09:35 – It was 43F (6C) and drizzling when I took Colin out this morning. The next few days are to be more of the same.
Barbara and I got quite a bit of kit stuff done yesterday, with more today and over the weekend. We’re in pretty good shape right now on finished goods inventory for this time of year. As we build subassemblies and kits, we’re doing an eyeball inventory, noting down stuff we’re short of. I need to get some of that stuff on order.
Trump’s coronation is today. Frankly, I’m kind of surprised that he’s still alive. Enemies of the powers that be have a habit of dying unexpectedly. It’ll be interesting to see what Trump actually does during his first week as king. He promised a lot, almost none of which he’ll be able to deliver even if he has the complete cooperation of Congress and Supreme Court, which he won’t.
His three major promises–to eliminate ObamaCare, to expel illegal aliens, and to bring back the jobs that have been lost–are all impossible to fulfill. The first because the public, including his supporters, will not accept what it will take to eliminate ACA, most particularly allowing health insurance companies to exclude pre-existing conditions; you can’t buy fire insurance if your house is already on fire. The second because the public simply will not accept what it would take to secure our borders and expel those who are already here illegally. And the third, as I’ve said repeatedly for years, because we are now in the early stages of a jobless economy. The vast majority of ordinary people have no skills that are worth paying much for, and with increasing automation that’s not going to change.
Trump is stuck between Scylla and Charybdis on all of these issues and more. Even with the best of intentions, which I don’t concede he has, and with the complete support of the rest of the government, which he doesn’t have, there’s not much he can do. People are going to be dissatisfied with Trump’s results, and not just the progs. Trump’s base will be just as upset with what he does and doesn’t do. Trump has put himself in a position where no one will accept excuses for his failures, which will be legion.
He talks a good game, but ultimately money talks and bullshit walks. I wish him the best, but I’ll be very surprised if he accomplishes any of his stated goals. So I’ll pick up my guitar and play.
As the theme music for the TV series Justified says, “Long Hard Times To Come”. Keep prepping.
The first because the public, including his supporters, will not accept what it will take to eliminate ACA, most particularly allowing health insurance companies to exclude pre-existing conditions; you can’t buy fire insurance if your house is already on fire.
The individual mandate “Shared Responsibility Payment” is starting to bite into a lot of tax refunds, the primary mechanism of saving money for many people. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that eliminated or, at least, significantly reduced.
I’d prefer the former. If you’re right and Trump fails to deliver much of what he promised to supporters, we will have a Prog elected next time with a mandate to implement single payer healthcare and pension/401(k) confiscation to shore up Social Security/Medicaid for the Boomers. Having to pass new legislation would be a small speed bump but an obstruction none the less.
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray…
Wait for it!
We don’t get fooled again, no, no
I’m a bit surprised (very pleasantly) that the russians haven’t acted before today. I did predict them seizing something during the lame duck period.
I was having a conversation just yesterday, where the topic of M. Trump’s continued existence was raised. He’s publicly threatened the deep state’s livelihood. And as the pimp in “Risky Business” memorably said– “In a sluggish economy, NEVER threaten another man’s livelihood.” We’ll see. One advantage he has is control over his own message. He’s not afraid to use the bully pulpit, and he’s not afraid to name names, and call people out personally. This is very different from the tangled web most politicians are ensnared in, and he has the added advantage of not needing anyone’s approval or FUNDING. He certainly doesn’t play at politics by the “gentleman’s rules” for the “grand game.”
nick
I really hope Trump accomplishes at least some of his programme, such as slowing down, if not stopping, if not expelling illegals, bringing jobs back onshore and fixing the Obolacare mess.
Yes, I am a naive idealist.
I’m a bit surprised (very pleasantly) that the russians haven’t acted before today. I did predict them seizing something during the lame duck period.
Nah. If Putin waits a few years, Ukraine and the Baltics will beg the Russians for help to restore order. Add in most of Western Europe if the Muslim invasion isn’t turned back fairly soon.
There are so many rumors about what tRump will or won’t do its hilarious. I’ll be happy just to see Obola’s EOs countered. Gooberment cuts are always good for the country.
The United States is a victim of it’s own prosperity (rich countries like rich people tend to lose touch with reality) and outside influences which view us as the single obstacle to the implementation of a ‘New World Order.’ Sadly, both have been very successful in destroying the foundation of our civilization and I suspect it’s only a matter of time before we crumble.
Trump can’t do much to stop the inevitable, but he might slow it down a bit. Hopefully it will slow down enough for all of us to escape most of the mess that will eventually come.
I would still like to see some sort of universal catastrophic care plan. Something funded by an expanded Medicare tax. For use when someone goes to an ER and claims to not have insurance or money.
My BCBS insurance agent tells me that 80% of the ERs in Texas no longer have an agreement with insurance companies. The ERs are now charging whatever the market will bear and then some. This is what happened to my employee who went into the ER with viral meningitis last Good Friday and emerged with $6,000 of deductible and copay charges along with another $6,000 of “reasonable and customary” charges that she got billed for by the ER that BCBS refused to pay.
“Obama Leaves U.S.A $9,335,000,000,000 Deeper in Debt”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/obama-leaves-usa-9335000000000-deeper-debt
Now, this is criminal.
“it is the right of all nations to put their interests FIRST.”
I like the cut of his jib.
n
I tend to think that, like previous National Administrators, tRump will end up being suborned by the toxic vapors emanating from the Mordor swamplands and get very little of his promised changes done, if any. The interests there are too firmly established by now, and any real change will only come about via a drastic reboot of the system. Which probably isn’t coming for a few more years, assuming no huge Black Swan events.
Plus we have an ongoing donnybrook between the current Deep State factions and the new janitors coming in to take possession of the machine:
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/01/17/trump-vs-cia-paul-craig-roberts/
Incidentally, CBS has been streaming the “inauguration” so fah today:
http://www.cbsnews.com/live/
I’ve been watching the c-span stream.
They all hit the realpolitik when they get there. I HOPE that having his own money, and his own accomplishments, and his own sense of self will minimize the effect. I don’t doubt that he will be resisted, openly and subtly. The clerks will not be displaced. Except where they can be. We’ll see. If he appoints a blue ribbon committee of 90 plus stakeholders to look at reducing the .gov, by starting a new agency to do so, then we’ll know for sure.
n
Wow, Jackie Evancho hit the high note in the national anthem. nice job.
n
Yikes, that’s what I call a soprano!
I noted that as he left the podium, he shook hands with all the preceding national administrators but ignored the two Clinton war criminal scumbags. A few minutes later, there was a priceless shot of Larry Klinton’s face: if looks could kill!
Now all the talking heads are weeping and gnashing their teeth on how tRump just crapped all over their parade.
Eh, that I can predict. Turned it off.
n
Added, – guess we need to wait and see on the riots and violence breaking out.
If he appoints a blue ribbon committee of 90 plus stakeholders to look at reducing the .gov, by starting a new agency to do so, then we’ll know for sure.
Trump is reputedly using the recommendations from the Heritage Society as a starting point.
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/19/donald-trump-will-adopt-heritage-foundations-skinny-budget-arts-violence-against-women-funding-to-be-cut/
But, who knows what will really happen ? I do view Trump as the adult in the room until he disproves himself. You do know that the RINOs in congress will fight him all the way though.
“You do know that the RINOs in congress will fight him all the way though.”
Indeed.
As for any violence and mayhem, not much so far, apparently, but they could be lying to us.
Boy oh boy, the SS sure is in charge of this whole deal, ain’t they? That bald guy was nervous as a cat in a roomful of rockin’ chairs, though!
@MrAtoz; that’s a pretty nifty passenger chopper they got; could you fly dat thing?
