>> ^Ryjkyj:
Do you ride to work in the rain? Because nobody I know rides their bike in the rain. So what then, call in sick every time it rains?

Rain, snow, lightning, fog, hail, tumbleweeds, crazy drivers. The weather here ranges from -10 F to 105F and yes I ride every day no matter what. Riding in the rain isn't that big of a deal if you have a waterproof helmet, jacket, pants, gloves, and boots.

You can buy a used dirt bike for about $1000 - in fact my very first motorcycle was a used Ninja 250 (sport bike) which I bought for $1400. Gets 70 MPG. As far as maintenance on my current bike goes; spark plugs are about $2 (single cylinder) and an oil change is what $10? Mine was $7000 brand new, but I don't make minimum wage. Most people spend what, 10, 20, 30 thousand on a new car? Why would you spend $20,000 on a car? They are slow, dangerous, get terrible gas mileage, and can't even ride down single track

Thing is, if you are making minimum wage, why would you need a car to commute in the first place? Theres a McDonalds on every block and used bicycles are like $30. Anyone working less than 10 miles from their house could easily ride a bicycle to work. One of my coworkers does it every day (14 miles) ...yes in the rain and snow too.

Its not a question of "can" its a question of "will." People in America think (know?) they need a car yet theres really no need for it.

As far as TAXES go...you know I'm a libertarian right? I don't believe in taxation...so that part is on you...if you want to steal 20% from someone making minimum wage thats on you, not me

Your video, Ford Unveils New Car For Cash-Strapped Buyers: 1993 Taurus, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

To be fair, I'm not sure if I could process the fact that they just gave me a new car well enough to actually be as happy as I should. My reaction would likely be similar.

Great job Hyundai, this is what the world needs.

Someone should find that carpark... and crush the new car - just to continue the meme

Are you referring to the fact that as you make more you have more discretionary income therefore the tax is less in real intrinsic value?

Yep! You got it in one.

If you have enough income that all your basic needs covered, plus enough to buy a new car, plus enough to have a First Class 4 month vacation to Europe, plus plus plus.... $1000 to that person just isn't the same $1000 to someone who struggles to pay the rent.

A flat tax doesn't take the relative VALUE of that $1000 into account. A progressive tax does.

Wouldn't making taxes flat and based on all income and define income as income from any arena solve the money from dividend problem?

Whether you have a flat tax or not, you still have to define what income is. I started to write a long thing on the different types of income that are taxed and not taxed and the benefits and drawbacks to each one, but I deleted it all. It gets back to my general point of taxes being used to socially engineer -- I don't think that is a bad thing. Carrots to reward behavior you want -- works better than laws forcing you to do things, sticks, you see.

I guarantee you, very wealthy people want a flat tax, and they will gladly pay tax on the dividend income, if they have any kind of investment portfolio at all. Their tax would plummet, unless you set the flat tax at 25%. And if you set it at 25%, that would be increasing the tax burden on 95% of Americans. So that the wealthy would pay less.

That makes no sense.

Thanks for taking the time to read my long post. I am so pissed about the dividend income tax boondoggle, I am grateful to anyone that takes the time to read this.







In reply to this comment by GeeSussFreeK:
Thanks for your comment dude, always nice to have insider opinions on stuff like that! I would like to see a flat tax because it seems the most consistent and the least subject to arbitrary standards. I don't understand how you call flat tax regressive, being that it is a total percent and not a sliding percent? Are you referring to the fact that as you make more you have more discretionary income therefore the tax is less in real intrinsic value? Or is there something else that I am missing or misunderstanding. Also, wouldn't making taxes flat and based on all income and define income as income from any arena solve the money from dividend problem?

In reply to this comment by bareboards2:
I do taxes for a living, have done 35 years (I started young.) It is, indeed, horrible how complex the system has become during my lifetime.

Being on the "inside" so to speak, I also see WHY it has gotten so complex. A tax law is written, the smart folks figure out how to use it to avoid tax. So that "loophole" is plugged, the smart folks figure out how to work around that, and new laws are generated.

I'm never 'inflammatory'. I'm always reasonable. The only thing I ever do is calmly and rationally make a point which other people choose to be inflammatory against. I myself rarely (if ever) make an argument personal. I'll strongly make my case, and I'm not afraid to point out hypocrisy and bigotry when I see it.

