I have a patent (well, several, actually). I used this patent to make product at my own factory, and sold the product for 6 years. Then I wanted to get out of the manufacturing business, and back to my true love - engineering. I now license that patent to many other companies, and have taken action against infringement of my patent.
Given that I no longer actively market or produce a product with my patent, am I a patent troll? I did produce at one time, and other companies produce with my patent - but I, the sole patent holder, simply market and sell licenses to my patent. Am I a patent troll?
Nice twist. Jefferson's writing about progressive taxes was explaining how it works in France and the alternatives they were considering, during his tenure as ambassador. During his Presidency Jefferson eliminated taxes, cut the military, and pushed to eliminate the national debt. Specifically for taxes, he fully believed you could fund the US Federal Government on import duties alone.
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circlue of our felicities.
Put it another way, if you were to spend 8 months working overseas and paid local income tax on that income, would you be happy for the IRS to take its cut as well?
The sad thing is, that's exactly how it is for US citizens today. We're the only developed nation (1st/2nd world) that does this - taxes our citizens on a dollar they make anywhere in the world... Kind of blows the whole "but teh infrastructurz" argument away...
Please see the US Constitution - 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendments. They give rise to the legal foundation of presumption of innocence. Innocent until proven guilty. As a foundational concept of our legal system, yes - if you have not evidence you are in fact innocent.
A better question is why should these ridiculous tax avoidance games that Apple plays be legal.
A better question - why should they be illegal? They were already set up as a legal construct, why should that now immediately switch and be illegal?
I thought the argument was that people earned their income from the infrastructure the Government built. I assume we all use the electric grid, the sewer/water systems, the roads, the phone system, etc...
Contributing towards the infrastructure that allowed the company and the shareholders to get to their positions of wealth in the first place is doing them a dis-service...?
In this case, the wealth is earned OVERSEAS, not in the US. They pay taxes on it overseas where it was earned. But I guess the US Government should get a cut of it as well, even though it didn't use the US infrastructure...
Because the world is changing and it's no longer socially acceptable to just pay what's legal, it's considered inappropriate to pay less than what people would consider to be a fair amount.
EXACTLY. It is no longer socially acceptable to save for yourself, you must put it into the communal pot and let others dictate what you can keep/receive. If only we remembered the words of Judge Learned Hand:
Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one's affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.
Here's the thing - this profit is held overseas, where it was earned. It wasn't made with the US infrastructure, but with the Chinese (predominantly) infrastructure. And they've paid taxes on it overseas already. The issue is that some in our Government would like them to also pay US taxes on it as well... Even when it wasn't earned here. Kind of like the US does if you work overseas - you get to pay taxes in your country of residence, and if you earn a decent amount (which most/.ers probably earn above) you also get to pay US taxes as well. Even if you didn't set foot in the US for the entire year.
However, it's not quite that simple. Because of the ACA, there are specific things that a person's insurance must cover to be considered valid insurance. Thus the IRS will need to know not just if you bought insurance, but where you bought it, what it covers, and how much you pay for it - because all of that will affect whether or not you're "covered" per ACA rules.
Eight years, eh? I guess Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was a Republican, and of course no one ever remembers Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Between them, 5 years of those 8 are gone...
it's not like we're modifying the DNA of the food we consume purely for corporate profits
Hate to tell you, but mankind has been doing that for at least as long as horticulture and trading has been around, probably 15,000 years at the very least.
Question: do you know how to use a map? Do you understand what those "latitude" and "longitude" lines mean? Do you know what the equator is? What countries does the equator intersect?
Yes, that desert band around the equator. I remember dealing with it the last time I was in Singapore and Indonesia. Or when I was Northern Brazil, or the Congo. That desert was covered with trees and vines and jungles, but desert nevertheless!
Guns are useless without gun powder. Since you can make gun powder in a 3D printer, I think regulating gun powder might be more effective.
Making gunpowder is quite simple, actually. It's time-consuming, but if you follow the instructions you end up with something quite good, like Hodgdon's HP38. It was actually quite consistent when I made it, but took a long time to make around 10,000 grains. Definitely easier to just go buy a pound bottle...
Now making primers might be tricky; I'll have to try that sometime. But making powder, molding bullets, and reloading are all quite simple, and I do the latter two (molding bullets and reloading) quite often...
The skill needed is quite little. The instructions are quite complete and easy to follow, and you need a hand drill, a hacksaw, a couple of hand files, and materials you can buy at Home Depot - along with the tools I just listed. Trivial to build, nothing more complex than tracing a paper pattern on thin steel and cutting it. And you end up with a fully-functioning 9mm submachine gun.
California tops the Brady Campaign's ratings for "safe gun laws". We have extraordinary levels of registration, restriction, and tracking of firearms in the State. Of course, it hasn't really eliminated firearm murders, most of which are committed by felons who already break the law by possessing the firearm. This is just more insanity by the dolts in Sacramento to trample on the rights of the law-abiding citizen simply in an effort to garner a few votes...
