The rest of your post is irrational crap that's totally off the point of what I said regarding rent. However, if you suggest moving to another country - I've considered it. The only problem is any other first world country rapes you even harder than the US government does when it comes to taxes punishing hard work and success, so unfortunately, there are no viable alternatives.
And guess what, it is not a punishment for hard work and success, it is a fee for enabling you to be successful. You can move to a tax heaven, but you probably would not be able to earn much there. This is what you constantly fail to understand.
Well given the fact that the BOTTOM tax bracket in Europe tends to be around 40%, you could've made a whopping (that's sarcasm, by the way) $50,000 and paid as much in taxes as I earned in a year.
Which would still not be bad - I've earned about as much a few years ago, but you exaggerate a lot. The top income tax bracket for Germany was around 28% last year IIRC. Anyway, what you forget in this equation that I would receive adequate social services for these high taxes. It really helps not to be forced to much lower living standards if suddenly unemployed and not to have to take the first job that comes along to pay the bills. In fact, both times I was unemployed for a few months, I was able to find a better paying job than the previous one, and if the job is better paying I pay more taxes, so it was worth the money spent both for me and for the society. And so it goes most of the time.
What you failed to read was me saying that YOU should not be held financially responsible if I mess up MY life.
I am not directly responsible for anybody failing their lives. I pay my fees to the society, the society decides then what to do with them. I happen to chose a society that promotes social peace, which results in a more relaxed living and less crime. The percentage of those who abuse this social peace is miniscule.
and having a higher quality of life than you.
Now that is very debatable. As you can see from my UID I am already sometime on Slashdot. It also helps to have a cousin who lives in USA and works at Google. I do know about life in USA and I'd rather stay in Germany, thank you very much. Too much crime, too much fear, too much dog-eat-dog, all that is not a sign of high standard of living to me. If I'd wanted to have all that coupled with some chance to make a lot of money I could as well move to Moscow - I can speak Russian better than English anyway.
the society provides you and your potential clients with the security and infrastructure you need for business transactions. This is the service you pay for. You also - providing you don't live in a dictatorship that doesn't allow its citizens to move out, which I doubt, otherwise you wouldn't have the means to bitch about taxes - are absolutely free to, as the analogy goes, rent a different appartment elsewhere. It is a free market after all. If you decide to stay within your current borders, it is your voluntarily choice and it is none of your business what your landlord uses you rent payments for. If he choses to support his ne'er-do-well cousin, so be it. The society you live in is your landlord and you pay the rent in form of taxes. Don't like paying the rent - move elsewhere. And as for calling me a troll and implying me being a leech, I am actually one of those who at the same time are in favour of high taxes and actually do pay them. If you absolutely want to know, last year I've paid EUR 14424 in income taxes - which at the current exchange rate is almost as much as you've earned.
I just wish that all those who bitch about paying taxes would have to pay fees instead of taxes everytime they use anything public - be it walking on a public road for a couple of metres, farting outside their house or even using government issued currency for their financial transactions.
Well, at least it has worked for HTC well. They went from a tiny contract manufacturer to a well-known cellphone company thanks to their Windows Mobile handsets.
is that taking money from individual A (via taxes) to pay for the pet program of individual B is essentially government approved and mandated theft and robbery.
Those hardcore libertarians clearly do not understand the term "cost of doing business". Taxes are the cost of doing business, a kind of a rent for the infrastructure and opportunities they have by living in in a particular society. If they pay rent for a flat, do they also complain about the landlord not using the money for their benefit? They are always free to move to a cheaper place to leave.
When I use public transportation I need an hour in the train and 30 minutes of walking (or 10 minutes bus) to arrive at the office. In a car the time is reduced to 30 minutes. I still prefer public transportation because the traffic is stressful and the time behind the steering wheel is wasted. When I use the public transportation I usually read some book and half an hour of walking has done wonders to my health. I say, to hell with cars.
What do you mean by "more"? The security measures for the flights inside USA are much more obtrusive than these which were for the flights inside USSR.
What do you need 200 hp for in a small economic car? Drag racing? My old car (Opel Astra built in 1993) had only 60 hp. That was enough for 160 kph on the Autobahn. My new one (incidently a Civic Hybrid) allows 170 kph and accelerates much faster, despite of being 30% heavier.
You can almost always run away from a knife (throwing knifes effectively is very difficult), but it is almost impossible to outrun a bullet, so it is not the same logic.
Slashdot Mirror
To be honest, I'd have yet to see a phone camera that brings equal quality to my Sigma SD9 from 2002 or so.
And guess what, it is not a punishment for hard work and success, it is a fee for enabling you to be successful. You can move to a tax heaven, but you probably would not be able to earn much there. This is what you constantly fail to understand.
