|
Go ahead and show where I ever said that? I have argued against pretty much all tax breaks and subsides for anything and closing as many tax loopholes as possible.Let's just say you've been remarkably selective about which examples you choose to angrily rant about.
Also, I deleted the post you said this in reply to.
I fight the majority much of the time, i get called liberal on conservative boards.
I fight the majority much of the time, i get called liberal on conservative boards.
Me, too. When I lived in NY I was an "evil right-wing conservative." Now that I live in Texas I'm a "progressive liberal douchebag." My views really haven't changed that much -- just the times, and the place.
|
|
I fight the majority much of the time, i get called liberal on conservative boards.Me, too. When I lived in NY I was an "evil right-wing conservative." Now that I live in Texas I'm a "progressive liberal douchebag." My views really haven't changed that much -- just the times, and the place.
I don't like groups of lockstep opinions and patting eachother on the back for how morally superior they are for their religion/political stand. I feel the need to find the gaps and monkey wrench that to make them think about it a bit, even if it changes no opinions.
I don't like groups of lockstep opinions and patting eachother on the back for how morally superior they are for their religion/political stand. I feel the need to find the gaps and monkey wrench that to make them think about it a bit, even if it changes no opinions.
Well, you and I have that much in common, anyway! Good to know.
That, and a culinary appreciation of rabbit.
|
|
I don't like groups of lockstep opinions and patting eachother on the back for how morally superior they are for their religion/political stand. I feel the need to find the gaps and monkey wrench that to make them think about it a bit, even if it changes no opinions.Well, you and I have that much in common, anyway! Good to know.
That, and a culinary appreciation of rabbit.
lol
I hate when people complain about "gamey" taste, wild food is better and better for you!
I hate when people complain about "gamey" taste, wild food is better and better for you!
Meh, some people have no sense of taste, can't make 'em get one. I love game -- rabbit, quail, venison, boar, elk, you name it -- but I can't stand Reese's peanut butter cups. Don't really like ice cream, either. My wife says that I'm the weird one.
Man I feel sorry for you guys.
I am very lucky to be living in Australia. We seem to have the best health care system in the world.
Need a root canal? Done!
Appendix need to come out? Done!
Daughter broke her arm? Fixed!
All these happened to my family with only a day or so wait and 0 out of pocket cost!
I got a workmate who has cancer and gets chemo on the public system.
Private health here really only means a private room and you pick your doctor.
Oh and our public system won't pay for cosmetic surgery.
Anything else and you are sweet.
Our nurse to patient ratio is 1 to 4.
I have had American friends visit who marvel at our health care.
The downside?
We are about the highest taxing nation in the world!!!
He said Americans would riot over our taxes.
I'll admit I hate tax time. But I was so happy when the doctors fixed my daughters turning eyes. She would be blind otherwise.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I remember talking to a WoW guildie about healthcare once, during a time I was just getting on insurance for the first time since leaving my parent's. He commented on how lucky he felt not having to worry about paying for health insurance, but that the downside is he probably pays more taxes (he was from Canada).
So I ask how much he pays in taxes, and he says probably close to 15%. I'm like, I pay about the same.
He's like, well you probably make more money than me, too. I say after this next raise I'll be at about 12/hr., and he almost spit soda out. "That's less than minimum wage here!" he says "I could work at Pizza Hut and get 12/hr!"
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Even back in the sixties, Gore Vidal noted that in return for what they get from the government, Americans paid more taxes than anyone else in the industrial world. Hmmm, I wonder where all that money goes...
I remember talking to a WoW guildie about healthcare once, during a time I was just getting on insurance for the first time since leaving my parent's. He commented on how lucky he felt not having to worry about paying for health insurance, but that the downside is he probably pays more taxes (he was from Canada).
So I ask how much he pays in taxes, and he says probably close to 15%. I'm like, I pay about the same.
He's like, well you probably make more money than me, too. I say after this next raise I'll be at about 12/hr., and he almost spit soda out. "That's less than minimum wage here!" he says "I could work at Pizza Hut and get 12/hr!"
Yup. American taxes aren't lower than anywhere els, its just that we've somehow gotten the idea that ONLY income tax is a tax. Social security, medicare, medicaid, and property taxes don't count.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yup. American taxes aren't lower than anywhere els, its just that we've somehow gotten the idea that ONLY income tax is a tax. Social security, medicare, medicaid, and property taxes don't count.I remember talking to a WoW guildie about healthcare once, during a time I was just getting on insurance for the first time since leaving my parent's. He commented on how lucky he felt not having to worry about paying for health insurance, but that the downside is he probably pays more taxes (he was from Canada).
