georgerussia

Which is obvious, as the darlings who live on welfare and have no income cannot cheat on taxes even if they wanted. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

(opening another can of worms) which is not surprise, as this is the only category of wage earners which has _ability_ to underreport income and claim personal expenses as business expenses. W-2 workers cannot underreport their W-2 income (but they can and do underreport non-reported expenses like tips), and generally cannot claim personal expenses as business expenses. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Everyone I know in every category you mentioned (except sales) who is making over 200K a year is on 1099. Including bonuses. Some of them do have an "employer" though. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Well, what you describe is not really different from having a full-time job. Those deers do not just hand around waiting to be slaughtered and cooked. The berries needs to be found, and they won't be at the same place tomorrow as they were today. The fur needs to be made... This is not welfare, the person is basically self-employed and works harder than someone spending eight hours working as McDonalds cashier. And here we already have a problem. Healthy food generally costs more than junk food, and we already have working families who have to eat junk food because they cannot afford healthy food from Whole Foods. Why should we provide better food to those who do not want to work? Then you'll need to throw in a free cable TV because in a natural state you could see nature, sports, and basically everything for free. You'll need to throw a free car (and free gas and tolls and maybe even plane tickets) because in a natural state you could ride a horse everywhere you want. You'll need to throw in free rent because we don't want people setting up tents in our gardens. And then you'll need to provide them with free alcohol and weed because we do not want people who want it to pick it up through our homes. Basically what you described is not an equivalent. It's more like ancient times welfare - where other people need to take care (provide) for a person which does not want to work. Nor even in ancient times a person could really go anywhere and pick anything they want without risk of being killed or seriously hurt. And of course being able to pick up various public herbs is not even close equivalent of free healthcare. It could be also done in another way, like mandatory work in jail. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

People still use the autobahns. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Well, it depends on how you interpret "Uncle Sam". It could be "a United States government" or " the American nation or people" according to Webster. Second definition definitely justifies state taxes being paid to Uncle Sam as well. It doesn't matter if it is flat rated or restricted, this is still tax one have to pay. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

A person making 500K is likely to be self-employed. All taxes paid result in benefits in something (but not always for us though). But it is a tax since it is mandatory, and the amount you pay depends on how much you make. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Even spending money on a war is still better than spending money on people who choose not to work, as it only encourages more people to choose not to work. Germany is a good example here, I know a few people who have been living on social last three _generations_ and never worked a single day in their life. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

You somehow forgot to add extra $12,648 for Social Security and $14,500 for medicare. Which makes it $180,744.75 in mandatory payments. If he lives in state which has state income tax, which will be at least 4.54% (AR), ending up as $22,700. Which makes it already over 200K. I really wonder why people who calculate taxes skip SS/medicare - aren't you paying them? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

I guess it's close to Kallend's equal opportunity. But he, as usual, did not explain what he meant, so I might be wrong. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Could you advice where could I make such a deal? 'Cause it looks like it only deals with Christian priests which molest children. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

I do not think the animals should be treated like human beings. After all, we raise them to be killed and eaten. This is my position, and it will not change how many movies of suffering animals I'm asked to watch. This is not ignorance. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

How the _position_ on the subject could be ignorant? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Being here for a while I've learned to wait for direct answer instead of trying to guess what the opponent meant to say from the provided source, as it looks like I never get it right, and end up chasing the moving target. That's why I've asked YOUR opinion, and not opinions of some partisan organization - their opinions are well-known and well-paid. It does not make any sense to discuss things with the link. What for? All those partisan videos are the same. I have seen millions of them, and I even made some of them in past. Let me guess what I'm going to see there - poor chicken in a cage they have to spend there for a whole life and cannot move, videoed in dark ugly colors close to black-and-white with background screams and images of terror. Interviewed some very emotional "experts" telling the people how the animals suffer from it, and how bad the food is as the result. That's how I'd do it. Maybe some scientist, religious or animal "expert" testimonies too depending on target audience. All actors, of course. No real facts which could be easy to verify, all gossip and reference to "everyone knows". Is it something like that? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Then we need to see if the company really went down under this CEO, and not because of market conditions, decisions of owners, board of directors or bad decisions by previous CEO. There are situation when even the good prepared people doing their best still cannot win against circumstances. For example I would not claim airline bankruptcies after 09/11 were CEO faults. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

