Answer please

[smaneck]

If tax breaks are more important than ideals then I guess I understand the problem. Taxes are theft anyway, so geting rid of them would be even better.

I get my monies' worth out of the taxes I pay. No complaints. But I agree it would be better if government got out of the marriage business entirely.

 

[aieyiamfu]

I get my monies' worth out of the taxes I pay. No complaints. But I agree it would be better if government got out of the marriage business entirely.

Well at least someone is.

 

[smaneck]

Well at least someone is.

My parents got even more. My father went to college on the GI Bill to a state university that was tuition-free. My parents bought their first house on a VA loan. They bought their second home with an FHA loan. The sidewalks I played on as a child were built by the WPA during the Depression. When my father became disabled, I went to college thanks to Social Security (which was then available to the college students of disabled parents.) And I also had a state scholarship. Unlike the crippling debts young people run up today trying to finance their education, I owed $300 when I graduated. I went to graduate school via FLAS scholarships given by the Defense Department to those studying strategic languages (Arabic and Persian in my case.) I drive regularly on freeways build during the Eisenhower Administration (I like Ike.) I teach at a state university. I consider the Social Security which I funded through my FICA contributions to be the best annuity around.

So, no I don't resent a dollar I pay in taxes, though like everyone else I arrange my finances to as to be in as low a tax bracket as possible.

 

[aieyiamfu]

My parents got even more. My father went to college on the GI Bill to a state university that was tuition-free. My parents bought their first house on a VA loan. They bought their second home with an FHA loan. The sidewalks I played on as a child were built by the WPA during the Depression. When my father became disabled, I went to college thanks to Social Security (which was then available to the college students of disabled parents.) And I also had a state scholarship. Unlike the crippling debts young people run up today trying to finance their education, I owed $300 when I graduated. I went to graduate school via FLAS scholarships given by the Defense Department to those studying strategic languages (Arabic and Persian in my case.) I drive regularly on freeways build during the Eisenhower Administration (I like Ike.) I teach at a state university. I consider the Social Security which I funded through my FICA contributions to be the best annuity around.

So, no I don't resent a dollar I pay in taxes, though like everyone else I arrange my finances to as to be in as low a tax bracket as possible.

I am glad you fell satisfied with how your tax dollars are used. The things you mention are all good as mentioned, although any government program is by virtue of being managed by the government a mess. I have a VA mortgage for my primary residence and the process was not bad in comparison to securing other financing, which I have done in the past although government incompatance did cost me thousands of extra dollars by the time it was all said and done. I do believe the taxes I have paid over the years would have been more than enough to put up the down payment that the va pledged against the mortgage so it is not a huge win. I am more concerned about how our tax dollars are used to pursue endless war and oppression in other countries and to incarcerate people who have not hurt anyone or taken their property, as well as to force compliance from citizens who do not agree with the myriad pointless rules, regulations and laws on the books.

 

[smaneck]

I am more concerned about how our tax dollars are used to pursue endless war and oppression in other countries and to incarcerate people who have not hurt anyone or taken their property

Now that does concern me.

as well as to force compliance from citizens who do not agree with the myriad pointless rules, regulations and laws on the books.

That, not so much. I don't want my meat tainted and I'd rather pay a higher price for it than allow ranchers to freely despoil public lands. And I really think traffic lights and stop signs, safety belts and air bags are a good idea.

 

[aieyiamfu]

Now that does concern me.



That, not so much. I don't want my meat tainted and I'd rather pay a higher price for it than allow ranchers to freely despoil public lands. And I really think traffic lights and stop signs, safety belts and air bags are a good idea.

I have my doubts that all ranchers have despoiled public lands as much as a single gas corporation fracking, the tainted meat i would buy from a trusted source or raise my own no need for government there. Traffic circles beat stop signs and lights any day and belts and airbags are great but the government requiring them is of no value, but those were not really the types of things I was getting at. I have more trouble with laws that have no purpose but to protect some companies interest or to stop an individual from doing something just because and there are tons of these on the books.

 

[smaneck]

I have my doubts that all ranchers have despoiled public lands as much as a single gas corporation fracking,

Well, if you want to stop that you will need government regulations.

the tainted meat i would buy from a trusted source or raise my own no need for government there.

Not me. I may like to eat meat but I'm not in to slaughtering it.

Traffic circles beat stop signs and lights any day

True, but there are rules and regulations which go with those too.

and belts and airbags are great but the government requiring them is of no value

,

Sure it is. Saves lives.

I have more trouble with laws that have no purpose but to protect some companies interest or to stop an individual from doing something just because and there are tons of these on the books.

Well, we could build cars that sell for $3000 if we didn't have all these safety regulations. India does. But there would be a lot more traffic deaths too.

 

[aieyiamfu]

Not me. I may like to eat meat but I'm not in to slaughtering it.



True, but there are rules and regulations which go with those too.

,

Sure it is. Saves lives.



