It's finally official: We're doomed

Actually, that is exactly what happened recently in Washington state, folk like the Gates supported a progress state tax that would have raised rates on those in the higher tax brackets.It lost.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Almost everybody knows what we need to do to fix the economy. It's not difficult. We need looser monetary policy to make up for an over 1.5 trillion dollar shortfall in aggregate demand. We don't need someone whose experience is limited to running a company, because the Federal government doesn't operate like a company.When Warren Buffet wants to change things up at Berkshire Hathaway, he writes a memo and it happens. President Warren Buffet would have to build a consensus, mobilize political support, and ultimately get 60 senators and the House of Representatives to agree. For a number of reasons I think it's obvious that Warren Buffet is a lot worse at that than Barack Obama is.

It would be interesting to have WB come out with an "If I were President, this is what I'd like to get done" statement.I'm not saying that WB would come up with a policy better than that of Barack Obama, but I do think he would have a tremendous advantage at consensus building. Is there a Republican "party of no" member insane enough to accuse WB of being a prisoner of a "liberal socialist agenda"?Moose

I think the exact opposite is true, and typically that's been the case for "CEO politicians" - they're terrible at political horse-trading because they have no experience with it. It worked with George Soros, didn't it? The instant Buffet enters politics is the exact instant that, to Republicans, he stops being someone who earned his money by business acumen and starts being just another limousine liberal who conned Real Americans out of a fortune.

I don't know, $110 billion seems fairly relative. You could support a few single mothers on that. What percentage would that be of the federal budget? Keep in mind that this is the waste that the gov't admits to, on their up front home page, after 20 seconds of googling. What is with the hostility? Smoke a joint or something. I have already agreed that the gov't serves a purpose and is capable of doing some things. As you are so fond of pointing out, what does this have to do with the fact that there is plenty of waste in gov't? So what is the point then? If the post office had a monopoly on mail delivery for at least a hundred yrs (sorry I didn't look it up) and they had all that time to perfect their system. How is it that a bunch of other people came along and started some very successful businesses doing mostly the same thing? Good answer.So what is your solution Rrhain? In fact, what is the problem? Have we spent more than we have earned? We must have borrowed some money from someone. Maybe it is all just a big accounting error and we should all go out and buy a new pair of shoes.

This from the mighty Wikipedia;

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A business (also known as company, enterprise, or firm) is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods, services, or both to consumers or tertiary business in exchange for money.[1] Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, in which most businesses are privately owned and typically formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners.

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Somehow I feel that I have missed some subtly ironic point.

Done. You said, and I quote: Fact: Exxon paid taxes last yearLet's break it down:They paid variety of taxes, corporation (income) tax, sales tax, employees tax, etc, etcThey paid these taxes in numerous jurisdictions, including the US.They even paid *income tax* in the *US*.On every single count you are wrong The only thing they didn't do is *record* *income tax* in the *US*.And this is a result of their income tax obligations in other jurisdictions.Here is your full statement: and we can see it for what it is: ignorant and naive hyperbole written by someone with no clue.Exxon may well be hiding behind all manner of tax avoidance and even criminal tax evasion. But you have done nothing to bring this to light - you have merely used your inexperience in this area to get the wrong end of the stick. oh, you are a hoot, Rrhain Edited by cavediver, : No reason given.

As I am seldom the smartest guy in the room and never when I am here, perhaps someone could explain this chart for me.US Welfare Budget: US Federal Budget FY10 Estimated Spending Breakdown - Pie ChartIt shows that total federal, state and local gov't spending for 2010 will amount to some $6.4 trillion or about 44% of US GDP. How much higher does that number have to go before you would consider the US to be a socialist society?Where is the line that marks where society no longer works for me but rather I work for society?

Even if I could fully figure out what that sentence meant, why would it matter?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

No, Wikipedia and I are in agreement, really. The profits are made by the owners/shareholders. The business itself doesn't profit --- any surplus money is either paid out to the owners (cost) or invested back into the business (more cost). The amount paid to the owners is what we call the "profit of the business", but it should be borne in mind that the business doesn't get the profit any more than the cow gets the milk.

Damm and i go to all this truble to show no or at least as little profit possible in my books so i dont pay lots of tax. And i rearly transfer any funds from my firm to my private account except for my wage.Companies do make profit and they use that profit to expand (investment) and pay out to its owners for the risk they took when they invested in the company (dividends), they also use their profit to pay taxes and wages though i belive you are talking about what we in slovenija call "pure profit" when you pay of everything you HAVE TO pay off and that is what is left, how much of that profit you invest back and how much goes to the owners is up to the people in charge of the company.The profit that gets payed out is called dividend and no longer profit.

That would be the point at which you still have to pay taxes but the Army doesn't defend you from foreign enemies; when the DHS doesn't defend you from terrorists; when the police and judiciary declare that it's OK to commit crimes against you; when criminals are given day leave from prison to rob your house; when the FDA says that it's OK to put poison in your food; when you are banned from driving on federal highways or buying goods that were transported on them; when you aren't allowed to ask any person who was educated at a public school to do perform any task requiring numeracy or literacy, or to purchase goods or services from any company that hires such people to perform such tasks; when the EPA decides that it's OK to dump toxic waste in your drinking water; when you aren't allowed to handle currency printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing ...... in short, when you are required to contribute to the cost of other people not living in the Middle Ages but are still obliged to do so yourself.Until then, I think it is fair to say that society is working for you just as you are working for society, and moreover doing for you what you could not possibly hope to do for yourself acting as an individual.

By definition of "socialism", 100%.

Dr Adequate writes:

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This is why Rrhain's talk about how much profit Exxon is making is irrelevant.

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Huh? Who said anything about profit? I was talking about taxes.Exxon didn't pay any taxes.But since you brought it up, despite all the claims of "socialism," US corporations just had their most profitable year.When are they going to pay for their use of the commons? The primary use of the US court system, for example, is business law.Lest anybody have misconceptions, I don't have a problem with profit. What I have a problem with is the way corporations have managed to divorce themselves from their responsibilities to the society in which they live. Profit isn't bad. What is done with that profit can be, though. The US has done an amazing job of ensuring that the profit is being concentrated among the wealthy. Giving money to the rich does not create jobs. If it did, why are we in the midst of such high unemployment despite the fact that the wage gap has skyrocketed and profits are up?The tax structure for corporations has changed such that the incentive is to pull the money out of the business as profit rather than to put it back into the business as wages.

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Rrhain

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Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

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Minds are like parachutes. Just because you've lost yours doesn't mean you can use mine.

jar responds to me:

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Perhaps you can go back and reread the post that began your interjections.

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Hmm...here's you're entire post (Message 67): So what is it you were trying to say?

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I'm sorry if I confused you but in that post I was replying to an individual as part of a continuing conversation that has been going on now for about five years.

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Huh? You responded directly to me (Message 81): You were responding to me. And with a claim that immediately makes one wonder, exactly what is the union power of government and education?

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I doubt very much you can find where I have asserted that the nation runs off a single trade, so again, what does that have to do with the topic or even our discussion in this thread?

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Same question, same answer:"A big part of the problem." How can something that has little power be "a big part of the problem"? If they are a big part of the problem, then they hold considerable power.The reason why I ask about union representation is to show you just how little power they have. The fact that they still exist certainly indicates that they aren't completely without use or effect, but we're talking about large-scale, nation-wide aspects, not niches. The economy does not run off a single trade. The fact that you can find a few industries that have a larger union presence doesn't mean unions have power.Exactly how much of the labor force is unionized?

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Rrhain

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Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

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Minds are like parachutes. Just because you've lost yours doesn't mean you can use mine.