maudlin27

Reply to The Cost of Cars in Politics JoeUser Forums

Don't forget to consider taxation though - for example you might decide not to have universal health care, and use the savings to reduce business taxation, with companies then providing healthcare benefits to their workers (if say they can get economies of scale allowing them to provide it at a lower cost to workers than if the workers obtained it for themselves, such that the workers then prefer to have that money spent on their behalf by the company), and the end result being far from clear

Reply to Evil concealed by money in Politics JoeUser Forums

Well since it's a lawn, most people would agree it shouldn't be done. What if instead it was food? That this poor old lady couldn't work enough to obtain food, and no longer had sufficient finances to obtain food - are you saying it would be evil for the local community to all come together and decide that everyone would donate a tin of food to the lady each week to allow her to survive, and similarly to impose punishments on people who refused and either wanted her to starve or inste

Reply to Big Three Nostalgia in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] I am in favor of bailing out GM, and Ford out of respect for their glorious past [/quote] So basically you're supporting throwing away money in favour of a feeling of nostalgia? Don't you think that money could be better used to help people in the present, rather than looking back to the past? Like, say, helping people who may be struggling with medical bills (since you made a post in favour of that)? Or even just using a tiny amount of the funds to help support a museum of ca

Reply to Redistribution in Politics JoeUser Forums

"I disagree, minimum wage can prevent exploitation with pretty well no negative impact on unemployment or inflation. It's only if you set the minimum wage too high that you get real problems." [quote] Bravo, we can agree. [/quote] [quote]To a point I agree [/quote] Is your support really so fickle steven? [e digicons]:'([/e]

Reply to Should We Let the "Big Three" Fail? in Politics JoeUser Forums

You shouldn't bail out companies. If a company is performing so poorly it can't make any money, WHY would you want to keep it going? Let it go under, and have a more efficient company take it's place. Or in the case of a sector, let it fail, and have people+funds move to more productive areas where money can actually be made. The obsession with the short term 'must protect jobs' attitude is it's far more costly long-term. As a general rule a bail out is the wrong choice - you need some pretty

Reply to Ohio Exit Polls are interesting in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] There’s an implicit assumption that prevades every political thread on this site and that is that if someone is poor it's because they're lazy, or stupid or more likely, both [/quote] It's more than implicit, I think Brad explicitely stated that several places in other threads! While I agree with some of your points (it's not always a matter of choice about whether you're poor), I disagree with how you categorise poor. If someone is earning $200k a year, to me th

Reply to Redistribution in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Leauki, how much power has the queen and how much power have the citizen via their representation by parliament? [/quote] The queen can veto any act of parliament she disagrees with. In practice if she did that she'd likely be overthrown, but in theory the power is still there. The order of a bill(law) is: House of Commons (made up fully of elected members) proposes the bill, it gets scrutinised etc., then they have a vote on it. If successful, it goes to the house of

Reply to Obama and the tax tipping point in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] And a single dad doesn't have to make that choice? Also... since we are talking school age here [/quote] No, a single male without children doesn't have to make that choice. Please read my full post on that section since you appeared to have missed how I specifically said a single male with no children, and then mentioned why I gave the example of a single female parent as opposed to a single male parent (not that it affects the result). Oh, and I've also menti

Reply to Redistribution in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Minimum wage encourages inflation and creates unemployment. I don't see it as particularly good for the poor. It's good only for those lucky enough to get a job and too lazy to improve their lot by working harder and learning [/quote] I disagree, minimum wage can prevent exploitation with pretty well no negative impact on unemployment or inflation. It's only if you set the minimum wage too high that you get real problems. [quote] Anti-trust laws are certainly not free

Reply to Diminishing Rate of Return in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] All ads must stop a month prior to the election (to give the people time to ponder their choice). And limits must be set (low enough so as not to have an Ad on TV every half hour). If the campaign raises more money than needed the excess must be given to a non-partisan charity organization(s) [/quote] Why? It's their money to do with as they want. People chose to give their money to the political party to be used for that political party. If they'd wanted it to go to

Reply to Wall Street Being Vindictive? in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] the two days he's been in, it's been sliding downward. Businesses are scared right now. They've had a glimpse of his new economic tax plan and it's not in their favor [/quote] Since Obama had published many of his plans in advance, and it was almost a given that he would beat McCain, such movements should have already occured to a large extent. Furthermore the end of uncertainty (albiet only slight) about the next president would have had a positive effect on the m

Reply to Obama vs. Jobs in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Its part of the job of a healthcare system to prevent obesity [/quote] How? By banning people from eating fatty foods? You start to do that and you end up with a near totalitarian state. If people want to eat unhealthily, let them. It's their choice whether they'd rather have a nice taste in their mouth for a few moments, or be able to live an extra day. By all means make sure the healthcare system is making people aware of the consequences of their actions, but so long as the