Which would still not be bad - I've earned about as much a few years ago, but you exaggerate a lot. The top income tax bracket for Germany was around 28% last year IIRC. Anyway, what you forget in this equation that I would receive adequate social services for these high taxes. It really helps not to be forced to much lower living standards if suddenly unemployed and not to have to take the first job that comes along to pay the bills. In fact, both times I was unemployed for a few months, I was able to find a better paying job than the previous one, and if the job is better paying I pay more taxes, so it was worth the money spent both for me and for the society. And so it goes most of the time.
I am not directly responsible for anybody failing their lives. I pay my fees to the society, the society decides then what to do with them. I happen to chose a society that promotes social peace, which results in a more relaxed living and less crime. The percentage of those who abuse this social peace is miniscule.
Now that is very debatable. As you can see from my UID I am already sometime on Slashdot. It also helps to have a cousin who lives in USA and works at Google. I do know about life in USA and I'd rather stay in Germany, thank you very much. Too much crime, too much fear, too much dog-eat-dog, all that is not a sign of high standard of living to me. If I'd wanted to have all that coupled with some chance to make a lot of money I could as well move to Moscow - I can speak Russian better than English anyway.
Tortenglocke,
the society provides you and your potential clients with the security and infrastructure you need for business transactions. This is the service you pay for. You also - providing you don't live in a dictatorship that doesn't allow its citizens to move out, which I doubt, otherwise you wouldn't have the means to bitch about taxes - are absolutely free to, as the analogy goes, rent a different appartment elsewhere. It is a free market after all. If you decide to stay within your current borders, it is your voluntarily choice and it is none of your business what your landlord uses you rent payments for. If he choses to support his ne'er-do-well cousin, so be it.
The society you live in is your landlord and you pay the rent in form of taxes. Don't like paying the rent - move elsewhere.
And as for calling me a troll and implying me being a leech, I am actually one of those who at the same time are in favour of high taxes and actually do pay them. If you absolutely want to know, last year I've paid EUR 14424 in income taxes - which at the current exchange rate is almost as much as you've earned.
Who has failed at life now?
I just wish that all those who bitch about paying taxes would have to pay fees instead of taxes everytime they use anything public - be it walking on a public road for a couple of metres, farting outside their house or even using government issued currency for their financial transactions.
Do you also call your landlord a thief when he forces you to pay the rent or else to GTFO?
Nobody else (maybe except Austrians) understands Bavarians. For many Germans it is actually often easier to understand Dutch than Bavarian dialects.
I used Windows Mobile 2002 to 6.5. Only WM5 was bad (before AKU3.5 that is). I actually enjoyed both WM2003 and WM6.1.
I still have two of those HTC Wallaby phones and they both still work just fine (after a couple of battery replacements of course).
You've never heard of GSM modems, haven't you?
Well, at least it has worked for HTC well. They went from a tiny contract manufacturer to a well-known cellphone company thanks to their Windows Mobile handsets.
Those hardcore libertarians clearly do not understand the term "cost of doing business". Taxes are the cost of doing business, a kind of a rent for the infrastructure and opportunities they have by living in in a particular society. If they pay rent for a flat, do they also complain about the landlord not using the money for their benefit? They are always free to move to a cheaper place to leave.
GP was joking, there used to be a country in South East Asia called Burma, it was renamed to Myanmar about 20 years ago.
When I use public transportation I need an hour in the train and 30 minutes of walking (or 10 minutes bus) to arrive at the office. In a car the time is reduced to 30 minutes. I still prefer public transportation because the traffic is stressful and the time behind the steering wheel is wasted. When I use the public transportation I usually read some book and half an hour of walking has done wonders to my health. I say, to hell with cars.
That would be shutdown -p now
How do you think the cellphone towers are interconnected?
I've bought a used Roland GK-2A (works just as well) and a used Axon Ax 100 for about EUR 280.
And they are useful on their own anyway.
What do you mean by "more"? The security measures for the flights inside USA are much more obtrusive than these which were for the flights inside USSR.
What do you need 200 hp for in a small economic car? Drag racing?
My old car (Opel Astra built in 1993) had only 60 hp. That was enough for 160 kph on the Autobahn.
My new one (incidently a Civic Hybrid) allows 170 kph and accelerates much faster, despite of being 30% heavier.
So I could with an old Toshiba E800 PocketPC 7 years ago (Windows Mobile 2003 SE by the way).
It was not a PC then, it is not now.
If I call a horse's tail a leg, how many legs does that horse have?
WTF? I can relate to the GP, having flashed my WM6.5 phone to Android only two days ago and I am just 30.
You sound like you need to tow your boat everyday. Uphill. Both ways. And, not to mention, through the center of Paris.
Actually he does drink beer sometimes
Trying to shoot a bear with a handgun would be the most idiotic thing you can do. It would only drive the bear mad.
You can almost always run away from a knife (throwing knifes effectively is very difficult), but it is almost impossible to outrun a bullet, so it is not the same logic.