In this case, we have a bunch of people in this thread that are Mormon bashing. They claim it is 'official church policy' to cut off family members. All I have done is clearly state the facts. It is not official church policy to do anything of the sort, and anyone who IS doing such things is either (A) not LDS at all or (B) not a very good practicioner of thier faith. I fail to see how such an argument could possibly be 'inflammatory' except to a person who is bigoted and has an axe to grind.

seen your posts elsewhere

M'eh - if you find the prolix nature of my text to cumbersome or weighty to digest then feel free to move on. Addressing an issue requires thought. I am not a flippant, unthinking debator who is satisfied with simply making unsupported, profane accusations and calling it an 'argument'.

the whole point of the meeting (since the church's early days) is to allow the congregation their opportunity to be heard

From my understanding, it is also not considered a place for free-wheeling political arguments or discourse. Sunday worship services are places where people come to be uplifted, share faith building experiences, or otherwise console & strengthen each other. It is not the place to get up and tell everyone how much you think everyone sucks, or how great your new car is, or whatever crap you have dribbling out your mind. People going 'off topic' like that shouldn't be surprised to have the mic cut & the bishop tug at their sleeve to take it off-line.

Their website says that LDS meetings have 3 divisions of an hour each. The meeting he got up in looks like their first one where they take their sacraments. That's not the spot for his little stunt. There's Sunday School meeting where church doctrines get discussed, and another one they call 'priesthood' or 'relief society' where men & women get split up. If he had something to get off his chest, then Sunday School or Priesthood was the place for it. Not a meeting with children and youth. Ideally, this kind of discussion is more logically done with a Bishop in private. The fact that he lined up a cameraman and had his whole speech written out proves he wasn't making a heart-felt confession. He was out for attention.

Don't you like when the winter's gone
And all of a sudden it starts gettin warm
The trees and the grass start lookin fresh
And the sun and sky be lookin their best
Birds be singin, flowers be bloomin
A lot of brand new cars be zoomin
Fly girls lookin the best they can be
And the guys be dukey dukey Dan you see
Besides all that I like the warm weather
Cause that's when you can get yourself together
But I like Easter time with a grin
Cause when I was little we used to go to Coney I-sland
We used to eat a lot of stuff like cotton candy
Cause back then, it was like fine and dandy
You used to get dressed up in double knits
And your plaid suit jackets, they were the shits
The good ol' days, was back then
And the reason I reminisce, cause..

Now girls - have you ever broke up with your boyfriend
And you felt that the world was comin to an end
Sittin around the house poutin for no reason
Just because you thought your man was skeezin
For a couple of days, look gloomy and gray
Thinkin about the ol' happy days
All of a sudden, the telephone ring
He beg for your forgiveness and you know what that brings
Joy and happiness into your life
Before you felt like your heart was stabbed by a knife
I'm tellin you girl

wow, who the hell pays 350 bucks a month for car insurance????
ron paul is an idiot. isnt nasa in texas? lyndon b johnson space center, hey texans,give it back.
fort hood is also in texas,largest post in the usa. wonder if that stimulates their economy??
how about fema?? next time a hurricane wipes out huoston, dont call uncle sam. just secede !! and republicans suddenly wanting to fiscally responsible is ..just..i cant describe it. omg these people are hysterical if only they were'nt running the country.
ron paul is not principled,hes old and confused.
if i give the consumer a 4000 dollar tax break,hes buys a new car or house, then i get my payroll taxes from all the employed people. but if no one works or buys cars,or houses, i get nothing, but have to fork out unemployment. see? its simple. so simple even dr paul SHOULD get it. these programs are vital to pull us out of the tailspin caused by dr paul and his republican friends. obama is just cleaning up their mess.

turn off fox news. seriously.

If this program was supposed to do what it says, it would allow people to buy any efficient car made in the last 5 years. People driving +10-year-old cars are either quaint millionaires or can't afford full auto insurance (easily $350 a month) and a $500 monthly payment for a new car.

The Treasury logo should be changed to a magician's hat with the Monopoly guy throwing money out of it. CROOKS ALL!

the cash for clunkers program is a simple yet effective and very smart program. over 700,000 old polluting,gas guzzling clunkers taken off the roads and replaced by new, fuel efficient, less polluting vehicles. 45% of the new cars are big 3 cars.this is jobs all up and down the chain.toyotas and hondas sold in the program are madde in the usa.
cash for clunkers saves lives. get a new vehicle with airbags,antilock breaks etc.in short it stimulates auto sales.makes us more efficient and safer. only backwards looking worn out old republicans oppose these programs. many other countries in the world do this. not just us,we must also keep up with the rest of the modern world. there are many instances where the governmet must protect us from ourselves. i.e. seatbelt laws. child restraint laws. etc. ron paul is an idiot.....idiot. these people and all who listen to them want to drag us back to the dark ages where people believe that a 500 year old man built a giant boat and put all the life on earth in it.

turn off fox news and your life will change.

