold the same data. The strata being so stable in deposition process showing large fairly even deposition layers calls into question exactly what happened to deposit the soft material and the KT Boundary. The sandstones above are similar to volcanic ash depositions.
What the United States is Suffering bears no resemblance to the Claim it is "Free Trade." We are in fact suffering a classical "Trade War." In a "Trade War" one group of people is tariffed to the exclusion of others, by a government rendering them unable to compete in the economy.
American Workers of all types as well as US Based Companies who do not off shore their operations are Tariffed by the US Government to a level that makes their products about 150% more expensive than their other world wide competition. The only thing unusual about this "Trade War" is that it was incited by the domestic government in the USA against its own people rather than the traditional form where the "Trade War" is against persons who are foreign to the taxing power.
For the claims that the USA increased its sales to India I would seriously question the numbers the government is pushing in the first place. They have proved that they are liars by claiming that the US Economy is Growing and Jobs are growing when Social Security Tax Collections say otherwise. (See the IRS Website for the details) Worse yet we have good data that the Trade Balance is actually worse than it was!
I believe the latest "National Georgraphic" issue may be worth some attention. Look at why it is cheaper to do business in China for another reason. The Word "Eco-Terrorism" comes to mind!
The Presidential Team arguing in favor of this is LYING folks. The USA should have made just to stay even with Per Capita levels of earning made an additional 9 Million Jobs already. The USA has LOST about 2.5 to 3 Million Jobs. Wages are down per capita by a wide margin. Unemployment is dropping because the average period of Unemployment is getting much longer and is exceeding the Government Benefits that Account for it.
The world economy is floating on the US Federal Reserve's printing presses and will collapse without this. Arguing that the Bush Administration is doing a good job is like arguing that getting hit by a truck improves the economy. (For the Morticians maybe!) It ignores the true level of damage done to everyone. Do not be fooled by their statistics. They have diminished the Income of Americans from world trade by nearly 50% by floating the dollar lower. This is reverse prosperty. (Cutting your pay gives you more work?!) It might appear to work but it is counter productive. They have alledged to have made the economies of Asia grow highly but I know from Family there that the Cost of Living in Asia has risen close to US Levels and wages have actually in most cases gone down! This is the formula for a world war... Well maybe those who believe that brings "Prosperity" will soon get to see what it really brings.
I think we may need more than a tinfoil hat! How about some sort of armor... against the idiots who see only the "benefits" of such a system.
Just remember that you can make something "Fool Proof" but you can't make it "Damn Fool Proof," because fools are so ingenious...
Seerprize Seerprize Seerprize (Like Gomer Pile USMC [Old US TV Show]) We couldn't have some Bush people telling lies now could we? Sheezam! The world must be coming to an end...? Look up in the sky its a bird its a plane... no its stuporman.
We now know that creative writing is the top college degree in the White House and possibly some other places as well.
I snap my fingers you will immediately panic and be sure that "they" are going to poison you and kill your children ...
I am an American, I hear all the crap all the time about how people might have been disloyal or otherwise screwed up a job. I hear from employers this stuff about cost of employment etc
The problem with me believing any of it is just this. I have been an employer and I know what the game is. Employers are being horses asses. Rather than actually being loyal and team players they are trying to run slaves. They view anybody who does anything other than work all the time as trouble. In actuality they have no loyalty to workers what so ever. What they are seeking is a position of Extortion over them.
The sad fact is that it has nothing what so ever to do with earning a living or profit etc. It is in fact very counter productive. But then it is just like their obsession over holidays and vacations
Europeans and Auzies love their holidays etc. They produce just as much and have fun doing it. The Americans are in a death race. (I from and in the USA) Our productivity is rising dramatically 12.5% this year. Our wages are dropping and our employment is dropping. If we continue this much farther nobody here will have a job. We have to go to higher Vacations and Holidays etc just to keep our economy from collapsing from OVER SUPPLY OF GOODS.