You've never really dealt with the IRS, have you? To say that "profiling" or "in-detail questioning" from the IRS isn't persecution shows you've never been subject to such things. Where the norm is to either implicitly (and in many cases, explicitly) threaten and apply liens, levies, and other threats of personal investigations all in an aim to gain information they illegally seek. It's like claiming the local mob boss wanting to have a chat about your dispute with your neighbor isn't persecution...
Oh really? Ask a hard core libertarian what they think of a minimum wage or government provided social services
As a Libertarian, I'd tell you a Federal minimum wage law is unconstitutional. If - IF - there is a minimum wage law, it is the purview of the States, not the Federal Government (see the 10th Amendment). Furthermore, anyone with an iota of logic and reason would completely understand why a FEDERAL minimum wage makes zero sense - the cost of living throughout these 50 United States is quite disparate, and setting a single minimum wage for all makes zero sense. But you're probably a Democrat, so I wouldn't expect you to have that iota of logic and reason...
, then go through all the steps that led up to the recent factory collapse in Bangladesh with them and see if they object to it. That building owner was living the libertarian dream where his government couldn't stop him doing anything he wanted by enforcing pesky regulations.
That's not saying that libertarians are evil, instead it's just pointing out that they are far too naive to understand what evil would rise unopposed in the sort of society they are advocating.
Those are State and local issues - the Federal Government should have zero input into local building codes. Again, building codes for Southern California should be quite a bit different from those in North Dakota - different climates, different geology, different environmental issues.
One size does NOT fit all - and that was the original intent of the Constitution - it limited the power of the Federal Government (explicitly so with the 10th Amendment) and it's why we're called a Republic. Each State was to do most of what the Democrats want the Federal Government to do; we were supposed to have 50 concurrent experiments running and competing, and hopefully pushing each State to be better than the others. Rather than healthy competition, the Political Left seems to want a system of mediocrity and blanket solutions without concern over whether it applies nation-wide.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's a question for you...
I have a patent (well, several, actually). I used this patent to make product at my own factory, and sold the product for 6 years. Then I wanted to get out of the manufacturing business, and back to my true love - engineering. I now license that patent to many other companies, and have taken action against infringement of my patent.
Given that I no longer actively market or produce a product with my patent, am I a patent troll? I did produce at one time, and other companies produce with my patent - but I, the sole patent holder, simply market and sell licenses to my patent. Am I a patent troll?
Nice twist. Jefferson's writing about progressive taxes was explaining how it works in France and the alternatives they were considering, during his tenure as ambassador. During his Presidency Jefferson eliminated taxes, cut the military, and pushed to eliminate the national debt. Specifically for taxes, he fully believed you could fund the US Federal Government on import duties alone.
I think Thomas Jefferson said it best:
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circlue of our felicities.
Put it another way, if you were to spend 8 months working overseas and paid local income tax on that income, would you be happy for the IRS to take its cut as well?
The sad thing is, that's exactly how it is for US citizens today. We're the only developed nation (1st/2nd world) that does this - taxes our citizens on a dollar they make anywhere in the world... Kind of blows the whole "but teh infrastructurz" argument away...
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
Please see the US Constitution - 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendments. They give rise to the legal foundation of presumption of innocence. Innocent until proven guilty. As a foundational concept of our legal system, yes - if you have not evidence you are in fact innocent.
A better question is why should these ridiculous tax avoidance games that Apple plays be legal.
A better question - why should they be illegal? They were already set up as a legal construct, why should that now immediately switch and be illegal?
I thought the argument was that people earned their income from the infrastructure the Government built. I assume we all use the electric grid, the sewer/water systems, the roads, the phone system, etc...
Contributing towards the infrastructure that allowed the company and the shareholders to get to their positions of wealth in the first place is doing them a dis-service...?
In this case, the wealth is earned OVERSEAS, not in the US. They pay taxes on it overseas where it was earned. But I guess the US Government should get a cut of it as well, even though it didn't use the US infrastructure...
Because the world is changing and it's no longer socially acceptable to just pay what's legal, it's considered inappropriate to pay less than what people would consider to be a fair amount.
EXACTLY. It is no longer socially acceptable to save for yourself, you must put it into the communal pot and let others dictate what you can keep/receive. If only we remembered the words of Judge Learned Hand:
Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one's affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.
Do you have a 401K, or non-Roth IRA? How DARE you not pay taxes on that money you're saving for the future, you horrible person you!
Here's the thing - this profit is held overseas, where it was earned. It wasn't made with the US infrastructure, but with the Chinese (predominantly) infrastructure. And they've paid taxes on it overseas already. The issue is that some in our Government would like them to also pay US taxes on it as well... Even when it wasn't earned here. Kind of like the US does if you work overseas - you get to pay taxes in your country of residence, and if you earn a decent amount (which most /.ers probably earn above) you also get to pay US taxes as well. Even if you didn't set foot in the US for the entire year.
