skh

13 ms·

61.
by skh 8y ago
Yes! In addition to doing this I write commentary on websites in the hopes of spurring action in others. I do this in real life as well.
62.
by skh 8y ago
I think you take my comment more seriously than I intended. It's a suggestion meant to provoke thought about the nature/reality of U.S. presidential elections. With the suggestion one sees that my belief is that large corporatio
63.
by skh 8y ago
My current pet idea is that the Electoral College ought to be replaced with the CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies. That way we could do away with the facade that presidential elections currently create.
64.
by skh 8y ago
Metaphorically speaking I have much more than a hammer and most things don't look like nails. But those who embrace free market forces should appreciate the proposed solution. Don't want certain types of people moving into your
65.
by skh 8y ago
He doesn’t benefit from state workers in California? Without those workers the streets would be worse than what they are now. There would be fewer police and a non-functioning judicial system. Certainly his work benefits from a government
66.
by skh 8y ago
Your question used the word “entitled”. It is reminiscent of those who say that taxation is theft. Your framing does none of 1, 2, 3, and 4. I don’t understand the point of your first paragraph. It’s a caricature of people you call the Lef
67.
by skh 8y ago
Income gets taxed on where you earn it. It’s been that way for a very long time. This applies to everyone. Don’t see how it’s unfair. I’m certain OP knew this when taking the contract to work in California.
68.
by skh 8y ago
I see now. I was focusing on not being too upset at 13% being taken in one scenario but not being upset if taken in another scenario.
69.
by skh 8y ago
Your question is just as bad. Here’s the framing I prefer. 1. Government is necessary since some things are best run by public services and without a for-profit motive. 2. What are these things? 3. How much money should be raised to pro
70.
by skh 8y ago
This I think will end up becoming more of a complaint in the coming years. There will be a shift in the set of people who use “states rights” as a reason for policies. Increasingly states that subsidize places like Mississippi and Alabama
71.
by skh 8y ago
Do Conservative Texans fear the free market and people responding to market forces? Maybe Texas ought to raise state taxes as a means of persuading liberals from California to not move there.
72.
by skh 8y ago
Why does a 13% tax to California bother you if a 13 percentage point increase in tax to some other entity doesn’t? Is it dislike of California? Dislike of state taxes? This reminds me of an experiment I read in - I think - Nudge . A ran
73.
by skh 8y ago
....why were they lobbying (unsuccessfully) against it for so long? When they were growing they lobbied against. When it became a competitive advantage they lobbied for them. Lobbying doesn't work, not nearly as well as people thin
74.
by skh 8y ago
.... tax law they're benefiting from here. I did not read the "from here" part of the comment you originally wrote that I responded to. I thought you asked for examples of Amazon lobbying for tax law changes in general. M
75.
by skh 8y ago
I see you missed the by proxy part of the comment you responded to. A lot of the large estates in the South pre Civil War had owners who didn't beat their slaves. Those owners hired people to do it for them. So it would be incorre
76.
by skh 8y ago
I mentioned specific areas in which Amazon has lobbied for tax law changes. These specific areas are different than the area of the article in question but the comment that I responded to wasn't talking specifically about the taxes me
77.
by skh 8y ago
It's not really a matter of outsized voices, it's just one voice isn't willing to do more than whisper. Your perception that the power an average person holds versus Amazon is roughly equal is not rooted in reality.
78.
by skh 8y ago
Oh, because I'm a hypocrite. But my hypocrisy has nothing to do with whether or not I'm right in saying that Amazon has an outsized influence on our elections. Fortunately the truth does not depend on whether or not I'm a h
79.
by skh 8y ago
Are you suggesting that those hundreds of thousands of shareholders all have a proportionate amount of input in determining how Amazon lobbies? I own stock in Amazon and have zero say in how it lobbies government or spends its money to inf
80.
by skh 8y ago
Lobbying is not some magical salve you rub on every problem to make the laws say whatever you want. Of course it's not magical. It's money. No magic needed. Amazon spent a lot of money and effort to lobby against allowing sta
81.
by skh 8y ago
Amazon and other companies actively lobby to write tax laws the way they are. Amazon's voice, money, power far exceeds mine. It isn't a level playing field. In addition to voting and contacting my representatives I comment on a
82.
by skh 8y ago
Ronald Reagan thought the tax on capital ought to be higher than the tax on labor. The Republican party and along with it the Democratic party have shift very much to the right on this issue in the last 40 years. Capital gains, dividend,
83.
by skh 8y ago
There's definitely a cultural difference when it come to debt between Americans and Germans. I dated a German woman for a number of years. In 2010 when my house was worth less than the loan I had on it I walked away from the loan. I
84.
by skh 8y ago
I very much doubt you are immune to social pressure. I do withstand it sometimes but one can stay vigilant only so long
85.
by skh 8y ago
There's no other option than boycott if one falls into a) and b) and wants to not be hypocritical? There's a lot of social pressure to watch the Super Bowl for a large portion of the population. I fall into a) and b) and did wat
86.
by skh 8y ago
I’m not an economist. It seems to me that while the VAT on Apple’s products affect the supply/demand for those products it is best to view the VAT as something paid by the consumer. Do you know if this is wrong? This is my intuiti
87.
by skh 8y ago
Apple includes the VAT in the selling price of its products. Therefore it isn't correct to view it as Apple paying the VAT. The purchaser pays the VAT. Apple just collects it and passes that payment along to the taxing authority. Ap
88.
by skh 8y ago
Rule of law demands it be clear what is and is not illegal. The fact that we have lawyers who argue over definitions and whatnot suggests that this isn't possible except through case law. Almost all written rules/laws have exce
89.
by skh 8y ago
You are correct and I wasn't trying to criticize what you wrote. gizmo686's post (the one I responded to) indicated a sense of insight into these issues. I wanted gizmo686 to feel justified in his/her thoughts. Namely, tha
90.
by skh 8y ago
Consider the possibility that it does make sense but that you aren’t aware of why it makes sense. A vector space has much more structure than a module and the distinction is not unimportant. Also, scalars are not defined as a real number.

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