Well, we could build cars that sell for $3000 if we didn't have all these safety regulations. India does. But there would be a lot more traffic deaths too.

Most of the cheaply built cars that result in traffic deaths are mostly a danger to the occupants of the car, a personal choice, and we allow motorcycles which are inherently quite dangerous in the traffic situations we have in this country no matter how good a rider you may be, so there is some flaw in that logic. Those things are not those which most concern me, I find myself concerned with the failed war on drugs and nearly everything in the John Stossel report Everythings Illegal, and with the fact that Americans commit on average three felonies a day ( a large number of which deal with new technologies that are so specific the average person can't even understand them).

 

[pat34lee]

FDA and the IRS are not monopolies. Do you really want competing tax collectors and regulators?

I want no personal or corporate taxes at all, and why do we need regulators
if we bust up the monopolies?

And who decides what land they shouldn't have? The ranchers, miners and loggers who want to ruin it?

The Constitution. They need enough for offices and military bases. The rest
should belong to the states to deal with how and who uses it.

Hey, free market capitalism is free market capitalism. Like it or leave it.

We don't have free markets. We can't even ban GMO's or force them to be
labeled correctly. We need to get rid of most government regulations and let
the states deal with companies within their borders. No more FED either.

Wishful thinking, but possible, if only theoretically.

 

[pat34lee]

Well that's a good idea. Have you met people? Now imagine them armed with military grade weapons and training?

Just like the army, navy, air force and marines, not to mention
the guard and police and alphabet soup agencies. There would
need to be years of training before kids would be given firearms
and live ammo. If we can trust most people with a machine that
weighs a couple of tons and can go 100 mph, I think most can
handle firearms responsibly with training.

 

[Armoured]

Just like the army, navy, air force and marines, not to mention
the guard and police and alphabet soup agencies. There would
need to be years of training before kids would be given firearms
and live ammo. If we can trust most people with a machine that
weighs a couple of tons and can go 100 mph, I think most can
handle firearms responsibly with training.

Have you ever been in the military? They tend not to just hand out free grenades.

 

[smaneck]

We don't have free markets. We can't even ban GMO's or force them to be
labeled correctly.

Regulations could make them do that. A free market with no regulations means they don't have to label things accurately. They can sell you all the snake oil they want.

We need to get rid of most government regulations and let
the states deal with companies within their borders.

LOL. Big corporations don't recognize state borders. They don't even recognize national borders. Further, the Constitution clearly states that it is up to the federal government to regulate interstate commerce.

As for monopolies you really think monopolies will be broken up or stay broken up without regulation?

Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that the Federal government can't own land. Indeed, when additional territories were joined to the union those territories ceded certain lands to the federal government. Most of the federal lands are out West. The people living there did not have to join the Union if they didn't like the deal.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

I get my monies' worth out of the taxes I pay. No complaints. But I agree it would be better if government got out of the marriage business entirely.

Why. Doesn't the government being involve help them? I thought they got tax benefits.

 

[smaneck]

Why. Doesn't the government being involve help them? I thought they got tax benefits.

Because I have to agree with the right, on this one. Marriage is a religious institution. That's not to say that gays shouldn't be allowed to get married. There are plenty of churches and other religious organizations willing to do that. If the government wants to give benefits to unions, whether by marriage or civil unions that's fine, but marriage and its regulation is not the business of government.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

Because I have to agree with the right, on this one. Marriage is a religious institution. That's not to say that gays shouldn't be allowed to get married. There are plenty of churches and other religious organizations willing to do that. If the government wants to give benefits to unions, whether by marriage or civil unions that's fine, but marriage and its regulation is not the business of government.

If it's a religious act, then non believers wouldn't have ever get married. They have been getting married for ever. So it's not for just religious people.

 

[pat34lee]

Have you ever been in the military? They tend not to just hand out free grenades.

I've been to Israel. Every young man and woman is required to
serve in the IDF for two years and they carry their weapons
everywhere they go. The IDF soldiers I met are some of the
nicest people.

 

[TLK Valentine]

I've been to Israel. Every young man and woman is required to
serve in the IDF for two years and they carry their weapons
everywhere they go. The IDF soldiers I met are some of the
nicest people.

True fact: Dr. Ruth Westheimer, best known throughout the 1980s as an enthusiastic sex therapist,

...was trained by the Israeli army as a sniper.

So not only can she help you overcome any physical or psychological relationship issues, she can put a hole in your forehead from 200 yards.

When I was in my routine training for the Israeli army as a teenager, they discovered completely by chance that I was a lethal sniper. I could hit the target smack in the center further away than anyone could believe. Not just that, even though I was tiny and not even much of an athlete, I was incredibly accurate throwing hand grenades too. Even today I can load a Sten automatic rifle in a single minute, blindfolded.

And that, boys and girls, is the epitome of "multi-talented."

 

[Cearbhall]

George Bush, on the other hand, totaled at 291.

But, y'know, facts. Pfft.

/thread

...or I wish, but that was on page 1, so apparently not...