No need to deny an application if you can keep it in limbo for 3+ years. Then you can claim "we didn't deny anybody!" and technically be right.
However, it's not quite that simple. Because of the ACA, there are specific things that a person's insurance must cover to be considered valid insurance. Thus the IRS will need to know not just if you bought insurance, but where you bought it, what it covers, and how much you pay for it - because all of that will affect whether or not you're "covered" per ACA rules.
Eight years, eh? I guess Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was a Republican, and of course no one ever remembers Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Between them, 5 years of those 8 are gone...
That's only because Steve Jobs used his time machine in 2010 to go back and push Corning to make it...
Remember and WANTING to remember are two different things...
it's not like we're modifying the DNA of the food we consume purely for corporate profits
Hate to tell you, but mankind has been doing that for at least as long as horticulture and trading has been around, probably 15,000 years at the very least.
SURE. Like we're supposed to believe a scientific posting on Slashdot over dozens of Hollywood movies?
Question: do you know how to use a map? Do you understand what those "latitude" and "longitude" lines mean? Do you know what the equator is? What countries does the equator intersect?
Yes, that desert band around the equator. I remember dealing with it the last time I was in Singapore and Indonesia. Or when I was Northern Brazil, or the Congo. That desert was covered with trees and vines and jungles, but desert nevertheless!
It may have been useless for pyro and HP rocketry, but it propelled my little 158 grain pieces of lead down the pipe of my S&W 686+ quite well...
Guns are useless without gun powder. Since you can make gun powder in a 3D printer, I think regulating gun powder might be more effective.
Making gunpowder is quite simple, actually. It's time-consuming, but if you follow the instructions you end up with something quite good, like Hodgdon's HP38. It was actually quite consistent when I made it, but took a long time to make around 10,000 grains. Definitely easier to just go buy a pound bottle...
Now making primers might be tricky; I'll have to try that sometime. But making powder, molding bullets, and reloading are all quite simple, and I do the latter two (molding bullets and reloading) quite often...
The skill needed is quite little. The instructions are quite complete and easy to follow, and you need a hand drill, a hacksaw, a couple of hand files, and materials you can buy at Home Depot - along with the tools I just listed. Trivial to build, nothing more complex than tracing a paper pattern on thin steel and cutting it. And you end up with a fully-functioning 9mm submachine gun.
California tops the Brady Campaign's ratings for "safe gun laws". We have extraordinary levels of registration, restriction, and tracking of firearms in the State. Of course, it hasn't really eliminated firearm murders, most of which are committed by felons who already break the law by possessing the firearm. This is just more insanity by the dolts in Sacramento to trample on the rights of the law-abiding citizen simply in an effort to garner a few votes...
You've never really dealt with the IRS, have you? To say that "profiling" or "in-detail questioning" from the IRS isn't persecution shows you've never been subject to such things. Where the norm is to either implicitly (and in many cases, explicitly) threaten and apply liens, levies, and other threats of personal investigations all in an aim to gain information they illegally seek. It's like claiming the local mob boss wanting to have a chat about your dispute with your neighbor isn't persecution...
Oh really? Ask a hard core libertarian what they think of a minimum wage or government provided social services
As a Libertarian, I'd tell you a Federal minimum wage law is unconstitutional. If - IF - there is a minimum wage law, it is the purview of the States, not the Federal Government (see the 10th Amendment). Furthermore, anyone with an iota of logic and reason would completely understand why a FEDERAL minimum wage makes zero sense - the cost of living throughout these 50 United States is quite disparate, and setting a single minimum wage for all makes zero sense. But you're probably a Democrat, so I wouldn't expect you to have that iota of logic and reason...
, then go through all the steps that led up to the recent factory collapse in Bangladesh with them and see if they object to it. That building owner was living the libertarian dream where his government couldn't stop him doing anything he wanted by enforcing pesky regulations. That's not saying that libertarians are evil, instead it's just pointing out that they are far too naive to understand what evil would rise unopposed in the sort of society they are advocating.
Those are State and local issues - the Federal Government should have zero input into local building codes. Again, building codes for Southern California should be quite a bit different from those in North Dakota - different climates, different geology, different environmental issues.
One size does NOT fit all - and that was the original intent of the Constitution - it limited the power of the Federal Government (explicitly so with the 10th Amendment) and it's why we're called a Republic. Each State was to do most of what the Democrats want the Federal Government to do; we were supposed to have 50 concurrent experiments running and competing, and hopefully pushing each State to be better than the others. Rather than healthy competition, the Political Left seems to want a system of mediocrity and blanket solutions without concern over whether it applies nation-wide.