For those economic types who don't get it. Production can grow about 3% per year (against population) and be absorbed into the economy without displacements. If it grows faster than that the whole process then locks into a ratio of the Productivity Wages &population. In 2004 with 12.5% productivity growth and 3.5% population growth with a 3% slack the system got over pushed by 6.5% and the wages per person in the USA dropped by about 5.5% (See the US IRS Tax data if you doubt this.) The remaining slack of 3 years of this charged up over supply of goods came out in the near 50% slide in the value of the dollar and rising unemployment.
The solution here is to either print enough money for the goods to be taken up (Which will go into the unearned income of the CEO's) or to raise the wages of the working people or to increase their benefits such as holidays.
Raising wages or giving benefits actually ups company earnings because the market gets better. The problem here is that companies don't want employees to actually be free to enjoy their life. Sorry but Americans need to wake up to the reality here. (Look at CEO Pay if you doubt the ability to finance this exists)
Obviously we need to reverse the Polish?
Except for all other languages...
The US Council on Economic Advisors frankly declaired "Trade War" against Americans the other day by saying that "Outsourcing was good for the American Economy." Recently I was pointing out to a friend of mine just how much the US Government refused to attend to the interests of the American People.
He pointed out that the Analog to the USA in the Star Trek series is the Borg. "Prepair to be assimilated, resistance if futile." Then he said, "They don't care about us, we have already been assimilated."
More to the point on "Free Software" or "Open Source." We who write code understand that software technology is very low level still. It is just really getting started. If we allow people to lock up the use of the most basic control technology here, we suppress the business and prevent innovation. This would be analogous to someone coming up with a technical language addition with the terms for a specific industry and means of using it and then by patient or copy right claiming that anyone who uses even the words is infringing.To be most practical the policy of writing software for any business or individual using the M$ system is suicidal. If you actually begin to make much money, M$ is going to make you a deal. You will either sell out for a song, or their Indian/Chinese software shops will "Reverse Engineer" your product and blow you out of the market. If you fight in the USA you had better have billions for lawyers. Win there 10 or 15 years later they will have stolen your market and around the world you will have been destroyed. Alternatively you can go out of business. A less valuable app they want will simply be "given away for free."
Free Software tech is the only one where at least you are on par with M$ and don't risk the lawyers killing your business. Congress critters are you listening?
I guess my fellow US people just don't understand what is going on so I will try to clue them in.
In the 3rd world there are no wires and no good roads and none of the stuff you and we take for granted as needed. What exists is a blank slate to write the new tech on without having the existing stuff like in the USA to slow it down. As such Wireless Telephones are in every hand. Movie theaters in the cities are often many times the size of anything we have ever seen in the USA. In small towns them may be as little as a HD TV Set.
I myself in the USA have an old VHS TV Recorder/player. My family in the Philippines who live where electrical power is irregular to say the least and the only phone service is wireless have DVD and full edit ability. It is time American (USA) gets a clue. They also all have cell phones.
We are about to be seriously passed in tech areas if we don't get our political and social backsides up and start looking at reality. Internet in many areas of the world is via Sattelite or Wireless. The USA has the least penetration of Cell Phones. It has the most backwards tech in far too many areas.For those who disagree with me on this I have a suggestion. Go out and SEE.
The movie business is better out there than in the USA. In the USA with our stupid management the movie business is just about out of business. In the rest of the world it is big business.
Also another clue the USA is 2.5% of the world population and doesn't even have the largest city in the Americas any more. There are at least 10 cities in the Americas larger than any in the USA. There is at least one city in the Americas which is larger than all but one of our states in population. American (USA) had better get a clue and fast. This world is not like in 1900. (When we were 11% of the worlds pop. and the largest nation on earth with the youngest fastest growing population. Now we are nearly the oldest etc.)
Yeah! Right! Overpaid! My Freedom and My Prosperity are not the problem. Your Poverty and your tyranny (Disfunctional "Democracy") are the problem. You don't solve the problem of your world with such thinking.