So I ask how much he pays in taxes, and he says probably close to 15%. I'm like, I pay about the same.
He's like, well you probably make more money than me, too. I say after this next raise I'll be at about 12/hr., and he almost spit soda out. "That's less than minimum wage here!" he says "I could work at Pizza Hut and get 12/hr!"
yeah, add it all up and you are looking at around 25%-30% taxation approx....kingdoms had uprisings and rebellions for less than half of that in the past.
I really am developing a big hatred for my country. Our government is nothing more than a 2-party system pitting a group of special interest politicians against the opposing special interest politician. A botched universal healthcare system (because it wouldn't have passed if it hadn't been stripped a bit), an arrogant sense of self-importance on a global level, an inability to accept that other systems that other countries have in place for governing, healthcare and taxation are better and to use them as a model for our own.....add it all up and we as a nation are a huge, cocky, self-absorbed failure.The rich are starting to run from the US's taxes in higher numbers than in the past and here we all are, acting like we are the shiznit and no other country can even compare....
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I really am developing a big hatred for my country....here we all are, acting like we are the shiznit and no other country can even compare....
Welcome, comrade!
The rich are running?
Well, they're certainly transferring their wealth and jobs abroad.
The only good news is, if I keep reading stuff like this, I'll die of a heart attack long before 2014.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Well, I don't know what you mean, but I'll tell another story about my hatred for Obamacare:
Anyway, so we had our first contract proposal meeting a couple of weeks ago and, at it, the Business Agent promised that we were not going to pay anything for our pension and health and welfare. As is pro forma, we voted to authorize a strike if this demand was refused.
All well and good. But I couldn't help but notice that the union is going for a 5-year-contract. Which means that it would run out before this provision of Obamacare takes effect. The union leadership, of course, is wicked pro-Democrat, pro-Obama and pro-Obamacare. They might've been disappointed when the single-payer issue was blocked by Obama and his plutocrat friends, but, no, no, no, we can't break with the Democrats.
I hate being told everything is awesome when everything isn't.
Break with the Democrats!
Vive le Galt!!
|
|
Well, they're certainly transferring their wealth and jobs abroad.The rich are running?
Exactly, and look at the list of rich people giving up their citizenship in the US to go become citizens of other countries. The amount of people dropping citizenship in the US has at least tripled in 4 years. A Bloomberg news article that outlines the issues fairly well. The rich are doing it because they can save a huge percentage of their money in other countries, although the US is looking to impose penalties on people leaving for years after they leave just to try to keep sticking them or as a method to make leaving not so lucrative. Can't keep stealing from someone if they just run away. So I guess the US wants a cool legal club, knife, or gun so they won't run.
We knew how to handle emigres back in 1793, I tell you.
Maybe if they can pass Ryan's budget and drop that rate to near 0%, people like him won't flee the oppressive taxation.
Probably not. Only if they get a tax refund on top of that, they might consider not fleeing.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Man I feel sorry for you guys.
I am very lucky to be living in Australia. We seem to have the best health care system in the world.
Need a root canal? Done!
Appendix need to come out? Done!
Daughter broke her arm? Fixed!All these happened to my family with only a day or so wait and 0 out of pocket cost!
I got a workmate who has cancer and gets chemo on the public system.Private health here really only means a private room and you pick your doctor.
Oh and our public system won't pay for cosmetic surgery.Anything else and you are sweet.
Our nurse to patient ratio is 1 to 4.I have had American friends visit who marvel at our health care.
The downside?
We are about the highest taxing nation in the world!!!
He said Americans would riot over our taxes.I'll admit I hate tax time. But I was so happy when the doctors fixed my daughters turning eyes. She would be blind otherwise.
Arrrgh. We are not "about the highest taxing nation in the world". That's just yet another simple Liberal party slogan meant for the masses whose political understanding goes as far as the words of the loonie right wing talkback hosts will penetrate their memory (and for US friends - our Liberals are actually the conservative party in our system). Look at comparisons with OECD countries to get an idea of who we compare with other countries.
Our public health system is fantastic but wait times do vary a lot depending on where you live. Private means you don't have to wait - and in a life-threatening emergency the public health system is fantastic (from personal experience twice).
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
You know, I think it's too bad that only us Yanks duke it out on these boards.
I want to see an all-Aussie politroll flame war, NOW!!!!