So let's summarize. You made a point that you voted against cruelty toward animals. I asked whether your cruelty extends to slaughtering and castrating the animals, and you instead just provided a link without any comments, and refused to answer. So what should I learn out of it? Probably nothing new - most people who vote "yes" for 2 are hypocritical. That's it. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

So a couple of failures may be just bad luck or indicating problems with entities, and only constant failure indicates the person is not qualified for the job. Did I make it right? Then if all the companies this CEO was managing failed, then he probably didn't earn his money. But if only a couple companies failed, then it's just bad luck. Even world champions lose the competitions occasionally. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

So could you please define "equal opportunity"? It more and more looks like you have a special definition which you won't tell us (and which is probably a moving target). * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

No, I do not expect anything reasonable from such a website and therefore am not going to watch it. Now could you please answer my question? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

They did not stole those money (and those who did should go to jail). They were paid it according to their contract, which is what we typically call "earned". CEO is not Allah Almighty, and has limited abilities. If several students fail the exam it doesn't necessary mean their professor didn't earn his money either. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

So castrating and slaughtering animals is ok for you? Just curious. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

It is everywhere. Did you look on the ballots? There are even worse money-spenders there. Just checked the first three. Looks like a joke. Proposition 1A.. That's the funniest one so far. The whole proposition together with proponent arguments sounds like it was written by someone living in a different reality. The cost of getting a loan nowadays is probably the highest during the last thirty years, the state of California has a huge budget deficit and needs federal money to be bailed out of default, and now someone offers to issue MORE bonds to get even deeper in debt? It's not even clear who gonna buy a bonds from the state which cannot balance its budget as the state cannot print money. The gold mine from the property appraisal nighmare is gone and hopefully will never be back, and the economy is in trouble so raising taxes would not be a reasonable option. It is like buying an expensive car when your credit cards are maxed and you're unemployed. Just stupid. And the cost estimation is a complete joke. A 17-mile BART extension has estimated cost 2 BILLION dollars. And of course it will not be paid off just by users - I cannot remember any railroad in the world which is supported only by user fees. And, to add another point, I completely agree with the statement like "Californians’ problem is not getting from San Francisco to Los Angeles, it’s getting into work each day." In fact it's much faster to get to San Diego from San Jose than to get to Byron from San Jose using public transportation available. The problem is not that there is no train from San Jose to San Diego. The problem is that once you get out of this train, in most cases you'll need to rent a car to get to your destination. Or you could spend three hours and change three buses to drive you through those seven miles. Proposition 2. Wow. "Proposition 2 is a moderate measure that stops cruel and inhumane treatment of animals". So they saying that we will not castrate pets or treat farm animals as food source, slaughter them and eat them? No, it seems to be ok. The problem the authors have is that the animal cannot stretch its limbs. So slaughtering and castrating is fine and not cruel, but before the animal is slaughtered, it should be allowed to stretch limbs. What a good example of hypocrisy. And, of course, it's there "to protect the environment". How didn't they mention that it also "protects our children?" Will someone think about our poor kids?! Proposition 3. Ok, this one IS to "protect our children" by spending more of our money. Again, don't people read the news? Do we really need to spend more money now to provide better care to provide better care to those "without regard to a family’s income or ability to pay."? Sorry, but life sucks. A lot of families who are able to pay for their family healthcare now are in trouble. Those who cannot pay will have to share this trouble as well. California has screwed up, but a lot of people still live in different reality. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

It may, or it may not. It depends on interpretation of "equal opportunity" - whether it means "everyone has a chance to get into Yale" or "everyone has _the_same_ chance to get into Yale". But the last was never true since it would require the admittance to be completely random, so I do not see the point. And it doesn't really matter. Being admitted into Yale does not guarantee anything. People still call GWB a moron despite his Yale experience. Not to mention there is a lot of successful people who have never been admitted into Yale. This is slightly different. Their parents decided to live in suburban Illinois; they set their priorities. Nobody promised "free equal opportunity". * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

The citizenship test says the U.S. economy is market/capitalist. It is definitely not "fair" economy. You started in a wrong country. Those CEOs _earned_ those millions. If you pursued a right career, you'd be too. And yes, when the whole market is going down, your pension funds follow (and the CEO pension follows too). Remember that notice on the form you signed which said that investment product can lose value? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Could you please explain? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *