OT: Taxing shituation

I keep hoping somebody with some moxie would drive a flat tax proposal without an offset.

If you only make 10k a year and the rate is 10% pay your 1k if you make 10^9 pay your 10^8. keep it simple

But I=92m sure it ain=92t going to happen in my life time. There=92s all kinds of excuses.

Better yet, get rid of the tax, which is illegal.

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hmm, well there is some stuff that we all equally benefit from ... how do you propose to pay for that?

(WA DC pol): "Pay? What is that?"..."Oh! You mean stiff the taxpayers again.".

User fees, kinda like how you buy a ticket to go to the movie?

The majority of taxes these days are going into the pockets of the bureaucrats, the bottomless abyss of Obama's Infinite War, and various pork barrel projects and handouts to the lazy, negligent, and stupid.

Thanks, Rich

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I agree in general there seems to be a lot of waste in our government.

First question:

Richard and Robert how old are you two?

Suggestion:

Propose a federal budget. Make suggestions of how you=92re going to collect the funds to pay for it.

Just spouting off about what you don=92t like in general doesn=92t accomplish much in a real discussion. Make some useful suggestions, please.

I agree, although I've often wondered whether or not private industry is really any less wasteful *on average*.

Particularly when we're talking about, e.g., big private military contractors where the account managers are incentivized based on the number of dollars they manage to get out of the DoD -- isn't that just asking for inefficiency?

Certainly. Really wasteful businesses go under. Really wasteful government causes even more government.

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Isn't that government?

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The sad truth re the federal spending is that top items are entitlement programs, the military, more entitlements and the interest on the national debt.

The common yell out is to cut entitlements, the spending on the military and pay down the debt.

Although it seems pretty easy, in the practical sense it=92s not. We started down this rat hole years ago and I suspect it=92s not going to be any easy challenge to get out of it.

Even our boy Jimmy T plans on sucking off the tit for as long as he can!

regards

OK, but I'd then add that "the now really, really wasteful government tends to increase the amount of wastefulness a private company can have and still survive." :-) As such, while I'd still have to admit that government is more wasteful on average, it could be by a fairly slim margin.

I'm thinking of your old digs like Lockheed Martin and GE and Rockwell Collins and so on (e.g., the guys on this list:

Those are all non-governmental companies where I think it's safe to say the majority of their income comes from tax dollars.

What do you think of the $60B arms deal with the Saudis? :-)

---Joel

I'm 61 1/2.

I'd be happy to, if I had access to all the numbers they don't release, the black accounts, and etc, etc, etc.

That's supposed to be what our elected representatives are for, and also why I invariably vote Libertarian, because they embrace the values of The Founding Fathers.

Thanks, Rich

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Well Richard, you're getting close to the age of retirement, if you qualify for the social entitlements, are you going to give your share back to do your part in helping out? Social entitlements are now over

50% of the federal budget.

Btw, the only way that I know of that you wouldn't qualify is if your on a state guaranteed / financed entitlement or simply didn't pay into the federal programs for one reason or another. I'm not aware of any private pension programs that negate the fed bonus ... but they may certainly exist.

Another btw, since the entitlements consume such a large chunk of the budget, just focus on them ... how would you make a substantial cut?

.Well Richard, you're getting close to the age of retirement, if you .qualify for the social entitlements, are you going to give your share .back to do your part in helping out? Social entitlements are now over .50% of the federal budget. . .Btw, the only way that I know of that you wouldn't qualify is if your .on a state guaranteed / financed entitlement or simply didn't pay .into the federal programs for one reason or another. I'm not aware of .any private pension programs that negate the fed bonus ... but they .may certainly exist. . .Another btw, since the entitlements consume such a large chunk of the .budget, just focus on them ... how would you make a substantial cut?

Fire the Obamunist!

Nonsense. It's a *huge* margin. There is *no* feedback system in government.

My digs? Their whole being is government. Wasteful? Damned straight. Wasteful because that's the way government sets the deal up. Again, no feedback.

I haven't studied it in any detail. In general I'm not against such. I'd rather that "they" defend themselves than do it for 'em. Again.

Didn't you work at Lockheed for awhile? If so, did you ever bring up the topic of how well your project was spending the taxpayers' money?

Where I work here most of the contracts are (sooner or later) federally funded, and you can bet I've piqued up a time or two as to how we might decrease our costs and thereby save the taxpayers some coinage. ...although it is somewhat depressing to find that, even if I had, say, some clever idea to take a $50k widget and produce it for $40k, someone either at the primary defense contractor or maybe in the military or a politician (I really don't know how these things happen at those higher levels...) will decide that a couple of extra features need to be added, completely obsoleting those $50k widgets even though the new $50k widget will retain, say, 80% of the design of the old one.

I feel more comfortable working on commercial projects. When, e.g., the NFL is trying to decide which wireless headset system they might purchase, it's pretty clear that the money is coming entirely voluntarily (no goverment oversight to the NFL that I'm aware of!) and the products will be evaluated on their objective merits of meeting the needs of the customer (no government mandates to purchase only certain "specially authorized" brands!).

---Joel

Motorola probably pays the NFL to use their headsets.

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Actually Motorola pays the NFL to *slap the Motorola logo* on the headsets! -- Although Motorola does make plenty of radios, AFAIK they're not currently in the "wireless headset" market. (There actually aren't all that many players

*in* that market to begin with, and it's pretty much split into the "pro audio" world -- sporting events, Broadway-type shows, concerts, etc. -- and the "drive through team at McDonalds" market... and few manufacturers cater to both... probably because the price points are markedly different.)

I am told that the coach-to-quarterback communications in the NFL is digitally encryped, but that the encryption codes often haven't been changed since the day the systems were installed. :-)

---Joel

Ya think? With a batwing logo the size of a grapefruit on there..

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

At, for a year. Not for (contracted work - LM was not my employer). I hardly considered it "digs" in any way. I got out when I could.

Of course it was a joke. I could have saved them million$ (cancel the project and look out the port hole) or even billion$ (cancel the whole damned thing). The whole idea of a $3B destroyer is stupid beyond belief.

Again, that was the way government set the whole system up. *NO* feedback. Well, if there is, it's positive.

Again, government.

IOW, feedback.

Now, what was your point? ;-)

BTW, if you don't think government isn't involved in professional sports, think "Roger Clemens" or take a peek at:

or Why shouldn't the government take over professional sports? Why should they be any different?