What all Unions can expect come 2018
The article doesn't specifically mention the Obamacare connection, but luckily for all of you, Comrade Anklebiter keeps a file.
"Many picketers say health care is their most serious concern. A year and a half after the Obama administration's signature health care "reform" law that was supposed to increase coverage and affordability, high-quality health care is one of the main benefits under attack at Verizon.
"But this is no accident, according to labor journalist and author Steve Early.
"The excise tax that will be imposed on higher-cost health plans under the law has become a lever for companies to start pushing now for big reductions in medical coverage. The tax isn't scheduled to take effect until 2018, but as Early points out in a recent article, the battle over health care at Verizon shows that "this is the poison pill in [the health care reform law] that's already making union bargaining more difficult, even at hugely profitable firms."
"In fact, last month, Verizon told workers that the company needed to start accounting for the costs of the tax now--seven years early."
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I am ready, willing, and able to put up as much as 20% of my gross income to pay taxes if it means never having to pay medical bills or worry about rising insurance costs.
20%. I will give nearly an entire week's paycheck every month to see this happen. I feel that I'd be making out like a bandit on the deal, in fact. Because, right now, private health insurance would cost about the same amount. And I still have deductibles. And co-pays. And all that other crap.
I'm *READY* to pay 20% taxes. This s@@@ needs to STOP. I doubt Obamacare is ever going to cost me 20%, so for me? It's a step in the right direction.
I am ready, willing, and able to put up as much as 20% of my gross income to pay taxes if it means never having to pay medical bills or worry about rising insurance costs.
20%. I will give nearly an entire week's paycheck every month to see this happen. I feel that I'd be making out like a bandit on the deal, in fact. Because, right now, private health insurance would cost about the same amount. And I still have deductibles. And co-pays. And all that other crap.
I'm *READY* to pay 20% taxes. This s&*$ needs to STOP. I doubt Obamacare is ever going to cost me 20%, so for me? It's a step in the right direction.
.
The CBO estimates that these policies will cost $4,500-$5,000 per person
and $12,000-$12,500 per family in 2016, with the costs rising thereafter.
$12,000 is 20% of $60,000. That is, if you're making more than $60,000,
then your 20% level is ok.
But if you make, $30,000 per year, then $12,000 is %40 of your income.
.
The good news is that, for most people, the "penalty tax" for those who
choose not to buy health insurance will cost a lot less than health
insurance.
Of course, the bad news is you do not have health insurance.
.
An unbiased outside view from someone from over the pond:
It is amazing how much the idea of a state that asks almost nothing from it's citizens and, in return, gives almost nothing seems so attractive to so many people in the US of A who value their perceived "freedom" so highly, even when it is only freedom of living a bad life.
Looking at the pictoral footage of Gen Con has, again, reminded me why a public health system should have a very high priority in the US of A.
Looking at the pictoral footage of Gen Con has, again, reminded me why a public health system should have a very high priority in the US of A.
Unless there's government mandated calisthenics the picture isn't going to change much.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I am ready, willing, and able to put up as much as 20% of my gross income to pay taxes if it means never having to pay medical bills or worry about rising insurance costs.
20%. I will give nearly an entire week's paycheck every month to see this happen. I feel that I'd be making out like a bandit on the deal, in fact. Because, right now, private health insurance would cost about the same amount. And I still have deductibles. And co-pays. And all that other crap.
I'm *READY* to pay 20% taxes. This s#$+ needs to STOP. I doubt Obamacare is ever going to cost me 20%, so for me? It's a step in the right direction.
Wage slip in hand : over here, it would be closer to 5,85 % for universal healthcare, with full cover for all emergencies, and partial cover for extras (cough syrup, etc.). I add to that 40 $ a month to get the same full cover for all extras, including family of four.
Obamacare is a step in the right direction, but won't dispel all your healthcare woes until something is done to control medical costs in the USA. The patent system on drugs is particularly rotten (add some useless bit of molecule, and wazam, another decades-long monopoly on a molecule, with full freedom to fix prices! Yummy!).
Obamacare is a step in the right direction, but won't dispel all your healthcare woes until something is done to control medical costs in the USA. The patent system on drugs is particularly rotten (add some useless bit of molecule, and wazam, another decades-long monopoly on a molecule, with full freedom to fix prices! Yummy!).Though, unless I'm missing something, that doesn't extend the patent on the original drug, it just gives them a brand new drug to market as new and improved.
The bigger problem is consumer advertising for prescription drugs. When that ban was lifted is when things started to go crazy.
I think that when they slightly functionalize a drug to make a new compound the patent expires on the first compound, but they can somehow extend the patent on aspects of the sythesis, which effectively keeps generics off the market for longer. I'm not exactly sure how it works.
The problem is that patients in the US effectively subsidize the drugs of the rest of the world through the US tax incentives for pharmaceutical research and the inability to bargain for the price of drugs.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Anklebiter, the "cadillac" tax is s&!+ty all around. Those plans are awful for what they cost and hugely lucrative for insurance companies. Overpriced-for-what-they-offer gold-plated plans needed to go, because they are a scam. Attempting to kill them is one of the ACA measures that targets the insurance companies, and taxing the s$~& out of them is the only way to kill them short of just banning them. (The same excise tax applies to outsized HSA contributions, and that's mainly an executive benefit.) On the other hand, employers aren't likely to pass that savings on to their employees as income, so it hurts the insurance companies to the benefit of employers.
Not sure how to untangle that knot.
Well, how about this accelerationist argument:
What we do to destroy the expensive insurance plans that, you know, cover everything, is tax them to death so that everyone has to sign up for crappy coverage! Yay "liberals"!!
Look, what pisses the shiznit out of me about this is that I think it is safe to say that the boots on the ground work for this act was done by the unions. The only time I saw public meetings advertised in New Hampshire or Massachusetts about health care reform, it was being held by the SEIU, the CWA or some Nurses Association. And, of course, what got them motivated to hit the streets was the idea that Obama was going to get them single-payer.
That didn't work. Instead, what we got were laws saying that now everyone has to go out and give their money to the same bloated plutocrats who are responsible for the state of our shiznitty health care in the first place. And, as the icing on the cake, now union health care plans that they have sacrificed wage increases for over the past decade or two are up on the chopping block.
F+!+ the Democrats, f*+* Obama, f#%! Obamacare.
I had shiznitty insurance when I worked at the airport.
I was riding my bike one day and got hit by a car. An ambulance ride and a trip to the emergency room for x-rays cost me $1,000. (I never paid it. Hee hee! But that has nothing to do with my argument.)
My present-day carpool buddy, on the other hand, spent three months in and out of hospitals, ambulance rides, surgery, etc., etc. I think he paid $75 per emergency room visit and $10 per scheduled appointment.
Yeah, "cadillac"-plans are a scam.
Source?
The CBO estimates that these policies will cost $4,500-$5,000 per person
and $12,000-$12,500 per family in 2016, with the costs rising thereafter.
.
The OP's link.
.
Reading a bunch of articles about "Cadillac"-plans indicates that the biggest problem with them is that...people actually use them!!!!
Link
"The health bill would tax insurers 40 percent on the amount of premiums above the thresholds. The goal is twofold: to generate revenue to help pay for covering the uninsured; and to make the most expensive plans — which some argue encourage overuse of medical care — less attractive. "
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Are we Taldor, or is Taldor us?
We started out as Andorran, and somehow ended up being Cheliax.
What's next, Galt?
In the words of, uh, some goblin:
"Vive le Galt!"
Are we Taldor, or is Taldor us?We started out as Andorran, and somehow ended up being Cheliax.
Well no, we whitewashed the history to make cheliax look like Andor.
What's next, Galt?
With any luck.
Well no, we whitewashed the history to make cheliax look like Andor.Are we Taldor, or is Taldor us?We started out as Andorran, and somehow ended up being Cheliax.
Two words for you: Lumber. Consortium.
Unions are getting f!%!ed by employers, and this is somehow Obama's fault?
.
Is this because Obama is secretly a Republican ?
.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Unions are getting f!%!ed by employers, and this is somehow Obama's fault?.
Is this because Obama is secretly a Republican ?
.
I often wonder if all democrats aren't secretly republican.
I often wonder if all democrats aren't secretly republican.Unions are getting f!%!ed by employers, and this is somehow Obama's fault?.
Is this because Obama is secretly a Republican ?
.
.
Still to this day, I can't define what a Republican is vs. what a Democrat is.
And quite frankly, I don't think anyone else can either.
.
Let's try:
Republican characteristics: Rich, white, racist, bible thumping,
anti-abortion, redneck with guns, anti-Gay, anti-Global warming tenants,
think oil will last forever, love guns, ...
Democratic characteristics: over-educated white, black,
pro-abortion, support gay marriage, to implement Green Re-usable energy
want to sacrifice American economic power, pro legal-marijuana, ...