Actually a flat tax is a very bad idea. The way the current tax system is supposed to work is it is used to encourage behavior that benefits society. For example if a factory owner buys new equipment, he should get a tax right-off. Reason being that his factory will now be more productive and thus his product cheaper providing more goods for everyone in society. In addition, in America, education expenses are tax deductible; the theory being that educated people build a stronger society. So our current system, while flawed and in need of reform, does attempt to encourage behavior that is beneficial toward society. Any government that attempts to control an economy will fail but what the current tax system does is it gives the government the ability to nudge economies in certain directions, thus allow some control.
Terry
Posts by jelly
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80Why we can't afford tax cuts
by SixofNine inrepublicans and democrats have distracted us with unending battles between haves and have-nots for decades.
over the same period, they have bankrupted the country.
perhaps that terror, not currency traders or al-qaeda, may explain the odd market decline after a tax cut that was supposed to make stocks soar.
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jelly
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865
WoMD ... so where are they?
by Simon innow, the war is over, the weapons were not used and of course have not been found.. how threatening could they be if they did not even use them when being invaded by a massive force (of the countries they hate)?!
perhaps, as many suspect, they didn't use them because they didn't have them?.
now we're being told that we'll have to be patient and give them time to find them.
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jelly
Reading back through some threads LMAO. Because people quit responding is not evidence that you won some argument. You may all now begin to flame, if I read anything interesting i will respond.
Terry
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865
WoMD ... so where are they?
by Simon innow, the war is over, the weapons were not used and of course have not been found.. how threatening could they be if they did not even use them when being invaded by a massive force (of the countries they hate)?!
perhaps, as many suspect, they didn't use them because they didn't have them?.
now we're being told that we'll have to be patient and give them time to find them.
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jelly
I quit reading most war threads because arguing the point in this environment is a waste. As far as the WMD, I think he had them; if he hadn’t why did not he come clean with the inspectors and stop the sanctions. Why would Saddam carry on the game with inspectors if he had nothing to gain and was being economically hurt by the sanctions? Any way there are many things people don’t seem to want to talk about like: the UN coming clean about the complete corruption for the food for oil program (the real reason for starving Iraqi kids), mass graves, children’s prisons, etc, etc. My point is the world is a better place now so I really don’t care about WMD as long as the don’t turn up in a bomb in some American city.
Terry -
44
Political Compass Test
by Aztec ini'm sure this has been posted before but i really enjoyed it.. http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass/questionnaire.pl?page=1.
i think like the dalai lama...lol!
economic left/right: -3.62. authoritarian/libertarian: -5.33.
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jelly
Economically I was about +1.5
Authoritarian/Libertarian I was about -3.33.
Aztec I am not suprised by the results this board leans left quite a bit.
Terry
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20
Netscrape is dead !
by Simon in... and it's long overdue imho.
aol have agreed to license ie for the forseeable future (at least 7 years) and have also signed up for media player 9 which must represent a major blow to real player and apple.
the two companies have also agreed to cooperate on im which should be good news for all of us (i guess yahoo won't have any option but to cooperate also or be left out).
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jelly
I actually agree with Simon here (first time in about a year). I am also hoping that everything moves to open source to allow for increased and fair competition. That probably has about a snowballs chance of happening though. We need standards and competition but in this market we need standards more.
Terry -
80
Why we can't afford tax cuts
by SixofNine inrepublicans and democrats have distracted us with unending battles between haves and have-nots for decades.
over the same period, they have bankrupted the country.
perhaps that terror, not currency traders or al-qaeda, may explain the odd market decline after a tax cut that was supposed to make stocks soar.
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jelly
The problem with arguments like these is that both sides can put forth an honest argument so many people will eventually just see what they want. It is very true that high taxes will retard economic growth, and under some conditions a tax cut will act as an economic stimulus helping the economy grow (Kennedy, Reagan). As an economic conservative myself I am having trouble with this tax cut. What the government must do is cut spending, and then cut taxes. Not cut taxes, stop spending and then hope the economy grows out of the deficit. Seems like a little bit of the horse before the cart here.
Terry -
21
Yet Another Question For People in Europe
by gitasatsangha inthis goes into the whole football-soccer thing.
i was watching a sports channel last night and an nfl-europe game came on between the scottland claymores and the amsterdam admirals.
the stadium was huge (regular football stadium) but it looked like about 500 people were in attendance.
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jelly
People outside of America tend to hate American football. I really dont see why the NFL is attempting to sell this to Europe. Personally American football is my favorite sport, hands down no other is even close.
Terry
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12
I RAISED A FLAG TODAY!
by plmkrzy ini'm in trouble now.. actually it is one of those windcatchers.
they usually come in fish, but i went to the local flag shop in san pedro and bought one in the ol' stars and stripes and hung it off the balcony this morning.
i didn't salute it, i just hung it.
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jelly
I call BS on carmel.
Where did this happen? when? pictures? Where I live I am surronded by mexican flags, pictures of Che, etc, etc, I have never seen anyone try to take any of these down but I have seen people attempt to take the stars and strips down.
Terry
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23
The Matrix is Loaded, but with What?
by Satanus ini haven't seem the new matrix movie yet.
i rewatched the original just for the heck of it.
it's a great movie, and i will likely see the next one.
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jelly
SaintSatan,(ignore the above post)
For your premise to hold, you need to reconcile all the white people on the government council, and the central role many white people played.
I took a different meaning from all the black actors but since I just got back from the movie literally minutes ago I hope I can communicate it clearly. When you look at art from Africa, you tend to see a very ‘color out side the lines approach’. Or, for example the dance seen in the movie, very African. It almost looked like a type of chaos, very human. No patterns, no order just expression the complete opposite of what a computer would do. Compare African art with some Japanese art; Japanese art tends to almost be binary in nature, much more closely to machine in nature. The point is, African culture tends to produce people that would be more willing to live without machines. So maybe the point is that out of all the people offered the out from the matrix, the ones that choose would be the ones that happen to be more willing to live without machines, which happens to be prodominatly A-Americans.
My argument is not well formed; maybe tomorrow I will try to clarify.
Terry -
23
The Matrix is Loaded, but with What?
by Satanus ini haven't seem the new matrix movie yet.
i rewatched the original just for the heck of it.
it's a great movie, and i will likely see the next one.
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jelly
SaintSatan,
SaintSatan,