“I would still like to see some sort of universal catastrophic care plan. Something funded by an expanded Medicare tax. For use when someone goes to an ER and claims to not have insurance or money.”
Yuuup, when you go to the ER with neither insurance nor money, claim to be from Mexico sin papeles.
I wonder how much of the rise in medicals costs is a result of the ‘dreamers?’
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that if we deport the illegals a head of lettuce will cost ten dollars. I suspect that ten dollar head of lettuce would be more than offset with the decreased cost of healthcare.
Hey, I’ll pay ten bucks for a head of lettuce if we can secure the borders and get rid of a few tens of millions of “economic” immigrants and crimigrants.
(troot = I hardly ever eat lettuce, haha)
And oh noooooooo….the talking head asswipes and rumpswabs keep crying about how he dumped all over all the wunnerful peeps “on that podium” and “everybody down here in Washington…” I weep for you, truly, gargantuan tears.
And we are advised to watch carefully, because this is the very last moment, doncha know, when Repubs and Dems come together in a spirit of friendship and comity…etc., etc., blah, blah, blah.
What a joke. Soon they’ll be back together carving up the big fat juicy pie for themselves and fuck the rest of us out here. I don’t think tRump, even if he was so inclined, can stop that.
They’re all at their luncheon now, with servants passing to and fro with bottles of wine and champagne….and eyeballing each other nonstop….
I gotta shut this down and get ready for the vehicle exchanges across the border; will be doing a bit of intel recon to see if there is any heightened chit going on.
Well, that didn’t take long.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-20/inauguration-riots
What do they expect to happen at this point? It’s just a temper tantrum thrown by the “look at me” generation, who’ve been told their feelings matter.
Easily manipulated by the puppet masters.
n
Cool, one guy has a bullpup style pepper spray dispenser.
Music to riot too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80A26-uo-CA
Smoke!
Punks ripping up paving bricks, wonder what he’s gonna do with that????
Fuck me, flash bangs!
I spent another hour tonight protesting against the pardon decrees (yes, similar to your executive orders) that the crooks in power want for themselves.
About 60 people present, temp at -10 C (14 F). Much fewer than yesterday, but people know the big protests will be on Sunday.
Here are the pictures, and you can see me, in the first one, in the center: the guy with gray pants:
http://www.turnulsfatului.ro/2017/01/20/treia-zi-de-proteste-la-sibiu-veni-si-singur/
These protesters in DC are much more Euro style. Lots of face coverings, leather jackets on skinny men, pulling up paving stones. I’ve seen several of the EURO style protest signs too– little piece of cardboard stuck to a VERY sturdy wooden stick, looks like a sledge hammer handle.
Just watched the riot cops clear the intersection. I have a much better perspective on that after my fun and games last night. The DC boys did it very well.
n
Think I’m gonna carry an extra mag today….
n
This is funny. This pictures are mocking Liviu Dragnea, PSD leader – the big crook, while trying to appear in a picture with Trump. Dragnea is portraited as a waiter at Trump’s table:
http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-politic-21545800-fotogalerie-revarsare-umor-internet-marginea-pozelor-lui-liviu-dragnea-donald-trump.htm
It contains also a FLASHLIGHT! Haha, my first use of the word FLASHLIGHT. Look, they are two now!
ADDED: The other guy at Dragnea’s side is Grindeanu, our Prim-minister, Dragnea’s puppet. We still want to find out how much they paid to be near Trump.
ADDED 2: Explanation for the picture with the FLASHLIGHT (3!): Dragnea is here a begger who tries to sell objects, like FLASHLIGHTS (4!), Rubik cubes, pens, and other stuff from his bag.
Here comes the National Guard, lots of stones on the road. Should see some APCs any minute now.
Any bets on when the first trash fire starts??
n
i think I’ll carry my first responder ID and my logo’d golf shirt too.
I’d stay home and watch, but I got things to do.
n
Man I get up from the screen for a minute and something is burning in the street. These fukcers are moving thru the timeline…..
n
Think I’m gonna carry an extra mag today….
I think that I will stay out here in the sticks today …
I wonder how many of those protestors are on some sort of federal benefits such as food stamps, wic, ssi disability, … ?
Man I get up from the screen for a minute and something is burning in the street.
Which link are you watching? This live stream shows just a stand off:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GPYzTAj8zQ
“I would still like to see some sort of universal catastrophic care plan. Something funded by an expanded Medicare tax. For use when someone goes to an ER and claims to not have insurance or money.”
Yuuup, when you go to the ER with neither insurance nor money, claim to be from Mexico sin papeles.
One of the guys who works for the current landscaper who rents my warehouse went to the ER a couple of weeks ago for a non-job problem. They asked him at the end how he was going to pay the $7,000 bill and he said send it to my boss. Harrie the landscaper got the bill, called the hospital, and said he is not paying. I doubt that the guy will ever pay and the bill will be spread among the rest of us.
My dad knew an uninsured guy whose appendix burst. He woke up 2 days later in the hospital $60,000 in debt.
And the $60,000 was likely closer to $10,000 but for the excess testing, documentation, padding, and covering for uninsured ER visits.
Govt interference (improvements) with the goal of reducing costs invariable increases costs. My biggest gripe about the ACA (after the lack of constitutional standing) is the fact that it necessarily increases costs, but needlessly. There was no reason to drive costs up beyond padding someone’s pocket.
2.5 hours later and I’m back from the border recon and picking up Mrs. OFD at the Shell station in Napierville, Quebec.
Watching the live stream again on CBSN; scum still throwing bricks and setting cars on fire. Where are the mounted cops? Run them fire hoses. Where are the dogs?
Let’s have a contest: can you count the number of SS and private security clustered around President and Mrs. Trump? I’m guessing a dozen, at least. Within ten feet of them.
Addendum: And the MSM chatterbox rumpswabs just keep chattering away and always on the correct Left playbook pages.
I really dunno how anyone could watch this kinda chit night after night on the tee-vee, whether CBS, MSNBC or Fox. Interspersed with endless shitty commercials at twice the decibels. Yikes.
M. Trump’s continued existence
I would just point out that, whatever personal failing he may have, Trump is not stupid. He has Secret Service, and I’ll bet a lot that (irritating as hell to the SS) he almost certainly has his own security on top of that. The “Deep State” might be able to influence the SS (don’t you just love that abbreviation?), but they are less likely to get to a private security service.
No idea what Trump will actually achieve, if anything. He is a total wild card. One can only say: he cannot be worse than the H-alternative.
Putin is an adult. He’s a power-hungry, dictatorial adult, but he is an adult, whereas essentially all Western politicians are children. Putin is playing the long game, not next quarter’s economic reports. Among current, influential countries, only China seems to understand that there *is* a long game.
I get so annoyed whenever I have to deal with a large company, because their employees are *always* focused on this month’s, or this quarter’s figures. That’s where their incentives are. Smaller companies have longer horizons: they may think a year or two ahead. Pathetic.
– – – – –
@Lynn: You’re not wrong, but go read some of the ER blogs. If you, as a solvent individual, drop in, you will pay a lot. But they still cannot turn away the idiot who has come down with a cold, the homeless guy looking for a warm place to spend a few hours, nor the druggie trying to scam his next hit. And none of them can pay a dime, which raises the price for you.
If you want to fix that, you have to repeal EMTALA, and guarantee that ERs cannot be sued for refusing to treat someone, even if they screw up occasionally. Not going to happen, not even under Trump.
No idea what Trump will actually achieve, if anything. He is a total wild card. One can only say: he cannot be worse than the H-alternative.
