Actually since Pabst might be getting involved the secret ingredient could be beer.

mmm... beer Twinkies.

Bitflipper, probably so.

I can hear it now: "Mommy, why are those twinkies all sparkly and glowy?"

Mom, "Caitlin, dear, I don't know.  Let's see what we can find out."

<after Google search>

"Hmm, thorium, polonium, and radium have been added to the bleached white flour to increase nutritional value."

"Mommy, lookit, I glow in the dark now!!"

"And mommy, the sound that twinkie is making sure sounds like a Bapu Am."

Nobody noting the company CEO and executives gave themselves a 300% raise? It puts a whole lot holes in anything coming from the company side claiming poverty. Never trust a doctor that won't take his own medicine.

Beepster


 Wait... did you just actually imply that you shouldn't have to pay ANY taxes into the system? A system as I pointed out makes it possible for you to actually run your business?  Sorry, man. Society does not work that way.....

 You think the government taking a percentage of your earnings is bad? These guys will take EVERYTHING from you and laugh. 

To be clear I am a true fiscal conservative and do believe in less government waste and bloat but we NEED infrastructure in a modern society and we NEED regulations to keep businesses honest and our economies and workforces strong. Trim the fat, keep the muscle.

Peace.

No.... and yes.  As a business man I do not pay any corporate taxes now. Even though NC and the Fed has some pretty confiscatory rates.  I have a loop hole in the law.... totally legal to avoid corporate taxes. 

Further... no company.... not one actually pays taxes on it's income. Any business man will tell you that and it's true. You see... quite simply, when you buy that Twinkie, all the overhead of the company including the TAXES they expect to pay are included in the total price of the product. If taxes go up.... have you noticed, the price of the goods you buy are suddenly a little bit more expensive?  The customer always pays the taxes. 

Taxes are paid at every point in the process but ALL of them come out of the pocket of the consumer ultimately. 

The government needs revenue to do it's mandated jobs. But taxes are more about control than revenue these days. A simple fair tax.... equal percentage for everybody, paid on things you buy, collected at the cash register is, IMHO the only way to finance the govt to allow it to do it's job.

No matter how much I might disagree on fiscal things, unions, capitalism, guns, environmental issues, or music.... I still respect everyone here and while I enjoy a good intellectual discussion into the gray areas of the TOS...... when it comes to the music and Sonar..... we're all on the same page here and I don't allow differing opinions in other areas of life  to affect that. 

I hear Jerry Lee lewis didn't think much of the taxman.

A big bunch of them came to his door to take away his cars because he was a bit behind on his payments.

What he did was to lob a fistful of bullets at them whilst casually mentioning: "Get a good look at them boys, next time they'll be coming at ya a lot quicker..."

I have no problem at all with corporations paying taxes. It's the price the stockholders pay for shielding their owners from responsibility for a corporation's actions.


I think the issue of whether corporate taxes are considered in pricing is a six of one, half dozen of another matter. For one, taxes are considered after expenses have been accounted for. The only thing being taxed is profit - and it doesn't make sense to avoid a profit just because you might have to pay taxes on it. At any rate, it's better that the consumers of a product pay those taxes then everyone else that doesn't buy those products.


Rarely does the issue of profit in terms of magnitude come up - you'd think that companies requiring their workers to take a cut would also pitch in themselves to regards to their executives and stockholders, but this is almost never the case. It usually comes down to an 'us' vs 'them' issue, the 'us' being the corporate class. I can live with that argument (because, truthfully informed folks will fight it), but companies almost always try and spin poverty.

One need only look at economic numbers over the last 30-plus years to see who's been sacrificing, and who has not.

I have no problems with sales taxes carrying the bulk of the burden as long as they do not apply to essentials like food (actual food... not junk food), basic shelter (not mansions), medical care and medicine (and as a Canadian I believe those things should be provided for by government at least for the lower to middle income brackets because regular check ups and preventative medicine is far less expensive in the long run and more importantly it is the humane thing to do) and maybe stuff like lower cost clothing for kids and work wear. High ticket luxury items should have a very large tax and any imports should also be taxed at a high rate to keep companies invested at home. The poorest of the poor should receive 100% of these taxes returned to them or perhaps waived at the time of purchase with appropriate identification stating they qualify.

I haven't really studied the potential unseen negative consequences of this type of set up but it could help level the playing field a bit. The ultra rich however, and you are not gonna like this, should still have some type of benevolence tax to be paid to go towards building and maintaining infrastructures that allow them to operate but it should be a reasonable rate. The premise being that we can move forward as a species and be able to help those in need at home and to a lesser extent abroad.

The one thing I do agree with from the right's purported platform is cut spending wherever possible but my idea of what is necessary is a little different because I believe education is king. Social safety are imperative and basic medical care should be viewed as a right... not a commodity. 

Anyway, sorry for getting a little razzled and I'm glad you did not take offense. You're a smart guy and I enjoy your posts and musings on music and other topics. We just have different ideas on how things should be run... but in the end after discussing things instead of just flinging poo it seems we may not be all that different after all.

Now if only we could get the numbskull politicians to do the same.

Peace.

When you start giving stuff away... whether it's health care or food or clothes.... where do you stop and draw the line? What happens to individual initiative when people know they are gonna get free stuff? And "free stuff" isn't ever free. Somebody always has to pay the bills and there are strings attached to it.

The problem with taxing the "ultra rich" is that... they simply do not have enough money to be more than a drop in the bucket of the overall national budget. It might run the country for a few days to a few weeks.... max. And that is by confiscating 100% of their total wealth. Same issue exists with major companies. We may look at a CEO's compensation as being excessive.... but... it's generally minuscule when compared to the company gross, that if he/she gave it up 100% it would not make a hill of beans to the company bottom line.

google search "fair tax".... that's my favorite.  Flat rate, rebate to cover the essentials, nothing hidden, no payroll deductions..... look it up...it's great...... but I have no illusions it will be instituted any time soon. 

The benevolence tax you mentioned. What is a "reasonable rate" since the average person of means here in the US is already paying upwards of 50% or more in taxes. 

  We have an inheritance tax. If you inherit land or a business, and it exceeds the limits.... currently $5 million dropping to $1 million in January.... you owe tax at the going rate on that inheritance. It's destroying family wealth that was built over generations. Family farms are the hardest hit by this. They have to sell land to pay it. That should be done away with totally.  

No offense taken.... it's civil discourse between adults....

When you start giving stuff away... whether it's health care or food or clothes....

 
Wow! I can't beleive you even said that dude.

Yeah. I can't even respond to that. That was all over the map. Let's just go back to talking about music, kay?