Reply to Obama and the tax tipping point in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Ugh, this single mom thing gets on my nerves! Like women are incapable of making money?!? [/quote] They're restricted, since they have to choose between caring for the children themself, or working, and using some of that money to pay someone else to care for the children. They're going to prefer that they care for the children than someone else in most cases (otherwise why have children in the first place), and are also going to want to likely see the children at some p

Reply to Consequences of an Obama victory in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Obama certainly would not intend it but the net effect will be a big cut in my tax bill next year. Of course, I won't be alone in this, I know lots of other people who are in the same boat who are likely to be incented to find ways to decrease their tax burden [/quote] Unless the changes to tax create additional loopholes+avoidance options, this shouldn't have that great of an impact. All it will be is people who previously weren't quite paying enough tax to make it worthwhile

Reply to Wall Street Being Vindictive? in Politics JoeUser Forums

The markets don't know the meaning of being vindicative - if you want to be vindictive, it will cost money, since you will be trying to artificially lower the markets price to achieve some other goal (e.g. negative coverage). However investors etc. exist to make money, not throw it away (at least they do in theory :p), hence it wouldn't work - the market will only fall if it is expected to perform worse than expected.

Reply to Obama vs. Jobs in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] These Numbers aren't that bad if it wasn't for the fact that you spend 15,3% of your GDP for health care while all other G7 states are around 9% to 13% [/quote] While it wouldn't explain away the alarmingly high infant mortality rate, the life expectency could be lower due in part to obesity, for example, since that's one area the US is a world leader in, especially compared to Europe :p. [quote] I believe the cost of healthcare in th

Reply to Announcing Elemental: War of Magic in Elemental News Elemental Forums

Stardock? Great! Fantasy game? Even better (I've always preferred fantasy settings to space ones)! Art style: Not my kind of thing (although maybe it'll grow on me as screenshots of the game nearer it's finished state are released). Overall I'm probably not going to be desparate to buy it, it'scertainly one I could be convinced to buy (and hence I'll be keeping an eye out for it when it's released).

Reply to If McCain Wins... in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] If McCain Wins... [/quote] We can look up at the sky and see the pigs flying past!

Reply to Obama vs. Jobs in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] "I give three paid sick days," explained the business owner. His extra cost for this one new regulation would be $24,960 (4 extra days, 52 employees, at an average of $120 per day). [/quote] Strange, I make the extra cost to be more like ~$12,000...ahh, he's decided that all his staff are going to be so sick they call off work for at least 7 days in every case... Meanwhile employees are paid less than the 'value' they create for their employer, and you would expect (ge

Reply to More Obama Friends - Kenyan Dictator in Politics JoeUser Forums

So if I'm reading this right, Obama's now being criticised for meeting both the presidential candidates, which was poor judgement, and really he should have only met with just the one? Sounds like clutching at straws to me.

Reply to Obama and the tax tipping point in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Show me a chronically "impoverished" American and I'll show you someone who is either disabled or lazy [/quote] Single mother with 3 young children [below school age] (in the absence of sufficient benefits to prevent her from being "improverished"). Her children need her care, and it's not a "lazy" option. Of course if her children were at a school age then she could work part time while they were at school, but that's for later on down the road. [quote] I&nbsp

Reply to Palin, Obama and other jokes in Politics JoeUser Forums

Lol, very funny article! Was it a 1-off, or is it done once a week?

Reply to The power to tax is the power to destroy in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] The rich did not get that way by being stupid. They have ways to avoid confiscatory taxes that the rest of us do not have access to. [/quote] Sadly true - not only are there typically far more tax avoidance+mitigation options the richer you become, but it also becomes more worthwhile to hire a tax accountant to spot them for you (since the saving they can then help you realise will be much greater than the fees charged, while the same wouldn't be the case for someone on

Reply to Liberal super majority: The ramifications in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] No, a need is like food, water, shelter. You need those to live. Since health care is not universally necessary to life, it is not a need, but a want. You can live well, happy and healthy without it. I am trying to get people to stop using terms flippantly that do not fit the definition. Like "rights" and "needs" [/quote] So presumably clothing isn't a need, since you can often survive without it? Similarly shelter isn't a need because you can liv

Reply to Palin's conversation with Sarkozy in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Sarah Palin recently have been called by Nicolas Sarkozy, and had an interesting conversation with him. Acknowledging the following facts:[/quote] In the clip I heard, she did no such thing. In fact whenever one of those things was mentioned, it was usually met with a sort of 'hmm' or 'ok' comment. Let's face it, if you think you're talking to the French president, and think he says something incorrect but that he is likely to know more about than you, you're unlikely to start