“All References to ‘Climate Change’ Deleted From White House Website at Noon Today”
http://www.climatedepot.com/2017/01/20/all-references-to-climate-change-deleted-from-white-house-website-at-noon-today/
Actions speak louder than words. At least this climate change nonsense will go by the wayside. For now.
If you want to fix that, you have to repeal EMTALA, and guarantee that ERs cannot be sued for refusing to treat someone, even if they screw up occasionally. Not going to happen, not even under Trump.
Yup. That is why I want a national catastrophic insurance, the payer of last resort. We do kinda have one now called Medicaid but it is dysfunctional.
Trump also removed the /LGBT from the Whitehouse website.
If you looked carefully you would see that the security closest to Trump is his security, particularly note the tall “bald” fellow that seems to always be close to Trump (usually tries to avoid the camera).
All I can say about today is, we, the real people won and there is hope and finally that was a very impressive inaugural parade (still watching it).
Unfortunately unless the cancer of the left is totally excized our problems will continue. There is a time for no tolerance and it is now if we are ever going to rid ourselves of all that is wrong and evil. Re-education camps are a waste of time, you cannot re-educate those that cannot be bothered to learn from facts and history.
I have read the message posted here just now by Mr. DadCooks and:
I APPROVE!
The cancer, the bacillus, the virus, whatever, of the Left in the West never sleeps, never stops, never gives up. We will fight that war until the Judgment Day, evidently.
Isn’t it quite normal for a new president to put their content on the White House site? It’s not like the ‘old’ content is not there anymore, it’s available on the archives site (https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/ , according to Alexander Pournelle ).
Any news media coverage or ‘outrage’ of the content change is just ‘clickbait’. The WhiteHouse.gov site now belongs to the Trump administration. They should be able to put any content they want on a site that they now own.
@MrAtoz; that’s a pretty nifty passenger chopper they got; could you fly dat thing?
The more sophisticated a chopper gets, the “easier” it is to fly. It’s all the “extra” systems that make it hard. Weapons, anti-weapons, vision systems, comms, etc. I’m sure that chopper has full autopilot, just take off and push a button. There have been choppers that can land on a trailer on autopilot since the 80’s.
The last day of our conference today. Here are some of the tRump doozies. Remember these people all have a BA or MA or Phd.:
1. tRump gonna take away my health insurance and I’ll die.
2. The Sec of Ed says we need guns in classrooms to protect against grizzly bears (kinda true) because she is a brainless dolt. We’ll get no more Federal funding. Boy, Elizabeth Warren really let her have it. lol!!!!!!!!!!
3. The EPA won’t be able to save our environment anymore (lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
4. tRump is going to throw out all Mexicans (I’m not making that up, even citizens, geeze).
5. tRump is going end Social Security and Medicare.
6. Eating animals is the worst thing for your body (got that one at lunch lol!!!!!!)
7. Dept of Energy Perry is a moron.
8. The standard tRump is a dumb fukstik.
All these people could come up with were sound bites and fake news. These are the people who will educate our kids. lol!!!!!!!!!!!! Watching heads explode is entertaining. Is there any way tRump won’t get re-elected? He won’t even have to campaign. Who do the Dumbocrats have to run?
And thanks to MrAtoz for both highly informational updates tonight; the news on robot choppers existing since the 1980s, sadly, long after my time in them as a door gunner (I assume that’s all automatic now, too); and the nooz on his conference with highly educated Murkans who sound like total fucking cretins and useful idiots for the Left’s operators.
Let’s go back a few years, remembering the nifty phrases concocted by the late Spiro Agnew, Pat Buchanan, and William Safire, when they were all more or less together in and around the White House:
“nattering nabobs of negativism…”
“an effete corps of impudent snobs”
Now tell me, sportsfans; what has changed??? In half a century….
Or for the more basic minded, The lyrics to Warren Zevon’s “Send the Envoy”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_3SsPnq2zc
“Nuclear arms in the Middle East
Israel is attacking the Iraqis
The Syrians are mad at the Lebanese
And Baghdad does whatever she please
Looks like another threat to world peace
For the envoy…”
From his 1982 release.
Thanks for the help Ed. I found several that seemed to be almost what I want. Reviews weeded the list to three. Negative reviews of contestant number three’s other products tossed them out of the running… that and Amazon saying “allow 2 to 5 weeks for delivery”.
https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-TBL03-10E-300-watt-Tabletop-Control/dp/B00A807596/
https://www.amazon.com/Lutron-TT-300H-WH-Electronics-Plug-Dimmer/dp/B000FKF7JY/
I’m partial to Leviton. Lutron is good. Perhaps a small bit upscale from Leviton. I went with a variant of the above Lutron. For an extra $2 it has a light to help you find the unit in the dark. If the light is too bright I’ll tap it with a fresh and juicy Sharpie.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MV6RTY
You can have the Leviton in white or brown. Lutron adds black as a choice. Neither offer ivory… the One True Color for light switches and wall outlets. 🙂 Because I say so.
I also looked on eBay. Amazon has better prices.
If I want to control 12/24v LED light strings, yeah, they make touch dimmers that fade up and down. But… There’s a lot of product on both sites labeled “dimmer” but an electronic 3-way switch simply does not qualify.
I remember the floor lamps in Granmama’s house. Five or six bulbs. Rotary switch. First click turned on one socket. Second click added a socket. Third click added two sockets. And the fourth click turned on everything…. including the giant mogul base bulb in the center. Start with a 40w, add a combination of 60w and 100w plus that big 150/200w bulb. Definitely will lite up a room.
Even with the new double pane double hung tilt in to clean low-e argon gassed windows and their associated new gaskets and lack of drafts, well, it is skunk mating season.
Stuff gives me a splitting headache. I need to find the air leak….
And NO you stupid dogs! You are not going outside!!!
I need to get a roll of some rubbery self-stick gasket. When the north wind was howling a couple of weeks ago and it was about 20F, I could feel a slight draft on the north side windows. Worth a try.
My deepest sympathies, Mr. paul; nearby skunkage can surely ruin the atmosphere.
Anyone else ever seen and/or smelled “skunk cabbage,” usually found in swamps and other wetlands? I used to see it as kid during my forest rambles, but never since.
I find it odd that Facebook friends in Canada and Australia are upset about Trump.
He is not /their/ President. Yet, they are protesting and marching. Like a protest march in Sydney matters to anything that happens in the D.C.?
I don’t care who is mayor of Houston or Dallas. Or Austin. Or Marble Falls and Lampasas and Bertram. I don’t live there, I’m not affected. I don’t care who is running Australia or Canada. I’m not affected.
I understand the point one friend made…. “You live in the center of the Empire.”
Well, why is that? Exactly?
Given what happened to the Russian ambassador in Turkey just recently, I very seriously doubt that the USSS is going to let any private security into the picture.
And do the health insurers deny coverage to people who are part of a large group policy, or is it just individuals who get denied? I’ve always been under the impression it was only the latter.
I’ve only heard of skunk cabbage. It can’t be much worse than what sauerkraut does to me. After I puff up like road kill.
I’ll get the window gasketing done soon. As for the house “breathing”, we have dogs in and out a few hundred times an hour. We have a whole house fan…. how’s that for an air leak? When you have mud daubers buzzing around? (Fan is going away when the kitchen remodel happens.) And what the hell, when the kitchen gets remodeled and I have an actual exhaust to the outside venting hood, the damn thing can back draft through the bathroom vent fans.
Or I can open the kitchen window a bit. 🙂
Tomorrow’s project is to paint one of the long walls in the bedroom. And move the the waterbed. Tho it’s not a waterbed any more. 🙁 It’s a memory foam mattress. I can paint the rest of the room after the bed is moved.
