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We're screwed!

Erik said:
True story: The democratic party was started by a guy who was such a prick that his opponents called him a jackass. He liked it so much he adopted the jackass as the party mascot.
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OK but, where did the elephant come from? Buncha ol' FatCatz sittin' on thier azzez? (Or is it just a reference to the size of the political machine, trampling-under anything that gets in it's way)???

--T
 
Erik said:
True story: The democratic party was started by a guy who was such a prick that his opponents called him a jackass. He liked it so much he adopted the jackass as the party mascot.
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My all-time favorites were the 'Mugwumps', who were said to be sittin' on da fence, with thier mug on one side, and thier wumps on da other...

--T
 
Terry Yager said:
OK but, where did the elephant come from? Buncha ol' FatCatz sittin' on thier azzez? (Or is it just a reference to the size of the political machine, trampling-under anything that gets in it's way)???
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I think it has something to do with wisdom and longevity, but I'd have to look it up to be sure. . . ;)
 
Terry Yager said:
BB is and has been on dat sh!t right from the start. (You didn't really ever believe in the privacy of electronic communications, did you?)...

--T
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No, I didn't, but I believed there was a certain point that nobody bothered to look, until recently.
 
Terry Yager said:
our country has become, in the last century, more Socialist than ever concieved by our founding fathers.
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On the other hand, social democrats over here are verging to be more and more liberal. Conservatives also are looking to become liberal, and it leaves the true liberals squeezed in the middle, and they flirt* with xenophobic people, which itself sounds quite un-liberal.

(*) Example: a suggestion that anyone who wants to become a Swedish citizen should take a test in Swedish language (but nothing about history or current society structure). Also that new immigrants who come to the country should be encouraged to follow a course in Swedish in order to get allowance. In other countries, this sounds perfectly normal, but over here, it is considered xenophobic, almost racistic to have such suggestions.
 
carlsson wrote:

> On the other hand, social democrats over here are
> verging to be more and more liberal. Conservatives
> also are looking to become liberal, and it leaves the
> true liberals squeezed in the middle, and they flirt*
> with xenophobic people, which itself sounds quite un-
> liberal.

> (*) Example: a suggestion that anyone who wants to
> become a Swedish citizen should take a test in
> Swedish language (but nothing about history or
> current society structure). Also that new immigrants
> who come to the country should be encouraged to
> follow a course in Swedish in order to get allowance.
> In other countries, this sounds perfectly normal, but
> over here, it is considered xenophobic, almost
> racistic to have such suggestions.

Guess I need to be careful what I say here. Australia just
about adopts any culture, religion, so while there's Aussies
running all over the country side, other cultures get here too
& decide to keep flying their flag - which is somewhat
annoying - cause they know they can do this, try moving to
their country & fly your own flag - won't happen.

Okay, so I'm racist in that regard - or am I?!?

CP/M User.
 
I'm all for waving your home land's flag. In Sweden it is barely allowed to wave the Swedish flag, so instead let everyone wave their respective flags (with exception of flags symbolizing prohibited movements). People can also speak their mother tongue and decide to never learn a word of the language spoken in their new country - it only gets more difficult for them the day they get permanent residence and the state expects them to go out look for jobs. But if they want to become citizens of their new country, I find it perfectly understandable if you expect them to at least speak the language.
 
carlsson wrote:

> I'm all for waving your home land's flag. In Sweden
> it is barely allowed to wave the Swedish flag, so
> instead let everyone wave their respective flags
> (with exception of flags symbolizing prohibited
> movements). People can also speak their mother tongue
> and decide to never learn a word of the language
> spoken in their new country - it only gets more
> difficult for them the day they get permanent
> residence and the state expects them to go out look
> for jobs. But if they want to become citizens of
> their new country, I find it perfectly understandable
> if you expect them to at least speak the language.

The job situation here in Australia has escalated to new
dimensions - where cultures have set up illegal businesses &
people who have either arrived here illegially or legally are
working for cheap labour in these places.

In a sense their working in Australia, but not under
Australia's employment agreements - hence the raid of numerous
places around the country side which have been performing
these activities.

The Govt IMO are trying to flog jobs & keeping Australia
unemployments rates down, though it'll only be a question of
time when they fly through the roof - many jobs I see as
either moving overseas or are short term jobs. R&D seems to be
getting the pointy end of the stick & it's like nobody wants
developing new & money saving ideas - no incentives for those.
Govt only wants more money & jobs. Like I say - the country's
going to the dogs!

CP/M User.
 