Can we add this to *lies?

This is total BS, because people would "fit" into a geographic area does not mean that the Earth can support us, certainly not in the way in which westerners have become accustomed with a new car every 5-10 years and a multitude of new computers and high tech goods every year or two, also, food PRODUCTION has never been a huge issue, lots of crops go to waste every year, it's the distribution that's a problem, but he doesn't even cover the production side, yeah people could fit into Texas, but he said himself that wasn't the issue. And who wants to live in Texas anyhow?

Population-wise I think the Earth is OK, as long as we all consume about 1/10 of what westerners do now, THIS is where the real problem comes up, the world population is not growing that fast but it's places like China where the energy use and consumerism have been exponential (in spite of the one child policy I might add) that are liable to tip the balance towards catastrophe.

I say all this sitting baking in the heat at all time record temperatures, second day in a row we've set the record (2 degrees over the record yesterday, that's celsius so 4 degrees for you Americans), how many of you are also seeing record temperatures where you live?

Also when it comes to the environment, is the overall picture being even looked at?

I'd imagine despite the fuel efficiency of new cars, just throwing away old perfectly working and taking into account the resources it takes to build a new car would probably be less environmentally friendly than just driving your old unefficient car.

Westy, your analogies are flawed.

Would you know how to fix an LCD tv if it stopped working?
Would you know how to fix a digital PVR if it did?
What about if you have a new car and the issue is only able to be ascertained via consultation with the diagnostics computer on board?

Saying that people should just know how to fix their pcs when they go wrong is crud.

They should know some basics, and a lot of people don't... but opening up a piece of electronics which has live 240V (in Aus, or 110V for you US types) in it and fiddle around is ridiculous. Especially as even if you have disconnected the power etc. you can still break stuff in there by touching the wrong thing.

You seriously expect the average Joe to be able to look into their pc, at something like this and know where to even start?

Come on.

I know what to do, I build my own PCs. You apparently know what to do also, but don't try to suggest that people can't use things unless they know how to fix them, that's utter bullcrap.

If that was the case you can rule me out of ever driving a car then, changing the tires, checking the oil and a few other things is as far as I get... which in PC land would be, ensuring it's plugged in and that you're not using the DVD drive as a cupholder.

If you need a Mac, Such as if you are a designer, or you do video editing on a major scale, there is no substitute. I have both and both have their purposes. Being compatible with printers and service bureaus goes a long way. Macs also just make the job easier when you are bouncing back and forth between programs. It’s also great for kids who just want to play the kids games. Mac is basically a tool of the trade and the best one for the job.

Windows is more for the serious gamer. It is made for office networking. It is well balanced to be both a business tool and a game component. Microsoft is steering it away from gaming (if it can), that’s why they came out with x-box. It is customizable in so many ways; it is easily tailored to fit most people’s uses.
And it’s what I call the “New Car” remember how guys used to sit around and brag about the engines of their cars, pull things out change it up, customize it… well engines are getting more sophisticated now and a lot of people have switched to computers. “Wow, great computer, whatcha got in it?”

My point is, both are great at what they do. I have two windows computers and a mac at home and a high-powered mac at work. I use them all. Each has their purpose. Now when I upgrade, and that could be sooner than I want; What will I buy? It’s leaning towards Mac, but my expensive software is all in windows…

By the way, does anyone know where I can get a copy of the OS 9 operating system? I need to yank 10.x some old discs no one’s using any more… copies…. anything… download site…

^ They put him in jail for back support he still owes.

I'm paying support for a kid that's not mine as well. They haven't sent me to jail yet because they can garnish my checks from work.

State worker was a friend of the family and assumed since the girl and I were living together at the time she got pregnant, I had to be the father. What she didn't know is the girl was gone 99% of the time screwing other guys to support her crank habit. Needless to say I was told by said state worker that if I didn't sign paternity, the girl would not get support from the state. After about 3 weeks of holding out I finally gave in and signed paternity. Come to find out later what i always knew, kid isn't mine but I'm still paying back support for him (he was born in '83). And yes, they garnish my unemployment checks too when I'm not working.

This has basically ruined my credit to the point where I cannot buy a new car, rent a place to live unless I know the folks who own the property, or buy a house of my own. I feel this guy's pain.