I’ve moved the bed before. It’s not as bad as moving that crappy IKEA wardrobe…. I had to take that sucker apart to move it from one room to another.
Yeah, bitch and moan. 🙂
It’s all virtue signaling for the ‘look at me’ generation.
@eugen, sorry I didn’t answer your question earlier, I was out of the house. Had to do my weekend sale searching, and then took the kids to the gun store to see friends.
I was watching the live feed from Time linked on the zerohedge.com link I posted earlier.
Mr. paul has a good point; we keep hearing the wailing and whining from the Euros and Oz and O Kanada and ask why they give a fuck, and their answer is always ‘well, you guys run the world and we worry what you’ll do, blah, blah.’ I’ll tell you one thing we’re gonna do is stop bleeding ourselves white in taxes for y’all’s defense. Y’all can pack yer own mud from now on. And we can fix things here that badly need fixing.
Get this:
America First.
FINALLY
And another thing, y’all; if you insist on continuing to elect outright commie scum as your government leaders, then y’all have made yer bed and y’all can lie in it.
Well, that was a little harsh. Didn’t mean to kill the buzz.
After all, we’ve had commies in charge here for at least the last eight years and look at the damage they’ve managed to do.
This really ought to be a lesson for everyone; keep the Left’s mitts off the levers of power and root them out RUTHLESSLY.
And here’s my grrl:
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/multimedia/Kellyanne-Conways-Trump-Revolutionary-Wear-411310025.html
OFD notes, however, after seeing her and the marching guys in Continental Army uniforms, that the actual Revolutionary War soldiers would have loved to have had clothes like that at Valley Forge or in the nasty and brutish POW hulks in New York harbor.
That’s quite OK to say that when Trump used it to refer to internal matter like “buy american, hire american”.
But when Trump use that also for international affairs, that’s quite undiplomatic. That’s implicitly saying that others are the losers, that America’s partners are the losers. In a group of people, when someone shouts that he’s the FIRST, he may end up “competing” ALONE. “Make America great again” was much better, and everybody in the group could heartily approve it.
These “America First”, the Brexit, and others like that that will surely follow, are really what will make the world collapse, when everybody will start to not care what’s happening next door. The sad part is when America thinks she will not be affected, when she thinks she has guns and so on.
@Eugen: As a fellow European (Swiss, in case you don’t know), I do understand where you’re coming from. However, I actually think Trump’s approach is right, for two reasons.
First, the US has cared too much about the affairs of other countries. Caring in the sense of interfering in their internal politics, bombing them, overthrowing their governments, etc.. That is not a great way to win friends and influence people.
Second, the idea that each nation takes care of its own household first, and only then helps the neighbors. Nobody likes having their busybody neighbor peering in their windows and trying to run their lives.
Of course, this can go too far. Total isolationism, or pushing American interests to the serious detriment of the neighbor – that would be bad. But a couple of steps back from being the interfering busybody everywhere in the world? That’s a good thing, I think.
“And another thing, y’all; if you insist on continuing to elect outright commie scum as your government leaders, then y’all have made yer bed and y’all can lie in it.”
…
“Well, that was a little harsh. Didn’t mean to kill the buzz.”
I just want to explain how Romania ended up with the commies. After the end of WW2, there have been election in Ro. The very small Communist Party massively frauded those elections with the Soviets help. In those times, there was nothing romanians could do. And then the communists savagely decimated any kind on intellectuality and free thinking. Hundred of thousands of people were send to prisons and to hard labors. Many died /were killed in those places. The communist regime started to die after 42 years, on 1989. In ONLY 27 years since then, many things have changed, but still many have to be done. Our 10 years now as a member of EU was the best thing that EVER happened to Ro. They are only 10 years, and we still have crooks and corruption, but now, most of them end up in jail!
Second, the idea that each nation takes care of its own household first, and only then helps the neighbors.
@brad: You are in a uber-democratic, highly educated country. That’s not how the world is! They are very few free nations like that.
A nation under a totalitarian regime, only by luck would get ride of that without the help of interfering neighbors. And you still have to have the right neighbors (free nations), and not agressors who support that regime.
America (if she not thinks naively that she won’t be affected) must find the right ways to impose its values to the world. North Korea is its biggest failure.
Helping someone else means helping you. Romania is hosting now one of US anti-missile shield component (becoming a russian target in the process), Ro participated along side US in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ro is a friend, a friend who still needs help from time to time.
The best part, is that even our crooks supports US. See Dragnea trying to get a picture with Trump 🙂
If Trump would take our crook Dragnea in a press conference, and start teaching him values, teaching him that the US don’t tolerate thefts and corruption, and that in Dragnea’s case, to show how wrong was to cheat and steal votes in an election, and that trying after that to pardon yourself with executive orders is even worse, if Trump will do all that on TV, Dragnea and his party of crooks will soon be history, and Ro much healthier.
But instead, Dragnea, received an invitation (paid for it?) from Trump’s antourage, managed to be part of a “close dinner party”, sat at Trump’s table and have an “open and warm talk” with him. Pictures here (Dragnea with mustache):
http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-esential-21543939-liviu-dragnea-sorin-grindeanu-eveniment-care-participat-donald-trump-liderul-psd-avut-dialog-cald-deschis-presedintele-ales-sua.htm
So Trump likes crooks around him?
I know, Dragnea is our problem, but we are still a dysfunctional and uneducated country and in real need of straight clean values, and models of dignity. Trump’s team didn’t help this time, au contraire.
I only wrote this comment to illustrate how simple it is to interfere in a right way in other nations affairs, to stand up to what you believe. No need to send battleships. A little help like that, and for the rest we’ll take care ourselves.
But now, we’ll have our protests on Sunday, which will be mocked by a “victorious” Dragnea and his puppet prim-minister returning from the great USA. Much harder now for us to avoid his own pardoning from justice.
BTW, the only official representative of Romania to the Trump inauguration was our ambassador to US, and our Presidency released a statement to make it clear.
Thanks for reading.
awfully this discussion from Romania etc shifts me from my policy to not comment about internal american affairs here (sort of policy).
Why? time ago in Michigan with a friend I compared or former Charles (president, a crook) with Jackson, later I apologized, my friend said Jackson and his crooks took the white house by assault, ok I said, but this is your country and I am your guest.
Ditto this, rememner Eugen that Romania was communist due Yalta, and, If you read Trumans bio, Polonia was a fait accompli of Uncle Joe, Romania always was into Russian sphere (Czechs were another fait accompli, Greece was due Churchill).
Bad? of course, but our hosts, or granpas wasnt culprits.
Since I live in a country that is going downwards since 1930s? I cant say they are guilt, we are, maybe sometime we are going up, maybe sometime we sink and dissapears, who knows?
The EU is some kind of false prosperity, and is gonna to generates breaking outside Germany and France, Belgians and the Valons, Italy north of Po, Catalonia, etc. remember that historycally Europe is the boundary of Charlemagne, Po, Ebro, Oder and maybe Danube. When you see long history, 800 years of Islam in Spain 200 in Sicily etc are long times very long times.
As for the intervention of EU, unless the country is small (Korea) alwwys there is a need of partners requesting that, good or bad, and, awfully, just business, now is impossible that the US going to splendid isolation, they dont manufacture anything from blueprints to deliver to customer, the best example is the F22, they must store all the fabrication line just in case, because they cant assure to have all they need just in time. To reverse it is difficult, very, so, they could come with consumer goods not as cheap due tariffs (see Lincoln) or…
One thing is true, Trump is the triumph of the people without lobbies (pressure groups) , time will tell if he is gonna a be a sort of Theodore Roosevelt or ( I cant choose the opposite), or a Jennings Bryan/Huey Long who won, dont know
One thing I am sure, it is not as one friend in Michigan said when I congratulate him, he answered we are goning to have an honest gonvernement.