If low wages are a blessing to a nation India is most blessed with this.
There is an Acid Test for what works and what does not work in the world. If things get worse doing something it is wrong. Sorry for your Communist Friends("Socialist") but their stuff doesn't work.
To be fair, the so called "Capitalist" stuff of today in far too many cases is nothing but a renaming of Massive Fraud. There is nothing Capitalist about it. Capitalism holds that investors get paid for their investments, the fact of 1% Discount Rate at the US Federal Reserve puts the lie to the idea that what is going on is capitalism.
To be fair to the Indians, this actually is not their problem. It is a domestic US Problem. A trade war by the US Congress against the Americans. I know this may be a bit confusing so I will explain
If India placed a tariff on US goods/services that caused them to be marked up by 150% (Total Price 250% of Cost)we would clearly say India had a "Trade War" going against the USA. Yet this is in fact what the US Government has done to the US Citizens. Their goods suffer this Tax while none of their competition must pay it.
There is a profound effect here that Indians must recognize as a threat to them. This situation is actually not so much helping India though some may win, it is mostly something that threatens to destroy your economy as well. It already is hurting the America's (Not US) a great deal. This situation rather than being a benefit threatens your survival. You should want the US Workers to earn More. You should want to end the situation where parties enter the US Market and essentially LOOT it being tax advantaged over the US Citizens.
We Americans might have some other reasons to have and do what we do that the EU and Asian Types don't think about. While I am not personally a fan of the extremely big cars, you might just take note that we don't live in Europe or Asia.
When my wife who is from the Philippines was processing her papers to come here, I told her to get some training in driving a car. She said, "No I will just walk to the store and where I want to go." I countered, it is 8 km from my house to the nearest substantial store, you need to learn to drive. I do not live in the West USA, I live in a fairly populated area of the East in Madison County Alabama.
We Americans are likely to have to use our vehicles to haul furniture, and large items that EU types and East Asians are likely to have delivery services for. We are also likely to live where travel in the order of 150 km on a daily trip is not uncommon. (Yes I do know the Miles to Km conversions) I am also 1.88 m tall. I do not fit well in one of those little tin can cars that the world thinks I should use. I do own a large Nissan Quest Minivan. It is much more pleasant than my Honda Civic which is my other car. The economy in gasoline usage is about 22mpg city and 30 mpg Highway on the Nissan and about 32 mpg Honda Civic and about 40 mpg highway. My work is about to have to make me take a Transcontinental Trip. At my Size and carrying some luggage etc I need a larger vehicle.
I don't here too much about EU types having to travel say 3,000 km in 3 day with a wife 2 kids and luggage on board. I also don't hear about you buying plywood and lumber for building onto your property very often.
There is another point that the EU types and the East Asians miss when they start dumping on NASCAR and Monster Trucks and Drag Racing etc. (I am not a racing fan) Very nearly every innovation in efficiency or safety in Automotive Transportation has arisin from such types as the NASCAR Racers. It is their "Tweeking" that has brought about the new technology. These are the Tech Scientists on the Cutting Edge who brought about the prosperity of modern society. Resenting them is just plain IGNORANT.
EU Types also live in a world with streets built for horse and donkey tech. Their major cities do have some modern streets but London, Paris and many others are mostly narrow streets incapacitated for modern transport. The USA on the other hand was generally built to handle this. The comparison of our world and your world is simply not to understand that they are as alien as seperate planets. The reason we have brought the world cars, aircraft, farm tractors, and a lot more is because we don't think like the EU types. We don't live like you do and this is not to say that you are wrong for your world. It simply is to say that you are wrong about our world.
