Vent thread

[Hermskii]

Funny how we can't fine them with interest when we don't get our money but they can do the same to us when they don't get theirs and most importantly, none of it is theirs. It is all ours and we "agree" to this crap!

I already mentioned about how much smaller my paycheck got right? Thanks Obama!

[Kelly]

For the life of me I cannot understand how flat taxes have never gained traction in people's minds. You ought to be able to file your taxes on the back of a postcard. It would be so much simpler and more fair to just have a set rate, period. No deductions, no extra taxes for different ways of doing things, hassle-free reporting...I just don't get why people don't hop on board to that.

[Hermskii]

I totally agree Kelly. I think the answer though is that most of the folks that can vote that in are working over the system with the current process and thus have no motive to change a thing. I am also humored by the idea of not paying folks until they pass a budget. I think it is right but they don't need the piddly pay they get. Can you even become a congressman or Senator for less than a million dollars these days? If they had the money to get the job they don't need the money it pays.

[David]

This is a stupid vent, but still I do not have another place to post it.

My friend's computer was going out (hard drive dying) and it was really outdated so he was looking into another computer.

I found one on eBay and it looked like a nice system and that it was taken care of.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Gaming-P ... 7675.l2557
Intel Core i7-920 @ 3.2GHz (light OC)
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme Rev.C CPU cooler (one of the best air coolers)
Asus P6T X58 motherboard
Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB 32MB cache
DVD-RW Drive HL-DT-ST GSA-H73N
12GB RAM (2 kits of 6GB. Corsair TR3X6G1600C9 & OCZ OCZ3G1600LV6G). Both 1600MHz memory kits.
XFX HD6870 1GB GDDR5 graphics card
Antec Performance One P180 case
Antec Earthwatts EA-650 650W 80Plus certified PSU


He bought it and when he got it, he had me update it with updates and programs. After "test driving it" I was a little envious. His computer is quick. When he opens up a word/excel/powerpoint or like programs, they open up QUICKLY. It is like these documents were already open when it was clicked. Yes it is that quick.

Anyway, my computer is solid and works. That is good, I just got a little envious because how quick his new one is. THis new computer is very quiet too.

[a nameless entity]

For the life of me I cannot understand how flat taxes have never gained traction in people's minds. You ought to be able to file your taxes on the back of a postcard. It would be so much simpler and more fair to just have a set rate, period. No deductions, no extra taxes for different ways of doing things, hassle-free reporting...I just don't get why people don't hop on board to that.

I totally agree Kelly. I think the answer though is that most of the folks that can vote that in are working over the system with the current process and thus have no motive to change a thing. I am also humoured by the idea of not paying folks until they pass a budget. I think it is right but they don't need the piddly pay they get. Can you even become a congressman or Senator for less than a million dollars these days? If they had the money to get the job they don't need the money it pays.

Here's a riddle I heard on TV today: A toy ball and bat together cost $1.10 The bat costs more than the ball by exactly $1. How much did the ball cost?

The riddle was part of a lecture on the intuitive and analytic processes of the brain. The intuitive immediately jumps to the answer of $0.10 for the ball. But if you solve the riddle analytically, you get the correct answer. The lecturer mentioned as an example that as many as 20% of the students at top universities often get this type of question wrong, because they jump to the conclusion without analyzing it.

The question of why not a flat rate tax was answered by former US vice president Al Gore at a town hall meeting I watched on TV some years ago. I can't recall the specifics any more, but he showed how a flat rate tax was unfair to the lower classes. I wish I could remember how he explained it, because he showed why the stepped system of higher tax rates that are tied to income was fairer and thus used in many places.

I don't really want to get into the whole tax debate thing that's going on in the USA. I just wanted to point out that the flat rate tax idea isn't the easy solution that it first appears to be.

[Kelly]

I've read that discussion nameless and it does carry some weight. The thing that strikes me about it though is that tax code is incredibly dense. Because it's so obtuse and crazy to try to understand it will naturally benefit those who can figure it out.

The average lower-income worker just tends to be dumber. I'm not being mean, it's just factual. IQ's tend to grade along socio-economic lines and it's that way across most cultures. That's why I don't buy the whole "it's better for the common folk to have it this way". Hell, until the advent of computers it was impossible for a complex tax code to benefit lower wage workers because they can't grasp it without the help of a tax preparer professional. I remember as a young adult spending $100 USD average per year to have my taxes done and filed for me. It was not unlike being robbed because this was my money but I can't access it without paying yet another 'tax' to get to it. My returns were so simple too but back then no one really understood taxes and you were taking a huge gamble not having them done. You might miss something that cost you hundreds in lost return.

Empowering people by releasing them from this just to me is a no-brainer. If I know every week what my taxes are and I'm constantly 'settled up' with the government because they take the flat rate out, then that's simple and easy for everyone. No IRS to come after you, no tax courts, no wondering 'did I miss something I could claim?'. Even the Feds would know to a fairly exact detail how much money would be entering the coffers each quarter.

To me, aside from this horrid immigration debacle we have going on in the USA, there is no greater pressing danger to the solvency of the nation than the fiscal crisis we are currently in. People don't realize it but there is a HUGE price that already must be paid at some point along with sweeping changes in how things are done. Moving the tax code into simpler territory makes everything more transparent and forces the government to be more open and diligent with how they manage things.

[Hermskii]

I'm an idiot. How much does the ball cost then?

[a nameless entity]

Well I'm all for simplifying a tax return. We used to have a fairly complex system up here for the average person too, but it was simplified around 30 years ago. A lot of deductions were done away with and replaced with a system of non refundable tax credits.

It's still possible to have a really complicated tax return every year, but you're into running a business and/or being self employed and etc, for that sort of return.

I was just a working stiff so my tax form was always just a simple one anyhow. I tried H&R Block for a while to see if they could find anything I was missing, but my situation was so simple that they could not. So I do my own returns now, just as I did when I first started filing.

Herm, use algebra to solve. Let x be the cost of the toy bat, and y be the cost of the toy ball.

We know that:

x+y=110

and

x-100=y

So x= y+100

Substitute y+100 for x

y+100 + y = 110

2y+100 = 110

2y = 10

y=5

So the bat costs $1.05 and the ball costs $0.05

p.s. During and after the lecture I watched on TV about Intuitive and Analytic "systems" of thinking, (and how both are signs of intelligence), I found the intuitive part of my brain at war with the logical. So I pulled out and dusted off this old algebra stuff I learned 40+ years ago in high school and showed myself why it's 5 cents and not ten cents for the correct answer. Even though my intuition was so sure it's 10 cents.

[David]

This is not really a vent, but it is a way to vent.

Anyway, I decided the following: When I win the lottery/inherit money from a long lost rich relative/or just plain retire (I have 6 more years to get my time in), I am going to walk into my Boss' office and place an activated turkey timer (the little red indicator that pops up when the turkey is done) on his/her desk and tell him/her two words...."I'm done." I will then leave. No other words are needed. That is my dream and the little pitiful light at the end of a long, bumpy, ugly tunnel.

[a nameless entity]

I just wish I could have been in a position to do something like that. The place I planned to retire from no longer exists. There's a strip mall there now. People now park their cars where I used to work every day.

[Hermskii]

I like your style David. You don't want to go in and shoot up anybody. Just a quaint little message via a cooking utensil of sorts is good enough for you.

I was tempted to do something like that the other day but I'm not close to retiring nor do I ever expect to anyways before dying. I managed to bite my tongue and just work on as normal.

Hey EG: Sorry they made your retirement place into a parking lot. Reminds me of a song...