CP/M User said:
alexkerhead wrote:

> Republicans keep ruining everything.

So just getting back to the subject, what does this mean in English?

CP/M User.
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Basically, Republicans, also known as conservatives make desicions that benefit the rich and screw the poor.
For normal people with incomes between $0 and $65,000, republicans make sure we don't get tax break and such. The tax breaks goto the rich.
Republicans are responsible for the war in iraq, conflicts in iran and n. korea, most countries and their citizens hating americans, high taxes, fuel ineffiecient vehicles, ozone depletion, global warming, animal extinction and the list keeps going on and on. NOw you can add that they want internet sites to pay for better access.
All of the above happened because they would/will financially benefit from it.
 
alexkerhead wrote:

> Basically, Republicans, also known as conservatives
> make desicions that benefit the rich and screw the
> poor.
> For normal people with incomes between $0 and
> $65,000, republicans make sure we don't get tax break
> and such. The tax breaks goto the rich.
> Republicans are responsible for the war in iraq,
> conflicts in iran and n. korea, most countries and
> their citizens hating americans, high taxes, fuel
> ineffiecient vehicles, ozone depletion, global
> warming, animal extinction and the list keeps going
> on and on. NOw you can add that they want internet
> sites to pay for better access.
> All of the above happened because they would/will
> financially benefit from it.

Cheers, you know in many ways I envy the people who had Robin
Hood - a true legend of his era & perhaps now if life wasn't
so complicated - I think to outwit the authorities now you
would have to be so powerful & have many followers. I suppose
there's those who can continously do that though, but aren't
the sort who'd give a penny to the poor.

Be funny thing if soon or latter something along those lines
will eventually occur cause greed is also considered evil,
making money that you don't need or wasted on commodities
which people could get my with cheaper alternatives.
Sure a business has the right to make money, enough to get by
is crunch - making money which just sits there is greed which
should be considered illegal.

CP/M User.
 
alexkerhead said:
Basically, Republicans, also known as conservatives make desicions that benefit the rich and screw the poor.
For normal people with incomes between $0 and $65,000, republicans make sure we don't get tax break and such. The tax breaks goto the rich.
Republicans are responsible for the war in iraq, conflicts in iran and n. korea, most countries and their citizens hating americans, high taxes, fuel ineffiecient vehicles, ozone depletion, global warming, animal extinction and the list keeps going on and on. NOw you can add that they want internet sites to pay for better access.
Click to expand...

ROFL. Do you think there's any chance you could be wrong about any of that?
 
Erik said:
ROFL. Do you think there's any chance you could be wrong about any of that?
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My thesis is based upon recent accounts within the last twenty years.
When I mean republicans, I mean most of(not all) the officials practicing conservative ways. Regular people who are conservative(at least down here) are not bad people, they are just too blinded by artificial patriotism to see what is going on, so they let the people in office get away with a lot of stuff.

I have to add another.
National debt..lol

CP/M User, maybe one day we'll see if I can't try and change some things.
If I am ever monetarily endowed, I will, and I promise, try and change things.
 
alexkerhead said:
My thesis is based upon recent accounts within the last twenty years.
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That doesn't answer my question at all, so let me ask another:

What percentage of taxes do you think the bottom 50% of wage earners pay? I.e. if there are 100 million people in this country earning money, what percentage of taxes do the 50 million on the lower half of the pay scale pay?
 
I've never made enough money (above the table) to have to pay Income Tax. Everything they deduct from the weekly paycheck is refunded at the end of the year. Of course, other taxes are disproportionately targeted at the lower end of the scale, especially tobacco taxes, since most smokers are in the lower income brackets.

--T
 
carlsson said:
More to the point, what are high income taxes in your country? 20%? 30%? 40%? 50%? 60%?
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The top federal income tax bracket is 28%. States get varying taxes from 0% to about 10% for income and then more for sales tax, property tax and a variety of others.

In California, for instance, a top wage earner would pay 28% to sales tax, ~10% to the state then 1% of his assessed property value (at time of purchase) to the state (a starter home out here costs $650K, so estimate the average property tax bill at around $10,000 a year for a recently purchased home) plus Social Security, FICA and a variety of other payroll taxes. So, if you earn $250K a year you'll take home maybe $150 in actual income. From what's left you're going to pay 8.25% sales tax on just about every purchase which puts your nominal tax rate over 50%

If you are earning closer to $50K a year you'll pay just about nothing in taxes except for Social Security and sales tax on most things, including that very optional luxury item - cigarettes.
 
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