Forgive a couple of things, my english, talk about your internal affairs
That, and deliberately crashing the system so that the Free Shit Army joins Lynn in demanding
magic pixie dustgovernmenttaxpayer-funded universal health care.(Because, you know, just because it’s been a disaster everywhere else it’s been put in place, doesn’t mean it’ll be a disaster in the US. Because reasons.)
Have I made a convert to my conviction that most problems can be solved by killing people? -sniff- I’m so proud!
Fauxcahontas, most likely. It’s her turn.
Absolutely.
Decisions have consequences. My elder kids have learned this, and the nine-year-old is in progress. Do anything you like, just be aware that you’ll have to live with the results.
Eugen’s point about USSR interference in Romania’s post-WWII elections is well taken and I understand the universal corrupting influence of communism, but that still doesn’t make it the US’s problem.
Bah. Trade benefiting both sides won’t stop, and likely will be increased. Defense agreements benefiting both sides, and whose costs are borne by both sides, likely will be continued.
What Trump has promised to end, and may be able to pull off, is trade agreements that grossly benefit the other nation. The PRC is the premier example but there are plenty of others. He’s promised to end the free defense ride that a large number of nations are getting. As an American taxpayer, I see nothing objectionable in any of that.
I’m sure it’s “undiplomatic” to tell other nations that the handouts have ended. I’m sure it’s also undiplomatic to tell a grown child that he had to get a job and start supporting himself.
Yep. The EU uses VAT as a hidden tariff, placing US goods at a disadvantage. And they absolutely refuse to allow VAT to be considered in so-called free-trade negotiations. If Trump puts a 15% tariff on EU goods coming into the US, all he’s done is level the playing field.
And here’s my grrl:
She really looked cute as a bug with the hat on. A classy, feisty, intelligent lady. tRump hit the lotto with her.
President tRump has been busy with the EO pen. Let’s see what comes out next week. If he really starts cutting and gutting gooberment, Libturdian head explosions will accelerate. I agree with Dr. Bob, tRump can’t possibly make good on all the promises. Stick to cutting and gutting and renegotiate deals with other countries.
tRump 2020! “Make America Great Again!”
All the usual commie rags and web cites are posting hit pieces on the tRump Administration. Even tech rag Gizmodo, which I browse weekly, has one. All negative, of course. Gizmodo likes to highlight how most of tRumps staff/noms have “0” political expeirence. Unlike Obola’s picks who have done a bangup job. Of special interest was Obola’s DoE pick who has a PhD in knuclear physics. That apparently allowed him to negotiate that wonderful deal with Iran. Give me Perry over that any day. I hope Perry tells Iran to suck it.
@Eugen: Thanks for writing about it all. The view from outside is always very different from the view inside. Politicians call each other crooks all the time – it’s hard for an outsider to know when it’s really true, and when it’s just hot air…
@RBT: How is VAT a hidden tarif? Consider sales tax: it is collected evenly on domestically produced goods, as well as imported goods, at time of sale. VAT and sales tax have precisely the same end goal: collect a percentage of a products value at time of sale. It makes perfect sense to collect VAT on imported goods – otherwise, imported goods would have an automatic price advantage in the amount of the VAT.
VAT does have two problemsI do object to VAT, for other reasons. First, it is an invisible tax, whereas sale tax is very much “in your face”, every time you buy something, whereas VAT is silently included in the price. Second, the accounting rules are very complicated, since VAT is calculated on the “value added” at each step in production. Sales tax is a lot simpler.
Mr. OFD:
Could you post a short write up of your VPN setup. Especially any paid or free servers.
“@RBT: How is VAT a hidden tarif?”
Because WTO rules allow companies based in the EU that export goods to the US to receive a rebate of VAT on those goods, but when US-made goods are exported to the EU, the US manufacturer receives no such tax credit, placing them at a cost disadvantage relative to EU manufacturers.
“She really looked cute as a bug with the hat on.”
I dint know who she was, at first; some cis-hetero camera guy focused on her talking to yet another major hottie out there and I thought to myself, why is it the righties always get the hotties and the lefties always end up with fugly beasts? Food for more thought there, sportsfans. Anyway she’s a happily married cis-hetero Roman Catholic from northeastern New Jersey and still lives there. A sway-mach-poo-ying, for sure, as we used to say in northeastern Thailand.
“Thanks for writing about it all. The view from outside is always very different from the view inside.”
Ditto. I appreciate hearing a different, outside POV, too. It also points out some misconceptions we have about each other’s countries. And it was way cool for Mr. Eugen to post links to the vids and photos from the demonstrations he was at in downtown Sibiu.
“Could you post a short write up of your VPN setup. Especially any paid or free servers.”
I use Perfect Privacy; right now I’m bouncing off a server in ChiCongoLand.
https://www.perfect-privacy.com/howto/perfect-privacy-vpn-manager-documentation-linux/
And I’m also hooked up with these guys:
https://unseen.is/about.html
Which is also used by the Forward Observer guys, especially when they’re doing their “battle-tracking” for events like the Ferguson riots or the “inauguration” festivities down in Mordor, currently.
I’ve been happy with both (paid but reasonable) services thus fah. Recommended.
Why make it super-easy for third parties to snoop on yer chit, amirite?
If you don’t mind paying a little more and then rarely having to bother with it again, check out Crypto-Hippie’s stuff:
https://secure.cryptohippie.com/
And do the health insurers deny coverage to people who are part of a large group policy, or is it just individuals who get denied? I’ve always been under the impression it was only the latter.
I only know about The Great State of Texas. Employee groups of 2 to 50 ??? cannot be turned down by any insurance company operating in the state. But they can charged differently based on some esoteric experience factor. I am not even sure if there is maximum ratio that they can charge.
Wow, I see there are millions of progs on the march worldwide. Talk about a target-rich environment. Get ’em now before they slink back into their holes.
Also the VAT is applied at every step of production, increasing prices by siphoning off money at each step. In the US there is wholesale pricing without sales tax. This keeps the prices more in line with costs, instead of taxing an object 13 times during its creation.
There are many tax schemes that someone could defend, but VAT doesn’t look like one to me.
Taxes on purchasing at least capture value from the secondary and underground economies. Taxes on income miss all the illegal money, unfairly burdening the legal citizens (and yes, if we’re going to tax people and steal their lives bit by bit, it must be fair.) And yes, it is taking their LIFE. It takes the part of their life they spend making that money. You do not get a second chance to relive that part of your life.
nick
Wow, Jackie Evancho hit the high note in the national anthem. nice job.
I hate it when singers artificially go for a very, very high note on “free”. Especially when they hold it. It makes their performance about them, not about the country.
About the only people that do good jobs on the national anthem are country singers, opera singers, and choruses.
The first because the public, including his supporters, will not accept what it will take to eliminate ACA, most particularly allowing health insurance companies to exclude pre-existing conditions; you can’t buy fire insurance if your house is already on fire.
Also, to fully repeal ACA, you need 60 votes in the Senate. You can defund it with a straight vote, but a repeal of the mandates and regulations takes 60 votes to stop a filibuster. I heard a podcast with one of the main Republican health policy wonks (Avik Roy) talking about it. He did think that the right plan might peel 8 votes from Democrats in states that Trump carried to break the filibuster.
His proposal is here.
“Get ’em now before they slink back into their holes.”
I’m absolutely certain that files are being created and updated. Any movement of outsiders is certainly being tracked. Airline tickets, charge card use, rental cars, hotels are all digital breadcrumbs. Further, I’m sure that photo analysts have a rosy future of job prospects.