Our weather is quite different from yours. The comments about Airconditioning is a good example. I live in Alabama. Our weather finds that in the Spring, Summer and Fall I am subject to having the temperature in my car reach 80 Deg C in the mid day. Opening the windows finds the exterior temperature reaching between 35 and 40 Deg C. The Relative Humidity is often 95% or higher. This just doesn't happen even in southern Europe. You may get as hot but for the most part your Heat Index is much less. Also at your Humidity conditions a wet cloth cools you adequately. Here it just gets you sticky and hotter. In the winter I am subject to having my windows fog up not from temperature but from Humidity conditions and Air Conditioning is a Safety tool then! These conditions are not solved by opening windows.
Our conditions are vastly different here on so many issues that you simply don't know what is going on. While I know persons who love NASCAR and it is most definitely a very popular sport in Alabama (Number 1 or 2) it is hardly the "Obsession" that you think.
Being from Alabama I think you simply don't have a clue as to what is going on either. This isn't some Hick sport of the ignorant t
You hit it he is just trying to put out enough FUD to satisfy a Government Contract writer. Bluntly the data is there and the facts are there the M$ system is a "Anti-Security" system with so many holes and so many examples of it's failings that I suppose you just have to laugh at it being compared to the scurity of Linux.
However this illustrates the one "Open Source" project that needs to be done which is to begin the "Documentation Project" so that we can get Linux passed the Government Types and make M$ actually have to face the reality
Somebody who wants to write me to get together to start this paulnoel@knology.net is my email
Yes I can! Even the Act is an oxymoron. But then so is the "Department of Homeland Security" and the "Central Intelligence Agency." Of course nobody noticed when the US Defense Department was called on to actually defend the USA on 9/11/2001 and after we found out it was not the "Defense of the USA" they were talking about. Why it wasn't their job to do that!
To be a bit more serious for a moment the /. community needs to demand the US Congress forbid the transmission, storage or processing of a long list of Personal Identity Data and Records to Jurisdictions which do not honor All of the warrants of our State Courts. This of course closes the "Outsourcing problem once and for all because no other country honors our State Warrants completely. In fact most Nations don't honor any of them. This is quite essential because the prosecution of "Identity Theft" has no value if the custody of the data is beyond the reach of our courts routinely.
The story here is a bit more simple than a lot of people may think. His Highness Sir Bill of the Gates trapsed off to India recently trying to stick his finger in the dike to prevent Linux from taking India. He got met by a few problems. http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6609 http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6254
So he got mad and released the Source code http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Windows+Source+Co de&ei=UTF-8&fr=fp-tab-web-t&n=20&fl=0&x=wr t to a few people in India to try to cork Linux back in the bottle. http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=5767 Those Indian Pirates did him in as was to be expected... This is why outsourcing to India is not wise. The climate there is a bit hostile to property rights. But those Ignorant Arrogant Americans keep on foolishly thinking that things are just like back home when they deal there. I apologize to anyone who thinks I am talking out of court when I shoot at the Asian Pirates with such remarks. I was raised around about 10 people who had a cumulative total of about 450 years experience dealing in India and China. The behavior over there is just something I know about. I have had to deal in South East Asia and in the USA with Asians and found that this information was extremely correct.
Linux is absolutely essential to dealing with these people. It completely destroys the value of their "Pirate" mentality. It allows US Programmers to work with these people without fear of the Indians or Chinese using source code as an "Advantage" to crush the Americans. (EU people too!)
I find it most amaizing that Americans always think that this ethical issue in not so. Frankly it is the reason Asia does not absolutely SWAMP the US out of consideration. It hobbles them economically. If they corrected this problem their native natural resources plus massive population would make the USA assume a 2.5% share of the world market and power rather than its much higher station. I for one would love for them to finally get this together because I know that it would be good for all if they did. It would for example end the war problems there.
Well now they are down to rhetoric, the facts have abandoned them. Frankly I love the claims about Microsoft and Security. M$ OS can best be described as an "Anti-Security System." It is the destroyer of all security.