In almost every picture I’ve looked at, the rioters have distinctive tattoos. One chick has taken the time to mask herself, but has a pattern of tats next to her eye which is clearly visible.
All the social media posts are easily cross referenced, facial recognition software is running full time, and network node maps are being created.
Whether all this will be put to any good use is just as certainly debatable. After all, TPTB have allowed it to happen so far.
There’s a point in Tom Kratman’s novel “Caliphate” (which should be read by anyone with an interest in how pisslam will take over most of Europe) when the former hippie mother wants to escape europe and reenter the US. The officials who are deciding lay out her whole history for her- ‘ you made these comments at this time, appeared in these rallies in support of these causes at that time, and denounced the US and supported her enemies at these other times– you made your bed, die in it.’
Perhaps it’s only when some other administration in the future uses the info, but I’m sure it’s being collected and collated.
nick
@ech, it’s written with a very high note. It’s a VERY hard song to sing well. Even harder a cappella. Someone I used to work for sang it at Yankee stadium and joined the unfortunate ranks (very large ranks) of people who blew it. Despite a lot of training and natural talent.
n
“About the only people that do good jobs on the national anthem are country singers, opera singers, and choruses.”
And military singers; one of the best I’ve ever heard was at an NFL game earlier in the season by a black Army NCO with an amazing baritone. And they rarely try to upstage the country with their performances.
“Perhaps it’s only when some other administration in the future uses the info, but I’m sure it’s being collected and collated.”
Oh yeah, NSA has all that data now. And running currently. I’m just glad that chit warn’t around when my dumb-as-a-bag-of-hammers younger self was at SDS, PLP and Black Panther demos in Boston during the late 1960s. And I feel I kinda made up for that a couple of years later, anyway.
“It’s a VERY hard song to sing well. Even harder a cappella.”
Agreed. I certainly can’t do it. I’ve always greatly favored “America the Beautiful” as our national anthem, anyway, but since we like to roam the world and kick ass and take names, and blow chit up, we got the current PITA. With more jingo chit piled on in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
During my milspec trip to Chile, we were required to sing all four verses of the National Anthem. We were handed sheets on the C-141 flight and urged to memorize it. Right. Fortunately, the Chilean Army Band that played the music sucked rocks. It was hard to tell who was worse. The Chilean Army students rocked their entire NA.
Thanks for the input, Mr. OFD. I’m currently using IPVanish. It works for me with two instances allowed. Versions for iOS, macOS, Win, Linux. I got it cheap with an annual subscription, but am always looking for better products.
“During my milspec trip to Chile…”
How was it during your trip? My dad was down there for his job (senior mechanical engineer/insurance exec) just a day or two after the coup that toppled Allende, literally, in a hail of bullets. He saw troops all over the place and bodies in the streets. At the same time I’d just arrived in Thailand after a coup attempt, which failed, and security was tight as hell throughout the country.
“I got it cheap with an annual subscription, but am always looking for better products.”
Ditto here. So fah, so good, no complaints. If an outfit has something that works on Linux, I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt and my money. I plan to run both products on my other Linux machines when I finally get them set up in the attic.
Just the other day I was talking with one of the owners of the studio where my daughter takes flute and dance lessons. It came up that I write songs but need someone else to sing them. “Why is that?” she asked. “Well, listen to how I talk. I can’t sing anymore. My voice has been really raspy since my throat got cut.” “What!? Why would anyone do that?” “Gee, I don’t know. Maybe because he wanted to kill me?”
There’s a reason I hate my species. Or at least 90% of it.
VAT is a tax that is paid by the final consumer, and the money goes to the country’s buget. If you are not the final consumer – like a producer buying parts from another producer, VAT is NOT applied to the price between them.
No company will ever keep the VAT for itself. And the VAT is applied to the final price of the product. The VAT is taken by the State from it’s own citizens. Recently, the EU implemented the mechanism to make sure VAT returns to the proper state. For example, if I buy something online from a German site, I will pay the VAT that is current in Romania, and the VAT money will be transfered/balanced between states.
Back in 2004, when I had my first business trip in Germany, I bought a camera there (our german contact was amazed that the price they have could be smaller than in Ro). When leaving Germany, at the airport we requested the VAT back (Ro was not in EU then). We were supposed to declare the product after landing to our airport and pay up the local VAT. Yes, we didn’t. And in those time, a camera would be considered a luxury in Ro, and had an additional luxury tax of 30%! For that reason, camera models were few on sales here. Fortunately, those absurdities don’t exists anymore.
“Because WTO rules allow companies based in the EU that export goods to the US to receive a rebate of VAT on those goods”
I doubt that those companies have any benefits. As I said, the VAT is between the final consumer and his State. If US has no VAT, americans won’t pay it, and US buget won’t get it. The EU company will have the same profit either if it sales in EU or US (assuming the same costs).
Another thing: during the crisis from 2008, the Ro increased the VAT from 20% to 24%, to be able to face the deep recession and low incomes. Right now, we have the VAT at 19% (down from 20% starting begining of this year).
The VAT is an important source of revenue for the State.
Anywhere we went in Chile, we had armed guards with us. All carrying automatic weapons. Nothing happened, but it kept you on your toes thinking about trouble.
On VPNs: the one I use has a “kill switch” feature where your normal net access is prevented if the VPN software crashes. I find that a useful feature.
Wow, only 20% tax on sales? In large parts of the US there is NO sales tax, or it is lower than 5%. In some high taxing areas it is 8% and in a very few special areas, like Miami Beach or Chicago, it might get as high as 23%.
VAT is outrageously high.
n
And by definition it is added at EVERY STAGE OF PRODUCTION.
“The VAT is a consumption tax that taxes the value added by businesses at each point in the production chain.”
Here is an example from an article that starts with the flawed assumption that “we” need to increase taxes to fund the government spending more money. It never even considers that you could reduce government spending.
You can see that in addition to the monetary burden, there is a large paperwork, transaction, and enforcement burden as well. Those three suck money (profit) out of the system too, which will cause every step of the production chain to increase base cost to maintain profit margin. Businesses EXIST to make a profit. Any other reason (if the reason is honest) is IN ADDITION to making a profit on sales.
Without a profit, you don’t stay in business.
The end result is the final consumer (YOU) pay more in base cost AND in taxes, in an ever increasing spiral which is generally accelerated by central bank monetary policy of maintaining inflation.
nick
ADDED- also his example is a simplifed number of steps. In reality, especially with import/export, there are MANY more steps in the chain. Typically there is at least a wholesaler or distributor in addition to the others.
Ok, I might have a very simplified view of how VAT works, the view of the final consumer. Sorry if I generalized from that.
ADDED: And I forgot that the VAT for food items was set here to only 9% in 2016.
All part of the plan. More government employees are needed to police it. Win!
And as you say, a real example is much more complicated than the didactic example. One of the accounting databases I went through ages ago had some VAT data in it. It was such a mess that I needed to talk to the accountant to figure out if the data got transferred correctly. Most types of transaction I could look at and figure out easily enough (eg, “from” this account equals the sum of these “to” accounts) but the VAT mess is such a mess that it seems likely to have been designed that way.
Also, there is not a full credit for the VAT portion of your company’s purchase price. Some of that comes down to different tax rates for different kinds of material or operation; I don’t remember the rest. Bottom line, though, a nominal 10% VAT results in more than 10% increase in the consumer’s price. Alternatively, the government gets more than 10% tax on the item’s “real” price. Why, it’s almost as if the system were designed that way.
Ya think?
“Businesses EXIST to make a profit. Any other reason (if the reason is honest) is IN ADDITION to making a profit on sales.”
Kind of. We run our science kit business with the goal of breaking even after paying the two of us minimum wage for our time.
“@RBT: How is VAT a hidden tarif?”
Because WTO rules allow companies based in the EU that export goods to the US to receive a rebate of VAT on those goods, but when US-made goods are exported to the EU, the US manufacturer receives no such tax credit, placing them at a cost disadvantage relative to EU manufacturers.
This is why I hang out here, people way smarter than me.
Take heart, Lynn. At least you’re smarter, and less greedy and dishonest, than a Clinton voter. Which puts you ahead of at least 65,000,000 Americans. (Or 30,000,000 after you discount the electoral fraud.)
Trying to explain it to myself:
So VAT = Value-added Tax
In each step of production/distribution, if you add value (more parts) or increase the price (as a reseller), the VAT would be applied only to that addition/difference, not to the whole product value. So the same value (part) is not taxed more than once.
ADDED: But I still think there are production chains where only the last aggregator/integrator applies the VAT. So in this chains some producers don’t care at all about VAT.
There are a few other businesses that use accounting tricks or that have the stated goal of just breaking even. In reality, as the owners, your paycheck is you removing the profit from the company. Other was of organizing a business have other methods.
The accounting trick is varying your pay to ‘use up’ the difference between in and out to reach breakeven. In the strictest sense, if that was your only goal, you could sell one kit per year, and be happy with that. Or shut down sales after reaching that breakeven point. But you don’t shut off sales, and you look for growth in sales, both of which indicate a healthy expanding business with profit (more money coming in that out.) Surely in your case, the business also pays for part of your home and vehicles, utilities, etc. Perhaps it would be better stated as “goal of breaking even after paying the two of us minimum wage for our time and covering our living expenses ?
Or not, I am not critiquing or criticizing your particular business. I still maintain that without profit and business won’t continue to exist, if for no other reason than you need money in the bank to cover times of decreased incoming, and to cover unexpected increases in outgoing. Those retained earnings are profit.
n
I believe that is the theory, Eugen.
However, as they say, the devil is in the details, and my understanding is that the details get really messy. Though keep in mind that I’ve never lived under a VAT and have almost no personal experience. (Most of my international travel has been military or business and there was no time for sightseeing and personal purchases.)
And even if the ideal case is maintained and every business is fully reimbursed for the VAT it paid on the source materials it buys, there is still a large administrative overhead to calculate the payments, calculate the reimbursements, to apply for the reimbursements, and to audit for compliance. This all adds up to “friction” in the basic matter of buying supplies, doing something to them, and selling them, and that adds up to cost, which will be passed on to the consumer.
“In reality, as the owners, your paycheck is you removing the profit from the company. Other was of organizing a business have other methods”
Uh, no. Would it make you happier if we actually hired two minimum wage drones to do the work? Oh, wait. MW drones can’t do the work. So Barbara and I do it, but at much less than our free-market value. And indeed, my main goal is and always has been to make science resources available to young people while not taking a complete loss on our efforts. That’s to keep the business sustainable. If I could, I’d give them away, but we couldn’t do that for long.
@eugen,
“I might have a very simplified view of how VAT works” – yes and the difference is critical. By taking from every step you increase complication enormously and accelerate the increasing spiral effect on prices.
” the VAT would be applied only to that addition/difference, not to the whole product value. So the same value (part) is not taxed more than once.”
yes. in the example given above, the baker pays net 4c on the 40c he increase he charges the store, and the store pays the .gov 4c on the 40c increase HE charges the customer (he paid 60c and charged 1.00). THE CUSTOMER still pays 10c in tax, which is the same as he would pay with a 10% sales tax, but everyone in the chain takes tax money and pays tax money, with associated costs for each of those transactions so that they never = zero net. The businesses always end up paying more than they get (in economic friction or fees or salary for the accountant) which leads them to increase their base price, which increases the tax for the next round of the inflating spiral. It’s like heat from friction in physical processes. Every time you move the money, a bit is lost to ‘friction’ in the same way a bit of energy is lost as heat every time you transfer it or convert it.
The reason governments LOVE them a VAT tax is spelled out in the article.
I didn’t link the article before because I disagree with their starting point, and it’s just the first article I found with a simple clear explanation that saved me a lot of typing. I’m not recommending it as a great source or not, but here it is– http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/03/how-does-a-value-added-tax-work-anyway/36834/
And since the word used also impact on the way people understand the issues, the “Value Added” by many if not all of the steps translates to “Cost of doing business (including overhead) + profit” Which means the businesses are being taxed in a large proportion on their COSTS. Of that 40c tax the baker paid, in all likelihood 35c or more was paid on the COST of his employees, building, utilities, insurance, etc, and not any “Value” that was actually added to the product from a CUSTOMER point of view.
When you add in the consideration that many of the baker’s costs are also in the VAT spiral of giving an receiving tax money, the whole thing becomes recursive thru many iterations. I’d bet (but don’t know) that it’s a fractal process, in that every bit of it can be expanded until the pennies are sliced as thin as atoms.
Again, the complexity is an enormous amount of friction in the system and each transaction has costs that leak out of a business and increase eventual selling price. ALL for no benefit to the end consumer and great benefit to the state (as the consumer pays 10c/1.00 in either case, but the sales tax only results in ONE transaction.)
nick
Thanks Nick for explanations. Yes, I agree, that ‘friction’ does exists and adds up, and is getting taxed too.
But somehow the system works, maybe because the complex situations are limited to a small number of enterprises, perhaps?
And even if the ideal case is maintained and every business is fully reimbursed for the VAT it paid on the source materials it buys, there is still a large administrative overhead to calculate the payments, calculate the reimbursements, to apply for the reimbursements, and to audit for compliance.
I can verify that “administrative overhead” is a royal pain in the ass to employ and keep around, and, expensive. My administrative overhead demands at least $25/hour. And benefits.
I collect all kinds of fees and taxes for the USA and the state of Texas. Always more than $10,000/month. Sometimes $20,000/month. Always on my nickle. My reward ? Threatening letters by incompetents that I have not paid enough. And they are always wrong but it takes years to get straight. And personal liability for payment of the taxes and fees by all of the officers and directors of the corporation should we screw it up.
@ RBT, we’re not quite arguing semantics, and I don’t know the internal organization of your company, but AS OWNERS all of the difference between incoming and outgoing belongs to you. If you had two minimum wage employees they would be costs to the business, and any money left over after paying them would STILL belong to the owners- you.
Unless you are actually paying yourselves minimum wage and filing the taxes on that as employees (which I didn’t think you were doing since you’ve complained about estimated quarterlies…) the goals of the company – unstated perhaps – include sustaining you and Barbara to some degree. Otherwise, your business is technically a hobby and the IRS really frowns on that. A business must take in more than it spends (in the long term) to be self sustaining (which you point out as one of the goals). The amount its inflows exceed outflows is up to the business owners and can for practical purposes be close to zero. You are seeking to maximize good to society instead of maximizing profit, or maximizing growth, and you are willing to donate a good part of your life to that, which has nothing but my admiration. If you can afford, with income from outside the business, to “lose money” by voluntarily working below market value, that fine. I can too. My business is a LONG way from paying my bills and without outside income (my wife’s job) I wouldn’t be able to continue in it.
I’ll wrap it up with a restatement, that I probably should have used in the first place. The goal of ALMOST EVERY business is to make a profit for its owners, but some owners are content with VERY SMALL profit.
n
And ’cause this is the internet, I know that there are some businesses set up to produce a loss for their owners for tax reasons. That’s a different thing entirely and is a perversion of the natural order of things.