Here are some statistics that don't lie
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/03tc18fy.xls
The IRS Tax Collection on Social Security tell a story that the Bush Administration does not want out. Please note that the July-Oct and Oct-Dec stats are not in the report because the Bushies are delaying their posting to keep the facts from coming out. The Economy isn't cooking folks it is falling bad. Remember it must rise 3.5% per annum to keep static. The simple fact is that we are in deep trouble
When you read these stats, be sure to go back to 2000 and project forward at 3.5% per annum to see where the ZERO line should be! That tells the whole story. We are cutting the slices of the steak thinner and thinner.Take that in your eye you Statistics cookers! These are the raw real numbers and they tell a stunning story. The story of a Trade War against the American People disguised in cute words, where we tariff the American People out of business while leaving the rest of the world to pick their bones.
I just wonder what this trains people to do in society?
I have some good news. You are mistaken about this being capitalism. It isn't! You can still love capitalism and hate this!
Capitalism is where you invest money and if it pays off you receive a return on your investment either as interest or dividends or as property in some form or another. Honestly what is going on has nothing to do with this. Investors are not getting paid and Interest is essentially gone as well. Property is disappearing as fast as it has ever gone in history or faster. So this isn't capitalism
The reality is quite simple. There is a Trade War by the US Congress against the American People. India and China are not at fault. They are merely opportunists who are taking what comes to them. The US Congress is tariffing the US Labor to a level that causes about a 150% markup. Because no other labor in the US Market or Goods or Services pays this tariff, the situation is definitionally a Trade War.
While suffering this Trade War US Labor has been led to believe that it was suffering foreign attack. In reality the US Government was spending their money like a drunken sailor. (Apologies to drunken sailors here) The reason US Labor is too expensive is simply that it is burdened down with this spending but is not protected by the one who is doing the spending.
The behaviour of CEO's under the current tax laws which have essentially outlawed Capitalism and earning a profit in the USA is quite expectable. These guys cannot earn money and pay dividends or the USA will tax them out of existence. The alternatives are to treat the company like your own private cookie jar or to go out of business. (Not very pretty options)
In this environment Capitalism has no chance. For with all the tarrifs on labor the amaizing reality is that US Labor earns profits. When it does, the US Corporate Income Tax punishes them for doing so. For if one earns for his employer more than about 2.25 times the cost for freight on import for goods and or services there is a definite Tax Incentive to Export the job. This leaves US Workers in the Damned position that if they actually earn money (As capitalism is supposed to reward) for their boss, they actually cause themselves to be fired! If they don't earn money than any reason to keep them on the payroll fails to exist. The only safe zone is the modest level where freight protects the trade by making an advantage for the local population.
For those in the rest of the world this has terrifying potential as well. For what happens is that US Labor being the Cheapest Labor on Earth (Per UNIT OF PRODUCTION) now finds itself having to discount sale its products into your markets driving your wages down as well. If the USA enacts measures that compensate for the Taxes Domestically, the great efficiency differentials of US Capital absolutely wipe you from the market.
The effect is that this Trade War against US Labor Crushes world wide labor. It has disrupted the economies of Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa. The result has been the collapse of many governments and social systems. The resulting situation threatens all civil order. This is in no small part a CAUSE OF THE WAR ON TERROR.
Islamic Forces are gathering force because of this underlying world wide trade war, which the National Geographic refered to as "Slavery." Frankly this policy is the greatest expanision of Slavery in the history of the world. The Circumstances in Central America have the USA seeing the greatest Illegal Immigration Flood in its history. It should be noted that what Americans know as the "Irish Potato Famine" was in fact a Trade War of "Free Traders" in England of exactly the same type policy and effect. It caused a flood of refugees then.
India's great economic troubles post world war II were also from such a "Free Trade" policy set. These "Free Trade" policies were justified and encouraged by the "Old South" of the (CSA) US (1861-1865). They even said that the "Economy will collapse" if they stopped. Actually the Economy Collaps
I would like to ask what sort of contract is usual and customary for employment there. What penalties do you suffer if you take work and then have to leave or choose to leave early?