Otherwise, your business is technically a hobby and the IRS really frowns on that.
My brother had his junk business ruled as a hobby by the IRS as he never made a profit. And then they disallowed his deductions for three years and made him pay back taxes. We had been telling him that for years that he was using his wife’s income to subsidize his business. He still goes through the motions though. That is what pot smoking does to your brain.
The goal of ALMOST EVERY business is to make a profit for its owners, but some owners are content with VERY SMALL profit.
There it is. But, I’m not really understanding a business spending $1,000 and selling the product for $1,300 and it is not profit. The only way there would be no profit is if you sold the product for $1,000. You could work for free, but you still have shipping cost and any other expenses that you would have to pay out of pocket. Are we talking definition or philosophy?
“somehow the system works”
For some values of “works.”
And it only works at all under threat of violence. Because by the author’s (who is presumably knowledgeable) own admission, any tax over 10% and people will find ways around them.
Anyway, taxes are theft of a working person’s life, and I believe they should be the minimum needed to achieve agreed upon common goals, that can’t be achieved in any other way. I also believe that there are damn few things that fit that description.
FWIW, there are only a few states in the US that tax food at the full state tax rate, and most don’t tax food sales at all.
http://taxfoundation.org/blog/monday-map-sales-tax-exemptions-groceries
And for comparison, here is a link showing local and state sales tax rates for the entire country. I’ll note that the average looks to be about 7-8% by eye, and while sales tax isn’t the only revenue these states have, they are mostly getting by on what they collect. I’ll also observe that many of them have economies bigger than many european countries, and they get by on 8%.
http://taxfoundation.org/article/state-and-local-sales-tax-rates-2015
The point being that high taxes (and 20% is FREAKING HIGH) are NOT necessary to fund governments that function.
nick
I am still laughing, VAT the easy tax to evade
why? nobody wants to pay it, so, the vendor is going to sell you under the table, you too this up to the final customer, who could have a price with receipt or another wo.
and, since you receives and you pay, the balance could be zero always, or, a little to pay
This is only a theoretical exercise to show the people what NOT to do, is against the law, remember I live in a country with 50% of black economy
” business ruled as a hobby by the IRS as he never made a profit.”
Exactly. There were years when my business lost money or made very little while I was working on other things as well. My accountant told me “the IRS can’t FORCE you to make a profit, but if you don’t eventually, it’s a hobby paid for by your other income.” I’m pretty sure there is a rule of thumb they use as a screening test, something like ‘made money in 3 of 6 years.’
I’ve been making money with it, and paying taxes on that, for many years now. And I’m really glad I kept it alive thru those other years so it would be there when I needed it.
n
@ayj, or look at Greece for some apparently world class tax evaders!
FWIW, there are ways to collect taxes that DON’T involve coercion. China, for example, has a lottery ticket printed on every receipt. In a mostly cash based society, this encourages people to voluntarily pay the tax on sales (with a recorded transaction) so that they can get a receipt with the lotto number on it. It probably increases compliance quite a bit.
nick
My accountant told me “the IRS can’t FORCE you to make a profit, but if you don’t eventually, it’s a hobby paid for by your other income.” I’m pretty sure there is a rule of thumb they use as a screening test, something like ‘made money in 3 of 6 years.’
The IRS rule of thumb for individuals is 2 years in five. But many other factors come into account, especially for corporations.
there are only a few states in the US that tax food at the full state tax rate
TN is one of those states and it really irritates me. It is also a regressive tax. I purchase roughly the same amount of food as any other family of two. But having higher income the 9.75% is much less of my income than someone with a lower income. That roughly $50 a month I pay for food may be only 1% of my income but that may be two to three percent of someone else. Add in a couple of teenage boys and it gets worse.
the IRS can’t FORCE you to make a profit, but if you don’t eventually, it’s a hobby paid for by your other income
When I was doing the computer work (at home) for a school fund raising company I filed as a small business. The school sold fruit, candy, Christmas wrapping paper, cheese, sausage, all manner of stuff. The company took the orders, packaged the product, and sent it to the schools. The school made a small amount on each item. The most popular item was Vidalia Onions sold in the spring. The company would sell about 200,000 three pound boxes of them, took the entire output of one farm.
I reported all my income from the work on schedule C as a small business. I always made sure that I made a profit, generally under $200 each year and paid taxes on that amount. I never deducted my home space as it was not exclusive to the work I was doing. I did this for 15 years and was never questioned on that aspect by the IRS. Instead I got hit by property tax problems (not my fault, wrong from from the mortgage company), dividends reported on the wrong form (incorrect instructions by the IRS agent), etc. Everything but the business.
The guy that owned the business died several years ago. The owners wife would not sell the business to the office manager who really wanted to purchase the business. Put me out of work, the two people that did data entry for me out of work, the office manager, the delivery driver, and the packers. The packers loved the jobs because they could work while their children were in school. The packers as a group were paid $0.10 an item split among the packers. 5,000 items, 5 packers, and each got $100.00. Not bad for about four hours of work.
“it really irritates me. It is also a regressive tax. I purchase roughly the same amount of food as any other family of two. But having higher income the 9.75% is much less of my income than someone with a lower income.”
If we must have taxes, they should be as regressive as possible. If we must have a tax, I favor just one to the exclusion of all others. It should be a true flat tax (amount, not percentage, i.e., a per capita tax) and raised at the county level. A state gets only as much tax revenue as its counties choose to give it, and the federal government gets only as much as the states choose to give it from their own revenues.
” It should be a true flat tax (amount, not percentage, i.e., a per capita tax)
Suppose that this tax is paid in work time. For example one hour per day for the community. That will be a percentage tax.
But if the tax is paid by actually having a task done, like painting a ten-foot long rod, that would be a flat tax. But an old man or woman might take a longer time to do it than a younger one. The former would actually give more of his life to work for community than the later. Is that fair?
“Get ’em now before they slink back into their holes.”
Except for the lovely Charlize Theron. She should be given a second chance… 🙂
Any tips on how to connect two or more Windows PCs to one monitor/mouse/KB/speakers? I don’t want to spend a lot of dough on a Belkin KVM.
Some PCs have more than one monitor jack in the back; that’s one way. The only other way I know of is a KVM switch, but I’m not that current on that sorta thing.
But here’s a couple of snap google searches I just did:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/why-you-no-longer-need-a-kvm-switch-for-your-multi-pc-setup/
https://www.labnol.org/software/share-keyboard-mouse-with-two-computers/18470/
https://lifehacker.com/254648/how-to-control-multiple-computers-with-a-single-keyboard-and-mouse
I had Synergy working OK when I had two Windows 8 machines here but wife didn’t grok moving the mouse around and didn’t like it so I ditched it, and then moved everything over to Linux. We don’t have a need to hook up multiple machines to the same monitor but I may revisit this little scenario when I get my attic space configured.
I used Synergy for years. The free (older??) version has some quirks, but nothing you can’t work around. The main one was that it wouldn’t work when a system dialog box was open, you’d have to use an attached keyboard on the secondary machine.
And with synergy, you would need to switch inputs on your monitor manually. I’ve got one machine set up that way, and it’s a bit of a pain.
nick
ADDED, what I did when I moved my setup around was just add a third monitor for that other machine, and install a keyboard tray. When I want that machine, I pull out the keyboard and mouse, then put them away when done. Easier than all the messing around.
Um – maybe a little late, but why connect both. Why not use Remote Desktop (or VNC) to connect to the second PC? I have several older PCs doing silly things that aren’t worth the trouble to migrate, but do need to manage. Headless works well.
Thanks all, yeah, I remember a friend recommending some version or other of VNC (tightVNC?) but I’d forgoten.