What sort of Agency Fees are usual for taking work?
What Overtime, Sick leave and Vacation terms to you generally get?
What is your level of INCOME TAX on your wages? How much of your wages go to support the Elderly, Infirm etc (Social Security Type Taxes)
What sort of Retirement Benefits do you get?
Whad does your employer have to do if he lays you off or lets you go from employment?
How much does your country pay as a percentage of its Domestic Product to Defense Costs? How about Welfare/Social Benefits Costs?
When your kids go to school do you have to buy their School Books? Does the School System provide bus transport to school? Does your School System provide Internet Hookup for the kids?
What kind of National System do you have to support the Hurt and Injured Workers in your country? What level of care do they get? What kind of Pension do they get?
When floods or famine take an area, does your nation provide for the rebuilding of the homes and businesses? Are your rivers generally well controlled to avoid catastrophic flooding?
What is the condition of repair of your roads? How many miles(Km fine) of roads to you have paved in your country?
How much money does your government spend on Research and Development of new technology?
If someone reading this doesn't get the point about the great differences between the US and India they are blind. I will let the Indian answers speak for themselves generally. The simple fact is that if Americans chose open competition with India without trade barriers, they will find their system of retirement and benefits for the community essentially looted out by India. The reason is simple. India has 1% retirement load and no real system to handle it. The USA has 30% and an expensive System to handle it. To make the USA compete head to head here is like trying to run a foot race with a hot shot college kid when you are 45! It doesn't matter how good you were, you are not going to win against the young athlete.
The USA is in a Trade War, not with India but with a Government who is determined to sabotage the US Worker by forcing him to markup his labor more than 150% (a lot more than that but this is the first cut) while expecting him to hold his own against those who don't support either their own defense adequately or the social support of the USA. Sorry but it is true! The Trade War is by the US Congress against the American People. India is not to blame.
So I now go on to a few more questions
When you go to work and train to use the M$ tools on the job, how much do you pay for your access to software and updates? Americans pay about $2,000 a year!
How much do you pay for M$ latest XP version and .Net?
How much does a computer cost you to set up and begin learning to use it?
The point here~ is that M$ and others are setting these people up to compete against Americans selling them Software on their "market" prices rather than ours. We often pay as much in the USA as 10 times or more for the same tools
This is something we all need to be aware of because this is what is destroying the US Market. For Indians who think they are winning, they are not. When this ends up with the USA losing its IT business, India may have it but the money will not be there because the US Market will be damaged. It is not in the interest of India or the US what is going on
I would suggest you check out the US IRS website. You have to go to: "Tax Stats" "Statistics by Topic" "Individual Tax Statistics" "Collections" "Treasury Department Gross Tax Collections: Amount Collected by Quarter and Fiscal Year, 1987-2003. " You just might get a shock!
The reality must be noted in the Payroll Taxes which were not affected by the tax cut. Note that they should be rising about 3.5% a year to account for population changes. Also note that the cost of the programs covered by this tax is going to rise >10%/annum for the next 15 years! Bluntly the collections are Flat, the average US Worker is getting about 3% less this year than last year and we are in trouble DEEP!
But then I don't lie for the Administration. If you really want to get the point, not that the just released data in this report ends in June 2003. They have not released the data for later obviously for Political REASONS
The simple fact for those who don't understand is that we are slicing a shrinking pie thinner!
For Graduates this is a forecast of trouble! As to paying to get a college degree, that is getting seriously questionable. If one considers the lost income to get it and the cost of the study and books etc, one finds that most college degrees NEVER PAY OFF ANYMORE. A simple rule of thumb is that in order to pay off a Degree, the increased income must be double in annual salary the cost. That might seem not quite right but remember taxes and compounding of money come into play. It is pretty much of a finance rule.
This is actually the real serious issue that as Americans desperately push education their government is undermining the results and shortening the pay off period. About 5 years ago we passed the profitability line and now we are going on "belief" and not on fact.